About Summon shades

Scora

Do they draw aggro or taunt mobs like the sorcerer pets does?
How useful is this ability?

Dekkameron

They don't really hold much aggro unfortunately. The archer shade morph has a fair amount of utility, but often i feel that the two shades dish out more damage

SLy_Kyti

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

Rune_Relic

People could describe this...but then you would be deprived of experimenting.
There are many many possible play styles, so how effective it is really depends on the way you play and are setup.
Some people love using fear/cc.
I love using bash/stun.

You really need to experience the skill to understand the skill and the best time/place to use it.
Then decide if it fits into the way you like to play.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/77280/nightblade-summon-shade

Dekkameron

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

I find the two shades are handy when tanking and the archer shade is ok for teleporting to in pvp in certain situations.. but i agree there are probably more useful things to fill with the spot.

Jeckll

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

Most underrated ability ever. Shadow Image is one of the best PvP abilities a Nightblade has. Draining your oponnents Stamina while he's blocking, constantly debuffing him and the ability to teleport back to it - priceless. There are a ton of youtubers like Sipher, showing you how to do it.

In end game trials, having Shades on the boss is also a must have.

Guess it's not useful in Veteran Dungeons or for most quests, but this skill is really strong.

SLy_Kyti

Jeckll wrote: »

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

Most underrated ability ever. Shadow Image is one of the best PvP abilities a Nightblade has. Draining your oponnents Stamina while he's blocking, constantly debuffing him and the ability to teleport back to it - priceless. There are a ton of youtubers like Sipher, showing you how to do it.

In end game trials, having Shades on the boss is also a must have.

Guess it's not useful in Veteran Dungeons or for most quests, but this skill is really strong.

I have found most bosses ignore my shades, my shades do Lil damage or in this case a small debuff. I wanted to use them, the idea is wonderful but, I have respecced to use them differently and finally just took them off.I don't need the the free teleport to boss, I'm usually already there killing him. Same with Trials, don't see the need.
It's great to see them still be used,I appreciate the Information. As mentioned above by others the OP should experiment with different builds to see what fits his gameplay.

Stannum

Scora wrote: »

Do they draw aggro or taunt mobs like the sorcerer pets does?
How useful is this ability?

No. they do not. It's good ability for PvP (stamina drain, debuff, their own detect radius) but in PvE almost useless.

Cody

shades are pure utility.

shadow image is a good way to escape your enemies/powerful attacks, and dark shades is good for bringing down the block of annoying cowards perma blockers(:D)

Nestor

Shades have their place. They are good for keeping some of the mobs occupied while you take down the other ones. They last long enough that you can fire the skill off at the start of the battle then use your other skills in a rotation while they do their thing.

Most of the time, people use 2 or 3 skills in a battle, with the other two just taking up space on the bar. In that case, Shades are just as good as any other skill to put on the bar and use when the situation calls for it.

squshy7

I've said this before to my friends, so I'll write it here.

There are 2 things that need to be added to the behavior of shades (both morphs) to complete their usefulness.

1. Allow the ability to critically strike. Their base damage, on both morphs, is actually not terrible. It's along the same lines as other dots. But their inability to crit severely reduces their DPS, thus making them undesirable for most PvE DPS builds.

2. Allow the shades (both morphs) to be summoned without a target, and follow sorc summon rules on controlling them (hold Y + left click/ right click) while maintaining them as temporary summons. This little change would immediately alter and improve the skill for a lot of different play styles, and allow way more interesting uses.

DeLindsay

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

You obviously have no idea what they're used for if you actually pointed them for the damage they (don't) do. Shades serve 3 purposes.

• 15% damage debuff on the enemy.
• Additional Blocking Stamina drain in PvP (even though it's minor).
• Teleport (now free) around the battlefield.

tintin_milou

DeLindsay wrote: »

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

You obviously have no idea what they're used for if you actually pointed them for the damage they (don't) do. Shades serve 3 purposes.

• 15% damage debuff on the enemy.
• Additional Blocking Stamina drain in PvP (even though it's minor).
• Teleport (now free) around the battlefield.

Hi there, I have two questions about the 15% damage debuff on target...

1) Since the shade(s) lasts for at least 15 secs, does the debuff last at least 15 + 4 = 19 secs?

2) In a boss fight, if two NBs cast shades, do the debuffs stack on the target (i.e. the damage debuff is 30%)?

Thanks for your help!

SLy_Kyti

DeLindsay wrote: »

SLy_Kyti wrote: »

They are useless, both morphs. My 13 yr old cat does more damage, even when she's asleep.
Took them off at the respec.

You obviously have no idea what they're used for if you actually pointed them for the damage they (don't) do. Shades serve 3 purposes.

• 15% damage debuff on the enemy.
• Additional Blocking Stamina drain in PvP (even though it's minor).
• Teleport (now free) around the battlefield.

These are new relatively new changes to the skill lines that effect RvR. Kyti rarely goes to Lagvile these days, though in her early years she was always there, behind you. Perhaps it is time to resharpen her claws, renew her acquaintances so to speak. Find you not by sneaking into a house in Shornhelm but under some trees in Cyrodiil... Yes, this sounds good.

DeLindsay

tintin_milou wrote: »

Hi there, I have two questions about the 15% damage debuff on target...

1) Since the shade(s) lasts for at least 15 secs, does the debuff last at least 15 + 4 = 19 secs?

2) In a boss fight, if two NBs cast shades, do the debuffs stack on the target (i.e. the damage debuff is 30%)?

Thanks for your help!

The damage debuff only lasts for the duration of the Shades and it doesn't stack with either other NB's Shades nor any ability that grants Minor Maim like Low Slash and it's morphs in the 1H/Shield tree. It USED to stack (with other abilities for -30%) pre 1.6 and you could even add miss chance and Dodge to that making it much harder to hit and do damage to the Target of the Shade's Target, if that target was a NB.

Celless

In melee PvE for vet dungeons, I do like the ranged shade Shadow Image for repositioning for some bosses.

Crypt of Hearts bosses and Fungal Grotto bosses come to mind. If I'm rolling out of a large AoE the first time, may cast it, ambush back in, do the wrecking blow dance, proc Shadow Image to jump out - since I may only use magicka for Relentless Focus and just the Summon Shade morphs in these scenarios. Granted, I won't be breaking any DPS benchmarks like this, but just enjoying a different play style that does not need healing.

I know that the Dark Shades (the two shadow goons) will both proc the Force Siphon from restoration staff, which is not too bad if Siphon Spirit is on the target for magicka builds. What I haven't checked is whether or not the shades count as light attacks or as ability attacks (for purposes of Siphoning Strikes and its morphs).