Looking for melee NB help.

Ryzaerian

First of all, I apologize if this thread is redundant. I searched for threads and guides, but could not find one to specifically answer my questions.

I've just started leveling a melee NB, with a very specific vision. Ideally, I'd like a medium armor-wearing, dual wielding, high-mobility, stealth-focused damage machine. I have a VR3 Templar, who is full support, so this NB is about taking a break from healing and taking a minute to ninja out. xD

I'm currently level 8 (Khajit), and it's becoming clear that I don't really know what I'm doing. Most of fights involve opening with Swallow Soul (for the healing), then a Teleport Strike to the target(s), Blood Craze (more healing), some chopping and running around, and a Killer's Blade for yet some more healing. I take a lot of damage.

Here are some general questions?

1) I thought I'd be stamina-based, but there are some abilities that don't have stamina morphs. How should I distribute my attributes?

2) What's my opener? I imagine it's something like a Dark Cloak followed by Ambush?

3) What should my rotation look like? I'm still not sure what my "main" dps ability is. Flurry deals decent damage, but drains half my stamina at this level.

4) What will my main aoe rotation look like?

I know a lot of people start with bow, and pick up dual wield at 15, but I -really- want to play this cat as a melee character, if viable. Thanks in advance for any/all input.

Sunburnt_Penguin

Unfortunately I'm new to the game and only level 17 so I'm not personally able to answer. I have however found this page which should answer the majority of your question.

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/2-0-the-cutthroat-dwbow-melee-stamina-pvp/

However, again as I'm new, I have no idea on whether this advice is good and correct.

Hope it helps though!

MrTarkanian48

I am a VR8 Khajit Nightblade. Started dual wield and bow. I am currently 2 Hander and bow. This is my first build so I am not an expert, but here are some of the things I learned.

I like dual wield for two reasons. Steel Tornado (Whirlwind Morph) is a great AoE if not the best, especially in dungeons and PVE. Use it with Sap Essence from Siphoning to boost the damage 20%. The other reason is having an extra item for crafting set bonuses. Id go five Night's Silence and four ashen grip. It gives you that sneak speed, but also decent damage buffs.

I ultimately changed to 2 hander because Rally (Momentum morph) is huge. It gives you a self heal (which NBs lack) and also the 20% damage buff which eliminates the need for Sap Essence. Being able to buff ahead of time before you go into combat vs Ambushing in and using Sap is an advantage in my opinion. It allows you to get a big blow in from stealth to open combat in both PVE and PVE. Also Brawler is great. Not near as good of an AoE as Steel Tornado, but it gives you a damage shield. I can basically spam this when I get swarmed by mobs and keep myself up. Overall, I find 2 Hander has GREATLY improved my survivability since I dont always have a healer or cant take potions fast enough. Also wrecking blow's 1 second cast time can feel a little slow, but its single target damage is unmatched by any other DW or Nightblade ability. I ran 5 Nights Silence and 3 Ashen Grip.

If you don't want to use a bow I would recommend leveling both 2 Hander and DW and switching between the two. Buff up with rally, then swap to DW for some Steel Tornado. I would switch between rapid strikes (DW ability) and Surpirse Attack (NB ability) for my damage spam. They are both good but give the nod to Surpise attack for the armor debuff and stun from stealth.

So to your points.

1) I put everything in stamina. If Im DPS I want to hit hard. I can hit 20k health in PVP without attributes in health which is a little squishy but is generally enough. You can always respec later if you want more health, or enchant armor with health as needed. Personally I go all stam attributes, all stam enchants. If you are all melee maybe but some in health, but dont go crazy otherwise you wont hit very hard.

2) Ambush is a good gap closer, but consider Dark Cloak into Surprise attack. The stun is nice and weakens the players armor. Then follow up with Surprise attack or rapid strikes, and finish with Killers Blade. Use Ambush to get in close if you need to, or to get close to a low health enemy to spam killers blade.

3) Good DPS is typically weaving surprise attack with light attacks SA>LA>SA>LA. With two hander I just spam Brawler against multiple enemies, and then switch to Wrecking Blow for single target.

4) AoE: Ambush into the group, sap essence, then spam steel tornado. Drop a Soul Tether when your Ultimate is available

I rarely use non stamina abilites other than Dark Cloak, Double Take, Mass Hysteria, and Shadow Image because they are more utility than offense. Swallow Soul and other offensive magicka based abilities will be relatively weak if you are loaded out for stamina and not really worth slotting.

I always have food buffs up. Started out just eating bread or things I picked up for health. Level provisioning and get some blue recipes that boost health and Stamina. They make a HUGE difference. Cannot emphasize this enough.

Alchemy will be your friend too so level that. Drinking potions grant ultimate, and high level potions are far superior than the ones you pick up. Not critical early, but very helpful later.

I really find this to be a hard hitting, but stealthy assassin type build. In PVP if I run into a group of 2-3 guys I rarely survive due to lower health. But I think if you invest heavily in health you will most likely still die because you wont kill fast enough either. Sneak around, pick someone off, get back into sneak, reload and repeat.

I'd recommend at least trying the bow so you can stand back and do damage in some situations. You can always ambush in and bar swap when the time is right.

Violynne

Ryzaerian wrote: »

1) I thought I'd be stamina-based, but there are some abilities that don't have stamina morphs. How should I distribute my attributes?

I went 5:1 stam:health. Put nothing into magicka. But I had already figured out how I wanted to play, so I planned ahead.

Depending on what skills you use should determine your distribution. If you're playing more magicka based skills, you may want to go 4:1:1.

Play around to see what works best for you. You can always respec (keep 3000 gold on hand when you do).

2) What's my opener? I imagine it's something like a Dark Cloak followed by Ambush?

I've seen NBs teleport strike and I've seen NBs sneak. My play style was the latter, because of the guaranteed crit hit.

Early levels is tough because without the sneak passives, getting detected too soon made it hard. But I started playing the style to prep for those unlocks.

Until then, I used Shadow + Rapid Strikes for the 4 second stun. Then I turned to another enemy and did the same. There's enough Magicka to do this 3x before running out, but it was more than enough for me.

3) What should my rotation look like? I'm still not sure what my "main" dps ability is. Flurry deals decent damage, but drains half my stamina at this level.

Hard to answer because play styles vary. My rotation was Shadow + Rapid Strikes. For the most part, those are the only two skills I used. I rarely, if ever, used Ultimates and any other skills were there more for those "oh no you didn't!" moments. Heck, I can't even remember what else I had in the bar.

If you're running out of stamina, you probably specing too much to health or you're spamming the attack button. Let the animation play out before using it again.

4) What will my main aoe rotation look like?

You leap in the air and spin around. Personally, I found this to be the worst skill for NB. Not only did it seem like the damage output was there, but the animation took far too long when the best course of action is to get it, hit, back away, and repeat.

You will notice a pattern every enemy takes, and you need to take advantage of that. I found using Rapid Strikes x2 was perfect for me to back away and allow the enemy to do their thing. Then, I rushed in and did it again until they were toast.

I know a lot of people start with bow, and pick up dual wield at 15, but I -really- want to play this cat as a melee character, if viable. Thanks in advance for any/all input.

I never touched another weapon until I hit VR1. I only used daggers. My second weapon slot was identical to the first in case I accidentally swapped weapons during a fight.

You can use your backup with the same weapons but with different skills so you can mix/match to see what works best for you.

Now, I'll give you some advice for playing NB:
1) Get into provisioning ASAP and start crafting food with Health increases. Food, not drink. By raising your health bar, you can ditch any skill which pulls health. They're a waste and do nothing in the long term. When you rank up, you can learn recipes which also boosts stamina as well. Head online to read recipe ingredients so you're not carrying everything you find. You can do beverages, but I find them a waste, except to level up provisioning. I sold all my beverages.

2) Don't break down any medium armor with traits. Research ASAP. I don't know what faction you're playing in, but you want to find the campsite which gives you Night's Wind (In AD, it's to the east of Skywatch). YOU WANT THIS ARMOR ASAP.
It not only boosts your stamina, but it negates sneak cost and movement, and the unrestricted movement is the best thing the NB can have. I can't stress this armor enough for NBs, so get busy researching and get that passive to research 3 items at once as soon as you can afford it. You need to research 3 traits per piece for Night's Wind.

3) Offense > Defense. If you find yourself getting spanked as an NB, you need to step back and try different tactics. Remember enemies have patterns and take advantage of that. You don't want to focus on trying to steal health, but rather take the enemy's down as quickly as you can.

If you find the number of enemies getting to be too much, use a bow to kite enemies.

4) DW weapons are the weakest in damage output in the game, so keep this in mind when adjusting your skills. If you run out of skill power for loss of stamina/magicka, you're going to be at a real disadvantage using only blades. Take your time.

5) Enchant your blades with Flame. Only flame. Flame! Flame! Flame! The extra fire damage is a bonus + there's burn damage. Keep them charged and properly leveled!

6) This one is going to be a little off-putting, but one of the best features about NBs is Shadow. If you find yourself getting into a situation where constant fighting is draining your resources, use Shadow to get past enemies. This takes practice because you need to enter shadow before you're detected and take advantage of the 2.7 seconds to rush by enemies. They can't see you, even if you bump them on the way by.

The caveat to this is the loss of exp, so if you're rushing to level, this may not help.

That's about all I have for now, but if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

EDIT!
5a) Buy. Stamina. Glyphs! Put them on your armor, but make you sure pay attention to the glyph and armor level! If you find stamina glyphs on enemies, keep 'em if they're useful.