Nightblade viability

Xivilaikhys

Does the Nightblade class scale well as you level up? I'm level 18 and I can't win PvP duels against lower level people. I played against a DragonKnight or something and lost. I didn't do much damage at all. I'm a Wood Elf duel wielding swords and using a bow as backup. I'm also using the Umbral Assassin guide and choosing the skills its telling me to. Am I not very strong because I didn't choose the right abilities or because Nightblades aren't good in low levels?

the1andonlyskwex

There are way too many factors in play at low level. The person you dueled could just be really good at dueling, or they could have better gear than you, for example.

That said, people whine about nightblades being bad all the time on these forums. I think that's mostly because they got used to being overpowered and haven't managed to adapt to normal balancing, but YMMV.

SimplyRuben

Personally, Nightblades need a buff. But. Due to how they perform in PvP and the builds people run on them this is unlikely as there are a few gank builds that the community loves to cry about and they use this to say NBs are OP and so ZoS has been continuesly nerfing them for long times now.

In terms of PvE they can be amazing, but they face a different issue, most of their damage skills (class related one's) are locked to the 42/50 level in a skill tree (looking at Shade & Grim Focus) which both are a big part of your damage output and burst.

TL;DR it's to early to judge the class for your current level, try to make it untill you have both Shade & Grim Focus and then judge the class.

gatekeeper13

Problem with nightblades is that in melee they are heavily based on attacks from stealth and stuns. If you take this out, they are actually pretty weak compared to other classes.

It's a complicated class and needs time to learn it's pros and cons.

butterrum222

If you have no cp yet make sure your opponent isn’t secretly pumped full of cp at under 50 levels

Xivilaikhys

I don't mean to look like I'm complaining. I just don't have much experience with ESO. sorry. I chose the Nightblade class because its my favorite type of character in video games. I just wanted to know why I suck. Is it me? The class? My skill choices? And now that you mention it, my equipment? And I guess what I want to ask is how to make this class work, or if they are still viable.

I've restarted a character in the past like in 2016 because I would die to most monsters around the world and I was getting frustrated. This time, I've been doing better in PvE fights but I feel useless when I duel or go in Cyrodil. I'm not looking for like an extensive guide but maybe just some tips or advice to point me in the right direction. I can post my stats and equipment and skills once I'm able to if that would help.

Thanks for replying and your patience.

Tommy_The_Gun

Well... low level class is Always weak, so it is not something you are doing wrong. Duelling at low level is not a good way to determine if class is strong or not.

But if you are asking about how NB preforms vs others... Well... lets just say that there aren't many NB in a high MR BGs (Player skill rating. The more you win, mm will place you against more skilled players).
With that being said, NB can be used, if you manage to master it, but class has a very steep learning curve. But, even if you will be top NB player, with current state of the class, you will be only gimping yourself vs playing different class.

Phreeki

First stop using ZoS skill advisor, it is complete garbage.
Instead do some looking around and find a build you like, there are 100's of them online and even the worst one is better than anything the "skill advisor" will give you. They are a great starting point for new players and you can add to or change as it suits your playstyle.

Don't worry about "beating" people at low level, instead learn how they beat you, ask them questions most people who duel will be glad to give advice not everyone who pvp's is toxic.

mystkldrgnb14_ESO

He's level 18 - "git gud"? No one is good at level 18 having never played a game before.

First off - you're low level. You aren't gonna be able to beat much of anything in PVP, you're still learning the basics so focus on that. Go start doing some reading and research into the class/game/what you want to do.

Agreed with others, you don't really need a point guide and it may very well tell you nonsense. Read the abilities - at this level you really should be able to tell what works best based on what you're doing and what you need. By the time you hit 50 (not CP past fifty just plain 50) you'll have maxed out all the NB specific skills and a few of the weapon lines too, no problem.

You'd be better served by doing a bit more research on where you want to go (pvp etc) here in the PVP forums and on other TESO guide sites so you'll know what 'end game' pvp build would be most helpful to you and that's where you can also really see how "viable" NB playstyle is for PVP or whatever else you are wanting to do. This game isn't so straight forward as "this is the one build to rule them all so spec into this and that's all you need."

Solo/Duel PVP is a whole other beast vs. Cyrodil/Group PVP and that includes what classes are best at which type of play.

TL;DR - You just started. Expecting yourself to own in PVP before you even get through half the levels is putting way too much pressure and expectation on you, the class, and the game. Put some more time into the research about what you are wanting to do at post-50 so you know where you're heading and then just play the game to practice. But practice is important and at level 18 you don't even have the skills or abilities you need to be able to even "practice" what wins.

Xivilaikhys

Thanks. And thanks for everyone who replied. I actually learned a lot so far just from reading your responses.

Ackwalan

At low level you may want to use heavy armor sets for PvP. You'll be tempted to use a medium NB set, but you don't have the class skills unlocked yet. So get your armor an resistance up (20K +) and practice.

technohic

I dont know how it is that low of level, and for all the "not many NBs at high MMR battlegrounds" talk; they are all over Cyrodiil and I dont think they are far behind in duels. Not exactly a team play class.

Athyrium93

To the dude saying "git gud" calm yourself, no one is "good" at low levels on their first character. So be nice, and if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

To OP, don't worry about it, you probably are bad right now, but so is everyone that is just starting and a lot of people that aren't just starting. Until at least level 50, don't worry about being "good" worry about having fun, worry about leveling a ton of skills, then go change your morphs and re-level them, worry about finding skyshards, and psijic portals, and mages books, and leveling fighters guild, and eventually undaunted.

Your first character is for learning and having fun, go explore, make some in game friends, find cool guilds, until you reach level 50 with high-ish CP and a bunch of maxed skill and crafting lines and millions of gold, you are at a disadvantage compared to other "low level" characters you see running around.

For example other low level characters you see may be benefiting from
-810 CP points (cp is account bound)
-Bought or crafted purple or gold gear SETS with bonuses (because many end game players have maxed crafting or the gold to just buy the gear, or saved it from a previous character they leveled because it is account bound)
-Expensive potions and food (because they can afford it or make it themselves)
-They bought maxed skill lines and sky shards (once an account has one character max a guild or world skill lines it can be purchased in the crown store for other characters, same goes for the skyshards in each zone)
-TONS of experience with eso's combat system and mechanics

(and yes nightblades are hard to level, they are supper squishy and lack their most powerful skills until level 40+ in each of their skill lines I believe)

Finedaible

Nightblade used to be fantastically fun near launch and for a while after, but my opinion on NB as of this date is that they perform 'acceptably' in PvE and perform quite bad in PvP. This is further exacerbated by Nightblades having one of the most complex and dynamic play-styles which is not always favored by lag when the servers decide to throw a tantrum. It took me way too long to learn how to play NB back then, and it doesn't help that Devs have thrown around so many reworks and nerfs over the years to the point where it doesn't even feel like a class anymore. Stamblades in particular have as much personality as a plank of wood. Rogue? Assassin? Shadow Mage? Lol, it doesn't feel like any of those things now.

If you are looking for recommendations however... Templar. Templar brain-dead easy to play. Big sustain, Big damage. Templar survive long enough to learn how to fight.

Deathlord92

For pvp you always want to have a 2 h because of the skill rally it gives you major brutality a nice damage buff and a burst heal it’s a very good skill most players use it including myself. You can either use dw front bar for damage and have your 2 h on the back bar with all your buffs or 2 h front and bow back bar this is how everyone plays stamblade in pvp.

Nagastani

It's not. Thanks for playing @DementedCyclone24

The community thanks you for your inquiry and would like to give a shout out to all ZOS subscribers. Moving on to our next topic on the forums

JacksonCarter13

So people saying you have to play in stealth are dead wrong. While they is the base of the class I wear medium with 2h and sword and board and NO stealth(use a different build for cyro groups). In battlegrounds I die rarely and easily get 7+ kills a game with tons of assist. Alot of people in this game love to stick classes into a bubble and refuse to think outside of it, where honestly any class can be played in almost anyway. Its about finding the right combination of gear and skill morphs and then practicing.

faeeichenlaub

Dueling is very different than performing well in cyrodiil. So if dueling is important to you, you will build and select very different skills. I am a pretty effective bow/bow nightblade. Squishy but deadly. You rely a bit on your teammates and can kite from stealth with some high damage.

Dueling requires in your face high damage output and healing return build. It's apples and oranges depending on your game goals.

I'm not a big dueler, I suck at it. Never won a duel yet! But in cyrodiil? Yeah watch your back. It will take time OP Keep at it. I love being a nightblade. It's certainly not easy mode.

Rukia541

NB kind of lost its identity, its an odd class these days. Not sure how to feel about it.. its just been my main for so long that it feels awkward to play anything else. I think its a horrible class for a new player, I will echo playing the ez mode templar at first and then once you learn the game go back to NB and use a proper build and such.

And also agree that there are far too many variables. My pvp experience really threw me off of liking the game at first, so I learned by lvling to 50, doing vet dungeons.. getting my monster set and other gear after grinding 160 champ points. Then I knew at that point if I was still getting owned its just my lack of skill because I saw good NB owning people.

It can be a very frustrating class as well ^_^

shimm

Good point about the lag particularly hurting nightblades - I stopped using ambush in Cyrodiil because if there’s a Zerg nearby it just doesn’t even work. Lately, I’ve had issues with light attacks not working (especially capping resources, even solo) - this gimps two of the most important skills that keep you alive as a nightblade (siphoning strikes and grim focus). Compare this with Templar, where you just need to keep jabbin’.

dem0n1k

My advice would be to level your character to lvl20, then get a guildie or a generous player to craft you some level20 set gear like Hundings Rage, New Moon Acolyte or the like. Put lvl20 glyphs on everything. Get some lvl20 jewelry from guild traders. Get some decent buf drink like Dubious.

Then re-try Cyrodiil in the under 50 campaign.. you should be decently strong.

As others in this thread have already said... dueling can be a different story.. too many factors at play. The player you duel might be lower level but for all you know they may have 810CP applied which would make them wayyyyy stronger.

Try & find a PVP guild for your faction & ask in the guild chat for crafters, tips etc..

The stamina Nightblade is decently strong this patch IMO.

Sylvermynx

Stamblade is really hard for me now with mega ping. I've never been happy with magblade, just not my thing at all. My stamblades right now are.... on life support (which is likely due to satellite and that mega ping...)

technohic

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Stamblade is really hard for me now with mega ping. I've never been happy with magblade, just not my thing at all. My stamblades right now are.... on life support (which is likely due to satellite and that mega ping...)

I will say NB is my least favorite class to play in bad server performance. You want to kill quickly with combos that do not include a precast-delayed burst. You actively have to fire everything the moment you want them to hit. If they macro-slice; you either nail them with what causes a lot if crying about being hit with 3 abilities at once you see posted on the forum; or you blow your burst into a dodge roll after a break free.

Xivilaikhys

Thanks. Your replies and advice is really helpful. I hope as I play more and get more experienced, I'll be able to get the hang of playing a NB. Wish me luck!

Alendrin

DementedCyclone24 wrote: »

Does the Nightblade class scale well as you level up? I'm level 18 and I can't win PvP duels against lower level people. I played against a DragonKnight or something and lost. I didn't do much damage at all. I'm a Wood Elf duel wielding swords and using a bow as backup. I'm also using the Umbral Assassin guide and choosing the skills its telling me to. Am I not very strong because I didn't choose the right abilities or because Nightblades aren't good in low levels?

Level 18 is pretty meaningless. You are 2% into the game. When fighting someone, a lot of things matter. Do you have champion points? Did they? What about gear? What were you wearing? What about them? Did they have upgraded sets? Did you?

If they have high champion points and you don't for example, that is a huge difference in power level.

Also, at level 18 you are missing a lot of key skills and passives as well.