Nightblade Tanking Brainstorm

max_only

I'm currently on a journey to make my own nightblade tank build. Go easy on me, I'm still learning but I got good reasons for the things I chose (most of the time lol)

Currently I use this set up by @Brrrofski with some tweaks. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/308359/sapnar-lothbrok-pve-nb-tank-build-1t-update

Goals: Tanking vet dlc dungeons (pugs and casual guild) not trials. Solo exploration.
Restrictions: Pretty determined to remain a Bosmer lol, and no vampirism.

Now you might ask, if I'm doing such "easy" content, what does it matter about my build as long as it "works". It matters to me. I want to be able to, when I'm in a pug (and someone sees I'm a nightblade tank), prove wrong their misgivings and kneejerk reactions.

Here are my self buffed stats in Kagrenacs and Bloodthorn before Lord Warden kicks in:

My bars are:
Pierce armor, sap essence, swallow soul, absorb magic, structured entropy, veil of blades
Inner rage, dark shades, refreshing path, spell symmetry, mirage, soul tether.

556 Cp:
Warlord 15, Bashing focus 16

Tenacity 49, Arcanist 49,

Shadow Ward 56

Blessed 43, Elfborn 32, Elemental Expert 43, Spell Erosion 10

Master-at-arms 34

Thaumaturge 23

Hardy 56, Thick-skinned 23, Elemental Defender 56

Quick Recovery 43, Heavy Armor Focus 8 (these 8 points could really be anywhere actually).

I use Kagrenac's Hope and Bloodthorn's Touch. I use Lord Warden set for groups that have a healer with resource return (orbs or shards) and Rkugamz when I don't have that "luxury" lol

What I want:
Your ideas! I love to tank on my nightblade and I want to see how other nightblades tank

I also want to have great sustain without depending on having a Templar healer. I've gotten way too many "healers" without shards or orbs (usually wardens) so I carry around my Rkugamz if it starts to get bad. I don't care about doing damage (although in some pugs I really wish I could do more damage but that's not on me). I would like more health but I think that is solved by changing race, which I'm hesitant to do for "aesthetic" lol. Also is that enough stamina? So far its been good, but I haven't done all the vet dungeons on my tank yet. I've been experimenting with Shacklebreaker and Alteration Mastery to see if I can cut down on my pools to put more into health (I used to be 40 mag 16 health 8 stam), but this Kag+Bloodthorn just gives me more. The problem is I can't currently gold out my experimental set "shackteration" to see if it is equal to my current set up. And last but not least! I want to just do a quick gear/skills change so I can do questing content, as opposed to an entire rehaul of all my stats just to kill things in delves lol.

Be gentle

Brrrofski

Thanks for the mention and glad it's working for you.

The Stam is entirely down to it being enough for you or not really. You don't need to block as much on a saptank because of all your self healing. Sometimes you will though. Are you using leeching? How is it if so? Not tried it out yet myself.

If you're going to race change, go argonian. That potion passive is just incredible.

I keep meaning to revisit my saptank but I made my warden a tank to level undaunted and love it. I don't do any damage, the group healing is incredible. Just nice to change it up. I used a saptank for a year solid so a break is good.

Jim_Pipp

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

Etchos

I use leeching plate 5 (both bars). Bahrahas Curse 5 (4 on back bar) and Malubeth(head and shoulders)

All 3 rely on taking damage so I find I'm only blocking when damage is going to be big. The combination of the constant heals with the healing boost of leeching plate means any regular mob wont even dent you. (as a test I stood still and just let a mob do its thing.) The heals and damage all 3 sets mean it becomes a bit of a race but if you get a good run of procs the mob will die before you (not always but the point is that is happening with me doing NOTHING).

I'm running it with some crap traits at the minute as I haven't gotten the drops I'm looking for. I.e I'm pretty sure my malubeth shoulders are in prosperous. I have a couple of pieces in infused which I have tri stat enchanted and golded but everything else is purple.

I've run a few vet dungeons and got through although I wouldn't say ive tackled a seriously hard one on vet. Ones I remember doing are Wayrest 1&2, Selenes Web, Fungal Grotto 1&2, Banished Cells 1&2, Blackheart Haven.

I'm an argonian for obvious reasons.

I find it fun to play but its a selfish tank. I have awesome self healing and great sustain through siphoning attacks and the argonian potion passive. But I don't have much in terms of group utility.. I haven't done much PVP on this build as it would be crap so haven't unlocked war horn which would help with group utility.

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

Damage is not great overall but I expected that would be the case.

Suggestions welcome.

max_only

Brrrofski wrote: »

Thanks for the mention and glad it's working for you.

The Stam is entirely down to it being enough for you or not really. You don't need to block as much on a saptank because of all your self healing. Sometimes you will though. Are you using leeching? How is it if so? Not tried it out yet myself.

If you're going to race change, go argonian. That potion passive is just incredible.

I keep meaning to revisit my saptank but I made my warden a tank to level undaunted and love it. I don't do any damage, the group healing is incredible. Just nice to change it up. I used a saptank for a year solid so a break is good.

I'm not using leeching strikes or siphoning attacks. I'm using spell symmetry when I can afford it. Unfortunately it means I don't have a Siphoning ability on that bar so I have to use soul tether on that bar if I want to get the passives. This means I don't really have a "flex" spot for an ultimate. It's really restrictive and I don't like it. I'd much rather have Siphoning Attacks and an ult like warhorn or Meteor depending on the strengths of the group.

I have a bay warden but I'm think I'm going to be a healer on him. I also rolled a new tank that is going to be a stamplar, but I haven't been dedicating myself to their improvement.

max_only

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

paulsimonps

max_only wrote: »

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

In terms of that Ulti gen set up with master architect. I would say using Dragon would be better. Lower cost would be more beneficial, its a constant buff, Tavas require you to get hit really often to get Major Evasion to proc as much as you can, but something like Dragon with a lower ulti cost will work just as well on fast hitting mobs as it does slow hitting mobs. And there are a lot of bosses that hit really slowly. This is all of course for 4 man content, a set up like that would be really sub par for Trials. This ulti gen set up for 4 man content if done right could also do some really good damage as well. Which for 4 man isn't that bad.

max_only

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

In terms of that Ulti gen set up with master architect. I would say using Dragon would be better. Lower cost would be more beneficial, its a constant buff, Tavas require you to get hit really often to get Major Evasion to proc as much as you can, but something like Dragon with a lower ulti cost will work just as well on fast hitting mobs as it does slow hitting mobs. And there are a lot of bosses that hit really slowly. This is all of course for 4 man content, a set up like that would be really sub par for Trials. This ulti gen set up for 4 man content if done right could also do some really good damage as well. Which for 4 man isn't that bad.

Dragon? What is this?

Also mirage takes care of major evasion.

I've been testing my shacklebreaker/alteration set up (all in purple as opposed to my previous gold set up of Bloodthorn/Kagrenac's) and it feels good. I have infused and precise weapons so I'm missing on about 1370 points of resistance but maybe because I'm so close to cap before Lord Warden activates, I'm not noticing a major drop in "tankiness".

My mag regen is 17k, and my stam regen is 800 still. Bloodthorns felt safe because of the return on stamina but now I'm thinking I should boost my stamina regen instead of magika regen since I'm using Spell Symmetry to help me with my "oom" emergencies. I'm also wearing 2 pieces of divines to boost my Atronach, but maybe I should change those to sturdy and get a different mundus stone...

this is me with shacklebreaker/ alteration buffed (before LW)

paulsimonps

max_only wrote: »

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

In terms of that Ulti gen set up with master architect. I would say using Dragon would be better. Lower cost would be more beneficial, its a constant buff, Tavas require you to get hit really often to get Major Evasion to proc as much as you can, but something like Dragon with a lower ulti cost will work just as well on fast hitting mobs as it does slow hitting mobs. And there are a lot of bosses that hit really slowly. This is all of course for 4 man content, a set up like that would be really sub par for Trials. This ulti gen set up for 4 man content if done right could also do some really good damage as well. Which for 4 man isn't that bad.

Dragon? What is this?

Also mirage takes care of major evasion.

I've been testing my shacklebreaker/alteration set up (all in purple as opposed to my previous gold set up of Bloodthorn/Kagrenac's) and it feels good. I have infused and precise weapons so I'm missing on about 1370 points of resistance but maybe because I'm so close to cap before Lord Warden activates, I'm not noticing a major drop in "tankiness".

My mag regen is 17k, and my stam regen is 800 still. Bloodthorns felt safe because of the return on stamina but now I'm thinking I should boost my stamina regen instead of magika regen since I'm using Spell Symmetry to help me with my "oom" emergencies. I'm also wearing 2 pieces of divines to boost my Atronach, but maybe I should change those to sturdy and get a different mundus stone...

this is me with shacklebreaker/ alteration buffed (before LW)

What I meant by major evasion is that its only 15% chance when you get hit that you dodge, and its only for each dodge that Tavas gives you ultimate, the slower an enemy hits the less hits you will get during a fight, the less times you will have to potentially dodge. Which is why I recommended the Akaviri Dragonguard set with its 15% Ultimate cost reduction.

Also not sure what you are really wanting to do with that set up you got there. As well I would go high magicka regen or spell symmetry, not both, spec into using one or the other instead of wasting slots and resources using both. It will give you more effectiveness.

max_only

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

In terms of that Ulti gen set up with master architect. I would say using Dragon would be better. Lower cost would be more beneficial, its a constant buff, Tavas require you to get hit really often to get Major Evasion to proc as much as you can, but something like Dragon with a lower ulti cost will work just as well on fast hitting mobs as it does slow hitting mobs. And there are a lot of bosses that hit really slowly. This is all of course for 4 man content, a set up like that would be really sub par for Trials. This ulti gen set up for 4 man content if done right could also do some really good damage as well. Which for 4 man isn't that bad.

Dragon? What is this?

Also mirage takes care of major evasion.

I've been testing my shacklebreaker/alteration set up (all in purple as opposed to my previous gold set up of Bloodthorn/Kagrenac's) and it feels good. I have infused and precise weapons so I'm missing on about 1370 points of resistance but maybe because I'm so close to cap before Lord Warden activates, I'm not noticing a major drop in "tankiness".

My mag regen is 17k, and my stam regen is 800 still. Bloodthorns felt safe because of the return on stamina but now I'm thinking I should boost my stamina regen instead of magika regen since I'm using Spell Symmetry to help me with my "oom" emergencies. I'm also wearing 2 pieces of divines to boost my Atronach, but maybe I should change those to sturdy and get a different mundus stone...

this is me with shacklebreaker/ alteration buffed (before LW)

What I meant by major evasion is that its only 15% chance when you get hit that you dodge, and its only for each dodge that Tavas gives you ultimate, the slower an enemy hits the less hits you will get during a fight, the less times you will have to potentially dodge. Which is why I recommended the Akaviri Dragonguard set with its 15% Ultimate cost reduction.

Also not sure what you are really wanting to do with that set up you got there. As well I would go high magicka regen or spell symmetry, not both, spec into using one or the other instead of wasting slots and resources using both. It will give you more effectiveness.

Are you saying I have too much magicka regen? it never feels like enough, I didn't think 1733 magika regen was high. I can regen my stamina with heavy attacks (carefully) but how else am I supposed to regen my magika now that Siphoning Attacks has been neutered? I can hope other people run ele drain but in pugs that's a luxury.

paulsimonps

max_only wrote: »

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

paulsimonps wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

Etchos wrote: »

I use soul tether at the moment. Its a great (oh sh*t) heal on the rare occasion I do get overwhelmed but I mostly pop it as a form of crowd control to stun mobs when I cant taunt the me all and want to keep them grouped. I use refreshing path as a heal for team members during boss fights when I'm keeping the boss facing away from them. But other than that I'm not offering much in terms of group utility.

I do this too.

As far as being selfish, I don't know. I feel like self sustaining makes up for my lack of dk skills like chains and talons. Also it means I can take any healer. I like giving back flexibility to compliment my "flexible" playing choices.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Just bumping this thread. I've been trying to come up with a viable night blade tank build for about a month, but nothing really seems to click. I'd like a build that can solo normal group content and tank vet 4 man dungeons, so it needs a bit of damage and healing as well as tankiness.

I'll mention my next sets of ideas in case anyone wants to give feedback before I start the gear grind and waste mats, I've bookmarked this thread because I hope to steal some ideas.

a) - 5 piece black rose for the sustain (even though it isn't great sustain) paired with either 5 pc necropotence (weapons and jewellery, for more max mag, so more damage) or alteration mastery or the seducers set for more cost reduction. For the monster set I thought shadowrend because it synergises well with blackrose, and adds a third pet and 4th source of minor maim.

b) - 5 pc heavy seducers and 5 pc healing mage set (Jewellery and weapons if you can). The idea is to use sap essence every three seconds to keep all nearby mobs affected by the -400 weapon damage debuff - combined with the Sentinel of Rkugamz there should be reasonable stamina sustain for lots of blocking. - I asked some questions about the healing mage set that got answered here - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/358534/some-questions-about-the-healing-mage-mending-set#latest

c) - Ulti-gen Master architect. Wearing 5 pieces tavas blessing for ulti gen, two pieces bloodspawn for ulti-gen, and the new trial set Master architect so that using an ultimate gives major slayer to nearby allies - this seems like the best way to buff my own and my teams damage, and with cheap ultimates like Soul harvest or the 1 hand and shield ulti it should have a good uptime (at least every other set of trash mobs, if not every single set).

d) Light Armour master? A wildcard idea I saw in a thread about how to save the sap tank - the idea is to have the sustain and penetration of light armour by using the armour master set for tankiness - I have done a little testing and it seems more viable than I expected - shadow passives give major resistance buffs, mirage gives minor buffs... with armour master it should be easy to hit 30k resistances although if your buffs drop... This idea needs further testing, I'm not sure what other sets would work well, and I'm not sure I believe any kind of light armor tank could do a veteran dungeon, but I am curious.

I can't comment on most of these because I don't have expertise. I'm asking for some expertise lol.

Ultimate regen tho, I believe nightblades have the best ultimate generation rate already so it's not worth it to me to use tavas. That's my opinion though, I can't quote it from a source. @paulsimonps might have more insight.

In terms of that Ulti gen set up with master architect. I would say using Dragon would be better. Lower cost would be more beneficial, its a constant buff, Tavas require you to get hit really often to get Major Evasion to proc as much as you can, but something like Dragon with a lower ulti cost will work just as well on fast hitting mobs as it does slow hitting mobs. And there are a lot of bosses that hit really slowly. This is all of course for 4 man content, a set up like that would be really sub par for Trials. This ulti gen set up for 4 man content if done right could also do some really good damage as well. Which for 4 man isn't that bad.

Dragon? What is this?

Also mirage takes care of major evasion.

I've been testing my shacklebreaker/alteration set up (all in purple as opposed to my previous gold set up of Bloodthorn/Kagrenac's) and it feels good. I have infused and precise weapons so I'm missing on about 1370 points of resistance but maybe because I'm so close to cap before Lord Warden activates, I'm not noticing a major drop in "tankiness".

My mag regen is 17k, and my stam regen is 800 still. Bloodthorns felt safe because of the return on stamina but now I'm thinking I should boost my stamina regen instead of magika regen since I'm using Spell Symmetry to help me with my "oom" emergencies. I'm also wearing 2 pieces of divines to boost my Atronach, but maybe I should change those to sturdy and get a different mundus stone...

this is me with shacklebreaker/ alteration buffed (before LW)

What I meant by major evasion is that its only 15% chance when you get hit that you dodge, and its only for each dodge that Tavas gives you ultimate, the slower an enemy hits the less hits you will get during a fight, the less times you will have to potentially dodge. Which is why I recommended the Akaviri Dragonguard set with its 15% Ultimate cost reduction.

Also not sure what you are really wanting to do with that set up you got there. As well I would go high magicka regen or spell symmetry, not both, spec into using one or the other instead of wasting slots and resources using both. It will give you more effectiveness.

Are you saying I have too much magicka regen? it never feels like enough, I didn't think 1733 magika regen was high. I can regen my stamina with heavy attacks (carefully) but how else am I supposed to regen my magika now that Siphoning Attacks has been neutered? I can hope other people run ele drain but in pugs that's a luxury.

You have a lot of magicka regen but you can go higher, but you could also completely skip the high regen and just use spell symmetry, its a play style, but if you have really high regen like you do I would not even bother with spell symmetry at all. So like I said, go either or not both. I know that in one set up I did for my warden tank I got over 2.1k mag regen, so there is ways to get more.

SmellyUnlimited

I would check out Gilliam the Rogue's post on "The Bloodletter" Sap Tank. Sap tank is really the only viable Nightblade tank that makes use of their inherent strong sustain/group utility. He's updated it for Morrowind (much of those skills remain the same for Horns).

I've run my NB as a Sap Tank for a few months now. Your goal as a NB Tank: Sustain, Do Damage, Get aggro. With that in mind, these are some exceptional armor pieces I've found:

1. Bahara's Curse (mentioned in Gilliam's post). Hard to find in Heavy, but the life return and AoE damage is perfect for NB's. Evidently, he says the "40% less damage from Traps" actually applies to AoE's in certain trials.

2. Resilient Yokeda (from AA). You block, then deal 4,000 magic damage and heal for that amount. Very short internal cooldown, and since you'll have Elemental CP'd up quite a bit (and healing received) you'll be sitting comfortably.

3. Tavas (I know, routine). Why this is especially good for NB's is the ulti generation, which since Nightblades have the highest ulti generation in the game, I've been able to do bolstering darkness (in trial) or Shooting Star (in dungeon) almost nonstop. Keep potions up for siphon buff, and Soul harvest front bar...you see where this is going. Paired with Bloodspawn and Mirage, not to mention Refreshing Path, and you have mad ulti gen, major and minor protections, healing, and 20% dodge chance.

Those are the big ones. NB's fair best with huge resource pools, so you can CP to up blocking, but try to get as many infused pieces as you can (and prismatic glyphs if you can afford them).

SmellyUnlimited

Oh, and 1733 is absolute fine magicka regen. NB's will largely use their magicka pull as tanks. You'll also have Siphoning Strikes on, and WHEN that's on, you can Sap Essence which counts as a direct damage, so you're healing AND potentially hitting the 10% on siphoning to give you back 2k Stam/Mag.

Group Utility: Not many tanks have the kind of varied and constant group utility that NB's provide.
-Sap Essence - heals team, gives you major sorcery, and can proc Siphoning.
-Refreshing path - gives team major expedition, and heal.
-Funnel Health - heals you and another teammate
-Soul Tether - Team mates can synergize for heal
-Bolstering Darkness - Group has damage reduction, and can synergize for heal.

This isn't even counting the insane ulti gen; your uptime is extraordinarily high. Even in a 4 man dungeon, if you and the healer run warhorn, you can keep the uptime at approximately 50-60%, which is huge.

Play to the NB strengths. They have enough inherent ulti gen, so Akaviri is a waste. Sap Tanks deal damage and sustain themselves. The other classes don't have the life stealing abilities you do, so use them, that's the entire point of a NB tank. In trials you'll take a much more defensive role, but I've tanked plenty of vet trials and still sustain myself admirably. No healer has to rush to my defense with BoL unless sh*t has really hit the fan.

EDIT: Stick with Atronach. Also, Infused and Siphoning will take are of your magicka/stam issues largely; your stam is mostly used for just piercing and block (heroic strike if you want). But you won't, and as a tank should never just be holding block for very long periods. When you see the big hit come, you block, but then go right back to your rotation (Mirage, siphoning attacks, Funnel Health, Sap essence, Shade (for minor maim)). I usually double bar defensive stance for the cost reduct and the nice damage shield/healing you can potentially get.

Ulti's: Soul harvest is huge front bar. Back bar you can play to whatever the situation requires (Soul Tether is lots of trash mobs, bolstering if you're fighting a tough boss, shooting star for trash and boss fights, Warhorn is always a staple and I'm sure your team will appreciate it).

NB Tanks also benefit a lot from Vampire, as an aside.

NOTE: Gilliam recommends Alteration Mastery (weapons and jewelry). Looks awesome if you can find it. Jewelry easy enough, but weapons/shields can be very tough.

Brrrofski

For those who haven't tried bloodthorn, I highly recommend it. It's now better sustain than Amber plus you get the Stam back whilst locking. Even proc off bashing. 2,3,4 piece all help with better self heals and sustain.

Taylor_MB

MagBlade tanks are so versatile, you can wear anything and they can work.

Tanked vDSA with S+B/Resto High Elf:
5x Necropotence (sturdy body pcs, yes I was wearing 5 light (so much spell crit for all my self and group heals))
5x Trainee (named drops so no training trait required)
1x Pirate Skeleton
1x Mighty Chudan

Almost max resists, tonnes of block cost reduction, huge HPS, HP was a little low though - only 23k from memory.

As others have mentioned Leeching Strikes is a must, even though it's been nerfed recently it is all the stamina sustain you need.

---

Quick side note

SmellyUnlimited wrote: »

You'll also have Siphoning Strikes on, and WHEN that's on, you can Sap Essence which counts as a direct damage, so you're healing AND potentially hitting the 10% on siphoning to give you back 2k Stam/Mag.

does not work like this any unfortunately. Still an amazing skill, but no 10% proc chance, resource return now happens when duration expires.

max_only

Has anyone made a stamNB tank? Just curious.

actosh

max_only wrote: »

Has anyone made a stamNB tank? Just curious.

Yes and i have pushed him through all trials including hm pre morrowind(only missing vmol hm clear).

Hadnt time to raid since then because my daughter isnt happy when my gf and i go raiding ^^.

I have a dk as well but i like my nb more.

witchdoctor

@actosh

Can you post the basics of your build, please?

actosh

@witchdoctor

Hey mate i need to do some rl stuff first and will post the build used later this day.

witchdoctor

It would be much appreciated!

actosh

Hey @witchdoctor

So i try to give you a basic breakdown of my build i used to tank trials(vet & hm included) on my NB as a Stam based Maintank.

Race: Imperial
Attributes: All Stam
Mundus: Lord/Atronarch

Gear used:
5x Ebon
5x Alkosh
2x Monster (Rkugamz or Lord Warden for trials and in dungeons swarm mother)) Reasoning below:

Warden provides nice Group Mitigation, more so after the HotR or Morrowind(cant remember) Patch, range was increased to 8Meters

The good thing on Rkugamz(the spider) is that it procs so damn often on a nb due to refreshing Path.

Bar1:
Pierce Armor (taunt)
Heroic Slash (Shades only on bosses where i don t have to take care of adds)
Defensive Stance
Refreshing Path (Provides Major Ward/Resolve, Heals group & you, can proc Sentinel of Rkugamz)
Bone Shield ( can be good, but zos needs to increase the range/lower cooldown and u need dd´s that are able to press "X" ^^)
Ult: Warhorn

Bar2:
Inner Fire (Range taunt)
Mark Target (if vamp, go with invigorating drain)
Purge (mostly for vmol)
Rapid movement thing from alliance war tree
Mirage (dodge for 26 secs)

Ult: Veil of Blades/Bolstering Darkness


Playstyle
The most important thing as a NB Tank is to learn when u can safely light attack weave. Every Boss in this Game has a wide enough time frame where u can do that without problems. Until Morrowind this was rewarding as *** because Siphoning restored shitloads of mag/stam. After zos nerfed that skill into the ground its often better do to a heavy in the before mentioned frames when bosses wont hit you.

What i can recommend as a first step if u want to tank with your nb is go Argonian, their potions passive is just to good to pass on.

For the hotr patch i´m testing currently witchman´s armor set. Its basicly a ppor mans battle roar as it restores 28 points healt/stam on ultimate use. So for warhorn its 250.28= 7000HP/Stam. But like i mentioned before, u can still go with alkosh and just plan your heavy attacks.

Another way would be to use siphonings return on recast but i´m still tryin to figure it out how to use it to most effect.

Thats the fast overview of how i played my nb, can go into more detail once i find time for that.

Another thing i have to say is, on my dk i have a much easier time to get all the stuff done, but to be honest it´s kinda boring to me, thats why i prefer to play my nb and my group dont care on wich class i tank. Hence i even tanked trials on my sorc, and it was fun, but i mostly play 1 char, and nb fits the most for me.

We may see in the future some improvements to skills like boneshield and such. Thats just my hope after zos did the orb/spear thing for healers. Cleared the 2 new dungeons on my nb as wqell, and hadnt problems at all, even on hm.

Gan Xing

SmellyUnlimited wrote: »

I would check out Gilliam the Rogue's post on "The Bloodletter" Sap Tank. Sap tank is really the only viable Nightblade tank that makes use of their inherent strong sustain/group utility. He's updated it for Morrowind (much of those skills remain the same for Horns).

I've run my NB as a Sap Tank for a few months now. Your goal as a NB Tank: Sustain, Do Damage, Get aggro. With that in mind, these are some exceptional armor pieces I've found:

1. Bahara's Curse (mentioned in Gilliam's post). Hard to find in Heavy, but the life return and AoE damage is perfect for NB's. Evidently, he says the "40% less damage from Traps" actually applies to AoE's in certain trials.

2. Resilient Yokeda (from AA). You block, then deal 4,000 magic damage and heal for that amount. Very short internal cooldown, and since you'll have Elemental CP'd up quite a bit (and healing received) you'll be sitting comfortably.

3. Tavas (I know, routine). Why this is especially good for NB's is the ulti generation, which since Nightblades have the highest ulti generation in the game, I've been able to do bolstering darkness (in trial) or Shooting Star (in dungeon) almost nonstop. Keep potions up for siphon buff, and Soul harvest front bar...you see where this is going. Paired with Bloodspawn and Mirage, not to mention Refreshing Path, and you have mad ulti gen, major and minor protections, healing, and 20% dodge chance.

Those are the big ones. NB's fair best with huge resource pools, so you can CP to up blocking, but try to get as many infused pieces as you can (and prismatic glyphs if you can afford them).

@Gilliamtherogue

I was also gonna suggest him, but I think it would be easier to invite him to partake in this discussion

max_only

actosh wrote: »

Hey @witchdoctor

So i try to give you a basic breakdown of my build i used to tank trials(vet & hm included) on my NB as a Stam based Maintank.

Race: Imperial
Attributes: All Stam
Mundus: Lord/Atronarch

Gear used:
5x Ebon
5x Alkosh
2x Monster (Rkugamz or Lord Warden for trials and in dungeons swarm mother)) Reasoning below:

Warden provides nice Group Mitigation, more so after the HotR or Morrowind(cant remember) Patch, range was increased to 8Meters

The good thing on Rkugamz(the spider) is that it procs so damn often on a nb due to refreshing Path.

Bar1:
Pierce Armor (taunt)
Heroic Slash (Shades only on bosses where i don t have to take care of adds)
Defensive Stance
Refreshing Path (Provides Major Ward/Resolve, Heals group & you, can proc Sentinel of Rkugamz)
Bone Shield ( can be good, but zos needs to increase the range/lower cooldown and u need dd´s that are able to press "X" ^^)
Ult: Warhorn

Bar2:
Inner Fire (Range taunt)
Mark Target (if vamp, go with invigorating drain)
Purge (mostly for vmol)
Rapid movement thing from alliance war tree
Mirage (dodge for 26 secs)

Ult: Veil of Blades/Bolstering Darkness


Playstyle
The most important thing as a NB Tank is to learn when u can safely light attack weave. Every Boss in this Game has a wide enough time frame where u can do that without problems. Until Morrowind this was rewarding as *** because Siphoning restored shitloads of mag/stam. After zos nerfed that skill into the ground its often better do to a heavy in the before mentioned frames when bosses wont hit you.

What i can recommend as a first step if u want to tank with your nb is go Argonian, their potions passive is just to good to pass on.

For the hotr patch i´m testing currently witchman´s armor set. Its basicly a ppor mans battle roar as it restores 28 points healt/stam on ultimate use. So for warhorn its 250.28= 7000HP/Stam. But like i mentioned before, u can still go with alkosh and just plan your heavy attacks.

Another way would be to use siphonings return on recast but i´m still tryin to figure it out how to use it to most effect.

Thats the fast overview of how i played my nb, can go into more detail once i find time for that.

Another thing i have to say is, on my dk i have a much easier time to get all the stuff done, but to be honest it´s kinda boring to me, thats why i prefer to play my nb and my group dont care on wich class i tank. Hence i even tanked trials on my sorc, and it was fun, but i mostly play 1 char, and nb fits the most for me.

We may see in the future some improvements to skills like boneshield and such. Thats just my hope after zos did the orb/spear thing for healers. Cleared the 2 new dungeons on my nb as wqell, and hadnt problems at all, even on hm.

@actosh sounds amazing and enviable. I might try this as a baseline since Bosmer has crazy stam regen that I'm not taking advantage of right now.

What did you use while waiting for your full set of alkosh to drop?

Gan Xing

max_only wrote: »

actosh wrote: »

Hey @witchdoctor

So i try to give you a basic breakdown of my build i used to tank trials(vet & hm included) on my NB as a Stam based Maintank.

Race: Imperial
Attributes: All Stam
Mundus: Lord/Atronarch

Gear used:
5x Ebon
5x Alkosh
2x Monster (Rkugamz or Lord Warden for trials and in dungeons swarm mother)) Reasoning below:

Warden provides nice Group Mitigation, more so after the HotR or Morrowind(cant remember) Patch, range was increased to 8Meters

The good thing on Rkugamz(the spider) is that it procs so damn often on a nb due to refreshing Path.

Bar1:
Pierce Armor (taunt)
Heroic Slash (Shades only on bosses where i don t have to take care of adds)
Defensive Stance
Refreshing Path (Provides Major Ward/Resolve, Heals group & you, can proc Sentinel of Rkugamz)
Bone Shield ( can be good, but zos needs to increase the range/lower cooldown and u need dd´s that are able to press "X" ^^)
Ult: Warhorn

Bar2:
Inner Fire (Range taunt)
Mark Target (if vamp, go with invigorating drain)
Purge (mostly for vmol)
Rapid movement thing from alliance war tree
Mirage (dodge for 26 secs)

Ult: Veil of Blades/Bolstering Darkness


Playstyle
The most important thing as a NB Tank is to learn when u can safely light attack weave. Every Boss in this Game has a wide enough time frame where u can do that without problems. Until Morrowind this was rewarding as *** because Siphoning restored shitloads of mag/stam. After zos nerfed that skill into the ground its often better do to a heavy in the before mentioned frames when bosses wont hit you.

What i can recommend as a first step if u want to tank with your nb is go Argonian, their potions passive is just to good to pass on.

For the hotr patch i´m testing currently witchman´s armor set. Its basicly a ppor mans battle roar as it restores 28 points healt/stam on ultimate use. So for warhorn its 250.28= 7000HP/Stam. But like i mentioned before, u can still go with alkosh and just plan your heavy attacks.

Another way would be to use siphonings return on recast but i´m still tryin to figure it out how to use it to most effect.

Thats the fast overview of how i played my nb, can go into more detail once i find time for that.

Another thing i have to say is, on my dk i have a much easier time to get all the stuff done, but to be honest it´s kinda boring to me, thats why i prefer to play my nb and my group dont care on wich class i tank. Hence i even tanked trials on my sorc, and it was fun, but i mostly play 1 char, and nb fits the most for me.

We may see in the future some improvements to skills like boneshield and such. Thats just my hope after zos did the orb/spear thing for healers. Cleared the 2 new dungeons on my nb as wqell, and hadnt problems at all, even on hm.

@actosh sounds amazing and enviable. I might try this as a baseline since Bosmer has crazy stam regen that I'm not taking advantage of right now.

What did you use while waiting for your full set of alkosh to drop?

If you are going magicka, and need a bit more damage, Shalk also gives minor heroism while in combat...

actosh

max_only wrote: »

actosh wrote: »

Hey @witchdoctor

So i try to give you a basic breakdown of my build i used to tank trials(vet & hm included) on my NB as a Stam based Maintank.

Race: Imperial
Attributes: All Stam
Mundus: Lord/Atronarch

Gear used:
5x Ebon
5x Alkosh
2x Monster (Rkugamz or Lord Warden for trials and in dungeons swarm mother)) Reasoning below:

Warden provides nice Group Mitigation, more so after the HotR or Morrowind(cant remember) Patch, range was increased to 8Meters

The good thing on Rkugamz(the spider) is that it procs so damn often on a nb due to refreshing Path.

Bar1:
Pierce Armor (taunt)
Heroic Slash (Shades only on bosses where i don t have to take care of adds)
Defensive Stance
Refreshing Path (Provides Major Ward/Resolve, Heals group & you, can proc Sentinel of Rkugamz)
Bone Shield ( can be good, but zos needs to increase the range/lower cooldown and u need dd´s that are able to press "X" ^^)
Ult: Warhorn

Bar2:
Inner Fire (Range taunt)
Mark Target (if vamp, go with invigorating drain)
Purge (mostly for vmol)
Rapid movement thing from alliance war tree
Mirage (dodge for 26 secs)

Ult: Veil of Blades/Bolstering Darkness


Playstyle
The most important thing as a NB Tank is to learn when u can safely light attack weave. Every Boss in this Game has a wide enough time frame where u can do that without problems. Until Morrowind this was rewarding as *** because Siphoning restored shitloads of mag/stam. After zos nerfed that skill into the ground its often better do to a heavy in the before mentioned frames when bosses wont hit you.

What i can recommend as a first step if u want to tank with your nb is go Argonian, their potions passive is just to good to pass on.

For the hotr patch i´m testing currently witchman´s armor set. Its basicly a ppor mans battle roar as it restores 28 points healt/stam on ultimate use. So for warhorn its 250.28= 7000HP/Stam. But like i mentioned before, u can still go with alkosh and just plan your heavy attacks.

Another way would be to use siphonings return on recast but i´m still tryin to figure it out how to use it to most effect.

Thats the fast overview of how i played my nb, can go into more detail once i find time for that.

Another thing i have to say is, on my dk i have a much easier time to get all the stuff done, but to be honest it´s kinda boring to me, thats why i prefer to play my nb and my group dont care on wich class i tank. Hence i even tanked trials on my sorc, and it was fun, but i mostly play 1 char, and nb fits the most for me.

We may see in the future some improvements to skills like boneshield and such. Thats just my hope after zos did the orb/spear thing for healers. Cleared the 2 new dungeons on my nb as wqell, and hadnt problems at all, even on hm.

@actosh sounds amazing and enviable. I might try this as a baseline since Bosmer has crazy stam regen that I'm not taking advantage of right now.

What did you use while waiting for your full set of alkosh to drop?

Cant remember ^^ had my full set of alkosh stuff in a few runs. u could go with akaviri dragonguard for example, reduces ult cost, solid set. Werewolf Hide works as well.

witchdoctor

Thanks, @actosh !

actosh

witchdoctor wrote: »

Thanks, @actosh !

Np mate. If u have questions hit me up in here or on pc eu

Malacthulhu

I have been running malubeth, beckoning steel and leeching with sword and board ulti on my stam nn tank and I love it. No sustain issues ulti can be swapped for something else but I like redirecting range attacks to me and reflecting them plus s/b ulti is up a lot.