Maintenance for the week of December 22:
• NA megaservers for maintenance – December 22, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 8:00AM EST (13:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for maintenance – December 22, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 8:00AM EST (13:00 UTC)

NB Vampire or Werewolf (Kajiit)?

MexicanMurrican
I have made a couple of characters so far, one DK Wood Elf that I didn't like and have since deleted. I have also made a Dark Elf NB, using some vampire abilities. I am ready for a new character and made a Kajiit NB, mostly for the sneak bonus, and I love the look of a Kajiit as a nightblade.

I am definitely planning to run DW and a bow. I'd be using the Assassin Ultimate for my DW, but the Devouring Swarm for my secondary Ultimate. It has saved me a lot on my other character. I'm planning on running Shadow and Assassin, with just a little bit of Siphoning for Bow only. For my Dark Elf I run all Attributes in Health. It has helped me a lot, running all Stamina enchantments on my armour and jewelry (while leveling). I am planning on doing this for the Kajiit as well, unless I find that the lack of a boost in Stamina (as a racial passive) hurts me to much.

My biggest question is, should I go back to being a Vampire NB for the Dark Stalker and Devouring Swarm abilities (not to mention the other Vampire passives), or should I go werewolf and not use it (so that I get the stamina boost)? My reason for being set on not using werewolf abilities (outside of passives) is previous experience as a werewolf.

If you have any other suggestions, those would also be great!
Edited by MexicanMurrican on July 24, 2015 4:44PM
NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
Thunderbird - Guild Leader
"Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • Sandshark95
    Sandshark95
    ✭✭✭
    If you're going for a stamina build (DW/Bow is heavy on the stamina), you honestly wouldn't benefit much from going vampire. The WW passive stamina regeneration is nice, but the ultimate transformation is actually quite good in terms of DPS and survivability. What didn't you like about your previous experience?

    Also, there's really no need to drop all of your attribute points into health unless you're tanking; a few is fine, but increasing your max stamina will do more for your DPS output. Keep the stamina enchants on your armor for even more DPS potential; your weapon abilities scale with stamina, so more is always better. Wear mostly medium armor for those stamina passives as well. If you're having trouble with staying alive, then swapping out a few stamina enchants for health ones and supplementing a piece or two of heavy armor should do the trick. Don't forget about Swallow Soul/Funnel Health--not great, but it helps. You could also get Vigor from the Assault skill tree (acquired via PvP, Cyrodiil), which is a good stamina heal.

    My Bow/DW NB is a WW purely for the stamina regen. I also plan on using the ultimate. There's really no downside to WW, while Vamps have that pesky fire damage and slow health regen. And I'm not a magicka build. It was a no-brainer for me.
  • MexicanMurrican
    @Sandshark95... I loved being a WW for the survivability. The one health move that they have saved my ass a few times, not to mention the damage output. I hated being a werewolf because I have very specific things I want in my Skill bars. My full bars are filled for both DW and Bow. And if I was being destroyed by another player or enemy, transforming in or out got me killed a few times. Not to mention the glitches that come with being a WW, currently.

    I only really went back to Vampire on my other character because I love the Vampire story and experience, and I love the Ultimate and the Dark Stalker passive. The Ultimate in the Vampire skill line has saved me more than being a Werewolf, and I run that Ultimate in Bow because it's so much quicker to acquire than on my DW line, but I switch right back to DW after using it and it wrecks pretty good.

    I will agree that the fire damage sucks, hence my last character being a Dark Elf. Do you think I should just stick with that character?
    Edited by MexicanMurrican on July 25, 2015 12:06PM
    NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
    Thunderbird - Guild Leader
    "Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • MexicanMurrican
    @Sandshark95... What do you suggest for attributes if not all in Health?
    NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
    Thunderbird - Guild Leader
    "Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • Sandshark95
    Sandshark95
    ✭✭✭
    @MexicanMurrican If you're going to have two NBs, I'd recommend building them differently or while using your Khajiit NB you might begin to feel like you're playing a watered-down version of your Dark Elf NB. I have 2 DKs and 2 Templars, and the only reason I even created my "other" DK and my "other" Templar is because I wanted to build them differently and distinguish them from my originals. It's up to you if you want two characters of the same class. If you're constantly comparing your two NBs, you might choose to stick with just one or build your Khajiit in a way that differentiates that alt from your Dark Elf.

    Vampire and WW require different combat approaches. It simply sounds like you prefer the vampire approach. The WW ultimate can get you killed if applied in the wrong scenario, but it can also save you in others and allow you to become an instant DPS/Tank. It's more of a strategic "Oh (Bleep)" button than Vamp's ultimate.

    This is simply my personal opinion, but I feel going Vampire on a stamina build is kind of pointless. I think vamp synergizes better with a magicka build from an ability and RPing point of view. I also think it's awesome that I can hit my WW ultimate and have my Khajiit suddenly transform from a cat into a dog in the blink of an eye. XD

    As for attribute points, like I said before, going all health is unnecessary unless you're a Tank. There's really two ways you can spend them (on your stamina bow/dw build): 1.) Drop them ALL into Stamina or 2.) Put 10-15 points into Health and allocate the rest into Stamina. Option 1 might sound slightly terrifying, but it's viable. I've done this on multiple characters while leveling and haven't regretted it yet; I don't have too much trouble staying alive, even on my magicka characters that wear mostly light armor for protection. Once you reach Veteran levels or if you PvP a lot, it might be wise to put a few into health, but it's still not entirely necessary. Option 2 gives you a bit of breathing room in regards to your health pool and allows you to take a few more hits. 10-15 should be good for leveling to 50; after 50, you can choose to spend more points in Health, but there are also other ways to reach the recommended "endgame" HP range for your role and class. In short, you want to spend as many points in Stamina as you can but still have a decent-sized cushion of HP to fall back on. I'd spend as few points in Health as you can get away with and focus on maximizing your DPS potential by increasing the size of your Stamina pool.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    So...what am I missing here? Looking at the data I can find, I don't see any werewolf abilities that do anything when you aren't in wolf form, and meanwhile vampires have a passive buff to magicka and stamina regen, all the time. But this is the second time in about five minutes I've seen a reference to a werewolf stamina regen passive. The only one I see is the 50/100% increase in heavy attack stamina returns while wolfed out?
  • Sandshark95
    Sandshark95
    ✭✭✭
    @lolzbuckets You're looking in the wrong place; I can confirm--having three Werewolves myself--that there is indeed a passive 15% stamina regeneration buff that applies even while untransformed, but you won't find it by looking in the WW skill tree. It's under "Active Effects" in the "Character" menu. Once you've acquired Lycanthropy and the WW skill line, open your menu, go to "Character", and scroll down to "Active Effects". It's there.

    werewolf%20tooltip%201.6_zpsonw6habn.jpg

    Here it is :)

    The regen applies "in combat"--no wolf form required.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    Gotta say, between the weird *** like not explaining the difference between "sneaking" and "stealth" and using ambiguous phrases like "wounded" on some, but not all, skills, and occasionally stuff entirely missing from tooltips... They really ought to clean that up.

    Here's hoping there's some aesthetic changes with the DLC release.
  • MexicanMurrican
    @Sandshark95, I have two NB because 1. I created the other one first and it has all of the area Achievements and crafting levels maxed, and 2. I wanted a NB that I felt fit the role better in the RP sense. This Kajiit is basically a remake. Before the Dark Elf, I've never played an NB before.

    And are you saying that I should keep all of my Armour the same, also (all Stamina enchantments), when putting all or most of my attributes in Stamina?
    NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
    Thunderbird - Guild Leader
    "Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • Sandshark95
    Sandshark95
    ✭✭✭
    @MexicanMurrican Yes, you can keep your armor the way it is, unless you feel too squishy and want to add a health enchant or two. Also, I don't believe you mentioned what type of armor you wear (if you did I missed it), but you should go mostly medium armor (again, for the Stamina). If you want to mix in a piece or two of heavy/light, then that's fine. Optimal would be 5-7 pieces of medium, enchanted mostly with stamina.
  • MexicanMurrican
    @Sandshark95, I was planning on running all Medium. Maybe a Heavy if I feel the need.
    NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
    Thunderbird - Guild Leader
    "Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    @MexicanMurrican if you find yourself in need of a bit more HP at later levels, specifically once you hit level 7 in the Undaunted tree, it's worth replacing your chest piece with heavy armor and your belt with light. Specifically those slots if possible, because chest is the highest armor gear slot, so you gain the most by upgrading it, and belt is the lowest, so you lose the least by downgrading it.

    It's also 100% worth wearing those two pieces as you level, at least until you get those trees to 50.

    That said, I'm not sure you'll ever want to wear anything but medium armor for PVP... With the Undaunted and armor bonuses, you'll get an extra 7% health, 4% health regen, 6% mana, 3% mana cost reduction, 4% mana regen, and 8% base spell resistance, but at the cost of 6% crit chance, 8% stamina recovery, 6% more expensive stamina costs, 8% more expensive roll dodges, 10% larger detection radius, and 14% more stamina spent to sneak.

    Man, typing it out like that, Nightblades definitely get the worst deal out of the Undaunted skill tree.
  • Reeko
    Reeko
    ✭✭✭✭
    Don't forget Khajiits get a passive health regen (upto 30%) so you can afford to put most of your points into stamina. Have you thought about maybe making your Dunmer NB a magicka build and your Khajiit a stamina build? That way you can experiance both ends of the spectrum!
  • Stannum
    Stannum
    ✭✭✭✭
    Look if you play mostly PvE WW is better - you have stamina regen buff and no weaknes (vampires can be oneshoted by powerfull fire bosses).
    If you play mostly in PvP - dark stalker is a great passive for NB for attack and for evade.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    Hm. Survey says they patched out stacking of Dark Stalker + Night's Silence months before the game even came out on the PS4. SO HOW THE *** WAS HE WALKING SO FAST? O_O
  • MexicanMurrican
    I have recently started playing a ton of PVP, which is why this is such a tough decision for me. I find Dark Stalker almost critical. But I do agree that the fire damage can whoop me. Thanks for all of your input. For now I'm gonna go WW, and if I miss Vampire too much, I'll drop back.

    As someone mentioned, I probably will switch up my Dark Elf and see how I like it. :)
    NA PS4 Megaserver - MexicanMurrican - Dunmer Nightblade [EP], Khajiit Nightblade [AD]
    Thunderbird - Guild Leader
    "Diplomacy is the art of lying for your alliance."
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    If the fire damage is too harsh, slap a high level fire resistance rune on a piece of gear. I think somewhere in the vicinity of 1k should basically mitigate the fire vuln.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    Someone with more current numbers should correct or confirm that.
  • Stannum
    Stannum
    ✭✭✭✭
    If the fire damage is too harsh, slap a high level fire resistance rune on a piece of gear. I think somewhere in the vicinity of 1k should basically mitigate the fire vuln.
    with fire res cap vampires will still get 20% more fire dmg then non-vamp players.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    20% seems vastly better than 40%.
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    Uh. Just to make sure, Dark Stalker and the 5-piece bonus from the Night's Silence Set do the same thing, right?

    I ask because I want to be 100% sure that Dark Stalker is a better Night's Silence bonus before I claim that it also frees up a 5-piece set bonus.
  • Stannum
    Stannum
    ✭✭✭✭
    20% seems vastly better than 40%.
    You''ll need to focus to get cap and will loose lots other benefits. (Before 1.6 bosses like Bogdan from vr EH could kill vamps with a single strike even if they had tank build, now they do less dmg but still hit vampires hard).
  • lolzbuckets
    lolzbuckets
    ✭✭✭
    How much fire resistance do you need to hit the cap?
Sign In or Register to comment.