NightBlade skills.

Jambo · April 2014

I have chosen a line but should i be focusing on that or the duel wielding skills?

Both use either magicka or stamina and so i'm confused in which i should be choosing as i only get 5 slots for skills.

Thanks

Izzo · April 2014

The beauty of ESO is you can do what you want. If you chose a Nord nightblade or a Dark Elf nightblade who both get a boosted experience gain from pursuing the duel wielding then ya it would be a good idea.

At 15 you get your second weapon choice and you get to switch to a completely new set of 5 skills. For example, I run duel wield swords as a main and then if i so choose or the situation calls for it, I switch to my bow.

Now naturally, as a nightblade, we use magica so it would make sense to use a skill set that plays off your steadily progressing magica resources instead of switching to stamina which you may not have built up as high.
OR you use both so that you don't run out of either and try to strike a balance between.

Phaoryx · April 2014

@Izzo
Nords actually get boosted experience in the two handed skill line, not dual wield. Two handed means a sword that takes up both hands. Things like Greatswords, Battleaxes, Mauls, all that stuff. Warhammers in Skyrim too.

Castielle · April 2014

Depends on what type of character you'd like to play. There are many guides around. If you're a low level still I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Cas

METALPUNKS · April 2014

Do what i do. It works. Just use leveling 1-50 as a test build. So put skill points in as many skills as you want, and weapon skills. Then when you hit level 50 and move to veteran ranks go respec and youll now have all those skill points to put exactly where you want them.

Teloran · April 2014

There's two schools of thought for this.

The first is that skills scale in damage with the resource they use (i.e. class skills will do more damage when you have more magica), hence you should stack one resource, only use damage skill from that resource, and only use utility skills from the other.

The othet school of thought is that you can spam more damage skills if you use both resources since you have two separate regeneration sources.

The first will probably provide more burst, while the second provides more sustain.

At high levels this is somewhat complicated since you can get very good source or resource regen with certain classes and you can get very near the soft cap for stamina, magica and health with the right gear.

Teloran · April 2014

Also, you really don't want to just choose one class skill line. You will need skills from all trees to be effective. If you have a skill on your bar, the whole tree gains some experience so you want one skill from each class tree on your bar at all times while leveling.

madhatternynja · April 2014

Currently I have noticed two things about how they manage the Nightblades and their skill lines with their resources, ie magica and stamina. Almost all of the Nightblade skills themselves rely solely on magica while all your weapon skills rely on stamina.

I choose the Siphoning skill line, health regen/w range. I focused on both, I split my points fairly evenly when it comes to the skill lines. However with stamina I pour into that as my magica nevers seems to drop low. I did this in beta with fair success. However I was running light armor for the magica regen instead of stam reductions for weapon skills.

Each skill line provides bonuses, light works with magica, med with stam, and heavy with health. Depending on how you want to build your character is going to depend on you. But you need to take all of these things into consideration, to properly decide what route you want to take.

TeamCarrier · April 2014

@Jambo

From what I can gather as a level 6 nightblade, I picked up skills from assassination and dualwield to fully utilize my energy pools, and put in attribute points where I need them the most.

Bhakura · April 2014

Khajit nightblade, Assasination/Siphon/dualwield/secondary bow. Specced 0 magicka and 60/40 hp/stamina. And its working like a charm. Imho, melee nightblades dont need magicka at all. Costs for skills are low and thers no need at all to spam them. Not to mention if you choose the right skills you restore magicka on kills, which makes it even less a necessity to put points in.
On dungeon boss fights, magicka might run out but that can be helped by quaffing a magicka potion with syphon's potion buff.

Shubuta · April 2014

First thing I did was skill one into each of the class skills. Assassination, siphon, and shadow so I would progress all trees. Used duel wield a while and am now using a bow.

Currently using a bow for range damage and dots with the shadow tree stealth + crit-stun combo. Finish it off with an assassination strike that regens my magika. Use the siphon to regen some hp if things get hairy, but it's not initial burst combo. Also shadow Ulti for second invisibility and group buff and snare.

Dunno how this is going to work in pvp as I haven't tried it, but it's working well for pve so far. Getting to the point I can use my shadow walk a good bit which has greatly increased my survivability.

But I'm just a noob so hoping for the best ;-)

Hilgara · April 2014

Does anyone know if the damage increase from Ambush effects a DoT. I'm using
Ambush->Blood Craze (heal and Dot)->Shadowy Disguise->Surprise Attack. But not sure if the 36% damage increase from Ambush boosts the DoT damage.

Jambo · April 2014

Awesome replies guys, thanks a lot! wow so much to read lol

Contrabardus · April 2014

I'll probably respec to get rid of poison arrow. It's an okay skill because it's a low cost stamina skill that can be fired rapidly, but it doesn't do that much more damage than a regular undrawn shot.

I'm doing a dual wield/Bow hybrid build. Dual wield is nice for running around solo, but the bow is more useful for group play and PvP in my experience.

For the bow Syphon is a must have skill, and Scattershot is awesome because of the knockback. It can mean the difference between taking down a tank and getting flattened by one.

I also like the assassin skill line's teleport attack. It adds slow if you morph it. Teleport, Scattershot, Syphon, and then pelting with arrows until they get close enough for another teleport/knockback is very effective. I keep invisibility slotted as well as it can really get you out of sticky situation in PvP and PvE. I usually replace it in group dungeons though.

For dual wield I use the teleport, aoe whirlwind, and basic dual wield slash moves. Also syphon of course because it heals enough to keep you going a little longer in tough fights and does decent damage.

I'm pretty conservative with skill points for combat skills because I craft, so a lot of points go into those skills as well.

Hilgara · April 2014

Does anyone know if the damage modifiers effect DoT's? Also the multiple hits abilities like Flurry. Does only the first strike get modified or all of them?

kendallolszewskib14_ESO · April 2014

Contrabardus wrote: »

I keep invisibility slotted as well as it can really get you out of sticky situation in PvP and PvE. I usually replace it in group dungeons though.

I did this for a while as well, but I found so many instances where I could have survived if I had that aggro dump so I ended up putting it back on my bar. If you're taking a ton of damage or accidentally pull a boss you can position yourself next to the tank and just pop the invis to drop aggro and it seems like they normally aggro due to proximity if no one else is attacking. Give it a shot if you're having trouble staying alive in those big pulls.

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO · April 2014

That depends on what build your planning. Im creating a monstruosity over here... im litteraly a nightblade vampiric healer.

Just proves that anyone can be anything but ill repeat that nightblade got affinity for Healing especialy if you specialise in the use of siphoning magic and restoration staff.

What crazy stuff am i doing? I run pure magicka in light armor with a restoration staff and siphoning... later ill run vampirism as well on this bar and yes i actualy do serious damage. Anyone can be a mage... why not a nightblade too?

Vikova · April 2014

As I level, I am using all three trees purely to level them, but stacking stamina and focusing on dual wielding skills for primary importance. Once I hit 50, I'll respec. I'm currently planning on a 70/30 stam/hp split as I level to see how well it works.

Phaeze · April 2014

I am rather enjoying this particular line of conversation, as it gives me a lot to think about. My time in the beta was rather limited and I played a sorcerer more through the two weekends.

Currently, I am running Assassination and Shadow (and plan to pick up a skill in Siphoning at my next skill point). I don't have any of the weapon skills at the moment and have been boosting my magicka in order to better supplement my class skills. I figure that they have plenty enough burst at the moment (granted, I'm level 7 or 8 right now) for solo PvE (and grouping with my buddy).

Thus far, from the conversation, I have gleaned some important information. First, it would appear that Shadow will be very important for PvP as a melee combatant, as will Assassination. Siphoning, so far, seems to be able to stand wherever it wants, and would be well suited to a caster oriented build. Second, it seems that weapon skills and stamina will be valuable assets. I don't know how I want to go about that, but I suspect I will end up needing to run a respec once I finish leveling my character.

I do have a question, though: I am using medium armor so that I can unlock the passive stealth benefits from it. Given that I can watch other players crouching and sneaking about in my own faction, how does stealth interact when it comes to hostile player characters? How does detection work?

elorei · April 2014

Phaeze wrote: »

I do have a question, though: I am using medium armor so that I can unlock the passive stealth benefits from it. Given that I can watch other players crouching and sneaking about in my own faction, how does stealth interact when it comes to hostile player characters? How does detection work?

They are invisible until within your stealth detection range (unless they take damage, get uncovered by magelight, have mark target, etc.)

Vikova · April 2014

Phaeze wrote: »

I do have a question, though: I am using medium armor so that I can unlock the passive stealth benefits from it. Given that I can watch other players crouching and sneaking about in my own faction, how does stealth interact when it comes to hostile player characters? How does detection work?

One of the dev Q&A's covered this, though I don't recall which one. The players are fully invisible (IIRC, there are some PvP videos on YouTube that you can watch to see it in action), with all that implies as far as ganking, camping, and detection radius. In the beta, this did lead to certain pathways becoming gankfests which obviously will increase the utility of counters like magelight in PvP. So unlocking the passive benefits of medium armor do contribute to PvP.

Hexcaliber · April 2014

There are a total of 300 skill points available to the player should they chose to hunt them all down. Giving you more than enough to mix it up, even put points into skills you may only put on you bar once in a a while. Further respec is easy, locate the correct shrine at a main city hub and have at it.

Bottom line, don't be afraid to experiment, you are not gimping your char by doing so. Get a core set of skills with some synergy that you can level with and play around with the rest.

Phaeze · April 2014

Thanks for the helpful insight into the stealth mechanics. Now, I shall have to see about stopping this magelight nonsense...

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO · April 2014

run power drain in siphoning... then Watch as your damage... DOUBLE!

scabrous_ftz · April 2014

Shubuta wrote: »

First thing I did was skill one into each of the class skills. Assassination, siphon, and shadow so I would progress all trees. Used duel wield a while and am now using a bow.

But I'm just a noob so hoping for the best ;-)

Similar as above. First 5 points: one into each class line, one in bow, one in duel wield. Let them level up, then choose interesting additional skills.

Xithian · April 2014

I play a nightblade tank. I am using two skill slots for weapon skills, and one for each class tree. Leech from siphon, debuff pet from shadow, haste from assassin. I'm still working my way up to the last two.

There's no reason to stick to one tree unless you just want to unlock it faster.

Chomag · April 2014

No one investing in Health. Guess no one intends to do any pvp.

Xithian · April 2014

Chomag wrote: »

No one investing in Health. Guess no one intends to do any pvp.

I didn't think this thread was about resource allocation. It's about skill slotting. I'm going for 9/20/20 myself.

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO · April 2014

health? PAH! you dont need +49 in health to be fine... go with hybrid health/magicka or stamina and you got your build... if you got any damage shield spells health is totaly useless!

Teloran · April 2014

Kyubi_3002b16540106 wrote:

health? PAH! you dont need +49 in health to be fine... go with hybrid health/magicka or stamina and you got your build... if you got any damage shield spells health is totaly useless!

While this is probably true for 1-50, you need a considerable chunk of health for veteran content. Plus, you can soft cap a resource of your choice with armour enchantments alone.

As for damage shields, they don't get any benefit from your mitigation. This makes them vanish very quickly, and can cause you to take even more damage since the overflow damage is also not affected by armour.

They can be useful if you don't have much armour or spell resist though.

Rilyharytoze · April 2014

kendallolszewskib14_ESO wrote: »

Contrabardus wrote: »

I keep invisibility slotted as well as it can really get you out of sticky situation in PvP and PvE. I usually replace it in group dungeons though.

I did this for a while as well, but I found so many instances where I could have survived if I had that aggro dump so I ended up putting it back on my bar. If you're taking a ton of damage or accidentally pull a boss you can position yourself next to the tank and just pop the invis to drop aggro and it seems like they normally aggro due to proximity if no one else is attacking. Give it a shot if you're having trouble staying alive in those big pulls.

From my exp the cloak doesnt actually drop aggro but they do stop attacking for the duration