Concealed Weapon vs Surprise Attack

Psyphiman · May 2023

I am a Redguard Nightblade and about to do my first respec. I need help with the decision of whether to go with the Concealed Weapon or Surprise Attack morph.

Surprise Attack seems to make sense because it is a stamina based spammable, but I have heard that Surprise Attack was nerfed in some way, so the 10% damage boost from Concealed Weapon is better since it improves your DOTs. Is that 10% damage boost passive or do you have to cast Concealed Weapon every 10 seconds to receive it?

EDIT: Corrected Veiled Strike to Concealed Weapon.

TybaltKaine · May 2023

Ok.

Veiled Strike is the base skill. It has no 10% damage buff. Unnecessary comment.

Concealed Weapon has a 10% damage buff if cast when you leave stealth, invisibility or use it with major expedition active which means it pairs well with Path of Darkness/Twisting Path/Refreshing Path.

Basically it's a sort of gap closer that doesn't actually teleport you and takes up two slots. It's a nice combo because you are getting damage ticks from two sources, Concealed Weapon, and Twisting Path. You can spam Concealed Weapon about 3 times while you have Major Expedition active. This is wrong. You can only cast Concealed Weapon once while Major Expedition is active from Twisting Path, as the Major Expedition only last 4 seconds, not 30. Not sure where I was getting that from.

Surprise Attack is a guaranteed critical hit from the flank every 4 seconds. You also sunder the enemy reducing their armor. This is fantastic if you play using position or stealth. When you are using it in PVE, make sure you are flanking the enemy to send them off balance, which will help you to generate more crits using the right set up.

So to answer your initial question, yes you have to cast Concealed Weapon while Major Expedition is active to get the boost. and you can cast it 3 times in the 30 seconds that Major Expedition is active from Twisting Path.

You can also wear 5 pieces of Adept Rider and always have Major Expedition active, which would make Concealed Weapon give you a 10% damage boost every 10 seconds as long as you can cast it.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Concealed Weapon also gives you Minor Expedition while you have it slotted, which would boost your speed even more when paired with Adept Rider.

Psyphiman · May 2023

Thank you. That is helpful! Yes, I meant Concealed Weapon. Is it possible to change thread titles? This is my first post in the forum. Been lurking for a while.

TybaltKaine · May 2023

I don't think you can edit thread titles, no. It's not a big deal, I mostly added that to clarify for anyone else coming along as I knew what you meant.

Edit: TIL you can edit titles.

Zodiarkslayer · May 2023

As you are deciding on a spammable you should definitely pick the morph corresponding to your dominant attribute choice. I.e. Maxmagicka with Concealed Weapon and MaxStamina with Surprise Attack.
Either this or change your attributes to the spammable.
That decision is kind of big, though and has implications for your entire build. You might have to weigh more pros and cons in this decision, than just your preference of spammable.