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• PC/Mac: EU megaserver for maintenance – September 9, 22:00 UTC (6:00PM EDT) - September 10, 16:00 UTC (12:00PM EDT) https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/682784
Stamina Nightblade "Critical Beast" build for PvP (Elsweyr)
susmitds
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Hey there, I wanted to release this build earlier but got delayed by IRL stuff. Keep in mind, this is a write-up build guide, as I lack capable hardware to record videos at an acceptable frame rate.
This build is a skirmisher Dual Wield and Bow NB bleed build, that is aimed for CP combat, but with more sustain investment can be used non-CP combat too. It relies on massive up-front AoE burst followed by high DoT pressure to secure kills, and survives by relying on high mobility and resistances backed up by high HoT uptime. If it sounds more like a StamSorc build, it is because it is more similar to traditional BG StamSorc builds than standard NB builds.
Khajiit - 10% Critical Damage/Healing. Tri-Stat bonuses. Moderate Primary Resource + Off Resource sustain. Khajiit is a central part of this build, as the damage of this build almost totally comes from Critical Hits as well the self-healing which rely heavily on crits. More on this later. Preferred Race.
Nord - Our second choice due to the massive resistance Nords have, along with ultimate regen passive and high health,stamina stats.
Orc or Bosmer - Both have high mobility to help with kiting and high weapon damage/stamina recovery. Joint third choice.
Mechanical Acuity is the central piece of this gear setup. Together with Khajiit and Shadow, we get humongous burst damage in the five second window. It also forces our Heals to critically heal, synergising further with Khajiit critical heals, which means both Vigor and Dark Cloak will act as pseudo burst heals, during this window. The Master's Bow, with the Infused Weapon Damage enchant, provides a high weapon damage to start our combos. The Master Dual Wield and Double-DoT/Drain poisons apply huge pressure on top of our burst and Khajiit critical damage passive is the only racial passive that increases their damage.
There are certain changes, We can make like swapping out one Protective jewelry for one Swift jewelry, allowing us to hit max speed as we already hit around 94% extra speed with Major Expedition, Windrunning and medium armor passives alone. We can also use Troll King instead of Blood Spawn.
Choices: As you might have noted, I left some choices in the gear setup. I will explain these here.
Master Dual Wield weapon choices
Main bar is always an axe for 8% chance to proc Twin Blade and Blunt bleed. We have an option for the offhand weapon.
Sword is a great general option for most situations as it increases all our damage at all times, including during the MA proc phase.
Dagger is also a great choice as even though it is useless due to 100% crit during the MA proc phase, it boosts our crit during the MA downtime, pushing it 50% and thereby allowing us to further continue our offense.
Axe is also good as it will increase the chance to proc Twin Blade and Blunt bleed to 16%.
Mace is generally inferior to other weapon choices for this case as it won't affect the bleed damages which is a major part of our single-target damage.
For other choices, like belt weight and third big armor enchant, it is down to personal choice of sustain vs survivability vs primary resource pool.
Unlike other builds, I won't give a fixed skill bar setup. Rather I am providing a skill bar skeleton to which additional skills are added depending on the situations.
Dual Wield
Bow
I will discuss ultimate and utility choices below.
Relentless Focus (Burst+Massive Mitigation) (MUST SLOT) - Our tier one utility. Build up a bursty bow proc while enjoying significant mitigation and then unleash it in the perfect time for massive burst. This skill needs to be slotted, no matter what other utility skills we need to drop in its place. The reason I did not slot it by default in the skill bars is because I did not want to fix which bar to slot it in as there are significant advantages to slotting in either bar.
Shadow Image (DoT+Minor Maim+Teleportation) - Decent DoT and allows teleportation-based kiting. Applies Minor Maim for 15% less damage on one enemy. Tier one skill and a must have for solo play. Not so useful for group play though.
Dark Shades (DoT+AoE Minor Maim) - Good damage, follows the player. Main usage is AoE Minor Maim. Great for group play if no one else is providing Minor Maim.
Race Against Time (Minor Force+Major Expedition+Snare Removal and Immunity for 2 Secs) - Minor Force for 12% Crit damage is a main reason to opt for this skill, we are building for critical damage and this is the one good source for this skill with extra bonuses. We have better sources for the other two bonuses though but slotting RAT saves us bar-space. Only issue is that it competes with Phantasmal Escape for bar space, which is a better mobility skill with an equally good buff.
Phantasmal Escape (Major Evasion+Snare Removal and Immunity for 4 Secs) - Major Evasion and high snare immunity uptime is very very useful in this AoE meta. Especially for a build like this, which needs us to enter the center of the AoE blackhole to unleash our burst and stay there to finish off enemies. Only issue is that it competes with RAT for bar space but there are other sources of Major Evasion, which might suit our needs. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Mirage (Major Evasion+Minor resists) - It is better than Phantasmal Escape if we are already using RAT and we want Major Evasion as well. It also comes with Minor Resists which is also good, as it helps with rampant highly penetration of some builds. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Deadly Cloak (Major Evasion+AoE DoT) - In case, we are already using RAT and we want Major Evasion as well along with a bit more damage, instead of the defensive option Mirage. Deadly Cloak deals mediocre AoE on top of other AoE skills, helping maximize AoE output. It costs stamina though, where as Magicka utility is generally more preferable.
Ambush (Gap Closer+Minor Vulnerability) - Gives access to a rare debuff of Minor Vulnerability which increases damage taken by one enemy by 8% and it works with Bleed unlike Major Fracture. A great ability for groups, as it gives us unique utility.
Reaper's Mark (Major Fracture+Major Berserk on something dies) - It provides us Major Fracture for 5k+ penetration, which others in group in AoEs may be already provide. The real kicker is the Major Berserk for 5 secs if something dies. Even though, it might impractical at first glance, there are some easy ways to cheese this, which I will talk more on later. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Leeching Strikes (Sustain+Healing) - Allows our LAs and HAs to heal us for a significant amount which is good for survivability. It is also a great sustain skill gives us 4k Stamina when it ends and returns significant stamina per LA/HA.
Deep Thoughts or Introspection (Sustain+Survivability) - Lets us regain our resources in a channeled state with Major Protection and a HoT to cover us. Can be used as an alternative to block. If we have Dark Cloak and Vigor up with max Relentless Focus Stacks, it can help us survive huge incoming damage, while restoring resources super fast. Great skill for non-CP as well as CP.
Mass Hysteria (Instant AoE CC) - CCs six nearby people. Goes through block and dodge. Can be used as melee burst enabler.
Manifestation of Terror (Pre-emptive AoE CC) - Creates two traps which can be used as both for reactive and pre-emptive AoE CCs, opening up various creative gameplay options. Great utility while in groups.
Killer's Blade (Execute) - A great execute which will helps finish us off targets, especially with the lack of Major Defile. Not very necessary but definitely helps with tanky targets.
Dawnbreaker of Smiting (AoE damage) - Great upfront AoE burst, AoE stun and a significant DoT. Pretty much a complete package when it comes to AoE burst. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Incapacitating Strike (ST damage) - Excellent upfront burst at a cheap cost plus 20% more damage, which will enable further bursts. Gives us Reave passively, which returns 100 stamina and magicka per LA/HA. Silences at 120 cost. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Soul Harvest (ST damage+Major Defile) - Great upfront burst at a cheap cost plus 20% more damage and Major Defile, which will enable further bursts. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Ballista (ST damage) - Hits super hard with constant pressure over 4 secs. Allows us to finish off tanky enemies, or at least force an enemy into the defensive to escape. Can be used on only Bow bar.
Thrive in Chaos (AoE damage) - Strong AoE DoT and also heals us for 50% of the damage done. Increases damage done by up to 30% for 6 enemies, which can lead to massive Power Extraction hits. Can be used on only DW bar.
Soul Tether (AoE damage) - Great upfront AoE burst, AoE stun and a significant DoT and HoT. Slightly lesser damage than DBoS in CP with slightly higher cost, but the HoT is significant can save us. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Soul Siphon (AoE Burst Heal+Major Vitality) - A massive burst heal for you and everybody in your group and gives everybody Major Vitality, followed by a very bursty HoT. The strongest healing ultimate in the game. One of the best group ultimates can save a group from a wipe, especially without dedicated healers and open up offensive windows. Better used on Bow bar.
Choice of Final Skills
Now, I have provided here a list of possible skills to use to feel up your bars and leaving it up to you, which skills to use. You want to maximize damage by having access to at least one of the three, Minor Force, Major Fracture, Minor Vulnerability, possibly multiple. You will want to have a way to remove snares and maximize defense too with Major Evasion. You will want to make sure to have at least one Assassination skill on each bar to have the NB critical hit passive. I am providing some example bar setups.
Solo Setup
Group Selfish Setup
Group Utility Setup
This build relies heavily on mobility. The basic gameplay here is jump on a group of players with HoTs running, burst hard in the MA crit window, DoT up the rest and exit before more arrive in the scene. Even with relatively high defense, don't expect to be able to facetank a good group, especially in no-CP as it relies heavily on HoTs to survive and sooner or later you will get tons of DoTs/defiles on you, which the HoTs will no longer reliable outheal, leaving you susceptible to burst.
Firstly, never let the Dark Cloak or Vigor drop. Stack them on top of each other at all times, like a Sorc would stack shields. Try not to enter melee range without a few Relentless Focus stacks already collected with Bow LAs. We can easily destroy a single target from range with the right combo. Stay mobile and look for opportunities to enter and burst out a group. As long as we don't overextend, we will be fine though.
The five-second Mechanical Acuity proc is the time to go all out on offense. Don't go defense in this phase unless absolutely necessary, as max critical heals from Vigor, Cloak and other HoTs will be ticking in the background healing us for a ridiculous baseline HPS in the background. The main learning curve of this build is to get good at lining up your combos to coincide the MA proc, cause the damage during this phase is strong enough to pierce very high amounts mitigation, especially if you can line it up with strong damage boosts like Incap Strike, Major Berserk or Thrive in Chaos. You want to use Immovability pots to prevent being CCed during this phase.
I will explain some of the possible damage combos.
General Single-Target Rotation
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->HA(DW)->Twin Slashes->LA->Power Extraction->Damage Combo
General AoE Damage Combo
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->HA(DW)->LA->Power Extraction->LA->AoE Ult->LA->Power Extraction->LA->Twin Slashes on Survivor->LA->Power Extraction
Ranged Damage Combo
Requires Ballista and Relentless Focus on Bow bar
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->LA->Draining Shot->LA->Ultimate->Bow Proc->Spam Power Extraction
Keep in Ballista's damage goes up by 5% for every LA for 5 LAs, due to Hawkeye passive, so to maximize damage, obtain max Hawkeye stacks.
If you have Incap Strike on Bow bar - you have to use this a melee combo. Just cast Incap Strike before the Draining Shot if you have less than 120 ult. Otherwise go the
Melee Damage Combo
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->LA->Rending Slashes>LA->Ultimate->Bow Proc
Depending on your skill setup, you will want to sneak things like Ambush/Mark/Whatever in.
Now, that the general stuff is out of the way, I will explain some cheesier but more complicated things.
Getting regular Major Berserk access from Reaper's Mark
For this, you can need to act like Fury spamming Sorc. Stay behind your teammates/in stealth marking who ever is about to die, while spamming LA+Poison Injection building ult and Relentless Focus stacks. You can also mark a Necro pet and you will get Major Berserk pretty easily. Another way is to mark a sorc pet, kill it to gain Major Berserk. Then again, you won't need to do that much in most cases, just mark and Poison-injection the squishy/under-pressure guy before jumping in spamming AoE. He will almost immediately die the moment MA procs, when Major Berserk will further stack with your MA proc phase, sneak a chance after the MA proc phase to mark the next guy and extend your offensive(keep mark on your DW bar), spam Power Extraction chain killing any survivors.
Thrive in Chaos
This is a very underrated ability and in general, outdone by DBoS. This is however one of the special cases. With 100% crit guaranteed by Mechanical Acuity, it becomes a very bursty DoT and if you can hit multiple targets, the HoT from it multiplies, which also crits, basically giving you Soul Siphon levels of self-heal for 8 secs. The real kicker is the 5% extra damage per target hit, so if you can tag six people, you get 30% extra damage, which you can stack with Major Berserk from the previous method on top of MA proc, which further boost the heal from the damage. This can virtually make you invincible for a short window with ridiculous damage numbers. I remember getting a 17.5k Power Extraction this way.
Understanding the Mechanical Acuity proc
This is the primary cliche of this build. During AoE fights, it almost activates immediately. In single-target fights, by the time you have stacking DoTs, it would already procced. In general, the four hits from DW heavy into Twin Slashes regularly activates it. The real learning curve comes from the fact, you will not be killing good players in the first MA proc phase, you spend up a lot of time building up pressure via DoTs and setting up the situation. While you still have high enough stats during the MA cooldown, the easier option is to wait out the downtime and line up your burst to coincide perfectly for the next MA proc phase. You should use Immovable pots to maximize the usage of each phase.
For example, I was fighting this tanky pet sorc and I got stunned by Streak during the first MA proc phase, wasting most of it. So I turtled up and DoTed up the matriach and LA spammed it to get it's HP low. With around 2-3 seconds left for the MA downtime to end, I popped an Immov pot and switched DoTs on the Sorc and started to LA spam the pet to death, proccing both MA and Major Berserk as well giving me max Hawkeye stacks. Swiftly dropped a Ballista on the Sorc, followed by a Draining Shot and Bow Proc, and this time inspite of his tankiness, he couldn't outshield the incoming damage, nor could he spare time to resummon the dead Matriach to heal, killing him.
Addons on PC can help you keep track of MA proc but you wouldn't need once you get used to it.
Major Brutality Source
Some of you maybe wonder how I get Major Brutality as this is a DW/Bow build. The thing is, Major Brutality in practice is like 8% extra damage and is not needed for the most of the initial setup work when we build Relentless stacks, stack DoTs as the upfront direct damage part of the DoTs is too low to matter. The real damage part begins with Power Extraction and it itself provides Major Brutality. Only exception is there is some build I can't get in melee range of without putting myself in a very vulnerable position and I need to use Ranged combos to soften them up first. Then I pop a Weapon Power pot.
Expected Damage Numbers
Edited by susmitds on May 31, 2019 11:34PM
General Information
This build is a skirmisher Dual Wield and Bow NB bleed build, that is aimed for CP combat, but with more sustain investment can be used non-CP combat too. It relies on massive up-front AoE burst followed by high DoT pressure to secure kills, and survives by relying on high mobility and resistances backed up by high HoT uptime. If it sounds more like a StamSorc build, it is because it is more similar to traditional BG StamSorc builds than standard NB builds.
Stats
Race
Khajiit - 10% Critical Damage/Healing. Tri-Stat bonuses. Moderate Primary Resource + Off Resource sustain. Khajiit is a central part of this build, as the damage of this build almost totally comes from Critical Hits as well the self-healing which rely heavily on crits. More on this later. Preferred Race.
Nord - Our second choice due to the massive resistance Nords have, along with ultimate regen passive and high health,stamina stats.
Orc or Bosmer - Both have high mobility to help with kiting and high weapon damage/stamina recovery. Joint third choice.
Food/Drink
Blue HP+Stamina food for CP
Blue HP+Stamina food for CP
Mundus and Nature
Shadow - Maximum burst
Vampire Stage 3
Shadow - Maximum burst
Vampire Stage 3
Gear
Mechanical Acuity is the central piece of this gear setup. Together with Khajiit and Shadow, we get humongous burst damage in the five second window. It also forces our Heals to critically heal, synergising further with Khajiit critical heals, which means both Vigor and Dark Cloak will act as pseudo burst heals, during this window. The Master's Bow, with the Infused Weapon Damage enchant, provides a high weapon damage to start our combos. The Master Dual Wield and Double-DoT/Drain poisons apply huge pressure on top of our burst and Khajiit critical damage passive is the only racial passive that increases their damage.
There are certain changes, We can make like swapping out one Protective jewelry for one Swift jewelry, allowing us to hit max speed as we already hit around 94% extra speed with Major Expedition, Windrunning and medium armor passives alone. We can also use Troll King instead of Blood Spawn.
Choices: As you might have noted, I left some choices in the gear setup. I will explain these here.
Master Dual Wield weapon choices
Main bar is always an axe for 8% chance to proc Twin Blade and Blunt bleed. We have an option for the offhand weapon.
Sword is a great general option for most situations as it increases all our damage at all times, including during the MA proc phase.
Dagger is also a great choice as even though it is useless due to 100% crit during the MA proc phase, it boosts our crit during the MA downtime, pushing it 50% and thereby allowing us to further continue our offense.
Axe is also good as it will increase the chance to proc Twin Blade and Blunt bleed to 16%.
Mace is generally inferior to other weapon choices for this case as it won't affect the bleed damages which is a major part of our single-target damage.
For other choices, like belt weight and third big armor enchant, it is down to personal choice of sustain vs survivability vs primary resource pool.
Potions
Tri-stat pots
Immovability pots
Weapon Power pots
Tri-stat pots
Immovability pots
Weapon Power pots
Skills
Unlike other builds, I won't give a fixed skill bar setup. Rather I am providing a skill bar skeleton to which additional skills are added depending on the situations.
Dual Wield
- Utility#1
- DoT#1 - Our primary DoT, Master DW Twin Slashes takes this spot.
- Blood Craze - The HoT from this morph can stack on top of Cloak and Vigor, increasing our survivability.
- Rending Slashes - It does not boost our survivability but the snare is significant making it easier to connect our AoE spammable.
- DPS Spammable - Power Extraction - Great Range, AoE spammable that hits as hard as a single target spammable. Also provides Major Brutality.
- HoT#1 - We slot both Vigor and Cloak, one in each bar, it is upto the user to which bar to use for which to maximize uptime.
- Dark Cloak - Slightly weaker than Vigor but is longer in duration and also provides Minor Protection. Use which ever bar has higher Spell Crit and HP.
- Vigor - Best stamina HoT.
- Utility#2
- Ultimate#1
Bow
- Utility#3
- DoT#2 - Poison Injection - A fairly good DoT with passive execute, which sometimes let it tick at Master DW bleed numbers. More importantly it procs 300+450 weapon damage.
- CC+Burst heal - Draining Shot - Our burst enabler, which can be merged seamlessly into a rotation and oh-*** heal.
- HoT#2 - Vigor/Dark Cloak - Whichever we didn't slot in DW bar.
- Utility#4
- Ultimate#2
I will discuss ultimate and utility choices below.
Utility Skills
Relentless Focus (Burst+Massive Mitigation) (MUST SLOT) - Our tier one utility. Build up a bursty bow proc while enjoying significant mitigation and then unleash it in the perfect time for massive burst. This skill needs to be slotted, no matter what other utility skills we need to drop in its place. The reason I did not slot it by default in the skill bars is because I did not want to fix which bar to slot it in as there are significant advantages to slotting in either bar.
Shadow Image (DoT+Minor Maim+Teleportation) - Decent DoT and allows teleportation-based kiting. Applies Minor Maim for 15% less damage on one enemy. Tier one skill and a must have for solo play. Not so useful for group play though.
Dark Shades (DoT+AoE Minor Maim) - Good damage, follows the player. Main usage is AoE Minor Maim. Great for group play if no one else is providing Minor Maim.
Race Against Time (Minor Force+Major Expedition+Snare Removal and Immunity for 2 Secs) - Minor Force for 12% Crit damage is a main reason to opt for this skill, we are building for critical damage and this is the one good source for this skill with extra bonuses. We have better sources for the other two bonuses though but slotting RAT saves us bar-space. Only issue is that it competes with Phantasmal Escape for bar space, which is a better mobility skill with an equally good buff.
Phantasmal Escape (Major Evasion+Snare Removal and Immunity for 4 Secs) - Major Evasion and high snare immunity uptime is very very useful in this AoE meta. Especially for a build like this, which needs us to enter the center of the AoE blackhole to unleash our burst and stay there to finish off enemies. Only issue is that it competes with RAT for bar space but there are other sources of Major Evasion, which might suit our needs. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Mirage (Major Evasion+Minor resists) - It is better than Phantasmal Escape if we are already using RAT and we want Major Evasion as well. It also comes with Minor Resists which is also good, as it helps with rampant highly penetration of some builds. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Deadly Cloak (Major Evasion+AoE DoT) - In case, we are already using RAT and we want Major Evasion as well along with a bit more damage, instead of the defensive option Mirage. Deadly Cloak deals mediocre AoE on top of other AoE skills, helping maximize AoE output. It costs stamina though, where as Magicka utility is generally more preferable.
Ambush (Gap Closer+Minor Vulnerability) - Gives access to a rare debuff of Minor Vulnerability which increases damage taken by one enemy by 8% and it works with Bleed unlike Major Fracture. A great ability for groups, as it gives us unique utility.
Reaper's Mark (Major Fracture+Major Berserk on something dies) - It provides us Major Fracture for 5k+ penetration, which others in group in AoEs may be already provide. The real kicker is the Major Berserk for 5 secs if something dies. Even though, it might impractical at first glance, there are some easy ways to cheese this, which I will talk more on later. Assassination Skill, so it provides 2% crit and NB critical damage access.
Leeching Strikes (Sustain+Healing) - Allows our LAs and HAs to heal us for a significant amount which is good for survivability. It is also a great sustain skill gives us 4k Stamina when it ends and returns significant stamina per LA/HA.
Deep Thoughts or Introspection (Sustain+Survivability) - Lets us regain our resources in a channeled state with Major Protection and a HoT to cover us. Can be used as an alternative to block. If we have Dark Cloak and Vigor up with max Relentless Focus Stacks, it can help us survive huge incoming damage, while restoring resources super fast. Great skill for non-CP as well as CP.
Mass Hysteria (Instant AoE CC) - CCs six nearby people. Goes through block and dodge. Can be used as melee burst enabler.
Manifestation of Terror (Pre-emptive AoE CC) - Creates two traps which can be used as both for reactive and pre-emptive AoE CCs, opening up various creative gameplay options. Great utility while in groups.
Killer's Blade (Execute) - A great execute which will helps finish us off targets, especially with the lack of Major Defile. Not very necessary but definitely helps with tanky targets.
Ultimate Skills
Dawnbreaker of Smiting (AoE damage) - Great upfront AoE burst, AoE stun and a significant DoT. Pretty much a complete package when it comes to AoE burst. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Incapacitating Strike (ST damage) - Excellent upfront burst at a cheap cost plus 20% more damage, which will enable further bursts. Gives us Reave passively, which returns 100 stamina and magicka per LA/HA. Silences at 120 cost. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Soul Harvest (ST damage+Major Defile) - Great upfront burst at a cheap cost plus 20% more damage and Major Defile, which will enable further bursts. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Ballista (ST damage) - Hits super hard with constant pressure over 4 secs. Allows us to finish off tanky enemies, or at least force an enemy into the defensive to escape. Can be used on only Bow bar.
Thrive in Chaos (AoE damage) - Strong AoE DoT and also heals us for 50% of the damage done. Increases damage done by up to 30% for 6 enemies, which can lead to massive Power Extraction hits. Can be used on only DW bar.
Soul Tether (AoE damage) - Great upfront AoE burst, AoE stun and a significant DoT and HoT. Slightly lesser damage than DBoS in CP with slightly higher cost, but the HoT is significant can save us. Can be used on both Bow bar and DW bar.
Soul Siphon (AoE Burst Heal+Major Vitality) - A massive burst heal for you and everybody in your group and gives everybody Major Vitality, followed by a very bursty HoT. The strongest healing ultimate in the game. One of the best group ultimates can save a group from a wipe, especially without dedicated healers and open up offensive windows. Better used on Bow bar.
Choice of Final Skills
Now, I have provided here a list of possible skills to use to feel up your bars and leaving it up to you, which skills to use. You want to maximize damage by having access to at least one of the three, Minor Force, Major Fracture, Minor Vulnerability, possibly multiple. You will want to have a way to remove snares and maximize defense too with Major Evasion. You will want to make sure to have at least one Assassination skill on each bar to have the NB critical hit passive. I am providing some example bar setups.
Solo Setup
Group Selfish Setup
Group Utility Setup
Combat
This build relies heavily on mobility. The basic gameplay here is jump on a group of players with HoTs running, burst hard in the MA crit window, DoT up the rest and exit before more arrive in the scene. Even with relatively high defense, don't expect to be able to facetank a good group, especially in no-CP as it relies heavily on HoTs to survive and sooner or later you will get tons of DoTs/defiles on you, which the HoTs will no longer reliable outheal, leaving you susceptible to burst.
Firstly, never let the Dark Cloak or Vigor drop. Stack them on top of each other at all times, like a Sorc would stack shields. Try not to enter melee range without a few Relentless Focus stacks already collected with Bow LAs. We can easily destroy a single target from range with the right combo. Stay mobile and look for opportunities to enter and burst out a group. As long as we don't overextend, we will be fine though.
The five-second Mechanical Acuity proc is the time to go all out on offense. Don't go defense in this phase unless absolutely necessary, as max critical heals from Vigor, Cloak and other HoTs will be ticking in the background healing us for a ridiculous baseline HPS in the background. The main learning curve of this build is to get good at lining up your combos to coincide the MA proc, cause the damage during this phase is strong enough to pierce very high amounts mitigation, especially if you can line it up with strong damage boosts like Incap Strike, Major Berserk or Thrive in Chaos. You want to use Immovability pots to prevent being CCed during this phase.
I will explain some of the possible damage combos.
General Single-Target Rotation
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->HA(DW)->Twin Slashes->LA->Power Extraction->Damage Combo
General AoE Damage Combo
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->HA(DW)->LA->Power Extraction->LA->AoE Ult->LA->Power Extraction->LA->Twin Slashes on Survivor->LA->Power Extraction
Ranged Damage Combo
Requires Ballista and Relentless Focus on Bow bar
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->LA->Draining Shot->LA->Ultimate->Bow Proc->Spam Power Extraction
Keep in Ballista's damage goes up by 5% for every LA for 5 LAs, due to Hawkeye passive, so to maximize damage, obtain max Hawkeye stacks.
If you have Incap Strike on Bow bar - you have to use this a melee combo. Just cast Incap Strike before the Draining Shot if you have less than 120 ult. Otherwise go the
Melee Damage Combo
HA/2xLA->Poison Injection->LA->Rending Slashes>LA->Ultimate->Bow Proc
Depending on your skill setup, you will want to sneak things like Ambush/Mark/Whatever in.
Now, that the general stuff is out of the way, I will explain some cheesier but more complicated things.
Getting regular Major Berserk access from Reaper's Mark
For this, you can need to act like Fury spamming Sorc. Stay behind your teammates/in stealth marking who ever is about to die, while spamming LA+Poison Injection building ult and Relentless Focus stacks. You can also mark a Necro pet and you will get Major Berserk pretty easily. Another way is to mark a sorc pet, kill it to gain Major Berserk. Then again, you won't need to do that much in most cases, just mark and Poison-injection the squishy/under-pressure guy before jumping in spamming AoE. He will almost immediately die the moment MA procs, when Major Berserk will further stack with your MA proc phase, sneak a chance after the MA proc phase to mark the next guy and extend your offensive(keep mark on your DW bar), spam Power Extraction chain killing any survivors.
Thrive in Chaos
This is a very underrated ability and in general, outdone by DBoS. This is however one of the special cases. With 100% crit guaranteed by Mechanical Acuity, it becomes a very bursty DoT and if you can hit multiple targets, the HoT from it multiplies, which also crits, basically giving you Soul Siphon levels of self-heal for 8 secs. The real kicker is the 5% extra damage per target hit, so if you can tag six people, you get 30% extra damage, which you can stack with Major Berserk from the previous method on top of MA proc, which further boost the heal from the damage. This can virtually make you invincible for a short window with ridiculous damage numbers. I remember getting a 17.5k Power Extraction this way.
Understanding the Mechanical Acuity proc
This is the primary cliche of this build. During AoE fights, it almost activates immediately. In single-target fights, by the time you have stacking DoTs, it would already procced. In general, the four hits from DW heavy into Twin Slashes regularly activates it. The real learning curve comes from the fact, you will not be killing good players in the first MA proc phase, you spend up a lot of time building up pressure via DoTs and setting up the situation. While you still have high enough stats during the MA cooldown, the easier option is to wait out the downtime and line up your burst to coincide perfectly for the next MA proc phase. You should use Immovable pots to maximize the usage of each phase.
For example, I was fighting this tanky pet sorc and I got stunned by Streak during the first MA proc phase, wasting most of it. So I turtled up and DoTed up the matriach and LA spammed it to get it's HP low. With around 2-3 seconds left for the MA downtime to end, I popped an Immov pot and switched DoTs on the Sorc and started to LA spam the pet to death, proccing both MA and Major Berserk as well giving me max Hawkeye stacks. Swiftly dropped a Ballista on the Sorc, followed by a Draining Shot and Bow Proc, and this time inspite of his tankiness, he couldn't outshield the incoming damage, nor could he spare time to resummon the dead Matriach to heal, killing him.
Addons on PC can help you keep track of MA proc but you wouldn't need once you get used to it.
Major Brutality Source
Some of you maybe wonder how I get Major Brutality as this is a DW/Bow build. The thing is, Major Brutality in practice is like 8% extra damage and is not needed for the most of the initial setup work when we build Relentless stacks, stack DoTs as the upfront direct damage part of the DoTs is too low to matter. The real damage part begins with Power Extraction and it itself provides Major Brutality. Only exception is there is some build I can't get in melee range of without putting myself in a very vulnerable position and I need to use Ranged combos to soften them up first. Then I pop a Weapon Power pot.
Expected Damage Numbers
18
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Elwendryll✭✭✭✭✭
✭Finally, we got the reveal, thanks
PC - EU - France - AD
Main character: Qojikrin - Khajiit Sorcerer Tank/Stamina DD - since March 25, 2015.
Guildmaster of Oriflamme: Focus on 4 player endgame content.
Member of Brave Cat Trade, Panda Division and Toadhuggers.
All 4-man trifectas - TTT, IR, GH1 -
nsmurfer✭✭✭✭✭The state of the game when stamblades makes better stamsorcs than stamsorcs.....
Must be nice to have so many skills to choose from14 -
Tommy_The_Gun✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Please, stop making such a broken builds. You are only causing further nerfs...
0 -
therift✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭The skill assessment for us 'Padawan-learner' stamblades is enormously helpful. I've found myself on a merry-go-round of skill choices because I don't have the in-depth familiarity with NB that I do with Templar. You've corrected several things that I misunderstood. Many thanks!3 -
nsmurfer✭✭✭✭✭
Never have I seen that strong Steel Tornado though. Power Extraction makes Steel Tornado look weak now.0 -
Sirona_Starr✭✭✭✭✭Just so you know, there is a forum category for combat and character mechanics where you can post and discuss builds and such. Might want to post there instead of in the general discussion thread. There is a reason why they have more than one category. Just saying...............1 -
Iskiab✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Very Nice write up. Interestingly it’s similar to my magblade skirmisher build, so can be adapted to the magblade side with a couple differences:
- Magblades are more reliant on cloak because of less self healing (no vigor)
- No poison injection or draining shot, instead use elemental ring with the BRP staff
- Added dot from lotus fan
- Less resistances as a magblade
- If you want an ultimate like turret you need to use Soul assault.
- I break the 5 piece on acuity on my melee bar... I’ll have to look to see if I can improve my build with double weapon sets. It’s annoying always having to kite/hide until mech procs on my ranged bar before closing into melee
- Less mitigation and healing as a magblade so I’ve found either Undo or Soul Siphon are the best back bar ultimates
P.S. you might want to look at razor caltrops too. It’s been buffed a lot and is a nice ranged aoe for stamEdited by Iskiab on June 1, 2019 2:21AMLooking for any guildies I used to play with:
Havoc Warhammer - Alair
LoC EQ2 - Mayi and Iskiab
PRX and Tabula Rasa - Rift - Iskiab
Or anyone else I used to play games with in guilds I’ve forgotten1 -
TriangularChicken✭✭✭✭Sirona_Starr wrote: »Just so you know, there is a forum category for combat and character mechanics where you can post and discuss builds and such. Might want to post there instead of in the general discussion thread. There is a reason why they have more than one category. Just saying...............
Yes, there is also a forum category for roleplaying, here is the link: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/lore
Might want to post there instead of in the general discussion thread next time you role play. Just saying...............5 -
nsmurfer✭✭✭✭✭
Guess that makes more sense. I still disagree that stam AoEs should hit that hard in any case. Magicka AoEs are so bad in comparison.0 -
thedude33✭✭✭✭✭Those stats are amazing. When I put that gear into the calculator I get nowhere near those numbers.
Would love to see this type of build in action0 -
susmitds✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Those stats are amazing. When I put that gear into the calculator I get nowhere near those numbers.
Would love to see this type of build in action
@thedude33 https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=148875
You will need to activate Master Bow in sets and Berserker buff in buffs.1 -
Saubon✭✭✭Great build sus
As a nord would you consider using different monster set? Pirate/balorgh? 0 -
susmitds✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Great build sus As a nord would you consider using different monster set? Pirate/balorgh?
I would still Bloodspawn. Keep in mind, Nord has lesser stam regen. Bloodspawn in general, is probably one of the best of the Monster sets, just considering the resists and ultimate gain. The stamina regen is basically free. What I would do is drop two protective rings on nord and go infused for more stamina regen and weapon damage.0 -
Coggo✭✭✭I don't even Stamblade but I love well written build guides. This is one of the best. Outstanding effort, sir.2 -
evoniee✭✭✭✭first thing first, what is the point using nb for group play aoe if warden and stamsorc is the king of it?0 -
susmitds✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭
@evonieefirst thing first, what is the point using nb for group play aoe if warden and stamsorc is the king of it?
Because StamNB has access to the strongest PvP AoE spammable. Power Extraction hits at full HP this patch, what Steel Tornado at execute HP previous patch, that's how strong it is. It can outDPS Hurricane+Steel Tornado this patch. It has virtually the same tooltip as Surprise Attack, considered one of the better spammables.
An AoE built StamNB will easily outdamage an AoE built StamSorc, simply because of the fact that AoE DPS requires high standing power, which StamNB has more with the new mitigation and Dark Cloak. More inbuilt mitigation allows more damage investment. Even without Dark Cloak, Stamina NBs have more defense. You don't need DW to make AoE builds for StamNB, you can have similar damage with super tanky SnB/2H builds.
It is different with Warden, who do have the advantage in burst. However, this changes if you can cheese Major Berserk. With Major Berserk, each Power Extraction hits almost as hard sub assault.
The fact gives AoE StamNB builds unique advantage is that they maintain virtually same single-target damage of traditional NB builds, which is significantly higher than classes like stamsorc and stamden, while also bringing unique advantages like Minor Vulnerability, AoE CC and AoE Minor Maim.
It simply comes to the fact till now, single-target NB burst was so high that speccing for AoE on NB was not optimal. Now, with the NB changes, there is more reason to spec into AoE.Edited by susmitds on June 6, 2019 7:24AM3
