All this talk about Nightblades are bad, maybe I am a good player?

ShedsHisTail · June 2014

I play a DW Nightblade. No bow, no other weapons, just dual daggers on both bars. Using a mixture of Class Skills and Weapon skills; one bar is specialized for single target assaults (dungeon/quest bosses and such) the other for AOE. I leveled as mostly a stamina build but have begun moving more toward Magicka in VR.

The key factor in my success (even in VR levels) is control. As long as I can maintain control of the situation; get the jump on my opponent, maintain awareness of what his buddies are doing, keep a cool head ,etc. I come out on top, almost every time.

It's when something catches me by surprise, or off guard that everything goes to hell. If there is one thing the Nightblade class needs, it's an "Oh Sh!t" button. That button you hit when things get lopsided and you just need to get out.

Yeah, the Nightblade has problems and we've got nowhere to go but up, with bug fixes and such. But, even as it is now, the Nightblade is completely playable; it's just not the class to choose if you just want to charge in and lay waste to everything in your path. It takes planning, confidence, and a little finesse.

aipex8_ESO · June 2014

ShedsHisTail wrote: »

I play a DW Nightblade. No bow, no other weapons, just dual daggers on both bars. Using a mixture of Class Skills and Weapon skills; one bar is specialized for single target assaults (dungeon/quest bosses and such) the other for AOE. I leveled as mostly a stamina build but have begun moving more toward Magicka in VR.

The key factor in my success (even in VR levels) is control. As long as I can maintain control of the situation; get the jump on my opponent, maintain awareness of what his buddies are doing, keep a cool head ,etc. I come out on top, almost every time.

It's when something catches me by surprise, or off guard that everything goes to hell. If there is one thing the Nightblade class needs, it's an "Oh Sh!t" button. That button you hit when things get lopsided and you just need to get out.

Yeah, the Nightblade has problems and we've got nowhere to go but up, with bug fixes and such. But, even as it is now, the Nightblade is completely playable; it's just not the class to choose if you just want to charge in and lay waste to everything in your path. It takes planning, confidence, and a little finesse.

This is exactly how I play my NB. I am also a vampire which allows me to fill my Stamina with Invigorating Drain, but my main DPS comes from Rapid Strikes on my single target bar or Whirling Blades on my multi target (I actually don't switch to the second bar that often and find it easier to take down groups of 3 with my single target abilities). I enhance with some Magicka based class skills, such as Ambush to open and Impale to finish. I'm currently VR8.

This is actually the play style that I prefer. Sure, some classes can just run into a group of 3-5 mobs and AoE them into Oblivion, but that just doesn't really seem like a lot of fun to me. I chose the NB to be a sneaky assassin type, so I want sneaky assassin type combat. I'm NOT saying the NB class doesn't need some fixes (and almost more importantly, stamina/weapon/med armor abilities for any class), and I think I would find it much harder as a non-vampire because I would be drained of stamina much quicker! But I don't think it's currently "unplayable" like I see a lot here.

I also think that something that would make even single target/assassin type NBs valuable to groups is needed (maybe some kind of group buffs or something). I realize right now with my build and play style, even though I can do great DPS in solo content, I'm probably not going to have much luck finding groups that will take me. Sad, because once I hit VR10, I'm going to have limited options in what I can do because it's so group oriented.

ShedsHisTail · June 2014

aipex8_ESO wrote: »

ShedsHisTail wrote: »

I play a DW Nightblade. No bow, no other weapons, just dual daggers on both bars. Using a mixture of Class Skills and Weapon skills; one bar is specialized for single target assaults (dungeon/quest bosses and such) the other for AOE. I leveled as mostly a stamina build but have begun moving more toward Magicka in VR.

The key factor in my success (even in VR levels) is control. As long as I can maintain control of the situation; get the jump on my opponent, maintain awareness of what his buddies are doing, keep a cool head ,etc. I come out on top, almost every time.

It's when something catches me by surprise, or off guard that everything goes to hell. If there is one thing the Nightblade class needs, it's an "Oh Sh!t" button. That button you hit when things get lopsided and you just need to get out.

Yeah, the Nightblade has problems and we've got nowhere to go but up, with bug fixes and such. But, even as it is now, the Nightblade is completely playable; it's just not the class to choose if you just want to charge in and lay waste to everything in your path. It takes planning, confidence, and a little finesse.

This is exactly how I play my NB. I am also a vampire which allows me to fill my Stamina with Invigorating Drain, but my main DPS comes from Rapid Strikes on my single target bar or Whirling Blades on my multi target (I actually don't switch to the second bar that often and find it easier to take down groups of 3 with my single target abilities). I enhance with some Magicka based class skills, such as Ambush to open and Impale to finish. I'm currently VR8.

This is actually the play style that I prefer. Sure, some classes can just run into a group of 3-5 mobs and AoE them into Oblivion, but that just doesn't really seem like a lot of fun to me. I chose the NB to be a sneaky assassin type, so I want sneaky assassin type combat. I'm NOT saying the NB class doesn't need some fixes (and almost more importantly, stamina/weapon/med armor abilities for any class), and I think I would find it much harder as a non-vampire because I would be drained of stamina much quicker! But I don't think it's currently "unplayable" like I see a lot here.

I also think that something that would make even single target/assassin type NBs valuable to groups is needed (maybe some kind of group buffs or something). I realize right now with my build and play style, even though I can do great DPS in solo content, I'm probably not going to have much luck finding groups that will take me. Sad, because once I hit VR10, I'm going to have limited options in what I can do because it's so group oriented.

Yeah, I've found that the higher level I reach, the more I have to rely on defensive skills (Elude and/or Mirage) anytime I switch to my AOE bar and my single target bar seems to do the job as long as I can manage the Magicka. That said, I've begun dabbling into 2-Handed Weapons but have nowhere near enough points into it to consider it a legitimate part of my build just yet. Thinking it might be a more viable AOE bar and, you know, the whole ninja thing.