youtube.com/watch?v=pIV4woi8Idk

Hey guys! Video above for those who want to see visual demonstrations of concepts as well as talking about them (though not as in-depth); Time stamps are in the description if you want to skip around.

I’ve heard it said quite a bit recently that magblade is bad. Personally, I would have to disagree, though I can definitely see where a few issues lie. Between that and having a lot of people ingame that ask me to teach them to play magblade, I decided to make a guide. Unlike many other guides, this will not just be a simple explanation of a build for people to copy. Simply copying a build does not necessarily make you a better player; it can only make you rely on FOTM sets. So instead, I will also be explaining the more complex information that goes into playing both magblade and this build type in particular, separated into different sections: Movement, CC Negation, Counting, Combos, and Drawbacks And How to Avoid Them, as well as Putting It All Together (and a few specific matchup tips).


Build Options:
Race: 1. Altmer 2. Breton 3. Dunmer
Options:
5Spinner/2skoria/3willpower/random or vMA staves
5Kagrenac/2skoria/3willpower/random or vMA staves (allows you to wear 5h/2l if you want)
5spinner/2skoria/5alchemist (allows you to wear 5h/2l if you want)

Etc etc etc

Skoria is the most important part of the set pieces, other things may change due to personal preference.

Skills:
Destro: Flame Clench/Swallow Soul/Degeneration/CripplingGrasp/Merciless/Harvest
Resto: Dampen/SiphoningAttack/HealingWard/ShadowImage/DoubleTake/Tether

Can use destro ult instead of harvest is needed.



Mobility

A key aspect of playing a magicka nightblade is learning proper movement that allows you to minimise damage taken while maximising damage given. Now I’m not talking about cloaking every few seconds to hide from damage; Rather, I’m referring to learning the manner in which skill-less movement (that is to say, movement that does not require resources) can be combined with certain usage of different abilities to significantly lower damage taken.

First, we’ll go over base movement. It stands to reason that standing in one spot makes you an easy target. So, you should be constantly strafing. Not only that, but the movement should in reality be a constant strafe combined with bunny hopping for maximal mobility and damage reduction. This is demonstrated in the dueling clips in the video.

Shadow Image is an important skill in the magblade arsenal, especially with the recent spike in damage that has come with proc stacking. Not only does it provide a 15% damage reduction and small bit of damage of its own, but it has the important distinction of being a placed teleport that can be used at will for a later time. A port-able shade should always be down, and you should NEVER be near it. In fact, it is best to be as far away from the shade as possible without being out of the range of the teleport. The shade should be placed during normal weaving while moving, with you now just needing to continue to move after placement. This shade will allow a teleport away when an enemy becomes close enough to deal damage, and is especially useful against stamina proc-stackers when combined with the root and snare from crippling grasp.

Crippling Grasp is another essential skill, as it provides multiple important effects. It is a DoT, a snare, a movement buff, and a root all rolled into one ability. This skill is your sustenance, as it can be used to both lower enemy speed and increase your own, making damage mitigation even greater. And remember, when you don’t take as much damage, you gain the opportunity to DEAL more damage. This can be combined with shade-porting and Flame Clench to keep an enemy constantly away from you and allow them to deal as little damage as possible by forcing the opponent to take longer to reach you, after which you may teleport away and repeat.


CC Management (Block timing etc)

CC Management, both of your own and of the enemy, is a crucial part in playing magicka nightblade. An advantage that magicka nightblade has in this area is Siphoning Strikes, which reliably returns stamina and magicka upon light and heavy attacking. This stamina return allows a good magblade to completely avoid a large majority of CCs, especially any that occur over distances or have a cast time. However, that does not mean that you should be constantly holding block. That is a great way to run out of stamina and die. Instead, it is better to learn the cues for certain ccs as well as to gain the ability to predict incoming stun attempts. Examples of this are in the video. For example, a magblade should almost never take a stun from a crystal frag proc (due to its visible proc indicator as well as its travel time). In fact, it is sometimes preferable to stand somewhat away from magicka sorcs due to the increase in leeway for throwing up a block. Well-timed blocks are also effective against telegraphed stuns such as Clench/Invasion/Dizzying Swing (though dizzying swing should almost never need to be blocked anyway, due to cripple being able to make it nearly completely worthless), along with negating ultimates. A few of these examples are also seen in the video.

As a pvper gains experience, they become able to predict more random-seeming stuns and ultimates as well, though this sometimes requires rapidly gauging the ability of the opponent and determining the time periods in which they likely prefer to cast CCs and ultimates based on health thresholds and timers. Many players tend to fall into a repeated pattern of decision-making without realising it, and so typically it is possible to predict with high accuracy what they will plan to do. It is recommended that you know all classes/builds well enough that you can find these patterns as quickly as possible.


Counting (CC/DoT/Buffs/Light Attacks both friendly and enemy/Ultimate Charge)

Another important aspect of playing magblade is being aware of counts. There are many things that you need to stay aware of, among which are CC timers, DoT timers, Buff timers, enemy ultimate charge, and number of your light attacks (along with number of enemy light attacks if they are another magblade).

CC immunity is 6 seconds long and has a visible indication, though being aware of the exact time allows for somewhat quicker stuns by throwing the stun the moment before immunity drops and causing it to land right as it does so.

Buff and DoT timers are obviously variable and just need to be something to be aware of, with some ability timers being more important than others. One of the more important counts to be aware of is enemy shield timers, which last 6 seconds.

Enemy Ultimate Charge is important to be aware of, and can be approximated by using the charge of your own ultimate. Knowing the ultimate charge of the opponent (along with what the ultimate likely is, based on class/build combination) can allow prediction of when the ultimate will be used and can be blocked. It also lets you know times in which more shielding than usual would be a good idea.

Keeping track of light attack timers is useful as a magblade for yourself and for when playing against other magblades. Similarly to estimating ultimate charge, your own light attacks count can be used to approximate the enemy’s number of light attacks if it is too difficult to keep track of it separately.


Combo’ing

One thing about the magicka nightblade is that you will not win by simply 1 or 2 abilities like many stam classes can, especially considering how pitifully low swallow souls (main dps) hit for relatively. Because of this, burst is something that has to be set up. In this build, the burst comes from a quick combination of Flame Clench, Assassin’s Will, and Soul Harvest. The sound indicator of Valkyn Skoria can also be used to time for an even larger burst.

I’d like to first go over something that I believe many people don’t think about. There is absolutely zero need to wait for assassins will to proc to begin a burst, since the final light attack that procs assassin’s will can be canceled with the will cast. Because of this, the burst rotation of this build only requires landing 2 light attacks before beginning. You can see me doing this many times in the video, but I will explain it as well. Essentially, if you are already at 2 light attacks, the third would come from the light attack before clench cc and the fourth will come with the assassin’s will cast. If you were waiting for visual confirmation of an assassin’s will proc, it would have anywhere from 50-75% of the usage rate that could be had by being aware of this. This allows for a significantly higher amount of sustained pressure, which reduces damage taken as well as costing the opponent large amounts of resources to deal with.

With this in mind, following two previous attacks, the burst is Light Attack -> (Begin running forward) Clench -> Light Attack -> Assassin’s Will -> (Arrive at target) Light Attack -> Harvest. It is recommended to block cancel the harvest to make this burst somewhat quicker.

Tether can also be used for a more surprising burst against certain opponents.


Drawbacks And How to Avoid Them

Be careful with trying to cancel will procs. If there is not enough time given, the cast will not actually go off when block or dodge-canceled, but will use up the proc. This can also happen if you get stunned when casting.

Obviously wing spamming dks can be an issue. It is best to spam heavy resto attacks to proc skoria and attempt to avoid damage while the wings are up and wait for your chance to burst them down.

If at all possible, never get hit by a tremor proc, since it can cause you to get essentially locked in place due to the snare that is both ridiculously long and ridiculously high. And with stamina damage as high as it is and light armor resists being so low, that’s not a good place to be. It is typically worth it to roll dodge away when a tremor proc is incoming, followed by a flame clench/cripple/shadeport to increase the distance. Doing this properly will allow you to regenerate stamina from siphoning strikes, which should have as close to 100% uptime as possible.


Putting It All Together

Magicka Sorcerer:

Destro/Resto Caster: When fighting a destro/resto magicka sorcerer, be sure to keep up constant pressure, as shields can be ridiculously draining to cast. Constantly pay attention to frag proc indicators (glowing hands) and block any frags that come. Many of this type of build’s burst comes from relying on these frags landing, as well as potentially a dawnbreaker. Be sure to keep distance so that dawnbreakers can’t easily reach and frags are able to be nearly 100% blocked.

DW/Resto Caster: When playing against a sorcerer of this type, it is even more imperative to not allow any frags through your block, as they tend to sacrifice sustained damage for burst damage. However, they also tend to sacrifice resource management, and can be pretty easily run out of magicka by keeping up sustained pressure.

Pet Sorc: Remember: Tab Target is your friend. If you aren’t tab targeting the pet sorc, then the pets will get in the way constantly. Pay attention to whether the sorc is running a twilight matriarch or tormenter; if it is a matriarch, it may be beneficial to quickly kill it if shields go down and then stay near enough to the sorc to bash any attempted resummon. This is not particularly necessary, but may be helpful depending on their particular build.

Stamina Sorcerer:

2h/bow Stam Sorc: This build tends to rely on dizzying swing, so it is a fairly easy matchup, as crippling grasp/shadeport/flame clench/block make it so that dizzying swing almost never lands a cc. Don’t stand in hurricane, as it will heal them via surge and also does pretty high damage.

DW DoT Stam Sorc: Tend to lack gap closers; keep constant snares/roots/shades up and stay on the move. Be sure to cast dampen any time they manage to land dots, as the individual dots may seem small but end up turning into some pretty extreme damage. Keep a lot of distance, as if they land their dots it will hurt. Bad.

Magicka Templar:

Traditional Magplar: Keep damage up and be sure to refresh DoTs that are cleansed. Cast cripple if the magplar attempts to use jabs, as roots cause jabs to completely miss unless you’re standing in front of them the whole time. Which you shouldn’t be, obviously. Porting away or casting clench can also cause them to miss for obvious reasons. This matchup can easily turn into the magplar only able to heal until they eventually die due to inability to land any hits.

Tankplar: Magicka nightblades are one of the best classes to deal with blazing shield tanks, as they can stay far enough away to not be hit by blazing shield or healed off of with malubeth. Not much to this fight other than to keep up snares and don’t let them get close. Repeat until dead.

Stamina Templar:
Not much to say about this, as most of the mechanics are things that have already been noted in previous fights. Avoid jabs with roots/ports/cc, avoid dizzying swing the same way. Refresh any dots when cleansed, and don’t stand in ritual. They should be coming outside of their major mending/snare circle if they want to hit you.

Magicka Nightblade:

Destro Clench CCer: Learn to predict when clench cc’s will be thrown out (it is also telegraphed slightly) and block them. Keep track of light attack counter. If stunned and their will is up, it is best to hold block coming out of the cc break.

Fear CCer: Typically harder hitting builds, but simply not letting them close enough to cast fear is generally enough to deal with them. Important to watch out for meteor/will combo, tether + will, or eye of storm + will combo depending on their damage output.

Stamina Nightblade:
Stam Nightblades tend to stack burst, so can be dangerous if you choose to run light armor. Be sure to keep shields up and shade down. Be sure to pay attention to their ult charge (by watching how much yours charges). Be ready to block under two conditions: 1. If a heavy is being swung, it’s typically followed by an ult 2. If they cloak, they’ll probably try to come out of it with burst. Most nightblades tend to go for the attack somewhere between 1.5 and 2 seconds after cloaking, so the burst can be dodge rolled if you have the stamina to spare and feel like doing so, otherwise just shield up and block it.

Magicka Dragonknight:
This is the hard counter to this build due to wings. It is an extremely difficult fight if the opponent has very little wing downtime. Spam heavy resto to proc skoria and move between shadeports to avoid damage. Apply dots or burst when wings drop.

Stamina Dragonknight:
Another difficult fight, once again due to wings. Fortunately 100% wing uptime is pretty unlikely for a stamina dragonknight, but it is still a difficult fight. Attempt to force the dk to use igneous shield for major mending by keeping up dots as much as possible so that they lose out on opportunities to cast wings. Once again, use heavy restos to keep up stamina (keep siphoning up) and proc skoria when reflect is up and wait for opportunity to burst.

I probably forgot a few things in the moment, but I hope this helps people!