Advice For a Traditional NB

Ghanima_Atreides

Hello all,


One of my characters, who is a classical rogue-type Nightblade, has been consistently under-performing since I started playing him and despite my best efforts I haven't really been able to fix him. What I mean by "classical rogue" is that he wears full medium armor and uses DW/bow. I am not interested in picking up a 2H sword or any type of staff, please don't suggest that. His build is part of his character concept (stealthy assassin) and either of those would be ridiculous. Now down to the specifics:

His race is Breton; not ideal for a Stamina NB, I know, but that, too is part of his concept. I've generally found that racials don't make or break a character though, so hopefully this isn't too much of a downside.

I should mention that I am not trying to make him competitive for trials or PvP as I do neither; my problem is that out of all my characters, he's the only one who has trouble both dealing damage and taking it, even vs regular mobs. His burst damage from stealth is good, but that is a trick he can only play once and often he finds himself overwhelmed by groups of enemies or bosses with a lot of health. The bow has the advantage of range and Bombard is useful in keeping mobs off his back, but the damage it does is even poorer and some enemies are immune to the root. In general I switch a lot between bow and swords, depending on the situation.

These are his attributes/skills; I went through many different combinations trying to find the right one, these are just what I'm using at the moment. He is currently VR8.



I have tried going all Stamina, but that made him more fragile than ever. I also once had a hybrid build with points in Magicka as well but I know those aren't viable anymore.



DW bar (Mirage, Killer's Blade, Ambush, Surprise Attack, Steel Tornado [Veil of Blades ultimate] )



Bow bar (Swallow Soul - for a bit of healing -, Venom Arrow, Shadow Image, Bombard, Lethal Arrow [Soul Tether ultimate] )


He wears 5 pieces of Night Mother's Gaze and 4 of Night's Silence (3 with bow) and Robust jewellry with Stamina recovery.


I think that about covers it...any advice on how to improve him would be very appreciated.

Lynx7386

Ok a few things:

Put power extraction on one of your bars, it will give you 20% more damage if you hit at least one enemy with it.

Replace swallow soul on the bow bar with reapers mark. It's a better heal, and will increase your damage further.

Currently your bars are kind of thrown together with no real focus. Use each bar for a specific role. Dual wield does great aoe damage, and bow excels for single target.

Magnum shot will help you more than bombard in pve. Enemies gain cc immunity now, so you can't spam bombard for the root. Magnum shot, however, lets you get distance even on cc immune enemies.

Shadow image is useless for pve, and only mildly useful in pvp. I would replace it with shadowy disguise (boost critical chance) or grim focus to give you a further increase to damage on the bow bar.

Nights silence is really only good for the 5 pc bonus. The 5 piece night mothers bonus is also pretty weak. I would either go with 5 pc nights silence and 3-4 pc night mothers for stealth speed, or 5 piece hunding's rage + 3-4 pc night mothers to maximize crit chance and weapon damage.

Lynx7386

Also, I find it better to go for reduced feat cost jewelry as opposed to increased stamina recovery. Reduced feat cost also effects the cost of dodging, blocking, and bashing.

Ghanima_Atreides

@Lynx7386 - Thank you for the feedback I have been trying various things based on scraps of information picked up from all over, and this kind of specific advice is exactly why I made this thread.

Lynx7386

And my recommended bars would be:

Dual wield:
Ambush
Power extraction
Steel tornado
Surprise attack
Blade cloak (may have that name wrong - the dual wield 4th ability)
Ultimate: veil of blades

Bow:
Reapers mark
Lethal arrow
Venom arrow
Magnum shot
Shadowy disguise
Ultimate: flawless dawnbreaker (or soul assault)

Use the dual wield bar primarily for aoe groups. Activate blade cloak, alternate between ambush and power extraction, then use steel tornado when the targets are low on health. Blade cloak deals aoe damage around you every few seconds, and alternating between ambush and power extraction gives the extraction 20% more damage, making it more efficient.

Use surprise attack for melee stealth openers when range isn't possible, or on enemies that get too close for your bow. Again, alternate between ambush and surprise attack to get the damage bonus, and make sure you keep the buff from power extraction up.

Use the bow bar for single target damage. Mark your target and open from stealth with lethal arrow followed by a venom arrow and light attack. Always use a light attack immediately after lethal arrow to speed up tee animation (aka weaving). Use shadowy disguise to get a guaranteed crit on a lethal arrow.

Ghanima_Atreides

Thank you!

Which traits would you recommend for the gear? I was going with Divines to boost his crit damage but I am wondering whether it wouldn't be better to add some Reinforced pieces instead to make him more durable.

Lynx7386

I tend to use increased enchant effect on armor, and enchant for extra health and stamina. For pvp, obviously full impenetrable or nirn honed is better. I always put precise on weapons for the crit chance.

Zanen

Good advice so far.

I'd put soul tether on your DW bar. Ambush, soul tether, steel tornado will annihilate big groups.

I'd keep dark cloak on the DW bar also, it's too fundamental a melee ability to have to swap for, without a self heal or shield cloak becomes your main defensive ability. Disguise is a dps loss and I don't know why anyone uses it.

I also use double take a lot for mitigation and mobility.

Reaper's is your best heal without rally or vigor.

Divines on small pieces and infused on large until you can get some nirn.

Lynx7386

I prefer disguise for more burst damage but I guess it depends on personal preference and what you're doing. I pvp a good deal and I like to follow my stealth bow opener with disguise and another crit lethal arrow for quicker kill times.

RavenSworn

When I was leveling my nb, I used bow as a single target bar and 2h for aoe packs. Since you have stated that you wont go 2hander, I had these in mind:

Focused Aim
Reaper's Mark
Shadowy Disguise
Crippling Grasp
Lethal Arrow / Draining shot ( I prefer Draining to magnum as I control where I end up after an ability.)

I'd probably take out Lethal Arrow and use Draining since dots on enemy will disperse my cloak but you can just use it for the crit buff. I'd use Soul tether for ultimate for close quarter cc, switch to dual wield to finish it off.

Steel tornado
Double take
Sap essence
Ambush
Surprise attack / killer's blade

I take Flawless Dawnbreaker for extra weapon damage and also a melee ultimate finisher. Basically both bars can open combat and finish, with Mark or killer blade to maintain the heals and soul tether for emergencies. Double take buff takes a while to last so usually sap essence would be my goto magicka dump in big groups since it heals 20% more per enemy hit.

Gear is hunding's rage and night's silence for better resource regen. I agree on the reduced cost for stamina, that gives better returns than stam regen.