grayman8

So I recently purchased the full version of the game after toying with the trial. Decided that my healing trend would continue in MMOs with a Templar in EQ 2.

My question is in reference to an AA leveling build. Now, I have looked at several posts in this forum. I'll be honest - alot of the language is foreign to me. People quote specific abilities, and I probably don't even have any of them yet. I do not want to betray to an Inquisitor - I want to experience alot of the content, and will raid when I finally achieve 80; I'm in no rush to get there.

I did find some useful information in the MT AA spec thread in terms of what I should do at end game, but is it safe to follow the same AA as I level? Will it hinder my leveling speed at all?

Just looking for some guidance from the Templar community. Thanks in advance!

Painter 2008

If you level solo get melee and spell crits in this order (Cleric tree). I leveled this way. Then get STR line end ability. You will love it. Then get AGY line double attack ability.

If you group a lot, get heal crit first.

Dont waste points in EOF (Templar) tree while leveling.

Sadari

There are two general approaches to levelling a templar. The first focuses on melee damage, then adds spell damage. The second gets spell damage first, then adds melee damage.

The stickied Templar's Guide doesn't cover this very well, but here's how I got my AA's for my templar alt:
- First go down the STA line 448 to maximize your melee crit. Also, be sure to get a weapon with a large damage range to maximize your crit damage. For example, three weapons with the same damage rating, but one does 1-200 every 3 seconds, the second does 75-125 every 3 seconds, and the third does 1-400 every 6 seconds. The 1-400 is the best option and the 75-125 is the worst option.
- Then go down the Holy Smites line until you get the final ability, Smite Wrath. Smite Wrath is great, and each prereq ability lowers your power consumption, allowing you to recover from fights faster.
- As soon as you have 50 AA's total, spend the next 10 in the Shadow line (health/power), then spend 5 in Litany of Combat.
- I finished the STA line 44862. It's a great emergency spell while soloing, but as you gain experience, you'll find yourself using it less and less, and may eventually spec away from it.
- Go down the AGI line 448 to max your double-attack.
- Start down the STR line 44. Then respec. I got rid of Divine Aura and went STR 46842, STA 448, AGI 44. Then spend the additional points to get AGI 448 and max your double-attack. If you like Divine Aura while soloing, get STA 44862 STR 46842, then rebuild your double attack (AGI 448) when you hit 70.
- Alternate between the EOF tree debuffs/Blessings line and the Shadow lines (ie., when you get 120, get 2 damage abilities from the new Shadow line)

Of course, you'll want to get an achievement mirror so you can switch between your solo build and a group/healing oriented build.

Also, plan on respeccing a few times as you level.

Sadari
80 Illusionist
75 templar alt (before I betrayed to Inquisitor)

Sadari

I'd increase the priority of the smite line in the EOF tree:
- significantly lower power consumption --> less downtime and less likely to run out of power on tough mobs. I found this was a huge help, especially given the typical solo style of 'run somewhere, kill 5-20 mobs as fast as possible, run to next kill point'.
- decreased casting/reuse times allows higher DPS and better timing for heroic opportunities. Also, with the speed increase, Smite can be cast every other spell, so I spent little time waiting for spells to refresh.
- I haven't done the math on 25% spell damage vs. 28% spell crit chance, but at a casual glance they seem roughly equal.

I got this instead of the spell crit (INT) line.

Sadari

Pinski

Not even close to equal. 25% Spell Damage vs. 28% Spell Crit would only be equal if, a spell crit doubled your damage, but since it only adds 30%(assuming no crit bonus), that means it's 25% vs. 8.4%. Easy choice, 25% wins everytime.

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Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Dissolution on Nektulos
Calaglin, Former Illusionist/Guild Leader of Confirmed on Unrest

grayman8

Great suggestions so far. I think I'll go Smite line first to make everything less costly mana wise, and thus less downtime.

In regards to the mirror thing - How do I go about purchasing one? Does it even cost anything? Or do I need to do a quest for it?

I think everything else was covered quite well. Much appreciated.

Drakhan2002

It is called the "Mirror of Reflected Achievements" or in EQ2 lingo, the "AA mirror". Most guilds have someone that can craft this item - it is a recipie from a tradeskill faction quest (since you're from WoW, you'll should be familiar with faction grinding...welcome to more of it). It basically holds one set of AA's while your character has the other set of AA's loaded - to switch AA specs...you just right-click on the mirror and chose "load", your current spec get saved to the mirror and the saved mirror spec becomes your new AA spec. There is no timer so you can swap back and forth anytime you want. Each toon has his own mirror, so you can't share between alts. Also, it requires you have a residence to put the mirror in (anything from a one-room starter home to a 5-bed room suite...as long as they have a room).

The mirror is helpful for those who like to have a "solo" and a "group" AA spec. For me, I have a "DPS" spec for soloing and a "Heal" spec for raiding/grouping.

The main ingredient is called a "reflective smoldering shard" which will run approximately 2 plat, give or take (check your local broker). This can be obtained in the level 75-80 instances, usually from named mobs...there are enough of them floating on the broker that you can buy one long before you reach the level to hit these instances.

Attuny

You might want to consider starting as an inquisitor and betraying to templar later on. I know you said you didn't want to go that route but it can only do you good.

Leveling up an inqy can heal pretty much as well as a templar, close enough it won't matter. They will however do about double the dps as a templar. When it comes time to betray you will get several AA points for the quest line and it only takes like 4-6 hours to complete. Plus you get to be an odd combination (I'm a dark elf templar).

Just think about it since your main concern seems to be doing damage.

Kelemdor

What about gear for leveling solo? Should I focus on wis/str/sta or wis/int/sta? If I'm looking to have 2 builds, should I have 2 sets of gear? One for healing and one for dpsing?

mafoe

why a gear for healing when you want to level solo?

For soloing all you want STR and INT. All else is irrelevant. And WIS doesnt become relevant for healing either, unless you have the mythical weapon. More important tho is to have gear with +spell damage (if templar).

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