I have owned ESO for about a week now, and I have spent basically my entire time trying to decide if I want to play Magicka Nightblade or Stamina Nightblade. I'll make a Magicka Nightblade, decide I want to actually play a Stamina Nightblade, so I delete my character to use the name on a Stamina Nightblade, only to determine I actually want to play a Magicka Nightblade, so I delete my Stamina Nightblade to use the name on a Magicka Nightblade, and this process has been repeating all week. Currently I am on the Stamina Nightblade Iteration following Deltia's most current Nightblade Build (
http://deltiasgaming.com/eso-stamina-nightblade-dps-build/#Leveling) and I was enjoying it, but I got up this morning and really second guessed a Stamina Nightblade and I am now thinking about going back to a Magicka Nightblade.
So that is my predicament. Now for what I think about Magicka vs Stamina:
Magicka Nightblade:
I keep coming back to a Magicka Nightblade because it just seems like it is more my thing. If a game lets me use stealth and magic then I use stealth and magic. As well compared to Stamina Nightblade, a Magicka Nightblade just looks like it's burstier (proc builds aside) especially considering Assassin's Will. So in 1v1s you just jump in and use your abilities and kill your opponent (I know this isn't quite how this works). Then for group PvP you have a lot of AoE abilities so you jump in Soul Tether drop the AoE and then use the vampire's defensive take no damage thing (I can also play vampire with a Magicka Nightblade) to get out, heal up and go back in. Aside from all of that I can use a Breton which is not only my favorite race in all Elderscrolls games, but I think they also have the best character model in this game. The only problem I have (and it's why I keep going back to Stamina Nightblade) is that with the way damage works there is no point in using anything other than staves with Magicka, and my favorite weapon style is dual wielding, but because melee weapons and the bow scale with stamina it doesn't seem like there is any point in using them lategame when building magicka.
Stamina Nightblade:
The big selling point to me for the Stamina Nightblade (other than it just being "better" right now) is that weapons other than staves scale with stamina. I can dual wield and do damage dual wielding. As well there is much more variance with the builds because more weapons are available. They have good dps both with single target and AoE, but not as much healing as a Magicka Nightblade (I would be playing an Imperial so one of their passive abilities helps mitigate this to a small degree), but they can still sustain themselves. It doesn't seem quite as appealing to me as a Magicka Nightblade does, but it seems just as fun.
So which Nightblade do you prefer or would you recommend? What builds should I use to level up and progress in the game (I can't find a Magicka Nightblade build for the One Tamriel patch anywhere). I tend to be a solo player, and while Magicka Nightblade is more appealing to me, Stamina Nightblade seems to be the better overall choice. Please help me make up my mind!