Building Your Character - Elitist Builds

[LethalVector]

Ah I see. You were referring to buffs. Not actual passive abilities you spend skill points on. That makes more sense.

[irons]

Ah I see. You were referring to buffs. Not actual passive abilities you spend skill points on. That makes more sense.

The thing is that some people ask me if you get the boni of let's say Elder Dragon (+5% HP reg for each skill on your bar) when a skill out of that line is only on the other hotbar. Which you don't get.

[LethalVector]

I see. Yes that would be very OP if that occurred. Especially when looking at an assassination NB who could just stack assassination abilities to get an ungodly amount of crit and crit damage.

[Musclemagic]

What do you guys thinks about this interesting build idea?

It would be for PVP and Solo PVE:

Khajiit – NB – Heavy Armor – DW/Resto

Resto (Power)-

[*]

Blur

[*]

Evasion (Unlock this by getting enough experience with Medium Armor [Thankfully you'll only need to spent 1 point to get the Ult, since you'll be 7/7 Heavy after that one point you won't want to unlock anything else in Medium])

[*]

Regeneration

[*]

Force Siphon

[*]

Summon Shade

[*]

Consuming Darkness

DW (Lifesteal Daggers)-

[*]

Teleport Strike

[*]

Flurry

[*]

Drain Power

[*]

Haste

[*]

Siphoning Strikes

[*]

Death Stroke

2 MP : 1 ST : 1.5 HP MP/ST will be kept up by Siphoning Strikes so you can focus most of your armor enchantments either into Power or HP. Force Siphon before haste+double dagger attacks are going to keep you alive (esp in heavy armor) for quite a long time.. pretty sweet resource synergy with those 3 abilities.

Start by buffing yourself for the battle at hand with Resto Staff equipped. Swap to DW and apply Haste/Siphoning Strikes. For ~15s you'll be a badass in heavy armor who's hard to hit and pumping out a lot of damage through teleport strike + flurry combos. Keep your MP/ST up with regular attacks.

If things stop going your way then switch back to Resto and re-apply the defensives until you are able to Consuming Darkness and escape.

Say you activate Dragon Blood or Spiked Armor and then you change bars, do you still get +12% healing from the passive? It's a "while affected by an ability from this bar" rather than "while an ability from this bar's slotted" passive..so I'd assume so.

[Musclemagic]

Sorry for the double post--

 

Doczero asked me to further explain the buffed NB build I posted earlier, I ended up making revisions to it:

 

In 1v1, unless you're fighting a healer, you'll almost always want to have the following cast-sequence:

 

1) Force Siphon (since it's a cast time, if you cast this one after another pre-buff's applied it takes up 1.5s of the duration of previously casted Timed spells.)

2) Blur, Evasion, Summon Shade in any order.

-Swap Bars

3) Teleport Strike & Flurry until out of a resource.

4) Haste & Siphoning Strikes until you've got resources again.

 

-If the battle's going your way at this point, then Teleport Strike & Flurry combos until the target's dead, maybe using Death Stroke if they're on the defensive.

 

-If the battle's going poorly at this point, then switch back to Resto bar and reapply buffs, this time including Regeneration. If the battle's going really poorly, use Consuming Darkness and get out of there.

 

-If there's more than one target, the only difference you'll want to make is to cast Drain Power... Actually.. I don't think it's worth it.. Take Mark Target in Resto Bar instead of Summon Shade, and put Summon Shade in DW bar instead of Drain Power.

 

 

If you're fighting a healer then all you really want is Summon Shade from your buff-bar, unless it doesn't do much damage..then no need for the buff-bar at all.

 

Against a healer the sequence would just look like this:

1) Teleport Strike

2) Flurry

-Repeat 1&2 until out of MP or ST.

3) Haste

4) Siphoning Strikes

-Auto attack until able to use teleport strikes and flurries again.

5) Death stroke and it's over, low heals = dead healer.

 

A sorc healer with Dark Exchange, Bound Armor, Lightning Form, Blessing of Protection, and Regeneration + Grand Healing will be extremely hard to kill with this build. The good thing about fighting a healer is that they're not going to be able to kill you, between all your mitigation and passive healing ability there's no way they can get your health down as a healer. A tank DK will also be very hard to kill, but I think you'd get the kill first in 1v1 due to their lack of self-heals.

 

Between your mitigation from Armor & Shade, them being stunned a lot, and your high dodge+their miss chance, you won't take much damage so just Regeneration + Force Siphon (with fast Daggers that are also Lifestealing enchanted) means you'll probably have no problem surviving pretty much any 1v1 fight except against a mirror class. Even against a sorc you don't need to worry, they can do a lot of damage but have less single-target damage and less mitigation as you... also, dodging/them missing = the best mitigation in my opinion because it doesn't just reduce damage--if something misses then the effects don't get to you either.

 

At the same time as all that passive survival (passive as in not reaction-based), you have huge capacity for burst-damage to single targets.

 

 

Hmmmm... Actually... Now that Summon Shade is on the more active bar, I think taking Immovable is a better choice. It also balances MP:ST a lot better as well as giving you more self-utility.

 

 

Updated-

Khajiit – NB – Heavy Armor – DW/Resto

Resto (Power)-

• [*]

Mark Target

[*]

Force Siphon

[*]

Blur

[*]

Evasion (Unlock this by using Medium Armor before switching to 7/7 Heavy for all the passives as well as to unlock Immovable)

[*]

Regeneration

[*]

Consuming Darkness

DW (Lifesteal Daggers)-

• [*]

Teleport Strike

[*]

Flurry

[*]

Haste

[*]

Siphoning Strikes

[*]

Immovable

[*]

Death Stroke

[Musclemagic]

I just had an interesting idea:

 

With only 1000 stamina, if you make all of your enchantments +ST Regen, and wear Medium Armor, then your ST bar will fill extremely fast... If you're a sorc, this would allow you to use Dark Exchange pretty much any time...... Medium Armor passives beyond the +ST Regen are also pretty good all-around, meaning that if you make a Casting-Sorc with Medium Armor, not only will you have an infinite resource of health/mp, but you'll also have a higher base-armor and the other benefits from medium armor. You won't have the +Spell damage things, or the lower cost of magicka abilities..

 

But, if you're going to make a Healer-Sorc, rather than a DPS (that would be better with the Light armor passives), then I think Medium armor with an +ST Regen build could be really really cool!!

[Xenon]

[*]Evasion (Unlock this by getting enough experience with Medium Armor [Thankfully you'll only need to spent 1 point to get the Ult, since you'll be 7/7 Heavy after that one point you won't want to unlock anything else in Medium])

Evasion, being a medium armor active skill, will be grayed out on your hot bar if you don't wear at least one piece of medium armor.

 

 

Start by buffing yourself for the battle at hand with Resto Staff equipped. Swap to DW .

What make you think you will keep restoration buffs after you no longer wield the restoration staff....?

[Musclemagic]

Evasion, being a medium armor active skill, will be grayed out on your hot bar if you don't wear at least one piece of medium armor.

 

 

What make you think you will keep restoration buffs after you no longer wield the restoration staff....?

 

If you cast Regeneration on someone else, then switch weapons, it'd stay. Blessing of Protection probably wouldn't, it shouldn't if it does!

Force Siphon surely would, it's a timed applied effect rather than something that occurs passively within an ability.

 

 

Edit: That was in regard to this build, right?

Khajiit – NB – Heavy Armor – DW/Resto

Resto (Power)-

[*]

Mark Target - pvp and solo pve (Agony in Dungeon PVE)

[*]

Force Siphon

[*]

Blur

[*]

Evasion (Unlock this by using Medium Armor before switching to Heavy Armor)

[*]

Regeneration

[*]

Consuming Darkness

DW (Lifesteal Daggers)-

[*]

Teleport Strike

[*]

Flurry

[*]

Haste

[*]

Siphoning Strikes

[*]

Immovable (Cripple in all PVE)

[*]

Death Stroke

[Xenon]

 

If you cast Regeneration on someone else, then switch weapons, it'd stay. 

Is this piece of information something you actually *know*

- or is this yet another thing that you just have a feeling for?

[Musclemagic]

Is this piece of information something you actually *know*

- or is this yet another thing that you just have a feeling for?

 

It's something I know through a'priori knowledge. This discussion could turn philosophical very quickly, but if you want to know if I've seen this happen the answer is no. Everything I've ever posted on this site is opinion based.

[Xenon]

It's something I know through a'priori knowledge. This discussion could turn philosophical very quickly, but if you want to know if I've seen this happen the answer is no. Everything I've ever posted on this site is opinion based.

Fair enough

[Rally]

I do realy love this Xenon guy

[Francis]

You know, you guys are gonna have to do this all over again when the game launches... So, sorry I haven't taken much of an interest.

 

But I think you all forgot one really important thing: Magelight...

[Xenon]

Magelight is an active ability in the mage guild skill line, but since it both take up 20% of your hot bar AND reduce magicka regeneration while you run it I don't think most people will slot it. Activate it *after* you been sneak attacked would be rather counter productive as it is pretty tricky to re-sneak mid-combat as it is. Against a non-nightblade it would pretty much only be useful if you spread thin and go solo in PvP (but in that case you would probably be sneaking yourself anyway....)

 

Good counter to a night blade that depend on shadow cloak and veiled strikes.... but even here you would probably be better off with Immovable from the heavy armor line (no more stun and you take a lot less damage - if night blade follow up his veiled strike with a power attack you can block it and cause off balance to him instead which you can follow up with a power attack of your own).

[Francis]

No, man, I presume we're going to keep a rotation of slotted abilities for different situations, and not fixed ones. Nobody mentioned Magelight at all.

 

If Tamriel Foundry is to be believed, the nightblabe will be the most common class, and I suggest we cast Magelight in our idle wandering time to make sure that things like those guilds that consist of nothing but nightblades in Tamriel Foundry don't just walk past us at the frontlines. They went invisible really long in the Quakecon video.

 

Plus, how else could you kill squishy nightblades if they kept disappearing?

[Xenon]

It was a templar in quakecon using sneak not a nightblade using invisibility. Invisibility only last a few seconds. To force a nightblade out of Invisibility you simply hit your pbaoe... shrug.

[Francis]

I'm pretty sure Paul Sage commented that it was a nightblade. Shoddycast commented on the uncanny length of the invisibility on their ESO Weekly: Quakecon video. I wasn't talking about the character Nick Konkle was using, if that's what you thought.

 

And the point blank area of effect thing... I don't know. I thought invisibility only broke when the caster attacks. We'll find out sooner or later.

[Rally]

And i wouldn't realy give too much abt the majority of those users, if u consider their forum entrys.and pbaoe ftw. most invisplayer are to dumb to juke efficiently

[Xenon]

I am talking about Eliza, the character level 16 dark elf templar using bow, dual wield and sneak that they showcased on Quakecon both in solo game and also later in the same clip in a dungeon:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JWXjzLEGV9U#t=70

 

 

 

Please link to the video where they showcase a Nightblade using invisibility for a long period of time.

(or are we talking about the Nightblade in the party played by someone else during the dungeon crawl...?)

[Francis]

Chill. I sifted through it again, I think it's the guy with the restoration staff that keeps becoming transparent.

 

We don't know if pbaoe does work on nightblades. And on the video I just noticed that his attacking doesn't remove the transparent effect either. Let's not argue, shall we? I only put Magelight out there.

[Musclemagic]

At first, all my builds took Magelight. But when the tooltip was leaked it was disappointing. The radius is so small that it's practically useless for keeping stealthies away, they can still get within 12m (which is closer than needed for almost every ability that's not melee...and since, unless it's a NB using Invis, you can see people sneaking when they're really close anyway--it's useless against a NB in Invis.). It only lasts 15s, I thought it was going to be always-on.

 

Right now it feels like the only thing it realllllly counters is when a NB is going to use Consuming Darkness to run away, and even then..as soon as they're 12m away it doesn't work anyway. Also, a NB will be able to run away from most casters with ease because a caster isn't great at chasing...they're better at kiting..and the magelight will probably only be worth using on some caster builds if they change it to increase magic damage like they said they would (and they did on the Summoning abilities for Sorc, which was the same time they said they'd give Magelight a damage buff when it's out as well, so hopefully they do this.)

 

It's just not that good in it's current form yet, but with a little bit of tweaking I'd really like to take it on my Temp healer. Although..if I go NB melee then I hope it doesn't get buffed! HAha

[Xenon]

The party in that video consist of:

 

dual wield / bow dark elf dps templar (POV)

dual wield dps dragon knight

light armor restoration staff healer nord nightblade

one hand and shield lizard nightblade

 

 

Shadow Cloak rank I is a nightblade (Shadow) ability that give invisibility for 2.5 seconds

Not sure if higher ranks give invisibility for a longer period of time (not at all unlikely) and if so, how long.

It got no cooldown so you can re-cast it before it end to keep up invisibility.

It is pretty expansive. At level 1 it cost 72% of your total magicka resource

- and the caster does not regenerate magicka while invisible...

 

 

The only other ability in the game that grant invisibility is the ultimate Consuming Darkness.

This is a AoE that last for 12.3 seconds at rank 1. It snare enemies and grant invisibility to the caster.

This invisibility is broken for 1 second each time the caster attack.

The area also trigger the Slip Away synergy that let friends of the caster gain invisibility.

This is a rather expansive ultimate.

[Xenon]

There is no cooldown on bolt escape (but you will burn magicka fast if you spam it, then again - it is cheaper than shadow cloak and most sorceres probably have a bigger magicka pool and wear more light armor pieces than most nightblades to begin with).

Mage can also wield a two hander as secondary weapon for Critical Charge once he bolt into range of whoever he is hunting

...or instantly encase his target for several seconds

And most ranged abilities are instant cast and can be thrown while running behind someone anyway.....

 

So even if they are not great at hunting I would not say they are bad at hunting targets that tries to run either.

 

 

 

"Best" pursuer would probably be a Bow wielding Dawn's Wrath sprinting Orc in full medium armor.

First ability they get is a relatively cheap (and thus spammable) 28m range instant snare.

[Musclemagic]

The party in that video consist of:

 

dual wield / bow dark elf dps templar (POV)

dual wield dps dragon knight

light armor restoration staff healer nord nightblade

one hand and shield lizard nightblade

 

 

Shadow Cloak rank I is a nightblade (Shadow) ability that give invisibility for 2.5 seconds

Not sure if higher ranks give invisibility for a longer period of time (not at all unlikely) and if so, how long.

It got no cooldown so you can re-cast it before it end to keep up invisibility.

It is pretty expansive. At level 1 it cost 72% of your total magicka resource

- and the caster does not regenerate magicka while invisible...

 

 

The only other ability in the game that grant invisibility is the ultimate Consuming Darkness.

This is a AoE that last for 12.3 seconds at rank 1. It snare enemies and grant invisibility to the caster.

This invisibility is broken for 1 second each time the caster attack.

The area also trigger the Slip Away synergy that let friends of the caster gain invisibility.

This is a rather expansive ultimate.

 

I think he meant at like 17:10 in that link where the NB healer was using his DW bar instead of Resto bar, he must have been Cloaking multiple times to stay invisible for more than 2.5s. Or, like you said, it could have been a higher rank where it has a longer duration.

[Musclemagic]

There is no cooldown on bolt escape (but you will burn magicka fast if you spam it, then again - it is cheaper than shadow cloak and most sorceres probably have a bigger magicka pool and wear more light armor pieces than most nightblades to begin with).

Mage can also wield a two hander as secondary weapon for Critical Charge once he bolt into range of whoever he is hunting

...or instantly encase his target for several seconds

And most ranged abilities are instant cast and can be thrown while running behind someone anyway.....

 

So even if they are not great at hunting I would not say they are bad at hunting targets that tries to run either.

 

 

 

"Best" pursuer would probably be a Bow wielding Dawn's Wrath sprinting Orc in full medium armor.

First ability they get is a relatively cheap (and thus spammable) 28m range instant snare.

 

I meant a pure caster, so like...someone who wouldn't be using a 2H or any ability to really close gaps.

EDIT: I do understand that you can Bolt Escape to get close and then use Encase or something to keep them from getting away as a Sorc, no matter what weapon you're wielding, but being able to spam something like Fiery Reach would definitely be better to keep someone in 12m Radius for Magelight, so it's not that effective while playing a typical caster build that would want to kite someone within 12m Radius to begin with.

 

If you're talking speed for pursuing then a NB with Cripple to drain speed as well as Path of Darkness would be better.