[Build] Shadows Preserve Us - The Nightblade Leech Tank

mockymocky

Can you tell me if u can use all these skill as a dark elf, or are some of them Nord skills???

RavenSworn

mockymocky wrote: »

Can you tell me if u can use all these skill as a dark elf, or are some of them Nord skills???

Racials are passives, not active abilities. All nightblade skills are open to any race.

poughe

@Aerith so far enjoying the build at Level 41 and counting...the tank mechanism for the NB is definitely a lot of fun only drawback I have seen so far compared to a standard dk tank is those pull chains do come in handy in some situations

Bink2112

Great original post and ensuing conversation! I have a V1 NB that I've been wanting to bring out of the tanking closet if you will and plan to use a close replica of this build. It just looks like a blast. Thanks @Aerith

Aerieth

poughe wrote: »

@Aerith so far enjoying the build at Level 41 and counting...the tank mechanism for the NB is definitely a lot of fun only drawback I have seen so far compared to a standard dk tank is those pull chains do come in handy in some situations

Bink2112 wrote: »

Great original post and ensuing conversation! I have a V1 NB that I've been wanting to bring out of the tanking closet if you will and plan to use a close replica of this build. It just looks like a blast. Thanks @Aerith

Glad you guys enjoy it.

Vanduur

Just hit vet and thought I'd try a new playstyle out and I'm so glad I switched to this from my sloppy dw/2h build. I have more sustain and survivability and PVE just became a breeze. Goodbye tornado cancelling. Cheers mate!

Aerieth

Vanduur wrote: »

Just hit vet and thought I'd try a new playstyle out and I'm so glad I switched to this from my sloppy dw/2h build. I have more sustain and survivability and PVE just became a breeze. Goodbye tornado cancelling. Cheers mate!

Awesome. You're welcome. ^___^

Hoodster92_ESO

Some things I noticed about this build.

1). Defensive Stance gets the most affect from being on your main bar, so maybe switching Refreshing Path to your off bar. Reason for this is because you can cast refreshing path from the off bar and go back to the main bar quick and easy enough.

2). Sap Essence is going to be tricky with this build..... Main reason is the fact that you didn't design this for any magica reduction or magica based attacks. Sap Essence will not only be expensive to use (Draining you of your magica to use things like Refreshing Path which is also an expensive skill to use) but ultimately probably wont be that effective considering you get no spell damage bonus from magica or spell dmg gear.

3). I am not sure how I feel about Refreshing Path vs Twisting Path. Thing about refreshing path is yes, it heals you, however Twisting Path so far from the testing I have done procs siphoning strikes. I will need to do more testing on this too confirm but ya there is that too consider when Refreshing Path only really heals (which is what your healer is really for).

4). Although you have two ultimates on this bar that are useful, I personally would rather switch them before fights rather than just having them for "situation purpose". Using Soul Harvest which gives you ultimate for every target you kill (including allies) will give you a better return of Ultimate allowing you to use either Veil or Soul Tether more.

5). No stam regen while blocking, so for a good chunk of the time, that stam regen where you are putting your CP points into goes wasted. To me it would be better suited putting into ability cost reduction (stam or magica). Reason why is then you are not wasting resources and allowing your siphoning strikes to be your main source of regen, not having to regen nearly as much from using your abilities.

6). I personally wouldn't use Invasion, because you arn;t blocking and you are target-able when you use it. Hence if while you charge you are being attacked you could easily get one shot. That is where I would swap in Blur and replace your Hist Bark with either Black Rose or some other set.

Just some suggesting and things that I have noticed while tanking on my NB. Hope it helps and thank you for the build, been using it to think of different build ideas for my NB Tank who is still in live using the Magica Tank build in end game content.

Aerieth

Hoodster92_ESO wrote: »

Some things I noticed about this build.

1). Defensive Stance gets the most affect from being on your main bar, so maybe switching Refreshing Path to your off bar. Reason for this is because you can cast refreshing path from the off bar and go back to the main bar quick and easy enough.

2). Sap Essence is going to be tricky with this build..... Main reason is the fact that you didn't design this for any magica reduction or magica based attacks. Sap Essence will not only be expensive to use (Draining you of your magica to use things like Refreshing Path which is also an expensive skill to use) but ultimately probably wont be that effective considering you get no spell damage bonus from magica or spell dmg gear.

3). I am not sure how I feel about Refreshing Path vs Twisting Path. Thing about refreshing path is yes, it heals you, however Twisting Path so far from the testing I have done procs siphoning strikes. I will need to do more testing on this too confirm but ya there is that too consider when Refreshing Path only really heals (which is what your healer is really for).

4). Although you have two ultimates on this bar that are useful, I personally would rather switch them before fights rather than just having them for "situation purpose". Using Soul Harvest which gives you ultimate for every target you kill (including allies) will give you a better return of Ultimate allowing you to use either Veil or Soul Tether more.

5). No stam regen while blocking, so for a good chunk of the time, that stam regen where you are putting your CP points into goes wasted. To me it would be better suited putting into ability cost reduction (stam or magica). Reason why is then you are not wasting resources and allowing your siphoning strikes to be your main source of regen, not having to regen nearly as much from using your abilities.

6). I personally wouldn't use Invasion, because you arn;t blocking and you are target-able when you use it. Hence if while you charge you are being attacked you could easily get one shot. That is where I would swap in Blur and replace your Hist Bark with either Black Rose or some other set.

Just some suggesting and things that I have noticed while tanking on my NB. Hope it helps and thank you for the build, been using it to think of different build ideas for my NB Tank who is still in live using the Magica Tank build in end game content.

I actually wrote a rather lengthy response in the new Microsoft Edge browser, but it seemed to have erased it all once I hit "Preview". I'll get back to you on this later today. Right now, I need to be somewhere.
I'll edit this post later on. ^___^

*Edit
Sorry for the delay. I wasn't home for the past few days, but here we go:
1) Even though min maxing passive bonuses is very important, I place higher priority to efficiency in combat in terms of player control. The way the bars are set right now seem to work best for responding to the highest variety of situations where I'm forced to act fast. As I stated in the original post, the first bar is meant for melee single targets and AoE fights where the second bar focuses more on combating ranged threats and this is why Defensive Stance works much better where it is right now.

2) As I wrote at the beginning paragraph and highlighted a few times later on, this build's strength is in resource management and self sustain. Sap Essence works incredibly well in both roles as it heals you and your party, causes reasonable threat on mobs to keep them on you while you go through your taunt rotation. It's a very flexible skill and I wouldn't trade it off. As a tank, you don't need to worry about DPS, just worry about staying alive and that mobs are focused on you instead of your team mates. In a fight where you have multiple enemies near you (quite a few fights in this game), the skill is also very efficient in terms of mana to stamina conversion rate through Siphoning Strikes, the fact that it buffs you up and heals is a great bonus indeed.

3) Unless ZOS has changed how the skills work, Refreshing Path works the same as all other AoE DoT effects. The initial tick triggers procs with both skills. So when you cast it, all the targets hit by the first tick can and quite often will proc Siphoning Attacks. And again, as I pointed out in the original post, when it comes to damage mitigation and tanking, every point of health restored equals one point of mitigation. Even better, healing "mitigation" scales very well with your other defensive stats. Any extra healing you can get is great and works very well with this build archetype.

4) You are completely right here. When it comes to ultimates and to all skills to some extent, your skill setup might need some tweaking to suit the needs of any given encounter. The two ultimates I've listed in the build are the two I use the most. In most fights, you don't really need the extra ultimate generation as you'll have your ulti up when you need it. But there are certainly some encounters where you might need to get that ultimate off earlier, in such fights I'd most definitely go with Soul Harvest. Good call.

5) If/when I come back to the game, I'll need to test this out. You might be right here. This build was written out quite early on into the Champion System, so there most likely are more efficient ways to go about distributing the points. Thanks for the suggestion!

6) Don't know if they've changed how the mechanics on Invasion work, but I don't remember ever getting hit while charging. Again, remember when this build was written, I've no idea what newer sets do and I've never used/seen them in action. The main use for Invasion in the build is as a semi-instant gap closer which this build would otherwise lack completely. It's highly valuable in situations where I need to get close to a mob "right now". I don't use it too often, but I don't see myself taking it out either, as it is incredibly useful at times.

I highly appreciate you taking the time to reply to the build and I'll be sure to check back if I get back in the game.

daedralord504

Can you help me with picking passive abilities

Aerieth

daedralord504 wrote: »

Can you help me with picking passive abilities

Picking passives is easy. Just take all of the ones what have any effect on the build you're running.
Don't worry about them while leveling. Just take what ever you feel like. You'll get them all eventually anyway.

JohnnnyVegas

Aerieth,

Just wanted to say that when i first started playing i stumbled across your build and was very intrigued. Re-read it several times and started building toward it. Yesterday was the first time i was able to put it in action, me and 2 guild mates hit several dungeons at my level (30) and despite lacking a couple skills that still need to be built up i survived admirably!! You're not kidding! Soul tether and Bolstering darkness!! Sweet baby Jesus!! Anyway, i was looking over a lot of skills and i know you said you've tested out other NB skills i keep looking at the Mark Target skill. What were your findings as to why this didnt make the cut? Thanks, and looking forward to bringing it full circle!

Aerieth

JohnnnyVegas wrote: »

Aerieth,

Just wanted to say that when i first started playing i stumbled across your build and was very intrigued. Re-read it several times and started building toward it. Yesterday was the first time i was able to put it in action, me and 2 guild mates hit several dungeons at my level (30) and despite lacking a couple skills that still need to be built up i survived admirably!! You're not kidding! Soul tether and Bolstering darkness!! Sweet baby Jesus!! Anyway, i was looking over a lot of skills and i know you said you've tested out other NB skills i keep looking at the Mark Target skill. What were your findings as to why this didnt make the cut? Thanks, and looking forward to bringing it full circle!

Great to hear that you had a blast! The main thing with Mark Target is that after Zenimax streamlined the buff and debuff system (1.6) it doesn't stack it's effects with other similar debuffs (Major Fracture and Major Breach). Since you're already giving your targets both via your primary Taunt, the whole main effect of the skill is wasted. Another thing is the fact that the target has to die in order for you to get the heal. While this isn't a problem through out most solo content, it can be a huge downside in end-game boss fights where the death of your target means that you've already won. True, there are a plethora of encounters with squishy extra enemies that you could abuse for the heal, I just don't see the heal alone enough to justify using the skill. Don't get me wrong, the skill is incredibly powerful in PvP, but in my honest opinion, it doesn't have room in this build in PvE content. I hope this explanation helped.

Even though the build is strong while leveling, it truly starts to shine in end-game as it scales incredibly well with gear upgrades, food buffs and so on. Keep on rocking and have fun!

ExaltedNade

Glad this guide is here. Not enough NB Tanks out there.

I've been Running a more Magicka-oriented build like this since mid-March, and I gotta say, with enough Healing Received stacked, you become basically unstoppable.
I normally use Alessia, since I can Craft it to my needs and the added PR helps, but might try Footman if I can hit the Armor Mitigation Cap.
I've found that stamina isn't too big of an issue with SA and many things are doable with only 8.5k Stamina at VR14, and with the new SA incoming , instead of 3% Stam back, I get a whopping 10% per LA with 10% chance to get 20% Stam.
I'll try this Stam-oriented Variant on PTS and see how it goes,

AudioVortex

Hi Aerieth,

Interesting build you have here, you don't often see NB tanks out there and the time I've spent in pvp, they are a very rare thing indeed. It's got to the point where I see a NB with S&B and think.. that doesn't look right!

But this has got me thinking about changing mine over. I have a stam khajiit NB at the moment so it wouldn't be much of an issue. What I'm wondering is does race make a difference here? What made you choose a Nord over other races? (Ignore if your tank NB is the imperial :P), would khajiit work here effectively?

I want to be able to survive long enough in pvp and be sat on the front lines taking all the attention while my guildies pick everyone off, rather than jump in and out with use of the bow in between. Just seems so common now! (And a bit dull, I want some more action!).

Thanks

Aerieth

AudioVortex wrote: »

Hi Aerieth,

Interesting build you have here, you don't often see NB tanks out there and the time I've spent in pvp, they are a very rare thing indeed. It's got to the point where I see a NB with S&B and think.. that doesn't look right!

But this has got me thinking about changing mine over. I have a stam khajiit NB at the moment so it wouldn't be much of an issue. What I'm wondering is does race make a difference here? What made you choose a Nord over other races? (Ignore if your tank NB is the imperial :P), would khajiit work here effectively?

I want to be able to survive long enough in pvp and be sat on the front lines taking all the attention while my guildies pick everyone off, rather than jump in and out with use of the bow in between. Just seems so common now! (And a bit dull, I want some more action!).

Thanks

The build is heavily designed around PvE tanking. I prefer going more into damage when I'm doing PvP. But if you run with a group, going with this build isn't a bad choice. You'll have some serious staying power in the front lines. You might want to switch some skills and gear around though, as taunts won't be that effective against players. Check the leveling / pvp section for more details. That said, I haven't honed a PvP spec around this archetype so you'll have to do some testing and theorycrafting yourself. PvP in it's current state in ESO isn't my cup of tea so I won't probably be making a guide on that. Maybe if they implement more competitive PvP with Imperial City. But at the moment, I'm not feeling it.

I went with Nord because that's the race I wanted to play. Wanted to make my character like I had in Skyrim. Heavy armor vampire who sneaks but can handle long - face to face - fights as well.
Later when they changed the passives around, Nord became probably the best (PvE) tanking class with the added percentage based mitigation. It's immensely helpful. In PvP though, Khajiit is a sweet one as you get more burst damage and your sneaking is more efficient, which I love to do even as a tank. Sword & Board + Bow (or 2H) is a pretty sweet combo. Like I said, there's a small overview of that build variant at the end of the original post.

P.S. My imperial is actually a caster / healer.

Novustratum

@Hoodster92_ESO
In regards to 4), I have used this extensively on my NB and Soul Harvest seems to do nothing to increase the ultimate gain for your swap bar ultimate. All too many times I'll have Soul Harvest ready, swap bars to use an ability, and see that whichever ultimate I have slotted is only halfway full. I get it that different ultimates cost different amounts, but I'm talking abilities that have a very little cost difference such as 150 vs 100, but only has 50% of the gain. Based on this I personally would not use that ability in this kind of build. The rest of the advice is pretty sound though and worth taking into consideration.

Aerieth

Novustratum wrote: »

@Hoodster92_ESO
In regards to 4), I have used this extensively on my NB and Soul Harvest seems to do nothing to increase the ultimate gain for your swap bar ultimate. All too many times I'll have Soul Harvest ready, swap bars to use an ability, and see that whichever ultimate I have slotted is only halfway full. I get it that different ultimates cost different amounts, but I'm talking abilities that have a very little cost difference such as 150 vs 100, but only has 50% of the gain. Based on this I personally would not use that ability in this kind of build. The rest of the advice is pretty sound though and worth taking into consideration.

Very interesting. Thank you for pointing this out. I'm seriously thinking of trying the game out again once 2.1 hits and I'm probably going to revisit this guide and test out all changes to see how the build matches up to the new VR16 content after all the changes. Imperial City sounds like a lot of fun and something like I could probably enjoy. I'll have to see the PTS before I make up my mind though.

Hlaadriel

Aerieth wrote: »

[I'm seriously thinking of trying the game out again once 2.1 hits and I'm probably going to revisit this guide and test out all changes to see how the build matches up to the new VR16 content after all the changes. Imperial City sounds like a lot of fun and something like I could probably enjoy. I'll have to see the PTS before I make up my mind though.

Can't wait for an updated build I've run that build day in day out, I had a very similar initial set up, tweeked a bit. did nearly all pve content as a tank. But 1.7 did hit hard with siphoning strikes becoming a buff and not a toggle

JohnnnyVegas

Can't wait for an updated build I've run that build day in day out, I had a very similar initial set up, tweeked a bit. did nearly all pve content as a tank. But 1.7 did hit hard with siphoning strikes becoming a buff and not a toggle
[/quote]

Absolutely stupid!! Why in hell is Leeching Strikes morph a toggle but not Siphoning Attacks?!?! Sorry to use your great build thread to vent Aerieth but anything said to ZOS falls on deaf ears. Unless of course you post about wanting to have something crafted then they're quick to lock the thread and push the broken in game kiosk which oh yeah! There isn't one!!

fits96

I like a few others here stumbled upon this thread when I first came to the game. First I want to thank you for sharing such a fun build!
I was wondering if you have played since the recent patch. Now stam doesn't regen the way it used to (no stam regen while blocking). I find myself running out of stam anytime I'm facing multiple mobs where before I could pull groups with little to no problem. Was wondering if you have any advice on how to be more stam. efficient without becoming a burden to the group!?!
Again Thanks for sharing this build!

Aerieth

fits96 wrote: »

I like a few others here stumbled upon this thread when I first came to the game. First I want to thank you for sharing such a fun build!
I was wondering if you have played since the recent patch. Now stam doesn't regen the way it used to (no stam regen while blocking). I find myself running out of stam anytime I'm facing multiple mobs where before I could pull groups with little to no problem. Was wondering if you have any advice on how to be more stam. efficient without becoming a burden to the group!?!
Again Thanks for sharing this build!

--- Update ---

Heya! I've been playing very actively since the 2.1 patch. The changes to resource management hit us all really hard, but more than anything, the patch made us rethink our playstyles rather than builds. This build still works pretty nicely with small tweaks. The biggest tweak I did was to put a lot more points into Stamina. I'm now sitting at ~32k HP and 19.5k Stam and 14k Mag with a food buff. This is still with full purple VR13 Footmans and VR15 Histbark and only purple Enchants and different monster set pieces for some extra Health and Stam, so these numbers could be a lot higher.

Biggest thing for me has been that I've not been able to afford a stamina dump anymore. There are rarely fights where you have more stamina than you can use. Now that you can't "over taunt" in this patch, I tend to use my Pierce Armor as a Stamina dump - if I need one - and it's been doing its job just fine.

Remember that since 2.1 the build is still very much in testing and is not by any means completed, but:

Along with changes to stat distribution, I've tweaked my bars around a bit and with this setup I've tanked Vet WGT up until the last boss.
Bar 1 looks like this at the moment:
- Pierce Armor
- Leeching Attacks
- Refreshing Path
- Defensive Stance (Probably going to switch over to the other morph for more healz. With the changes you really need all the block cost reduction you can get.)
- Swallow Soul (increased healing taken and a very good spammable Magicka skill to heal you and to proc Siphoning Attacks.)
Ult slot still up in the air. Still been running Soul Tether for those pesky trash mobs.

Bar 2 looks like this:
- Inner Rage (keep it unmorphed though. The synergy on this skill is utter BS and you don't want your Melee DPS's to worry about it.)
- Flex Slot, test what works for you here. Probably going to be Caltrops once I unlock the skill.
- Sap Essence
- Invasion
- Heroic Slash (Haven't been using this skill at all lately. Probably going to think of something else here.)
- Veil of Blades (DPS is so very important in so many places in the new dungeons and the 30% is more than enough mitigation)

All this said, I've been dedicating most of my gold and resources towards optimizing my DPS build (*cough* PvP *cough*), so I haven't been able to get all the stuff for my tanking gear that I'd want to. Been thinking of a more balanced approach for a long time and after seeing D3usEX's SAP Mania 2.0 - Nightblade Tank Build for update 7. I was even considering going for full prismatic (HP, Stam & Mag) enchants on my gear and going full on hybrid with a bit more emphasis on Magicka. I'll actually need to get my hands on the stuff to test it out to see if it's actually worth going after.

I'm still testing stuff left and right and I'll work on a rewrite of the build once I actually find a setup I'm happy with.
If you got the extra resources and want to help me out test all this stuff out faster, you're more than welcome to send me materials and such. You'll find my in-game contact info in my signature. Same goes if you're on the PC EU Megaserver and just want to have a chat.

JohnnnyVegas

I've still been running it with Siphoning Attacks even though I keep forgetting (for now, but I'll learn!) to reactivate it. I'll have to give Leeching Strikes a go. One thing I've noticed since patch, and I'm on Xbox so it's still really new is my ultimate is taking way longer to regenerate. Is anyone else noticing this? I didn't see anything on it in the patch notes, and since John Grisham is writing them now it's going to take a bit to go back through. I'm even using vamp Drain Essence morphed to Invigorating Drain on my second bar to help with the regen.

Blackjak-33

Hi all. I run a (currently) Vet 6 magicka based version of this build, have been since console release. I recently equipped 5 pieces Twilight's Embrace(10% extra healing received bonus) crated gear with 4 pieces Seducer crafted gear(2x magicka regen, 1x max magicka bonus) and switched from the Mage(max magicka) the Ritual(10% bonus healing received) mundus stone. I run Swallow Soul on both bars for the 8% healing received bonus from that as well. Throw in CP and armor bonuses to healing received and I'm sitting around 35-38% extra healing received that is from a healer or initiated by myself. I run s/b on both bars with:

Bar 1:
Sap essence
Swallow Soul
Puncture (group tanking) /Impale (soloing)
Siphoning Attacks
Refreshing Path
Soul Tether or Soul Assault

Bar 2: (I switch up skills in this bar depending on what I'm doing)
Blur
Swallow Soul
Deep Slash
Degeneration
Darkshades/ or Defensive Stance (the healing morph, I slot this against bosses and dungeons for blocking bonus)

I also sometimes throw in cloak and concealed weapon while soloing.

My attributes are 35 magicka /20 health
Magicka regen necklace +magicka enchant
2x block cost reduction rings +stam enchant
Infused health glyphs on major armor, divine magicka on minor armor pieces

My stamina only sits at around 10k, but I hardly block due to high healing taken from siphoning skills and with Refreshing Path constantly down I can literally float away from heavy attacks.

blue magicka/stamina regen food combined with the Seducer set and my magicka never depletes therfore I'm constantly healing lol.

Aerieth

Buffing up self heal is great for soloing, but isn't as effective in end-game content like veteran dungeons and trials.

In end-game it's much more important to mitigate as much damage as possible. Healing is one way to mitigate damage over time, but focusing on that heavily will make the healers job a lot harder, because your effective health pool* is a lot lower, thus resulting in spiky damage intake. This can easily leave you dead when you suddenly take in a burst of damage. For example, taking a tick from fire on the ground, boss and an add hitting you with a spell at the same time.

* Explanation of Effective Health Pool

Effective Health Pool or eHP in short is used to measure how much raw damage you can take. eHP is your health pool with all mitigation factored in it.

For example, if you have 20k HP and zero resistances, zero dodge chance, simply zero mitigation, your eHP would be 20k.

If you have 20k health and you have armor that's worth 50% reduction of both physical and spell damage and nothing else, everything is hitting you for half damage which means that each of your health points is worth double. Thus your eHP would be 40k.

You can increase your eHP by having more resistances, more HP, more dodge chance (Hist Bark, or Blur), by blocking, by increasing damage mitigated through blocking etc. Healing can and should be calculated in this, but it's a lot harder to measure accurately.

As (most) mitigation mechanics in the game multiply with each other, it's far more valuable to get some of all than high in one, though high in all mitigation stats would be ideal. Simply increasing your health pool won't do much, but if you add high resist, 20% dodge, high block mitigation, high stamina pool and/or regen to sustain block further, some sustained self healing and so forth, your eHP will be sky high.

My advice would be to have separate gear sets for solo and group play. For group play, focus heavily on mitigating as much damage as possible. I'm running with 5-set of Histbark and 5-set of Footmans right now and it's working wonders. For helm and shoulders, go with which ever Monster set you can get your hands on, but I'd probably go with Bloodspawn or Engine Guardian for now. Malubeth's can also be really good, but haven't been able to complete the set yet (got shoulders today!), though I'd recon it's a lot better for your solo builds than for group play, because of reasons I just went through.

Still farming for sets and testing out different skill setups, so the build is still not set in stone. Stay tuned.

Blackjak-33 wrote: »

Hi all. I run a (currently) Vet 6 magicka based version of this build, have been since console release. I recently equipped 5 pieces Twilight's Embrace(10% extra healing received bonus) crated gear with 4 pieces Seducer crafted gear(2x magicka regen, 1x max magicka bonus) and switched from the Mage(max magicka) the Ritual(10% bonus healing received) mundus stone. I run Swallow Soul on both bars for the 8% healing received bonus from that as well. Throw in CP and armor bonuses to healing received and I'm sitting around 35-38% extra healing received that is from a healer or initiated by myself. I run s/b on both bars with:

Bar 1:
Sap essence
Swallow Soul
Puncture (group tanking) /Impale (soloing)
Siphoning Attacks
Refreshing Path
Soul Tether or Soul Assault

Bar 2: (I switch up skills in this bar depending on what I'm doing)
Blur
Swallow Soul
Deep Slash
Degeneration
Darkshades/ or Defensive Stance (the healing morph, I slot this against bosses and dungeons for blocking bonus)

I also sometimes throw in cloak and concealed weapon while soloing.

My attributes are 35 magicka /20 health
Magicka regen necklace +magicka enchant
2x block cost reduction rings +stam enchant
Infused health glyphs on major armor, divine magicka on minor armor pieces

My stamina only sits at around 10k, but I hardly block due to high healing taken from siphoning skills and with Refreshing Path constantly down I can literally float away from heavy attacks.

blue magicka/stamina regen food combined with the Seducer set and my magicka never depletes therfore I'm constantly healing lol.

@Blackjak-33
Attribute distribution don't mean much by itself. Attribute distribution depends on gear, enchants, race and which of food or drink you use. You want to be using attributes to fix up your total stats after you've gotten your gear and enchants set up. Use it for reaching certain goals, like 30k HP for example, or 15k Stamina and so forth. Use it for fine tuning, not to dictate your build and/or stats! But then again, unless you're planning on doing end-game content before getting to max rank, don't worry too much about stats or gear. On the other hand, if you want to start doing gold dailies and such, I highly recommend you min/max your stats so that you can perform well in said content. You don't need to be at max rank to do well in veteran dungeons (this doesn't include the two new ones though). I've successfully healed a majority of the veteran dungeons scaled at VR16 on my VR3-4 Nightblade in full heavy armor and I've seen many good low rank tanks complete the content just fine! Player skill and optimized gear/build are far more valuable than the missing ranks.

JohnnnyVegas wrote: »

I've still been running it with Siphoning Attacks even though I keep forgetting (for now, but I'll learn!) to reactivate it. I'll have to give Leeching Strikes a go. One thing I've noticed since patch, and I'm on Xbox so it's still really new is my ultimate is taking way longer to regenerate. Is anyone else noticing this? I didn't see anything on it in the patch notes, and since John Grisham is writing them now it's going to take a bit to go back through. I'm even using vamp Drain Essence morphed to Invigorating Drain on my second bar to help with the regen.

@JohnnnyVegas
Yeah, it's been taking me a while to get used to refreshing Siphoning Attacks too.
I used Leeching Strikes at first and I was very disappointed. Leeching Attacks is sadly a lackluster of a skill. Siphoning Attacks is way, WAY better because you can use the extra resources for much more than minimal extra healing. I'd say the skill is fundamental in Nightblade tanking.

I have not noticed a difference in Ultimate generation between the patches. Have you been using potions less? Nightblades get 12 ultimate on potion use through our passives. Have you been using Siphoning abilities less? Using a Siphoning ability restores 2 ultimate, though the passive has a short cooldown.

Also used Invigorating Drain while leveling up and I loved the skill! Sadly, you're unable to block while channeling it, so it's uses in end-game have been very limited. Though, thanks to the changes in the last patch, I might actually look into implementing it in the build somehow. We'll see.

LOWE

Hey im going to try this build, just a question, wich jewelry should i use to make this build stronger?
and i have engiene armcops and head should i use it? or i go for 2 full sets.

Aerieth

LOWE wrote: »

Hey im going to try this build, just a question, wich jewelry should i use to make this build stronger?
and i have engiene armcops and head should i use it? or i go for 2 full sets.

I'm still using 5-piece Footman's. I have no intention to change that until I find a complete setup I think is the best. I'd probably use the Engine Guardian set. Love the resources it gives. Though I'm still unlucky enough to not have completed a single monster set in heavy.

D3usEX

Aerieth wrote: »

I'm still using 5-piece Footman's. I have no intention to change that until I find a complete setup I think is the best. I'd probably use the Engine Guardian set. Love the resources it gives. Though I'm still unlucky enough to not have completed a single monster set in heavy.

Sadly not a single set from the new ones is better than footman. To bad Zenimax won't scale that set to vr16.

Ibibi

Loving the build but could you tell me what mundus stone are you using?

Thank you

Aerieth

Kidur wrote: »

Loving the build but could you tell me what mundus stone are you using?

Thank you

Sorry, but I haven't played the game in over a year. I've no idea what new gear has come out or what ZOS has changed.
Regardless, you usually choose your Mundus stone depending on your stats. If you need more health, get more health. If you need more regen, get more regen etc. If I recall correctly, I used the Crit stone, but only because I spent half my time DPSing. If you're playing exclusively as a tank, go for a stat that helps you do that.