End Game Stamina Nightblade Build- PvE DPS (Updated for Clockwork City)

Gilliamtherogue

Use the medium infused helm and medium reinforced shoulders, but work towards getting a pair of mediums divines as much as you can, and yes it will vastly outperform Kena as long as it's able to proc.

Each piece of medium armor is 1.5% crit chance as well as regen and cost reduction vs 2% stam/health/mag. 2% stam on most builds is under 1k, so it isn't all that impactful vs the crit.
Divines is .9% critical damage per, so 2 would be 1.8% CHD, which is quite a bit compared to anything else as I showed in my trait breakdown, but isn't going to make or break DPS.

2 Affliction would be a DPS loss since it can't come in precise daggers, but 2 Leki's could slightly outperform 2 Hundings outside of trials where Warhorn doesn't have as much of an up time.

LeifErickson

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

Use the medium infused helm and medium reinforced shoulders, but work towards getting a pair of mediums divines as much as you can, and yes it will vastly outperform Kena as long as it's able to proc.

Each piece of medium armor is 1.5% crit chance as well as regen and cost reduction vs 2% stam/health/mag. 2% stam on most builds is under 1k, so it isn't all that impactful vs the crit.
Divines is .9% critical damage per, so 2 would be 1.8% CHD, which is quite a bit compared to anything else as I showed in my trait breakdown, but isn't going to make or break DPS.

2 Affliction would be a DPS loss since it can't come in precise daggers, but 2 Leki's could slightly outperform 2 Hundings outside of trials where Warhorn doesn't have as much of an up time.

Thank you so much for the help! Just one more thing: do you ever swap out Hundings for Maelstrom one-handers for a potentially more sustainable build?

Gilliamtherogue

LeifErickson wrote: »

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

Use the medium infused helm and medium reinforced shoulders, but work towards getting a pair of mediums divines as much as you can, and yes it will vastly outperform Kena as long as it's able to proc.

Each piece of medium armor is 1.5% crit chance as well as regen and cost reduction vs 2% stam/health/mag. 2% stam on most builds is under 1k, so it isn't all that impactful vs the crit.
Divines is .9% critical damage per, so 2 would be 1.8% CHD, which is quite a bit compared to anything else as I showed in my trait breakdown, but isn't going to make or break DPS.

2 Affliction would be a DPS loss since it can't come in precise daggers, but 2 Leki's could slightly outperform 2 Hundings outside of trials where Warhorn doesn't have as much of an up time.

Thank you so much for the help! Just one more thing: do you ever swap out Hundings for Maelstrom one-handers for a potentially more sustainable build?

Since they can't come in precise daggers I do not, however I do swap 2 Hundings to 2 Ashen Grip for the bonus health. As of Thieves Guild I also run 3 Endurance instead of Agility and enchant 2 with regen and 1 with wep damage since the Siphoning Attacks Nerf.

pcar944

if I have caltrops and vigor would it be better to drop the bow, have only damage skills bar DW, then have a 2h bar with execute and caltrops/rally/siphoning attacks/vigor?

just looking at options

I now have all 3 agility, wearing 5 hundings and 4 NM (1 dagger hundings and 1 is NM), I don't have the CP as high as a lot of people

edit: my bow is Hundings, so that's why I am asking

for vet dungeons

Gilliamtherogue

Dropping bow would be a large DPS drop since Arrow Barrage/Scorched Earth is so powerful even for simple single target fights. I'd work on doing vMA as much as you can and improving to clear it if you haven't because without the Maelstrom bow stamina's capabilities are extremely bottle necked. Without the Maelstrom bow you will easily be missing out on 3-4k single target DPS and upwards of 10k-15k on AoE. Also running killer's blade on your DW bar will net a much higher value than running Executioner, even though you lose the 25% from mighty with killer's blade (which you wouldn't since you don't have CP cap anyways), due to the 10% bonus crit from daggers over 2h alone.

With bow you gain Poison Injection+Arrow/Scorched which even without a Mael bow is around 2k dps and Injection is another 2k+. 2h gains nothing but the ability of on an demand source of a minor heal and Major Brutality, which potions can provide already. Vigor is more than enough self healing and Rally won't really offer much except burst heals which can only really be utilize in PvP.

pcar944

thank you

pretty much only reason I asked was because wrecking blow/executioner,/maybe gap closer with crit 4ush, and rally, because it's a big buff when switching back to DW bar?

but main DPS bar is DW

also because a lot of times the bosses move around and then I feel like I am wasting resources trying to put a dot on them again

I think at this point I just need practice

I've seen people link Maelstorm weapons in PvP chat and I love the perks, but I haven't attempted it yet, I heard its tough for stam-blades, and mine is Imperial

I need to work on implementing block between light attack and surprise attack spam too, and I find dodge rolling challenging because my character likes to just randomly dodge roll even when I'm not double clicking

skill wise I'm nowhere near you, so with bow I was just asking for potential option

is rally buff the same that we get from camo Hunter or do they stack? are there any other skills I can put on my DW bar that can make me a tiny bit more tanky and not loose too much DPS?

Gilliamtherogue

pcar944 wrote: »

thank you

pretty much only reason I asked was because wrecking blow/executioner,/maybe gap closer with crit 4ush, and rally, because it's a big buff when switching back to DW bar?

but main DPS bar is DW

also because a lot of times the bosses move around and then I feel like I am wasting resources trying to put a dot on them again

I think at this point I just need practice

I've seen people link Maelstorm weapons in PvP chat and I love the perks, but I haven't attempted it yet, I heard its tough for stam-blades, and mine is Imperial

I need to work on implementing block between light attack and surprise attack spam too, and I find dodge rolling challenging because my character likes to just randomly dodge roll even when I'm not double clicking

skill wise I'm nowhere near you, so with bow I was just asking for potential option

is rally buff the same that we get from camo Hunter or do they stack? are there any other skills I can put on my DW bar that can make me a tiny bit more tanky and not loose too much DPS?

Rally is Major Brutality, while Camo Hunter is Major Savagery. A weapon power potion will offer both of these for 46.6 seconds, on a 45 second cool down (if you have medicinal benefits passive from alchemy) meaning you can have an indefinite source of both as long as you have v15 potions to drink). The only downside to removing Camo hunter is you lose the activate, which is insanely powerful for undead/daedra and any AoE situation.

As for tankiness, you could try using Blade Cloak if you find yourself taking a lot of AoE damage. A lot of players also like Mirage but I personally do not like the idea of RNG defenses. Making sure you cast Surprise Attack every few seconds will ensure the Major Resolve+Ward buff to give you an additional 8% damage mitigation, and keeping up vigor should keep you healthy enough. If you're newer to vMA I'd suggest running about 2.5k regen and 20-22k health. You'll clear slower but the extra health and regen will let you take more damage and dodge/block more, which can easily prevent deaths. Also remember to use sigils whenever you need them! The defensive sigil offers an auto reflect to any projectile, and reduces damage taken by 30%(?) for quite a while, allowing you to kill adds you can't reach or simply focusing other targets while they kill themselves with the reflect.

Skill comes with a lot of practice, so just keep at it and don't beat yourself up over mistakes. Whenever you die try and think about what you could have done differently, even if your death could have been prevented from a teammate or something. Shifting the blame to yourself with a healthy and inquisitive mind will allow you to take in situations and learn from them instead of leaving a moment where you could have taken away vital knowledge to enhance your play.

pcar944

I just finished today's vet pledge and I saw sme crazy numbers on mobs, I liked those numbers a lot

like you said, or practice practice practice

if I change my attributes for health I will drop a of in stamina because I will have to use drink, is that a god change then?

pcar944

I made my wn weapon crit potions earlier today, gong to try them out

looked awesome n the card!

Gilliamtherogue

pcar944 wrote: »

I just finished today's vet pledge and I saw sme crazy numbers on mobs, I liked those numbers a lot

like you said, or practice practice practice

if I change my attributes for health I will drop a of in stamina because I will have to use drink, is that a god change then?

I wouldn't use drink, instead for vma I'd buy a 2nd set of jewelry (I use Endurance for vMA for the max health and stam regen) and enchant 2 or 3 of the pieces with stamina regen. That way you'll still have a big enough stam pool, nice regen, and plenty max health without giving up too much.

Miklo7662

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

pcar944 wrote: »

I just finished today's vet pledge and I saw sme crazy numbers on mobs, I liked those numbers a lot

like you said, or practice practice practice

if I change my attributes for health I will drop a of in stamina because I will have to use drink, is that a god change then?

I wouldn't use drink, instead for vma I'd buy a 2nd set of jewelry (I use Endurance for vMA for the max health and stam regen) and enchant 2 or 3 of the pieces with stamina regen. That way you'll still have a big enough stam pool, nice regen, and plenty max health without giving up too much.

Do you use weapon power potions for vet maelstrom?

Gilliamtherogue

Miklo7662 wrote: »

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

pcar944 wrote: »

I just finished today's vet pledge and I saw sme crazy numbers on mobs, I liked those numbers a lot

like you said, or practice practice practice

if I change my attributes for health I will drop a of in stamina because I will have to use drink, is that a god change then?

I wouldn't use drink, instead for vma I'd buy a 2nd set of jewelry (I use Endurance for vMA for the max health and stam regen) and enchant 2 or 3 of the pieces with stamina regen. That way you'll still have a big enough stam pool, nice regen, and plenty max health without giving up too much.

Do you use weapon power potions for vet maelstrom?

I mainly use basic dropped v15 stam pots since I'm a cheapskate, but on boss rounds or in dire circumstances I use weapon power or speed (with weapon power on them) potions.

Miklo7662

Do you happen to have a video posted of vma? Doesnt have to be a no death.

Gilliamtherogue

Miklo7662 wrote: »

Do you happen to have a video posted of vma? Doesnt have to be a no death.

I've tried multiple times but my upload speed is absolutely horrendous, a simple 3 minute video takes 40 minutes to upload, so a 50 minute video is just outlandish. I'd love to make a really in depth guide at Maelstrom where I break down mechanics as well as some of the higher level play tips to help players not only complete, but improve at it and the game, but my computer and internet just aren't able to produce it.

Miklo7662

I see. I watched your fight with final boss in final round, and you make it look extremely easy lol. I'm going to give it a try in next few days and see how it goes. I gave it a try when orsinium first came out, but with no success. I beat it in normal, and since then i've gotten better as a player and better gear, so i think im ready. Ive gotten advice from other players but they play different classes.

Gilliamtherogue

Miklo7662 wrote: »

I see. I watched your fight with final boss in final round, and you make it look extremely easy lol. I'm going to give it a try in next few days and see how it goes. I gave it a try when orsinium first came out, but with no success. I beat it in normal, and since then i've gotten better as a player and better gear, so i think im ready. Ive gotten advice from other players but they play different classes.

Keep in mind I've spent more time inside vMA than most players even play the game. While I haven't dedicated myself to it like some people did when it came out; the fact that I've cleared at least 4 toons every week since it's launch, and spent an entire month trying to get a no death run as stamina without the gimmicks or "cheats" (they weren't real exploits, but removed almost all challenge from the arena) like werewolf or Bolstering Darkness, as well as spamming scrolls- truly shows how important practice is in there. Your first clears- are going to suck, regardless of how good or bad you view yourself as a player. Even now there are moments where the most seasoned veterans can get frustrated by it. If I recorded every moment I've spent in there, I'd have more footage of me swearing and slamming my fist than I would cheering.

Miklo7662

I'm definitaley keeping all this in mind. Everyone says your first runs are painful and frustrating. I'm not expecting a great score at first, my goal is to just get a clear, then get better with practice. I believe you wear the blood spawn set? I know i have the shoulders for sure but not certain that i have the helm. Is there another set or mix of other two pieces that you recommend?

Gilliamtherogue

Miklo7662 wrote: »

I'm definitaley keeping all this in mind. Everyone says your first runs are painful and frustrating. I'm not expecting a great score at first, my goal is to just get a clear, then get better with practice. I believe you wear the blood spawn set? I know i have the shoulders for sure but not certain that i have the helm. Is there another set or mix of other two pieces that you recommend?

I only used bloodspawn for a bit, I eventually dropped it and went back to Nerieneth for the extra health and proc damage. I got no death with the following setup; 2 Nerieneth, 5 Nightmother's, 3 Endurance (2 stam regen 1 wep damage enchants), 2 Ashen Grip.

Honestly there's a lot you can use based on your strength and weaknesses, but I found Bloodspawn to fall short when I needed it to, since I usually only had it proc after I had enough ult to cast but needed to wait for the right moment. The damage reduction on proc was nice but only was noticeable maybe 1-2 times per run, while I often center a lot of my decision making off of seeing Nerieneth go off. Like if it procs on a low health target I know I can turn around and begin on the next target since it'll kill it for me, or moving more adds to the center of detonation to allow for it to do more damage.

My playstyle is extremely aggressive so Nerien is my go to, but if you have issues with stam then bloodspawn is fine.

Miklo7662

Awesome. Thanks alot!

Pirsius

Hey Gill, I am running a Bosmer Stam NB which I just recently got to V16 and I have a few questions about this build and the changes that came out in the Thieves Guild patch.

Was wondering what your opinion is on resource management on this build with the Siphoning Attacks nerf. Is it still worth having on your bar when fighting larger mobs, or is it only worth on single-targets? Also, since the primary reason for running Caltrops was the ability to proc Siphoning Attacks, is it still a viable choice, if only just for the AOE damage?

You mentioned earlier about switching to Endurance and applying the Stam Regen enchantment on the jewelry rather than Agility + Weapon Damage, to help mitigate the resource management issue. Since I am getting the 21% Stam Regen from my Bosmer passive, should I just stick with Agility + Weapon Damage, or is the 21% regen not enough? Thanks.

Gilliamtherogue

Pirsius wrote: »

Hey Gill, I am running a Bosmer Stam NB which I just recently got to V16 and I have a few questions about this build and the changes that came out in the Thieves Guild patch.

Was wondering what your opinion is on resource management on this build with the Siphoning Attacks nerf. Is it still worth having on your bar when fighting larger mobs, or is it only worth on single-targets? Also, since the primary reason for running Caltrops was the ability to proc Siphoning Attacks, is it still a viable choice, if only just for the AOE damage?

You mentioned earlier about switching to Endurance and applying the Stam Regen enchantment on the jewelry rather than Agility + Weapon Damage, to help mitigate the resource management issue. Since I am getting the 21% Stam Regen from my Bosmer passive, should I just stick with Agility + Weapon Damage, or is the 21% regen not enough? Thanks.

I still run Siphoning Attacks in AoE and single target fights. Siphoning Attacks is multiplicatively stronger in AoE scenarios, as each source of damage that can proc it, increases the chance by 10%. Say you're doing nothing but weaving Steel Tornado on a single mob (This is just an example, never do this). Siphoning Attacks would have a 20% chance to proc per second, as you have two sources of 10% per second; one light attack and one tick of nado. Siphoning Attacks DOES have a one second ICD (internal cool down), meaning it cannot mutli proc anymore (this was changed a long time ago, back when it was a toggle). Now lets say you're weaving Steel Tornado on three mobs. You now have a 40% chance to proc Siphoning Attacks every second, as you have the light attack on your selected target, and three ticks of nado hitting.

Caltrops is still worth to run, even though it no longer procs Siphoning. Also it is still most efficient as a stamina Nightblade since our high critical chance and damage modifiers. Since caltrops cannot stack from multiple people, explain to your group that overall efficiency wise it is best for you to run it (as long as you're using this build, I can't vouch for other setups)

I simply swapped from Agility to Endurance for Veteran Maelstrom Arena. I still use 3 Agi with all weapon damage in DPS scenarios. For vMA I run 2 regen enchants and 1 weapon damage enchant, however as a Wood Elf you could easily get away with running only one. I would still opt to run Endurance in vMA over Agility since the added benefits of health and regen can be what separates you from life and death. Each death is now a -1000 point reduction in the first 15 deaths, PLUS the added time lost from having to resurrect and start the round over. My answers are assuming you have already completed vMA and are able to clear it on a weekly basis, as opposed to still progressing and learning mechanics.
TL,DR;
Siphoning is still worth to run no matter what.

Caltrops is still important to run for single target and AoE dps, and scales best with this build.

As a Bosmer, run 3 Endurance with 1 regen and 2 weapon damage enchants if you are already comfortable with clearing the content. If you're still progressing through it you may want to run 2 instead.

Azurya

Hello Gilliam,
dearly appreciate your work here! And it helped me quite a lot making my casual NB into a killing machine!
It even works for my StamSORC ;-)) (Well some things I changed, but the deeper idea is based on your work here!)
So yeah, it gives me the feeling that I can do Maelstrom and yes it works even there!

Just a little question, how about 3 pcs Fury-jewelry, with one pc Armour and one pc Weapon? What you feel about this?
Got this complete late last night, so didn´t do much testing so far.

Keep the good work going!

Gilliamtherogue

r.groenb16_ESO wrote: »

Hello Gilliam,
dearly appreciate your work here! And it helped me quite a lot making my casual NB into a killing machine!
It even works for my StamSORC ;-)) (Well some things I changed, but the deeper idea is based on your work here!)
So yeah, it gives me the feeling that I can do Maelstrom and yes it works even there!

Just a little question, how about 3 pcs Fury-jewelry, with one pc Armour and one pc Weapon? What you feel about this?
Got this complete late last night, so didn´t do much testing so far.

Keep the good work going!

Fury is the set that when you get crit you get weapon damage, correct? In PvE it would be useless as mobs are unable to crit (well, not supposed to, some in the past have been found to be able to). In PvP it still wouldn't work that well, since most players don't run high crit builds (except me ) due to impen and inability to crit shields, but in large groups you'd be able to get it to go off as long as your team doesn't run group wide shields like barrier. Even then though, I feel like there are just better options where you don't have to rely on stat spikes, since the longer a fight goes on without you at full potential means the harder it is for you. Why wait 20 seconds to get X weapon damage when you can have a half of it 100% of the time? More than likely you'll find yourself killing your opponent (or dying) in those 20 seconds before you'd even see the stat cap of the 5 piece Fury.

Nuntjako

Great guide! Thank you very much for sharing all of this information.

Do you mind sharing your bar setup for vMSA?

Gilliamtherogue

Nuntjako wrote: »

Great guide! Thank you very much for sharing all of this information.

Do you mind sharing your bar setup for vMSA?

It's actually the exact same as shown in the up above.
DW; Steel Tornado, Resolving Vigor, Surprise Attack, Killer's Blade, Camouflaged Hunter, Soul Harvest
Bow; Relentless Focus, Poison Injection, Arrow Barrage, Razor Caltrops, Siphoning Attacks, Ulti depending on stage (Smiting Dawn Breaker, Shooting Star, Veil of Blades, and Soul Tether are the ults I use)

alex394053

Hi,

this will be possibly a newbie question, but what echants do you apply to your weapons? Does they impact anything at all in your approach? You never mentioned that.

Btw, the job you've done is just incredible! I undoubtely like you definition of entertainment

Pirsius

alex394053 wrote: »

Hi,

this will be possibly a newbie question, but what echants do you apply to your weapons? Does they impact anything at all in your approach? You never mentioned that.

Btw, the job you've done is just incredible! I undoubtely like you definition of entertainment

Maybe I could help out on this one, but please correct me if I am wrong.

The Maelstrom Bow already has its own enchantment (Thunderous Volley) and that is what grants you the increased DPS, even when you are off your bow bar.

As far as daggers, prior to the TG update, he used 2 Hunding's Daggers with the poison enchantment. Since the update, he has moved things around a little, but I assume still using the poison enchantment on the daggers (poison is best anyway). Here is a snip from the previous build of him explaining why the two Hunding's with poison outweigh Maelstrom Daggers:

"2 Hunding’s Rage: I use this over 2 Maelstrom daggers because this is actually better. Maelstrom daggers only offer 189 weapon damage between them both, while 2 piece Hunding’s Rage daggers offers 174 weapon damage for 5 seconds every 6 seconds, 714 poison damage (scales with stats, gets higher than that) and a chance to proc poisoned effect, as well as 3.14% critical chance. Simply having the enchants on the daggers themselves outweigh the damage from the Maelstrom Daggers, so the crit bonus makes it even juicier. If rapid strikes got a buff I could see using these daggers on a NB but as it stands only DK’s really benefit (and a stupidly large amount at that) from these."

alex394053

Pirsius wrote: »

Maybe I could help out on this one, but please correct me if I am wrong.

The Maelstrom Bow already has its own enchantment (Thunderous Volley) and that is what grants you the increased DPS, even when you are off your bow bar.

As far as daggers, prior to the TG update, he used 2 Hunding's Daggers with the poison enchantment. Since the update, he has moved things around a little, but I assume still using the poison enchantment on the daggers (poison is best anyway). Here is a snip from the previous build of him explaining why the two Hunding's with poison outweigh Maelstrom Daggers:

"2 Hunding’s Rage: I use this over 2 Maelstrom daggers because this is actually better. Maelstrom daggers only offer 189 weapon damage between them both, while 2 piece Hunding’s Rage daggers offers 174 weapon damage for 5 seconds every 6 seconds, 714 poison damage (scales with stats, gets higher than that) and a chance to proc poisoned effect, as well as 3.14% critical chance. Simply having the enchants on the daggers themselves outweigh the damage from the Maelstrom Daggers, so the crit bonus makes it even juicier. If rapid strikes got a buff I could see using these daggers on a NB but as it stands only DK’s really benefit (and a stupidly large amount at that) from these."

Thank you. I've got a long way ahead towards Maelstrom Bow, so will stick with poison enchants for now.

Gilliamtherogue

alex394053 wrote: »

Hi,

this will be possibly a newbie question, but what echants do you apply to your weapons? Does they impact anything at all in your approach? You never mentioned that.

Btw, the job you've done is just incredible! I undoubtely like you definition of entertainment

Precisely as @Pirsius mentioned, running 1 Increase Weapon damage enchant and 1 poison enchant is optimal for most situations. In solo play you may decide to enchant your offhand with the Crusher enchant, which reduces armor of the target it applies to. The reason I do not run this normally is because this is the optimal enchant for a Tank role to run, and my build revolves around optimal group performance.

I have since moved away from Hunding's 2 piece and use 2 piece Leki's, as I have added in the Honorable Mentions/Other sets.

If you're looking for an enchant to apply specifically to your bow since you do not have the Maelstrom Bow, then apply the Crusher or Fiery Enchant here. Having 3 different enchants is optimal, as each of them has a separate Internal Cool Down (ICD), and allows for maximum efficiency.

LeifErickson

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

alex394053 wrote: »

Hi,

this will be possibly a newbie question, but what echants do you apply to your weapons? Does they impact anything at all in your approach? You never mentioned that.

Btw, the job you've done is just incredible! I undoubtely like you definition of entertainment

Precisely as @Pirsius mentioned, running 1 Increase Weapon damage enchant and 1 poison enchant is optimal for most situations. In solo play you may decide to enchant your offhand with the Crusher enchant, which reduces armor of the target it applies to. The reason I do not run this normally is because this is the optimal enchant for a Tank role to run, and my build revolves around optimal group performance.

I have since moved away from Hunding's 2 piece and use 2 piece Leki's, as I have added in the Honorable Mentions/Other sets.

If you're looking for an enchant to apply specifically to your bow since you do not have the Maelstrom Bow, then apply the Crusher or Fiery Enchant here. Having 3 different enchants is optimal, as each of them has a separate Internal Cool Down (ICD), and allows for maximum efficiency.

If you use 2 piece Leki's for weapons, wouldn't it be better to actually go 2 piece Agility for weapons and then 1 piece Agility jewelry? Then you can use 2 piece gold Leki's jewelry. Wouldn't that be better since Agility jewelry does not drop in gold?