Nightblade Healer Guide

Iskiab

Forward

Renaming the guide to just NB healing guide, other Nightblades posted a lot of tips and have made the build a lot stronger. I never hear garbage about how Nightblades can't heal well anymore, I think those people got stomped enough times to get the message that Nightblades can heal.

Why Nightblade?

Here are the Nightblade healer's strengths:

1. Cloak. Pretty simple, cloaking away while being focused will save you many times.
2. Burst healing. NB is the best single target burst healer in the game by a lot.
3. Sustain. Using health plus magicka as healing resources means that you rarely if ever run out of magicka unless you're cleansing a lot.
4. Versatility. Battlegrounds and a lot of the Cyrodiil campaigns do not use Champion points. That means that if you have a max level magblade you can switch to healing very easily. The only annoying thing is you'll need refreshing path as a NB healer.

Skills

PvP healing doesn't have a rotation, instead here's a write up of NB skills and their strengths and weaknesses:

Core/Required Abilities:

Healthy Offering – this is your primary heal, use it often. It is the largest single target heal in the game and is spamable, for those who have a Templar healer imagine if Breath of Life could be used without running out of magicka, and instead after using it 4-6 times in a row you had to go back to using combat prayer or healing springs to regen your health. The downside is it cannot heal yourself, so if you're focused you have to rely on your mitigation and cloak away.

Combat Prayer – Decent frontal heal, provides extra mitigation and a damage buff to those you use it on. Enough classes don't have minor berserk in their class toolkits to make this mandatory. It's also your 2nd or 3rd best self heal.

Shadowy Disguise or Dark Cloak – always on one of your hot bars, if you don't use either you're gimping yourself as a nightblade, all your other abilities have been balanced around these abilities. You have to choose which one you're going to use and build around it; if you choose shadowy disguise you'll be more of a full healer, if you choose dark cloak you're moreso a tank and you need to buff your health. I suggest choosing which one you use and building around it, as the rest of your gear selections will revolve around which one you choose.

Elemental Blockade – Really powerful ability, Ice has an added snare effect with the chance to proc minor maim for 15% less damage. Also pops nightblades out of stealth if you hit them on cast. Fire or lightning are also options but you won’t get the snare for defense.

Mass Hysteria – PBAOE fear, great ability. I use it as a peel for people who're being focused and to escape being focused myself. Templars with puncturing sweeps or Dks who stun lock you can be annoying to escape from, manifestation of terror > dodge roll > cloak > double take will save you running back from the respawn. Some people prefer the fear traps over mass hysteria, I think it's a mistake to choose the traps instead. You can use the fire trap from the mages guild and it'll be almost as good as the fear trap, missing out on the pbaoe fear with NB's limited cc toolkit is a mistake.

Cleanse – the expensive morph of purge. Good ability, high magicka cost but since NB's have great sustain from using two resources you can afford it. The other morph efficient purge morph is not worth a cast unless you're in cyrodiil, it's the secondary effect of cleanse you want where it heals the group for 15% of their health you want in BGs. Has the added effect of 10% extra magicka regen because of the support passives.

Double Take - aoes are everywhere, 25% aoe damage reduction? Yes please. Lasts a decent amount of time. Doesn't break stealth/disguise, best used when you're cloaked trying to escape. I used to always take concealed blade but double take is superior, playing around the build is even stronger than it was!

Other Good Abilities:

Impale - impale is probably the strongest ranged execute in the game. It’s worth using just to kill steal in death matches or help finish off pesky runners. Ability is reflectable.

Forward momentum - if pure healing is your thing forward momentum is handy. 2 hander plus resto required.

Impulse - ground aoe. A major issue for magblade dps abilities is they’re all reflectable. This ability is the best way to circumvent this limitation. It’s so so on it’s own, but great with a BRP staff.

Piercing Mark – really nice ability, gives you a bit of stealth detection (but not for long enough to be useful). Main purpose is to debuff magicka resistances (stamina already debuff physical resistances themselves) and if the target dies with the debuff up you heal for 50% of your health.

Harness Magicka - lots of healers don’t use it because of the short duration, but I don’t see why not. It’s a really strong shield and returns some magicka when you’re hit, way better than ward ally.

Healing Springs – you won't use it a lot unless your team is stacked or you need to heal yourself, but it is the best or second best self heal per cast.

Rapid Regen - I think this ability was stealth buffed. It’s strong enough to be good in pvp now and it helps offset the health drain on healthy Offering. I still think mutagen is too weak to be effective.

Borrowed Time (Time Stop) – I don't view healing as only healing health bars, your role is to support your group. I find the ability better in cyrodiil than battlegrounds, in battleground there are better choices.

Refreshing Path – Really strong heal, but only if people stand in the small area. I mainly use it because if I get cc'd it'll tick away, plus casting a shadow ability gives you major resolve and major ward. I hit this ability no matter what whenever I need the mitigation buff. If you use shadow image then I probably wouldn't use refreshing path, it's the bonus from using a shadow ability that's the main benefit.

Shadow Image – Not too bad... provides minor maim, but I prefer snaring with Ice elemental blockade, damage is meh. Port I don't like, there's an animation and travel time, that means while traveling you can still take damage. I've hit the ability when low health (maybe 25%) and when I ended my port I've been dead from dots and whatnot multiple times. If you're skilled in using it I'd continue, every time I read the description I imagine the possibilities and potential, it might just be me but I can't make it work. Results may vary depending on how many opponents you're up against, I typically have 2-3 people chasing me like a Benny Hill show every battleground so lots of dots on me.

Ward Ally – Shields are always good, just doesn't fit on my hotbar. There are better options. Last time I checked this in pvp the shield was under 3k. Also has a habit of not acting like a smart heal and always applying on the same person.

Structured Entropy – I haven't been using this but think I'm going to try to find a way to fit it on my hotbar. I use the cheap pots in battlegrounds (I'm thrifty from pvp vendor) or immovability pots and need a way to get major sorcery when I use immovability pots.

Crushing Shock – Useful in capture the relic battlegrounds to interrupt people trying to grab a relic.

Siphoning Attacks - I've started using this more on my back bar. Don't underestimate the strength of light attack spamming, I've started light attack spamming a lot in BGs to help peel reflections and this ability will help you regen some health and magicka while doing it.

Concealed Blade - I used to always run this on my back bar with shadowy disguise but have recently switched to double take instead. More stealth speed is awesome and they both stack, the only reason I don’t use it anymore is limited bar space. It’s still a great ability for the passives.

Abilities you should not use:

Funnel Health/Swallow Soul – absolute garbage. The heal these abilities provide is tied to how much damage you do, as a healer the answer is not a lot. People run heavy armour, block, and are never fully debuffed so the healing amount is terrible, plus it can be reflected. Last time I tried it in pvp it was ticking for ~500 health. People associated the ability with NB so much that the weakness of the ability makes people think the class is weak. This ability, either morph, is a dps magblade ability and not a healing ability. Stay away. Funnel health is literally the same healing amount or less than mutagen, with half the duration and no secondary cleanse effect... but you also need a target and will do maybe 2k damage? You'd be better off doing nothing for that second to regen some magicka. I’m going to test it again now that I’ve switched to 5 light.

Sap Essence – every time I try to use this ability I die. I had a hunch it was reflectable but it's not, it's just that when you're in range of multiple opponents and would use this ability you should be getting out of there, not trying to do damage for a small heal. Not worth a skill slot in pvp, great in pve. I imagine if you go dark cloak this skill would become a lot better. I’m going to test it again now that I’ve switched to 5 light.

Ultimates

Soul Siphon – Best healing ultimate in battlegrounds hands down. Good range, strong effect. It's essentially a full heal for your team. Only problem is the effect doesn't hit for a second or so after using the ability, so it's useless when someone's being focused. Best use for the ability is when your team is all low health and you have a couple dps on you. I'll cloak away and then switch to my front bar and hit the ultimate – bam - team's full health.

Temporal Guard – I use this ultimate on my back defense/escape bar. I never use it though, it's purely for the passives. Soul Siphon is so strong it's the only ultimate I use. Slotting this ultimate will reduce the damage you take by 8% plus give you a free damage shield while blocking. There's something to be said for double slotting soul siphon instead, bar switching can be interrupted and with all the cc flying around I'll sometimes hit this by mistake blowing my ultimate on the wrong ability.

Typical Skill Loadouts

I'll tell you what I use in battlegrounds, there are different setups that work. I've noticed most pvp videos/builds make sure they have all the buffs in each build, this is one of the weaknesses I see right now because I'm missing some key buffs. There are many ways to skin a cat so there are options. I’ve recently switched to the updated Buffer of the Swift set and love it. Transmutation is another strong pvp healing set, I like the higher healing values of bright throat better but it doesn’t fit well with the BRP staff. I use the fire BRP staff because I’m an idiot and accidentally decon’d my Ice staff. A lot of players run vampire in pvp so it’s not bad, but I’m leaning towards thinking ice is better.

W1 – Powered Transmutation Restoration Staff, (glyph doesn't matter too much I use SP)
W2 – (Trait doesn't matter too much I use sharpened) BRP Fire Staff, Oblivion Enchant
Head – Heavy Impenetrable Bogdan the Nightflame, tri stat glyph
Shoulders – Medium impenetrable Bogdan the Nightflame, tri stat glyph
Chest – Light Impenetrable Buffer of the Swift, tri stat glyph
Legs – Light impenetrable Buffer of the Swift, tri stat glyph
Belt – Light impenetrable Buffer of the Swift, tri stat glyph
Hands – Light impenetrable Buffer of the Swift, tri stat glyph
Feet - Light impenetrable Buffer of the Swift, tri stat glyph
Necklade – Transmutation, protective trait, SP rune
Ring 1 – Transmutation Protective trait, SP rune
Ring 2 - Transmutation Tri stat trait, magicka recovery rune

5 light, 1 medium, 1 Heavy
Drink: Witchmothers potent brew
Mundus: Steed
Ability Points: All magicka
Pots: Alliance vendor (magicka and spell power)
5 piece Transmutation on my front bar, 3 piece with BRP back bar

Resto staff: 1 – Healthy offering, 2 – Rapid Regen, 3 – Combat Prayer, 4 – Refreshing Path, 5 – Shadowy Disguise – U: Soul Siphon
BRP Flame Staff: 1 – Mass Hysteria, 2 – Elemental Blockade, 3 – Impale, 4 – Elemental Ring, 5 – Double Take – U: Soul Siphon

Pure healing points in BGs suck. I prefer to mix damage and healing, but primarily heal.

Race

Any Race will work but I think Breton and Argonian are the best. If you play a different race just shuffle around stats with glyphs.

Playstyle:
You're a full healer/tank, for those who're new to pvp healing all healers are tanks. Expect to be the primary target of skilled opponents, so without mitigation you won't be able to contribute much to your team. Use your front bar for healing others, switch to your back bar when you're being focused to escape or help apply pressure.

Ice staff is for two reasons; first when you block with an ice staff it consumes magicka instead of stamina, if you're out of stamina from constantly being cc'd blocking with an ice staff will give you time for your stamina to regen. You can also get a free damage shield every 10 seconds from having a psijic skill slotted. The other reason is elemental blockade, the ice variant is the best variant in pvp. Blockade of frost can also knock Nightblades out of stealth if you hit them on the initial cast. So basicly you heal and support the group with blockade and light/heavy attacks when you don't need to heal.

I’ve been trying out the flame staff recently, mainly because there are a lot of vampires in pvp. I miss the blockade snare for defense so am on the fence about which is best, but leaning towards ice.

thedude33

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself. You can kite around and still heal your teammates and yourself. A good tanky S/B NB healer can take a ton of damage ...and if the enemy is chasing after you, your teams DPS doesn't need heals and can be blasting away. Which is perfect.

On my S/B bar I have Dark Cloak, Healthy Offering, Manifestation of Terror and Borrowed Time plus a flex. Soul Siphon on back bar.

I get hate tells all the time about being a pain in the a$$ to play against with the CC and heals.

Iskiab

Yea, I rolled a NB because I love the stealth and healer play style, thinking about it I’m going to have to at least try the other morph of cloak. I can then ditch refreshing path and use cloak on my front bar freeing up two slots on my back bar.

I need some way to get major sorcery, so I need a way to either fit soul siphon or entropy. Points in BGs don’t reward healing so I need to add more offense too.

About the other morph of cloak, there are times when I’ll have 2-3 players use a burst rotation and ult dump me at the same time. I’m worried that without cloaking away I’d be toast. There are already times where that’s happened and I’ll escape with only a quarter of my health left.

Iskiab

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Iskiab

Double checked some other abilities:

Tried Twisting path instead of refreshing path - result: area's too small, unless they stay grouped up and don't move (which never happens) refreshing path is better, area is too small.

Tried Sap Essence when I had Dark Cloak - result: meh, damage was okay and the heal was weak. Survivability issues made it not worth it.

Tried Soul Siphon - result: weak, reflected half the time when I used it.

Then it occurred to me. Why would I change to become more like a ranged magblade which is the weakest pvp class there is right now. That's insanity. The issue is not that I'm not doing enough damage, it's that the points for healing are garbage. If my team wins, and they typically do with at least one other competent player, then that's what should matter. The only thing I learned is I should light attack more to help strip reflections, and that almost all magblade attacks are reflectable and aren't worth using.

brandonv516

Iskiab wrote: »

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Dark Cloak requires you to commit to raising your HP. If you have less that 25k it will be worthless. 27k-30k is the sweet spot I believe.

Iskiab

Only issue is that would make the build more of a tank then dps build. The scores given for healing in BGs are trash so I want to add more damage, only issue is reflects and magNB abilities being rubbish.

I’m resigned to using ice blockade and entropy for major sorcery, I’ll just light attack spam to help strip reflects. LAs will do more damage then funnel health and not consume resources or a skill slot.

thedude33

brandonv516 wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Dark Cloak requires you to commit to raising your HP. If you have less that 25k it will be worthless. 27k-30k is the sweet spot I believe.

Iskiab wrote: »

Only issue is that would make the build more of a tank then dps build. The scores given for healing in BGs are trash so I want to add more damage, only issue is reflects and magNB abilities being rubbish.

I’m resigned to using ice blockade and entropy for major sorcery, I’ll just light attack spam to help strip reflects. LAs will do more damage then funnel health and not consume resources or a skill slot.

I see we are playing differently, which is why we disagree on Dark Cloak. I play my NB healer in both BGs and Cyrodil. He is a tanky healer with 2 forms of CC. I have 34k Health in Cyrodil. My 2 jobs are to heal and CC. I am not worried about doing damage. I can take a horrific beating. They try and gank me often because they can tell I'm outhealing the damage they are doing to my teammate. They either give up trying to kill me or they die to my team focusing him down.

I couldn't care less about any score, I want to win, and my tanky NB healer wins far more than he loses ...and I'm a horrible player. Just too easy to heal when it doesn't cost any resources. Almost feels like cheating

exeeter702

thedude33 wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Dark Cloak requires you to commit to raising your HP. If you have less that 25k it will be worthless. 27k-30k is the sweet spot I believe.

Iskiab wrote: »

Only issue is that would make the build more of a tank then dps build. The scores given for healing in BGs are trash so I want to add more damage, only issue is reflects and magNB abilities being rubbish.

I’m resigned to using ice blockade and entropy for major sorcery, I’ll just light attack spam to help strip reflects. LAs will do more damage then funnel health and not consume resources or a skill slot.

I see we are playing differently, which is why we disagree on Dark Cloak. I play my NB healer in both BGs and Cyrodil. He is a tanky healer with 2 forms of CC. I have 34k Health in Cyrodil. My 2 jobs are to heal and CC. I am not worried about doing damage. I can take a horrific beating. They try and gank me often because they can tell I'm outhealing the damage they are doing to my teammate. They either give up trying to kill me or they die to my team focusing him down.

I couldn't care less about any score, I want to win, and my tanky NB healer wins far more than he loses ...and I'm a horrible player. Just too easy to heal when it doesn't cost any resources. Almost feels like cheating

What setup do you use in cp?

haakira

I also run a nightblade healer in BG's and a few things I personally do different:

Skills:

- Manifestation of terror is superior to Mass hysteria. Put down frost wall of elements and drop that fear in from range. People can't move and get feared at the same time. Makes it very useful to setup combos.

- Piercing mark is cool but the magicka sustain from Elemental drain wins out on my opinion.

- The cost difference on Shrewd vs Healthy offering is so small, it's very much worth getting that Minor Mending.

- No reason not to use Siphinoning attacks, healing plus magicka sustain is never enough.

Sets:

Your max stamina and stamina regen are really poor without Tri stat food or blood spawn. If you can't dodge roll or break free, you won't be able to heal effectively. I use Bright throat with dubious food. Thats the base of my magicka and stamina sustain.
Then I looked for options to help my team mates which landed me on Troll King and Transmutation. Charged Death wind frost staff on the front. 5 light 1 med 1 heavy.
You might think it's insane to go light armor for healing but with so much healing over time (easily over 6 to 7k with everything going at the same time) the only time I die is if I get heavy ult dump on me outside a resto ult. Tactical positioning is key!

Iskiab

I used to use manifestation of terror, I opted against it because fire rune can serve the same purpose. Instead of two runes it places one only at your target destination. The fire rune does damage and knocks them in the air for a brief stun.

Mass hysteria is good to help escape from templars and DKs. If you hit it during puncturing sweeps it will interrupt the channel before the 70 percent snare hits. DKs have insane burst, after their knockdown and burst rotation I’ll have maybe a quarter of my health left, I mass hysteria > dodge roll > stealth to get away.

Getting away with light armour depends on your team really. Typically I’ll solo queue and if I hit a death match I’ll usually end up on the dominant team. The other two teams typically try to sand which you so there isn’t a good position to free cast from. I’ll be chased by a melee with maybe two ranged on me for the entire rest of the match. If my team can’t clear opponents fast enough and opponents keep start piling up we might face both teams at the same time, that’s why I prefer heavy.

Iskiab

Thinking about it more health and stamina would be useful. I might change to all tri-stat glyphs to help.

The way offering works is the larger the heal the larger the dot you place on yourself, and the dot can’t be mitigated in any way. Choosing shrewd offering means choosing a weaker offering plus a reduced dot. IDK, I might play with the other morph after increasing my health. I found that even with MO spam someone will die with four people on them either way, and I can save them if there were 3. The version that gives minor mending didn’t change this and only added a stronger dot on myself.

Iskiab

Edit- updated the OP to add blur as a core ability and option of the steed mundus

LordTareq

brandonv516 wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Dark Cloak requires you to commit to raising your HP. If you have less that 25k it will be worthless. 27k-30k is the sweet spot I believe.

I tried it on numerous occasions, even with 50k health. Dark Cloak is a potent heal, but in my experience Shadowy Disguise has the potential to negate far more damage than Dark Cloak can heal. My number of deaths in battlegrounds basically doubled with 50k health and dark cloak vs 30k health and shadowy disguise, which was not what I expected.

Koensol

LordTareq wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

Iskiab wrote: »

thedude33 wrote: »

Good guide.

I strongly disagree with one thing though, Shadowy Disguise. NBs have a very good self heal with Dark Cloak. Stay in the fight and heal yourself.

Tried dark cloak, it's terrible. Using it my survivability dropped like a rock, it's a decent heal but you're giving up way too much if you use it. The only way I can see to make it work is if you combine it with mist form and be a vampire. Strongly recommend to stay away.

Funnily enough I read about the old version of dark cloak and it sounds like it was a million times better, invisibility plus it stripped debuffs. No one used it so they changed it to this? If you're a healer self healing isn't an issue, burst and escape are issues. Dark cloak helps with neither.

Dark Cloak requires you to commit to raising your HP. If you have less that 25k it will be worthless. 27k-30k is the sweet spot I believe.

I tried it on numerous occasions, even with 50k health. Dark Cloak is a potent heal, but in my experience Shadowy Disguise has the potential to negate far more damage than Dark Cloak can heal. My number of deaths in battlegrounds basically doubled with 50k health and dark cloak vs 30k health and shadowy disguise, which was not what I expected.

If you rely on cloak for survivability, you will die if you get hardcountered and revealed. I hate that. From my experience when using argonian magblade with at least 25k health and perfected backrose resto, darkcloak is a very good heal. Much better heal values than vigor for example. Just combine it with other hots such as refreshing path, rapid regen or swallow soul and the heals from siphoning strikes and you will be topped off real quick. Just got to have decent mitigation. Dark cloak doesn't work with just any build.

But this is spoken from a general magblade pov. On my healer I don't use blackrose resto, but I pop vitality pots when pressured to provide the major vitality. Then just stack all sort of healing modifiers into your build (argonian, powered staff, heavy armor, minor mending from offering, major mending from resto heavy, ritual mundus) and combined with a 30k health pool, dark cloak will be more than just decent.

I don't care whatever people say, it is not trash. It is more of a problem of not knowing how to work it into a build effectively.

Na0cho

lots of great info here guys!

Had no idea what to do with my magblade these days and I dont like the bomber gank style that much I prefer the brawler method on most of my chars.

I might just respec to healer and try it out for a while!

LordTareq

Koensol wrote: »

If you rely on cloak for survivability, you will die if you get hardcountered and revealed. I hate that. From my experience when using argonian magblade with at least 25k health and perfected backrose resto, darkcloak is a very good heal. Much better heal values than vigor for example. Just combine it with other hots such as refreshing path, rapid regen or swallow soul and the heals from siphoning strikes and you will be topped off real quick. Just got to have decent mitigation. Dark cloak doesn't work with just any build.

But this is spoken from a general magblade pov. On my healer I don't use blackrose resto, but I pop vitality pots when pressured to provide the major vitality. Then just stack all sort of healing modifiers into your build (argonian, powered staff, heavy armor, minor mending from offering, major mending from resto heavy, ritual mundus) and combined with a 30k health pool, dark cloak will be more than just decent.

I don't care whatever people say, it is not trash. It is more of a problem of not knowing how to work it into a build effectively.

I'm not saying its trash. If I didn't have to sacrifice cloak I'd slot it in a heartbeat. And yes getting the cloak hardcountered is annoying, and honestly with everyone spamming AOE these days its countered more often than not. People running revealing flare/magelight or detection potions are rare though. And there are ways to counter the counter. I love the combination of Time Freeze/Forward Momentum/Cloak for that purpose.

Koensol

LordTareq wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

If you rely on cloak for survivability, you will die if you get hardcountered and revealed. I hate that. From my experience when using argonian magblade with at least 25k health and perfected backrose resto, darkcloak is a very good heal. Much better heal values than vigor for example. Just combine it with other hots such as refreshing path, rapid regen or swallow soul and the heals from siphoning strikes and you will be topped off real quick. Just got to have decent mitigation. Dark cloak doesn't work with just any build.

But this is spoken from a general magblade pov. On my healer I don't use blackrose resto, but I pop vitality pots when pressured to provide the major vitality. Then just stack all sort of healing modifiers into your build (argonian, powered staff, heavy armor, minor mending from offering, major mending from resto heavy, ritual mundus) and combined with a 30k health pool, dark cloak will be more than just decent.

I don't care whatever people say, it is not trash. It is more of a problem of not knowing how to work it into a build effectively.

I'm not saying its trash. If I didn't have to sacrifice cloak I'd slot it in a heartbeat. And yes getting the cloak hardcountered is annoying, and honestly with everyone spamming AOE these days its countered more often than not. People running revealing flare/magelight or detection potions are rare though. And there are ways to counter the counter. I love the combination of Time Freeze/Forward Momentum/Cloak for that purpose.

I'm sorry I should've been more clear. That latest paragraph wasn't aimed at you, but was more of a general comment. I have seen many people, including the OP pass it off as garbage and trash, which it simply isn't. You just need to build accordingly and create leverage to increase the heal without sacrificing things that defeats the intended purpose of your build. Hence why it doesn't just work on any build.

brandonv516

I've settled on Pariah, Transmutation, and Chokethorn or Nightflame. Such a wonderful combo of resistances and sustain.

Curse Eater had so much potential to replace Transmutation but I'm unsure now.

thedude33

Koensol wrote: »

LordTareq wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

If you rely on cloak for survivability, you will die if you get hardcountered and revealed. I hate that. From my experience when using argonian magblade with at least 25k health and perfected backrose resto, darkcloak is a very good heal. Much better heal values than vigor for example. Just combine it with other hots such as refreshing path, rapid regen or swallow soul and the heals from siphoning strikes and you will be topped off real quick. Just got to have decent mitigation. Dark cloak doesn't work with just any build.

But this is spoken from a general magblade pov. On my healer I don't use blackrose resto, but I pop vitality pots when pressured to provide the major vitality. Then just stack all sort of healing modifiers into your build (argonian, powered staff, heavy armor, minor mending from offering, major mending from resto heavy, ritual mundus) and combined with a 30k health pool, dark cloak will be more than just decent.

I don't care whatever people say, it is not trash. It is more of a problem of not knowing how to work it into a build effectively.

I'm not saying its trash. If I didn't have to sacrifice cloak I'd slot it in a heartbeat. And yes getting the cloak hardcountered is annoying, and honestly with everyone spamming AOE these days its countered more often than not. People running revealing flare/magelight or detection potions are rare though. And there are ways to counter the counter. I love the combination of Time Freeze/Forward Momentum/Cloak for that purpose.

I'm sorry I should've been more clear. That latest paragraph wasn't aimed at you, but was more of a general comment. I have seen many people, including the OP pass it off as garbage and trash, which it simply isn't. You just need to build accordingly and create leverage to increase the heal without sacrificing things that defeats the intended purpose of your build. Hence why it doesn't just work on any build.

To be honest, I'm waiting for the forum posts calling it overpowered. It's a very strong heal.

Iskiab

I think you need to decide if you’re going to go dark cloak or shadowy disguise and stick with it. I think mage light and other stealth detection requires you to be within range to be seen (I’m pretty sure). If you’re running concealed weapon (which you must), cleanse and the pbaoe fear then you should be able to get away if you have the resources.

When I am caught it’s usually by multiple people chasing me around, after long enough I run out of magicka, stamina and can’t pot so I’m down.

The reason I didn’t go with dark cloak is because it’s a heal. If you can negate all damage with disguise it will get you out of some situations where any heal wouldn’t work - for example against 4 opponents, cc and disguise will save you. If dark cloak was a full heal it wouldn’t be strong enough, if 4 people want one person dead they can do it in pvp within a couple seconds. Especially with all the high burst sets.

So pick one and stick with it. With practice you’ll learn how to best use it, and I don’t think you can switch back and forth and be an expert at using either version.

I’m leveling a warden now, and have a max Templar healer too. When I try to pvp heal without disguise I feel vulnerable and see it in my death count. Instead of 1 or 2 deaths per death match I’ll be up at 4-6, but I am a lot more experienced as a NB.

Iskiab

Edited the OP with bits about dark cloak. Beware though, all my views revolve around using shadowy disguise and you'll likely need to spec a lot differently with dark cloak.

Metemsycosis

brandonv516 wrote: »

I've settled on Pariah, Transmutation, and Chokethorn or Nightflame. Such a wonderful combo of resistances and sustain.

Curse Eater had so much potential to replace Transmutation but I'm unsure now.

Chokethorn for pvp? Bgs or OW? Is it more reliable than earthgore ?

Iskiab

I used to use chokethorn. The animation is really obvious so you see it healing people and keeps healing people from range even if they move. Someone suggested Nightflame and I went back and had a look at it, Nightflame I've found heals for a lot more even if you don't see it going off. Earthgore is okay but has a long refresh. I think Wardens and Templars have more sustain issues then NBs (and less burst healing) so earthgore is better for them, for NB I prefer Nightflame. A Templar can't afford to breath of life like 8x in a row, Wardens don't have a burst heal so they play differently and require different gear choices.

I have a full set of golden transmuation, I ended up going back to bright throat because the healing values are a lot higher with almost as good sustain.

Miriel

@Iskiab
Alot of good tips... i would like to add concealed weapon and race against time...

concealed weapon for its passive buff to sneak speed, its a very good passive to help you relocate away while under cloak... same goes for race against time, a psijik mana costing speed buff, making you extremly fast in stealth, it dosent even break stealth to cast it, like retreat...

brandonv516

Metemsycosis wrote: »

brandonv516 wrote: »

I've settled on Pariah, Transmutation, and Chokethorn or Nightflame. Such a wonderful combo of resistances and sustain.

Curse Eater had so much potential to replace Transmutation but I'm unsure now.

Chokethorn for pvp? Bgs or OW? Is it more reliable than earthgore ?

I do BGs only (will expand to no-CP IC next patch though).

Chokethorn is impressive and people don't tend to dirt you for using it.

It doesn't proc on HoTs (only initial cast) which is important.

Using Healthy Offering, you tend to build up a lot of DoTs when you spam that skill. So when Chokethorn procs, it chooses a target that needs it (not necessarily the target that is being healed).

Most of the time it chooses me (or feels so) because my burst heal and HoTs are already keeping my teammates in check.

I need it to choose me when I am under pressure. My HoTs are enough to counter the DoTs from Healthy Offering, but not the extra damage inflicted from enemies.

Instead of cloaking and leaving my teammates high and dry, I can continue to heal them while Chokethorn tends me.

Chokethorn doesn't have the clutch moments quite like Earthgore but I've seen it save many within moments of imminent deaths.

I definitely encourage NB healers to try it out.

Iskiab

Miriel wrote: »

@Iskiab
Alot of good tips... i would like to add concealed weapon and race against time...

concealed weapon for its passive buff to sneak speed, its a very good passive to help you relocate away while under cloak... same goes for race against time, a psijik mana costing speed buff, making you extremly fast in stealth, it dosent even break stealth to cast it, like retreat...

@Miriel Bah, you're right. I'll edit it again and add concealed blade, I used to always pair it with cloak but these days I've been using Double Take instead. It's just as good, doesn't break stealth, and provides major evasion which is super nice with the aoe spam in pvp. Might as well be major protection.

Never tried race against time, I'll check it out.

Iskiab

Updated for racial changes and recommending light buffer of the swift over heavy fortified brass.

jhall03

Thank you for this post. You've inspired me to not just respec my NB, but rather to roll a brand new toon to be a stealth NB healer. I'm a little hung up on the race, which you touched on briefly.

My instinct tells me to just roll a Breton because sustain is king in BGs, IMHO. But the new Altmer passive is attractive because I also roll dodge quite often. Argonians give a nice health, healing, and potion passive. And khajiits also seem viable.

If I did go with my instinct and roll Breton, would you recommend heavy? I'm a little confused by what you say regarding this.

Thanks

Iskiab

I’m not sure which one would be best, it’s an opportunity cost thing. I love the updated Buffer of the Swift set, it’s really nice and switching to light has a lot of benefits - like the snare reduction, penetration, plus 20 percent magicka recovery.

I’ve always been an altmer and before the patch wore heavy fortified brass. I think post patch that’s not an option anymore because altmer lost the extra magicka regen. I’ve been debating race and am not sure what to do. Studying the races here are the ups and downs:

Argonian - best use of pots. The best pot is unstoppable, magicka plus regen, and spell crit. Getting health and stamina too would be nice.

Breton - can wear heavy because their sustain is so good. Extra spell resists

Altmer - stamina regen plus sp and magicka.

Khajit - higher healing crits, but in non-cp cyrodiil I can only get up to 30 percent crit. It’ll be hard to get crit up as a healer to take advantage of the modifier. The most important things are defense > healing power/sustain. Doesn’t leave much room to buff your crit.

I personally think Breton > altmer > argonian > khajit but am not sure. As a Breton you could wear light, use 1 or 2 protective transmutations on your rings along with 1-2 sp glyphs and I think you’d come out ahead. You’d end up with close to 30k resists, 10 percent less player damage with swift and decent sp.

I’m lazy so haven’t plugged numbers into a simulator to check and this is just a hunch.

By the way, the main reason Buffer of the Swift is so good is you can change between sets easily. If you wear heavy fortified brass it’s heavy in 5 armour slots, which means to combine it with another set you need to have that set’s weapons and jewellery. Buffer being light makes it a lot easier to try different light armour sets.

Iskiab

By the way. My stats right now buffed are 20k magicka and 19k physical resists wearing swift. I transmuted my necklace to triune and left the other two jewellery pieces as magicka. 2500 magicka regen.

Think I should transmute the jewellery to triune or protective? Leave them as is? I can’t decide - stuck in analysis paralysis.