Magicka Nightblade is at level 50, but I still don't have it all down. Tips & Advice please!

Folkbandit

I should start off by saying that this is the first MMO I've played, and this is my first character and only character. When I chose Nightblade, I thought I was going to be super into it, being all stealthy, using bows, and daggers but I chose a Breton and I know Bretons are known for their magical proficiency with the magical arts so I went with Magicka Nightblade and I'm honestly still struggling to understand this class whilst simultaneously learning what "procs", "dots", and "weaving" are.

I'm struggling with DPS and health although all my attributes I invested are in Magicka.

I started off with a guide from Deltia's Gaming called the Umbra build. This build seemed to be efficient but I later realized was outdated. There was a YouTube video was his latest update for Dark Brotherhood. I don't know if that's still considered outdated but wow. I want to master the Magicka Nightblade, but I don't really know if I can get that gear which seemed to be an important part of the build. It seemed like he had some points invested in the PvP skills tree and I don't plan to mess w/ PvP.

My playstyle:
PvE
-Solo/group questing
- Dungeons, undaunted, veteran stuff
- Trials, world bosses

But using various damage trackers, my damage is so minimal compared to other DPS players, even lower level than I am.

So onto my current stats, skill bar, armor and my "rotations" (There was probably a much easier way to do this but alas, I did not know how and it took me a while!)

[Current Stats]
Ignore the werewolf, a friend from a guild did that for me so I could collect the achievement and dye.

[Bar 1: Inferno Destruction Staff]
The only thing that's different now is that I replaced Swallow Soul with Force Shock (Which I morphed into Force Pulse). This was a suggestion from a friend. I did like Swallow Soul but I also like Force Pulse. Now, to tell you how I use the skills...

I use an MMO mouse (Logitech G600) and in dungeons, or even solo, I like to start out with a heavy attack. I've learned a bit about animation canceling so I usually go for Force Pulse and Crippling Grasp. Sometimes "weaving", light attack, force pulse, light attack, crippling grasp - then I get might get closer to the enemy(ies) and use Blockade of Fire, especially if there are more than one enemy. Now sometimes if it's hard to focus in a dungeon, I'll slam Blockade of Fire multiple times and I don't know if that's effective. Now my problem with Execute is that I use it too often-- before the enemy is down to 30%. I know it's called execute after all but it feels very satisfying using a stabbing ranged attack. My friend called me out on it and I'm trying to avoid using while enemies have health above 30%.

There's really no rotation going on, not in dungeons anyway. I don't use an addon that shows floating text. I like to keep the UI clean but that's how I've been using the first bar with destruction staff and I have a feeling I'm doing it wrong.

[Bar 2: Resto Staff]

I never really knew what to put here. Healing Springs has saved me a few times. Annulment (from light armor tree) is one I've just activated and trying to use more often for health (I use all light armor). Lotus Fan is an ability I enjoy but is usually not appropriate in dungeons. I don't know. I could definitely use some help with this bar.

[Armor]
Head
Shoulders
Chest
Hands
Belt
Legs
Feet

I think most of these are enchanted with moderate magicka glyphs. One might be for health.

[Weapons]
Destruction Staff (Bar 1)
Restoration Staff (Bar 2)

[Skill Tree]
Not everything but the major things I invested skill points into:

Assassin
Siphoning
Shadow
Light Armor
Mage's Guild
Destruction Staff
Restoration Staff
Breton

And I updated my ESO-head if you want to look at that as well:
https://eso-database.com/en/character/jothaire/13083070/

ANY help would be appreciated! I really want to master this class to someView WysiBB Demo degree. If you are in a helpful guild and want to invite me or if you'd like to friend me, my userID is @Spoksonat. Thank you so much for reading!

BruhItsOver9000

My advice is to play game more, i used to be like you. i was using magicka abilitys on my stamina nightblade while wearing 3 heavy 4 medium. it took me 3 big updates to realize that i was playing the game wrong, i watched a couple of build videos and copied them, now i've mastered the nightblade class, play the game and take notes, that's my advice.

As for dps, champion points play a big part in your dps, 350cp is what you need to be a decent dps in eso, craft some training gear and go grind, once you get to that level, send me a message on the forums and I'll tell you what gear to run.

ninjaguyman

i wouldn't worry too much about ur actual dps, given that your only level 50. Just slowly rack up your champion points and your dps will increase as u put more points into elemental expert and thaumaturge.
elemental expert maxed out, increases your magicka/elemental damage by a whopping 25%.

looking at the skills you've unlocked, i recommend u slot Grim focus on the assassins tree(morph to merciless resolve). thats a huge burst of damage to have throwing into your dps rotation. this means u need to be weaving in light attacks constantly so u can fire the spectral arrow proc at a good rate. I can only see how you have your front bar set up in your pictures, but i would move impale to your back bar and put merciless resolve where impale was on the front bar. That would probably also stop u from spamming executes before enemies are in execute range. unless u deliberately swap to back bar and start impale spamming lol.

also recommend u unlock siphoning strikes on the siphoning tree( morph to siphoning attacks). its good for sustain in prolonged fights. and this also emphasizes your need to be light attack weaving.

Im not quite sure what you could do about gear right now. Reason being alot of the things you need u would usually find at cp160. for example, Willpower jewelry, a pretty standard 3pc magicka set. it CAN be found in levels below cp160 im pretty sure, but pretty much all of them on the market are gonna be cp160, not to mention you would outlevel them pretty quickly if you got them at your level right now. with one tamriel, willpower jewelry comes from undaunted rewards for completing random dungeons i think. Tho im not sure on how big the drop rate is for that. i would definitely keep 5pc julianos as a crafted set, but i would swap seducer set out for 3 pc torugs pact(gives spell dmg and max health on 2 and 3 pc).

Then theres also monster helms, and as of one tamriel, there are loads of them to choose from now. Im not quite sure which of the new ones would be good for mNB, but of the old ones i recommend valkyn skoria, and nerieneth. But these both drop in veteran dungeons( veteran city of ash and veteran crypt of hearts respectively) so im not sure if you can get these now. they do scale to your level on the drops i think, but its more of a matter of being able to complete these dungeons if u have dps problems as u say