THIS BUILD IS OUTDATED- NEW BUILD POSTED HERE http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/155898/1-6-nightblade-healer-bloodmage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