ISO Nightblade Advice - Stam or Magicka - Looking for good AoE leveling, strong late game PvP & Fun!

Gunlex00_ESO

So I've just gotten into ESO, I did play the beta but got pretty wrapped up in work and put down the games for awhile...but I'm back! =P and ESO is definitely grabbing my interest. I've been leveling a sorc with a friend, he is level 32 now, but my friend has to take a break from the game for a bit and I'm looking to roll a NB so I don't leave him behind while he's gone. Would love input on Stam vs Magicka, and any AoE leveling builds would be greatly appreciated!

tldr;
Title. Looking to start another character, want to play a NB and I think(is it?) a bow and dual wield would be good for PvP. But most importantly I want to be able to AoE level grind easily, I'm not much of a questor and find grinding entertaining enough. Having a fun play style late game is also very important to me, especially in PvP, because once I get max level that's what I'm looking to do.

Oh, and race?

Thank you!

G

krboone94

I too would like to know the pros and cons of stam vs magicka for a nightblade build. I just started my dw/bow nb as well(ran a simple pure stam dk on my first character until i got to about lv 30 and realized how crappy that was for pvp so i shelved it and started over) and i know that stam builds lean more towards weapon skills, and magicka more towards class skills but i just can't decide! I would like to do a bit of a hybrid to get the best of both worlds but many other players say it doesn't work out very well..

Btw...redguard master race

Sandshark95

Bow and DW is a great combination for PvE and PvP. If you want to choose this route though, you're probably going to want a stamina build. It's very difficult to pull off a hybrid build; you have to choose between stamina or magicka if you want to get the most out of a build. That said, there is a specific type of NB build that is able to use stamina and magicka pretty equally and effectively called a "Sap Tank". As you can infer, that build is primarily a Tank build, but can put out some decent DPS. From my understanding, Sap Tanks spec into health first (understandably) and then use their magicka to "sap" resources (health, stamina, magicka) from their enemies. I don't have one of these myself so I can't really provide details, but if that sort of build sounds interesting, you might want to check it out. I do, however, have a stamina Bow/DW NB and can speak more to that.

Medium armor is a stamina build's friend. You'd be slotting primarily weapon skills on your bars, with the exception of perhaps a few NB skills (especially those with stamina morphs, and more NB skills on your DW bar than Bow) such as Shadowy Disguise, Reapers Mark, Surprise Attack, and Ambush (all morphed names, btw). For Bow, Snipe (either morph), Bombard (morph of Arrow Spray), Poison Arrow (either morph), and pretty much every other bow ability are good ones. For DW, you'll love the Whirlwind morph, Steel Tornado, for AoE damage.

Race-wise, it honestly doesn't matter if you don't care about the passives. However, if the passives carry some weight in your decision (and you do go the Bow/DW stamina route), then Bosmer (Wood Elf), Khajiit, and Redguard are probably the "best" options. Bosmer for bow, stealth damage, and stamina regeneration. Khajiit for medium armor, health, stealth damage, and weapon critical. Redguard for stamina, stamina regeneration, and more stamina. You can't go wrong with any of the three.

As for your desired method of leveling...I hate to break it to you, but "AoE grinding" isn't going to get you far, at least while you're pre-vet. Once you hit vet ranks, then sure, go for it if you want, but until then, questing will yield the best results. It'll take you an eternity to level up to 50 by sitting in a cave somewhere waiting for enemies to respawn so you can Steel Tornado them to death over and over again. You're much better off steamrolling through a ton of quests.

Good luck with your build. Hope you found something in that wall of text insightful

krboone94

Sorry, I guess I kinda thread-jacked. But yes, very insightful, thank you!

Sandshark95

@krboone94 I actually had both of you in mind while typing my response, so it worked out. Glad I could help.

lolzbuckets

Imperial is also very good, I think, especially for a sap tank, but also for a stamina build. Imperials have massive bonuses to health and stamina, as well as a passive chance to heal on hits, and faster progression with sword-and-board. As a sap tank, it looks like you'll be relying largely on the Siphoning tree, I would assume for Siphoning Attacks and Sap Essence (morphs of Siphoning Strikes and Drain Power, respectively), combined with a shield to not die and for access to one of the only two taunts in the game. For obvious reasons, an Imperial would work extremely well for that.

I can also say that an Imperial would probably make a pretty solid stamina DPS build, though. As a Bosmer, I tried out a pure balls-to-the-wall glass cannon build and had a legitimately impressive 8.1k hp.

In dungeons, if I messed up a single dodge, I got one-shotted by on-level boss monsters. 2/10. Would not bang. An extra 12% HP would've been a godsend for a glass cannon build. Might even make it viable for people who, like most humans, occasionally lag or fat-finger their keyboard...slash...controller? That phrase doesn't make much sense for us PS4 players...

But yeah, it's worth noting that several of the magicka-based skills do have stamina morphs, so don't base your decision entirely on what you can see in the skill tree. Take it from me: do your research first, because respeccing 200 skill points is expensive.

helediron

I have two imperial nbs. Imperial can comfortably switch between stamina and magicka style. I'd recommend you start as stamina nb. Level up bow, 2h and dw. AoE grinding works okay throughout all levels. Go through main quests and skyshard delves and grind when you find packs of overland mobs.

The magicka style starts to work when you are reaching 50 at siphoning tree. Try then that side as DPS. Damage is lower but HoT healing from Funnel Health and Sap Essence and endless resources from Siphoning Attacks replace it. Saptank is close to magicka dps and maximizes magicka and spell damage with heavy armor and S&B. The switch between dps and tank is mostly gear change. tamrielfoundry.com, forums, nightblade theorycrafting has all the best builds.