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Considering a Magblade switch

MickeyBN
MickeyBN
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I've been a Stamblade on my main since the beginning, I've never tried out Mag. Given that Stam to Mag conversion can be expensive, and I'm not even sure I'd like it, I'm hoping to get a bit of insight before I proceed (PvX but mostly PvP).

1. What are the obvious benefits to being Mag?

2. What should my skill bar look like?

3. (Bonus insightful points) What kind of gear am I aiming for in PvP?

Thanks for any help folks.
Vaelerys Nightborn - Bosmer Nightblade PC NA
  • NightbladeMechanics
    NightbladeMechanics
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    Depends on how you want to play. There are two primary archetypes of mageblade in PvP:

    Destro/resto layers heals over time, wears mitigation sets like Transmutation and Riposte, and gets pretty tanky, even in light armor. Its primary defense is healing, which you can supplement with harness. If you use cloak, it's more for avoiding enemy groups than avoiding damage in a fight of close numbers.

    Melee builds, using either snb or dual wield (assuming you're building for damage with the snb, not tanking), use cloak + concealed weapon + shadow image as their primary defense mechanics. You might run one heal over time, maybe, and you do not need harness. You play as slippery as possible.

    I will be updating this comment with answers to your questions for each.

    Edit:

    Answering your questions for ranged mageblade:
    1. Greater staying power, ranged burst, can maintain offensive pressure for a long time if you are sufficiently tanky. Makes excellent use of group utility sets such as Trans, Riposte, Fasalla's, Troll King, SPC, Mending, etc while still being able to land 15k+ Assassin's Wills on targets. Will fight toe to toe with enemies, dealing heaps of damage while also being pretty tanky and healing a ton.
    2. We are talking fire staff + resto here. For the front bar, my favorite is flame reach + funnel health + impale + merciless + fear + soul tether. This sets you up for flame reach/tether > assassin's will > impale combos, which are both extremely lethal burst combos. Flame reach makes for a nice and aggressive ranged cc against sorcs and snipers, but you can sub in any destro ability here. Ele drain is great for sustaining. You can replace tether with destro ult to accommodate entropy or sap essence here (I use spell power pots). Resto is siphoning attacks/leeching strikes + mist form + refreshing path + healing ward + piercing mark + light's champion. Use siphoning attacks with tristat food, or leeching with Witchmother's.
    3. My preference is Transmutation resto + Riposte destro + Valkyn. You can sub in a damage set like Necropotence, Spinner, Julianos, or War Maiden on your destro bar, or Lich for more sustain on either bar. I do not recommend running without 2pc Undaunted. Impreg + Willpower is strong, and Sanctuary gets an honorable mention for being the highest healing received set in the game.

    These videos exhibit destro mageblade play in open world.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ApiLz3Q6o

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0h-iZCrkX8


    Answering your questions for melee mageblade. This is the more difficult of the two BY FAR:
    1. You use cloak and conealed and shade, so you have the ability to basically permacloak around with extra speed. You pick your fights with zero exceptions, unless you mess up and get found. No one should ever be able to engage on you unless you're fighting something else at the time. You may also reposition during fights at will, even over extended periods of invisibility, assuming you create distance, are free of heavy snares and roots, and are not marked or under other sources of detection. When built properly, you have higher ability tooltip damage than stamblades because stamina has to build more innate regen than you, but your offensive windows are shorter. You cannot dodge roll or block nearly as much, so you cannot take much pressure when opponents turn to focus you. Cloak and shade make you slippery. You will slink around pew pewing at range, close in when you have an opening, strike fast and hard, then recoil back out to size up your opponents for another strike.
    2. There are two primary archetypes of melee mageblade skill bars: merciless front and merciless back. For merciless front, you run (surprise) merciless on your front bar. Fitting in cloak, concealed, and fear are key for your combos, so this means that either you 1) don't run Lotus Fan, or 2) you run Soul Tether to get your 8% max magicka Siphoning passive. Placing Cripple front bar with Soul Harvest, Merciless, Cloak, and Concealed is what I call Vita Belial style. He ran that in 1.6 and shortly after, either closing the gap by running up with Cripple, or allowing his enemy to close the gap themselves before turning on them with a mean Soul Harvest > fear > Assassin's Will combo. You can stick Cripple on the back bar to accommodate Lotus Fan, using Soul Tether front, with which your combo is Lotus > Tether > Assassin's Will. This is strong because you can jump on any opportunity at range, and the Tether is undodgeable. The overall combo is essentially the same. Melee range cc > Assassin's Will > dead. For this play style, You'll use (Cripple + Cloak + Concealed + Merciless + Fear + Soul Harvest/Incap/Tether) OR (Lotus + Cloak + Concealed + Merciless + Fear + Tether) on front bar, with Shade + Swallow Soul + Cripple + Healing Ward + Mark + resto ult back bar. Note that Incap is now going to deal nearly the same damage as Soul Harvest with the addition of the new Master-at-Arms CP star, which is your primary damage star.
    3. The second archetype of melee mageblade uses Merciless back bar. You pew pew with Swallow Soul on your resto bar > shoot the Assassin's Will out > weapon swap > gap close in > and rekt them. This combo can be advantageous because you initiate it at long range, meaning you have to spend less time in melee range hitting the target. This is extremely useful against groups which you want to dip in and back out of quickly (Tether is great for stunning them down as you jump in), and against sorcs, who don't have a lot of time to react to the burst against their shields. Sorcs also can't camp behind mines kiting you if you play this way. This style is stronger against ranged classes but not so much against melee ones who will be in your face anyway. Also your Merciless deals a bit less damage, potentially a significant amount depending on how your sets are distributed. Your bars will look something like Lotus + Cloak + Concealed + Cripple + Fear + Incap/Tether, with Shade + Swallow Soul + Merciless + Ward + Mark + resto ult back bar.
    4. In my opinion, Mark is indispensable. You gain a full 8% bonus damage from the penetration against all of your damage -- even physical sources like Incap and Selene's and light attacks -- and you wrest control of the fight away from other nightblades. This last detail is KEY because you are SO squishy. Your success in fights relies on you being able to maintain control and tempo and not let the stamblade slip away to reengage once he's all healed up with another Incap up.
    5. The best sets for melee mageblade are Necropotence, Amber Plasm, Lich, Torug's Pact, War Maiden, Selene's, Engine Guardian, and Grothdarr. There are a few runners up, such as Overwhelming, Spinner's, Martial Knowledge, Seducer, blah blah. Stick to the first ones listed. You want your damage set on both bars, making a 1h Sharpened Lich sword valuable, but that's very difficult to get. I personally run Amber on both bars with Necro, Maiden, or Torug's on my front bar, 4pc back bar. WTB Sharpened Lich sword.. :neutral: You do not need a defensive set if you play properly, as Cloak + Concealed + Shade make for a very slippery target.
    6. I will add that I used to run a 2h+resto variant of melee mageblade back in Imperial City patch. Wizio took up that mantle during One Tamriel patch. It's strong against snares and roots, which are the bane of melee mageblade's existence. My build when running 2h today, which I've done on various NA players' streams going back many months, is 5 Necro + 5 Pelinal's + 1 Undaunted bonus. This turns Forward Momentum into your spell damage buff (!), allowing you to not run Spell Power potions, which my other builds all do, or have to fit Entropy on the bar some place. You'll have trouble fitting Lotus onto a 2h build's bars. They're already very cramped, so I tend not to run a gap closer to fit in Forward Momentum.

    Check out the newest video on my YouTube channel (link) to see melee mageblade in action with all of these build variations. Can't post it directly here because of profanity in some lit af music.

    Of course, if you want to venture out of these primary archetypes, like for a tankier melee style with hots and Riposte, or a cloaky evasive ranged style, go for it. These are your baselines, though, at which ranged and melee mageblade perform best. That doesn't mean variations won't perform well, albeit less.

    I'll answer questions. Good luck!
    Edited by NightbladeMechanics on July 1, 2017 7:23AM
    Kena
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  • Metemsycosis
    Metemsycosis
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    Kena basically covers it. I would add that Mageblades rarely have to fight if they dont want to. It is an advantage. You win the most fights that are on your terms, so the less you compromise your terms the more you will survive. Shade and cloak combo means bai angry swarm.

    Another benefit is the multiple forms of damage (strong spammables, a decent array of dots, plus imo the best crit burst of any class). Lastly dealing damage often enhances their survivability (strife, sap, cripple, reapers mark, refreshing path, siphoning attacks, tether, veil of blades, am i missing any?)

    I am still using skoria with transmutation and amberplasm and am considering a stam poison on the back bar.
    Terethea Magdalena, Breton Nightblade
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  • Dudis
    Dudis
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    I'm not at home now, so I'll probably forget something really obvious, but here's what i've been considering for my Magblade. Keep in mind i just returned to the game and missed most of the last year or so. Bars bellow are not optimized for passives etc, so might have to change some stuff around.

    1) Depends on what kind of playstyle you prefer, but generally more stealth, better heals, better ranged options.

    2)
    Destro staff
    - Swallow Soul (Funnel if not only solo)
    - Crippling Grasp
    - Merciless Resolve
    - Mass Hysteria
    - Shadowy Disguise / Dark Cloak - undecided which morph to use

    Resto staff (Meteor ult)
    - Degeneration / Sap Essence
    - Piercing Mark / Elemental Drain
    - Efficient Purge (not sure if this is needed currently)
    - Shadow Image
    - Healing ward

    I want to have a destro ability on main bar for the 8% damage, might just put the ult there but i'm not sure yet. Destructive reach would be decent too, and move cloak to resto bar instead of purge.

    3) Again, I have not yet tried this myself, but i was thinking of running Wizards Riposte + Transmutation + whatever monster set i feel like.
    Edited by Dudis on June 29, 2017 10:27AM
  • Knootewoot
    Knootewoot
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    It's not that expensive. You can mostly just respect the morphs. My NB has all skills for being a stam or magblade.

    Morph cost maybe 1500 gold, attributes 3k and CP also 3k (but I never respect CP as I play on non CP campaign)

    I haven't switched lately though. I do have armor sets for all which I gathered over time.
    ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶
    "I am a nightblade. Blending the disciplines of the stealthy agent and subtle wizard, I move unseen and undetected, foil locks and traps, and teleport to safety when threatened, or strike like a viper from ambush. The College of Illusion hides me and fuddles or pacifies my opponents. The College of Mysticism detects my object, reflects and dispels enemy spells, and makes good my escape. The key to a nightblade's success is avoidance, by spell or by stealth; with these skills, all things are possible."
  • Kas
    Kas
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    MickeyBN wrote: »
    I've been a Stamblade on my main since the beginning, I've never tried out Mag. Given that Stam to Mag conversion can be expensive, and I'm not even sure I'd like it, I'm hoping to get a bit of insight before I proceed (PvX but mostly PvP).

    1. What are the obvious benefits to being Mag?

    2. What should my skill bar look like?

    3. (Bonus insightful points) What kind of gear am I aiming for in PvP?

    Thanks for any help folks.

    i'd give a different answer:

    @1:
    1) You can easily switch between a solo/small scale build and the most effective DD build for large groups. Imho that's the biggest advantage.

    @2: differently depending on solo/small grp/large grp.

    @3: MANY possibilities. imho valkyn based (already posted) is great, necro+amber is also absolutely decent for solo/smallscale/bgs and vd+grothdar+alc is very nice in large grps / bomber play.
    @bbu - AD/EU
    Kasiia - Templar (AR46)
    Kasiir Aberion - Sorc (AR38)
    Dr Kastafari - Warden (~AR31)
    + many others
  • NightbladeMechanics
    NightbladeMechanics
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    @MickeyBN can you give us some insight on how you would like to play your mageblade? I'm of the opinion that it's the most varied in terms of viable play styles, so you can do just about anything with it.

    I'm in the process of uploading a melee mageblade video, at which point I'll update my first comment with details about how that plays.

    You could also do a bomber style, or a tankier brawlier style, or many others.
    Kena
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  • leepalmer95
    leepalmer95
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    Blobs brought out of magicka melee nb if that sort of thing interests you.

    Also don't simply copy and paste builds always tweak the base builds to your liking, switch out some skills, change to glyphs etc...
    PS4 EU DC

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    I have every character level 50, both a magicka and stamina version.


    RIP my effort to get 5x v16 characters...
  • Lexxypwns
    Lexxypwns
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    I won't touch on melee mageblade since I truly believe it is still a niche playstyle with a few too many counters. I think it's viable, I just think it's for experienced mageblades that are seeking a specific playstyle.

    Destro/resto mageblade allows you to play a ranged build with solid mobility and kiting potential similar to Stamblade. That's where the similarities end, playing mageblade is cerebral, you will not consistently kill strong players without assassin's will. This means you have to line up the right amount of pressure with the proper weaving mechanics just for an opportunity to burst a good player. You have the tools to do that, but it's going to be a whole different animal from Stamblade where you can get your burst off early and often. I

    think that you can make trans+julianos+skoria work as a means to test if you like the playstyle, trans is dirt cheap, offers sustain, tankiness, and only needs the 5pc on back bar while julianos is craft able. It's not going to perform at top tier potential or anything but it will give you an inexpensive way to test before investing in some pricier sets
  • fred4
    fred4
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    Kena really went to town on his writeup, didn't he? Can't go wrong with his advice! FWIW, my build is:

    http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=17619

    I kind of hate the cerebral aspect to magblades that someone rightfully mentioned. By that they mean having to bide your time between Assassin's Will procs, then having to pull off your burst on the timetable dictated by your nightblade class mechanics. I sacrifice that burst potential. As far as attacking, the idea behind my build is simply to Mark, Flame Reach, Funnel, then Soul Assault when they are down a bit.

    The build is made for perma-cloaking (solo) play. It has enough cost reduction to cloak indefinitely, out of combat, and for quite a long time within combat.

    By drinking any potion you apply a 30 second speed boost, via Skooma Smuggler. This serves in a couple of ways, such as:

    * Approaching and surveying a fight very quickly, in cloak, then engaging while you still have the Immovability buff up, from the potion.

    * Pursuing streaking sorcs or other targets that are trying to get away. I generally do this in cloak to stack the Concealed Weapon buff with the Major Expedition.

    * Speeding up to escape fights yourself.

    Granted you could do the same by slotting Double Take, but that's not nearly as sustainable as this is.

    I have been running Forward Momentum on my magblade for several months. It's kind of a tossup between doing that, and running Healing Ward, but I keep coming back to Forward Momentum. It's the counter to Low Slash, Tremorscale, Talons, Sweeps and Jabs. Troll King is what makes the 2H bar work, for me. If you switch to resto / Healing Ward, you can spec for more damage by slotting a different monster set, for example Infernal Guardian, or simply two magicka pieces for the extra shield strength and damage.

    This build has a chance of escaping from fights where you get unexpectedly focused by multiple players. Under high pressure this involves Barrier, Forward Momentum, potion, and Cloak spam. You might, then, get away, but Cloak is also just part of my normal rotation before I reapply Leeching Strikes / Forward Momentum. Leeching Strikes for the stamina sustain and heals. Forward Momentum also serves to reliably trigger Troll King when I am CCd.

    I play mostly in the CP campaign. Not sure how viable shielding is in no CP. I can only recommend Harness Magicka, though. It pays for itself, and then some, when you are under attack by magicka, sometimes to comical effect.

    I love Skooma Smuggler so much, I usually keep it on the defensive bar. You could banish it and wear Riposte on that bar, while switching to a damage-oriented set for the main bar, such as Spinner's, War Maiden or plain old Julianos. The reason I like Riposte on the main bar is that, sometimes, you get locked into spamming the shield and your health is so low that you would literally die, if trying to do anything else. This can happen in a 1vX, of course, but the bane of this build are stamblades. If they use Viper + Selene/Velidreth, or are otherwise specced for really high damage, they will decimate the shield so quickly, it is almost impossible to counter-attack. In the context of a light armor build, Wizard's Riposte changes that dynamic sufficiently, it effectively slows the fight, so that you regain choices to recover and get back into it.

    And finally, I go without Fear, because I have Flame Reach. The latter is there to have a destro skill on the bar for the 8% extra damage. It's also nice to trip up fleeing players, or ones that use the environment a lot.

    I find that, if someone has already gained CC immunity, Fear fails. At least I tested this in PvE against 3 Clannfear. If one of them was CCd with Flame Reach, and gained immunity, then Fear subsequently fails to CC the two remaining Clannfear in the group. Basically I found Fear quite unreliable against multiple players, and it may be for this reason. I know it's an NB signature ability, I just didn't find it a good match in this build.
    PC EU (EP): Magicka NB (main), Stamina NB, Stamina DK, Stamina Sorcerer, Magicka Warden, Magicka Templar, Stamina Templar
    PC NA (EP): Magicka NB
  • NightbladeMechanics
    NightbladeMechanics
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    Dropping this here for those of you who are interested in how melee mageblade plays but whom don't watch the Alliance War forums.

    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/366303/i-heard-you-like-melee-mageblade-videos
    Kena
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  • TimeDazzler
    TimeDazzler
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    Go DW/Restro and use Flame Blossom + Julianos or Flame Blossom + Overwhelming Surge. Monster set is variable, i recommend skoria or shadowrend. Then sit back and enjoy as people message you their salty tears as you tri-proc one shot them all on one bar xD
    PC NA
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  • WacArnold
    WacArnold
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    When I first started playing I had a stamblade, but I switched and I found pvp and pve more enjoyable and magblade is still my main. Definitely give it a try. I feel like I have more control over a fight than I did with a stamblade. I found healing, resources, and overall defense was easier to maintain with a destro/restro magblade. And for me personally I don't like being rushed in a fight, magblade allowed me to slow the fight down, relax, and set up my combos comfortably at the right time.
    Xbox One - North American - Ebonheart Pact
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  • kaithuzar
    kaithuzar
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    I love playing melee magblade but I hate how it's so tedious. The easiest way to play a magblade imo is desro/resto, be an argonian with high points into blessed cp tree for inc heals, use transmutation on back bar & keep the buff on you with swallow soul & refreshing path; but it's not my playstyle, I personally feel it's kind of cheese mode.
    I have this weird grudge against dk's. So I always try to build against magic dk & stam nb.
    Grothdar+riposte will give you the advantage against mdk & riposte+dampen magic will help against stam nb; so those are two things I shoot for.

    Notes:
    As a hint, unless you're Zerg surfing, I can see your flame reach as you come out of stealth & block or dodge before getting hit with it.
    Dk's can reflect swallow soul/funnel health; they can no longer reflect crushing shock, so that's what I use.
    It's true that fear is the best CC in game, but I like to use prolonged suffering; it's my playstyle.
    Dk's use to always combo me by meteor +stun, so now I do that to them, also ranged CC is just nice & it goes through block.
    There are a lot of options so like the others said, you really have to figure out what works for you & how you want to play it.
    Good luck.

    -Kai
    Edited by kaithuzar on August 19, 2017 6:20AM
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