Nightblades at Veteran Rank

Tigeracer

Hi all, I have have been playing ESO now since it was first released and I have hit a bit of a wall. I am a veteran tank 5 Nightblade and am having a lot of trouble keeping up with other classes in any aspect.

I have respec'd 4 times now and I really don't feel like paying 16000+ gold to do it again.

My problem is that I don't seem to be useful in any situations. In PVE I get mowed down pretty easily by any group of three that has more than one ranged enemy (archer or mage). I also have trouble in public dungeons if I don't have my ultimate up (I usually use veil of blades in PVE to demolish everything).

In group dungeons I am the weakest link, always. I used to play as a dual wield AOE monster, with steel tornado and volcanic rune. This still does a decent amount of damage, but I die way too fast. Then I have these dragon knights that come in with destruction staff and ardent flame bonuses that make my damage look really crap.
After getting annoyed at being crap at AOE DPS, I decided to try tanking. This worked pretty well for a while and I liked being the tough dude in the pack for a while, but I could only take it so far. Nightblades have useless CC options compared to that of any other class. Aside from volcanic rune, which only works in a small area, we only have aspect of terror, which would be great were it not for the fact it only works on 2 enemies. That said, I haven't tried the trap morph, if anyone wants to fill me in on the benefits of that?

Finally, I come back to a post I have made previously, about soloing elites/bosses. Currently I am able to solo just about anything (on its own) that can be CC'd, with the use of a bow and magnum shot, but I have a great deal of trouble against anything else. I am NOT referring to world bosses or bosses in group dungeons, but rather things like storm atronachs and gargoyles. I have heard many times that these are not only problems for nightblades but all classes, which I know is a lie and here's why:

My brother plays a dragon knight, two hander with mainly self healing abilities. He is able to stand directly in front of just about anything, including some world bosses (Nomeg Rine, a giant frost atronach in the rift's frozen ruins).
He has no trouble with gargoyles his same level, nor storm atronachs of his level. He is a veteran rank 1 and basically unstoppable in the PVE world.

I have considered just dropping my nightblade for a dragon knight many times. The only reasons I don't are that I am a Khajiit, which I think should primarily be nightblades, I like all the stealthy class abilities they have and, most importantly, I can't let my little brother have the satisfaction of being correct about dragon knights being far superior to nightblades.

The only thing I see going for nightblades is in PVP and ONLY against a single target. I don't seem to have any trouble using my mark target/stealth ambush/rapid strikes/impale combo. I have also been able to defeat people who have gotten the drop on me, but I believe they were all nightblades and not very good with them at that.

Please let me know what you guys think and whether you have some advice as to what I may be doing wrong, or if you think that the nightblade needs a bit of a boost to be really part of this game.

Gisgo

If you do PvP stick with your NB because, no matter the fixes we need, its fun and usefull if well played (as every other class).

If you want to PvE on a competitive level, i dont really know what to say.

Seroczynski

I had sooo much trouble with ~VR5 Gargoyles when I was the same level. I know it can be just me, but I was getting into problems each time my standard would run out and I only had them down to 17%. Eventually, I got killed by them each and every time while attacking them solo.

Also, learn destruction staff and you will be able to have very high sustainable AOE DPS as a NB.

Tigeracer

Gisgo wrote: »

If you do PvP stick with your NB because, no matter the fixes we need, its fun and usefull if well played (as every other class).

If you want to PvE on a competitive level, i dont really know what to say.

Yeah, as I said, PVP is not too much of a problem and you're right, it is fun, thank you

Seroczynski wrote: »

I had sooo much trouble with ~VR5 Gargoyles when I was the same level. I know it can be just me, but I was getting into problems each time my standard would run out and I only had them down to 17%. Eventually, I got killed by them each and every time while attacking them solo.

Also, learn destruction staff and you will be able to have very high sustainable AOE DPS as a NB.

So you're a dragon knight? What abilities are you running? Maybe I could help you out, lol.

I might just have to try out the destruction staff and pay to respec again. Going to hurt my pocket a bit though

Fleymark

I'm sticking with mine because I want to take him to PvP at top level. That's been my goal ever since before I bought the game and saw videos of PvP from beta. I can't imagine PvPing a main of anything else.

But I've been logging in less since hitting VR1. Got up some steam this weekend but VR2 has slowed down a lot. I'm full on stamina build. Was saving mats for redoing a full set of gear at VR3 since that's top of this teir and I'm thinking about going light armor and start training a staff as secondary to bow. I may wait on researches with the light armor but I'm definately going to get started on at least one staff when I get some disposable training points. Also going to try a couple of class skills I haven't used too like the fear and the 12 second stun. Neither are my play style as an archer but wth, at this point.

I'm not thrilled about it but I'm trying to be positive about it from a completionist standpoint and as an opportunity to play with some different skills and maybe even a whole different role.

I would really rather just continue playing my med armor bow/dw ranger/assassin I set out to and play in every game tho.

And, I hate to admit it, but I've started keeping an eye out for something else to play. If I leave I'll come back when they fix things because I dig the game or, at least, start over on Xbox one in the fall, but I'm not starting over now with a different class and doing 50 levels of the sake quests again and if I don't find a more workable build that makes not every 3 mob fight a near-death experience every time something is going to have to give.

Seroczynski

Tigeracer wrote: »

Seroczynski wrote: »

I had sooo much trouble with ~VR5 Gargoyles when I was the same level. I know it can be just me, but I was getting into problems each time my standard would run out and I only had them down to 17%. Eventually, I got killed by them each and every time while attacking them solo.

Also, learn destruction staff and you will be able to have very high sustainable AOE DPS as a NB.

So you're a dragon knight? What abilities are you running? Maybe I could help you out, lol.

At that point I was running around with 1h and shield, 7 pieces of heavy armor and using something like

• Pierce Armor IV
• Molten Whip IV
• Burning Talons IV
• Green Dragon Blood IV
• Unstoppable IV
• Standard of Might IV

If I could try it again I might be able to do it when I switch around some skills, but at that certain period I couldn't :-) At VR12 now and learned a few more tricks.

Dekkameron

I know this isn't going to be what you're looking for... but...

Here's the Nightblade build i use and it's practically invincible.

Stats: 40/60 Magika/Health

5 piece heavy armour, 2 piece light armour.
Sword and shield, destruction staff (flame normally)
Spell damage/Spell cost jewellery

Swallow soul, Invasion, Surprise attack, Refreshing path (can be swapped with drain essence or another skill if needed) and Leeching strikes. Veil of blades ultimate.

For a typical 1 v 1 fight. Just use swallow soul, then shield charge them. then spam light attack and surprise attack like a madman (normally 3 does the trick) and the mob is dead before it can stand up from the knockdown. Use Refreshing path for extra dps heals as necessary. This is at VR1.

Spamming the light attack and surprise attack fast kinda intersperses the leeching strike between the surprise attack restoring health/stam/magic as well as normal weapon damage. and believe me doing this method does serious single target damage and you never run out of magika

For AOE i just use standard destro staff abilities toggling leeching strikes if needed.

murklor007neb18_ESO

Seroczynski wrote: »

I had sooo much trouble with ~VR5 Gargoyles when I was the same level.

There is a difference between gargoyles and gargoyles... Difficulty in VR ranks remain bugged. Some have 15K HP, hit hard as *** and cannot be interrupted because they are "too powerfull". Some have 10K HP and are "bosses" (just... dont ask...). Some have 15K HP and can be interrupted and hits like a wet noodle. Yesterday I was slaughtered by an uninterruptable gargoyle at Northpoint, yet I had to kill 4 fairly easy gargoyles in a row because I failed to read the quest notes in the final Rivenspire quest, lol.

Elder Scrolls in a nutshell people. Random mobs all over the place.

That said, to reiterate how I play my Nighblade from a post I made yesterday:

1 mob - sneak, concealed blade, killers blade, dead. Do this to build ultimate (have for example werewolf or soul harvest on one ultimate slot).
2 mobs - do the same for the first mob, then use cloak to repeat on the second mob.
3 mobs (bosses) - pop veil of blades and kill them all.

Dont just rush into combat. If you do this a while, you'll notice that all encounters are like this. Just rince and repeat. I use medium armour and dualwield. I have a resto staff as secondary, but never even need the heal (or the second skill bar for that matter) - siphoning take care of that.

So what if a DK can rush head first pulsar spamming into the same group of 3 I have sneak and plan my approach for. I still prefer that combat style.

PBpsy

My tanking build
5H/2L+2X S&B for passives
Magicka until cap then Health. 20/29/0
Magicka regen and reduced spell cost on jewels.
Tab 1 Swallow soul,sap essence,volcanic rune,inner beast ,Siphoning attacks and veil of blades.
-Swallow soul good damage,nice heal,
-Sap essence good instant heal,ultimate generator, decent aoe agro,some damage
-Volcanic rune -not much to say about it except that it is awesome.
-Inner beast -only ranged taunt in a game that only has 2 taunts total.
-Siphoning attacks this is one skill that should just be locked on the tab at character creation.
- Veil of blades 60% less damage for 15+seconds and stuff

Tab 2 .
surprise attack,shadowy disguise,killers blade,Siphoning attacks ,Soul harvest
and some other skill depending on the situation.

This is just for finishing stuff up. and getting as much ultimate out of it.

Loco_Mofo

If you're only playing for PvE, then I suggest you re-roll a DK or Sorc.

Honestly you'll have a much better experience and you'll actually be wanted in groups for a change.

Tigeracer

@Seroczynski‌ - My brother uses 2h with: Razor armour, Coagulating blood, Rally, Inferno, Eruption, Corrosive armour (ult). He is basically indestructible because of the ridiculous amount of self healing.

@Dekkameron‌ - I was actually trying a tank build, which seemed to work until now (vet5). I run with: Unstoppable, Entropy, Ransack, Volcanic rune, Swallow soul, Veil of blades (ult).I may have to try your build out though, it sounds pretty tough. You will have to let me know how you go at vet5 and higher, as that is where I have realy hit a wall.

@PBpsy‌ - Just wondering, does sap essence give you health or just allies? If it gives you health as well then maybe that's what I'm missing with my tank.

@Loco_Mofo‌ - I mainly do PVE, which is why I made this post, but I love the nightblade so much! I just need a way of not being the little b**** on the field at veteran rank 5.
I also PVP every now and then and when it's one v one, I lose very rarely (only got owned once by a templar who just healed like crazy and then beat me up)

Thanks for all your input guys, I really appreciate it. Also, how do all of you go against a storm atronach one on one? I stack pretty poorly against them

PBpsy

Tigeracer wrote: »

@PBpsy‌ - Just wondering, does sap essence give you health or just allies? If it gives you health as well then maybe that's what I'm missing with my tank.

Most skills that say they do something to allies will do that to you also and sometimes do it better. Yes sap essence heals both you and your allies. It is also a spell that can be cast from a shield bloc and with Siphoning attacks on you also get some magicka and stamina returned to you with each cast.