Templar PvE build: skills, stigmas, boards and gear priorities
How a Templar holds the boss and turns every Block into party damage: keys, skill levels and picks, stigmas, boards, Genus Insight, arcana and gear lines.
The job
You are the tank. Hold the boss, turn it away from the group, and block as much as you can. Every Block fires 
Fury: you and your party get +11.3% PvE Damage Boost for 20 seconds. A Templar who blocks a lot is a Templar whose group kills faster.
You still do real damage. 
Judgment and 
Punishment carry it, 
Taunt keeps the boss on you, and 
Empyrean Lord's Punishment and 
Doom Shield
Keys
| Key | Skills, bottom first | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Right click | Judgment,  Shield Smite,  Pummel | The game fires the lowest skill that is ready. Judgment wins whenever it is lit, Shield Smite fires when it is not, Pummel fills the gaps. |
| Left click |  Vicious Strike | Your basic attack; it also restores MP. |
| E |
Set the in-macro key to right click; it is empty by default. Then hold left and right click together and the two stacks run themselves. 
Defiance has no quickslot: the game uses it from its own key.
Opening a pull
- Before you close in. For 10 seconds your Defense turns into Attack.
- From up to 20 m. +20,000 Enmity and Shrink on the boss for 15 seconds: -200 Accuracy and -10% Attack.
Judgment only lands on a target that is stunned or knocked down, and most bosses are immune to both. On a boss it comes from two places: Doom Shield's 7-second window, and a 7% chance on every hit against an immune target. With no cooldown at level 16, none of those windows go to waste.
Skill levels
You learn a skill to 10. Gear lines, Daevanion skill nodes and arcana take it further, up to 20. Picks 1 to 3 open at level 8, pick 4 at 12, pick 5 at 16, and the third pick waits for 20. Spend levels where a pick is waiting.
| Skill | Aim for | Picks | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judgment | 20 | 3, 4, 5 | Extra damage, every hit a crit, no cooldown. Your main damage. |
| Vicious Strike | 20 | 3, 4, 5 | +50% Multi-Hit, a second off Warding Strike on every hit, and the Threatening Blow chain. |
| Pummel | 20 | 3, 5, then 4 | Up to +12% on fewer targets and one more Punishing Strike. Pick 4 takes 2 seconds off Punishment whenever Punishing Strike lands. |
| Punishment | 20 | 2, 3, 5 | Damage over time, +30% Skill Speed for a faster charge, and at 16 it ignores Block and Evasion and always crits. |
Passives
Take every passive to 10, then put extra levels into these three, in this order.
| Passive | What it does | Why it comes first |
|---|---|---|
| Fury | +11.3% PvE Damage Boost for 20 s on you and the party on every Block, and +0.2% Frontal Attack Damage Boost | It is the reason a party wants you. Levels raise a buff that five people share. |
 Impact Hit | +11.2% Impact-type Chance, +0.3% Double Chance | More extra hits on everything you press. |
 Insulting Roar | +100% Enmity Boost; on Block, a hit with a large amount of Enmity | Threat that comes for free from blocking. |
Punishing Benediction (+100 Critical Hit and a 50% extra-damage proc), 
Block Pain, 
Enhance Health and 
Ironclad Defense sit at 10 with no extra effort. 
Warding Shield,
Stigmas
| Stigma | Level | Picks | What it does for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taunt | 5, then 10 | 1, 2, 3 | Takes the boss back. Pick 1 at level 5 makes Shrink cut the boss's PvE Damage Tolerance by 25%, a damage buff for the whole party. |
 Battlefield Banner | 10, then 15 | 1, 3, 4 | Attack from your Defense, +10% Multi-Hit, a bigger share of Defense later, and 30 seconds off the cooldown. |
| Empyrean Lord's Punishment | 10, then 15 | 1, 2, 3 | Always stuns an NPC that is not immune, 100 Stagger with pick 2, +10% PvE Damage Boost for 10 s with pick 3. |
| Doom Shield | 5, then 15 | 1, 2, 3 | Opener, shield and Judgment window; pick 1 resets Annihilate, pick 2 adds +200 Block, pick 3 resets it when something dies. |
The swaps, for fights that ask for something else:
Shield of Protection: a guaranteed Shield Block every 20 seconds, with +100% Block Damage Reduction. From level 5 you get two casts in a row. It blocks the yellow telegraphs; red ones cannot be blocked, so dodge those. Put it in Battlefield Banner's slot when a boss hits harder than your healer can handle.
Noble Armor: +1,313 Max HP for 5 minutes on a 5-minute cooldown, so it is always up. Good while you learn a fight; it gives up damage for comfort.
Nezekan's Shield: a 3,781 shield on you and the party within 40 m. For a boss that hits everyone.
Second Skin: +30% PvE Damage Tolerance for 10 seconds. Keep it for the one big hit.
Daevanion boards
| Board | Opens | Take first | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
 Nezekan (Templar) | 12 | Combat Speed, Cooldown Reduction | Faster everything: more Judgments, more blocks, more Fury. |
 Zikel (Templar) | 20 | Damage Tolerance, Damage Boost, Accuracy | Survival and damage on one board, and Accuracy keeps Taunt landing. |
| Vaizel (Templar) | 30 | Critical Damage Boost | Judgment crits on every hit at 20, so crit damage pays off. |
Every one of the first four boards carries skill nodes. Put them into Judgment, Punishment and Pummel, then Annihilate, Shield Smite and Warding Strike, then Fury, Insulting Roar and Punishing Benediction. Fill the rest with Block, HP, Attack Bonus, Critical Hit and Accuracy. Azphel (Templar) runs on its own points, so open it as well. Most of it is PvP stats; for dungeons its HP and status resist nodes are what count.
Genus Insight
Each of the five genera, Fera, Cogni, Natura, Varian and Special, has nine lines that open one per Insight level and can be locked before you reroll. The lines repeat in a pattern.
| Lines | What can roll there | Take |
|---|---|---|
| 2, 5, 8 | Attack, PvE Attack, Weapon Damage Boost, Boss Attack | Attack or PvE Attack |
| 3, 9 | Damage Boost, Critical Damage Boost, Frontal Damage Boost, PvE Damage Boost, the genus's own damage boost | Frontal or PvE Damage Boost; you always face the boss |
| 6 | PvE Damage Tolerance, Damage Tolerance, Endurance | PvE Damage Tolerance, then Damage Tolerance |
| 1, 4, 7 | Defense lines, plus Accuracy, Block, Max HP and Critical Hit | Accuracy until Taunt stops missing, then Block or HP |
Special is different: no Accuracy or Block anywhere, Attack-type lines on 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8, and Power Shard damage among them. Take Attack there, and Power Shard damage if you run shards. Insight 10 on all five genera gives the title 
Unbound by Genus.
Arcana
| Card | God stat | Why |
|---|---|---|
 Chalice of Vigor | Time | Combat Speed |
 Parchment of Vigor | Life | HP |
 Compass of Vigor | Freedom | Accuracy, so Taunt and Enmity land |
 Bell of Magic | Destruction, Justice when enhanced | Attack, then Defense |
 Mirror of Magic | Wisdom, Illusion when enhanced | More double hits, then shorter cooldowns |
The Chalice, Parchment and Compass are where Judgment, Punishment, Pummel and Shield Smite levels roll. The Bell and Mirror carry your passives: Fury and Insulting Roar on one, Impact Hit on the other.
The later slots follow the same idea: 
Scales of Punishment for Destruction, a 
Key of Punishment for Attack Bonus and an 
Hourglass of Protection for Defense Bonus.
Gear and soul binding
| Slot | Lines, best first |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Weapon Damage Boost, Combat Speed, Might, Precision, Damage Boost, Multi-Hit Chance, Attack |
| Guard | Weapon Damage Boost, Combat Speed, Damage Boost, Block, Might, Precision |
| Helmet | Incoming Heal or Double Chance, then Fury, Impact Hit |
| Shoulders | Critical Damage Boost, then Fury, Impact Hit, Accuracy |
| Chest | Damage Boost, then Fury, Impact Hit, Critical Hit |
| Legs | Damage Tolerance, then Fury, Impact Hit, Perfect Chance |
| Gloves and boots | Combat Speed or Move Speed, then Fury, Impact Hit, Perfect Chance |
| Cape | Fury, Impact Hit, Double Chance, Attack increase |
The pattern: one damage or survival line the slot is good at, then the passive levels, then Critical Hit and Attack. Keep Block on armour wherever it rolls, because Block is what keeps Fury going.
Accessories
- Earrings and necklace: Fury, Impact Hit, Insulting Roar, then Might, Precision, Accuracy, Critical Hit, Attack.
- Rings: Vicious Strike, Punishment, Judgment, then Might, Precision, Pummel, Warding Strike, Attack. Two rings with the same three skills are how those skills reach 20.
- Brooch, such as
Kaldrix Brooch: Might, Precision, Accuracy, Critical Hit, Constitution.
Manastones and theostones
On Intermediate manastones take Block, HP, Attack and Accuracy Bonus. Superior manastones can also roll percentages, and those win: Frontal Damage Boost first, because you stand in front of the boss the whole fight, then Weapon Damage Boost or Critical Damage Boost, then Damage Boost, then Attack.
Put two different theostones on the sword and guard, for example 
Theostone: Aultross's Promise (10% chance for 500 Wind damage) and 
Theostone: Zikel's Vestige (1% chance for 5,000 Fire damage). Two identical theostones only apply once.
Wings and titles
Wear debaui-choesanggeup-nalgae: Penetration and Accuracy Bonus from the start. jamsikdoen-geumbit-nalgae is the upgrade for a tank, with frontal attack and Frontal Damage Boost. gongheoui-talriseura-nalgae adds Defense and Evasion Bonus, and tusaui-nalgae gives Impact Accuracy and 1% Damage Tolerance.
The wings worth enhancing: pureun-jeongwangui-nalgae, ilkkaeun-geungjiui-nalgae, pureun-padoui-nalgae, tusaui-nalgae, deuramata-dungjiui-nalgae, jamsikdoen-geumbit-nalgae, sup-jeongryeongui-nalgae, heosangui-meari-nalgae, akmongui-nalgae, guwonbateun-tarakui-nalgae, gongheoui-talriseura-nalgae and debaui-choesanggeup-nalgae.
| Slot | Title | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Guardian of Verteron (Asmodian: Guardian of Altgard), later Unbound by Genus | +PvE Damage Boost from the monolith; Unbound by Genus adds Critical Hit and Attack on top |
| Defense |  Saint of Verteron (Asmodian: Saint of Altgard |
Pantheon
God stats decide the stand. For a Templar: Destruction for Attack, Death for Critical Hit, Freedom for Accuracy, Space for Block, Illusion for Cooldown Reduction, Wisdom for double hits, Life for HP.
- Colossus: colossus-of-zikel for Destruction and Death.
- Sculptures: Freedom, Death and Space. fafnirs-poison-blood carries Freedom and Death on one placement, shard-of-israphel carries Space. kromedes-desire spreads three stats while the stand is still short of pieces.
- Masterpieces: Illusion, Wisdom, then Life, for example ereshkigals-mirror, muertes-lantern and seed-of-life.
Mistakes
- Pressing Judgment on a boss with no Doom Shield window. It barely fires; let the right-click stack decide.
- Skipping Accuracy. Taunt and Enmity that miss mean the boss turns on someone else.
- Leaving Taunt below 5. Pick 1 is the 25% Tolerance cut on the boss, one of the best party buffs you have.
- Taunting trash. Keep it for taking the boss back; your normal hits already hold a pack.
- Blowing Second Skin or Shield of Protection on trash. Save them for the hit that would kill you.
- Facing the boss toward the party. Frontal attacks should only ever hit you.
Debilitating Smash
Flash Rampage
Annihilate
Warding Strike
Shield Rush
Poach
Survival Willpower
Guarding Seal
Executing Blade
Through Hell and Back
