Does your build matter while leveling?

Ryanbushie

Yes im one of those console guys who knows virtually nothing about the game. From my first day of play messing about ive decided on a Khajit 2h stamina nightblade. My question is do i need to know the optimal/sub-optimal build for my character while leveling to prevent the build becoming useless the higher up i go. Insight into early builds for this type of character would be much appreciated. Thanks

Hlaadriel

depends what you want to do? if you want to PvP straight away then it will matter quickly, otherwise until yo uare vet14 and you want to do competitive end-game, it does NOT matter a bit....

Ryanbushie

Im the guy who levels first , then starts pvp (im aware you scale in cyrodil to give you a fighting chance. I know this is quite possibly the lamest thing anybody can ask for , but can somebody give me an idea of the skills i should be picking as a 2h stamina nightblade to ensure i have the correct set of tools to get used to the build?

Rosveen

No, it doesn't really matter. A 2h nightblade is an excellent choice anyway, so you'll be fine. Just pick the stamina morphs, Veiled Strike -> Surprise Attack is an excellent spammable skill for a stam NB.

Ryanbushie

As for attributes while leveling 2 health 1 stamina?

Rosveen

Yeah, that will work. You will eventually want to move more points into stamina, but you can respec later and it's good to focus on survivability when you're new to the game.

As for the rest of the skills:
Keep a skill from each of your class trees on the bar while levelling, you need to train them all (the same goes for armor, try to wear at least one piece of each type). As a stamina build, you should use mainly medium armor.

What I started with: Strife from Siphoning, Veiled Strike and Veil of Blades ultimate from Shadow, Assassin's Blade from Assassination. Cleave -> Brawler and Crit Charge -> Crit Rush from 2-handed.

Teleport Strike -> Ambush followed by Veiled Strike and Killer's Blade is an excellent way to quickly kill people, but I prefer a more open approach in PvE. Whatever works for you, though.

eliisra

To avoid headache in the future, it's always good to plan ahead.

You can change your build any time, if you have the gold. That's not the problem. Issue is rather skill leveling. If you aimlessly slot the same class skill and some 2-Hander, you will have problems later on missing crucial stuff from other skills lines. It's very hard to level up skills once your character reaches max level.

You can always look a bit at guides while levelling to get a hint.

Maybe level up 2-Hander and bow first, once unlocking weapon swap? That's what I would do. Also start working on all 3 class skill lines , but focus the most on Assassination and Shadow initially. After that grab Dual Wield and level it, it's great for NB. Than you want Medium armor maxed, but maxing heavy armor passives is also useful.

Get the training trait on weapon and armor to make this go faster. You also need to level up Fighters guild. Basically make sure your skill bar has a mix of both class skills and weapons skills and especially when you hand in quests.

Pmail

this sounds so confusing

Lynx7386

I've been running a 2h nightblade on PC since launch (well, tried out a lot of builds, and eventually settled on the 2h). It's an extremely effective setup, I suggest pairing it with either a bow or dual wield for your second weapon set.

For the most part, my 2h bar looks like this:
Ambush
Wrecking Blow
Executioner
Shadowy Disguise
Rally

and for the bow bar:
Magnum Shot
Focused Aim
Impale
Reaper's Mark
Grim Focus

I trade abilities in as needed, but for soloing probably 90% of my gameplay is rally and wrecking blow. Wrecking blow is a lot better now than it used to be, as it can apply the 20% damage bonus to the next wrecking blow (whereas it used to not effect itself if spammed). With 7 medium armor, a focus on stamina regen and reduced feat cost, and the right attribute allocation you can spam wrecking blow indefinitely and put out a massive amount of damage in the process.

2h excels at single target damage, but it falls short when you're trying to deal with large groups. Brawler/carve arent very good for aoe damage (though brawler will definitely keep you alive well in an aoe situation), so it's best to pair 2h with something for aoe if you're looking at pve builds. The bow can be swapped out to volley / scatter shot for aoe, and you can pair those with siphon and twisting path for good area damage coverage.

One of the main reasons I use the bow is for pvp, where you dont always want to close in on a target. Beyond that, one of the most powerful combinations in the game for pvp is magnum shot -> critical rush. magnum shot on the bow bar knocks your target backwards, and causes you to leap away from the target, putting considerable distance between you and the enemy. Critical rush, on the 2handed bar, charges at your target and does bonus damage based on how far away the target is. It's a nice little synergy that causes a lot of burst damage against other players.


As for ultimates, use flawless dawnbreaker for extra weapon damage when you hit rank 10 with the fighter's guild. Prior to that, I like to run soul strike on my bow bar for a ranged ultimate, and veil of blades on my 2h bar for good area damage and a damage resistance buff to myself. When soloing, I'll usually use death stroke for a cheap, high damage melee ultimate.

Docmandu

Ryanbushie wrote: »

Im the guy who levels first , then starts pvp

I can't stress this enough, but DO NOT WAIT until VR14 !!!!

If you want to wait, wait until level 35-40 and do non-vet PVP until you hit VR1, then level to VR14 and go PVP in the vet campaigns.