Nightblade Healer (Bloodmage) Outdated

omfgitsbatman

THIS BUILD IS OUTDATED- NEW BUILD POSTED HERE http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/155898/1-6-nightblade-healer-bloodmage

I have finally reached VR14 on my Nightblade healer and have done a lot of the veteran content. I have completed every Vet Dungeon Hard Mode including City of Ash. I have healed trial speed runs for AA and Hel Ra. I've 2 healed and been on the weekly trial time leaderboards since I hit VR11. I've completed Dragonstar Arena on normal mode and will be attempting vet soon.

This is my first character in the game and I'm still experimenting with things, but I absolutely love it. I couldn't be happier with how it has turned out. I initially set out to prove or disprove the statement "Any class can heal." I wanted to see if I could take what I thought was the farthest class from what I imagined would be a healer and turn it into a top tier end game healer. It turns out that I was wrong about the Nightblade. The Nightblade makes a pretty outstanding healer. There are a ton of class specific skills that if morphed properly can add great utility to a group.

As of right now my build looks like this as far as heal side:
esohead.com/calculator/skills#mcozvvk000W008heRJ8heaj8IPSd8heam8A4hI8Ir4d8hesI8GFlT8IPq48If0n8A4hI8lLyP8L7JLkLu6cdoQr6MdoQC6MdoQF6MdoQJ6MdoQK8v7HLanQ6ranS6LanU6LanW6LanX6Mhy3D6Mhx0n6Mhx0y6Mhx0l6Mhx0B8C7DLzqq6rzqb6MGFWc6MGFWi6MGFWA6MGFWn8D7DLzdm6rzdR6Lzds6MIsaM6MIrv36MIrEf6MIrEh8F7JrzrJ6rzrO6Lbux6Lbut6MIPNU6MIPAh6MIPAT6MIPAv8O7srdeF6zAZqS6MA3FN6MA3FA6MA3FL6MA4Cb8zo7zzvbho8za7oLGF36LGF48zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7AVHQ3F6zHQ316cHQ4a6cHQ4h6cHSCW6cHSDz8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

So, for the explanations of all the choices I made:
Race: I chose an Argonian. At first, I chose Argonian to make things a tad more difficult on myself. It is pretty obvious that for a healer, a race that gets a magika boost (dunmer, breton, etc...) would be preferred. As I grew to love my character, I grew to love the decision I had made. The reason? 3 words: Potions, Potions, Potions. The Argonian Passive Amphibious + Siphoning Passive Catalyst = AMAZEBALLS Potions. I have alchemy on this character to make this affordable and also for the passives. The Spell Damage + Spell Crit + Restore magika potions are already awesome for a healer, but will be doubly so once Resto Staff skills scale off of Spell Damage. So, add 45% to what a non argonian, non nightblade healer gets from a potion... AMAZEBALLS!

Armor: All light armor for me. That choice is pretty clear because of the passives of light armor. I am currently using 5 piece Seducer and 5 piece Healer's Habit. Right now, I feel that is the best option until I can get some healing mage from trials.

Mundus Stone: Shadow. If you go with Ritual or Thief, You will get very similar results, but Shadow takes the slight advantage while running with Inner Light. Shadow gives about a .3 percent increase in average hps for me over ritual. Not significant at all, but shadow also has dps versatility over Ritual that makes it a pretty large improvement in my book.

Attribute Points: All Health. Some might disagree with me here, but It's a simple choice for me. I EASILY hit soft cap for magika with gear enchants and passives such as the siphoning passive magika flood and the undaunted/light armor passives. If I were to continue to put points into magika after I've reached soft cap, I would be getting diminishing returns. Already, health is 15 points per point and magika is only 10. I would prefer the extra survivability over a small increase in my magika pool. A dead healer can't heal too effectively.

Skill Bar 1: This bar will get you through just about anything. Occasionally I may swap out one skill from this bar depending on the fight, but it's not really necessary often.
1. Combat Prayer: This is your quick Big heal that also buffs your party. I like to keep the damage and armor buff on my party as much as possible.
2. Mutagen: For when your party is spread out. I like the "Oh S**t!" Factor that is built into the Mutagen Morph.
3. Sap Essence: I LOVE THIS SPELL!!! It's an AOE damage, a self buff and a group heal. Does it get any better than this? For trash mobs, I like to spam this while holding block (it draws a bit of attention lol). I can usually pull about 1k dps while keeping everyone healed on large trash mobs. Can any other single spell do that? The Ultimate generation from this is Astronomical. Also, Keeping a siphoning ability slotted to increase Magika from the pasive helps.
4.Healing Springs: The essential of EVERY healer. Stacks on itself. During trial boss fights where the group stacks, you really don't need to do much else but spam Healing Springs. With the Magika regen from it you can spam it until the cows come home in a 12 man. I usually hit well over 200 per tick of healing springs. I can usually have about 3 going at any time. If I have 12 people standing in the circle all getting 3 ticks of 200+ every second, that is 7200+ healing per second without pressing another button.
5. Inner Light: Crit heals are better heals. The end.
ULTIMATE: I chose Bolstering Dark. That morph is actually a really tough decision. I have changed my mind between Bolstering Dark and Veil of Blades about 10 times. Honestly, It's a matter of your prefference. Both are amazing. The heal your team gets from synergizing Bolstering Dark is HUGE... but they have to actually synergize it. Veil deals damage without the synergy. I could make the argument for either of them here. Whatever you morph it to, this ultimate is awesome because of the damage mitigation.

Skill Bar 2 I use this Bar to do a bit of dps while still healing for non heal check fights. The extra dps from your healer helps a lot in quite a few instances.
1. Siphon Spirit: This is usefull to help heal your party little by little and gain a tiny bit of magika back. I'm not too attached to this spell and it's usually the first to get moved if I need the space on my bar for something else. And after I remove that from the bar, I could switch to a destro staff for a bit more dps.
2. Ambush: First reason is because it will help boost the damage and healing of a funnel health immediately after. Second reason is the extra crit from slotting an assassination ability.
3. Funnel Health: A damage and a Hot. Ambush, followed by a funnel health crit is going to supply a lot of healing to your party. Not to mention the ultimate generation from this and Refreshing path is nuts!
4. Refreshing Path: AoE dot and a Hot. It's not a huge dot or hot,but combined with funnel health and siphon spirit, those little heals add up quickly. Ultimate generation is great.
5. Inner Light: CRITS ARE BETTER! Same place on both bars to facilitate switching and not having to retoggle.
ULTIMATE: Replenishing Barrier. Simply amazing. Great way to regen some magika while keeping your party alive via damage shields. This takes a lot of pvp to get, but is worth it. If you don't have it yet, Soul Siphon makes a decent replacement for 4 mans. It's super cheap and will provide a quick heal to 3 people and a damage to enemies. Not to mention, that it rebuilds a lot of ultimate just by damaging mobs due to the siphon passive Transfer.

Low on Magika? Pop a potion and/or use a resto staff heavy attack. No real need for Spell Symmetry in my oppinion. Some people like Siphoning attacks. I don't. I don't really feel like I need the magika recovery, so the damage cut is not worth it to me. I did love using it when level grinding. Siphoning Attacks + Sap Essence infinite spam +Ultimate Spam = Awesome for grinding.

Overall, I feel that my experiment has proven that any class can indeed heal. If you decide to run a nightblade healer, you will encounter many negative Nancy's that will tell you that you can't heal as a nightblade. They are dead wrong.

Tell me what you think.

Update: I have now cleared Vet DSA with slightly modified action bars, but no major changes to overall build.

Stannum

omfgitsbatman wrote: »

I initially set out to prove or disprove the statement "Any class can heal."

I think in ESO any class can play any role. One of most effective random group questing in Craglorn I took part in was tank, heal, magika DD, stamina DD and all were NB )).

Jacques Berge

NB by far have the broadest set of tools. And really the only class that can effectively fill any role in end game PVE... Don't believe me... Take a DD Templar to any competitive trials group, expect to be laughed at. Take a DK or Sorc healer and you can expect the same. While not as effective as Templars, NB are a close second when it comes to heals.

omfgitsbatman

dancing.in.the.webeb17_ESO wrote: »

omfgitsbatman wrote: »

I initially set out to prove or disprove the statement "Any class can heal."

I think in ESO any class can play any role. One of most effective random group questing in Craglorn I took part in was tank, heal, magika DD, stamina DD and all were NB )).

I came to the same conclusion. Any class can perform any role. Some classes can perform some roles easier than others, but that does not necessarily mean more effectively. It's really difficult to convince people who haven't seen a good sorc tank or a good nightblade healer of this. I stopped being classist a long time ago.

Kerioko

I have been running about the same argonian NB mage build since launch, and it is very similar to yours. I run duel resto for healing, and destro/resto for dps using 5 piece healers set/ 3 twilight's/ 3 willow's and swapping between spell dmg and weapon damage enchants depending on healing or dps. (I can't wait till 1.6 when everything will be spell dmg).

For healing I run:

mobile healing and single target dps bar:
1. funnel health - decent hot and adds dps
2. mutagen - hot, with built in "oh ***", to stack with funnel health
3. healing ward - awesome save your ass skill
4. spell symmetry or siphoning attacks - depends on if I am taking a lot of damage
5. inner light
6. Veil of Blades - dps plus awesome mitigation

stack healing and AOE dps
1. sap essence - aoe dps, heal, and weapon power boost all in one
2. refreshing path or combat prayer - depends on situation
3. Healing Springs - Heal Spam
4. siphon spirit or siphoning attacks - magicka regen
5. inner light
6. soul siphon or replenishing barrier - depends on need

I try to stack a siphon skill and shadow skill on each bar to make use of the magicka flood and fortitude passives...when dpsing, I stack an assassination skill (usually impale and focused attacks) on each bar for the assassination passives!

Anyway, its nice to see someone else making use of the potion power this build has....When I dps, I sometimes run 3 potion speed glyphs for almost perma upkeep of potions!

omfgitsbatman

Kerioko wrote: »

I have been running about the same argonian NB mage build since launch, and it is very similar to yours. I run duel resto for healing, and destro/resto for dps using 5 piece healers set/ 3 twilight's/ 3 willow's and swapping between spell dmg and weapon damage enchants depending on healing or dps. (I can't wait till 1.6 when everything will be spell dmg).

For healing I run:

mobile healing and single target dps bar:
1. funnel health - decent hot and adds dps
2. mutagen - hot, with built in "oh ***", to stack with funnel health
3. healing ward - awesome save your ass skill
4. spell symmetry or siphoning attacks - depends on if I am taking a lot of damage
5. inner light
6. Veil of Blades - dps plus awesome mitigation

stack healing and AOE dps
1. sap essence - aoe dps, heal, and weapon power boost all in one
2. refreshing path or combat prayer - depends on situation
3. Healing Springs - Heal Spam
4. siphon spirit or siphoning attacks - magicka regen
5. inner light
6. soul siphon or replenishing barrier - depends on need

I try to stack a siphon skill and shadow skill on each bar to make use of the magicka flood and fortitude passives...when dpsing, I stack an assassination skill (usually impale and focused attacks) on each bar for the assassination passives!

Anyway, its nice to see someone else making use of the potion power this build has....When I dps, I sometimes run 3 potion speed glyphs for almost perma upkeep of potions!

I'm also glad that someone else enjoys a very similar build to my own. I have been doing Vet DSA a lot lately and it has altered my build a bit. I now keep healing ward on the bar for hard content. A lot of the times, I'll swap funnel health to my main bar instead of sap essence if the boss is single target. A couple of fights, I put on siphoning attacks when I need to do more dps. I have found that for "Easy" Content, I can keep people up with the Nightblade class skills + Healing springs pretty easily. For the harder content, I switch to mostly resto staff.

Right now, My gear is 5pc Eyes of Mara (Seducer When I'm siphon healing) + 5pc healer's habit + Master Restoration Staff.
If I could get my aether healing mage rings to drop or bogdun's shoulders I would want to try using those 2 instead of healer's habit. Healing springs would be super crazy with both aether healing mage and the master resto staff. It would restore stam to allies and reduce weapon damage from enemies. That is pretty OP... Especially since I find myself spamming healing springs all the time in trials. I am anticipating 1.6 for the spell damage thing as well: I have kind of made my gear in preparation of it and not what's necessarily best right now (hasn't caused any issues yet). Can't wait!

I've got all my attribute points into health, running all light armor split between infused and divines with all magika gear enchants.

I do want people to know that the "Hard" content is possible with nightblade healers. I am very close to downing Vet DSA with my group. We got final boss to 18% then got unlucky breaks. This fight is a lot of fun as a nightblade healer. I have to rearrange my bars to include a taunt. Healing, tanking, and tossing dps when possible makes this last boss intense.

Also, I have decided that people don't synergize bolstering dark enough to make it worth picking over Veil of Blades right now. Veil is the way to go in my eyes right now.

omfgitsbatman

Update: I have cleared Vet DSA as a nightblade healer despite many people telling me that I wouldn't be able to. It was also every body in my group's first kill, so I did not get carried. Group comp was 3 DKs and a nb healer, I'm pretty sure I could do it with any group composition if everyone knows their class well enough and has enough awareness.

Jahoel

Oh hey, Ticktick.

Added you to this list here, if you don't mind.

Grats on your VDSA clear. Never doubted it for a second As I mentioned to you before, I truly believe each class can heal, tank, and DPS any of the content in TESO more than adequately. As a Templar DPS who more often than not out-shines DKs, Sorcs, and NBs - One who has run with Nightblade Healers such as you in VDSA, Sorc tanks in SO, and everything in between - I have yet to see any hard evidence to prove the arguments so often made regarding some kind of 'gross class imbalance' in the game (at least as far as PvE is concerned).

But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and subject to different experiences. It's up to people like us to break the mold, and share our knowledge. Thanks for the post. And good luck to all you healing Nightblades!

Ahdora

I have no idea why no one mentioned you when I asked if there were any other NB healers in the guild! I run almost the exact same build. Also an Argonian, and started such at launch for similar reasons

The main difference for me is that I do keep siphoning up. Since my core group are all V14s, I've been healing the vet dungeons set to V12 since I was V3/V4. It was HARD on resources, so having siphoning up was more beneficial to me. I have been looking at taking it off my primary bar, though, and just flipping to my secondary bar and turning it on should I need magicka in a pinch.

My favorite thing about being a NB healer is so rarely having to worry about resources. My least favorite thing is lack of a BoL-type ability, but I find that the group/myself can adjust in most cases. I took the other morph on regen, so I'll have to take a look at that.

I just healed regular DSA at V9, though the last fight was quite messy and we had five or so wipes, IIRC. Our DK DPS saved the day with two fast rezzes when the boss was almost down and we were on the last "island." I'm still super proud of that, though, since I was told by several people that not only could I not heal it as a nontemp healer, but I couldn't heal it at V9, either.

Get with me ingame, I'd love to talk with you!

I won't be attempting VDSA until V12, at least. Right now I'm stuck with 5 pc Seducer/3 pc Willow's/3 pc Warlock. But I have my 5 pc Healer's waiting in the bank for V13.

Jitterbug

I run a similar build on my recent vr1 nightblade, but this post is great.
Thanks!

Kartalin

I run a healing/support build in PVP that shares a lot of the same things a lot of you are doing, with a few different morphs.

Healer bar
1. Combat Prayer
2. Quick Siphon (I'm impatient and was glad I could morph it to have no cast time)
3. Efficient Purge
4. Healing Springs
5. Rapid Regeneration (or Crippling Grasp if I need some damage output other than heavy attacks with a disease enchanted resto staff which sounds like the craziest thing ever) (I'm also considering Incapacitate here to just use heavy attacks more quickly and with more output)
6. Reviving Barrier (I generate ultimate pretty well already so I went with this morph)

Stayin' Alive bar (and also support)
1. Dark Shades
2. Unstoppable
3. Healing Ward (still considering Ward Ally here)
4. Razor Caltrops
5. Mass Hysteria
6. Veil of Blades

I do run a strange build though, 5 medium and 2 heavy with an emphasis on weapon damage, which is roughly 240 with Shadow mundus and 5 Hundings Rage, 3 Dreugh Knight, 2 Shadow Walker, and whatever resto staff is handy -- for my 5 light 2 med setup I use a resto staff of torug's pact, so I reuse that here. I think the current state of the game allows healing and attacks to scale off of magicka and weapon power so I've pushed those categories the most. This looks like it'll be changing for 1.6 so I may have to go back to my LA build which may be more challenging.

Of course there's still confusion and controversy over how much weapon damage affects the healing done, but it does make it easier for me to switch to Bow for my second bar if my group needs more damage output.

omfgitsbatman

Jahoel wrote: »

Oh hey, Ticktick.

Added you to this list here, if you don't mind.

Grats on your VDSA clear. Never doubted it for a second As I mentioned to you before, I truly believe each class can heal, tank, and DPS any of the content in TESO more than adequately. As a Templar DPS who more often than not out-shines DKs, Sorcs, and NBs - One who has run with Nightblade Healers such as you in VDSA, Sorc tanks in SO, and everything in between - I have yet to see any hard evidence to prove the arguments so often made regarding some kind of 'gross class imbalance' in the game (at least as far as PvE is concerned).

But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and subject to different experiences. It's up to people like us to break the mold, and share our knowledge. Thanks for the post. And good luck to all you healing Nightblades!

Hey!
I absolutely don't mind. Thank you for the congrats! I've definitely seen you outshine many of the "Better" DPS classes on your templar. It's the player, not the class. Some classes have an easier time doing one role over another class, but this does not mean they can do it better. Templars have an easier time with group healing because of breath of life, but nowhere in the game yet is breath of life mandatory. A NB healer might have to work a little harder at it, but it can be done just as well. Same for dps. Templar stamina DPS might have to work a little harder at it, but they can do it just as well.

omfgitsbatman

These are the skillbars that got me through Vet DSA for the most part. I do a couple swaps depending on the round, but by default, my bars look like this:

http://www.esohead.com/calculator/skills#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

Bar 1:
1.Funnel Health- There are quite a few fights in VDSA where dps from your healer makes things go a lot smoother. Funnel health is a great hot and can put out a considerable amount of damage. Combining Funnel health with mutagen hots my party up and gives me a buffer time to move out of bad things or block/dodge before I have to heal again. I always kept these two on my party as much as possible. Ultimate generation is great, too.
2.Mutagen- As I said above, having multiple hots running on your party at any given time is crucial for fights where you are always on the move or always dodging mechanics. The "Oh S**t!" factor in this heal is clutch.
3.Healing Ward- This is your "Someone just F**ked up!" button. In harder content like VDSA, someone will mess up. Someone will stand in red too long. No getting around that. This keeps them alive until they realize and move out. Putting the damage shield up with hots already rolling is a crazy good way to keep people alive. This is not magika efficient at all, but it will keep someone alive long enough to get some healing springs on them. The fact that you don't need to be able to see them at the time makes it amazing too.
4.Healing Springs- Never Leaves my main bar. Stacks on itself and a few of these will quickly bring a group up to full health (especially with the 2 other hots already rolling on them). With the master resto staff, spamming my tank with this is also how I keep them good on stamina for crucial moments since I am not a templar and do not have shards or repentence.
5.Inner Light- Crits are better. Same spot Both Bars.
Ultimate:Veil of Blades- This is the ultimate I will use 98% of the time. I have gone back and forth between the morphs of this, but I think I have landed on Veil of Blades over Bolstering Darkness. Veil does not require a synergy to perform it's secondary function, and that makes it a winner to me right now. The damage mitigation is clutch and the damage from Veil definitely helps in a lot of fights in VDSA. Also, as a NB healer, you can have Veil active almost all of the time. No real need to be picky about when you drop it.

Bar 2: This bar is subject to change greatly depending on the fight
1.Siphoning Attacks- This Bar is for helping to AoE large groups down. My AoE uses a lot of magika, but Siphoning Attacks+ Sap Essence can be maintained for quite a while especially if you pop potions when you do manage to get low.
2.Combat Prayer- Good for the buffs and a good option for this bar. Giving my party a short damage boost and then doing sap essence definitely helps keep a manageable number of adds on the tank at any given time.
3.Sap Essence- Buff+AoE damage+Group Heal= Amazing. Not to mention that this is a siphoning skill and hits a lot of targets, so your ultimate generation is astronomical from this skill.
4.Refreshing Path- Small hot/dot, can be useful for the speed boost at times. Ultimate generation is also a plus with this.
5.Inner Light- See Above.
Ultimate:Soul Siphon- Cheap ultimate for when your group is a bit spread out. This is a decent option if you are running low on resources. I do try to use veil of blades MUCH more than this though.

Some skills I switch in: I always put Immovable onto my main bar for stage 3 because stranglers. I put Inner Beast onto my main bar for final boss so I can taunt the atros and the mini bosses. Harness Magika often times finds a spot on my bars to help cushion incoming magika damage. I often put efficient purge onto one of my bars if I know I will need to cleanse in a specific fight.

ashlee17

I would just like to add that i really enjoyed your post. I've never really enjoyed playing my nightblade as much as my other characters but now I am keen to give a nightblade healer try. Thanks for sharing the results of your efforts with us. Thanks for reading and happy adventuring.

FooWasHere

Great advice, thanks! I happened to roll a DD Argonian Staffblade and I've off-healed the dungeons so far but wondered about the viability of end-game healing. Looks good!
-Foo

Tal_72

@omfgitsbatman I wanted to give this thread a bump and ask if you have any updates or changes with the most recent patch? I am wanting to try out NB healing, so I would appreciate your insight and thank you for posting this thread in the first place!

omfgitsbatman

gchutsonub17_ESO wrote: »

@omfgitsbatman I wanted to give this thread a bump and ask if you have any updates or changes with the most recent patch? I am wanting to try out NB healing, so I would appreciate your insight and thank you for posting this thread in the first place!

I have posted a 1.6 build here:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/155898/1-6-nightblade-healer-bloodmage