Nightblades

ducket1

I have a wood elf nightblade, I'm gathering that I should stick to being a stamina NB because of the passives skills ?

What would be the race best suited to being a magicka based NB?

mike.eso

Wood elf is one of the best races for magic nb too.

mike.eso

if you really want to reroll for a mgic race i'd go breton for sustain.

mike.eso

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

TheTwistedRune

I spent over a week studying and reading many NB guides, builds etc when I got home from work. Looking at the best overall races, weapons and skills. Pouring over statistics of racial passives and their subsequent usefulness when combined with different weapons, all of which would enable me to construct the ultimate NB legend.

Then I just picked Argonian because Shadowscales are cool.

mike.eso

ducket1 wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

I want to use a NB in the sewers! So really it will be a bit of both, just want to have a high damage build that can run sewers solo if needed

Honestly I'd probably stick with the wood elf then. With the stealth dmg bonus you can get some really hard hitting openers on people especially groups in the sewers and the extra stam will make it a little easier to get out of sticky situations. You should be able to build the rest for magic and spell dmg just fine with the right gear and enchants.

dodgehopper_ESO

I've always felt that Bosmer is the best race in ESO for the pvp Nightblade. You get stealthy bonus (easier to sneak up on someone, better sneak attack damage), you get crazy good stamina regen, you get a good stamina bonus, and you get poison and disease resist which is actually useful in pvp (it would be more exciting if it reduced defile %'s though). I like the Khajiit but I just don't feel the numbers are as good on it, particularly for magic role. Both races make the perfect thief in ESO, and Khajiit can hit that top tier thief skill earlier than a Bosmer, but it all equalizes when you hit 50.

That being said I feel like any of the 'magic' races do a great job for the magic role as well. The only loss is that you'll never be quite as stealthy as your bosmer/khajiit counterparts. A tanky mageblade though can make up for a lot of that with ludicrous levels of healing over time and mobility/target desync.

Fire staff wielding Dunmer for instance are not a bad idea.
Altmer with any destruction staff are good.
Breton are great for the more resilient magic dps role.
Bear in mind if you're a magic nightblade you probably sport one destruction/restoration staff each so that you can self shield and pump up your healing rate -or- you utilize dual wield purely to pump up your magic damage with NB skills.

Nord probably makes the better tanky-healer type of NB. I'd say Imperial and Argonian would be secondary to this. Even orc would do well here because of their high mobility and good stat bonuses, but clearly orc is meant for stamina damage. I wouldn't personally consider a redguard for magic dps purely because their passives are so heavily focused on melee stamina dps (The same reason I don't like Khajiit for this role).

dodgehopper_ESO

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

strikeback1247 wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

You said that a lot of nightblade abilities are stamina based but literally every skill can be magicka :^)

Meaning every skill can scale off magicka?

Okay, then maybe I'm not understanding what your saying. My level 39 Nightblade has the following skills which cost the following amounts in stamina. As I said, most of my skills are stamina based.

Ambush Cost: 2070 Stamina
Surprise Attack Cost: 1066 Stamina
Steel Tornado Cost: 1471 Stamina
Killer's Blade Cost: 721 Stamina

If these skills all cost stamina, then how can they be magicka based? You can't change what the attribute pool the skill draws form. Or am I wrong on that?

These tips are based upon your being a magic build:

1) You should pick Lotus Fan if you're magic instead of Ambush.
2) Use Concealed Weapon instead of Surprise Attack if you're magic. It scales on magic and gives you 25% more stealth speed, which is part of your mitigation.
3) Steel Tornado: I wouldn't use this in my magic build. Instead consider using Sap Essence which will pbaoe heal, and do damage based off of your magic.
4) Use Impale instead of Killers blade. It will scale off of your magicka and give you 10' more range.

I would also suggest you consider abilities like Swallow Soul/Funnel Health, Restoration Staff, Refreshing path, Cripple, etc. If you're aiming to be a stamina nightblade that's a completely different question than what the OP was asking for. The current state of the game doesn't favor Hybrid builds. It does favor hybrid utility. What I mean by this is that you always should be using all resources available to you. You'll find that builds which favor magicka still need to burn stamina, usually on things like blocking, dodging, or break free. Builds which favor stamina use magic purely for utility and mitigation effect. If you are decked more heavily toward magicka and magicka regeneration though you should really look at eventually changing those morphs and skills to something different.

Lenikus

Racial passives only mean something if you intend on having a min/max build, with max possible magicka or max possible health or max possible whatever.
If so, a Magicka build would be better used as an Altmer. *(Breton not only looks uglier, but sound way less of a bad ass, as well)

However, as far as duel builds for 1v1, or basic PvE builds, anything can be made viable with the right distribution of equipment, skillpoints, champion points and right gear.

ducket1

I was just thinking that I wouldn't be able to hit a good level of damage rolling a wood elf to a magicka based character, or not as high level damage as If I were to roll as a stamina based NB

TheShadowScout

For magica NBs, go either with stealth-supposet or magica-support. Bretons for example make pretty nifty magica NBs IMO...

Frawr

Wood elf 9% damage bonus in stealth and extra % stam regen to help with your lower regen due to being magic.

RizaHawkeye

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

Khaos_Bane

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

RizaHawkeye

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

hummer250

If you want to have a chance to 1 or 2 shot people go stamina Bosmer. I am running a bow build and unbuff my bow hits for 14k so if you run a few buffs and go stealth most people you 2 shot and it stuns them about 75% of the time so you can always get the second shot out before they can break the stun.

Zerok

Frankly, all options are feasible.

My main character is a Bosmer NB and the sole reason I chose a stamina build was because I wanted to use weapons.

If you want to roll a magicka NB, you can make it work.

ducket1

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

I want to use a NB in the sewers! So really it will be a bit of both, just want to have a high damage build that can run sewers solo if needed

mike.eso

TheTwistedRune wrote: »

I spent over a week studying and reading many NB guides, builds etc when I got home from work. Looking at the best overall races, weapons and skills. Pouring over statistics of racial passives and their subsequent usefulness when combined with different weapons, all of which would enable me to construct the ultimate NB legend.

Then I just picked Argonian because Shadowscales are cool.

haha well at least you have that op water mobility.

strikeback1247

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

You said that a lot of nightblade abilities are stamina based but literally every skill can be magicka :^)

RizaHawkeye

strikeback1247 wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

You said that a lot of nightblade abilities are stamina based but literally every skill can be magicka :^)

Meaning every skill can scale off magicka?

Okay, then maybe I'm not understanding what your saying. My level 39 Nightblade has the following skills which cost the following amounts in stamina. As I said, most of my skills are stamina based.

Ambush Cost: 2070 Stamina
Surprise Attack Cost: 1066 Stamina
Steel Tornado Cost: 1471 Stamina
Killer's Blade Cost: 721 Stamina

If these skills all cost stamina, then how can they be magicka based? You can't change what the attribute pool the skill draws form. Or am I wrong on that?

mike.eso

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

strikeback1247 wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

You said that a lot of nightblade abilities are stamina based but literally every skill can be magicka :^)

Meaning every skill can scale off magicka?

Okay, then maybe I'm not understanding what your saying. My level 39 Nightblade has the following skills which cost the following amounts in stamina. As I said, most of my skills are stamina based.

Ambush Cost: 2070 Stamina
Surprise Attack Cost: 1066 Stamina
Steel Tornado Cost: 1471 Stamina
Killer's Blade Cost: 721 Stamina

If these skills all cost stamina, then how can they be magicka based? You can't change what the attribute pool the skill draws form. Or am I wrong on that?

you chose the stam morphs of these skills. with the exception of steel tornado each of those skills have a magic version.

ducket1

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

strikeback1247 wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Khaos_Bane wrote: »

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

Mikmak wrote: »

what is it you're looking to do with your nb? pvp, pve, certain playstyle?

I can really only comment from a pvp perspective...wood elfs make good magic nb's because they give you the stam portion of your build that you will need to break free, roll dodge, etc while trying to maintain resources in a fight. They also give you a nice stealth attack bonus, which a magic nb typically utilizes alot.

Breton's will give you extra magic and magic regen so your main resource will be stronger.

i don't PVE very much so i will let someone else comment but i believe most top pvers will typically try and min/max their builds for the leader boards and this will require that you pick the correct race to get complete min/max.

The thing to keep in mind is a lot of the Nighblade skills are stamina based. I'm running a Bosmer nightblade, DW on both bars, with three class and two weapon skills on each bar. Yet, four of the five skills are stamina skills. Yeah and the two magicka skills (one on each bar) use so little magicka that I've never run out even my longest boss fight (I primarily PvE).

Honestly, Bosmer or Khajiit for damage nightblades are my favorite choice.

But if you're going to run a staff with a nightblade, your're still going to need a stamina pool just to meet the needs of their skills.

You do realize that skills also scale damage off of STA or Magicka as well right ?

Yes, I do realize skills scale damage off stamina and magicka. Not sure what your point is?

You said that a lot of nightblade abilities are stamina based but literally every skill can be magicka :^)

Meaning every skill can scale off magicka?

Okay, then maybe I'm not understanding what your saying. My level 39 Nightblade has the following skills which cost the following amounts in stamina. As I said, most of my skills are stamina based.

Ambush Cost: 2070 Stamina
Surprise Attack Cost: 1066 Stamina
Steel Tornado Cost: 1471 Stamina
Killer's Blade Cost: 721 Stamina

If these skills all cost stamina, then how can they be magicka based? You can't change what the attribute pool the skill draws form. Or am I wrong on that?

These tips are based upon your being a magic build:

1) You should pick Lotus Fan if you're magic instead of Ambush.
2) Use Concealed Weapon instead of Surprise Attack if you're magic. It scales on magic and gives you 25% more stealth speed, which is part of your mitigation.
3) Steel Tornado: I wouldn't use this in my magic build. Instead consider using Sap Essence which will pbaoe heal, and do damage based off of your magic.
4) Use Impale instead of Killers blade. It will scale off of your magicka and give you 10' more range.

I would also suggest you consider abilities like Swallow Soul/Funnel Health, Restoration Staff, Refreshing path, Cripple, etc. If you're aiming to be a stamina nightblade that's a completely different question than what the OP was asking for. The current state of the game doesn't favor Hybrid builds. It does favor hybrid utility. What I mean by this is that you always should be using all resources available to you. You'll find that builds which favor magicka still need to burn stamina, usually on things like blocking, dodging, or break free. Builds which favor stamina use magic purely for utility and mitigation effect. If you are decked more heavily toward magicka and magicka regeneration though you should really look at eventually changing those morphs and skills to something different.

Thanks for the help!

Haven't really looked at NB skills before so it's good to get everyone's opinions. I have decided to run a magicka based build.

Hopefully il be running the sewers with my new build pretty soon!!

strikeback1247

Every basic class ability is magicka based at first and can then be morphed into a better version or sometimes a stam version.