Damage Mitigation - Nightblade

GreyRanger

I would appreciate a bit of feedback/suggestion from more experienced players. I am playing a Nightblade, primarily DPS, starting to build up tanking as an alternative. Level 34.

For my AOE damage I use Lotus Fan followed by Steel Tornado (going to switch to Whirling Blades when I respec). I use Aspect of Terror as my Oh no get off me button. I will also add Power Extraction when I can unlock it.

So what I really need is a damage mitiagtion power to sustain survivability while I am AOEing. I tried Ember Explosion (not that impressed).

I am curious about which is better:
Shadow Cloak + Shadow Barrier passive
Immovable (takes stam, but adds status protection)
Blur -> Mirage

I could use 2 of them, if I give up Aspect of Terror (which is just fun).

Any suggestions/observations/advice is appreciated.
Thanks have a good day.

Samadhi

When I AoE grind with Dual Wield I use Mirage and Evasion (from Medium Armour line) for damage mitigation; and I spam Sap Essence (Drain Power morph) for sustained self-healing.

mar1ano1987nrb18_ESO

Well ...first of all remember to hold block when you use the aoe skills, it will drain your stamina more faster but it will also give you a huge survival.

Now for the skills you mention, shadow cloak its a good option, nightblades receive a nice armor/spell resistance when they come out of stealh/invi ...so using shadow will give you the protection rate of a heavy armor user even if you ar using light/medium.

Volcanic rune from the mage guild : this is a good option for your aoe rotation, since it works great when combined with aoe skills like steel tornado or impulse.

Saet

When running as a tank I wear Heavy Armor and cast Turn Undead from fighters guild for a huge armor and spell resist then run Siphoning Strikes and make sure Swallow Soul is always leeching life for me. With Veil of Blades as ultimate being available every pull this is easy mode. I can safely take on 8 or 9 v12 mobs and every once in a while use a heal pot. I play this with 2H and use Cleave and Power Extraction for AOE and to build my ultimate fast.

zgrssd

I made a NB tank and here is what I found out:
Siphoning Strikes is your primary power. For group tanking it is better to choose the morph without healing (got me confused first too. you got the healer for that and need the stamina/magica more then that bit of healing it provides).
For solo the one with healing is better.

Blur - should be choosen over skills like Imoveable. Armor is affected by caps (and tanks already wear heavy). Dodging/Miss Chance is not.
Only use both if you really need the survivability.

The lifesteal dot is invaluable. Consider the morph that boost healing recevied (adds to the bonus from heavy armor).

The big weakpoint of the NB tanking is the AoE part. It is the only class without a decent AoE skill to keep aggro on mob groups.
I was told Path of Darkness is the better AoE skill for NB tanks, but had no ability to check that back yet.

Also, get a buff/debuff tracker addon.
It is important for proper resource management as healer and Tank alike.

Awdwyn

Good points above. I'd add that adding in sap essence will help a lot for two reasons.

1. it heals you when it hits
2. Whirlwind / tornado is pretty low damage when mobs are over 50% hp. Weaving light attacks and spamming sap will bring mobs down to 50%ish fairly quickly then switch to tornado and they fall over fast.

edit: ipad autocorrect failure

GreyRanger

Thanks for the all the ideas guys. The block point is very helpful, I forget. I look forward to trying out Sap Essence when I get there. Does that morph eliminate the damage component of Drain Power.

Final follow up question:
Any thoughts on the usefulness of Blur->Mirage vs. Spark->Ember Explosion.

Thanks again

Awdwyn

GreyRanger wrote: »

Thanks for the all the ideas guys. The block point is very helpful, I forget. I look forward to trying out Sap Essence when I get there. Does that morph eliminate the damage component of Drain Power.
...

No it doesn't. It adds a heal on top. The other morph is a bump up on the damage and an increase to max targets, which is awesome to use if you have the survivability and don't need sap. In a group dungeon or cyro Zerg, power extraction would be better IMHO but solo aoe benefits from the heals.