Imperial or Khajiit for Nightblade?

kgrizzle

I don’t fully understand how all the soft caps on health/stam/majicka work so I wanted to get some clarification on why Imperial would better than other races in most situations. Wouldn’t these “caps” prevent an Imperial from gaining a significant bonus over other classes with their 12% increase stam/health pool? I assume all races can hit their “soft cap” through gear and point distribution. If this is the case, wouldn't a Khajiit be better since they can benefit from Increased crit % with bow/melee, stealth bonuses and health regen?

I don’t know much about PvP but I would think that is where an Imperial would really shine since it seems to come down to who can manage their resources better than the other.



Please forgive my newbness on this topic, I’m just trying to figure out exactly how the system works and which race to choose. I’m hoping an expert could shed some light on this to better help my understanding of the two race benefits.

Please don't say, "play what you think looks the best" or something along those lines. I'm looking for a purely statistical reason to choose one of these classes.
(If I was going to play what looks the best it would be Imperial 10 out of 10 times...but I don't care about aesthetics, only results).

I'll likely be playing a Bow/Sword+Shield spec.



Thanks to anyone who can provide experienced information.

METALPUNKS

If you plan on sneaking around with that bow of yours go kahjiit. I feel kahjiit is by far the best race for NB. Imperial is a great tank race.

gimmethecreepsb14_ESO

METALPUNKS wrote: »

If you plan on sneaking around with that bow of yours go kahjiit. I feel kahjiit is by far the best race for NB. Imperial is a great tank race.

Based on what? First off, not all NB's are stealthy assassins...They make excellent healers and even better tanks. They also make great destruction staff DPSers. Khajiit's racials don't help a bow NB at all. The stealth range is meh considering you'll generally be at max range with a bow, and their Carnage passive is a melee only passive. So he'd lose out on any benefit from that as a bow-NB...

To the OP, look at all the races and their racial passives and decide which ones will help you the most. Also, if you want to play a "stealthy, bow user" don't feel like you can only play a nightblade. Medium armor Sorcerer Archers and Templar Archers can pump out awesome firepower too. But if you decide NB is the route you want to go, pick thru the races passives and see which will aid your build most. The leveling bonuses don't mean much as they dont matter at top level, but the other passives vary a lot. For NB anything with stamina and magicka regen definately is nice, as both resource pools are necessary. Khajiit and Imperial are both fine, but Wood Elf might be an easy race for a starter bow-NB, as you'll level the bow skills fast and get good stamina regen. Dark elf also is really strong with the Dynamic passive, and gives good fire resist if you ever try going Vamp. But instead of listening to what we say, just go thru the racial passives and see which will make your build pop. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any Q's.

merfpmerfinton

Carnage actually applies to the bow.
There isn't a melee crit stat, only weapon and spell.

dw0011nrb19_ESO

Keep in mind that many of the NB CLASS-SKILLS are affected by spell crit. Not all, but many.

METALPUNKS

gimmethecreepsb14_ESO wrote: »

METALPUNKS wrote: »

If you plan on sneaking around with that bow of yours go kahjiit. I feel kahjiit is by far the best race for NB. Imperial is a great tank race.

Based on what? First off, not all NB's are stealthy assassins...They make excellent healers and even better tanks. They also make great destruction staff DPSers. Khajiit's racials don't help a bow NB at all. The stealth range is meh considering you'll generally be at max range with a bow, and their Carnage passive is a melee only passive. So he'd lose out on any benefit from that as a bow-NB...

To the OP, look at all the races and their racial passives and decide which ones will help you the most. Also, if you want to play a "stealthy, bow user" don't feel like you can only play a nightblade. Medium armor Sorcerer Archers and Templar Archers can pump out awesome firepower too. But if you decide NB is the route you want to go, pick thru the races passives and see which will aid your build most. The leveling bonuses don't mean much as they dont matter at top level, but the other passives vary a lot. For NB anything with stamina and magicka regen definately is nice, as both resource pools are necessary. Khajiit and Imperial are both fine, but Wood Elf might be an easy race for a starter bow-NB, as you'll level the bow skills fast and get good stamina regen. Dark elf also is really strong with the Dynamic passive, and gives good fire resist if you ever try going Vamp. But instead of listening to what we say, just go thru the racial passives and see which will make your build pop. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any Q's.

Exactly why i said if he was planning on sneaking around go kajhiit. I get that Nightblades are good healers as well, reason I know is because that's my main. I'm a NB healer and it's amazing. I went Breton with my NB. Anyway the OP said he was using the bow and if so kahjiit was the better choice from imperial, then that why said imperial make good tanks incase he was using sword and board for tanks.

Trust me I know NB's can be very versatile. I think they have the most options for a class and anyone who says they suck isn't playing them correctly. My healer can easily kill mobs that are 3 or 4 levels above me.

To the OP. Do NOT pick a race based on the extra xp you get like kahjiit with bow. It's a waste to choose a race based on that. If you happen to be using the weapon and a get a skill boost from the racial then great.

Also take note there is no melee crit in this game. It's weapon and spell crit so if a skill or passive says melee crit you will still get it. I know this first hand because I tested it many times.

davidetombab16_ESO

make a DK, nightblade is a useless class in pvp

Xaei

davidetombab16_ESO wrote: »

make a DK, nightblade is a useless class in pvp

That's not entirely true. DKs are strong in huge groups because of they have a lot of very powerful CCs and AoEs, and have probably the best survivability in the game, whereas the NB's ability to CC multiple targets or AoE is limited, and NBs aren't very survivable in a group scenarios.

In a 1v1, its a different story. NBs have very strong single-target abilities and is the only class that has access to stealth in combat, which makes them stand out as roamers and very good in small-scale skirmishes.

Xithian

I play a khajiit nightblade tank, sword and board. The crit is nice to have, especially when you consider that it's one of the few stats that can't be soft capped. As a sword and board, probably in heavy armor, your access to crit is limited. The stealth bonus is nice too, since it lets me get in sneak attacks even in heavy armor. As a nightblade you have access to several passives that help with stealth damage, and it would be silly not to make use of them when the situation calls for it.

I had to make the same choice as you. I had it narrowed down to Khajiit and Imperial. I'm glad I went with Khajiit. The life on hit might be interesting, but your siphon attack will provide plenty of healing to you.

ArRashid

Hate to break it to you, but nighbtlade is currently THE worst class. 1-40 content is a cakewalk for any class, then you start feeling weak and after getting to VR1 you'll sooner die of old age than kill a mob. The sheer amount of bugs and lack of good CC has made anything past lvl 50 (aka all Veteran content) REALLY REALLY REALLY HARD.

- bow nightblade has superior CC, but sucks against any packs with ranged mobs in them, since he depends on not getting damaged. His own attacks hit for the same as light weapon attacks, so you'll probably end up with just spamming light attack and use ability bar for utility spells like Stealth (doesn't help with already released projectiles against you or AoEs), Impale (only really usable at 25% HP and less), Bombard (AoE immobilize, damage is barely noticable)...

- tank nightblade takes the whole "I deal zero damage" to a new level, although if you take any spell from Shadow line you'll cap your armor/mr for a while and boost regen of stamina for blocks, but that's about it. No good CC (DK's Talons are simply the best) or self healing or anything.

I've tried:
- nightblade archer - no damage, infinite CC to melee mobs, ranged mobs are your doom
- vampire bloodmage healer - good healing (all things considered), but rather weak for soloing. And that unfortunate weakness to fire that seems to be bugged to cut 500% instead of 50% fire resist.. as your average fire spell kills you straight away and fire light attack from staff is most likely to cut you for 70% HP even through block..
- 2h rogue - superior damage from Ambush and Veiled strike, but thanks to ZERO CC, you die till you can kill anything. great.

damage on VR just seems so absurdly high that any 2 unblocked attacks will kill you, unless you walk around with capped armor/mr, in which case you can take three.. while you need 5-10 abilities (with 2-3x higher damage than light attacks) to kill a single mob. Zenimax's "player won't be god" was taken too far I guess..

Beeftips

dw0011nrb19_ESO wrote: »

Keep in mind that many of the NB CLASS-SKILLS are affected by spell crit. Not all, but many.

No, barely any of them are based of spell crit. A majority of the NB class skills are based off melee crit. This has been tested and confirmed by multiple people.

Xithian

ArRashid wrote: »

Hate to break it to you, but nighbtlade is currently THE worst class. 1-40 content is a cakewalk for any class, then you start feeling weak and after getting to VR1 you'll sooner die of old age than kill a mob. The sheer amount of bugs and lack of good CC has made anything past lvl 50 (aka all Veteran content) REALLY REALLY REALLY HARD.

...

- tank nightblade takes the whole "I deal zero damage" to a new level, although if you take any spell from Shadow line you'll cap your armor/mr for a while and boost regen of stamina for blocks, but that's about it. No good CC (DK's Talons are simply the best) or self healing or anything.

I'm doing VR1 with my nightblade tank right now. I kill normal mobs in 3 hits (stealth, heavy attack, finisher). My massive AoE/stun ultimate does wonders on groups of mobs and it's fairly cheap at 150 ultimate. I have no problems with VR1^ mobs either, and have tanked VR1^^ and VR1^^^ mobs duo with one other person just fine.

Edit: Oh, and no good self healing? I have +20% to all healing received combined with the Siphon line's awesome leech (No it isn't a massive heal, but you can keep it going nonstop easily) and potions (which I have more bonuses with).

kgrizzle

ArRashid wrote: »

Hate to break it to you, but nighbtlade is currently THE worst class. 1-40 content is a cakewalk for any class, then you start feeling weak and after getting to VR1 you'll sooner die of old age than kill a mob. The sheer amount of bugs and lack of good CC has made anything past lvl 50 (aka all Veteran content) REALLY REALLY REALLY HARD.

- bow nightblade has superior CC, but sucks against any packs with ranged mobs in them, since he depends on not getting damaged. His own attacks hit for the same as light weapon attacks, so you'll probably end up with just spamming light attack and use ability bar for utility spells like Stealth (doesn't help with already released projectiles against you or AoEs), Impale (only really usable at 25% HP and less), Bombard (AoE immobilize, damage is barely noticable)...

- tank nightblade takes the whole "I deal zero damage" to a new level, although if you take any spell from Shadow line you'll cap your armor/mr for a while and boost regen of stamina for blocks, but that's about it. No good CC (DK's Talons are simply the best) or self healing or anything.

I've tried:
- nightblade archer - no damage, infinite CC to melee mobs, ranged mobs are your doom
- vampire bloodmage healer - good healing (all things considered), but rather weak for soloing. And that unfortunate weakness to fire that seems to be bugged to cut 500% instead of 50% fire resist.. as your average fire spell kills you straight away and fire light attack from staff is most likely to cut you for 70% HP even through block..
- 2h rogue - superior damage from Ambush and Veiled strike, but thanks to ZERO CC, you die till you can kill anything. great.

damage on VR just seems so absurdly high that any 2 unblocked attacks will kill you, unless you walk around with capped armor/mr, in which case you can take three.. while you need 5-10 abilities (with 2-3x higher damage than light attacks) to kill a single mob. Zenimax's "player won't be god" was taken too far I guess..

Well I don't like the sound of all this...damn


I would have gone DK from the get go but when I was choosing my class my research told me that they were incredibly overpowered and would soon be nerfed without a doubt...

gimmethecreepsb14_ESO

METALPUNKS wrote: »

gimmethecreepsb14_ESO wrote: »

METALPUNKS wrote: »

If you plan on sneaking around with that bow of yours go kahjiit. I feel kahjiit is by far the best race for NB. Imperial is a great tank race.

Based on what? First off, not all NB's are stealthy assassins...They make excellent healers and even better tanks. They also make great destruction staff DPSers. Khajiit's racials don't help a bow NB at all. The stealth range is meh considering you'll generally be at max range with a bow, and their Carnage passive is a melee only passive. So he'd lose out on any benefit from that as a bow-NB...

To the OP, look at all the races and their racial passives and decide which ones will help you the most. Also, if you want to play a "stealthy, bow user" don't feel like you can only play a nightblade. Medium armor Sorcerer Archers and Templar Archers can pump out awesome firepower too. But if you decide NB is the route you want to go, pick thru the races passives and see which will aid your build most. The leveling bonuses don't mean much as they dont matter at top level, but the other passives vary a lot. For NB anything with stamina and magicka regen definately is nice, as both resource pools are necessary. Khajiit and Imperial are both fine, but Wood Elf might be an easy race for a starter bow-NB, as you'll level the bow skills fast and get good stamina regen. Dark elf also is really strong with the Dynamic passive, and gives good fire resist if you ever try going Vamp. But instead of listening to what we say, just go thru the racial passives and see which will make your build pop. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any Q's.

Exactly why i said if he was planning on sneaking around go kajhiit. I get that Nightblades are good healers as well, reason I know is because that's my main. I'm a NB healer and it's amazing. I went Breton with my NB. Anyway the OP said he was using the bow and if so kahjiit was the better choice from imperial, then that why said imperial make good tanks incase he was using sword and board for tanks.

Trust me I know NB's can be very versatile. I think they have the most options for a class and anyone who says they suck isn't playing them correctly. My healer can easily kill mobs that are 3 or 4 levels above me.

To the OP. Do NOT pick a race based on the extra xp you get like kahjiit with bow. It's a waste to choose a race based on that. If you happen to be using the weapon and a get a skill boost from the racial then great.

Also take note there is no melee crit in this game. It's weapon and spell crit so if a skill or passive says melee crit you will still get it. I know this first hand because I tested it many times.

And I stand corrected. I wise ESO would fix all the crap info where they call it "melee crit" if it does indeed work with bows as well. I apologize to you for my mistake their, sir.

@kgrizzle , don't pick a class based on What will or won't be nerfed. Just look through the powers and see which ones stand out to you as the coolest. In WoW over the course of on and off 10 years of gameplay, I've probably seen my characters buffed and nerfed 30 times a piece, if not more. Just pick what looks fun and build a character around it.

kgrizzle

Yea, I ended up goin Imperial. Seems like it was just a coin flip anyway

Doyen

ArRashid wrote: »

Hate to break it to you, but nighbtlade is currently THE worst class. 1-40 content is a cakewalk for any class, then you start feeling weak and after getting to VR1 you'll sooner die of old age than kill a mob. The sheer amount of bugs and lack of good CC has made anything past lvl 50 (aka all Veteran content) REALLY REALLY REALLY HARD.

- bow nightblade has superior CC, but sucks against any packs with ranged mobs in them, since he depends on not getting damaged. His own attacks hit for the same as light weapon attacks, so you'll probably end up with just spamming light attack and use ability bar for utility spells like Stealth (doesn't help with already released projectiles against you or AoEs), Impale (only really usable at 25% HP and less), Bombard (AoE immobilize, damage is barely noticable)...

- tank nightblade takes the whole "I deal zero damage" to a new level, although if you take any spell from Shadow line you'll cap your armor/mr for a while and boost regen of stamina for blocks, but that's about it. No good CC (DK's Talons are simply the best) or self healing or anything.

I've tried:
- nightblade archer - no damage, infinite CC to melee mobs, ranged mobs are your doom
- vampire bloodmage healer - good healing (all things considered), but rather weak for soloing. And that unfortunate weakness to fire that seems to be bugged to cut 500% instead of 50% fire resist.. as your average fire spell kills you straight away and fire light attack from staff is most likely to cut you for 70% HP even through block..
- 2h rogue - superior damage from Ambush and Veiled strike, but thanks to ZERO CC, you die till you can kill anything. great.

damage on VR just seems so absurdly high that any 2 unblocked attacks will kill you, unless you walk around with capped armor/mr, in which case you can take three.. while you need 5-10 abilities (with 2-3x higher damage than light attacks) to kill a single mob. Zenimax's "player won't be god" was taken too far I guess..

Im sorry but I have to comment on this.

Im a 1h&shield and DW Khajiit NB tanky dps. I killed MB at lvl 46 on my first attempt and went onto VR content at 46. I have completed the first 2 objectives in Cadwells almanac in AD and now up to lvl 49.

Think about what passives you want to take and how your class skills synergise with weapon skills and all their associated passives. An Ambush 4 stealth attack should take the first mob down to ~ 40 % of their health. Keep moving and using your skills correctly.

Uncle_Bob

I haven't had any problems with my NB through VR content. I use bows to kite bosses + CC and DW for primary combat. It's incredibly effective for me. Sneak + Surprise attack nearly 1 shots any mob, the rest of the pack can be managed with siphon and DW attacks. Melee mobs are predictable with their strong attacks, just block those and disorient them. Ranged mobs with bows always have castable attacks which you can easily identify with the red cones or circles, easily avoidable. Ranged mobs that use magic are squishy and I always sneak attack them first.

A couple things to note: With being a vampire, Midnight Drain is godly for NB, it returns health and stamina. Also, the Dark Stalker passive allows me to move faster with sneak than autorunning. I can surprise attack from any direction with ease.

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO

Khajiit is a nececity to sneaking you will need that stealth distance increase
way more then you will need a medium armor set to get closer

DGVish

METALPUNKS wrote: »

To the OP. Do NOT pick a race based on the extra xp you get like kahjiit with bow. It's a waste to choose a race based on that. If you happen to be using the weapon and a get a skill boost from the racial then great.

I would add that Khajit have medium armor bonus for their racial and it isn't just more EXP that you get from it. It makes it slightly more effective when wearing it like Nords using Two Handed weapons they do slightly more damage versus a Breton using one. That damage might level out if you choose Imperial because of the 10% more stamina which affects your basic weapon attacks.

That being said. If you're going to be a sneaky player go Khajit. Their passives are so good for sneaking. I actually made my first alt into a Khajit NB after I already made my main a NB healer.

METALPUNKS

DGVish wrote: »

METALPUNKS wrote: »

To the OP. Do NOT pick a race based on the extra xp you get like kahjiit with bow. It's a waste to choose a race based on that. If you happen to be using the weapon and a get a skill boost from the racial then great.

I would add that Khajit have medium armor bonus for their racial and it isn't just more EXP that you get from it. It makes it slightly more effective when wearing it like Nords using Two Handed weapons they do slightly more damage versus a Breton using one. That damage might level out if you choose Imperial because of the 10% more stamina which affects your basic weapon attacks.

That being said. If you're going to be a sneaky player go Khajit. Their passives are so good for sneaking. I actually made my first alt into a Khajit NB after I already made my main a NB healer.

Ya your right its medium armor I am actually not sure why I said now. Anyway the first passive only makes it so you level faster with that item. So a kahjiit would level medium armor faster than the other races. Unless I'm totally mistaken I am sure that a race isn't better with something because of that passive, it surely does not say that. Anyone?

DGVish

METALPUNKS wrote: »

Ya your right its medium armor I am actually not sure why I said now. Anyway the first passive only makes it so you level faster with that item. So a kahjiit would level medium armor faster than the other races. Unless I'm totally mistaken I am sure that a race isn't better with something because of that passive, it surely does not say that. Anyone?

Once you've reached max level for that skill line you still have the %15 more experienced gained with that skill line added on top of all that experience. So it will do slightly more damage. but nothing game breaking.