Nightblade Build - best stats/abilities for stealthy/one-shot/burst damage?

Wolfgang_Grimmer · June 2015

New player here, basically I want to know what the best passive abilities/weapon abilities/class abilities/stats I should invest in as I level to have a stealthy nightblade class that can do powerful one hit attacks and decent enough dps. Expecting this build to be primarily geared toward 1v1 situations, but would still like to be able to do well against multiple targets to some favorable degree. I enjoyed the stealth class in Skyrim, with the stealth damage multipliers, with those dark brotherhood gloves that further bolstered the sneak attack multiplier. Basically I'm looking for a build that would be similar/equivalent to this kind of play style. I realize that this game has more intracacies, and many/different stats that could take a build in different directions though. TLDR: I want a stealthy/one-shot/burst damage kind of NB class that is primarily 1v1 oriented, but also does well as a decent dps/does well against multiple enemies. Also, a bow would be really awesome too to use and be incorporated in this build

AssaultLemming · June 2015

What you want is a medium armour, khajiit, stamina nb. Use 2h and bow for weapons. Focus on weapon damage, stamina and crit. Skills you want are the nb skills with a stamina morph. Ambush, surprise attack , killers blade, Mark target, grim focus and cloak. Weapon skills you should work towards are wrecking blow, momentum and crit rush in 2h, venom arrow and snipe in bow.

Put your champ points into increasing your physical damage and crit damage, and into cost reduction and stamina regen.

The best sets for this type are crafted while you level, such as hundings rage and ashen grip. When you get to vr14 a mix of crafted and PvP or dropped. Such as Morag tong, shadow walker, hundings, and vicious ophidian. Your aim is as much weapon damage as possible.

Highly recommend making your character a crafter, learn to craft your own medium armour, your own weapons and enchantments. You will want to learn 6 traits in medium and blacksmithing. Good traits at low level are training and exploration. At higher levels you want infused, divine and nirn. Sharpened or precise for weapons.

Hope this helps.

Wolfgang_Grimmer · June 2015

Wow thanks yeah that definitely helps; so no dual wielding then?

Johngo0036 · June 2015

I would would not use venom arrow, i would use poison injection,

I also prefer concealed weapon rather than surprise attack for the movement speed,

I also levelled dual wield for steel tornado and flying blade,

Armour - 5 X Hundings rage,
4 X Morag tong,
2 X Shadow Walker.

weapon damage is critical.

My 1st bar,(bow)
Poison injection
Focus Aim
Doubletake
concealed weapon
Dark Cloak,
Ulti - Flawless Dawnbreaker

2nd bar - 2H Maul(ignores 20% or armour)
Concealed Weapon
Wrecking Blow
Rally
Ambush
Fear
Ulti - Incapacitating strike

When i use dual wield it is for mobs and will replace my bow,
Steel tornado,
Flying blade,
Sap Essence(Coz of heal)
Grim focus,
ambush,
Ulti - Soul tether,

Wolfgang_Grimmer · June 2015

I am khajiit. With that, what other passive abilities should I get in my 2H/bow/dual/race/whatever?

Smaxx · June 2015

Dual Wield can be awesome as well, but 2H will cause the bigger numbers.

Personally I'm using 2H (single target) and DW (aoe target) in PvE and 2H/Bow in PvP.

As for passives, just get everything in your weapon and armor lines as well as all racial passives. You can't go wrong with those for that role.

Most class tree passives are as good, there are just a few exceptions I don't consider as important.

And besides all that: Go and try yourself. Respeccing is pretty cheap in this game and you'll get plenty of points to try most (if not all) skills while levelling up.

Wolfgang_Grimmer · June 2015

Okay thank you too. Just trying to find out how to be the best I can in my class with which skills and weapons to use

TheBull · June 2015

I run duel Wield for my melee burst spec.

https://youtu.be/STwMnz7HPfc

Jeckll · June 2015

Some hits here are legit, some are rather lack luster.
The way to high damage is Weapon Power, that's correct. So focus on that.
The way the buff system works in ESO is that there are Major and Minor buffs for all sorts of things, like increased Crit, Weapon damage, Armor Reduction, Armor Increase etc. etc.

To have a successful burst char, you require
Major Brutality: 20% increased Weapon Damage: you get that by using the 2H skill Momentum, the Nightblade Class Skill "Drain Power" or via a Potion (Panacea of Weapon Power)
Major Savagery: 10% increased Weapon Critical: you get that by sloting "Expert Hunter", a skill from the Fighter's Guild or via a Potion (Panacea of Weapon Power)
Minor Berserk: 8% additional damage: You get that from the NIghtblade ability "Grim Focus".
Major Fracture: Reduced Armor: you get that from the Nightblades Abilities "Surprise Attack" or "Mark Target".

2h/bow is a potent combination in PvP, as Momentum is a solid way to gain Major Brutality out of combat. So you can buff yourself before even engaging. DW would require the use of a potion before enganging in combat which sets the potion on cooldown.

DW has the best AoE capability, so DW/Bow is the best overall setup for PvE. In my Signature, there is a guide about Endgame PvE if you are interested in that.

Gearwise, there are already solid ideas given. Starter Gear is always 5 Hungings, Rest Ashen Grip.
Make sure to use a 2h Maul with Sharpened, it's bugged for quite some time now and ignores way more armor than intened (>70%)

Skills:
Bow: Poison Injection, Double Take, Dark Cloak, Camouflaged Hunter, Relentless Focus, Ice Comet
2h: Killer's Blade, Surprise Attack, Mass Hysteria, Rally, Ambush, Soul Harvest

AssaultLemming · June 2015

Don't listen to the guy saying to use concealed weapon, that scales off magicka not stamina. Where I have spoken of a spell name I've just used the name that I recall, it may not be the actual morph name that's best for you. As far as venom arrow vs poison injection personally in PvP I prefer the interrupt on casters compared to the extra damage vs low health mobs, but make your own call based on your play style.

2h maul with sharpened is also what I use.

Ice comet and soul harvest are nice ultimates, as well as the suggestion about expert Hunter (there is a morph of this for extra stealth damage that you may also like) flawless dawn breaker is another ultimate to consider, haven't checked if the passive weapon damage stacks with everything else but I think so.

Jeckll · June 2015

AssaultLemming wrote: »

Don't listen to the guy saying to use concealed weapon, that scales off magicka not stamina. Where I have spoken of a spell name I've just used the name that I recall, it may not be the actual morph name that's best for you.

The correct morph is "Surprise Attack", the base skill is called Veiled Strike.

The thing with Venom Arrow (the interrupt morph of Poison Arrow) is that there is not much to interrupt in PvP actually. Most stuff is instant anyways. So the times where the INSANE additional DOT Poison Injection provides acually kills a guy that runs away, trys to get out of sight on a keep wall or simply underestimates the ticks outweight the benefit of interrupting a guy from time to time greatly.

Also Flawless is a solid passive Ultimate, I just like to have 1 ranged DPS and 1 melee DPS ultimate ready. Another solid choice would be Soul Tether.

R0M2K · June 2015

Forget Khajiit, pick Bosmer, youll thank me later.

As of now Khajiit has wortless racials:

- 30% health regen.

Compared to Bosmer:

- 20% stamina regen
- 3% increased stamina

Jeckll · June 2015

R0M2K wrote: »

Forget Khajiit, pick Bosmer, youll thank me later.

As of now Khajiit has wortless racials:

- 30% health regen.

Compared to Bosmer:

- 20% stamina regen
- 3% increased stamina

And then, forget Bosmer and use Redguard or Imperial. Bosmer is okay for PvP only focused play, but there is no way around Redguard or Imperial for min/max endgame PvE. It actually 21% increased Stamina Regeneration, btw.

R0M2K · June 2015

Whatever, we both agree on not taking Khajiit atm.

Elijah_Crow · June 2015

Bosmer werewolf...

Lynx7386 · June 2015

R0M2K wrote: »

Forget Khajiit, pick Bosmer, youll thank me later.

As of now Khajiit has wortless racials:

- 30% health regen.

Compared to Bosmer:

- 20% stamina regen
- 3% increased stamina

Khajiit gains 6% weapon crit, did you conveniently leave that out? Khajiit and bosmer both have bonus stealth skills.

Jeckll · June 2015

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Khajiit gains 6% weapon crit, did you conveniently leave that out? Khajiit and bosmer both have bonus stealth skills.

Sad thing is, since the launch of the CP, we all get 10% base crit plus 12% extra from the Champion System, making the 6% Weapon Crit from Khajiit not as strong as it once was. It's still decent but doesnt scale as well in Endgame as other racials do. As we continue to get more stats from each CP we get, the +Stats Racials (10% for Redguard and Imperial) keep giving us more and more stats while the 6% always stay 6%.

Same with Bosmers regen passive. I can sustain myself now thanks to enough CP in Warlord and Mooncalf without Bosmer passive. So it's actually a wasted passive. But you will never reach a point where you have too much Stamina.