Some general questions (Class preference, Nightblades...)

Khenzy

Hello there! New/returning player here (waaaaay back from beta), might as well consider me as a fresh new player though!

I'm a hardcore PvP player and I'd like you experts to give me advice on what to focus on.

I'm particularly interested in small scale PvP and 1v1s but I profoundly dislike gimicky builds such as loading up a bunch of skills to blow someone up in a second and that's pretty much the extent of the build.

I like versatile builds, that are very self-sustainable as well, I don't like depending on others around me. I also like high mobility!
Also, and this one is very important, I like a character that's as equally capable with melee as with range... in a single build! where you can change from one to another on the fly and be just as effective. With that said, the Nightblade class cought my attention very quickly.

At first I liked the Templar, I could put some range and melee on its bar, it had decent sustain and heals, but it lacked mobility and disengage. (correct me if I'am wrong!).
I couldn't get a Dragonknight to be as proficient at both ranges in a single build, it also lacked mobility.
Sorcerers have a lot of mobility, range and defense, but it's either Range or full on melee (the stamina alternative, which is not as good from what I've heard).

Then it comes the Nightblade.

With Magicka Nightblade just get on your Resto staff bar Swallow Soul and Degeneration for some ranged damage, with Shadow Image for kiting and Healing Ward plus Purge/Mutagen for some sustain. Then you can go dual wield and use Lotus Fan, Concealed Weapon, Mass hysteria, Drak Cloak... or whatever. The thing is, you can go melee/ranged, with decent sustain and disengage (cloak?).

With Stamina Nightblade I guess you'd go two handed: Ambush/Critical charge, Wreckling Blow/Surprise Attack, Shuffle, Mass Hysteria, Rally and with a bow you'd use: Venom Arrow, Lethal Arrow, Bombard, Dark Cloak, Vigor.

...Or something like that.

Am I doing this right?
Did I choose the correct class based on my criteria?
If so, what should I choose when it comes to more sustain/mobility/versatility, stamina or magicka?
If not, is there any other class/build combo that meets what I am looking for?
Any build suggestions if at all?

Thanks for reading!

Strider_Roshin

I say go magicka Nightblade. Up close magicka and stamina are pretty close to par; with stamina being slightly better. Range, magicka takes the cake with moves such as cripple, swallow soul, spectral bow, etc. Survivability magicka is light years better worry amazing HoT and burst heals from the restoration staff, also healing ward is a very powerful (I'd say overpowered) damage shield when casted at low health. Resource management, you'll struggle to keep up with your resources if you go stamina, whereas you can cast spells for days as magicka. There's also quite a variety of moves to choose from if you go magicka whereas stamina builds are very limited when it comes to options, not to mention Ultimates are between 25-44% stronger as a magicka user so you'll hit a lot harder as all. I hope my response was useful.

Khenzy

Of course it was helpful, thank you!

Is it too crazy to think about something like a heavy armored nightblade with sword/shield + resto staff with stuff like Swallow Soul on the staff and Concealed Weapon on s&b coupled with Siphoning Attacks for some tankiness and sustained damage? Could something like that actually work?

olsborg

Khenzy wrote: »

Of course it was helpful, thank you!

Is it too crazy to think about something like a heavy armored nightblade with sword/shield + resto staff with stuff like Swallow Soul on the staff and Concealed Weapon on s&b coupled with Siphoning Attacks for some tankiness and sustained damage? Could something like that actually work?

I know it used to work in 1.6 and back, due to dmg being high, but atm with the battlespirit cutting all dmg in half im not so sure it will be. I think you might have some spell penetration issues and some sustain issues with heavy armor. Im no expert on heavy armor mag nbs anymore tho.

Khenzy

olsborg wrote: »

Khenzy wrote: »

Of course it was helpful, thank you!

Is it too crazy to think about something like a heavy armored nightblade with sword/shield + resto staff with stuff like Swallow Soul on the staff and Concealed Weapon on s&b coupled with Siphoning Attacks for some tankiness and sustained damage? Could something like that actually work?

I know it used to work in 1.6 and back, due to dmg being high, but atm with the battlespirit cutting all dmg in half im not so sure it will be. I think you might have some spell penetration issues and some sustain issues with heavy armor. Im no expert on heavy armor mag nbs anymore tho.

Hehe, well... I said heavy armor as an example... What I actually meant was that if it's possible at all to make a more sustainy up-front nightblade that can actually take some hits and is also capable of respectable damage, instead of this sneaky-burst-you-in-seconds playstyle that's sooo popular (and very one-dimensional and gimmicky to be honest). With a passive such as Shadow Barrier and maybe skills such as Blessing of Protection from resto staff you could have some decent mitigation without full heavy armor, and the Siphoning Attacks for some decent sustain (just throwing some ideas out there...). For instance, Templars have to use('waste') a skill slot with Rune Focus to gain something Nightblades gain passively with Shadow Barrier, so I don't get why everyone says all Nightblades are really squishy? From my (albeit slightly ignorant) perspective, Nightblades have a lot of potential for 'outside the box' builds.

But hey, what do I know? I'm still inexperienced, so I'm looking for some feedback on what I asked above.

Xvorg

I'm levelling my (now) magicka NB dunmer and I can tell you that you can pretti much fight from afar and close range in one bar

I'm currently PvEing (more like a training) with:

Flame staff, 5 light + 2 heavy

Inner light
leeching strikes (surprisely, it's doing it quite well)
Conc weapon
Debilitate (it is great for multiple enemies, and the magicka refund is nice)
Shadowy disguise (another surprise)
U Soul harvest

From stealth, charge a heavy attack, then debilitate and run towards the enemy while cloaking. You are going to reach him quite fast so immediatley conc weapon (one or twice) and a heavy attack. Up to then, the enemy should be dead and the ulti bar full. If there's an enemy around, cloak again, charge a heavy attack from behind the enemy and release it while soul harvesting.

Another idea is to cloak and cw every enemy around for the stun and the crit.