Nightblade - Leveling - Weak in veteran levels?

mattnoakes

So i'm currently working my way through veteran levels and trying to min max a build to get through the zones a little easier. Vet 1 wasn't too bad to get through but since hitting Vet 2 i'm feeling like i'm dying WAY more than i should be. I think my damage is at an acceptable level i.e not blowing things up in seconds and not having to grind them down for an obscene amount of time.

The problem i'm facing is dealing with packs of mobs with 2k health each in packs of 3-4. I can deal with packs of 2 but any more and i just get my face melted before I can put any moves out. (No i cant avoid the packs).

So far i'v used a medium armour dual wield spec, taking Twin Slashes, Flurry, Whirlwind, Swallow Soul, Ambush and Flawless Dawnbreaker... didn't work. i get nuked through my self healing whilst blocking their special strikes i.e 2h knock up.

Next I tried a medium armour bow spec using Swallow Soul, Silver Bolts, Poison Arrow, Magnum Shot, Siphoning Strikes, Flawless Dawnbreaker... hasn't worked for me either. i just cant control the packs and i end up just getting minced by all 4 at the same time.

Third spec I have tried (and trying to make work at the moment) is going away from the NB moves as such and trying to find a solution elsewhere. its a light armour destruction staff spec using Swallow Soul, Cripple, Fire Clench, Impale, Siphoning Strikes and Soul Strike... This is not really working either. I'm finding it much easier to contain mobs and deal with them but even though they now cant reach me i'm not healing enough to be able to survive them throwing their hidden knives at me. Meaning i'm dead on 90% of packs.

The fourth spec i'm considering trying to make to see if its the answer i'm looking for is a heavy armoured sword and board spec with as much life steal as I can possibly fit into my grubby little mitts.

Anyway, if you've made it to this point in the post without getting bored and/or calling me a scrub then my first question to you is this. Am i going the wrong way about building my character for leveling through Vet or is this a struggle lots of you other nightblades are facing? My second question is this... with all this being said. How do you suggest to build a nightblade for leveling (covering most eventualities and not dying to simple trash that is)?

Reavan

A suggestion would be to abuse shadow disguise.
By using invisibility while soloing it interupts all npcs cast or channeling moves including their own healing while also giving you a free crit heavy attack or kite space.
It would counter those.knives you have issues with.

derevan

Can we have other reviews on this subject.
I read on lots of forum that in veteran level, nightblade are way weaker than the other classes. Is it right?

tommipalub16_ESO

Well im also on my way to V3. I have no issues. How do i play?

First of all, i am a vampire. In pacs of 3 i always have to use the life drain, if i use melee. I dont really need it if i use the bow.

1. Set of Weapons :
Bow. Using Funnel Health, Venom Arrow, Crippling Grasp, Magnum Shot focused Aim.
I start with focused aim from outa sneak 600-700 dmg. Then i fokus the first mob.Putting Venom A , Funnel H and Crippling Gr on him. I kite the whole group by Magnum Ssotting the other two mobs till the first is down by standart attack. Then on to the next one. This strategy needs a lot of room. Be sure to clear the area and do not sneak by some pacs, otherwise u run into them again.

2. Set of wapons:
Dual Wield. Using Ambush, Killers Blade, Invirogating Drain, Blood Craze. As 5 Mirage or Elude. Sometime i also use shadow cloak.
First turn on elude/mirage. Then I start with ambush from outa sneak , which makes nearly 1k dmg, then blood Craze on same target. Standart attacks till 25% and then Killers Blade (900 dmg) for finish. Now my Healh may have dropped to under 50% during this time. So i use the Drain on the next Mob. Then Blood Craze , spamming standart and finishing with KIllers Blade. Same for the last mob.

If Groups are more then 3 i have my Ultimate rdy. This is the Bat stuff from the vampire tree. It dos serious ae dmg and gives serious Heath back to u.

As u see i dont use any AE dmg, cause the options for Nightblade are to less damage i think. I only do focused damage. This may take some time and is crap for farming, but i am highly survivable.
Also noteable is the amount of lifedrain through not just the vampire drain but also Killers Blade and Blood Craze.
I wear 5 Pieces of Medium Armor. I skilled every passives there. And 2 pieces of lightarmor. i skilled the first 2 passives. My equipment is a selfmade Set of Seduces and Night's Silence (V2 a least green, three pieces blue). I will go for Song of Lamae as soon as i know enough traits. My Bow is a blue one with frost dmg and weapon speed. I also use weapon speed for the daggers. But i use drain health as enchant.

To summ up i have to say: i love my nightblade. But i think it is not the easiest way to play in this game. I still could need some advice on PvP i guess.

Stx

Nightblade is the hardest class to level with in veteran zones, but there are ways to make it easier.

Single target: Bow = Strife, Poison Arrow spam, Scatter shot, Impale, and the 5th is up to you. You can use Agony for more cc, cripple for more damage/control, or stealth for kiting. Dual Wield = Blood Craze, Flurry, Siphoning Attacks, Mirage(Blur), and Haste. Two-Handed single target is kind of lame, but you can go with Strife, Uppercut, Reverse slash, Veiled strike, and anything you want for 5th.

Area Damage: Bow = Searing Arrows, Bombardment spam, Siphoning Strikes, Power extraction, 5th is up to you, Shadow cloak is good. Dual Wield = Whirlwind, siphoning strikes, power extraction, Mirage, and 5th is up to you. Two-Hand = Brawler, Power Extraction, Momentum, Siphoning strikes, and 5th should be a defensive like Mirage.

I don't use dual wield much(even though I think it is better than 2hand, its just not my style preference), but those setups have proved very effective and efficient while leveling in veteran zones so far. I still die, but with the way skills lag and mobs chase you, its inevitable sometimes. (Unless you are patient, which Im not)

KevinMK

I switched from an assassin type Nightblade (medium armor, dual wield, assassination, shadow) to a Dark Knight type of character. Heavy armor and a two-hander. PvE is so much easier. I can pull packs of ten of my level and still kill them with ease, walking out with full health. My damage output is lower, but the insane survivability compensates that. I'm having a blast.

sbanned_245443

What skills u using Kevin?

Lerysia

Hi all,

in my Opinion, i think all the NB-Class-Skills are even more powerfull than the Stamina-Based-Weapon-Skills. Ok, iam not in Veteran LvL Range, but i reskilled from Stamina to Magicka Build and now, i have a very good Dmg-Output.

Snipe does fine 900 Dmg from Stealth, but with Veiled Strikes from the Shadow-Tree i burst Enemies with 1400 and more, and they got a 3,4sek Stun.

At the Moment, my Skills are:

Dual-Wield:
1. Veiled Strikes, 2. Essence Drain (Vamp Skill), 3. Shadow-Cloak, 4. Flurry or Whirlwind, 5. Teleport Strike, Ultimate: Bat-Swarm (Vamp Skill)

Bow:
1. Strife, 2. Snipe, 3. Mark Target, 4. Siphoning Strikes, 5. Shadow Cloak, Ultimate: Consuming Darkness

Mostly, i use Dual-Wield. Bow is for longer and harder Fights, so i can regenerate my Ressources with Strikes and Strife.

Greetings
Lerysia

PS: Sry for my bad English!

DrearyYew

Lerysia, the point of this thread is that it doesn't work for VR content, while being pretty good for 1-50 content.

What I did was switch from medium to heavy armor, and dropped my bow for 1h/shield, so dw and 1h/shield.

DW:
Blood Craze
Rapid Strikes
Swallow Soul
Prolonged Suffering
Flying Blade
Veil of Blades

1h/Shield:
Ransack
Shielded Assault
Swallow Soul
Unstoppable
Leeching Strikes
Veil of Blades

Full heavy armor, all enchanted with stamina, all character points put into health.

DW provides the dps needed to focus a target down pretty quickly, and 1h/shield has the tankiness and health regeneration needed to tank multiple mobs/bosses.
I have also been using this in PvP, although I tend to swap the DW for bow.

Bow:
Venom Arrow
Magnum Shot
Swallow Soul
Dark Cloak
Focused Aim
Veil of Blades

Lerysia

@DrearyYew‌:
Nope, you're wrong! I'am VR1 now and have no problems with the Enemies. 2-4 Mobs alone? No Problem

santiago.peninorwb17_ESO

nightblade vr1 isnt hard, vr2 well that is another thing, specially if u ar a vampire Lerysia.. u will see

AreoHotah

A friendly advice, eat something that gives at least 160 magica health and stamina for 1 hour. it should help a lot

mattnoakes

Im currently at vr6 and still using a standard DW assassination build. its not optimal but i cant really be bothered to respec with the cost resting at what it is at the moment. Im currently levelling heavy armour though to go into a super tanky spec while i collect gear for it. To me going as tanky and sustainable as possible seems like the only viable option for a melee NB in vet based on one simple fact. you cant stop all special attacks getting through... especially against packs of 3-4 and some of them such as stuns and roots mean you are 100% dead if you cant take them beating on you for the 3-6 seconds that you're out of action for. and thats not very productive to say the least.

swoop.romerb16_ESO

Im vet4 and im using this spec http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#ccRztgGFtc8GFlT8w2lm8IrgV8IryJ8GHRG85o07068L7N68p7N68t7mrsgW8g7CrsXy6rsXx6LsXt8C7brzqa6Lzqq6Lzqu8D7mrzdM6rzdm8F7xLzrJ6rzrO8zzx3TH706

Pack of 3 no problemo, pack of 4, difficult but manageable. pack 5 is impossible without dieing at least once.

Some other classes are definately way better at soloing stuff, but im having a blast with my NB. In cyrodiil i *** everyone up i meet. If its an elite i can stun lock the *** to death. If he cant get stunned though thats another matter!

In my opener i crit 4.5k, i havent seen any other class do the same. Just saying!

astroff999_ESO

I am vr 4 and can handle packs of 4 easily. We have a ton of cc this uses magic. I put my pets, dark shades on one, the agony skill line with the 12 sec stun on another, use my sta skills to off the other two mobs. Kill the agony mob before the 12 secs is up and I am able to kill the 4th before the 17 secs is up on my shades.

Aziz006

Check this build I hope this will help you.
Dual wield:
1.Blood Craze(Steel Tornado for AoE)
2.Invigorating Drain
3.Dark Cloak
4.Concealed Weapon
5.Ambush
Ult:Soul Tether(Optional. I use this because I wanna get that 8% magicka bonus from passives)

Bow:
1.Venom Arrow
2.Siphoning strikes
3.Swallow soul
4.Bombard(AoE snare and immobilizes)
5.Volcanic rune
Ultimate: Devouring Swarm

49 points on health and with foods and passives I get I nice boost on stats. Here are my overcharged stats and reasons:

1.Health- Imperial passive
2.Magicka(gear and mundus stone),
3.Magicka reg(Warlock set+Vampirism passive)
4.Stamina reg(Medium set+Vampirism passive)
P.S= Food included
I also use shadow set which gives me nearly 500 health when activating ultimate.

I dont use a lot of stamina but interestingly my stamina is also 200 points away from being overcharged.

Aziz006

Check this build I hope this will help you.
Dual wield:
1.Blood Craze(Steel Tornado for AoE)
2.Invigorating Drain
3.Dark Cloak
4.Concealed Weapon
5.Ambush
Ult:Soul Tether(Optional. I use this because I wanna get that 8% magicka bonus from passives)

Bow:
1.Venom Arrow
2.Siphoning strikes
3.Swallow soul
4.Bombard(AoE snare and immobilizes)
5.Volcanic rune
Ultimate: Devouring Swarm

49 points on health and with foods and passives I get I nice boost on stats. Here are my overcharged stats and reasons:

1.Health- Imperial passive
2.Magicka(gear and mundus stone),
3.Magicka reg(Warlock set+Vampirism passive)
4.Stamina reg(Medium set+Vampirism passive)
P.S= Food included
I also use shadow set which gives me nearly 500 health when activating ultimate.

I dont use a lot of stamina but interestingly my stamina is also 200 points away from being overcharged.

Fina

I don't use Whirlwind for my Nightblade and I don't have Vampire skills. I use dual wield, medium armor, and only assassination tree. With daggers, passives, and 4 assassination abilities slotted I keep my crit % high.

For groups, I rely on a few skills and techniques. This method also works on groups that are 3 levels higher than me.

1.) Get into Sneaking Position from behind my 1st target. (No need for invisibility). Just get behind the 1st target and sneak. Make sure your first target is facing away.

2.) Use Blur, morphed so if the enemy misses you they get stunned.

3.) Mark a target for death. This is the 2nd target I want to kill. (marking target does not create aggro). Maybe use a magicka potion to restore some or wait a couple seconds.

4.) Use ambush on first target. Will do sneak critical damage. Target's health will be low. If not low enough, use Flurry. Finish with Killer's blade. Restores 15% health. Because your first attack was a sneak critical, that enemy should already have very low health and should be stunned. It's also likely other enemies will miss you because of Blur and they may also be stunned. You should finish off that first enemy very fast and with Killer's Blade should be back up at full health when he's dead. (If you've made a mistake you can always use Marked for Death on a different enemy during the fight)

5.) Target the 2nd enemy (Marked for Death one). Bring his HP down with Flurry. Finish with Killer's Blade. The health restoring bonuses from Killer's Blade and Marked for Death should bring you back up to full / almost full health.

6.) Finish off the final target.

TIP: Always sneak attack / kill casters first. You can sometimes take them down in just 1 hit.
Also, remain calm when all the enemies attack you. Focus on getting just one at a time.
This build relies a lot of magicka. You only need stamina to use Flurry to bring their HP down enough to use Killer's Blade.

EDIT: This method doesn't work so well for single target boss fights because it relies on Marked for Death to replenish health. For those fights, I use Siphon or other skills.

seanvwolf

On VR2 I am currently using the following build

Equipment (Found only, no sets required)
- Dagger (preferably with magick damage and health restore on each hit; keep charged to take advantage; fully specced and passived for Sword and Shield; plus Imperial's passive Red Diamond is a boon when using a fast basic attack, like the dagger)
- Shield
- Full Heavy Armor (Presently not a set item but all atleast VR1 Green; not fully specced ATM; about level 33)
- VR 1 Health Potions on Quickslot (won't need much, but just in case)

Racial Skills
Imperial with all Passives;
Really any Racial Skills that give you bonuses to Shield, Stamina, Health, or Health recieved by magick or pots will do just fine.

Point Distribution
Health 19
Stamina 15
Magicka 15

On the bar
Absorb Magick (If there are mages) or Shadowy Disguise (if there are archers)
Shielded Assault
Pierce Armor (Stamina builds) or Debilitate (Magicka builds)
Swallow Soul
Killer's Blade
Ultimate: Soul Tether

Who to target first
Magick Casters first, then the archers and finally anyone else left standing.

Opening
- Cast Absorb Magick or Shadowy Disguise once (don't really need to recast if you are able to kill first target before shields drop)
- Shielded Assault (Always open with this, sometimes the reactions can be so slow that you can kill one mob before the others really are ready to engage)
- Pierce or Debilitate the one you knocked down (unless Soul Tether is available; in that case, pierce/deb the others standing nearby, pierce/deb the one you knocked and then fire Ultimate... note which one gets the tether and don't target them until the tether drops).

During the Fight
- Always side step or move forward around AoE spells that are magic/fire based, by either rolling or using Shielded Assault again. Either way get out of their blast.
- Raise shield on any attack coming from behind if it is a hidden blade or a heavy attack (don't worry if they become off balance, you need to conserve your stamina for your primary target).
- As always, use Shield Bash if your primary target starts doing a special attack, but do not bother to do a heavy strike, it wastes time... You could be getting 50-100+ in self heals by doing the next step instead.
- Spam Swallow Soul and basic attack, 1,2...1,2...

Finishing an Opponent
- When target gets to about 20% health, you can use Killer's Blade (should take about two tries, if not one)
- After the first target is down, focus on your second and you can open that engagement with a Shielded Assault or a well placed series of bashes: you can be liberal here, as your swallow soul attack needs time to get more magicka behind it.

For any Close Shaves
- During the course of the fight, you will only really need to use one pot if anything gets close (i.e., they all decide to do special attacks at once). You may end up having two opportunities to use Soul Tether... If so and there are more than 1 mob left and your resources are depleted, go ahead and do it. Siphoning Ultimate charges very quickly so no need to let it sit.

Notes
Fights with Quest bosses feel just right at it's tempo and you will likely not need nor want a group, honestly. Overworld mob fights can feel long if soloing... that's the idea. You are surviving while they are not. If you are grouped, you will take aggro, but that's fine too. You can handle it. Don't really need another bar unless you are like me and want to train skills and a weapon by turning in quests.

taylorwilenskiub17_ESO

I was in the exact same position as you and I actually respeced my attributes and skills as my health was too low.

Originally my two weapons were Bow and Dual Wield, however after respeccing I now use Two-Handed, but still have my bow.

I feel that 2H has more AoE control than dual wield and I have had better survivability.

With Bow, I use:

Reapers Mark, Crippling Grasp, Magnum Shot, Bombard, Snipe

My 2H is not leveled up very high yet but I currently use:

Shadowy Disguise, Surprise Attack, Invigorating Drain (vampirism), Brawler, Reverse Slice

I generally start with my bow and mark target then snipe two shots on one enemy from stealthed pretty much killing them, and then I can usually pick off another enemy or get close to it before they reach me. Then I can switch to 2H and use my AoEs to finish off the rest. I can also just run in with 2H and take on 3 or 4 guys if im careful.

Invigorating Drain is AMAZING, it heals you for a lot of health and stamina.

Junz86

HI All

I am only VR1 atm but seem to take packs of 3 quite easy. I think my build is quite viable for PVE and PVP.

I run Dual and Bow

For Dual

Ambush
Dark Cloak (PVP) to remove 3 DOTs, Pure PVE would be SD for Crit
Suprise attk
Whirling Blades
Leeching Strikes

I am a woodelf so stamina is no problems so I can spam WB, break from CC ect. I spec the Rest for Magika (abt 1.9k). I constantly have Leeching strikes active. This way I have heaps of Magika and can preety much stun a mob every couple of secs and dish out a few light attks to gain magika/hp/stamina followed by a WB or 2 and back into stealth.

The the ultimate i use Soul Harvet as it charges every combo I do.

Enrayha

Im current V9 and i know some of ur Problems. My Build till 50 was completly destroyed.
I figured a good build and on V6 i crafted my new gear and never died on a quest to V9.
http://www.elderscrollsbote.de/planer/#1-7b0700000000:211:1109:14:14:2108:21:21:21:194:13:11:14:129:12:22:22:11:213:24:21:11:11:129:13:11:13:12:112:12:12:14:18:111:156:112:15:132-120:447:336:337:124:370:474:547:128:463:579:341

Armor: 5 light, 2 medium. Full magica gear.
Stats: 49points in health.
Weapons: 2 Dagger/Destrostaf both crit.

But i play only Dualwiled during Questing. On my second bar are always Skills to train. The staff is something for Dungs or when im soloing open Grp dungs.

A vid of some V6/7 Gameplay in PvE and if u go on my other Vids u find some 3 Vet dung runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TdLmo1Opoc

gunsofdeschain

I'm having precisely the exact same problem as OP. Everything was nice and smooth until VR1. At VR2 though, I die over and over and over and over.

I noticed how others deal with packs of 3 and see light armour wearing sorcerers just breeze through it with their pets, I see heavy armoured dudes just rush in and do that lightning bolt thingy and finish mobs super fast.

And then there is me, sitting at a distance in full medium armor, fearing those three mobs.Mark target, full charge attack, hits for about 800 usually, still 1200 HP on the first target and two others remaining. Now, if all three are melee or if only one is a caster, I USUALLY, but not always, get through the encounter fine. More than one caster though, I just sit back, let go of my controls, sip some cola and wait to hit E.

Zabus

I think I've died more in the 1-2 days I've been VR2 than I did leveling to VR1 from level 3. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Ragefist

First of all, let me clarify that I am Sorcerer with no Nightblade experience, however I do play full stamina build with 2h and bow. In VR content, especially VR6+ the bow dmg is significantly lower than melee weap, so now I only use it to kill bosses.

The 2h is my bread and butter and I handle packs of 3 mobs with ease (if you see more than 3 than you are in public dungeon and that is not solo stuff). Reason why I am posting here is that most of my skills are not even sorcerer class ones. During my leveling I used everything possible to max weapon dmg. Momentum, Flawless Dawnbringer and some class skills with full medium armor. That is enough to to oneshot a mob from stealth with heavy attack or be solid close to it even in VR++, thats the key to it. You effectively reduce the pack to 2.

From there on its about sustainability. My n.1 skill is always Brawler, its AoE and it gived you buble. I used Degeneration as well to support self healing. However as I became vampire, drain essence replaced its for being much stronger and rendering my Brawler spammable due to stamina refill. Thats pretty much it.

Yes you will die in VR++, it is supposed to be difficult. Even I can die to 2 mobs if they get jump on me and I didn't pull out that massive sneak attack. If you play smart, you can still solo anything. And to be honest, so far into the game everyone should have figured effective build already.

Namiel

Ember explosion anyone? I will hit veteran zone tomorrow, just saying.
Focus the caster first (sneak attack -> killer blade -> shadow cloak), go to the second target while invisible -> veiled strike -> ember explosion -> and go.
Is it doable?

dragnier

I just hit VR4 and I can definitely say that VR 2+ mobs seem to be way harder as a NB compared to how I see other classes handle them. I am a destro staff spellblade with siphon/shadow abilities. Heavy magicka and health. 5 light and 2 heavy armor trying to survive. I had no problems in up through VR 1 in 7 light.

The whole point here is to use AoE when there are more than two enemies... So those of you who are talking about respeccing and more than one single target ability in your builds are missing the point.

I think the problem revolves around the measly self heals and lack of AoE Snare/Disable/Stun/Disorient of any effective duration.

The heals don't seem to have scaled well in comparison to the damage the mobs are doing at the VR levels. I just tested against a VR 4 single zombie enemy, with roughly 900 armor the standard attacks were doing 337 avg dmg and when I went back and tried with nearly roughly 1750 armor (thanks to enchanted jewelry) the average damage only went down to about 264. The heavy attacks started at around 515 but were reduced to about 396.

For AoE I use: I use Swallow Soul (Dmg, self HoT, and increased healing from other skills), Refreshing Path (AoE DoT and Self HoT), Power Extraction (AoE dmg plus 8% increased weapon power for each enemy hit up to 9), Either Pulsar or Unstable Wall from destro staff (AoE dmg), and Inner Light (Mage's Guild, increases spell crit) and this has proven effective many times, but compared to a sorcerer with Lightning Form, Pulsar, and Critical Surge my healing is puny.

When fighting 3 zombies, I used the above skills with the higher armor and kiting. Couldn't out heal the damage I was taking with 1750+ armor from 3 zombies... was only getting 43 every 2 sec from Swallow Soul and 26 every 1 sec from Refreshing Path for a total of 46 HPS... Not nearly enough to heal through what these enemies are doing... And this is just basic zombies! No casters, no archers, no brutes, no sophisticated AI.

Also, our lack of an AoE stun/snare/disable that isn't an ultimate is just wrong. All three other classes have some sort of AoE stun/snare/disorient that isn't an ultimate. The closest thing we have to it is Aspect of Terror which causes fear in 2 targets for 4 sec... but this is not conducive to AoE at all because damage seems to break the fear. The morph of this, Mass Hysteria, adds that the two targets get their power reduced and are snared for a short period, but again this isn't equivalent to what the other three classes get. And that is just a Zombie! No casters or any ranged attacks. No healers.

So, 3 zombies doing what seems to be roughly 200-300 DPS EACH vs. 46 HPS, 2100 Health, 1750+ armor, 1550 spell resist (N/A for this fight), and the lack of an AoE snare/disable/stun/disorient of some effective duration.

Well, those three zombies each have 2224 health for a total of 6672. My Pulsar does 180 dmg to each target per cast which would total 540 dps (estimated) from that, 37 dps per target from Refreshing Path, and 167 per target one time from Power Extraction for an average dps vs. 3 targets of 651. That means it would take roughly 11 sec to kill those three enemies using AoE. However, at an average dps of 200 each for the enemies, that totals 600 dps. When you consider my total health recovery during a fight equals about 69 HPS (including base recovery + Skill recovery), I could last up to 3.9 sec before I die.

Those of you about to say spam Swallow Soul need to remember that each cast of it is one less AoE attack and results in loss of dps which its HPS won't make up for.

A Potion equals a total of 617 health after 10 sec (357 up front plus 26 per sec for 10 sec) and food could give me another 310 max health for a grand total of 3020 health (using my exact health). That means it would take those 3 zombies 5.6 sec to kill me even with the best estimate of my HPS from the earlier paragraph.

Compare that to watching any other class waltz in with their AoE builds and wipe the floor with the same pack of enemies solo. Why should we be the only class that doesn't get a solo AoE build?

dracobains_ESO

What has really p*zzed me off about Nightblades in Veteran areas is how many times I have heard from devs and players alike that all specs are viable. If you define viable as participating in a meat grinder, then I suppose this holds true. I am only 1 of 2 NBs left in my guild. Everyone else went and re-rolled Sorcs or a DK. The aoe specs out there are blowing through content like nobody's business and I have to fight for nearly every pull. I do not mind a challenge, but there is a point where it gets well beyond being enjoyable.

For me I have lost all interest in the stories and anything but surviving. I am leveling other abilities and trying to be creative so I suppose in the end I will know my class well, but the disparity between classes is substantial. One of my best friends who dumped his NB long ago for a Sorc, ribs me everyday about my obstinate playing of NBs. I have only played rogues in every MMO for the last 15 years and I am not about to change but to say I am frustrated with the state of my desired class is an understatement.

For me, I desire to play a bow class. It is what I have always done. Because the blocking and dodging which are critical to many fights consume Stamina, I have little to fight with or survive with. I am 12 overcap on regen and only a mere 15 from overall cap for stam. If I could survive more than a handful of seconds when there are multiple hard hitting casters, I could manage my stam better but the damage I take in full leather is pretty heinous at times. (I am wearing all blues with a purple weapon my level.)

I am Vet 5 now so obviously I am getting through it albeit slowly with numerous deaths. It just wears me out to play this game and I am not having any fun whatsoever at this point in PVE. I just want the pain to end and get to V10 at this point. I doubt that was the objective when designing this content so I am hopeful they take a closer look at NBs for PVE. I am not having the same issues in PVP but PVE is just a complete misery for me.

Shakal

Hi there, I'd also like to share my moments with my NB, and also ask for some advice if someone already figured it out
So, I'm currently an veteran level 5 with my nightblade, I've been playing as the sneaky archer type (I know, too classic but I loved that kind of game in skyrim so I thought, why not). As most of the players already said, below level 50 was very fun, I could easily solo almost everything (even the non-solo public dungeons and some of the world bosses as well).

After getting into veteran content, it became a bit more difficult (I could say realistic) to play, of course most of the solo content were still doable alone, I usually had no problem with the solo dungeons and their bosses, and if there were groups of three NPC, I only engaged them if there was max 1 heal in the group, or not all of them was caster/archer (otherwise thely would own me very easily).
Although there were some solo quests which I couldn't do without the help of others, which were a bit frustrating, where there were a caster boss with 1-2 ads, or the wave type encounters (where 4-5 waves of three mobs come at you, I just ran out of juice by the end).
Also being in central europe don't really help, there are a few deaths thanks to the unresponsiveness of the skills, but hopefully it will be better once they set up the eu servers.

The public dungeons are out of question alone, but I guess that is fine since it isn't meant to be soloed. And while it was painful to see other classes still faceroll them (I prefer to play alone, so I'm only talking out of jealousy), it was all right because there was always someone to go with.

Right now I'm still using the archer/siphoning skills with 7/7 medium armor for questing, and building up the two-handed line to try out aoe damage on 3+ groups. Also invested skill points in the heavy armor active skill and the aoe cc mages guild skill (fire rune, or something like that) to try out.

If anyone has some advice on how to manage alone in a public dungeon or against 3 casters with an NB without having to switch to destruction staff, I would appreciate it

Playthan

I am currently V2 rank using a bow and 2h. When it comes to ST I usually use the bow, using Venom Arrow, Swallow Soul and Crippling Grasp (Occasionally Bombard for the snare and immobilize). As for AOE.. If the group I am killing are all melee, I normally put down Scorched earth and keep the mob in place using Bombard. I can normally get 2 light auto attacks in before I have to re-Bombard to keep them in place. If I am AOEing a mob that has casters or archers, I normally start with Scorched Earth, then Swallow soul. This is when I switch over to my 2h, dashing in with Critical Rush and Following up with the Siphoning ultimate Soul Tether. This stuns the mobs for 4 seconds, giving me enough time to normally kill or almost kill 2 of the enemies. I use Surprise Attack to keep my stamina up with the passive Refreshing Shadows. And I finish the mobs off using Killers Blade (Also heals me 17% max health and regenerates Magicka due to the Executioner passive). I have Brawler and Elude on my hot bar as well for added survivability. If I start the mob off with Soul Tether as mentioned before, By the time the mob is dead I have enough or almost enough (90%) of my Ultimate back up for the next mob. This build has good stam and magicka regen, as well as good survivability.

Having said all of this, I still find NB leveling more difficult then Sorc or DK, This is just me stating what has been working for me. I've done this skill set up with full stam, but recently switched to full HP as the damage difference is barely noticeable if at all. I use 7/7 medium armor.

Hopefully this helps at least one other person leveling in vet!

subecsanur

I agree with a lot of this, NB in VR zone unless you are prepared and aware it gets tricky and you end up dying. This is especially when more than 3 get the jump on you and I see so many people adjusting in many ways to make it work.

Would a free respec when you hit Vet level be warranted? Why not since I noticed that so many are having issues, not only that the mobs are also getting way smarter too to the fact I was dealing in one fight and he was taking potions and just constantly stunning me and fight took so long with this one boss that everything around us just respawned back, offcourse that was the end.

But I do thing a free respec would be nice.