DK or Nightblade?

Xargas13

I will try to keep this short. I'm looking for a good survivability. Also if you please describe your experiences with both. Thanks you.

davey1107

Um.......ha, those are as different as you can get with the classes. I have three nightblades and two dks. I'll try to briefly cover these classes in terms of your primary question regarding survivability. However, let me preface everything with these points:

1. There's a big difference in performance between pvp and pve. If you lean strongly toward one or the other, it might affect your choice. If playing pve, there's a big difference between trials and everything else, and that might affect your decision.

2. Champion points will really, really affect both classes. They bring them closer together...DKs get more power, while NBs get tankier. Expect their differences to be very pronounced early on, then when you're vet and earning CPs thismwill narrow.

3. They play so different you might try both. You might even take both to vet. They're both fun classes, with way different play styles, and it can be fun to mix things up with multiple characters. Generally I prefer focusing on one, getting to vet over time, then subsequent characters I rush to vet then learn them...that way they help earn CPs better.


Night-blades

These are the ninja assassins of ESO. Their dps can be off that charts, for either stam or magic, but they are VERY squishy. They can mitigate this with evasion abilities, but the bottom line is that when a NB takes a hit they take it hard. This lends itself to an essential playsytle for NBs that is relatively different from the other four classes. This playstyle will probably either be super fun to you, and you'll love NBs, or it won't and you'll dislike them.

When I play my stamblade...my main...and go up against a tough pvp opponent or pve boss, I'll buff, then hit as hard as a I can, then cloak and get around behind my opponent, then slam them as hard as I can again, then cloak and move around them so more. It's a sort of weaving technique, with the objective (against humans) of being as absolutely as annoying as possible. Basically, a good NB asks how they can get their enemy to waste $60 by throwing their controller against the wall, ha.

So...in terms of survivability...sure, NBs can be great. But they are only survivable if you can learn to hit like a truck, killing your enemies fast, and to evade incoming damage while doing it. If you let a tough enemy land four or five hits in a row, you're going to die, lol.


DKs

Stam or magic, this class is basically the polar opposite of NBs. They have MASSIVE resistance. A house can fall on them and they'll assume they just drank a little too much. But in exchange their damage is dramatically lower. My stamblade can hit a pvp opponent with snipe for ~16k for the first attack. My stam DK hits for like 7k. In pvp it can be really hard to get kills solo with damage that low...most experienced players are going to heal through that.

In pve, DKs are going to be slow and steady. You'll rarely die, but content can take a while to plow through. Some players love knowing that they can fight anything and not fear death. Others (like me, to be honest) find it dull. But you can avoid some of this by avoiding common mistakes:

1. DKs are better if you're playing with a friend or in a group. This fixes a lot of the dullness.

2. Don't play as a tank. People roll DKs and instantly put them in heavy armor. Ugh. For 95% of the pve content a DK should be using armor the helps them hit harder, light for magic or medium for stamina. They're inherently tanky...equip them with armor and sets that boost their damage, helping overcome their weakness.

In terms of survivability, DKs are built to last. However, that's not a universal feature. A DK in pvp can be really vulnerable if they don't get a good balance of armor and dps. And they can be vulnerable in hard pve if they can't kill fast enough.


Bottom line

Players tend to be picky about both these classes and have strong opinions. My recommendation would be to roll one of each, then play them up to ~level 20. That'll give you a solid idea how they'll play as they level higher, even though you won't get quite the full picture by then.

Megabear

DK.