Need help with a magicka Siphoning NB build

Bloodgharm · July 2015

As the title states, I'm looking for some help in planning a magicka based nb. I have a good grasp on my stamina nb, but I'm looking for something a little less squishy that I'll be able to solo world bosses and dungeons with. I figure this is a possibility from what I hear of sap tanks and siphoning healers. I'm not really interested in pvp atm, so skills should be pve focused.

With the intro out of the way, can anyone give me a decent build? I'm planning on playing my nb as a mage type with mostly light armor and wielding destro/destro or destro/resto staves. Here are my main questions:

1. What should my attribute allocation look like? I'm thinking most of it into magicka with some in health and little to no points into stamina.

2. Which class and weapon skills synergize well together? I assume I'll be taking mostly siphoning skills with whatever staff and mages' guild skills go well with them.

3. What should my gear spread be? 7/7 light? 5 light/2 heavy?

I think that covers most everything. I like the idea of playing a blood mage healer, but I probably won't be healing all the time. That leaves me with a damage blood mage if there is such a thing. I'll probably take vampirism too since it seems to fit the build well in a rp sense. Thanks to anyone who offers some good advice.

RavenSworn · July 2015

First up how far in are you with the mages guild skill? The last passive is awesome for nb magicka builds as it is the only way to gain empower. Ambush is a stamina based ability so wont do much for you, even if it does do empower.

I believe Breton to be the best bet for magicka nb, though dunmer seems awesome too. The one reason why I would prefer Breton is that they have spell resistance. Nbs have alot of physical damage mitigation and it helps with your survivability.

Taking assasin tree is very much needed for magicka nbs... Each kills gains you magicka and soul harvest is a good way to keep soul tether / meteor up.

Gear should be all light though having 5/2 light heavy combo helps with shadow barrier duration.

Bloodgharm · July 2015

uniq_faznrb18_ESO wrote: »

First up how far in are you with the mages guild skill? The last passive is awesome for nb magicka builds as it is the only way to gain empower. Ambush is a stamina based ability so wont do much for you, even if it does do empower.

I believe Breton to be the best bet for magicka nb, though dunmer seems awesome too. The one reason why I would prefer Breton is that they have spell resistance. Nbs have alot of physical damage mitigation and it helps with your survivability.

Taking assasin tree is very much needed for magicka nbs... Each kills gains you magicka and soul harvest is a good way to keep soul tether / meteor up.

Gear should be all light though having 5/2 light heavy combo helps with shadow barrier duration.

Thanks. What would your bars be like (skill-wise) and which weapons would you go with? Destro/resto?

Schemering · July 2015

I have a siphoning nightblade and indeed it has high survivability. Its nice to be healer too (choose funnel health morph for that) with high damage output.

my answer to your questions:
1-i have all attributes in magicka, same as my sorc dd and dk dd. Points in either health or stamina lower damage and also lower the healing of a magicka nb. I get extra healt from 2 shadow abilities on aoe bar, entropy on single target bar and using Torugs pact

2-i use a Torugs Pact resto staff on single target bar and dual wield sword/dagger on aoe bar.

single target bar
1-inner light 2 structured entropy (health bonus!) 3 relentless resolve 4-cripling grasp 5-funnel health ult-shooting star

aoe bar
1-inner light 2 siphoning attacks (everlasting magicka!) 3-impale (no space on single target + more spelldamage from blades) 4-twisting path 5-sap essence ult-Veil of Blades

3-I use a medium head and heavy chest (both Torugs Pact) to increase health and magicka pool (undaunted passive) and armor rating, increasing my Breton's resist. Gear is all spell damage (more damage + more healing) Martial knowledge x4, androitness x 2 and cyrodiils light x 2

With this setup one can do nice aoe damage and at the same time aoe heal a group as long as there are 2/3 targets or more without running out of magicka. (siphoning attacks) The single target main attack is cheap, combined with a large magicka pool (>40k if one uses the mage) it is easy to sustain. For most vet dungeons if you would be the healer theres no need to change gear or put up healing springs or any other skill that you dont use as a dd. If you are dd you give the healer much opportunity to help with damaging.

regards,

Schemering

Bloodgharm · July 2015

Schemering wrote: »

I have a siphoning nightblade and indeed it has high survivability. Its nice to be healer too (choose funnel health morph for that) with high damage output.

my answer to your questions:
1-i have all attributes in magicka, same as my sorc dd and dk dd. Points in either health or stamina lower damage and also lower the healing of a magicka nb. I get extra healt from 2 shadow abilities on aoe bar, entropy on single target bar and using Torugs pact

2-i use a Torugs Pact resto staff on single target bar and dual wield sword/dagger on aoe bar.

single target bar
1-inner light 2 structured entropy (health bonus!) 3 relentless resolve 4-cripling grasp 5-funnel health ult-shooting star

aoe bar
1-inner light 2 siphoning attacks (everlasting magicka!) 3-impale (no space on single target + more spelldamage from blades) 4-twisting path 5-sap essence ult-Veil of Blades

3-I use a medium head and heavy chest (both Torugs Pact) to increase health and magicka pool (undaunted passive) and armor rating, increasing my Breton's resist. Gear is all spell damage (more damage + more healing) Martial knowledge x4, androitness x 2 and cyrodiils light x 2

With this setup one can do nice aoe damage and at the same time aoe heal a group as long as there are 2/3 targets or more without running out of magicka. (siphoning attacks) The single target main attack is cheap, combined with a large magicka pool (>40k if one uses the mage) it is easy to sustain. For most vet dungeons if you would be the healer theres no need to change gear or put up healing springs or any other skill that you dont use as a dd. If you are dd you give the healer much opportunity to help with damaging.

regards,

Schemering

Nice build! Few questions though.

1. I noticed on your single target bar a relentless resolve...did you mean merciless resolve as relentless focus is geared toward stam users. Also, does crippling grasp really benefit you all that much? I didn't realize that mobility was a necessity for magicka nbs. I would probably go with a destro staff during solo play and slot a more damaging ability there. Just saying. Ybh, I'm not even sure how resto staves work because I've never picked one up. Do they just do heals or do they damage enemies?

2. On aoe bar are you talking about getting more spell damage from the blades (impale) by enchanting your daggers with spell damage then? If so, I see how that can be beneficial.

helediron · July 2015

Bloodgharm wrote: »

Schemering wrote: »

I have a siphoning nightblade and indeed it has high survivability. Its nice to be healer too (choose funnel health morph for that) with high damage output.

my answer to your questions:
1-i have all attributes in magicka, same as my sorc dd and dk dd. Points in either health or stamina lower damage and also lower the healing of a magicka nb. I get extra healt from 2 shadow abilities on aoe bar, entropy on single target bar and using Torugs pact

2-i use a Torugs Pact resto staff on single target bar and dual wield sword/dagger on aoe bar.

single target bar
1-inner light 2 structured entropy (health bonus!) 3 relentless resolve 4-cripling grasp 5-funnel health ult-shooting star

aoe bar
1-inner light 2 siphoning attacks (everlasting magicka!) 3-impale (no space on single target + more spelldamage from blades) 4-twisting path 5-sap essence ult-Veil of Blades

3-I use a medium head and heavy chest (both Torugs Pact) to increase health and magicka pool (undaunted passive) and armor rating, increasing my Breton's resist. Gear is all spell damage (more damage + more healing) Martial knowledge x4, androitness x 2 and cyrodiils light x 2

With this setup one can do nice aoe damage and at the same time aoe heal a group as long as there are 2/3 targets or more without running out of magicka. (siphoning attacks) The single target main attack is cheap, combined with a large magicka pool (>40k if one uses the mage) it is easy to sustain. For most vet dungeons if you would be the healer theres no need to change gear or put up healing springs or any other skill that you dont use as a dd. If you are dd you give the healer much opportunity to help with damaging.

regards,

Schemering

Nice build! Few questions though.

1. I noticed on your single target bar a relentless resolve...did you mean merciless resolve as relentless focus is geared toward stam users. Also, does crippling grasp really benefit you all that much? I didn't realize that mobility was a necessity for magicka nbs. I would probably go with a destro staff during solo play and slot a more damaging ability there. Just saying. Ybh, I'm not even sure how resto staves work because I've never picked one up. Do they just do heals or do they damage enemies?

2. On aoe bar are you talking about getting more spell damage from the blades (impale) by enchanting your daggers with spell damage then? If so, I see how that can be beneficial.

Because i have almost identical build as @Schemering , i hope he don't mind me answering.
1. I am using Merciless Resolve for higher damage. Crippling Grasp increases DPS because it is DoT damage. Speed buff is nice bonus and sometimes useful for kiting. Funnel Health is the spam skill and there are not many DoTs to choose from.
2. The spell damage comes from dual wielding - not from enchants. Changing from e.g. destro staff to dual wield increases spell damage because the damage value from your weapon(s) is directly added to spell damage.

Schemering · July 2015

ur right i mixed up 2 names of the morphs

the movement speed is great to have in eg veteran dsa and also the crippling of opponents is sometimes very helpful. An nb has more stamina regen so dodging and speed evation will be natural to do/use even for an nb caster.

As i do almost exclusively magic damage i have champion points invested in thaumaturge not in elemental damage That makes funnel health more damaging atm than the single target destruction skill(s) (i have used elemental ring for a while as it did more damage than sap essence, about the same as sap + twisting path added, but my current setup is much more sustainable)

Resto staffs channel magic damage with light and heavy attacks, more or less like lightning staffs channel shock damage. Resto staffs give back more magicka with heavy attack thats one small difference but mostly i use resto because i like weaving light resto attacks better than weaving destro light attacks and its easier to exchange crippling grasp with healing springs if one has the right type of staff already equipped. Its a convenience thing destro also works good

It is wearing daggers (or one handeds) that gives the spell damage not enchants.2 blades give u more spell damage than one resto or destro staff on the same bar.I use the nirnhoned or precise trait on staffs and blades alike with poison and disease (also enhanced by thaumaturge) enchantments on the blades and magicka damage/restore magicka enchantment on the staff.

helediron · July 2015

And adding my own tweak. The same siphoning build can switch to tank gear with very high survivability. With this build i have soloed all upper Craglorn delves (with 290 CP).
- 2 Valkyn Skoria medium and heavy (alternates: some other monster set, Torug's Pact or Adroidness pendant, belt)
- 4 Storm Knight (3 armor, 1 pendant) a heavy VR12 set
- 4 Alessian Bulwark (heavy chest, light belt, 2*S&B all nirn)
- 2 Cyrodiil Light rings, all jewelry cost reduce

tanking bars
1: Inner Rage, Refreshing Path, Funnel Health, Mirage, Siphonong Attacks, Shooting Star
2: Reaper's Mark, Dark Shades, Sap Essence, flex, Siphoning Attacks, Veil of Blades
When soloing i usually replace Inner Rage with Cippling Grasp. Flex is Spell Symmetry, Dark Cloak, fear, Impale or Camo Hunter

Schemering · July 2015

thnx; i will take a good look at your tanking setup as i do like to tank sometimes with my caster nb

Bloodgharm · July 2015

@Schemering & @helediron Thanks, that all clears things up for me. I'm pretty new to the game, so I don't have all the traits unlocked for light armor. Are there any good 2 trait sets I should be going for as a magicka nb?

Schemering · July 2015

If you have a non-vet char id say use 4 magnus (4 traits) and 4 mara (8 traits) with 3 warlock jewels (both the magnus and mara set have spelldamage as 4 piece bonus)

When vet1-vet5 use 4 magnus (or mara) 3 torugs pact and 2 androitness (1 amulet + 1 armor piece) and from v6 on use 2 cyrodiils light rings instead of warlock rings.

None of these can be made with 2 traits but if u are on eu server and cannot make this i can craft some for you

Stannum · July 2015

PvP or PvE?
In PvP i use 5 heavy / 2 light

tanking mode bar
sap essense
swallow soul
siphoning attacks
lotus fan
dark cloack
dev swarm

one-on-one bar
consealed weapon
swallow soul
mag light
lotus fan
mass hysteria
soul harvest

Bloodgharm · July 2015

dancing.in.the.webeb17_ESO wrote: »

PvP or PvE?
In PvP i use 5 heavy / 2 light

tanking mode bar
sap essense
swallow soul
siphoning attacks
lotus fan
dark cloack
dev swarm

one-on-one bar
consealed weapon
swallow soul
mag light
lotus fan
mass hysteria
soul harvest

This will be for pve for the most part.

RavenSworn · July 2015

My apologies for the late reply.

Ive not, made a full on magicka build but I do have a sap tank designed to solo public dungeons and bosses.

My bar is sword and shield with two handers

Sap essence
Brawler
Relentless resolve
Siphoning attacks
Swallow soul

Pierce armor
Refreshing path
Deep slash
Siphoning attacks
Reaper's mark

However you can use the setup and change the abilities around the same gameplay; aoe and single target bars.

Change the weapons to destro / resto ( or you can go sword and shield for more tankiness)

Sap essence ( buff, heals and aoe)
Impulse ( aoe spam)
Refreshing path ( aoe, spot heals and movement)
Siphoning attacks ( resource management)
Swallow soul / funnel health ( group utility for funnel, good slotted passive for Swallow)

Crippling grasp
Impale ( finisher, execute, heals)
Siphoning attacks
Structured entropy
Healing ward

Basically you open up any fight with structured entropy, crippling grasp then move in for sap, Swallow soul for single, Impulse for groups and Impale for execute. Ward for survivability, Refreshing path is under-rated it basically heals you while having good movement in and out of battle.

Hope this helps.

Bloodgharm · July 2015

@uniq_faznrb18_ESO That's a great build actually. Helps alot. I'm still leveling my stamina nb which you helped me out with, but I wanted to try out another playstyle. I'm just gonna roll an alt instead of leveling the staff and light armor skill lines. I'll still keep running my stam nb as my main because he's got most of my crafting skill points and armor traits researched, but I'll probably go with provisioning and enchanting for my alt.

I thought about rolling a sorc, but it just seems they're the black sheep of classes right now. I'm more interested in the dark siphoning skills of the nb for rp purposes. Plus it seems like it would synergize well with vamp ablitzes too.