Nightblade Update

Grim13 · January 2015

Hey Zenimax, do you have any actual plans to fix Cloak?

There are so many issues with it in PvP that I'm on the verge of quitting your game.

Please, let me know if there is an end to this BS in sight... so I can decide whether it's worth it to keep paying you.

Nicko_Lps · January 2015

I actually think.. Now that they nerf reflective scales they should give the original reflective scales to nightblades.

This way they will be even more op and then they might shut up and play.
Maybe give them and a black shadowblood to eliminate forumwhining? Dunno if its too much.
May the ESO allmighty devs find whats better.<- - THIS

kelly.medleyb14_ESO · January 2015

I have perma retired my NB as I refuse to make him a dress wearing s/b.

Darkonflare15 · January 2015

After a long Hiatus, the Nightblade update post is back open and useless topics start spreading again.

Jacques Berge · January 2015

Block casting is the issue. Block casting in conjunction with certain skills leads to being op in pvp. Nightblades are strong! Cloak is still a little jacked up, but balancing the ability to go invisible can't be easy. cloak is always the first thing that gets jacked up on any patch. I've seen successful PVPers running all sorts of builds. Only in PVE are you shoe horned into using certain skill rotations.

Darkonflare15 · January 2015

Nightblades are way better than they were several patches ago especially with stamina builds. Every since they raise the caps of stats, gave more resource options, more stat bonus on gear, and improve some skills, Night blades stamina builds have been great. Once they give us more stamina moves for our class, fix shadow cloak, and improve our skills, than Nightblades will be great.

ZOS_EveP · January 2015

Hi guys,

We have removed multiple comments from this thread for flaming and being off topic. While we understand that everyone will not always agree, please do not resort to personal jabs or attacks or we will have to intervene.

Thank you for understanding.

Grim13 · January 2015

Still can't be bothered to give the NB community an update on Cloak, huh?

*** pathetic.

Grim13 · January 2015

C'mon, Zenimax... it's been broken for a year! Since my very first Beta weekend to be exact... and still no word on a fix.

Jacques Berge · January 2015

Grim13 wrote: »

C'mon, Zenimax... it's been broken for a year! Since my very first Beta weekend to be exact... and still no word on a fix.

What!?!? You mean they haven't given you an answer in 3 whole hours? Even after a year of apparent silence? I can't believe Zenimax studios hasn't said any thing, it's only 5:27 am EDT. Geez, them Zenimax folks are bums, they need to get to work already. It sucks that they didn't say anything about it in the previous ESO live shows...

#sarcasm

Varicite · January 2015

Jacques Berge wrote: »

Grim13 wrote: »

C'mon, Zenimax... it's been broken for a year! Since my very first Beta weekend to be exact... and still no word on a fix.

What!?!? You mean they haven't given you an answer in 3 whole hours? Even after a year of apparent silence? I can't believe Zenimax studios hasn't said any thing, it's only 5:27 am EDT. Geez, them Zenimax folks are bums, they need to get to work already. It sucks that they didn't say anything about it in the previous ESO live shows...

#sarcasm

They said they were working on it, and that was back for 1.4, iirc.

Certainly haven't heard anything about it since then. But I guess even asking for an update is just way too forward...

Grim13 · January 2015

Jacques Berge wrote: »

Grim13 wrote: »

C'mon, Zenimax... it's been broken for a year! Since my very first Beta weekend to be exact... and still no word on a fix.

What!?!? You mean they haven't given you an answer in 3 whole hours? Even after a year of apparent silence? I can't believe Zenimax studios hasn't said any thing, it's only 5:27 am EDT. Geez, them Zenimax folks are bums, they need to get to work already. It sucks that they didn't say anything about it in the previous ESO live shows...

#sarcasm

I'll defer to Mr. Twain on this one.

Darkonflare15 · January 2015

Looks ZOS change the dual wielding skill Sparks into a new skill Blade Cloak. Interesting.

killedbyping · March 2015

So, new update, new issues with NightBlade..
Lets sum it up ?

Dark Cloack is a complete joke. It is better to use invisibility potions which work fine and work 4.5 times longer.

Grim focus - useless skill compared to what haste was in update 5. 8 Attacks is too much. Spectral bow have a casting time of 1 second and the Spectral Bow damage not even worth pressing the proc button.

Ambush - useless in PVE. Insta cast is not rly insta... It is same 0.8s cast time as before. Tooltip is a lie... While it could be pretty great skill for Magicka users, making it Stamina based makes it completely worthless. Stamina cost is almost 2x more compared to wrecking blow while giving same type of buff. Second morph are so worthless, not even worth to remind about it.

Mirage - give armor bonus ? Rly ? Tanking bonus in "Assasination" tree ?

Mark Target - completely worthless in group content. It give same type of debuff as Punturce, while every tank sure use this for taunt, therefore make use of Mark Target senseless.

Executioner passive - from day 1 it was completely worthless passive, which not even worth 2 skill points to invest. Even thou whole Assasination skill tree are now effective only in stamina builds, this passive still give magicka return. Also magicka return ammount and it's conditions are just stupid - you have to land a killing blow with assasination ability which doesnt happen alot in PVE group content, specialy on AOE phases since there are literaly 0 aoe skills in Assasination tree.

Consummate Darkness - nerf to damage reduction and heal to any but self ? Srsly ?

Agony and it's morph - have no use since day 1.

Catalyst - the only rly good passive of NightBlades which doesnt require you to slot anything to have benefit from it (while other classess have tons of such passives) reworked to complete crap.

Anything else to add ?

glitchmaster999 · March 2015

Nightblades are in an amazing place in 1.6, I used haste in 1.5 and got around 1600-1700 dps with it but its gone now, the new skill is much better stop kidding yourself.

If you don't like the proc don't use it, its still 8% damage and 2% crit just for having it. It even still gives stam regen. For Magicka builds the proc hits hard, hard enough to cast while light attack weaving.

Ambush is now worth weaving into melee attack rotations to close gaps, haven't tested it too much but as a wood elf nightblade the cost doesn't seem to hard to handle, can spam most things in 1.6.

Never really used dark cloak that much so can't comment.

Mark target is much better than it was, 20% damage done for 8 seconds just for putting it on a trash mob, it may be situational but lots of bosses have trash waves that makes this morph of this skill incredibly potent compared to 1.5 where you couldn't use it in multiple vet dungeons (fungal grotto, elden root, coa etc...) because the loss of armor and MR meant one shot. The armor reduction is also very useful in pvp and once again gives 2% crit.

Executioner is useless and should die in a hole.

Shadow ult was too powerful, had dot damage and 60% damage reduction to caster, 30% to party (I think my numbers are off a bit but oh well) as well as lasting 17 seconds. Now you have to choose the best and not always have the best of both worlds.

Agony needs love, everyone knows that.

Catalyst is not great but still worth the points.

I play every class as stam build on live and have tested them on the PTS. The only classes that aren't broken imho are nightblades and templars. Templars pull way less dps than nightblades but have survivability to boot. My DK is getting ludicrous dps and needs to be nerfed to the ground and my sorc is so bad im thinking about making it an imperial pet build.

Baristote · March 2015

PLEASE make the melee magic skills able to sneak attack again !
I'm magicka NB since day 1 and i don't want to play range peWpeW dot magic, or respec range peWpeW arrow physic

So embush and concealed need to use magicka and sneak when stealth.

Btw, good Job 1.6

Kypho · March 2015

Baristote wrote: »

PLEASE make the melee magic skills able to sneak attack again !
I'm magicka NB since day 1 and i don't want to play range peWpeW dot magic, or respec range peWpeW arrow physic

So embush and concealed need to use magicka and sneak when stealth.

Btw, good Job 1.6

No way ambush and surprise need to use magicka. enough from the magicka crap. ambush is magic only because teleport. nothing more. IT SHOULD stay stamina.

Baristote · March 2015

If people are happy with the stamina morph, cool for em.
But the sneak attack is needed with conceald attack, and a magicka ambush

Grim13 · March 2015

Heavy attacks, channeled attacks, and charging attacks are all still breaking Cloak...

Are you ever planning on fixing it?

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Spamming]

Helluin · March 2015

Grim Focus:
This ability now only requires 7 light and/or heavy attacks to trigger Deadly Throw.

This ability will now always play visual effects while it’s active so you know when the ability needs to be refreshed.

Fixed some visual issues with the spectral bow.

This skill is really interesting as concept but it's a problem to be used both in group PvE and in PvP also with 7 attacks instead of 8.
Something in the mechanic or buff duration should be changed to make this skill more interesting.
This skill would be more appealing with other classes with a bonus on heavy attacks (like Sorc or DK), on a NB is not the same.

The visual effect of the ability is really similar to the one of Siphoning Strikes, so when using both skills there is no visual clue to know when refresh it; it's better to rely on buff tracking addons.

Spectral bow seems now better than before.

Varicite · March 2015

Helluin wrote: »

Grim Focus:
This ability now only requires 7 light and/or heavy attacks to trigger Deadly Throw.

This ability will now always play visual effects while it’s active so you know when the ability needs to be refreshed.

Fixed some visual issues with the spectral bow.

This skill is really interesting as concept but it's a problem to be used both in group PvE and in PvP also with 7 attacks instead of 8.
Something in the mechanic or buff duration should be changed to make this skill more interesting.
This skill would be more appealing with other classes with a bonus on heavy attacks (like Sorc or DK), on a NB is not the same.

The visual effect of the ability is really similar to the one of Siphoning Strikes, so when using both skills there is no visual clue to know when refresh it; it's better to rely on buff tracking addons.

Spectral bow seems now better than before.

I wonder if they realize that when it was a morph of Haste, people only took it because of the stamina regen.

The mechanics of "hit target dummy or other inanimate object X times and then shoot a thing you prolly won't need by the time you proc it" were questionable from the start.

Even right now, nobody cares about the actual proc, etc. People use it because of the 8% damage / 10% stam regen.

The actual mechanics of the ability have always been and continue to be more of an annoyance than anything.

Rust_in_Peace · March 2015

Baristote wrote: »

If people are happy with the stamina morph, cool for em.
But the sneak attack is needed with conceald attack, and a magicka ambush

No. You don't get to be a caster and take all the physical attacks too.

Father · April 2015

How come nightblade is still the only class without a dmg shield?
Dark cloak still breaks alot in pvp ;/
Looks like the best method of escape is dodging.

morf87 · April 2015

Anychance you can look at cloak again ? @ZOS_JessicaFolsom. An hour of pvp today was enough for me to call it quits due to dark cloak not performing how it should.. everytime i was attempting to fight more then 1 player i would roll dodge then dark cloak and be pulled out of cloak in a millisecond.
NB's have no class damage shield or any other type of defensive tools to make up for cloak failing so often..
This thread is nearly a year old and while i can see some improvements a whole year to get things right with cloak is more then enough time....

F7sus4 · May 2015

Funnel Health needs more damage. Magicka NB needs to reach the DPS level of DKs and Sorcs and not to be 4k behind them.

Baly.n · May 2015

F7sus4 wrote: »

Funnel Health needs more damage. Magicka NB needs to reach the DPS level of DKs and Sorcs and not to be 4k behind them.

I can reach 14k dps on my magicka NB in 2min fight given no need to move or dodge. But yes, DK would do 16k dps with no real problem, 17k even.

Funnel Health is good as it is, maybe a little boost could be good. But it already is more of a cheap (actually the cheapest) way to get nice 8k dps (with weaving), so no real problem there. I would like to see some changes to Grim Focus/Merciless Resolve, because unless you spam heavy/light attacks, the damage is not worth it (even with the damage boost).

SosRuvaak · May 2015

nothing would be better than an actual update on the shadow ability.
literally anything takes you out of it.
Sorc gets an OP escape, and its pretty much uncounterable, dragon knights have a lot more sustain and strength than a nightblade, but people are worried nightblade could get OP too quick.
i often use shadow to engage, and escape a fight if i can, but like i said, you come out of it over pretty much anything.
its supposed to be an invisibility, not just an ability buff.

Furor · June 2015

I've recently returned from a long hiatus (I quit shortly after release) and am now familiar with a handful of the new Nightblade changes. Overall, they're very appealing.

I do appreciate the fact that you added stamina morphs to some abilities. But now that renders these morphs useless as a magicka Nightblade. In the cases where you've allowed a stamina morph, can you make it so it will scale off of your higher spell damage/spell power OR weapon damage/weapon power?

When I choose to leave an ability unmorphed (Teleport Strike) because one morph is stamina and the other isn't ideal for single target damage, that to me says the ability needs to be re-worked.

Viscidous · June 2015

Honestly I love the stamina morphs and enjoy the fact the class is more streamlined with how they are supposed to be played. If people wantto play magicka based roll a sorc. Nightblades are rogue style builds.

Zsymon · June 2015

Lotus Fan does more single target damage than Ambush though, if you count the dot.