Nightblade needs a serious Buff.

The_Emproer

honestly, i think a lot of people are horrible at building their nightblade. nightblades class lines all have a theme of enhancing whatever weapon you choose to use, which is why you don't see any world ending AoE's or nukes in their skill lines. Stuff like Haste, Shadow Cloak, Surprise Attack, Strife, Power Extraction, and Siphoning Strikes make them fantastic DPS, Tanks, or Healers that cannot run out of resources, ever.

IMO, nightblade has an extremely low amount of build diversity between players due to people seeing it and thinking 'omg it's the rogue! bow+dual wield!'. they then use Bow as their main weapon (which is horrible at sustained DPS, and isn't any fault of the class itself) and just fail all over the place, giving them a completely skewed opinion of the class. NB is incredibly strong even with all of the buggy skills; experiment with different setups and you'll begin to find this out for yourself.

Canh

I love how People trying to Defend the Current NB . This Class is full of *** Bugs. Also Fix the Bugs befor thinking about Buffs.

Let me List ONE Bug that makes me Absolute Rage:

Veiled Strike <Concealed Weapon> – The 22% movement speed in stealth while slotted effect appears to suffer the dreaded “Once you’ve died you need to re-log or zone to rectify the issue”. Workaround: If you re-log or change zones it will force the passive effect to work again

Beeing Forced to relog so i can play my Class Properly. Imagine that in PvP where u ARE going to Die alot and also have to suffer the Dreaded Eternal Loading Screen.

Im just speechless that they cant Hotfix it.

This is the first time i ever bothered to Post on a Nerf/Buff Thread.

xxslam48xxb14_ESO

Im a vet10 nightblade and for pve questing I almost exclusively used dual wield for flying blade, cloak, and suprise attack. I start off by sneak attacking 1 mob which results in the death of that mob. Then I cloak and open on the next mob with suprise attack and burst him down using combos. Then for the third mob and forth I just do the same thing as the second mob. You will barely ever get hit if you burst fast enough and recloak before the enemy has time to retarget you. For mobs that cant be stunned I use a bow and kite them with cripple and magnum shot/volcanic rune. Oh yeah I have siphoning attacks on both my bars so I can spam cloak, bash, and flying blade when im bursting down mobs.

Cloak is your best friend and you should use it all times to give yourself the shadow barrier passive(your like a heavy armor wearer without any of the down sides). Not only does it give the shadow barrier, but it also cancels out pretty much any attack an enemy is trying to use on you. See a mob casting a spell and you dont have time to interrupt? Just hit cloak and he stops! In fact why even bother fighting enemies on vet when they give no xp? Just cloak past the majority of them and only fight when its the only option.

I noticed that storm atronachs can see through cloak and they are by far the hardest challenge on vet. For them use a bow and kite them with cripple and agony to give you the speed and healing to evade them. When they cast their snare quickly roll dodge it and then sprint with the boost it gives. Even if the snare still hits you (its really glitchy and some what unreliable) just keep sprinting and with the cripple speed boost on top of the dodge roll speed boost they shouldnt be able to catch up to you. Kiting them requires a HUGE space so make sure you clear all mobs in the vicinity of the atronach. This requires alot of skill and good timing, so you are going to die alot, but once you get it down you can kill them solo.

I hope this helps people out because I used this build through all the challenging moments of vet leveling and it pulled through for me. I even use this in pvp and while its not vamp, dk, sorc levels of ridiculousness it keeps me alive and people tend to not bother attacking me when I turn invisible and instead target other team mates. I think nb justs needs to have its bugs fixed and probably could use buffs on the lousy class skills (path of darkness/blur) and it will be balanced once the kings dk and sorc get their inevitable nerfs.

Gisgo

Here i am Zos! Buff me!

Chirru

I just add my voice to the above. I put my NB on ice until they fix the class.
My DK takes three NPC's easily... the NB has a less than 50/50 chance to succeed

Lynx7386

Fixing the bugs would solve a lot of our issues, but I do think that there are several abilities that just need to be improved. Paths of darkness and summon shade are both absolutely horrible for damage, and since that's all they really do there's no point in even putting them on your bar.

Also, I'd like to see them change assassin's blade/impale/killer's blade to work like the dual wield execute, dealing more damage as the target's health gets lower instead of just getting the damage boost past x% health.

Currently, with that ability, you get +300% damage dealt if the target is below 25% health. What I'd like to see is an increasing damage bonus based on enemy health lost, like so:
target @ 90% health: +30% damage
target @ 80% health: +60% damage
target @ 70% health: +90% damage
target @ 60% health: +120% damage
target @ 50% health: +150% damage
target @ 40% health: +180% damage
target @ 30% health: +210% damage
target @ 25% health or under: +300% damage

Xithian

Chirru wrote: »

I just add my voice to the above. I put my NB on ice until they fix the class.
My DK takes three NPC's easily... the NB has a less than 50/50 chance to succeed

What level and build? Past level 30 or so I've never had problems with any three mob pulls. Hell, by the time I got to Coldharbour I was pulling 6+ at a time for fun. I've knocked that off in the vet areas, but I still take out groups of three easily.

Xithian

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Fixing the bugs would solve a lot of our issues, but I do think that there are several abilities that just need to be improved. Paths of darkness and summon shade are both absolutely horrible for damage, and since that's all they really do there's no point in even putting them on your bar.

Also, I'd like to see them change assassin's blade/impale/killer's blade to work like the dual wield execute, dealing more damage as the target's health gets lower instead of just getting the damage boost past x% health.

Currently, with that ability, you get +300% damage dealt if the target is below 25% health. What I'd like to see is an increasing damage bonus based on enemy health lost, like so:
target @ 90% health: +30% damage
target @ 80% health: +60% damage
target @ 70% health: +90% damage
target @ 60% health: +120% damage
target @ 50% health: +150% damage
target @ 40% health: +180% damage
target @ 30% health: +210% damage
target @ 25% health or under: +300% damage

Summon Shade isn't really a damage ability as it stands. The debuff is useful, especially if you're stacking it with other like debuffs. What needs fixed on that one is the Dark Shades morph itself. Shadow Image has its own uses as a utility skill. I can't speak for Path of Darkness as it never interested me so I haven't tried it.

I would love to see that change to Assassin's Blade, but I fear they would raise the mana cost as well. Its low cost is one of the things that makes it nice to spam on big bosses, and since you get mana back for kills with the passive it's pretty much free to kill normal mobs. But...if it did decent damage sooner in the fight, it would become more useful in general. I'm torn. I really like it being a free killshot that restores my mana and health.

ottohi

While this continues, I'd like to add my opinions of (generally) unused skills here!
Blur and all morphs - useless. It doesn't seem to do much for AoE skills and at 15% everything still hits you reliably. Need to pair it with another defensive ability for it to do much of anything.
Mark Target and morphs - Nice if we could get that armor reduction to work.
Haste and morphs - only used it once, with dual wield. Could not determine without a stop watch if it even did anything. Didn't seem to do anything. Haven't checked since.
Path of darkness and morphs - If this was a toggle, it'd be an awesome toggle. However it's not, it's hard to see, and quite a small little landing strip to stay on. Damage (and healing in morph) are forgettable. Best use is using as a spammable magicka speed boost.
Aspect of Terror and morphs - seems to last 2-3 seconds. Morph to reduce damage is great, morph to lay a trap seems to never go off. Also quite costly. Would benefit from longer duration and a snare on use.
Summon Shade and morphs - tickles mobs, but the 15% damage reduction is alright. Morph for 2 is extremely mediocre . Morph for archer is nice until you need it to move.
Agony and morphs - not used a lot, but still good CC. Would like to see DoT damage on ability kick off at start and not break the CC.

I really want to love blur, path of darkness, and agony but they're great idea, but not good to use.

poochie

Skills I use the most for first bar are Crippling Grasp Venom Arrow Funnel Health Degeneration Shadowy Disguise. 2nd bar skills are Focused Aim Scorched Earth Acid Spray Magnum Shot Silver Bolts. I switch to soul gem to fill gems and that's really about it. So I'm wondering for pure bow where the damage is?

R0M2K

Agree with OP

Yankee

xxslam48xxb14_ESO wrote: »

Im a vet10 nightblade and for pve questing I almost exclusively used dual wield for flying blade, cloak, and suprise attack. I start off by sneak attacking 1 mob which results in the death of that mob. Then I cloak and open on the next mob with suprise attack and burst him down using combos. Then for the third mob and forth I just do the same thing as the second mob. You will barely ever get hit if you burst fast enough and recloak before the enemy has time to retarget you. For mobs that cant be stunned I use a bow and kite them with cripple and magnum shot/volcanic rune. Oh yeah I have siphoning attacks on both my bars so I can spam cloak, bash, and flying blade when im bursting down mobs.

Cloak is your best friend and you should use it all times to give yourself the shadow barrier passive(your like a heavy armor wearer without any of the down sides). Not only does it give the shadow barrier, but it also cancels out pretty much any attack an enemy is trying to use on you. See a mob casting a spell and you dont have time to interrupt? Just hit cloak and he stops! In fact why even bother fighting enemies on vet when they give no xp? Just cloak past the majority of them and only fight when its the only option.

Pretty much how I leveled mine to VR1. It is good to know that will work to 10. I just got my Sorc to VR1 but I am starting to miss my NB again.

As you noted, the thing I love about the NB is with all stealth passives one does not have to kill vet mobs worth a whole 42 points. And you can cloak right through packs of mobs in instances head on.

Thanks for your extensive post. Agree they need to fix our bugged stuff.

Xaei

Creawen wrote: »

Xau wrote: »

To me NB makes up for it's lack of aoe strength with awesome 1v1 capability.
Before they go changing the skills I think they should first fix the ones that are bugged (marked target, haste, siphoning strikes, etc.) and give the community time to try new builds.

Here is my current build for pve/leveling/grinding-solo. I often swap in immovable brute for bosses, or switch out blood craze when fighting mobs that are immune to bleeds and that kinda stuff. I'm vet7 and have no problem soloing anything I've encountered thus far. I'm sure this isn't the best build out there but if you are feeling underpowered perhaps it will help.

awesome in 1v1? wtf look at ur build u use 2 class skills in ur 1v1 build and killers blade sucks hard the 2H version of it its way better since it gets stronger the more hp the enemy loses but assassins blade needs the enemy to be at 25% life to start dealing the extra dmg and surprise attack is nothing special i would trade it for any main atk skill the other classes got

Well, not exactly.

1. The 2h skill can only be well, used with a 2h, whilst Assassin's Blade can be used with anything. Which is a huge plus at the moment because frankly, 2 handed weapons are rather lackluster compared to everything else.
2. You can morph it to be a 15 meter ranged ability, Reverse Slash can't be morphed to do that.

timothynrwb17_ESO

Lol I'm the opposite - I've just shelved my V2 DK for a NightBlade. The NB is now level 34 after a few days. I'm currently grinding mobs 5-6 levels higher than me no problem. The way it's developing I don't think I'll have an issue with the NB at Vet levels but time will tell. It's been smoother leveling the NB than the DK was and much much more fun.

This is the build I'm using.

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mcovvvV0Mf0u08IPqZ8LxsO8GFtV8jKvO8If0b8jKEG8IPqU8heRn8heaY8heai8IPUv8IPws8L7CIkLu6cdoQr6MdoQC6MdoQF6zdoQK8T7NIRMA8v7pNanQ6IanU6NanW6NanX6Mhx0n6Mhx0y6Mhx0l8C7zNzqa8D7NIzdm6Nzds6MIrv36MIrEf8F7DdzrJ6IzrK6dzrO6Nbut6MIPNU6zIPAh6MIPAT6MIPAv8P7MbdYh8Y7VIfJu6bfJI6NfJN6zjFYi6MjKBj8zo7pcvbiW6zvbho6cvbhk6zvbhs8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO

how about doubling the duration of the armor gain buff when coming out of stealth to 8 second?

''First : Survivbility. We have the weakest healing. At veteran levels when I come across 3 mobs I can forget our heals. Swalloing Soul was nice at the first 30 levels ...now I just use it for the 10% passive. Mobs dish out around 400 dmg ...and i have a 30 point Heal over time ..yay.''

(Wrong... I fight using sap essence and funnel health those are exelent heals but are not to be used as main healing techniques, to have a good heal as NB you need vampirism and devouring swarm however these tech makes for a wonderfull healer build as supplement to resto staff)

Regardless you want me to believe the only way to get trought veteran 6-10 is by spamming mage guild volcanic rune and never get hit? Mainly can this ability even deal the necessary damage to kill a pack of mob? What are you even doing against boss when they are immune to stunning effect because there are also ranged mobs around in this game. do they seriously hit for 1/3 of your total hp bar on every hit at the armor overcap?

apterous

Dominulf wrote: »

Not only are you weak as hell with goofy skills like Fear compared to Dark Talons, half your skills don't even work! Nice!

let me tell you one story about "goofy fear". i had some trouble beating those super defensive tanks at some point, i put goofy fear and combined it with soul strike, 4 seconds and the guy was dead. running away like little girl and couldn't defend against soul strike and ending up dead, really fast.

subecsanur

Plus......., a lot of their skills in their class base or weapon base drain so much magicka and stamina.

Again they need to revisit this, yes we have good single target ability but most are borken, and when we approach more than 2 mobs even with carefull planning, chances of survival (even trash in VR zones) is less than 50% unless we use skills from fighters or other weapons lines (is this what we are suppose to do). This when other classes literally run in and just casually cc and dps them slowly, yes they take longer to kill but hey no fear nothing can hurt them.

Even dungeon groups have already somewhat ditched NB's for DPS now.

Eivar

I think the main issue with nightblade is our survivability, the good players can make things work and get by, but compared to other classes we fold like paper if there are to many mobs around. I've been using fear and hidden blade to take out groups of 3 and below with relative ease, but it's not at the speed that aoe heavy classes can, any larger group of mobs and i start to have issues, yes i could switch back to bow or go destro but the idea that you can't use a certain weapon type and be viable is just a balance issue that ZOS needs to work out. If we had better defensive cds, or higher dps output this wouldn't be an issue. I would rather see them buff the sustained dps of melee classes rather than see stronger defensives, since that is the usual tradeoff, you're more likely to take dmg and die, but you can dps harder for the few moments you can get in and hit the boss.