The Nightblade Thread

[Musclemagic]

The Nightblade class is best used for single target, and with melee weapons. It has a few unique advantages, such as Haste, Siphoning Strikes, and hardcore killing power synergy.

 

I've had several private discussions with several people about the Nightblade, and we've all come to a fairly common conclusion on what the best builds will include.

 

Because it's such a good class for single-target damage, the obvious main-bar is Dual Wield, which excels at killing single targets-especially when they're incapacitated, which is another good aspect of the Nightblade.

 

Siphoning Strikes gives nightblade a huge amount of % based regen, so the amount of regen they have isn't quite as important (assuming that enchantments and such are comparably beneficial) as the flat # amount of how much resource you have. Pair Siphoning strikes with Dual Wield and Haste, especially if you've got daggers on, you can imagine how quickly you can refill your resource bars.

 

But, what about survival? Nightblades can easily slip away at the click of one button, the Consuming Darkness ultimate. This gives the NB an unprecedented amount of survival that wouldn't be suggested by their other abilities.

 

So, we build this cookie-cutter spec based on these three foundations: Amazing single-target damage, resource management, and survival.

 

For your second bar you have two options, a bow in case you want to stay out of the fray, or a resto staff in case you want some extra survival. The difference is between Force Siphon which synergizes amazingly with Haste and DW Daggers, and Regeneration which would be used as your only heal. VS, with the Bow, having an AOE Dmg spell, Volley, which is always nice to have. And Snipe, which is also very nice to have.

 

My personal choice is the Resto Staff, but they're both good cookie cutters to base your build off of as a NB.

 

You will want to wear at least 5 pieces of heavy armor because your biggest trouble will be killing people who are in heavy armor, generally melee, but if you're in medium armor like the other NB's running this build without realizing that Siphoning Strikes makes the Stam not as important compared to the survival you get from Heavy...you'll dominate similar builds who are just in Medium. But, the skill Evasion that you get from Medium armor is amazing due to it's long duration, so you want at least 1 (so, I'd take 2 to get a set bonus) of medium.

 

Khajiit is the best class for this build, with extra crit damage on melee attacks it's the perfect candidate. Redguard's extreme amount of Stamina is the next best choice, but a distant one.

 

When it comes to killing a single target, nobody will do better. Expect to win in 1v1, and expect to be the target caller for your group--whoever you Teleport Strike to, is going to die:

 

Khajiit Nightblade, 5 Heavy 2 Medium, DW Daggers/Resto - PVP BARS

DW- Kill Bar

• [*]

Teleport Strike - Get on the target, stun the target for 2s. [*]Flurry - Damage the target for 1.3s for huge amounts of damage (more damage if they're incapacitated, so use as a 1->2 with Teleport Strike) [*]Haste - Amazing in conjunction with Siphoning Strikes and Force Siphon, esp with fast weapons. [*]Siphoning Strikes - Resource Surpreme. [*]Immovable - Unkitable = Unbeatable in 1v1 against a mage!

Resto- Buff Bar

• [*]

Siege Shield or Rapid Maneuver (Siege Shield will give you +10% MP Regen, but Rapid Maneuver might be better for your group because more people will be taking Siege Shield and it's kind of your responsibility as "the rogue" to take Rapid Maneuver. I'd take Maneuver.) - Supports Group [*]Force Siphon - Huge self-heal as well as helping the group against hard-to-kill targets. This, the fact you'll be on the front line, and that you're the best single-target nuker, is why you'll be responsible for PVP target-calling. Unlike a lot of Nightblades, you won't be stalking around not doing anything. Because...... [*]Evasion -  [*]Blur -  Because, with Evasion and Blur you'll be very tanky when you want to be, compared to pretty much anyone else. [*]5th Slot- I'd go either Summon Shade, Mark Target, or Agony depending on the situation and what else you're taking. There's a few other options too that I don't even list below.

 

Ultimate- Consuming Darkness

 

Enchantments: MP and St enchants, balance them based on use, and then all Power probably. Lifesteal on weapons unless you change the build for more damage (which will be better in groups rather than while soloing).

 

Stat Distribution: I'd go 50:50 MP:ST, 

 

So, as with any cookie cutter build, there's a large list of Alternative spells you might want to substitute for different purposes (usually, for what your group needs). Here's a list for your sidebar:

Summon Shade: Summon shade is amazing in PVE because it reduces the damage done by the target by 20% to your whole group, so it supports the tank and the healer a lot. I'd consider this (and agony) a staple in PVE as any type of NB.

 

Cripple: Instead of using Immovable in PVE you'll really want an AOE. But, because the only AOE you have is kind of a bitch, you shouldn't use Whirlwind. Just let the Sorc kill the packs of mobs! Cripple is a good choice for a replacement of Immovable in PVE because it ticks for damage, and every time it ticks it will give you more Ultimate, meaning you can Death Stroke the crap out of people.

 

Twin Slashes: If somehow you find room on your bars for Cripple and another damage attack, I'd take Twin Slashes because of it's power. Huge damage compared to Strife, which is really your only other option besides Assassin's Blade.....

 

Assassin's Blade: Increase your finishing power dramatically, hard to find room for it though-especially in PVP.

 

Mark Target: Some people think this spell will be really good, but I think it will only effect Magic Resistances so it won't really be good for this build. If it does effect more than just magic damage, then there's no reason not to take it, it would be amazing, and I'd recommend taking this over Siege Shield or Rapid Maneuver (which you'll need to replace in PVE anyway..but you'd usually replace this with Agony)

 

Agony: 4-mans without Agony is going to be agony for your group! Between Agony, Rune Prison, and Power Bash, you'll absolutely need one or two of these in order to complete certain mob packs. Easy choice to replace Maneuver or Siege Shield with Agony for PVE.

 

Drain Power: Drain power could give you a definite advantage in group fights, even though you'd remain a single-target killer. It has huge potential, but I see it as too hard to get off with this build's playstyle. If you were a tank, it would be much easier in both PVE and PVP.

 

Regeneration/Grand Healing might be nice to throw on your bar when you're leveling up, especially when soloing, but remember that it will take away from leveling up your class trees.

 

Purge: If you don't have someone around with Purge in PvP, then you need to make sure someone takes it. 

 

Ultimate: Death Stroke is the only other ultimate you should think about using. If you're in a good group, where your life's not really at stake too often, then Consuming Darkness isn't worthwhile. But, if you're ever going to die..you'll wish you had Consuming Darkness, so just hope that we're able to have 2 Ults and then keep Darkness on your 2nd bar.

 

Standard PVE Bars for this build might look something like this:

Full Heavy, or Medium if the Stam turns out to incrs your damage more than the +% damage, but you might not need the extra Stam because of Siphoning Strikes, you will be using your MP/ST fairly evenly and gaining it fairly evenly, so more ST couldn't really be used in some situations... But, you can probably use the same set as PVP for this build, since it's going to be enchanted for damage..you'll just want to throw on Fiery enchants for PVE instead of Lifesteal.

 

Anyway, PVE BARS:

DW-

• [*]Haste [*]Siphoning Strikes [*]Cripple [*]Flurry [*]Assassin's Blade
  

 

Ult- Death Stroke

 

Resto-

• [*]Agony [*]Mark Target [*]Summon Shade [*]Regeneration [*]Grand Healing
  

 

Let me know what you would do differently.

[Xenon]

NB will be the best class for repeated ranged sneak attacks (Bow).Everyone can build a sneak melee weapon based style fueled by stamina and dual wield. NB, however, have the option to rely on invisibility rather than sneak and magicka rather than stamina.depending on play style magicka might be a lot more important than both health and stamina for a NB. People pick faction for the people they play with. All races are not open for all factions. Good races for a stamina driven stealth build (don't have to be NB) would be Khajiit and Wood Elf, Redguard and Dark Elf.Good races for a heavy magicka driven invisibly assassin (have to be NB for this) would be Altmer, Dark Elf and Breton.Survivability come from sneak, surprise, front loaded damage and hit n run rather than heavy Armor, heals, mobility or range.

[Musclemagic]

NB will be the best class for repeated ranged sneak attacks (Bow).

Everyone can build a sneak melee weapon based style fueled by stamina and dual wield. NB, however, have the option to rely on invisibility rather than sneak and magicka rather than stamina.

depending on play style magicka might be a lot more important than both health and stamina for a NB.

People pick faction for the people they play with. All races are not open for all factions.

Good races for a stamina driven stealth build (don't have to be NB) would be Khajiit and Wood Elf, Redguard and Dark Elf.

Good races for a heavy magicka driven invisibly assassin (have to be NB for this) would be Altmer, Dark Elf and Breton.

Survivability come from sneak, surprise, front loaded damage and hit n run rather than heavy Armor, heals, mobility or range.

 

I was just writing out what seems to be the best possible NB build. And, I don't think you read it because I am not in favor of stealth builds. I don't think "stealth based" builds will work at all in PVP, because if you're stealthing in combat a lot then you're not doing as much as you could be doing if you didn't have to rely on it. Out of combat, stealth's great, especially paired with Cloak.

 

Veiled Strike has to get a major buff in order for stealth into combat builds to really shine, and that's melee ranged. Snipe's good paired with stealth and Cloak together, but I don't think that you'll want to restealth..that would kind of be silly anyway because as soon as the target's out of combat they'll fully heal in 4 seconds, which is how long it takes for you to restealth (3s in 5+ med) meaning that restealthing in combat without killing something first is always a bad idea.

 

However, if Veiled Strike works when Cloaked and not just when stealthing..then that'd be good.

 

But, you're right, ND doesn't always need to be melee. I think Sorc will be the best at ranged DPS though, because 1/3 of the NB skills aren't usable out of melee ranged.

It's definitely possible to use ranged tactics in a lot of situations, I even said in OP that Bow's a good 2ndary.

 

What did you have in mind? Something like: open with a ranged attack -> drop some DoT's -> try to restealth -> repeat? I don't think this build shines for anything specific, which is always bad news for PVP. I guess it depends on what your 2nd bar is though, if it's DW then you'll still be able to kill magic fighters really easily and then you can kite melee with your bow bar? If you're going to do this strat then I'd say to still take 1-2(for bonus) heavy because you'll need immovable in order to get away from melee's while kiting, and you'll definitely want Scatter Shot.

 

All that race stuff goes without saying, but for the build I posted Khajiit's a hallelujah.

 

There are a lot of different builds that you can do, with all the classes. Like, I think NB with a Destro Staff will be really good if Mark Target only negates magic resistance, it'll be easy kills if tanks (which should end up being a lot of the population) end up stacking any resistances for dungeons (which I think they'll have to).

Honestly though, I don't think there's a build that's much different without being worse than the posted build though.

If you can you give an example of a build? It would help me see what you're going for? It's hard to imagine what you have in mind right now.

[Xenon]

nightblades can restealth instantly you know. no need to get out of line of sight and wait 3-4 seconds....

 

 

 

i think a viable nightblade build will be around stun-locking and invisibility.

veiled strike stun for 4 seconds. pretty long duration right there.

it set you off balance

- it let you follow up with a power attack to knock you down

 

...then you can re-steath mid combat with invisibility and re-open with another veiled strike for another 4 second stun and another off balance that you can exploit with another power attack to knock down. gg

 

 

the thing that make nightblades shine is the longer stun from sneak attacks (from bow as well as melee)

and the only class that have the ability to become invisible to sneak attack a second time mid-combat.

and the only class to have attacks that benefit from being used from stealth.

 

 

but if you want to go melee toe on toe in melee battle without utilizing sneaking, invisibility and opening up with a sneak attack or a veiled strike or snipe from stealth then i think you are better off with a dragon knight (durability from survivability. constant snare on all fire abilities and ability to pull back the opponent if he get out of range) and if you want to go toe on toe in ranged destruction staff combat sorcerer will probably be an a lot better option than a night blade. And if you go team vs team´... group vs group... then i think you can't really pick a better class than a templar (lots of aoe abilities, pbaoe abilities and durability for you and the group with heals and buffs... and with dawn's wrath you get excellent long range abilities that mix well with the abilities from Bow. very good group vs group synergies in that class).

 

 

 

Night blade will probably shine when they hit n run. you use it for heavy front load attacks. to mainly pick targets that are already engaged in combat, half dead or strayed off alone somewhere on the battle field. maybe for high risk suicide missions to take out enemy healers and support before getting killed themselves. assassins.

 

Night blade will probably not shine against heavy armored targets that put immovable on their hot bar.

 

 

 

the normal rock-paper-shotgun for rpgs?

caster kill heavy. sneak kill caster. heavy kill sneak.

[Musclemagic]

nightblades can restealth instantly you know. no need to get out of line of sight and wait 3-4 seconds....

 

 

 

i think a viable nightblade build will be around stun-locking and invisibility.

veiled strike stun for 4 seconds. pretty long duration right there.

it set you off balance

- it let you follow up with a power attack to knock you down

 

...then you can re-steath mid combat with invisibility and re-open with another veiled strike for another 4 second stun and another off balance that you can exploit with another power attack to knock down. gg

 

 

the thing that make nightblades shine is the longer stun from sneak attacks (from bow as well as melee)

and the only class that have the ability to become invisible to sneak attack a second time mid-combat.

and the only class to have attacks that benefit from being used from stealth.

 

 

but if you want to go melee toe on toe in melee battle without utilizing sneaking, invisibility and opening up with a sneak attack or a veiled strike or snipe from stealth then i think you are better off with a dragon knight (durability from survivability. constant snare on all fire abilities and ability to pull back the opponent if he get out of range) and if you want to go toe on toe in ranged destruction staff combat sorcerer will probably be an a lot better option than a night blade. And if you go team vs team´... group vs group... then i think you can't really pick a better class than a templar (lots of aoe abilities, pbaoe abilities and durability for you and the group with heals and buffs... and with dawn's wrath you get excellent long range abilities that mix well with the abilities from Bow. very good group vs group synergies in that class).

 

 

 

Night blade will probably shine when they hit n run. you use it for heavy front load attacks. to mainly pick targets that are already engaged in combat, half dead or strayed off alone somewhere on the battle field. maybe for high risk suicide missions to take out enemy healers and support before getting killed themselves. assassins.

 

Night blade will probably not shine against heavy armored targets that put immovable on their hot bar.

 

 

 

the normal rock-paper-shotgun for rpgs?

caster kill heavy. sneak kill caster. heavy kill sneak.

 

I guess I'm a little confused as to how stealth will work. How will you be able to stealth instantly? Hit and run in ESO confuses me, because I feel like as soon as something's out of combat it'll regen almost to full. I picture it being a lot harder to get out of combat than you're picturing it.

 

Yeah, NB VS Immovable = MEHH, lol, even in my build where Teleport Strike augments Flurry it'll be a major bump in the road. I feel like NB will do more sustained single target DPS than any others because of all the synergies and the initial bursts from stealth is just a bonus, but they're definitely the most initial-bursty as well.

 

Templar has highest potential for a lot of things, but it's circumstantial and reaction based. DK has most mitigation, Sorc has a lot of things it has high potential for being best at depending on how it's built. But, let's keep it to NB for this thread.

 

After you explain how it'll work; can you give an example of a build so I can see how you bring it together? Initially I had made a Veiled Strike/Cloak build but it's evolved into the OP build because it comes together better in the end. I'm really curious about your build though, because it sounds like you thought it through and I feel like I'm just missing something.

 

I think you're spot on with the Rock Paper Scissors, but in ESO there's a lot of variables so I think it'll be at least a little bit less RPS than other games. (we can hope, right? Haha)

[yerion]

 

Resto- Buff Bar

[*]Siege Shield or Rapid Maneuver (Siege Shield will give you +10% MP Regen, but Rapid Maneuver might be better for your group because more people will be taking Siege Shield and it's kind of your responsibility as "the rogue" to take Rapid Maneuver. I'd take Maneuver.) - Supports Group

[*]Force Siphon - Huge self-heal as well as helping the group against hard-to-kill targets. This, the fact you'll be on the front line, and that you're the best single-target nuker, is why you'll be responsible for PVP target-calling. Unlike a lot of Nightblades, you won't be stalking around not doing anything. Because......

[*]Evasion - 

[*]Blur -  Because, with Evasion and Blur you'll be very tanky when you want to be, compared to pretty much anyone else.

[*]5th Slot- I'd go either Summon Shade, Mark Target, or Agony depending on the situation and what else you're taking. There's a few other options too that I don't even list below.

Can you help me understand your resto bar? Why do you only pick as a resto ability? I assume that you only use this as a buff bar, since you have no healing ability at all, besides siphoning. Using only Siphoning as healing ability has some weaknesses:

- You cannot swap to this resto bar when you are getting low to heal yourself up and survive. All your (small) heals come from only autoattacks.

- Its a cast. If you are in melee range people will most likely interrupt your cast and then you die. 

- Its only one target. 

 

Furthermore I see no protection against ranged magic attacks. Playing against a mage with unmoveable will be really hard, since you cannot sutn him with teleporting strike, and he can interrupt your flurry. 

Also I do not know if you can keep your resources management up. Everything is based being able to get alot of auto-attacks on enemy players. We will find out when the game is released. It all depends on how much mana your teleporting strike and unmoveable will cost to be able to stick to your target.

I recommend at least one extra resto heal ability/shield ability so you can swap to the resto bar and survive some "O shit!" situations.

 

I have a question about blur and evasion. I think that blur might also cause 22% of the spells to miss you. If thats the case ill take blur over evasion everday (and maybe even both). What do you think? Or could it be that evasion only causes auto attacks to miss and blur counts for abilities too. 

[Xenon]

Night blade is the only class that have instant magicka class abilities to enter invisibility. You can sneak attack or use veiled strike from both sneak mode and invisibility mode.

[Musclemagic]

Night blade is the only class that have instant magicka class abilities to enter invisibility. You can sneak attack or use veiled strike from both sneak mode and invisibility mode.

 

Stealth and Invisibility = the same thing? I took it to be separate things where invisibility is a more powerful version but doesn't give the same perks as stealth because that sounded OP to me. So this is interesting, and if it's true then it changes a lot. Can you confirm for sure?

[Musclemagic]

Can you help me understand your resto bar? Why do you only pick as a resto ability? I assume that you only use this as a buff bar, since you have no healing ability at all, besides siphoning. Using only Siphoning as healing ability has some weaknesses:

- You cannot swap to this resto bar when you are getting low to heal yourself up and survive. All your (small) heals come from only autoattacks.

- Its a cast. If you are in melee range people will most likely interrupt your cast and then you die. 

- Its only one target. 

 

Furthermore I see no protection against ranged magic attacks. Playing against a mage with unmoveable will be really hard, since you cannot sutn him with teleporting strike, and he can interrupt your flurry. 

Also I do not know if you can keep your resources management up. Everything is based being able to get alot of auto-attacks on enemy players. We will find out when the game is released. It all depends on how much mana your teleporting strike and unmoveable will cost to be able to stick to your target.

I recommend at least one extra resto heal ability/shield ability so you can swap to the resto bar and survive some "O shit!" situations.

 

I have a question about blur and evasion. I think that blur might also cause 22% of the spells to miss you. If thats the case ill take blur over evasion everday (and maybe even both). What do you think? Or could it be that evasion only causes auto attacks to miss and blur counts for abilities too. 

 

Yeah mate!

 

I'm not 100% sure on the distinction between Blur/Evasion, but we had a mechanics conversation a few weeks ago where irons said that dodge and miss both effect everything. I don't know if this is confirmed. Maybe it's something small, like being able to dodge AOE but they can't miss AOE.. Or maybe it's something big, like one's completely for melee and one's completely for ranged.. Anyone else able to make this distinction?

 

Either way they're both really good damage mitigation and bar-worthy.

 

So, for you, you'd want to fill that 5th slot of the resto bar with maybe Grand Healing? I originally had Regeneration in that slot, but I feel like through Heavy armor, Evasion, Blur, Immovable, Siege Shield, group buffs, and Force Siphon when you have enough time to pre-game with Force-Siphon, you should be able to survive well enough for the healer of the group to keep you afloat--allowing the build to focus more on damage than survival. But, if things do turn dire, then Consuming Darkness will save you in the moment. Force Siphon would only really be used to pre-game if you have time before-hand, it's probably only worth casting if you're in a smaller battle anyway.

 

Basically, force siphon = good for single targets, which is what you'll be focusing on while soloing. And in group settings using a heal like Regen or Grand probably won't be worth your time when you could be doing more damage and letting the healer do his job. Relying on Consuming Darkness when things are hairy is okay, it's really the best OSB in the game. (Oh Shit Button) haha

 

Against a mage with immovable, and especially if they have an interrupt on their bar, this build wouldn't work too well. With you being Immovable too though, it would just come down to who can cast more Bolt Escapes vs Teleport Strikes... Whoever runs out of resources first, which would the the Sorc if you can get siphoning strikes off while you guys are doing your weird..kite dance. (haha) or it would be you, the NB, if you can't get Siphoning Striked off. Whoever has to stop using immovable first would probably lose though.

 

The reason why I think Siphoning Strikes will be good, even though it's based on auto-attacks, is because with Haste and DW Daggers it's going to maximize it's potential. They probably balanced it around a standard speed so it wouldn't suck balls for something that attacks slow, so unless it's just a terrible skill to begin with (in which case I think it probably wouldn't be in the game, or it would get a buff) then it will definitely be good with both hast and dw dags. Otherwise it's just a crap spell, and I'd like to think that won't exist in this game.

 

Yerion, I've been meaning to ask you actually, what NB build have you been thinking of? I know you plan on being a hard hitting NB so you should post your current build ideas in this thread, I'm sure it's good!

[Draconian]

I can't help thinking whether haste + siphoning strikes might be redundant. Maybe it would be better to use some more damage dealing abilities in order to just take down the enemy fast so that you don't need to regenerate your resources until the battle is over.

 

For instance:

 

1. teleport strike (gap closer to set up flurry - spammable too)

2. flurry (bread and butter dps)

3. assassin's blade (executioner which will regen magicka)

4. strife (long range damage + HoT before teleporting)

5. blur or evasion (activate right after strife and just before teleport strike)

 

Alternately, summon shade could also be used instead of blur to distract and debuff. Summon shade seems to go beautifully with resto staff and force siphon. It will keep your enemies distracted while you blast at them, healing both yourself and the summon.

 

Edit: Depending whether you're a high magicka or high stamina build, assassins blade could be subsituted with whirlwind.

[Musclemagic]

I can't help thinking whether haste + siphoning strikes might be redundant. Maybe it would be better to use some more damage dealing abilities in order to just take down the enemy fast so that you don't need to regenerate your resources until the battle is over.

 

For instance:

 

1. teleport strike (gap closer to set up flurry - spammable too)

2. flurry (bread and butter dps)

3. assassin's blade (executioner which will regen magicka)

4. strife (long range damage + HoT before teleporting)

5. blur or evasion (activate right after strife and just before teleport strike)

 

Alternately, summon shade could also be used instead of blur to distract and debuff. Summon shade seems to go beautifully with resto staff and force siphon. It will keep your enemies distracted while you blast at them, healing both yourself and the summon.

 

Edit: Depending whether you're a high magicka or high stamina build, assassins blade could be subsituted with whirlwind.

 

The thing is that Flurry and Teleport Strike are spammable and work well in 1-->2 usage. Yeah, assassin's blade and strife could help you a little bit but it's just different approaches to the same thing. Being able to do more of that same thing will be better overall than doing it in a different way, even if in some situations those will be a bit better, the thing you said about redundancy applies to this build more than the original. 

 

Immovable in PvP is crucial for almost everyone, definitely worth having on main bar more than Blur, Evasion, or Shade.

 

For PVE I would still take Haste + Siphoning Strikes for resource mgmt, but Cripple (instead of Strife, because Cripple ticks for damage [giving you more Ult for an earlier Death Stroke] while Strife is just a nuke and then a heal over 10s) and Assassin's Blade instead of Teleport Strike and Immovable is a good choice. I think that the PVE damage bar maximizes damage and efficiency pretty well already.

 

If Haste + Siphoning Strikes isn't needed in fights due to your MP/ST + Regens being high then this would change this, but I find that highly unlikely unless you're fully enchanted for resources rather than power and then it still wouldn't be an advantage because you're not maximizing your Power.

 

It also depends on what your other bar looks like. If it's a buff bar then you'll need more resources overall than if it's a usable bar, so I'd still take Siphon/Haste on the damage bar. If it's not a buff bar, then you'd definitely want to replace SStrikes/Haste with survival things like Evasion/Blur, but keep Immovable on there for sure as well.

 

What would your other bar look like with that build?

[Draconian]

I think siphoning strikes and haste will be superb for PvE and dungeons where you need some better resource management but in PvP, if you're going 1 vs. 1 with somebody, I imagine that you will want him to go down as fast as possible. Resorting to light attacks could be rather hazzardous if, and only if, you have enough resources to burst instead.

 

I don't know how fast resources will deplete, but from the Quakecon video is seems that you're able to pull off some rotation before running low.

 

While teleport and flurry is repeatable, assassin's blade is cheap and might do the same - i.e. killing someone with low health - that would otherwise require the activation of two feats, a teleport followed by flurry. Furthermore, using assassin's blade will give you some quick magica regen, which could turn out to be about as effective as resorting to haste+siphoning, which takes up two slots on the action bar.

 

I will also build my nightblade with 5 med / 2 heavy armor, so I agree that immovable is better than blur or evasion. I forgot to think about that feat. The first thing any alert PvPer will do when jumped by a melee nightblade (teleport strike or veiled strike) is to immediately break free of the stun and use some AoE, knockback, blink, root, stun to quickly turn the fight in his favour, and here immovable is absolutely crusial in order to stay on top.

 

About strife, the thing I really like about this ability is that it is the only long-ranged class ability which deals direct damage. This should mean that it can be spammed, which is really good when fighting enemies that are out of "gap-closer" range. if you're a magicka built nightblade, you could possibly even go toe-to-toe with other casters with this ability, until you can move close enough to teleport strike.

Having a HoT active everytime you go into a fight doesn't hurt either.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The secondary bar for the aforemention build would be for a bow. It would probably look like:

 

1. shadow cloak

2. poison arrow

3. scatter shot

4. mark target

5. snipe

[Terhix]

Ok. Might as well post my stuff here. I'm mostly going for a tank nightblade, which is not something most of you guys do I gather.

 

PvP:

1h+shield			   Bow1 - Puncture		    1 - Volley3 - Shield charge	   2 - Siphoning Strikes4 - Immovable		   3 - Magelight4 - Cripple			 4 - Cripple5 - Strife			  5 - StrifeU - Death Stroke	    U - Consuming Darkness

1h+shield being main set, might replace Puncture with Power Bash, depending on how useful armor debuff will be. Shield Charge since it's cheaper than Teleport Strike and uses stamina rather than magicka.

 

Bow is for utility / zerg wars, also contemplating using resto staff with a hot instead of Volley, but for what it is it's pretty straight forward: siphoning strikes + range attack to replenish resources, volley for target ground aoe + root. Might replace Magelight with Mark Target. 

 

All in all this is just a guideline for what I want to do, I tend to change builds 20 times over once I get to play what I crafted.

 

 

PvE:

1h+shield			   2h1 - Puncture		    1 - Cleave3 - Siphoning Strike    2 - Haste4 - Immovable		   3 - Momentum4 - Blur			    4 - Power Drain5 - Strife			  5 - StrifeU - Orc Racial		  U - Orc Racial

Again 1h+shield being (obviously for a tank in PvE) the main set for boss tanking. Puncture to taunt, Siphoning Strikes to keep those resources coming so I can keep up the sellfbuffs and Strife up. Might replace Blur with Shade for a debuff.

 

2h is more for aoe dps than tanking.

[Musclemagic]

 

Ok. Might as well post my stuff here. I'm mostly going for a tank nightblade, which is not something most of you guys do I gather.

 

PvP:

1h+shield Bow1 - Puncture   1 - Volley3 - Shield charge 2 - Siphoning Strikes4 - Immovable 3 - Magelight4 - Cripple 4 - Cripple5 - Strife   5 - StrifeU - Death Stroke   U - Consuming Darkness

1h+shield being main set, might replace Puncture with Power Bash, depending on how useful armor debuff will be. Shield Charge since it's cheaper than Teleport Strike and uses stamina rather than magicka.

 

Bow is for utility / zerg wars, also contemplating using resto staff with a hot instead of Volley, but for what it is it's pretty straight forward: siphoning strikes + range attack to replenish resources, volley for target ground aoe + root. Might replace Magelight with Mark Target. 

 

All in all this is just a guideline for what I want to do, I tend to change builds 20 times over once I get to play what I crafted.

 

 

PvE:

1h+shield 2h1 - Puncture   1 - Cleave3 - Siphoning Strike   2 - Haste4 - Immovable 3 - Momentum4 - Blur   4 - Power Drain5 - Strife   5 - StrifeU - Orc Racial   U - Orc Racial

Again 1h+shield being (obviously for a tank in PvE) the main set for boss tanking. Puncture to taunt, Siphoning Strikes to keep those resources coming so I can keep up the sellfbuffs and Strife up. Might replace Blur with Shade for a debuff.

 

2h is more for aoe dps than tanking.

 

Your builds are ones that I can see exactly where you're coming from, I like them a lot.

 

Your PVE Tank Bar:

I'd grab a couple pieces of Medium and take Evasion instead of either Strife or Siphoning Strikes-probably Strife because I think it would offer more survival in group settings when you already have a healer (which is where you'd be PVE tanking, yeah?)  But, on the other hand, that PVE tank bar doesn't look very resource intensive so you might be able to swap out Siphoning Strikes for Evasion fairly easily.

 

I really really like Evasion, if it's not your style then I hear you though (which, I don't think it is--since you're thinking of replacing Blur with Shade. Shade's not quite as good though for general tanking, since it only affects 1 target and it's 15%. But, Shade might be better for bosses where that 1 target is fuckign everyone else up at the same time, 15% less dmg is big.. but then Low Slash might be better, but with Immovable/Puncture you probably won't have the ST to use it... the bar's actually pretty balanced now, but I'd actually replace Siphoning Strike with Shade after thinking about it more.. idk, haha, just food for thought.)

 

Your PVE 2H Bar:

Power Drain + Cleave for big AOE damage? Single target's going to be a bitch for you. Strife-spam is too expensive because the cost's balanced around getting the full-duration HOT. (Cripple = 25 dmg over 8.5s, slows them and speeds you up - +8 ult with Transfer passive-. Strife = 11 damage, 16 healing over 10 seconds - 19 healing with Soul Siphoner passive and +1 ult with Transfer passive.-) 

 

I know you like Strife but both your PVE bars look like they're made for group activity, I think more mitigation is better for the tank than trying to help the healer and then I think more damage is better for the 2H bar. I'd take a single-target damager, like Uppercut or Reverse Slash since your other ST spam is AOE.

 

I really believe that focusing on a specific role is key to group success. I mean, I know that Strife is spammable so for 2H single-target it is good damage potential, and then Strife as a tank is good because it does damage and it helps you survive but I think that the extra survival outweighs the heal, and the damage as a tank isn't as important as surviving and controlling.

 

For PVP bars:

Mine will all change 1000 times too, haha, especially when Undaunted, Emperor, and the Diseased trees are leaked/becoming more commonplace in-game.

 

I really like your PvP bars. I was going to say that you'll probably have a surplus of MP with your S&S bar, but you can just spam Strife in that case.

 

 

I think siphoning strikes and haste will be superb for PvE and dungeons where you need some better resource management but in PvP, if you're going 1 vs. 1 with somebody, I imagine that you will want him to go down as fast as possible. Resorting to light attacks could be rather hazzardous if, and only if, you have enough resources to burst instead.

 

I don't know how fast resources will deplete, but from the Quakecon video is seems that you're able to pull off some rotation before running low.

 

While teleport and flurry is repeatable, assassin's blade is cheap and might do the same - i.e. killing someone with low health - that would otherwise require the activation of two feats, a teleport followed by flurry. Furthermore, using assassin's blade will give you some quick magica regen, which could turn out to be about as effective as resorting to haste+siphoning, which takes up two slots on the action bar.

 

I will also build my nightblade with 5 med / 2 heavy armor, so I agree that immovable is better than blur or evasion. I forgot to think about that feat. The first thing any alert PvPer will do when jumped by a melee nightblade (teleport strike or veiled strike) is to immediately break free of the stun and use some AoE, knockback, blink, root, stun to quickly turn the fight in his favour, and here immovable is absolutely crusial in order to stay on top.

 

About strife, the thing I really like about this ability is that it is the only long-ranged class ability which deals direct damage. This should mean that it can be spammed, which is really good when fighting enemies that are out of "gap-closer" range. if you're a magicka built nightblade, you could possibly even go toe-to-toe with other casters with this ability, until you can move close enough to teleport strike.

Having a HoT active everytime you go into a fight doesn't hurt either.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The secondary bar for the aforemention build would be for a bow. It would probably look like:

 

1. shadow cloak

2. poison arrow

3. scatter shot

4. mark target

5. snipe

 

In the quakecon video he was only using a few abilities at a time, but yeah. When he used Whirlwind and then Flurry at around 15:20 (that's 15:18 where he does Twin and then 15:24 about where he Flurry's here:

)

it only used up like 1/4 of his bar. I think it's key to only have 1 MP and 1 ST spammable damager and the rest of the abilities as passive though, otherwise either your spammed skills aren't as strong as they could be or you're taking more damage than you should be. Yes, some damaging abilities work better in specific situations..but I don't think they're worth taking right now when you could fill it with a DOT or something more passive..

 

I feel like if you can Assassin's Blade then you could Teleport Strike just as easily (but in even more situations). Yes, it costs double the resources, but it does almost the same amount of damage as Assassin's Blade does (13 vs 16) but it also stuns them and is usable at ranged. The resource difference is a big difference, but that's where Siphoning Strikes will make up the difference--but it makes you better for the first 80% of their health as well, not just the last 20%.

 

Unless Blade gets buffed a bit, then I don't think it's currently worth taking, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

 

Shadow Cloak is something else I disagree with, I think it's a 1-trick pony for getting a person within melee ranged to use Veiled Strike or allowing you to get Snipe off without leaving stealth. But, once you've left stealth, you won't get another use out of it except for little gags during combat --but it's not worth 1/6 of the bar either way.

 

Everyone else seems to like Cloak though, so my depiction of it's use while in combat might not be very accurate.

 

Your main bar:

Tele Strike

Flurry

Blade

Strife

Immovable

 

Hmm.. idk, I think Cripple might be better instead of Blade, if you aren't a fan of Siphoning Strikes. Which, without haste and also Force-Siphon, it might not be worth it to use Siphoning Strikes at all anyway. But yeah, I think that Cripple fits there better than Blade. Just opinion though, I'm sure in a lot of situations Blade will be amazing..as soon as they're below 20% there's no contest. Especially when fighting in groups, you'll be able to pick people off. Finishing power is always good to have.

 

Strife's helpful but you can use Tele instead for just as much damage and the stun might give you more time of survival than the slow heal would if they're attacking you.

 

So, if you replaced Blade and Strife with Haste/Siphon then you could just do that many more Tele's and Flurry's. It's just preference, but that's how I see it.

[yerion]

Musclemagic asked me for my nightblade build. I know that options on certain abilities differ. But that happens when we dont have all the information. Builds will change when the game is released. As for now, I do agree with musclemagic that its good to have mostly buff abilities or situational abilities in your build and one bread and butter damage skill.

 

This is a nightblade build is something made mainly for AvA battles. The Idea behind this is fight at the backline of a small group in order to take hold of structures and important objectives in cyrodil.

Depending on the faction that I will play, I have two options:

Nightblade – Kahjit – 5 medium armor, 2 heavy armor, 30% MP, 50% stam, 20% health (Khajit passive to increase 10% critt damage helps + 20% increased critt from nightblade tree. this build will focus on critt + 5% critt bow passive + 6% increased critt rating passive from assassination tree)

 

Main bar – Bow

Consuming Darkness Ultimate  (escape ability + option to swap to 2^nd bar and kill counters of the bow bar)

Blur (or evasion) - M    (Protection against both ranged and melee)

Haste - M  (attack speed increase)

Aspect of Terror - M   (2 target fear, good when jumped by melees)

Arrow spray/volley - S     (aoe damage + 50% 5 s slow, or long ranged aoe ability)

Immovable - S    (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

 

Also the itemization will focus on critt. I think normal or empowered attacks are a very important source of damage, and in most cases the main source (unless you have really high regeneration). From a distance, bow users will be able to repeatedly normal attack without being under pressure. Haste will be a major damage increase. With this build you do not need much regen, and can focus on power. If untargeted, arrow spray or volley will help with aoe, if this is needed.

The kiting comes from aspect of terror in combination with a dodge roll (and passive to get 70% movement speed for 2 s)  plus combination with immovable if needed. Then after the roll, arrow spray can be cast to do damage and slow the targets again . I think that aspect of terror will be more than a 2.75 second fear for two targets, because abilities level up. Since this ability does no damage, the fear duration must increase on level up making it a perfect ability to get at a distance again. Also the bow will be enchanted with a frost enchant.

The advantage of this build are:

-   You don’t need much stamina for abilities, which means more dodge rolls or constant immovable

-   You can kite multiple people

-   Lots of damage if untargeted

 

Secondary bar – Dual wield daggers

Death stroke - Ultimate (high single target damage, anti healer)

Mark target - M    (Tank destroy ability)

Assassins blade - M (finisher)

Teleport Strike - M (Gap closer)

Flurry - S (High damage ability)

Immovable - S  (unkitable)

 

Khajist is just too good for this second bar. The secondary bar is just high damage and chasing potential vs targets that would be the weakness of the bow bar. This bar will only be needed if you are up against a high burst mage, or a tank. The mark target will be very important to take down tanks. If it is a high damage reduction tank, it will not do much damage, meaning that you will kill him very quickly while he will not kill you very fast and won’t be able to cc you because of immovable.
Against mages it’s just teleport strike + Flurry + death stroke + assassins blade = dead in 4 seconds, then swap to bow again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second build is better, I think, since it increases the survival against Mages. It is overall more defensive.

Nightblade – Breton – 2 medium armor, 5 heavy armor, 50% MP, 30% Stam, 20% HP (The Breton class is very nice against spells because of his ultimate, passive spell resistance and extra magicka, which helps for the Mage bar and also makes hunter abilities cheaper)

 

Main bar – Bow

Dragon skin - Ultimate   (increase survivability)

Blur (or evasion) - M   (Protection against both ranged and melee)

Haste - M      (attack speed increase)

Aspect of Terror - M (2 targets feared, good when jumped by melees)

Arrow spray/volley - S (aoe damage + 50% 5 s slow, or long ranged aoe ability)

Immovable - S  (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

 

Second bar -  Resto staff

Barrier – Ultimate  (good pvp aoe shield)

Immovable - S (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

Evasion  - M   (Protection against both ranged attacks and melee attacks)

Blessing of Protection - M   (Good aoe instant heal + a lot of extra resistances)

Cripple (or agony)– M    (kite ability + 8% max magicka from siphoning passive)

Regeneration – M  (Heal + Hot)

 

So this build, is almost the same for bow. Except that it’s better against mages. And the second bar can be used to bring support and healing to your frontline if needed, while also being able to kite. You will be more tanky overall with 5 pieces of heavy armor and the ability to selfheal.

[Musclemagic]

Musclemagic asked me for my nightblade build. I know that options on certain abilities differ. But that happens when we dont have all the information. Builds will change when the game is released. As for now, I do agree with musclemagic that its good to have mostly buff abilities or situational abilities in your build and one bread and butter damage skill.

 

This is a nightblade build is something made mainly for AvA battles. The Idea behind this is fight at the backline of a small group in order to take hold of structures and important objectives in cyrodil.

Depending on the faction that I will play, I have two options:

Nightblade – Kahjit – 5 medium armor, 2 heavy armor, 30% MP, 50% stam, 20% health (Khajit passive to increase 10% critt damage helps + 20% increased critt from nightblade tree. this build will focus on critt + 5% critt bow passive + 6% increased critt rating passive from assassination tree)

 

Main bar – Bow

Consuming Darkness Ultimate  (escape ability + option to swap to 2^nd bar and kill counters of the bow bar)

Blur (or evasion) - M    (Protection against both ranged and melee)

Haste - M  (attack speed increase)

Aspect of Terror - M   (2 target fear, good when jumped by melees)

Arrow spray/volley - S     (aoe damage + 50% 5 s slow, or long ranged aoe ability)

Immovable - S    (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

 

Also the itemization will focus on critt. I think normal or empowered attacks are a very important source of damage, and in most cases the main source (unless you have really high regeneration). From a distance, bow users will be able to repeatedly normal attack without being under pressure. Haste will be a major damage increase. With this build you do not need much regen, and can focus on power. If untargeted, arrow spray or volley will help with aoe, if this is needed.

The kiting comes from aspect of terror in combination with a dodge roll (and passive to get 70% movement speed for 2 s)  plus combination with immovable if needed. Then after the roll, arrow spray can be cast to do damage and slow the targets again . I think that aspect of terror will be more than a 2.75 second fear for two targets, because abilities level up. Since this ability does no damage, the fear duration must increase on level up making it a perfect ability to get at a distance again. Also the bow will be enchanted with a frost enchant.

The advantage of this build are:

-   You don’t need much stamina for abilities, which means more dodge rolls or constant immovable

-   You can kite multiple people

-   Lots of damage if untargeted

 

Secondary bar – Dual wield daggers

Death stroke - Ultimate (high single target damage, anti healer)

Mark target - M    (Tank destroy ability)

Assassins blade - M (finisher)

Teleport Strike - M (Gap closer)

Flurry - S (High damage ability)

Immovable - S  (unkitable)

 

Khajist is just too good for this second bar. The secondary bar is just high damage and chasing potential vs targets that would be the weakness of the bow bar. This bar will only be needed if you are up against a high burst mage, or a tank. The mark target will be very important to take down tanks. If it is a high damage reduction tank, it will not do much damage, meaning that you will kill him very quickly while he will not kill you very fast and won’t be able to cc you because of immovable.

Against mages it’s just teleport strike + Flurry + death stroke + assassins blade = dead in 4 seconds, then swap to bow again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second build is better, I think, since it increases the survival against Mages. It is overall more defensive.

Nightblade – Breton – 2 medium armor, 5 heavy armor, 50% MP, 30% Stam, 20% HP (The Breton class is very nice against spells because of his ultimate, passive spell resistance and extra magicka, which helps for the Mage bar and also makes hunter abilities cheaper)

 

Main bar – Bow

Dragon skin - Ultimate   (increase survivability)

Blur (or evasion) - M   (Protection against both ranged and melee)

Haste - M      (attack speed increase)

Aspect of Terror - M (2 targets feared, good when jumped by melees)

Arrow spray/volley - S (aoe damage + 50% 5 s slow, or long ranged aoe ability)

Immovable - S  (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

 

Second bar -  Resto staff

Barrier – Ultimate  (good pvp aoe shield)

Immovable - S (invulnerable to cc and 20% damage reduction)

Evasion  - M   (Protection against both ranged attacks and melee attacks)

Blessing of Protection - M   (Good aoe instant heal + a lot of extra resistances)

Cripple (or agony)– M    (kite ability + 8% max magicka from siphoning passive)

Regeneration – M  (Heal + Hot)

 

So this build, is almost the same for bow. Except that it’s better against mages. And the second bar can be used to bring support and healing to your frontline if needed, while also being able to kite. You will be more tanky overall with 5 pieces of heavy armor and the ability to selfheal.

 

Ahaa, okay, I see exactly where you're coming from! I like it, and I love that you use Aspect of Terror because I think there's going to be a pretty wicked morph for it. XD

 

I just don't think that Mark Target will help against armor. I think it's strictly a Magic Resistance remover. If this is the case, then I think replacing Mark+Blade with Haste+Siphoning Strikes would be better. But, if you're right that Mark Target removes armor then this would be epic.

 

I like your 2nd build a lot. I'd actually take Mark Target instead of Haste on your Bow bar for your Breton build if Mark is anti-armor, I think it'd give you more damage where you need it-against heavy users. Well, maybe even then Haste might be better against more people.

 

Anyway, I think I can see how you play and I like it. I'm looking forward to seeing a more final build from you when we're closer to release date.

 

Edit: Leveling up for Terror and such will take a while. Any plans for an early-game build?

[yerion]

Ahaa, okay, I see exactly where you're coming from! I like it, and I love that you use Aspect of Terror because I think there's going to be a pretty wicked morph for it. XD

 

I just don't think that Mark Target will help against armor. I think it's strictly a Magic Resistance remover. If this is the case, then I think replacing Mark+Blade with Haste+Siphoning Strikes would be better. But, if you're right that Mark Target removes armor then this would be epic.

 

I like your 2nd build a lot. I'd actually take Mark Target instead of Haste on your Bow bar for your Breton build if Mark is anti-armor, I think it'd give you more damage where you need it-against heavy users. Well, maybe even then Haste might be better against more people.

 

Anyway, I think I can see how you play and I like it. I'm looking forward to seeing a more final build from you when we're closer to release date.

 

Edit: Leveling up for Terror and such will take a while. Any plans for an early-game build?

 

Marked target says: "Your attacks ignore all of the target's resistances, but their attacks ignore all of your resistances". In most games armor is physical resistance. I hope this is the case. I originally had marked target on the bow bar, but it might replace haste, or I might even use both if aoe isnt that usefull in PVP. 

 

The newer spreadsheat that was link in the where do you get your info from section did give me some insights. Arrow spray seems stronger since there it states it is 20 y range instead of 12. It also showed the poison arrow change. That seems like a usefull single target damage ability (I would use the 250% damage increase, because almost every spell is instant). At least this answers you question about the early game build (poison arrow instead of immovable or something). But remember, early game doesnt mean anything its all about the lv 50 end game.

Also it states that evasion is 25% dodge now, and blur 22% miss. So I realy think blur will be better and that it works against something extra compared to evasion.

And it states that the breton ult " dragonskin"  works only against magic damage (it is a huge amount though) and only stays for 3 seconds. In that case I might use soul tear on the Bow bar, if mages seem to not be a weakness to the bow build. 

Edit: Soul Strike, not Soul tear. And it increases damage to chilled targets. Making this a good combo with the frost enchant on the bow.

 

I do agree that if marked target is only magic resistances I wouldnt use it. Now, I think I might even replace Assasins blade if the combo of TP strike + deathstroke + flurry + blade doesnt kill someone). So thanks for the tip. 

 

If buffs like blur or evation stay and marked target stay when switching bars, then that would be even more epic for this build, because it opens up more slots.

[Musclemagic]

Marked target says: "Your attacks ignore all of the target's resistances, but their attacks ignore all of your resistances". In most games armor is physical resistance. I hope this is the case. I originally had marked target on the bow bar, but it might replace haste, or I might even use both if aoe isnt that usefull in PVP. 

 

The newer spreadsheat that was link in the where do you get your info from section did give me some insights. Arrow spray seems stronger since there it states it is 20 y range instead of 12. It also showed the poison arrow change. That seems like a usefull single target damage ability (I would use the 250% damage increase, because almost every spell is instant). At least this answers you question about the early game build (poison arrow instead of immovable or something). But remember, early game doesnt mean anything its all about the lv 50 end game.

Also it states that evasion is 25% dodge now, and blur 22% miss. So I realy think blur will be better and that it works against something extra compared to evasion.

And it states that the breton ult " dragonskin"  works only against magic damage (it is a huge amount though) and only stays for 3 seconds. In that case I might use soul tear on the Bow bar, if mages seem to not be a weakness to the bow build. 

Edit: Soul Strike, not Soul tear. And it increases damage to chilled targets. Making this a good combo with the frost enchant on the bow.

 

I do agree that if marked target is only magic resistances I wouldnt use it. Now, I think I might even replace Assasins blade if the combo of TP strike + deathstroke + flurry + blade doesnt kill someone). So thanks for the tip. 

 

If buffs like blur or evation stay and marked target stay when switching bars, then that would be even more epic for this build, because it opens up more slots.

 

Yeah, I really hope that things stay when bars are swapped. I think they will, it's what the OP bars are entirely based on.

 

Armor in ESO is mitigation of all incoming damage, not just physical. Resistances are separate things, so unless the tooltip is just worded poorly then it probably won't apply to armor rating. Too early to rule anything out though.

 

This new spreadsheet is making some major changes for me as well.

 

I meant early-game for what you're going to use from the early skills in the trees, in order to reach the end-game things in those trees. Leveling up you're going to use things you have access to while keeping it spread between the 3 class trees mostly. I just want to get an idea of what you're planning, since level 50's hopefully at least a few weeks of gameplay away.

 

Blur and Evasion are weird. I thought that Miss chance would be something that applied to the enemy so that it helps everyone in the group, like Ash Field would..so having it on yourself, I don't see a distinction between Dodge and Miss on yourself only.

I think taking both of them will be pretty sweet for NB though, especially if you can keep them applied through Bar#2 like in the OP. One's ST and one's MP so it's almost a perfect balance when you use both.

[yerion]

I meant early-game for what you're going to use from the early skills in the trees, in order to reach the end-game things in those trees. Leveling up you're going to use things you have access to while keeping it spread between the 3 class trees mostly. I just want to get an idea of what you're planning, since level 50's hopefully at least a few weeks of gameplay away.

 

Eventhough I am all about PVP, I do love the skyrim feel of elder scrolls, and might just enjoy the leveling experience. I think i'll use whatever ability to unluck summon shade, and then use summon shade untill I unlock everything.

(maybe ill do some lv 10 PVP and use shadow cloak + veiled strike)

 

Edit: Are you sure armor protects again magic damage?!?!

[Musclemagic]

Eventhough I am all about PVP, I do love the skyrim feel of elder scrolls, and might just enjoy the leveling experience. I think i'll use whatever ability to unluck summon shade, and then use summon shade untill I unlock everything.

(maybe ill do some lv 10 PVP and use shadow cloak + veiled strike)

 

Edit: Are you sure armor protects again magic damage?!?!

 

Ah, I'm just going to use the first 3 abilities from each class tree on the most fitting bar I can put them. I just want to get leveling over with as fast as I can. Check out my new post on the Temp thread.

 

Not sure of anything, but that's the word on the street.

[Terhix]

 

Your builds are ones that I can see exactly where you're coming from, I like them a lot.

 

Your PVE Tank Bar:

I'd grab a couple pieces of Medium and take Evasion instead of either Strife or Siphoning Strikes-probably Strife because I think it would offer more survival in group settings when you already have a healer (which is where you'd be PVE tanking, yeah?)  But, on the other hand, that PVE tank bar doesn't look very resource intensive so you might be able to swap out Siphoning Strikes for Evasion fairly easily.

 

I really really like Evasion, if it's not your style then I hear you though (which, I don't think it is--since you're thinking of replacing Blur with Shade. Shade's not quite as good though for general tanking, since it only affects 1 target and it's 15%. But, Shade might be better for bosses where that 1 target is fuckign everyone else up at the same time, 15% less dmg is big.. but then Low Slash might be better, but with Immovable/Puncture you probably won't have the ST to use it... the bar's actually pretty balanced now, but I'd actually replace Siphoning Strike with Shade after thinking about it more.. idk, haha, just food for thought.)

 

Your PVE 2H Bar:

Power Drain + Cleave for big AOE damage? Single target's going to be a bitch for you. Strife-spam is too expensive because the cost's balanced around getting the full-duration HOT. (Cripple = 25 dmg over 8.5s, slows them and speeds you up - +8 ult with Transfer passive-. Strife = 11 damage, 16 healing over 10 seconds - 19 healing with Soul Siphoner passive and +1 ult with Transfer passive.-) 

 

I know you like Strife but both your PVE bars look like they're made for group activity, I think more mitigation is better for the tank than trying to help the healer and then I think more damage is better for the 2H bar. I'd take a single-target damager, like Uppercut or Reverse Slash since your other ST spam is AOE.

 

I really believe that focusing on a specific role is key to group success. I mean, I know that Strife is spammable so for 2H single-target it is good damage potential, and then Strife as a tank is good because it does damage and it helps you survive but I think that the extra survival outweighs the heal, and the damage as a tank isn't as important as surviving and controlling.

 

For PVP bars:

Mine will all change 1000 times too, haha, especially when Undaunted, Emperor, and the Diseased trees are leaked/becoming more commonplace in-game.

 

I really like your PvP bars. I was going to say that you'll probably have a surplus of MP with your S&S bar, but you can just spam Strife in that case.

 

Yeah, I'm not sold on the PvE bars at all, a lot of that depends on so many variables: can I keep the selfbuffs without siphoning strikes nor spending points in stamina/magicka? Do I even need to keep them up at all times, or am I okay to keep maybe one, and pop rest during heavy damage phases? Is puncture enough for agro, or should I grab some aoe for trash? Regarding that last one, that's why I made my 2h set aoe centric, it should still have some single target dps just with regular / power attacks with momentum and haste, but I don't intend to dps with it, it's more of a secondary mode to switch to when dealing with plenty of annoying trash. Solo / leveling  load-outs would be naturally different.

 

I can definitely drop Strife from tanking build, I was thinking exactly the same - more mitigation would most likely be more beneficial with a healer around. I only put it there because I just love the sheer idea of the skill - in general being a dot casting, life sucking tank is something I've really liked in Rift (Reaver), and wasn't able to play in an MMO since.

[Eol]

A question about nightblade skills: what exactly is a 'heavy or light attack' (see below)? What weapon types does it exclude, if any? I know heavy and light are used to describe armor in ES games, but weapons???

 

Haste 1

• [*]Instant [*]Self [*]56 magicka [*]For 17 seconds - increase attack speed with

heavy and light attacks by 30%

[yerion]

Have you ever played any of the other elder scrolls games? You can attack with a mouseclick (which is a normal attack) and you can hold the mouse button for an empowered attack. In ESO these are called light attacks and heavy attacks. With every weapon you can do these charged/heavy attacks.

 

Edit: I found this on tamriel foundry --> Blocking an enemy’s power attack will stagger the foe for a brief time. This was said in the context of a pve situation, but I think it also counts for pvp. So heavy attacks do more damages, but you charge them giving your opponent a time to react (this can really backfire in pvp). Both types of attack do not cost stamina.

[Musclemagic]

Have you ever played any of the other elder scrolls games? You can attack with a mouseclick (which is a normal attack) and you can hold the mouse button for an empowered attack. In ESO these are called light attacks and heavy attacks. With every weapon you can do these charged/heavy attacks.

 

Edit: I found this on tamriel foundry --> Blocking an enemy’s power attack will stagger the foe for a brief time. This was said in the context of a pve situation, but I think it also counts for pvp. So heavy attacks do more damages, but you charge them giving your opponent a time to react (this can really backfire in pvp). Both types of attack do not cost stamina.

 

But, Blocking does consume stamina. Just a side-note.

[Xenon]

power attacks are when your target is already CC'd.

 

(like if you block HIS power attack to set him off balance, you follow up with a power attack of your own that he is unable to block since he is off balance... a power attack will exploit the off balance state and knock down the target- giving you even more time to possible charge up a second power attack that can't be blocked).