Templars inThe Elder Scrolls Onlineexcel at three things: taking damage, dealing damage, and healing damage. They are a multi-faceted class with equal emphasis on all three traditional party roles and thus are suited to the skill trees of just about every weapon inThe Elder Scrolls Online.
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The class’s three skill trees, Aedric Spear, Dawn’s Wrath, and Restoring Light, are eachoriented around a different aspectof the Templar. Depending on the role one wants to play in a party setting, though, the choice of weapon in both the primary slot and secondary slot is an important decision.
Updated Jul 11, 2025 by Erik Petrovich:Templars can play a lot of roles, but some weapons (and weapon Skill Trees) are just more useful than others. The Dual Wielding Skill Tree was missing from this ranking previously, now included towards the back of the list. This is because Templars, while good in close combat, thrive when given plenty of Tanking and Support abilities alongside their normal skillset. While it’s perfectly possible to try a Dual Wield build as a Templar,other weapons in Elder Scrolls Onlineare more natural fits for the class for their more useful abilities, passives, and morphs.
Two-Handed Weapons: Greatswords, Battle Axes, Mauls
Two-Handed weapons inThe Elder Scrolls Onlineunlock a skill tree that can grant what can only be described as Berserker-like abilities. The DPS-focused skill tree grants skills likeBerserker Strike, an immensely powerful cleave ultimate, as well as self-buffs in theBrawlerandRally. The Templar skill treegives plenty of damaging abilities, but Two-Handed weapons unlock some powerful close-combat skills that DPS-oriented Templars can’t do without.
Damage is not the Templar’s go-to role, that would be either Tanking or Support, thanks to the class’s great party buffing and self-sustaining skills in its Dawn’s Wrath and Restoring Light skill trees. However, if a Templar player wants to spec purely into bashing their opponents' skulls in with their melee might, a Two-Handed weapon is the best option for the primary weapon slot.
Ranged Physical: Bows
For most classes, Bows are looked upon in a very similar light: great as a secondary weapon, but not for the primary slot (aside from the Warden class). Templars excel when they can be in the fray of combat and can pump out cleaves, AoE abilities, and Tanking abilities while allies focus on taking foes down. Bows are, unfortunately, just better at a range.
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However, the Bow skill tree gives enough utility to the Templar that its skill tree works well for the back ability bar. The Bow can debuff enemies with theFocused Aimmorph, deal AoE damage with theVolleyability, and even grants increased critical strike rating across the board in theAccuracy passive. Keep a Bow in thesecondary slot as a Templarto get combat initiated much earlier than usual, but also consider that a lot of the abilities unlocked in the weapons' skill tree are Stamina-based, which will compete with many Templar morphs.
Dual Wielding: Axes, Swords, Maces, Daggers
Templars excel at all three traditional roles in an MMO, but it tends towards Tanking more than others. The Dual Wielding Skill Tree shouldtheoretically be a perfect fitfor its mix of damaging abilities, crowd control, and self-sustain. However, it’s not nearly as powerful as other options for the Templar, and some self-healing and support abilities in the tree overlap with Class Skills for the Templar.
Dual Wielding has the capability to make a player much more hardy through its many self-healing effects, though. TheFlurryability morphBloodthirstheals a significant amount of health while also dealing decent damage, a good pairing for a close combat Templar, whileWhirlwindandBlade Cloakgrant AoE damage in close range for the class.
Ranged Magical: Lightning Staffs, Inferno Staffs, Ice Staffs
The Destruction Staff skill tree, unlocked through the use of Lightning, Inferno, and Ice staffs, is one of the more powerful damage-oriented skill trees inThe Elder Scrolls Online. Templars are a great Support class, one of the go-tos for its Restoring Light skill tree – while Support should use Restoration Staffs in the primary slot, having a Destruction staff in the secondary slot is a must.
Support Templars using theRestoration Staff skill treewill find it relatively easy to keep a partyalive and thrivingand still have time to get a few hits of their own in. Because Support Templars are typically already at a range, it only makes sense toalso spec into the Destruction Staff skill treefor maximum damage output when the party doesn’t need attending. Some great abilities to spec into areWall of Elements, which is both a damaging and supporting spell, andWeakness to Elements, which reduces Spell Resistance significantly.
Ranged Support: Restoration Staffs
The two primary roles for Templars inThe Elder Scrolls Onlineare Tank and Support, that is to say, the guy that takes hits andthe guy that heals them. When playing into the Support role, the Restoration Staff is the best option for the primary slow by a landslide for its powerful group heals. Though Templars have access to good healing abilities in the Restoring light tree, the Restoration Staff tree is more specialized to the task.
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TheCombat Prayerability, for one, is a must-equip for any Support player looking to buff and heal their allies at the same time. TheRadiating Regenerationability is a powerful AoE heal, and theHealing Wardmorph can save a player from certain death. The Templar’sRushed CeremonyandRitual of Retributionachieve similar effects and can be mixed and matched according to the player’s preference.
One-Handed Weapons: Axes, Swords, Maces, Daggers
While Templars are great in the Support role, they are best when they can be up front taking hits so the rest of the party doesn’t have to worry about it. The One-Handed and Shield skill tree inThe Elder Scrolls Onlineis, in many ways, the game’s dedicated tanking tree – at leastwhen it comes to direct combatabilities. Templars have amazing self-sustain, too, which add up to make the best Tanking class in the game.
The One-Handed and Shield skill tree grants theRansackability, which generates additional threat on enemies, as well as theHeroic SlashandShield Disciplineabilities which improve resource generation and blocking potential, respectively. Tanking Templars tend to pair this weapon skillset withHeavy Armorfor its pure defensive capabilities, though Medium Armor can beeffective for movement too, as long as the player keeps an eye on their health.
