Stamina Nightblade and Maelstrom

mrs_gibbs

Help me beat Veteran Maelstrom!

I'm a Imperial Stamina Nightblade.

500+ cp using dual wield and bow, all points into Stamina

5 Hundings, 2 Leki, 3 Robust Agility, 1 Molag, 1 Blood Spawn (All divines/sharpened and gold)

Using:
Siphoning Strikes, Killers Blade, Steel Tornado, Surprise Attack, Rearming Trap, Flawless Dawn Breaker
Endless Hail, Resolving Vigor, Grim Focus, Poison Arrow, Caltrops, and Ice Comet

I can easily beat normal. But vet is kicking my butt. I breezed through until stage 3, and then it got hard. I'm doing good damage, but I just get overran with adds if they snare me and I'm squishy.

I don't have a full set of VO or Kra'ghs yet.

Suggestions on better build, skills, armor, etc. Would switching to NMG instead of Hundings help enough to be worth it? Should I just keep trying with what I have?

Help!

Shader_Shibes

First time on my stam blade i used 5x Twice Born, 1x Kena 1x Bloodspawn, 2x Leki daggers and Endurance jewelry.

The extra HP from TBS, plus HP and stam rec from Endurance was a god send.

Maybe ditch caltrops and use Deadly/Quick cloak for 20% less aoe damage.

mrs_gibbs

So TBS is preferred over NMG? I can switch out agility for endurance.

Shader_Shibes

mrs_gibbs wrote: »

So TBS is preferred over NMG? I can switch out agility for endurance.

Well no not really, but for learning vma, well it's what i used.

Once you get to know the arena well, then start using more potent sets.

Now im running 5x VO, 5x NMG (inc 2x daggers), vma bow and change between Kragh and Velidreth, but i know the place like the back of my hand.

mrs_gibbs

I have a Kragh helmet and Velidreth shoulders... lol. Can't seem to get the other pieces. VO is a work in progress, but I'm missing a piece or two.

I think I will try switching to Endurance and NMG (I have some pieces already crafted) if that goes badly, I will make a new set of TBS. Thanks!

Am I missing any important skills?

mike.eso

Go 3 pc vengeance leech instead of endurance

Danksta

mrs_gibbs wrote: »

I have a Kragh helmet and Velidreth shoulders... lol. Can't seem to get the other pieces. VO is a work in progress, but I'm missing a piece or two.

I think I will try switching to Endurance and NMG (I have some pieces already crafted) if that goes badly, I will make a new set of TBS. Thanks!

Am I missing any important skills?

You could morph grim focus to relentless focus. Incap is a nice cheap single taget ult that might be worth switching in for ice comet. Double take or Shuffle might also might be worth checking out. Double Take gives you major evasion (20-ish sec) and major expedition (4 sec) while not using your main resource.

ostrapz

Take Caltrops off, move Siphoning to bow bar and put blood craze on dw bar, it's 1 of your main dots and easier to maintain than caltrops. You may wanna consider switching trap and Vigor if your having healing trouble. Make sure you put points into precise strikes in cp. Your gear looks fine, better than what I had on my first compelte.

mrs_gibbs

Oops, yes it's Relentless Focus, not Grim. Sorry.

Also, I forgot I have been using Veil of Blades instead of Ice Comet.

DRXHarbinger

No no no no.

DW bar. Bloodthirst, sup attack, Ambush, killers blade, Vigor...REND.

Bow bar, injection, hail, caltrops, trap, siphoning, ulti doesn't matter use rend.

Round 3 can be a pig starting out. If snared..simple..ambush to an enemy, sup attack spam Bloodthirst to full health and win. Easy. Trust me. Same for round 5. Chasing them trolls is no issue using ambush. You'll also sup attack for 20% more afterwards.

Caltrops aren't for damage btw they are purely for the snare. The dwemer spider zerg on round 4 always got me. Chuck them out, hail up and they'll melt in it. No going anywhere.

silky_soft

Have higher hp to learn and stack your stamina imo as imp. Max undaunted.

Krahg x2 heavy+light mix wellfitted or divines, tbs x5 divines theif+shadow, vengeance leech accessories, 2p crit chance or 2p agility sharp daggers, random sharp or master sharp bow back bar.

2 large prismatic, rest stamina
3x wpn damage enchants
Poison+disease on dw
Wpn dmg for bow if not master
Tristat food
Lots of Wpn+speed+stamina pots

Danksta

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

No no no no.

DW bar. Bloodthirst, sup attack, Ambush, killers blade, Vigor...REND.

Bow bar, injection, hail, caltrops, trap, siphoning, ulti doesn't matter use rend.

Round 3 can be a pig starting out. If snared..simple..ambush to an enemy, sup attack spam Bloodthirst to full health and win. Easy. Trust me. Same for round 5. Chasing them trolls is no issue using ambush. You'll also sup attack for 20% more afterwards.

Caltrops aren't for damage btw they are purely for the snare. The dwemer spider zerg on round 4 always got me. Chuck them out, hail up and they'll melt in it. No going anywhere.

Haven't used Rend but heard it's really good for vMA. If you go that route OP I'd take the other morph of incap for the ult regen on your bow bar.

Lashiing

this is what i do on my stamblade:
5x vo, 5x nmg, 2x veli/kragh (break vo)

shuffle, trap, endless, inject, siph, meteor
flying, rending, vigor, surp, killers, inca

inbox me for step by step help if you need

mrs_gibbs

Thanks guys!

After switching to Endurance and NMG I beat stage 3 after just a couple more tries, and breezed through stage 4. I'll try 5 tomorrow.

I don't have a full set of VO, Kragh, or Veli yet which would be preferred.

Zach2322

This is probably going to make people cry, but my first completion was with a stamblade nightbkade wearing 5 hunding, 5 druegh king, & 2 bloodspawn as an argonian. My physical resistance with bloodspawn sat around 25k. Its all about knowing your rotation not really thenjoyed gear

LadyLethalla

On my Stamblade I have 5 pc VO, 2 Agility (because one of my VO pieces is a necklace), and the rest is NMG. I managed to beat round 1 on Friday. Round 2, though... I killed 2 centurions and got the 3rd down to 10%. Closest I've managed. The crappy internet where I live gets me killed more often than not... hell, it was lagging here yesterday in the Wailing Prison.

So I'm going to have to keep running Sanctum until I get one more VO 1h weapon and two rings, then I can use a monster set and TBS. Won't be before the Wrothgar event finishes though

Skinzz

How much regen do you have? I run it with 800 regen. High dps makes your life easier. Just use siphoning attacks at all times.

Lukums1

Do not, I repeat do not use anything other than NMG 5 piece.

It's insanely strong the only stronger set is either Spriggan (with using evil hunter for the crit or crit pots)

OR

Two Fanged Snake from Trials (in close to perfect traits)

Using TBS is no longer the way to go IMO.
I should also note imperial is super hard, you should be considering race change to red guard especially with no VO

StereoLiz

Stam nb is may be not best choise for first clear vma. I spend there 30+ hours with my stam nb in vo, hunding, veli all gold, 561 cp and gave up. Then I level magicka sorcerer and without undaunted passive in all purple gear veteran feels like normal difficulty after stam nb.

Sarielis

Your focus in stage three should always be strangler's when they spawn

Alucardo

I found Surprise Attack to be absolute poop in PVE. Try switching to Bloodthirst instead - it gives a pretty decent heal on the last strike, and considering it'll be your spammable DPS ability, that's a lot of healing.

Bobby_V_Rockit

I'm considering respeccing my whole toon into a magicka sorcerer for just this reason lol.

BohnT

I completed it with 2pc engine guardian, 5 TBS and 5 viper.
The race is completely irrelevant for vmsa.
I used dw and bow
Killers blade, bloodcraze, vigor, bloodthirst rearming incap

Relentless, endless hail, caltrops poison inject, shuffle
I did it with 13/15 on the first try with stam NB ( I was there only once before with mag nb)

SodanTok

VMA is 90% of knowing the mechanic and 10% of having good enough stats.
If you die because you run out of stamina -> you need more regen
If you die because you get overwhelmed by mobs -> you need more AoE DPS
If you die to normal attacks/dots -> you need more healing
If you die to big attacks -> you need to block/dodge better.

If you have everything for every situation you can do it with any build. Like I do with bow (and 2H for rally)

Junipus

Bloodthirst, Bloodcraze and vigor.

Use them three and your survivability won't be an issue if you focus everything else into damage.

If you're running trap then TBS benefits from it, otherwise Hundings or Spriggan works better since everything you do gives 4k more pen.

DRXHarbinger

Junipus wrote: »

Bloodthirst, Bloodcraze and vigor.

Use them three and your survivability won't be an issue if you focus everything else into damage.

If you're running trap then TBS benefits from it, otherwise Hundings or Spriggan works better since everything you do gives 4k more pen.

Don't even need that. I did it without vigor and none of those morphs lol. Crystal phase was a right ***. Rally was the sole heal.

By the way op. If running dw check your CP. For dw builds I chuck 100 in mighty 77 into thermaturage and 10 in blessed. If you're running 90% channels and dots like these you'll see a big difference.

Denyiir

Veli/viper/spriggan will give you amazing burst damage, something you need in vma (and pvp:p)

For defense use shuffle (makes a big difference in survivability), and shadow image if needed

Use ambush to kill heavy hiting ranged mobs fast, its also great escape skill (it's must have skill in ice stage and final one imo)

Another thing that would help you a lot, as it helped me on my squishy vampire stamblade is a speed/stamina/major brutality potion (blessed thistle/scrib jelly/dragonthorn)

mrs_gibbs

I'm using Blood Craze rather than Surprise Attack now. Seems to help. Then either ambush or shuffle depending on the stage.

Right now I'm stuck at round 3 of the ice rink. Ugh. Helpful tips? I do good the first wave or two of adds but then I just get overwhelmed. Even with the defense signal.

If I use Blood Thirst, I'm not sure which skill to give up. I love them all. lol.

kylewwefan

Weapon power/Crit/stam potions have made me much much better

mrs_gibbs

I was using them, and then switched to just stamina because they are cheaper. Hmmm. Maybe that would be enough to do it.

Junipus

mrs_gibbs wrote: »

I was using them, and then switched to just stamina because they are cheaper. Hmmm. Maybe that would be enough to do it.

You have no source of major brutality as a stamblade without the use of pots or rally (not recommended btw), so the pots are a must especially since the trash ones only give you major endurance for 28.7 seconds instead of 47.7 seconds with the alchemy passive and the bonus of crafted pots.

Round 3 iirc has the 3 giants so my recommendation is to take out the smaller adds first (archer and ice mage) while trying to keep the giants facing away from you so their ground quake doesn't hit you (it's one shot for anyone with the extra add damage). They can face you most of the time, but when they bring their clubs all the way up it means the quake is incoming and time to position yourself behind them (if you catch it soon enough) or move away from them and watch the ground to see where it's safe to stand.