pvp nb brawler build?

ReverseVenom

starting over on PS4 after getting 10+ characters to 50 on Xbox (add transfer pls ZOS)

that being said its been a few years since I last paid much attention to the game, I heard they rehashed a bunch of NB skills and the new heal cloak has me interested in running a more sustained focused NB with burst. I'm just wondering if anyone here could offer a build or their advice if they've tried this style of play with any success? I'm not familiar with any new sets but hopefully some of the older ones still hold up and they're easily attainable lol

Olen_Mikko

Nightblades aren't designed to be brawlers, so they have to rely on sets and weapon skills, thus rendering many skills useless.

But Make sure you slot mirage (blur morph) and refreshing path, with dark cloak, so you'll toughen yourself a lot and you activate your Shadow passives.

Pvp is all about timing your burst, so i'd open with fear, then ultimate (dawnbreaker / soul harvest) + relentless focus and you should be on executioner's execute range By now.

DK's, Wardens and templars are naturally better brawlers, so they can utilize more damaging sets, while NB Might need a defensive sets.

Atrael7

I main a stamina brawlblade. I go with nord, for gear I run hrothgar's chill (still good post nerf cause you can proc it on cooldown with surprise attack), deadlands assassin, 2x master maces front bar (with double dot poisons), vateshran greatsword back bar (I can also highly recommend essence thief and pariah for brawler playstyles).

The general approach is to stack up the vatesh, charge up a heavy and smack people over the head, surprise attack stun to proc the hrothgar and spin to win for the execute. That combo alone is enough to burst down a lot of squishier players. Grim focus and incap as you need to. Open with Twin Slashes to put some strong dot pressure on hardier targets before going for the burst. For healing I have rally, dark cloak and vigor, I also run soul tether on the back bar as both an aoe cc and a decent heal when outnumbered. Utility-wise, I use camo hunter, race against time and mirage - stealth detection, mobility and more defenses covered, respectively.

Happy brawling!

gariondavey

milllaurie wrote: »
Yesterday I refreshed my brawler nb with a new build.
I did some duels with my guildies and, well, my nb is OP.
Ravager maul frontbar.
Clever alchemist sword and shield backbar.
Balorgh monster set.
Torc+1trainee. Orzorgas food. 64 into stam. Khajiit.
Backbar skills: leeching strikes, phantasmal escape, dark cloak, vigor, shade, spell wall.
Frontbar skills: rally, camo hunter, merciless, executioneer, surprise attack, incap.
Surprise attacks proc ravager, you proc alchemist on backbar.
In a duel I can get up to 8.2k weapon damage with 500 balorgh stacks.
I would shoot 15k spectral bows in bgs and 10k ones in a duel against an optimised stamcro.
Since khajiit, nb and merciless, the crit modifier sits at 92% without speccing anything. Got a 14400 rally yesterday, yay.
This way you keep your high damage as nb but can brawl like a dk or stamcro. Just keep your dark cloak up at all times .
You can also go vamp because the sustain is superior. 3.2k stam regen fully buffed and 1.7k mag regen fully buffed (torc). Undeath would make you even more unkillable.
Build link:
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=388260

ReverseVenom

@gariondavey @Atrael7

Thank you so much for your responses! Glad to see that it's a possible playstyle and I look forward to reaching cp160 to put him into action!

I may have to do no cp for a while unless the champion system is different, which it appears to be... but I don't know how significant cp is in pvp now post change.

As well since I'm starting over I have no way of accessing most of the sets you both mentioned, obviously your builds are what allow you to do what you do, but do you have some budget/base game suggestions?

If not I'll probably end up getting eso plus for a month and hopefully grind them out but just figuring I should ask if there's more affordable options lol

Atrael7

@ReverseVenom

Happy to help!

I played variations of that build all the way to AR 50 in the no cp cyrodiil campaign and in battlegrounds, it is very much viable. I recently switched to cp pvp because of the no proc changes that came to Ravenwatch, and the build works fine in cp as well, I simply removed some of the stam sustain glyphs/mundus I was running as its easier to sustain through cps and you can focus a bit more on damage.

As for the sets, the arena ones I recommended might not be the easiest to obtain early on indeed, in which case you can replace them with a monster helm like Bloodspawn or Engine Guardian which shouldn't be too much of an issue, as they drop in base game dungeons, and an Endurance back bar weapon from random dungeon rewards (or easier, from traders). As for the other sets, they should be readily available on traders for reasonable prices - Deadlands assassin is an overland set from Blackwood and since that's the latest chapter, there should be plenty of it to go around, Hrothgar's chill is from PvP rewards but its also dropped significantly in price since its' initial release. The damage might not be quite as strong, but you should still be pretty beefy and survivable and over time you can work on getting upgrades.

Also, you might not be aware of this, but if you go into the no cp cyrodiil or IC campaigns, there is a no proc set restriction in place currently. The sets that I suggested no longer work there, and I've not kept up with playing on there lately, but you can check for the lists of sets that are allowed in this thread. If memory serves, Spriggans, Fortified Brass and Slimecraw all work in there, so that might be an alternative setup that might work out if you choose to go there while you level up.

gariondavey

ReverseVenom wrote: »

@gariondavey @Atrael7

Thank you so much for your responses! Glad to see that it's a possible playstyle and I look forward to reaching cp160 to put him into action!

I may have to do no cp for a while unless the champion system is different, which it appears to be... but I don't know how significant cp is in pvp now post change.

As well since I'm starting over I have no way of accessing most of the sets you both mentioned, obviously your builds are what allow you to do what you do, but do you have some budget/base game suggestions?

If not I'll probably end up getting eso plus for a month and hopefully grind them out but just figuring I should ask if there's more affordable options lol

Np, @milllaurie made it so be sure to message him with more questions if you have them

ReverseVenom

Atrael7 wrote: »

Hrothgar's chill is from PvP rewards but its also dropped significantly in price since its' initial release.

Ahhh I looked it up and it said it was restricted for those with the chapter/dlc but if they're pvp then that makes it a lot easier.

Thank you so much for your informative reply you've helped a lot!

Atrael7

ReverseVenom wrote: »

Atrael7 wrote: »

Hrothgar's chill is from PvP rewards but its also dropped significantly in price since its' initial release.

Ahhh I looked it up and it said it was restricted for those with the chapter/dlc but if they're pvp then that makes it a lot easier.

Thank you so much for your informative reply you've helped a lot!

No problem, my pleasure! Hope you'll have fun with brawling, it's a fun playstyle that gets overshadowed by the standard sneaky antics most folks associate nightblade with.

DrSlaughtr

You can wear pretty much the same gear as any other melee build. 2019 was a good year for NB brawlers but changes made them less reliant than other Stam builds.

moo_2021

gariondavey wrote: »

Since khajiit, nb and merciless, the crit modifier sits at 92% without speccing anything. Got a 14400 rally yesterday, yay.
This way you keep your high damage as nb but can brawl like a dk or stamcro. Just keep your dark cloak up at all times .
You can also go vamp because the sustain is superior. 3.2k stam regen fully buffed and 1.7k mag regen fully buffed (torc). Undeath would make you even more unkillable.
Build link:
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=388260

Is low stamina not a problem!? (only 23k!) But what happens when you're sprinting and fighting at the same time?

milllaurie

moo_2021 wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

Since khajiit, nb and merciless, the crit modifier sits at 92% without speccing anything. Got a 14400 rally yesterday, yay.
This way you keep your high damage as nb but can brawl like a dk or stamcro. Just keep your dark cloak up at all times .
You can also go vamp because the sustain is superior. 3.2k stam regen fully buffed and 1.7k mag regen fully buffed (torc). Undeath would make you even more unkillable.
Build link:
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=388260

Is low stamina not a problem!? (only 23k!) But what happens when you're sprinting and fighting at the same time?

Well you can switch the food to artaeum takeaway broth if you see the need. The way I like to play - I rely a lot on magicka skills: instead of sprint I shade or fear (I switch the skill dependant on the fights I am after).
I love utilising the magicka kit. If you like the stamina playstyle more - by all means switch to artaeum.