Apparently I'm doing Nightbow all wrong

Azzuria

Bosmer Nightblade, bow / dual wield, 178 CP. I'm getting my butt handed to me way too often. Been playing since beta ( off and on ) and seem to be getting worse DPS as I go along. Was hybrid magicka / stamina but changed over to almost all stam with just enough magic to get a couple siphons off during the course of a fight.

Been looking at some builds but don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Any insights would be appreciated, smart-a** comments are not ( though I suppose they're unavoidable. don't be surprised if I retaliate... with great affection, of course )

Bladerunner1

Which do you like to play most, PVE or PVP?

Curtdogg47

What is you goal for the build? Are you going to PVP or PVE with this build.

At first look I would say more CP will help, and have you set yourself up with gold gear yet? that will also help.

I can help if you are looking for PVP help. But I am not much of a PVE player.

Azzuria

I don't PvP because my last bout of PvP left me at the mercy of a chain-bashing DK. It was the exact opposite of fun.

No gold gear, but I am running blue quality Hundings / Nightmother with purple weapons.

Mostly, I just want to be able to solo quest. It might be a lack of skill on my part as I haven't played in a while and went back to WoW and FF XIV, so my action chops could have a thick layer of mold.

Darlgon

Azzuria wrote: »

I don't PvP because my last bout of PvP left me at the mercy of a chain-bashing DK. It was the exact opposite of fun.

No gold gear, but I am running blue quality Hundings / Nightmother with purple weapons.

Mostly, I just want to be able to solo quest. It might be a lack of skill on my part as I haven't played in a while and went back to WoW and FF XIV, so my action chops could have a thick layer of mold.

Mold? yes.. most likely.

Also, you pretty much ran into your exact opposite build, from teh sound of it, plus an experience AvA player.

Bladerunner1

I'll jump ahead to my next suggestion, dual wielding Stamblades are probably the highest difficulty combination. In PVE there's a very thin line to survival that often requires roll dodging and standing at the right place at just the right time. You can try leeching strikes, Bloodcraze and Blood Thirst to bring in more healing over time, use Killers Blade on executes for a nice big heal. But this will all still require good timing to avoid getting one-shotted in boss fights.

It's true that DW +Bow skills offer access to the highest DPS possible, but you'll only really notice the difference when running with crafted potions that buff weapon damage and crit rating. When I reached CP 160, there wasn't much gold in the bank so I had to use self buffs in dungeons. I slotted power extraction instead of Steel tornado to get 20% more weapon damage. There was also a DPS boost from slotting expert Hunter for a crit boost.

If you find yourself still dying too much in dungeons, you could go in with a 2-H. Brawler gives a nice damage shield, every light attack deals a lot of AOE damage from the Forceful passive, and so does reverse slice. This could help you survive when dealing with large crowds of mobs. It's the oldest trick in the RPG playbook, kill off the weaklings quickly and you can survive the big boss.

Azzuria

Darlgon wrote: »

Azzuria wrote: »

I don't PvP because my last bout of PvP left me at the mercy of a chain-bashing DK. It was the exact opposite of fun.

No gold gear, but I am running blue quality Hundings / Nightmother with purple weapons.

Mostly, I just want to be able to solo quest. It might be a lack of skill on my part as I haven't played in a while and went back to WoW and FF XIV, so my action chops could have a thick layer of mold.

Mold? yes.. most likely.

Also, you pretty much ran into your exact opposite build, from teh sound of it, plus an experience AvA player.

This was a while ago, back when you -could- chain bash people into the ground. Haven't PvP'd in years. Might try again if I can figure out how to not suck.

QuebraRegra

Is the siphon really worth bothering with on a STAM build? I'm pretty sure VIGOR is a must have.

Nighbow seems dominated by Poisson inject, a you can open with Focused aim to weaken boss armor. I like to throw some CC in there, and mix with endless hail for mobs. I like SHROUDED DAGGERS on my DW bar over Steel Tornado as it seems to do FAR more dmg and triggers Major Brutality.

What's yer crit percent like on each bar? Maybe add CAMO HUNTER for the xtra crit if yer low, but you'll still need to buff crit damage (CP?).

I think you need a proc set or two in there somewhere

Azzuria

Can someone link to a viable build? Theorycraft was never my strong suit. And any help with sets / buffs would be helpful, too.

Bladerunner1

Here's an awesome theory-crafted guide:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/stamina-nightblade-pve-dps-for-morrowind/

Stamblades can do really nice single target DPS. I think he covers survivability options like blood-craze and leeching strikes for the "no potions group".

If you're into small group or solo play, this is what I've been using cuz I like damage shields and cheap AOE burst damage to get through hairy situations in vet dungeons:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/347682/stamina-cleave-focus-dps-build-nightblade#latest

Azzuria

Thanks for the help, guys.

And people say the community is toxic. Pfft. They just don't understand sarcasm.

firedrgn

Snipe, as snipe is traveling pull back a heavy attack and hit poison injection. Not much walks away from that.
You should be able to,kill at least 3 before they get to you. Anyone that gets closer hit them with the acid spay . and any one gets closer hit with the heal morf draining shot.

There is not much in,the way of mobs that should be getting thru that.

Bindings rage. And agility jewelry should get u where u want to go.

Narvuntien

A lot of my PVE power ironically comes from PVP abilities, Caltrops and Vigor. I am 2h not dual wield though.

So if I am running around questing just for fun. I fire off Snipe from across the map then use my cloak trigging the crit on the snipe. Which hits after I use cloak due to travel time. Then you finish them off with Poison injection. They never even come close to me. I have stacked a lot of weapon damage.

For large groups of enemies you'll need Endless hail and Caltrops (slows them down) then you fire light attacks to charge the Relentless Focus bow and the poison injection exacute. While kiting.

If you don't want to do PVP to get Vigor,, then use the medium armor ability Shuffle and/or the dual wield ability Blade cloak for defense. Plus Cloak and Supprise attack give defensive buff from the shadow passive.

Soleya

It's worth doing PVP to get Vigor. And make sure you are using blue stam+health food.

Also shadow barrier passive gives you 5k resistance, but you need a shadow ability to proc it. Suprise Attack works well for that. It's also decent damage, spammable and good for solo content.

From my experience, Stamina NB is one of the hardest to play. I struggled to get reasonable DPS on my stam blade (main character) since the game launched. Recently I switched to 5 Vicious Ophidian, 5 Spriggan, 2 Velidreth and a Maelstrom Bow and I see a huge improvement in play-ability.

But again, Vigor is key for healing on Stam Blade...and while at it, get Caltrops too.

QuebraRegra

Soleya wrote: »

It's worth doing PVP to get Vigor. And make sure you are using blue stam+health food.

Also shadow barrier passive gives you 5k resistance, but you need a shadow ability to proc it. Suprise Attack works well for that. It's also decent damage, spammable and good for solo content.

From my experience, Stamina NB is one of the hardest to play. I struggled to get reasonable DPS on my stam blade (main character) since the game launched. Recently I switched to 5 Vicious Ophidian, 5 Spriggan, 2 Velidreth and a Maelstrom Bow and I see a huge improvement in play-ability.

But again, Vigor is key for healing on Stam Blade...and while at it, get Caltrops too.

That's some good advice on VIGOR and CALTROPS. Mix Caltrops with endless hail for some nice free DPS once it's up and running. It's actually easier to survive with a DW STAMBLADE as you have the heals from BLOODTHIRST and BLOODCRAZE from DW. I don't think there's a good heal on bow (draining shot is garbage/wonky), and the NB doesn't really have a good class STAM heal.

I had slotted MIRAGE for some xtra survivability, and to get the crit bonuses from the assassin skill line, but it seemed to do little except consume a slot.

I might be the only person running MED Bahraha's Curse set for the small extra dmg, the CC, and the huge heals you can get if you get enuff mobs stacked on the defile circle.

Soleya

I should also add, that starting thursday is the Midyear Mayhem event for PVP. Event will have double AP, so you can unlock Vigor and Caltrops in half the time.

Bonzodog01

I have a Khajiit Stamblade -

5 Hundings Rage, 4 NMG, 3 agility jewellery with weapon damage glyphs. All gear is Divines, weapons are sharpened and precise.

Sounds strange, but the Tower Mundus is needed with this build, as you need the extra max stamina it provides, as set bonuses provide no extra max stamina.

64 points into stamina.

Use Dubious Camoran Throne food (I have a guildie to make it for me. tried to find recipe myself buts its ultra-rare.)

DW bar - Shrouded Daggers (this will crit on almost every hit. Has 28M range, will hit upto 3 targets for 15K a time, and can be spammed.), Sudden Attack (Very nice spammable, also 15K per hit. Crits for 40K from stealth. Use to stealth attack bosses), Leeching Strikes (this got buffed I think recently, not mentioned by ZOS though. will heal to full in 3 Light Attacks.), Camo Hunter (passive only), Ambush (still a nice opener).

Bow Bar - Poison Arrow, Bombard, Focused Aim, camo hunter, Mark Target.

Use 2 daggers on DW bar.

My Stamblade has 33K Magicka, 2902 Weapon Damage, 71% crit, 1300 Stam recovery (with food).

She does very well in overland, and can handle Public Dungeons pretty well.

tunepunk

Some sets I like that can help a bit with survivability. You're not gonna win any DPS competitions with these sets but they surely help if you feel that your survivability is lacking. Since these set's help you survive a bit better you can focus a bit more on DPS skills on your bar.

Bahraha's Curse. Does a bit of AOE damage and heals for 100% of the damage done. This set sells pretty cheap at merchants.
https://eu.tamrieltradecentre.com/pc/Trade

Iceheart. Monster set, Gives a pretty good Damageshield on crit, and gives a bit of AOE damage as well. I use this one when soloing group dungeons. Saved me countless of times.

Another option I like in some cases.
Torug's Pact. + 1 infused weapon with Damage shield and/or life leach glyph. This can help a lot in some cases.

If you feel that your skills doesn't offer much in survivability, look for some sets that can help.

cjhhickman39

This will require you to work the guild traders or go into pvp for a bit to get the AP to buy them but if centered around the bow marksman or Hawkeyes are two good sets to build from and for survival and sustain try vengeance leech three piece set every kill gives you 1500 mag stam and health

Waffennacht

Azzuria wrote: »

Bosmer Nightblade, bow / dual wield, 178 CP. I'm getting my butt handed to me way too often. Been playing since beta ( off and on ) and seem to be getting worse DPS as I go along. Was hybrid magicka / stamina but changed over to almost all stam with just enough magic to get a couple siphons off during the course of a fight.

Been looking at some builds but don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Any insights would be appreciated, smart-a** comments are not ( though I suppose they're unavoidable. don't be surprised if I retaliate... with great affection, of course )

That's so kind of you! Kill em with kindness huh?

(Sorry couldn't help myself, plus you have a lot of actually useful advice up there lol)

Oreyn_Bearclaw

End of the day, there are 4 things that will contribute to your DPS. Rotation, Build, Gear, CP.

CP: Will take them in reverse order. Your CP is low, no denying it. You can either try to grind it up or accept that your DPS will be lower. Alcast has some good guides for low CP distribution. I suggest checking them out. Alcasthq.com

Gear: Not only is your gear important, but so is the quality and triats. If you are trying to improve your DPS, I suggest Purple armor and jewelry and gold weapons. Armor should be divines, weapons should be sharp. You can go with one infused or precise on your front bar if you want. Enchants should all be stamina on your armor, and weapon damage (1-2 stam regen is also okay at low CP). Until you get trial gear, find someone to craft a basic 5 piece set in divines. Hundings and Nightmothers are both acceptable. Agility will be your best jewelry. Assuming you dont have monster head and shoulders, a nice way to craft is to make your weapons, head and shoulders out of hundings, and everything else out of Night Mothers. That allows you to easily swap in better gear as you get it. Night Mothers is very strong, even in end game trials.

Build: There might be some overlap here with gear, but what I am talking about is your skill bars and and attribute allocation. End of the days, Hybrid builds (points into both magic and stam) are pretty terrible in this game. Yes PVE tanks and a handful of PVP players can break that rule. In the meantime, ALL your points should be in Stamina. A few into health is fine, but you shouldnt put any into magic. Strife is a magic skill, simply put, it has no business on your bars.

Rotation: This is far and away the most important part. Again, find a guide and practice on a dummy until your fingers bleed. There i no substitute for doing your rotation a few hundred times so it is muscle memory.

Azzuria

Can make my own armor and bow, it's the daggers I need to find.

If anyone can make a pair of Night Mother's daggers, CP 160 with sharpened trait, I have the mats and will tip. Send me a message in-game and I'll get back to you. Will be in and out 'cause IRL is annoying that way.