Solo PvE Build Advice - Next Steps?

tally_ho

ESO hive mind! I’m looking for a steer on where to go with my build from here. Been playing casually but consistently for a year or so, and using a few online guides I’ve got a Stamblade that’s pretty decent and deals with most PvE and overworld stuff solo. I’m at the stage where I need to take it up a notch but there are a few ways I could go and not sure the best path forward.

Current build summary - a CP360 Stamblade, one-bar Dual Wield daggers, running 5pc Hunding’s Rage, 5pc Night Mother’s Gaze (all nirn’d) and Oakensoul Ring. Skill-wise, I use Surprise Attack as the spammable and Killer’s Blade as the execution. Whirling Blades for AoE. Sustain bolstered by Leeching Strikes, healing with Resolving Vigor and Flawless Dawnbreaker as my ultimate.

Any thoughts on where I could go are welcome, plus a couple more specific questions:

- What kits are logical steps up from HR/NMG (mainly I use them because I went all-in on crafting)
- Being a muppet I didn’t realize you could only equip one mythical so I obtained both Oakensoul and Pale Order. Which should I do and if I shift to Pale Order what should my second bar be?
- If two-bar, I was thinking about the same weapons but have one bar for 1v1/bosses and another for groups/overworld. Is this a legit strategy and if so, what kind of skills should I look to run? Note, I’m not very experienced with two-bar setups so want to keep it relatively simple.

FrancisCrawford

What kind of system do you play on?

Bar swapping is very easy on a PC if you have a mouse with any kind of convenient and programmable extra button.

I don't know whether anything analogous is true on consoles.

WrathOfInnos

Yep, you're on the right track. Pale Order is really nice for solo builds, and 2 bars in the next step in complexity and improvement.

Typically the back bar is used for longer duration buffs and damage over time abilities. This is mainly due to weapon traits, and wanting to minimize the time spend and casts on back bar. Front bar gets the best traits for instant damage, like Precise/Nirnhoned or sometimes Charged or Sharpened. Back bar should be an Infused trait weapon with a Berserker (aka weapon damage glyph). This alone gives more weapon and spell damage than the Major Courage you'd lose from Oakensoul. Ground DoTs like Blockade of Fire, Endless Hail, and Stampede will activate this enchant on cooldown, even if you are on the front bar.

Just using one ground DoT on back bar is a good starting point, preferably Blockade or Hail, and the Maelstrom Inferno staff is the best beginner option IMO. It lasts 15s, doesn't have any delay or ramp-up, does good single target and area damage, and has a large size. On a stamblade it should be a nearly free cast if you're not using magicka for much else.

For most overworld encounters you can just cast one blockade at the start, then go to front bar until the fight is over. For harder bosses you should try to refresh it close to every 15s. If you're new to bar swapping in combat it's ideally:

Light Attack > Front Bar Skill > Bar Swap > Light Attack > Hail/Blockade > Bar Swap

The bar swaps don't take delay any skills if you time it correctly, right after casting the ability.

As you get more comfortable with it, consider adding skills like Leeching Strikes and Twisting Path to the back bar.

Gear looks fine for now. Sets like Order's Wrath might be a small upgrade. Then there are the harder to get meta sets for long boss fights, like Advancing Yokeda, Pillar of Nirn, or Kinras Wrath, but I wouldn't worry about those yet. Trial sets are also great, but the Minor Slayer buff they being only works in dungeons, trials and arenas.

deejayvee

tally_*** wrote: »

running 5pc Hunding’s Rage, 5pc Night Mother’s Gaze (all nirn’d)

Do you mean the armor trait is nirnhoned? If so, I would recommend your next sets you go with Divines so that you increase the effect of your mundus (which should probably be thief for pve so you get more crit chance)

Nestor

You talked about your rotation but did not mention light attack animation canceling. That is a huge difference in DPS. Weave LAs in between Skills. Cancel LA with Skills.

You cant bar swap with Oaken Soul, but you can skill cancel or block cancel.

Zodiarkslayer

@tally_*** Hi. I have this build for when I want to play Stamblade. Feel free to have a look.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=490138
It is a Breton, yes, don't judge me! I like my Bretons. 😅
But the rest is pretty optimised for Solo gameplay.

The best choices for SOLO are Hexo's Ward and Order's Wrath. With a one piece Slimecraw and Oakensoul, you cannot go wrong. It synergises very well with the Stamina Nightblade.
By the way, in your post you account for eleven out of twelve equipment slots. Can I assume you have something useful for that last slot, or is it just empty? ☝️

Regardless of your new set choices, you should definitely look at how you use abilities.
In your post, I am counting 5 abilities and one ultimate for an Oakensoul One Bar build.
One is a heal, one a support and the other three are direct damage attacks. And the only DoT comes from your ultimate.
That's just not balanced! You need more ground DoTs.

The three best abilities of the Nightblade class are Soul Harvest, Merciless Resolve and Twisting Path. You use none of them, yet. Even if you have to drop your execute, it is still better to run these three abilities. Always.

As for the spammable, there is, in my opinion, no way past Bloodthirst from the Dual Wield tree. It has high Damage, low cost and a third of the damage is leeched back to you as a heal. It is basically the Templar's Sweeps for everyone. If not stronger.
In my build I have about a 5k heal every time I use it, without critting. That is what gets you through Boss fights, not Leeching Strikes or Vigor.
Using two Magicka abilities will also ease your stamina consumption, freeing you from using Leching Strikes, anyway.

Nightblade is a difficult class to master. But when you do, it is so satisfying. 😎

DrNukenstein

Get a vateshrans 2 hander as your back bar.

It's a great set for stamblades, and on top of that Vateshrans Hollows is IMO the most fun solo pve content the game offers.

NMG is considered a BIS set for nightblades in solo play. Farming one of the light/heavy attack sets from the vanilla dungeons will probably give you a bunch of damage over Hundings. I just started using Storm Master for example, and was very surprised at how much damage it gives in practice. Requires weaving, especially medium weaving on off balance targets to get the most out of those though.

ZOS_Kraken

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

tally_ho

Thanks for the amazing responses everyone, especially WrathOfInnos and Zodiarkslayer! As further context, thanks for being patient and not judgy. I started pretty casual and this is my basic understanding, this is all about taking it to the next level. I’m only a NB because I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started and it was the best build I could make! Should prob have gone with something easier!

In response to some questions asked:

• I’m on PC but play with a controller. Think swapping is as simple as a button press
• I haven’t really managed to get weaving/animation canceling down. Any advice on doing that with a controller?
• I use the Lover Mundus, I gather its a pretty close thing between that and the Thief.
• That last empty slot was a random necklace as I didn’t know what else to put there

Loads for me to mull over here! So the notes I’ve got suggest my path ought to be:

• Ring of the Pale Order and Slimecraw (Head or Shoulder)
• Order’s Wrath (Crafted) instead of Hunding’s Rage, Divines rather than nirnhoned

I’ll focus on those for now, and get my front bar to look something like:

• DoT: Trap Beast > Barbed Trap (Fighters)
• DoT: Path of Darkness > Twisting Path (Shadow)
• Spammable: Flurry > Bloodthirst (DW)
• AoE: Whirlwind > Whirling Blades (DW)
• Execute: Assassin’s Blade > Killers Blade (Assassination)
• Ultimate: Death Stroke > Soul Harvest (Assasination)

After that, work on a back bar, using either Thundering Volley (Bow, Maelstrom), Frenzied Momentum (2-H, Vateshran) or Crushing Wall (Staff, Maelstrom). Some combo of:

• DoT: Volley > Endless Hail (Bow)
• DoT: Critical Charge > Stampede (2-H)
• DoT: Wall of Elements > Blockade (Destruction)
• DoT: Caltrops > Razor Caltrops (Assault)
• Buff: Siphoning Strikes > Leeching Strikes (Siphoning)
• Buff: Grim Focus > Merciless Resolve (Assassination)
• Debuff: Mark Target > Reapers Mark (Assasination)

WrathOfInnos

Yep, that should be a nice improvement with some practice. I'd recommend swapping Twisting Path to back bar and Merciless Resolve to front, just to be on your high damage bar when using a bow proc. That cast also replaces a spammable, so fewer bar swaps if it is near Flurry and Killer's Blade.