Mag blade build help

daemonor

Hello guys,

So I've been playing the most hated black rose/malubeth dragonknight since the start of my eso career and just recently leveled up my dunmer magblade alt to 50. I want to try to get into pvp with him aswell, so I wanted to ask you guys for some build suggestions?

Bakven

Mageblade is probably the most versatile class. What exactly were you looking to do? Solo, small group, zerg?

Stoopid_Nwah

^ would be very helpful to know if you are looking to use dw/resto, destro/resto, s&b/rest, s&b/destro, etc...

As Bavken mentioned they're quite versatile so you could go for a solo gank build, a proxy-det bomber, a sap tank, a ranged group build, and the list goes on.

I personally have two builds I use in pvp on my dunmer: the first is a destro heavy attack gank build for when I'm running around solo and don't feel like dealing with people lol, the other is a more sustain oriented destro/resto build that doesn't use cloak and works fine solo but brings a fair amount of utility to groups.

daemonor

Hmm then I'd be interested in sap tank and solo ganking probobly, i am a fairly new player so I don't like glass cannon builds yet, I prefer to leave more room for error hence my DK build. Would like to play something similar on magblade if possible aswell! Forgot to mention im CP 285

thankyourat

You could go glass cannon destro/restro and stay at range and still be somewhat safe

Bakven

thankyourat wrote: »

You could go glass cannon destro/restro and stay at range and still be somewhat safe

With all the gap closers and other ranged attacks? no, glass cannon isn't a way to go unless you're going to be a ganker.

@daemonor if you're gonna go with sap tank, I'd recommend Fasalla's or heavy Kagrenac's hope.
SnB for front bar and resto for back bar.
you want swallow soul and sap essence on this bar. swallow soul will give an extra 8% healing when you use sap essence. I'd also use structured entropy to place on as many people as you can. You'll also want Absorb Magic, the SnB skill for both the passive 8% on blocking and for when going against magicka users. Siphoning strikes is a must. For the ult I would go with Batswarm if you're a vampire, or either morph of the consuming darkness ult.

For the resto bar healing ward is a must. You'll also want dampen magicka for a shield. Fear to relieve some pressure when too many people are on you. Proxy det is an option if you have a lot of people on you, or you can use double take or refreshing path. For the ult I'd go with the resto ult when it comes out, but until then I'd say Soul Tether or meteor if you want more dmg

Stoopid_Nwah

To add to what @Bakven mentioned, if you go the saptank route I think you'll be much happier. You said you didn't want glass cannon, so do not become a ganker lol. If someone sneezes in your direction your health will plummet.

I would second fasallas with maybe 5 seducers and a s&b 2 piece of willpower. Backbar ideally would be a maelstrom resto staff so you could use rapid regen for magicka gen and the hot.

If you find you want to try something new that doesn't focus on s&b, maybe try out a heavy armour destro/resto build (a lot of the skills used are similar: swallow soul, merciless resolve, crippling grasp, fear, shadow image, double take, cloak, harness, healing ward, elemental blockade, etc...) The idea is to put down dots and chip away at health and resources while keeping as much distance as you can.

You can also do s&b/destro, but that is a bit trickier to get the hang of. For now, I'd say go with the s&b/resto setup.

thankyourat

Bakven wrote: »

thankyourat wrote: »

You could go glass cannon destro/restro and stay at range and still be somewhat safe

With all the gap closers and other ranged attacks? no, glass cannon isn't a way to go unless you're going to be a ganker.

@daemonor if you're gonna go with sap tank, I'd recommend Fasalla's or heavy Kagrenac's hope.
SnB for front bar and resto for back bar.
you want swallow soul and sap essence on this bar. swallow soul will give an extra 8% healing when you use sap essence. I'd also use structured entropy to place on as many people as you can. You'll also want Absorb Magic, the SnB skill for both the passive 8% on blocking and for when going against magicka users. Siphoning strikes is a must. For the ult I would go with Batswarm if you're a vampire, or either morph of the consuming darkness ult.

For the resto bar healing ward is a must. You'll also want dampen magicka for a shield. Fear to relieve some pressure when too many people are on you. Proxy det is an option if you have a lot of people on you, or you can use double take or refreshing path. For the ult I'd go with the resto ult when it comes out, but until then I'd say Soul Tether or meteor if you want more dmg

Sap tank is good too. There's nothing wrong with a glass cannon destro/restro nightblade. That's what I usually play and I do just fine. It's really good at keeping pressure off you while still pressuring your opponent

daemonor

Thanks for the replies guys! Well actually I do have maelstrom resto staff, but only with sharpened trait . Could you be more specific with gear setups? What armor types/traits/enchants and which pieces where? Also could i put in malubeth here somewhere ? Thanks in advance!

Crown

daemonor wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys! Well actually I do have maelstrom resto staff, but only with sharpened trait . Could you be more specific with gear setups? What armour types/traits/enchants and which pieces where? Also could i put in malubeth here somewhere ? Thanks in advance!

I played Dunmer MagBlade through to AR50, and probably went through just about every iteration of builds that existed. I stopped playing about 6 months ago, and have come back to at least learn what's changed (not sure if I'll be sticking around past the patch) and what's coming. Keep in mind that what I write below is more based on the game up until Thieve's Guild, though from what I've seen in the past two weeks not much has changed in this regard.

In the recent past, the sap tank really isn't viable. Having played a DK, you're used to being a lot more capable of eating damage while still being able to dish it out consistently (not necessarily burst). As a NB, you're find that you can only really do one of three possibilities well: eat damage, deal consistent damage, or do insane burst. There are times or builds that let you do two out of three passably, though always consider what your role is and the responsibilities for that role when planning out the build and skills to use.

I'll start with the insane burst as that's the easiest.. It's how I played when solo. You're going to stack as much magicka pool as you can, spell damage being a secondary stat, and go for the bomb. There are a lot of guides out there from people who have done it well enough. The standard combos of VD/Alchemist/Kena/Willpower depending on your preference, stealth, empower, proxy, tether, impale -> VD explosions -> laugh. The disadvantage of this build is you're squishy as donkey poop that's been sitting in the rain for an hour, and way too many people are running mage light, flare, or spamming bombard as soon as they know you're there. You can have a lot of fun with this, though it takes a lot of practice to get your timings absolutely perfect. This is the true NightBlade.

The consistent damage builds are similar, though you'll probably go either Kagrenac or Julianos instead of Alchemist, and you'll be casting more DoTs and shields for the longer fights. This is the more common duelling build as well. Sustain is a bit more important as your fights will last longer. I don't see much special about these builds, as any class can do it well enough. You're not being a NightBlade, you're playing a role and just happen to be a NightBlade.

Finally the Sap Tank, which I find is a complete waste. With the amount of heal debuff options out there, forget about keeping yourself alive with just Sap. You can go heavy armour, increased healing, etc, etc, though you won't be able to do much alone. If you're in a group, your damage output is going to be negligible, and opponents who have a good leader or shot caller will just ignore you until everyone else is dead, then kill you.

The Sap Tank build can work well as a disruptor, whereby your responsibility to the group is to get into the mass of opponents, spam some fears while staying alive, then ensure that the wrecking blow spamming 1vPotato wannabees aren't going to take out your healers. You're not going to get kills, but you will very directly contribute to your group succeeding. I used to use a build like this when leading groups. 2 Blood Spawn or Malubeth / 5 Magnus / 3 Willpower / 2 Torug's (or something else depending on your style) with S&B and Master or Maelstrom Resto. This is also a true NightBlade - something that no other class can do as well.

@daemonor You're welcome to hop into Discord (see the last line of my signature) and chat about builds - regardless of your faction, it's always nice to get more people theory crafting.

daemonor

@Crown thanks a lot for your informative reply, I'll hop in for sure once i actually start gearing him up, now I'm just still collecting info :P