NB shadow skills

Ommamar · November 2014

I was playing my neglected Night Blade class earlier and got my first shadow skill morph. I am curious how others are using this skill. I took the one that raises the critical chance and the spell resist. So far when I use it right before ambush I have noticed that on some targets particularly casters a greater likely hood for a one shot kill. I also noticed that if I cast when I see the target loading up on a strong attack it stops that attack from occurring. This combined with sparks seems to greatly add to damage mitigation.
How do you use this skill line? How did it change as you leveled up?

Cody · November 2014

Which skill is this?

Kartalin · November 2014

I've learned and morphed all of the shadow skills and gotten all of the passives. Many of the skills are useful in the right situations, but the ones that I consistently keep on my skill bars are Concealed Weapon (morph of Veiled Strike) and Veil of Blades (morph of the ultimate ability).

The main thing with Ambush is to make sure you are hidden when you use it. It's a good way to initiate battle. And because the next attack deals bonus damage after using Ambush, you want to follow it up with a big hitter, like Soul Harvest (assassination ultimate morph) or Concealed Weapon if Soul Harvest isn't ready. The thing is though, Soul Harvest gets ready to use in a hurry. The NB ambush build is very good at taking down single targets quickly. If there's two opponents, Sparks is good for the second one after you quickly take down the first so you can get back into your attack. I also use Evasion (medium armor skill) to help protect me from additional opponents beyond the first. Veil of Blades is useful for groups like that, too, but it takes a little bit longer to get ready.

Shadow Cloak and it's morphs aren't strictly necessary, and who knows if they're even working right at the moment. Dark Cloak is useful to some extent in PVP because it can remove a DoT from you and keep you hidden. I don't use it too much in PVE myself, because I have other skills that I favor over it. But if it's working for you, that's great.

The fact is there are a lot of awesome abilities for you to play around with. I think it's best to find your own combination that you like and that you find to be effective.

Suntzu1414 · November 2014

Just having VoB.
Makes the whole shadow line worthwhile.

VoB Synergies with Syphon make NB viable tank class...my VR3 tanks mobs in VR11 devels, no problem.

The other abilities, can be situational.. or specific for PvP.
Shades & Fear - use all the time in PvP. especially when backed into corner..

Additionally, prefer Surprised Attack over CW. Because of armor reduction.
Though outside of PvP, I only use Siphon (because of healing DoT) -- it improves my survivability substantially...and Transfer Passive (boosts Utl).

Kill Well
ST

Sethro_27 · November 2014

Shadow is good to use for debuffing your target for your buddies to take down the target.
It turns into a kinda tanking class or a quick burst.
I hope this kinda answers your question.

Ommamar · November 2014

I didn't take the Dark cloak buff but the other that raises the critical. I usually start ambush from standard stealth then the whirlwind which usually kills the first target. I then siphon the next target light attack until I see them load up then use the shadow cloak morph which interrupts the heavy attack then whirlwind again. usually by this time the second target is down. If there is three which at level 12 is unusual I use sparks then light/heavy attacks. Once I hit 15 I will change tactics as I will have another skill bar to work with.
Thanks for the thoughts on how you play.

Nestor · November 2014

One thing to remember you can respec just your Morphs so if you decide on something different, it does not cost too much.

I use Ambush from Stealth, either with the Cloak first or even better from behind the mob. It's almost a one shot on most mobs, and with Bosses, it can take a third of their health and give some of them a Stun. Then follow up with Concealed Weapon or Veiled Blades (I think it is the Ultimate that only costs 50) Then some Siphon.

Since the NB in Medium Armor is the way to go (for Criticals and Stealth Buffs) mana regen sucks. So, I will have a couple of the DW skills on the bar too to use while my mana is regening, or, to mix in to keep the mana pool from being depleted.

I just loaded sparks up the other day and I am surprised at how effective it is in a battle. I have not used Fear or Shade, but may try them also. I don't PvP, so I am not sure how they work in PvE.

Ommamar · November 2014

I really haven't been focusing on position but will have to try attacks from the back. I find sparks really helpful around level 7 or 8 I was getting very discouraged at my survivability. after the patch respec I put up sparks, cloak and siphon which has really helped things. I to try and use both pools to give as many options as I can.

Not sure about fear I haven't gotten it yet but the other night a NB seemed to be using it very ineffectively. The group was constantly getting adds because the mob would run into other groups. The thing that confuses me is people have said that it is more like a stun that immobilizes and interrupts the target. In other ES games fear definitely made the target run away so not sure if that is the perception of it in this game and that NB was doing something I don't know about or if fear does in fact make the target run off.

Kartalin · November 2014

Fear is nice in PVE because most mobs just run away from you and don't break CC the second you use it like in PVP. This is also how you distinguish PVP newbies from the veterans.