The Bloodletter: An Evolution to Sap Tanking (Nightblade Tank Build, Morrowind Ready)

kylewwefan

Kicking myself for not getting the curse armor sooner. The magic saptank is amazing. You like, cannot die. The more mobs there are the stronger the build gets.

My setup is a bit odd though. 5light curse, 2 heavy monster, leeching S/B & jewelry. The heals from sap and refresh path are sick. I have been trying Swarm Mother...it's decent.

I keep sap, swallow, path, absorb magic, inner fire, front bar. I can change inner fire to pierce and swallow soul to siphoning attacks sometimes.

Magic regen around 3k. 100 blessed 100 elemental.

Backbar is bow and all utility. Venom arrow for ranged interrupt; mirage, blood alter, trapping webs, etc.

Might not be good for trials, but it makes group finder pug fun. Practically don't need a dedicated healer. The extra pen from 5 light is noticeable. With path, resistance goes to around 24kspell 22k phys. Much less than I'm used to, but it has been working alright. I have around 29k health, 17k magic, 20k Stam and I am vamp Orc.

WhereAreMyPills

Thanks for the Homestead update, Gil. Am glad to see I've kept pace - have been running this since thieves guild. Will see how I make it work in trials, having tanked all of vet HM dungeons and normal trials.

Cheers

Spidersnacks

I've been using this build more and more and vet dungeons are starting to become much easier as I get into the groove of tanking. I've still yet to go into trials, mainly because I'm not sure how I would change up the malubeth/leeching/bahraha or if I need to. And would it be able to run vet trials eventually? I don't really want to change classes to see all the content and I enjoy NB tanking

gard

So Gil - have you played any on PTS?

cleTuzb16_ESO

so, this might be a stupid question - but where do i spend my attribute points in?
from what i see - being a tank (needs health), having magic dps (magica) and the need of dodgerolling and taunting (stamina) - i have to split them even am i right ?

WalksonGraves

cleTuzb16_ESO wrote: »

so, this might be a stupid question - but where do i spend my attribute points in?
from what i see - being a tank (needs health), having magic dps (magica obvs.) und the need of dodgerolling and taunting (stamina) - i have to split them even am i right ?

You need stam more than magika, split it 2/3 hp 1/3 stam and use tri stat food. You're going to end up with 18/35/26 ish.

Ranaceleb

Hi Gilliam!

Any changes for Bloodletter in Morrowind?

Azurya

Gotta give this a bump too....
So Gilliam, any new insights since Morrowind??
Thanks in advance

Autolycus

WalksonGraves wrote: »

cleTuzb16_ESO wrote: »

so, this might be a stupid question - but where do i spend my attribute points in?
from what i see - being a tank (needs health), having magic dps (magica obvs.) und the need of dodgerolling and taunting (stamina) - i have to split them even am i right ?

You need stam more than magika, split it 2/3 hp 1/3 stam and use tri stat food. You're going to end up with 18/35/26 ish.

I'd recommend magicka being as close to stam as possible, more health than 35k is strongly recommended for the new trial, otherwise 35k is maybe even a little excessive.

What I do personally is have magicka slightly higher on the back bar and stamina slightly higher on the front. Accounting for higher health (again, really just for the new trial), both should be around 19-21k (or if not doing the new vet trial, both around 25k or so probably). Put a mage guild skill on the back bar like equilibrium or meteor, or don't have a siphoning ability on the front bar to increase your max magicka but have it on the back bar, but whatever you want really should work. This way you don't have to change any glyphs. Alternatively, you could use a a different enchant on the back bar shield. This gives you the option of getting back whichever resource you need at the time.

ThatNeonZebraAgain

For those interested, here is his latest Bloodletter build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw_P5Sdy5PU

@Gilliamtherogue would love a brief text overview so I don't have to wade through an hour-long video...

Azurya

dearly appreciate your work on the sap tank, but can you give something written here or on the deltiagaming page??

Thank you so much!

Gan Xing

A little something to add. In the next PTS, bleed abilities are gonna be amplified with the Blooddrinker armor. While this would only really work well with 2 skills (carve for 2h, and rending slashes for dual) as well as utilizing axes for 2h and dual, utilizing it with say Krag'h, Velidreth, Valkyn Skoria, as well as a chosen 2nd set of armor, it can be the stamina version of the blood letter...

Good luck!

WAMB0

I'd like a written overview as well, so I just write down what I see in the video

Bufffood: still triple, other (max health + mag reg) possible)

Armor: 7 heavy, cause shadow passive

Monster: Still Malubeth 2 piece, Alternative (boss fights): (1pc) mighty Chudan / Pirate Skeleton > Trollking (2pc)
(Usual Tank sets: Lord Warden, Bloodspawn, )

5 pieces Baharas Curse (Heavy) (Environmental traps bonus <- ground AOEs in trials)
Comes in light/medium/heavy from Hew's Curse, Overland Set, Cheap in Guild market

Alteration Mastery (light set Cyrodiil), Jewels ~easy market, weapons + shield less easy to get
(+mag regen, + mag regen, +spell crit, +cost reduce by (up to) 8% for all skills)
Cost reduce includes shield bash, blocking, break free, ultimate -> double bar sword+board would be ideal

Alternative: (better for starters) Bloodthorn, light set, Overland Glenumbra, -> double s+b not that necessary
(+spell dmg, + max Mag, +mag regen, gives mag+stam when dealing direct dmg once/5s)

Further Alternatives: Black Rose (IC Sewers Heavy), Desert Rose (Cyro?), ...

Armor Traits + Enchants: Triple enchants on all/big pieces, Sturdy! > divine (reinforced)
Shield: Reinforced with Haijeko
Jewel Enchant 1 to 3 Block cost reduction, mag regen, mag cost red.
Weapon Trait/Enchant Infused Weapon on front bar with Crusher Enchant.

Try to get 30k+ Health, 20k+ Mag, 20k+ Stam
The Build is forgiving in terms of not having ideal setup (and others)


Skills:
Front Bar (S+B):

• Pierce Armor (Taunt+debuff resistances)
• Funnel Health (or other Morph)
• Sap Essence (man spammable, scales with number of enemies, heals)
• Absorb Magicka (passives / Projectile Healing)
• Leeching Strikes (needs (light) weaving! Drop Block for really short and light attack, animation cancel light attack with the block
• Ultimate: Soul Harvest (to collect Ultimate + Assassin Skill passive!) |

Back Bar (Frost Staff/Resto Staff / S+B):

• Inner Rage (Undaunted, Range Taunt + Synergy)
• Shadow Image (Other Morph is cool too with 2 shadows applying minor maim, this one let's you teleport back to shadow)
• Refreshing Path (Healing + Dmg, Movement Speed, + Shadow ability (together with Shadow image) keeps up major resistancy buffs !!! Always keep up one shadow ability infight)
• Flex Spot: Elemental Drain (or other Morph, Magicka Steal, if Healer is noob) <-> Siphon Spirit on Resto? or Rapid Regen | Ice Elemental Blockade |
• Mirage (little resistancies, Major Evasion =dodge chance, + assassination passive)
• Casted Ultimate:
• Soul Tether (most groups, Stuns/dmg/heals you | Soul Siphon also heals allies, )
• Bolstering Darkness ("I will not die", 30% less dmg to group +add. 30 less dmg to you | other morph does dmg)
• Aggressive Warhorn (more experienced groups)

I wont list the CP, but I entered them and the skills into the skillfactory skill calculator, (German and French players can easily swap language):

https://www.eso-skillfactory.com/en/build/nightblade/gilliam-s-bloodletter-saptank-morrowind/27990/

You can take points out of master-at-arms (sap essence) into Thaumaturg (Bahara's, Funnel Health ....)



Personally I like more points in Warlord, and I guess for Trials you want to arrange some stuff differently (CP, Skills)
Also, I tend to forget to actually block while I'm weaving and keeping the skills/buffs up.


Edit:
wow... one day too early -.- All that work only to have the master answer the next day

Gilliamtherogue

Updated for Morrowind, with an updated video and written descriptions to reflect the changes of this brutal patch.

Samwell Slayer

My nb tank has the same goal in mind, but I found the simplist way to do that for pug dungeon runs is simply

1). Get as much ulti as you can

2). Cast soul syphon as much as you can.


I find warhorn to be pretty useless in most dungeon finder groups since I they end up full basically no dos anyway (0 multiplied by whatever % is still zero). In my opinion, soul syphon is the most underrated ability in the game.


My bars are essentially the same as yours (heroic slash is a must) but I use harness instead of shades. The gear setup I have stuck with (many work fine) is Tavas and Sanctuary. Tavas and Dragon or even Tavas and Glory are also fine. Will try Tavas and BC if I can find the latter cheap enough.

ThatNeonZebraAgain

One thing to note about shield trait is that, with Horns of the Reach changing the way the Shield Expert perk works, Reinforced won't be necessary anymore. Sturdy, infused, or divines will be just as viable depending on one's build. Reinforced won't be a bad choice, but the resist difference between reinforced and other traits won't be so huge which frees you up to run other traits to round things out.

I'm also of the opinion that Bloodthorn is better than Alteration Mastery since Bloodthorn allows you to regain stamina while blocking (the key element of Siphoning Attacks we lost with Morrowind update), whereas Alteration just reduces costs.

Also worth noting that Bahraha's heal also procs Rkugamz. Between Refreshing Path, Swallow Soul, and Bahraha's, it becomes very easy to proc Rkugamz a lot (even moreso if you run rapid regen and/or blood altar on backbar!).

Gilliamtherogue

ThatNeonZebraAgain wrote: »

One thing to note about shield trait is that, with Horns of the Reach changing the way the Shield Expert perk works, Reinforced won't be necessary anymore. Sturdy, infused, or divines will be just as viable depending on one's build. Reinforced won't be a bad choice, but the resist difference between reinforced and other traits won't be so huge which frees you up to run other traits to round things out.

I'm also of the opinion that Bloodthorn is better than Alteration Mastery since Bloodthorn allows you to regain stamina while blocking (the key element of Siphoning Attacks we lost with Morrowind update), whereas Alteration just reduces costs.

Also worth noting that Bahraha's heal also procs Rkugamz. Between Refreshing Path, Swallow Soul, and Bahraha's, it becomes very easy to proc Rkugamz a lot (even moreso if you run rapid regen and/or blood altar on backbar!).

@ThatNeonZebraAgain
Having used both and doing a lot of math, Alteration Mastery is ahead in terms of sustain for my playstyle. I state in the video if you do not enact GCD's that Bloodthorn will likely be stronger for you, unless blocking large groups of enemies at once.

Rkugamz suffers immensely in terms of realistic combat, while the spider cannot die or be targeted, any AoE damage that it hits it will briefly stun and push it back- interrupting the healing while not delaying the timer, ultimately meaning it will be chain CC'ed while the timer runs and fading without giving a meaningful resource return.

Pijng

I'm new to sap tank at all, but:
I had a great fun leveling this one. Especially doing it with my friend.
Also I've played ~1500 hours in ESO as a DD. So role of the tank is a new expirience for me. My first "real" test was done in the CoA2 hm and... that was flawless. Amazing selfheal, groupheal, damage mitigation. I think Skoria just cried after us.
Then I thought: "Uhm, let me try nTrials in Craglorn, why not". And... flawless again. Adds nor bosses didn't disturbed me at all. If I'll be lucky enough to find a group as an off-tank in vTrials - then I'll post my expirience and opinion here.
Ah yeah, I'm running 31k mag, 28k hp, 17k stam, 31.5k spell and 26k phys resistances.

LadyLethalla

@Gilliamtherogue


I found this post only recently and it sounds very interesting so I thought I'd give it a try. Found a set of Heavy Bahraha's in Divines/ Infused without too much trouble. How well/ would this build work with a Breton? (I'd prefer to not have to buy another character slot!)

Also, will you be updating soon for HoTR?

Gilliamtherogue

LadyLethalla wrote: »

@Gilliamtherogue


I found this post only recently and it sounds very interesting so I thought I'd give it a try. Found a set of Heavy Bahraha's in Divines/ Infused without too much trouble. How well/ would this build work with a Breton? (I'd prefer to not have to buy another character slot!)

Also, will you be updating soon for HoTR?

@LadyLethalla

It will easily work with Breton, the Magicka cost reduction paired with Max Magicka helps this build out tremendously. I likely won't update the build since there's nothing to change. Almost everything we run got buffed this patch, so there's no requirements to shift around

LadyLethalla

Gilliamtherogue wrote: »

LadyLethalla wrote: »

@Gilliamtherogue


I found this post only recently and it sounds very interesting so I thought I'd give it a try. Found a set of Heavy Bahraha's in Divines/ Infused without too much trouble. How well/ would this build work with a Breton? (I'd prefer to not have to buy another character slot!)

Also, will you be updating soon for HoTR?

@LadyLethalla

It will easily work with Breton, the Magicka cost reduction paired with Max Magicka helps this build out tremendously. I likely won't update the build since there's nothing to change. Almost everything we run got buffed this patch, so there's no requirements to shift around

Awesome, thanks @Gilliamtherogue

WAMB0

Is anyone using the bloodletter in vDSA?

Worked really nice with the mobility in most arenas, I used bloodspawn on for ranged mobs.


But the last arena/boss really hit me hard. I did already die when I took the boss away from group till first fire atro.
Even then, I never managed to survive having the 4 adds on me, away from group.
Had to switch to my DK to finish it :-/

Any proposals how to deal with that last round with the bloodletter ?

(It was under Morrowind btw, not HoTR)

Malacthulhu

Heemjas and merciless resolve increase leechplate dmg.

WAMB0

I've tanked all craglorn normal trials, vAA, vHRC (with some troubles), also the new nAS with ease.

But I struggled heavily with nHoF didnt get past first boss... Just so much going on that I dont manage to block every attack (and even normal attacks seem to deal 13k+ dmg, so I get stunned once (and apparently some of those stuns cant be immediately cast off) get 3 hits and I am dead :-/
With an 2nd tank it might be possible, but either I am just not fast enough to react or this kind of content just isnt suitable for the saptank.

Can anyone share his experiences on vetTrials and the newer trials normal/vet with the saptank?

I am still going with the normal sets (also tried the preMorrowind ones), but I feel like I need more life for that content so I might try with plague doctor. But it's not easy to convince ppl to give you time to experiment in ntrials :-/

WAMB0

Another thought of mine:

the new heavy CWC set - Livewire - seems pretty optimal to provide 2 or 3 stamDDs in dungeon runs with some nice Off-Balance if you run it with a lightning destor on backbar.

The set proc heals you (which works alonh the idea of this build) and applies concussion to some enemies, together with a Blockade of Lightning you get off-balance.

It doesnt provide us with sustain, so we cant exchange the Bloodthorn / Alteration Mastery with it, so we can only sacrifice Bahrahas Curse.
We loose: max mag, max stam, max life, -40% environmental dmg, and with my stats: 907 magdps / hps per enemy on curse (25% Chance for 5sec)
We'd gain: +4%x2 (purple) received healing, max life, 1141 hp per enemy + concussion 8m range (25% every 8sec)
So that'd only be ~143 hps (+what we get from the 8%+) per enemy, but wider range, on the other hand burst heal instead of continuous.
Might be good for spread mobs, but not for single target :-/

I'll still try it.

Gilliamtherogue

mahoromax+esob16_ESO wrote: »

Another thought of mine:

the new heavy CWC set - Livewire - seems pretty optimal to provide 2 or 3 stamDDs in dungeon runs with some nice Off-Balance if you run it with a lightning destor on backbar.

The set proc heals you (which works alonh the idea of this build) and applies concussion to some enemies, together with a Blockade of Lightning you get off-balance.

It doesnt provide us with sustain, so we cant exchange the Bloodthorn / Alteration Mastery with it, so we can only sacrifice Bahrahas Curse.
We loose: max mag, max stam, max life, -40% environmental dmg, and with my stats: 907 magdps / hps per enemy on curse (25% Chance for 5sec)
We'd gain: +4%x2 (purple) received healing, max life, 1141 hp per enemy + concussion 8m range (25% every 8sec)
So that'd only be ~143 hps (+what we get from the 8%+) per enemy, but wider range, on the other hand burst heal instead of continuous.
Might be good for spread mobs, but not for single target :-/

I'll still try it.

I've already moved onto that, the build has been updated on Deltia's website and my youtube for CWC

Bahraha's + Livewire. Don't need a sustain set personally