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.:Changelog:.

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18-12-2015: Guide added

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.:Introduction:.

Let me start off by thanking the people I have run many dungeons with or had fruitful discussions with, without whom this build would not have come to fruition: Yolo, Korino, Upu and many more as I tend to run with many people :).

What/Whom this build is for

This is a build for templars who want to run PvE 4man content taking on the primary healer role.
It assumes the group contains 2 dedicated DD’s that will require help with resource management, but does not differentiate between Stamina or Magicka DD’s.
The build is made as flexible as possible to minimize the amount of skill swaps during runs.
Because I’m a cheapskate, I will focus on a setup that only uses cheap pots that drop from NPC’s, [Essence of Magicka], but for completeness feel obligated to discuss the most optimal build including [Essence of Spell Power] pots as well.

Main philosophy

To clear any content as fast and smooth as possible the single most important goal of this build (and of any build should be actually) is to maximize group DPS.
This is achieved (in order of importance) by;

Trying to keep everyone alive.
Applying buffs/debuffs to increase damage output and help groupmembers with resource management
Do as much DPS as possible

.:Stats:.

I myself have not yet reached my optimal build (missing some pieces with correct trait, and haven’t reached 501 CP yet). Here you can see my current with stats only including food buff (Resto Staff left, Destro Staff right).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/q1Tfk9P.jpg[/img]

Race

Optimal race is either High Elf or Breton. Given the low Magicka recovery on this build and only mosly magic damage abilities, I think Breton is the winner as of this moment.

Food Buff

Obviously V15 Max Health/Max Magicka food.

Attributes

64 Magicka
0 Health
0 Stamina

I try to have a minimum of 18k Health to prevent getting one-shotted. With enough CP and the correct gear this is achievable whilst also putting all points in Magicka. If for some reason you cannot make it to 18k Health and you keep dying because of it, I would suggest using attribute points to increase Health a bit untill it reaches levels you are comfortable playing with.

Mundus Stone

To maximize DMG/healing output we go on the offensive with the Thief. For both bars this mundus stone wins in the straight DPS department from other stones given the gear/CP setup in this build. Calculations based on spreadsheet whose creator I think is Asayre.

Champion Points

The Thief

Since our Magicka recovery is low anyways, we go ful on reduction with the Magician and put the rest in the Arcanist.

Magician: 100 points
Arcanist: 67 points

The Warrior

Even though the passives from The Lord are really nice, they are only nice if people die, and they shouldn’t die, so no points for that. The only other stats that are really usefull are flat Spell Resistance and DMG reductions from The Lady. Since I do not want to redistribute points all the time, and I have thought of no real systematic way to estimate the optimal distribution this one was based on feeling more than anything ;).

Spell Shield: 30 points
Thick Skinned: 35 points
Hardy: 51 points
Elemental Defender: 51 points

The Mage

After some DPS parses I estimate ~25-35% of the DPS I do to come from Fire Damage, and the rest from Magic Damage, with a negligible amount from staff attacks. Note: I will medium attack at least once while on Ice or Fire Maelstorm Staff bar, but am currently using a Lightning Staff so I’m not. Calculations show we want to go full into Thaumaturge. Elfborn is really important, but because of rounding in damage calculations, increase in DPS only occurs at certain CP investments. The rest goes into Blessed and one point in Spell Erosion/Elemental Expert although I’ve not tested if this is actually optimal. This results in:

Blessed: 4 points
Elfborn: 61 points
Spell Erosion: 1 point
Elemental Expert: 1 point
Thaumaturge: 100 points

Gear

[img]http://i.imgur.com/hCKP5cT.jpg[/img]

Since DPS and heals both scale from the same set bonusses, the focus lies on maximizing Spell Damage whilst using Spell Power Cure (SPC), which is the number one set for group healers. Molag Kena gives spell damage as 1 set bonus, but we don’t want the 2set bonus, so another random monster item can be added. The only ones that make sense are the ones that have a 1set Max Health bonus; Maw of the Infernal, Spawn of Mephala, Nerien’eth, Nightflame, Scourge, or Valkyn will do. To make full use of the Undaunted Mettle passive the two monster items should contain a Medium and a Heavy armor piece, since SPC is all Light. Max Magicka enchants on all armor items and all traits should be Divines. Jewelry should all be arcane Willpower items with Max Spell Damage enchants. This build makes full use of the new Maelstrom items, one Restoration and one Destruction staff. Although other weapons might give more raw spell damage, certain Skills from both trees are a must and so equipping these staves is a necessity. For maximal effectiveness the Restoration staff is Precise, whilst the Destruction Staff is Sharpened.

.:Skills:.

Remember the goal is to provide some healing, buffs/debuffs for group, supply resources, and do as much damage as possible.

All-round Setup

[img]http://i.imgur.com/gM3XhLA.jpg[/img]

This is my standard setup. I chuck cheap [Essence of Magicka] pots that drop from NPC’s, and I can cater to Magicka and/or Stamina DD’s.

Restoration Staff

1 Breath of Life
2 Rapid Regeneration
3 Combat Prayer
4 Structured Entropy
5 Reflective Light
U Agressive Horn

Destruction Staff

1 Repentance
2 Mystic Orbs
3 Blazing Spear
4 Elemental Drain
5 Radiant Oppression
U Solar Prison

R2,R3,R4,R5,RU,D1,D2,D3,D4 are all skills that do damage or heal, but more importantly, give buffs to yourself or group members. The outliers are;

R1, Breath of Life; is too good to pass up on, you sometimes need this ‘o shit’-button.
R5, Radiant Opression; with all buffs applied, all health bars full, and NPC health bar critically low (~25%) start channeling this for some nice DPS.
DU, Solar Prison; another ‘o shit’-button, that also does some nice damage if synergy is used.

For bosses, I sometimes swap Rapid Regeneration for Siphon Spirit, since the magicka return is better and it also procs SPC.

Skill optimalization

Sometimes you know you will run with all Stamina or all Magicka users, sometimes a team consists of you and three Nightblades, and maybe you will want to run worldrecord times or do new content in the near future that requires you to have the most optimal build. Then it’s time to use [Essence of Spell Power] on cooldown, which in turn frees up some space on the skillbar.

In this scenario entropy is a waste of space, so it’s off the bar. If you have 3 Magicka group mates, get rid of Blazing Spear, and get something like Proximity Detonation instead. If there are no magicka users, you can get rid of Elemental Drain and Mystic Orbs leaving room for Inner Light. Your bar will also depend heavily on the content and if single or multiple opponents are the target. Puncturing Sweep is a good example of a must-have skill for vDSA to jab things to death before they even get out the portal.

Skill Rotation

With the build itself completely explained, it is time to explain skill rotation. Before a fight starts, SPC should be procced on all group members, just activate Rapid Regeneration twice, and repeat every 20 seconds or so. The reason to do this every 20 seconds is because SPC is active for 10, and the HoT itself is not important enough to spam it 4 seconds earlier to have an uptime of 100%, do damage instead. Just before everyone runs in, throw one Combat Prayer onto the whole group and the fight can begin. Use WH before big boss fights.

For single target bosses; activate SE then RL, swap bars, debuff with ED, throw a shard and maybe give some orbs. RL is the spammable DPS skill, so use that while everything else is up. RL and CP have roughly the same running time, so after one such a rotation, reapply them in that order, whilst reapplying SE when needed. At ~25% health, depending how much magicka you have left, start using RO as excecute.

For trash mobs it’s almost the same except that AoE abilities are more important, so RL first and then SE, and focus on spamming MO while BS is always in the middle of the trash.

.:DPS Screenshots:.

One of the issues of being the healer is that sometimes FTC resets during a fight so that it is hard to get the complete DPS picture. I did 1 vWGT run specifically to take some screenshots.

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