n00b Nightblade needs help

TitanJeff

I’m a n00b level 24 Wood Elf Nightblade. Bow & DW.

Here are my breakdown:
Stamina: 15, Health: 5, Magika: 2

At the moment, I’m getting crushed by a lot of lower-level bosses. For example, I would think I should be mowing over a level 15 Anarume but he’s taken me out each time.

My stats:
Weapon Damage: 465
Weapon Crit: 27.5%
Resistance: 3702

Do these numbers seem low? I’ve added all the critical passives which have been available.

Here are my bars:

Bow - Mark Target, Poison Arrow, Shadowy Disguise, Silver Shards, Draining Shot and Soul Harvest

DW - Ambush, Shadowy Disguise, Surprise Attack, Strife, Steel Tornado and Soul Harvest

Any advice appreciated.

Xvorg

Why Silver shards if you have a bow? it makes sense in the dw bar, not much in the ranged bar.

Strife Does not make much sense in a stam build, unless you are leveling shyphon to get leeching attacks.

Have you consider aspwct of terror as a gap opener in your bow bar? It is pretty good if your are dealing with mobs and aloe you yo kill some of them from behind

Said that, please, get rid of the mag points and put them in stam. Dmg depends in your total stam and weapon if you are a stam build, while it depends on spell power and mag in magi builds

TitanJeff

Xvorg wrote: »

Why Silver shards if you have a bow? it makes sense in the dw bar, not much in the ranged bar.

Only because it seemed to have more impact than my bow as enemies were approaching fast.

Strife Does not make much sense in a stam build, unless you are leveling shyphon to get leeching attacks.

I was just testing it out for the health boost.

Have you consider aspwct of terror as a gap opener in your bow bar? It is pretty good if your are dealing with mobs and aloe you yo kill some of them from behind

I'll need to investigate more into that because I really don't understand what it does.

Said that, please, get rid of the mag points and put them in stam. Dmg depends in your total stam and weapon if you are a stam build, while it depends on spell power and mag in magi builds

I've loaded all my medium armor with stamina so thought a couple of points in magicka might be necessary for Shadowy Disguise.

Thanks for the advice.

Xvorg

Oki

I have both, a mag and a stam NB. What i can tell you is this: if you think you have enough mag or stam, then go for health. That's never enough.

Check that mark target heals you for % of your total health, so, the more health you have, the better the healing received

QuebraRegra

Obviously SNIPE and it's variants would be nice to have, as well as the SOUL TETHER MORPH.

MAGNUM SHOT > DRAINING SHOT = the pushback won't work on the boss, but it'll get you some distance to manuver.

Bosses don't really respect CLOAK. KILLERS BLADE can be a nice heal on mooks. Go lots into the passives, that's where the money is. I can't live without FUNNEL HEALTH/SWALLOW SOUL, even for a ST NB... It's my only heal until VIGOR goes to 5.

Like many have said, it's an all-or-nothing affair these days on stats. If you want maximum effect, you must go ALL IN (ST, or MAGICKA).

nilldax

About skills:
1. Pick up Aspect of Terror (commonly known as Fear) - great for CC'ing adds, players or some bosses.
2. Unless you're focused on Magicka stat dont invest into damaging/healing spells or its kind of "must have".
3. Persnoally i can recomend Incapacitating Strike in replacement of Soul Harvest - gives strong CC to targets with higher HP (if they're not immune)
4. Silver Shards are mostly usable against "wickeds" like Vamps or Daedra - on higher lvl you can fing Flying Blade more useful for common fights. Also Shards costs much more ST (stamina)
5. Shadowy Disguisse Morph into Dark Cloak - that not only hides you but also removes DoTs
6. I, personally, use setup of:
DW - Ambush, Mass Hysteria, Surprice Attack, Flying Blade (you can use Shards if havent unlocked it), Dark Cloak
Bow - Focus Aim, Piercing Mark, Poison Arrow, "free slot" (Retreating Maneuver, Bombard, Arrow Barrage or what ever your soul needs) Dark Cloak

For attributes: That depends on your idea of playstyle, gear. But i highly recommend putting first into ST, coz of higher damage done, "more" space for dodge roll or block, then some to HP for pure survival.

Thats for ST based NB, however that can be turned into hybrid.
P.S. If you're trying to kill some local bosses - wait 'till you get group or come back on higher level with better gear - there are ones extreamly hard to solo 'em at lower levels without specific build/gear in "colors".

TitanJeff

Thanks for the tips. A couple of follow-ups...

Why Dark Cloak (I have Shadowy Disguise chosen already) late in the bar when it gives you a crit boost on the next strike? I just am curious as to what I might be missing.

A lot of your bar seems to use Magicka. Do you ever run out?

Can I go back from Soul Harvest once chosen?

As for play style, I prefer being stealth with the bow and only going DW when the enemy is close. I seem to be much more effective DW right now. I miss those sweet one shot kills from Skyrim.

nilldax

I have only 3 skills that are using Magicka - do i run out of it? Only when i do mistakes or try to hide myself too often.
As for Dark Cloak, that skill removes up to 4 DoTs which are "sometimes" trully annoying, like bleeding as example. Guaranteed crit after Shadowy Disguise... with over 35% chance of landing critical hit on veteran ranks or even earlier - thats waste of, in my opinion, skill point.

And as for going back from chosen skills - you can reset 'em like atribute points in every "capital" city of each alliance (Mournhold, Wayrest, Elden Root).
Playstyle for "one-shot" is, or rather "was" possible with in game up to 1.7 version - you just had to stack how much as possible weapon damage stat & Max ST. Due to nerfs some sets with weapon powah its... harder to achieve xD - and forget 'bout one-shotting players in PvP.

TitanJeff

Good stuff. Thanks. I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks and have a lot more to learn about playing this game.

gamsir

You could try using mage skill 'entropy' for spammable dot + hot istead of strife. It's a good panick healer, even at vet ranks.

My setup for pve (I solo play only); only dual wielding/close quarter combat, RP choice...

Entropy for heal, ambush for surprise attack, dark cloak for escape + mitigating dot on self, reapers mark for enemy debuff and self heal on death of target and finally my bread and butter skill; rapid strikes for very good damage/stam (it adds up generously).

Typically starting from stealth, cast reapers mark on enemy -> ambush from stealth follow up with rapid strikes = dead enemy and full health, cast entropy (if several enemies left) attack a third with reapers mark and rapid strikes, when low stamina hold heavy attack button = regen stamina,

In general spam rapid strikes and reapers mark = high dps + self heal. Boost heal with entropy/strife, to keep you going. If anything goes wrong use dark cloak (there's a great passive that adds enormus amount of dam resistance after activating shadow skills).

Have tried steel tornado and the likes, but dps compared to damage/stam use is too low IME.

In general you'll want to experiment on different skills as they becom available, lvl them a bit finding their strength. And them resetting at capital city when it doesn't work.

I used to have the death stroke ultimate which is readily available when remembering to hit every enemy with a normal/heavy attack at least once.

At vet lvl I use soul tether, for basically same amount of damage, but it also heals you and stuns the enemies caught in the effect.
This means you'll use skills more, depleting stamina, but you'll then use heavy attacks more, generating stamina and ultimate dvery slash, thus increasing overall dps and healing IME. Again sustain health and debuff enemies with reapers mark, you'll be unstoppable

TitanJeff

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

You guys have sold me on Dark Cloak. Right now, I'm using Steel Tornado like a mad man. I've stayed away from Rapid Strikes but will give it a try.

I'm feeling better about the DW. My bow, however, isn't getting it done. I'm starting with Mark Target and then jumping right to Poison Arrow (I've not picked Venom or the other upgrade yet as I remain undecided).

At my level, going to Shadowy Disguise was stopping the charge of most enemies which would allow me to get the bonus crit of Silver Shards then knocking them back with Draining Shot before switching to DW.

Any tips for getting better results with the bow?

Xvorg

TitanJeff wrote: »

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

You guys have sold me on Dark Cloak. Right now, I'm using Steel Tornado like a mad man. I've stayed away from Rapid Strikes but will give it a try.

I'm feeling better about the DW. My bow, however, isn't getting it done. I'm starting with Mark Target and then jumping right to Poison Arrow (I've not picked Venom or the other upgrade yet as I remain undecided).

At my level, going to Shadowy Disguise was stopping the charge of most enemies which would allow me to get the bonus crit of Silver Shards then knocking them back with Draining Shot before switching to DW.

Any tips for getting better results with the bow?

Depends on what you want: A one hit archer is always good, but most of the time can be wrecked by mobs, so consider arrow spray or volley.

If you want to deal in close quarters, besides long range, remember scatter shot, especially magnum shot as an escape (which also hurts a lot)

As an archer NB, it is always important to increase your wpn dmg, so a set that has that dmg increase is always a good option. Hunding's rage is, IMHO, the best set to raise that. Same as the warrior mundus. Grim focus is also a nice option before doing dmg and fighter guild ultimate, flawless dawnbreaker, also grants you wpn dmg increase.

Maybe siphoining strikes to regain magicka, stamina and/or health will also help you. It depends on your palying style. Don't forget it decrease your dmg for being toggled.

Scarface3000

Bombard>Heavy attack>Bombard>Heavy attack

Repeat till all enemies are kill

jebuspowers

He is level 24 so he won't have SA for a while. Also realize he won't have Hundings rage gear or any other end game stuff.

If you are 24 and you getting dropped by a level 15 then there's an issue. If we are talking a solo world boss (the skull icon on a map) you still should be able to solo it as long as it is within a few levels of you and there are no special mechanics.

As far as your bars are concerned, I would keep disguise on one bar and I recommend the range bar. If you are going to morph strife then turn it into swallow soul. When you begin a fight start with mark, ambush, then swallow soul so you are healing right at the start of the fight. Dropping the resistance then getting an empower buff before using swallow soul will hit harder thus healing you for more points. You can even sneak in a shadowy disguise after the ambush to have an empowered, guaranteed critical swallow soul. There's damage+survivability at low level. That's why dark cloak sucks. Seriously, F dark cloak in the A.

Bows are getting a buff in the imperial city patch, but they are actually pretty awesome now so I don't understand the buff. Anyway, poison arrow is really all you need at your level (until you get snipe). You should also use whirling Blades instead of steel tornado because you need the stamina way more than the range. Worry about range after you have siphoning attacks and start doing some serious dungeon plundering. I also would recommend twin Slashes-->blood craze because it's a strong dot and hot.

Make sure you are wearing 5 medium/2 heavy for your armor. Screw light armor you don't need it. Also, you don't need the points in magicka unless you want strife to hit harder.

Your bars should probably look like this;

DW Bar: Strife-->Swallow Soul // Bow Bar: Poison Arrow-->Lethal Injection
Twin Slashes-->Blood Craze // Shadow Cloak-->Shadowy Disguise
Assassin's Blade-->Killer's Blade // Scatter Shot-->Magnum Shot
Mark Target--Reapers Mark // Veiled Strike-->Surprise Attack
Whirlwind-->Whirling Blades // Teleport Strike-->Ambush

Death Stoke-->Soul Harvest // Soul Shred-->Soul Tether

Not gonna lie, I'm honestly surprised you are not using soul tether. It's amazing and you will love it, guaranteed. If you have noticed, both bars should give you equal balance of crit chance via passives. All of these abilities are ones you should have access to already so there's no "You need to wait for this" garbage. Now mechanics....

Grouped Trash: Ambush, Magnum Shot so they follow you and group up together, disguise, swallow soul (either a random target or the beefiest one there), whirling blades, blood craze (any target), whirling blades, then proceed to dot whoever is the lowest on health with poison arrow. If they are low enough, use Killers Blade instead (or after arrow has been ticking health away) to restore lost health. Refresh swallow soul/blood craze as needed. Use Soul tether as needed and soul harvest when dusting off enemies with higher health. Be sure to finish enemies with Killers Blade whenever possible. Use Magnum Shot instead of roll dodge whenever possible. Spam whirling blades as necessary and remember that if you are pulling a group keep them as close as possible to maximize stamina regeneration from whirling blades.

Soloing bosses/named mobs: Not much different except don't spam whirling Blades. If you can, then open with soul harvest for extra damage (or use it asap), reapers mark, ambush, disguise, blood craze, swallow soul, poison arrow, disguise, surprise attack. Keep hots and dots cooking until you can finish with Killer's Blade. Be sure to use Soul Harvest only when soloing because soul tether can save your life if things get hairy.

This is what I have come up with regarding your current available skills and you wanting to use bow and dw.

Biggest tip I can offer is whenever you alter your build go practice on lower level stuff before going out and fighting wild eyed s--t in the world. Know your rotation before serious fighting and plan for the worst so you can come out on top.

If you ever consider tanking then consider my Nightblade tank build

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/202926/blood-knight-my-nightblade-tank/p1

Let me know if this sounds good to you and if you consider using these things let me know how it works out.

TitanJeff

Awesome feedback.

Since the original post, I've learned more about traits and have a full set of Night's Silence with stamina glyphs used on each. Using all medium armor at the moment for the armor passives but maybe will add in a couple of heavy.

Everything I use is level 24 though I am close to hitting 26.

I've tinkered a bit with my bar:

Bow: Mark Target, Poison Arrow, Silver Shards, Draining Shot, Shadowy Disguise, Soul Harvest
DW: Ambush, Surprise Attack, Killer's Blade, Steel Tornado, Shadowy Disguise, Soul Harvest

I haven't used Twin Slashes for a while but not sure where it plugs in on my DW bar. I have a few bow skills opening soon which should help there. I don't see a lot of people speak highly of Silver Shards but I love it when facing hellish critters.

Usually, I stealth up with my bow, mark the target, hit with a big shot followed with a quick poison arrow. Depending on the enemy, I might go Shards or just Draining Shot if I'm being charged to create space then move to my DW bar.

I'm doing well vs. PvE except against some bosses. Eating and drinking before facing a boss has been helpful but feel I might have to put more into health overall. Right now, I am 15 stamina, 5 health and 2 magicka.

I hear you on practicing on lower-level baddies. It's been helpful. I've discovered how much rolling out of a bad situation to gain some distance is helping when my health bar starts to dip too much.

Again, thanks for the advice. I'm open to all I can get.

jebuspowers

Remember that eating food and drinking drinks doesn't stack right now so don't do both. I would say that of all the stuff I wrote previously, which was quite a bit, you really should start using soul tether. Like right now. As a matter of fact I'm going to need you to drop whatever you're doing immediately and equip that skill. J/k. But seriously bro. Soul tether.

The combination of blood craze and swallow soul will be healing you for about 300 or so per tick at your level, which is probably pretty good for your own survivability. You could easily drop disguise off the dw bar and put in anything else. The abilities you have slotted right now would probably be OK for a group dungeon, but when solo a little more utility would go a long way.

TitanJeff

Thanks for the food/drink comment. I was indeed trying to stack.

If you insist, Soul Tether it is! It's now on my bow bar. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've dropped Shadowy Disguise and added back Strife too.

Bow: Mark Target, Poison Arrow, Strife, Silver Shards, Draining Shot, Soul Shred
DW: Ambush, Surprise Attack, Killer's Blade, Twin Slashes, Steel Tornado, Soul Harvest

Need more utility?

TitanJeff

I now have a few more options to possibly add to my bar. Here's my current setup:

Bow: Mark Target, Poison Arrow, Strife, Silver Shards, Draining Shot, Soul Shred.

I love Mark Target and Poison Arrow combo. I have opened up Poison Injection/Venom Arrow.

I now have opened up Aspect of Terror, Cripple, & Entropy. I'm researching how this might flow with my bar.

DW: Ambush, Surprise Attack, Killer's Blade, Twin Slashes, Steel Tornado, Soul Harvest

Twin Slashes has opened to Rending Slashes and Blood Craze.

My DW is more powerful but lacking a something to help with health. I'm still getting crushed by bosses.

Mag 2, Health 5, Stam 19

Too many toys to play with so looking for feedback.

Xvorg

Magnum shot is better than draining shot in seveal ways. http://prntscr.com/86h05e

Bosses cannot be knocked back, instead you can always use the option of knocking you back to open the gap. Besides that, the more the distance against your enemy, the higher the dmg http://prntscr.com/86h0o4

Why silver shards having a bow? For me, it has more sense in the DW bar (a ranged shot)

By the way, If you want help with your healing in the DW bar, try mark target instead of twin slashes. Strife will also make the trick.

Don't forget to morph to Soul tether whenever you can

jebuspowers

Sooooo....how you liking soul tether?

Xvorg

Since it has one the best stun in game, a huge AoE burst dmg and one of the best self healings in game (next to GDB).

For me, it is the best ulti, considering its cost and effects.

TitanJeff

Since adding Soul Tether, I've yet to die using my bow. Maybe it's just luck but liking it a lot.

I had Strife where Twin Slashes is now on my DW bar but switched for no real reason except to try out different combos.

What are some thoughts on Aspect of Terror, Cripple, & Entropy? I've been reading a lot and it seems they are all more for the Magicka-based Nightblades but I kind of like the thought of having enemies run away just to catch a arrow in the back.

Thanks again for all the advice.

jebuspowers

No problem. Yeah soul tether is BEAST MODE. You don't really need entropy as melee dps, aspect is good for pvp and those oh @$!/^& moments in pve, cripple is really only good for a magicka Nightblade. It does do a lot of damage for a dot though. Like, a lot.

SLy_Kyti

As far as the bow, a lot of lower level players ( not saying you specifically) do not realize that you do more damage the further away you are.
Also after or before Mark Target : use Stealth for that first heavy attack..immediately hit poison arrow to release that first attack from Stealth. You'll be one shotting things soon.
Get some good armor on you and pay attention to those passives, at low levels they are (to me) more important than a new skill or morph.

TitanJeff

Another n00b question:

What is dot?

The way I've been handling bow so far is to sneak up, hit Mark Target, do a heavy shot followed quickly by a Poison Arrow then Strife. If there is a second or third nasty in the group, they are charging and I might hit one with Silver Shards (which often puts both down) and then Draining Shot on any who have gotten too close before cleaning up with DW.

I've yet to venture into PvP but wondered if I needed to begin leveling up Aspect now so it'll be where it needs to be when I do.

cjhhickman39

Damage over time

willymchilybily

for me personally as a stamina night blade i didnt actually put points into health until i was around 20 to 30 points into stamina. the survivability comes from dodge rolling, and knock backs and crowd control. though some bosses are immune so its hard for you to go toe to toe vs a boss as a NB, but at 24 vs a level 15 it should be very doable.

TitanJeff wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. A couple of follow-ups...

Why Dark Cloak (I have Shadowy Disguise chosen already) late in the bar when it gives you a crit boost on the next strike? I just am curious as to what I might be missing.

A lot of your bar seems to use Magicka. Do you ever run out?

Can I go back from Soul Harvest once chosen?

As for play style, I prefer being stealth with the bow and only going DW when the enemy is close. I seem to be much more effective DW right now. I miss those sweet one shot kills from Skyrim.

some of the morphs from NB class sills work off stamina,

assassins blade>killers blade
teleport strike>ambush
veiled strike> surprise attack

these are all good on a DW bar if you want to use DW.

further more stealth melee attacks actually have an increased damage bonus than ranged stealth attacks. for example surprise attack (stam morph) from cloak (dark cloak you wont need the guaranteed crit later on) can one shot a mob, where as snipe/lethal arrow cannot despite being more damage.

TitanJeff wrote: »

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

You guys have sold me on Dark Cloak. Right now, I'm using Steel Tornado like a mad man. I've stayed away from Rapid Strikes but will give it a try.

I'm feeling better about the DW. My bow, however, isn't getting it done. I'm starting with Mark Target and then jumping right to Poison Arrow (I've not picked Venom or the other upgrade yet as I remain undecided).

At my level, going to Shadowy Disguise was stopping the charge of most enemies which would allow me to get the bonus crit of Silver Shards then knocking them back with Draining Shot before switching to DW.

Any tips for getting better results with the bow?

Rapid strikes is a great move because when you are doing that final strike you can actually charge a heavy attack at the same time, and release and both hit (its linked to animation canceling you wont see them both hit but it does work)

for bow there are a lot of options how to play bow. Personally i take all the poison morphs, poison injection is great, and so is lethal arrow. for the best damage from the bow get the passives you can get. it certainly helps. also as many have said take the knock back from either magnum or draining shot, over the silver bolts it will level up to bow skills quicker to boot.

you want to use mark target for health regen when you kill an enemyand the reduction in enemy armour, and grim focus for an 8% damage buff(dont bother with the 7 light attacks unless you can weave them between moves. or until it beccomes 4 next patch. you just want the 8% mroe damage and stamina morph imo) . but also note the passives in the assassins skill tree. pressure points increases critical chance for each assassins ability so this also helps with these skills to increase critical chance. in the later game you can start rocking some incredibly high critical chance on your bow if you feel like it.

final bow tip. in pve i normally hit mark target, then resolve. Then I will fire snipe/lethal arrow, light attack immediately after it fires followed with poison injection, the use of an ability cancels the animation of the light attack, you can also block after the posion injection to cancle that animation then spam snipe/lethal arrow, it gives you a bit more damage. most regular mobs die straight away.

I also advise get all the skyshards you can in the area you are or have been. you need those skill points to get the passives to be powerful. They are crucial to your performance. I would also advise only levelling 1 crafting skill until you reach higher levels. firstly bag space/bank space/skill points are limited. but secondly levelling up these skills goes a lot quicker at higher levels when you have skill points to spare and you find some very nice gear for your level without having to make it your self. normal health stamina potions will work just fine. and enchants that are bought in towns are just as good as what you can make.

Xvorg

willymchilybily wrote: »

final bow tip. in pve i normally hit mark target, then resolve. Then I will fire snipe/lethal arrow, light attack immediately after it fires followed with poison injection, the use of an ability cancels the animation of the light attack, you can also block after the posion injection to cancle that animation then spam snipe/lethal arrow, it gives you a bit more damage. most regular mobs die straight away.

I do it the other way around: Heavy attack and venom arrow immediately after. In my playing style works pretty well (since I atack from both, close and long range)

TitanJeff

Went in and reset my morphs to go Magnum Shot and Dark Cloak as suggested here.

I've been happy with Venom Arrow but wonder if Poison Injection might be the better option.

I'm thinking of going Incapacitating Strike over Soul Harvest just for some help against bosses.

Soul Siphon or Soul Tether? I assume Siphon will be better PvP and do want to look longterm.

Funnel Health or Swallow Soul? Not sure about using either.

cjhhickman39

One other area is weapon choice you get 2.5% crit buff per dagger
25% bleed per axe
3%damage increase per sword
10% armor penetration per mace

TitanJeff

Thanks. I generally use dual daggers.