Melee spells like farron flashsword and soul greatsword ranged spells like crystal soul spear defence spells such as homing soulmass overall faith is generally the better choice as you have a range of spells to complement melee combat. Also, remember you'll need 50-60 faith/int to make the buffs/spells worthwhile.
Due to the buff allowing the Orbs synergy to be used by multiple people, Templar currently has no reason to run their own class ability, Spear Shards, over generic Orbs. Class abilities should be just as good (and arguably a little bit better) than generic abilities! On live, the damage between Blazing Spear and Mystic Orb is roughly similar even when accounting for Burning Light procs. Sure, Orbs can miss 20-25% of the damage ticks on small targets, but it still breaks even as long as a single ally pops the synergy. The only advantage to Spear is Minor Protection and Piercing Spear passives, but both of these are readily available from other Aedric Spear abilities. There's really no convincing reason for a Templar to use our own class ability, which is a shame because it's one of our best abilities visually and fits the class theme better than a magic floaty ball. I like that other classes have Orbs as an option, but Templar's class synergy should bring the same functionality so that all 6/6 classes aren't shoehorned into running the same skill. TL;DR: Spear Shards needs the same multi-synergy effect as Orbs.