O_LYKOS wrote: »

I've found this hard too for the same reason. I've struggled to find any advice or guides on what specs /skills to run during the game. only power levelling stuff.

Yes and many of these pve leveling builds use skills that doesn't even unlock until lvl 30ish or more. Thanks... It's like everyone forgot what it was like to actually level up.

tommy.sollenb16_ESO wrote: »

Sorry if this topic is beaten to death but the info and guides I find are so confusing. Thei are either old, so possibly outdated, or they focus on end game or pvp or a bit of both. I'm hoping to get some clearer answers here.

I started to follow a nightblade stamina bow guide. Although I do enjoy the bow I'm starting to think maybe it's not so smart to focus 100% on stamina since ALL the class skills are magicka based. Am I not gimping myself?

I just want to enjoy the main quest line pve and possibly respec for end game or pvp way later.

Please, any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Nightblade do have Stamina skills once you can morph them:

Teleport Strike can be morphed into Ambush
Assassin's Blade can be morphed into Killer's Blade
Grim Focus can be morphed into Relentless Focus
Veiled Strike can be morphed into Surprise Attack
Drain Power can be morphed into Power Extraction
Death Stroke can be morphed into Incapacitating Strike

Since you're a pure bow build, not all of those skills with synergize well because they need to be used from melee range. But many of the NB abilities work really well with bow. Blur, Mark Target, Grim Focus, Shadow Cloak, Aspect of Terror, Summon shade, and Siphoning Strikes are work pretty well with a bow build in my experience.

The_Outsider wrote: »

Since you're a pure bow build, not all of those skills with synergize well because they need to be used from melee range. But many of the NB abilities work really well with bow. Blur, Mark Target, Grim Focus, Shadow Cloak, Aspect of Terror, Summon shade, and Siphoning Strikes are work pretty well with a bow build in my experience.

I appreciate you took the time to answer with a full post but you missed the point that I'm a newbie. Grim focus for example doesen't unlock until lvl 42! I'm lvl 17.

tommy.sollenb16_ESO wrote: »

I don't mind spending some crowns to totally respec.

Should i go for a magica, or stamina, dual wield or bow?
(no staffs, please. I'm an assassin!)

You can also totally respec with gold if you've got enough!

If you're an assassin, I'd go stamina. Being Stamina you really have a choice between bow, dual, two-hand, and one hand/shield, it's totally up to you. The cool thing about ESO is the freedom you have to build the character that you want. You could play a 1h/shield assassin that bashes for the killing blow, or an archer that shoots from stealth never seen by your enemies. A brutal killer wielding a massive 2H Sword, ect, ect. Just play around with different weapons and skills until you find something you like.

I still have a lot to learn about this game, but the first character I made was a bosmer NB who mostly used a bow. I know where you are coming from on trying to figure out how to get to some of the skills people are posting about.

Just a few thoughts from a newbie who is farther along:

1) Just because you are stamina based does not mean you totally ignore magicka abilities. For one thing, you need to be leveling your class skill lines because you WILL want the passives even if you don't want all the skills. The siphoning line has some skills that really work well to keep range, and the ultimate is great to gain time (and health if you morph for heals) when you are getting overwhelmed. I also usually kept a couple pieces of jewelry that boosted magicka while leveling to help me use those skills a little more before being out of magicka. Just because I mention the siphoning line does not mean you want to ignore the other 2, because you will use them more later even if you don't while leveling. If nothing else, keep something from skill lines that need leveled on your back bar after lvl 15 and switch to that bar when turning in quests.

2) You will die (or at least I did). You are still learning the game, and you don't have higher level characters with traits fully researched to craft gear with set bonuses for your leveling character. You don't have a maxed out provisioner that can hand you the optimal food for your build. You also will on occasion run into mobs that are just not friendly to your build or your skill with your build. And that is alright.

3) Try to do everything in a zone before moving on. If you can, get all the skyshards in a zone, complete all the delves (including boss), close all dolmens, and kill all World Boss sites. Some of these you may be able to solo, but most will require help. Ask in /zone or keep around the area and watch for other people around to help with the kill. The first time doing each of these things gives a nice chunk of xp as well as having other benefits (like fighters guild xp for doing the dolmens). If you aren't into exploration there are addons to help you find these things as well as lorebooks that boost mages guild xp. The reason I recommend this is that if you do most of those things, you will arrive in the next zone a couple levels above the lower level mobs there and things will be easier for you.

4) If you haven't bought the Intimidating Presence from the Fighters Guild skill line and Persuasive Will from the Mages Guild skill line, you should do so. They sometimes unlock more quest dialogue that can cut a few corners for you in a quest chain.

5) All too often I ran without a food buff. It is very helpful in this game to keep one going. If you are having trouble being killed a lot, you may need more health, or you may want more stamina to increase your damage output. If you are in a guild, you may be able to provide some mats and have a someone make you some food that boosts both of those.

6) Don't neglect profession writs. They aren't terribly fun and you may not have the mats to do them all each day, but if you do the ones you can, they are nice xp and help level your professions. Someday you will decide you need them, though not all on one character because you only have so many skill points.

Hello folks,

I have a khajit stamina nightblade, level 21, daggerfall covenant, and I easily tear through just about anything in one try that is around my level, maybe a little higher. In most cases, I can solo zone bosses within one or two tries although I admit at my level the crab zone boss on the second zone map was tough enough that I am glad another player helped me out. I started with DW which I Love and at level 15 I placed a bow on my back up bar. With the bow, which I find myself using a Lot, I can go into stealth just at farthest range from guards and mages and almost always one shot mages. A big part of this that i haven't seen anyone mention is ..... crafted set gear. Crafted set gear Rules! I have a Redguard Stam Sorc, yeah i know (i realized too late lol) that is my crafting mogul and he currently can craft up to 5 trait gear in heavy and light and up to 4 trait gear in medium for every armor piece. For wood items, he is 7 trait in bow and at least 6 trait in all staves. Crafted gear can only be made by characters who know where the hidden crafting stations are for specific armor sets like the Seducer set for mages mostly in Grahtwood, etc. Each set gives up to 5 special bonuses for using 2 or more set pieces at the same time. They don't have to be all medium or heavy or light orc specific weapons, you can mix and match. Making a specfic set alsa requires that you have "researched" a certain number of crafting traits for the item that you want the set bonus on (the researched trait doesn't matter, just how many how researched). In the first major zone (not the beginner islands), there are three hidden stations, one is mostly for tanks, the other two Night's Silence and Ashen Grip are great Stamina type boosters. Since we can wear 7 armor pieces and use 1 two hander or dual wield, we can actually get bonuses for a 5 piece set like Silence and still use 3 or 4 (dw) pieces for a three piece or four piece bonus for Ashen Grip. And this only requires having learned 2 traits in each armor piece or weapon type. That sounds like a long time but it's less than a day for each piece and once you have a character that starts researching in order to create set pieces, you will want to keep that character researching all of their open time. Researching Timer apps are available on phones and tablets and can help a lot. Also, one that character can make the gear that you want, the gear levels up as long as you put in a point when you need yo move to the next type of raw material like going to flax from starter cloth material. That means that pretty soon, that character can make set pieces for all of your characters and friends too. As in the above mentioned set pieces, 5 Night's Silence gives Increased max stamina, increases stamina recovery, increased weapon crit, and while sneaking you ignore all movement penalties (you actually run while in stealth! completely hidden!) and with four Ashen Grip, you get increased Max Health, increased weapon damage, and even more increased weapon crit! And as your stamina character levels up, you just keep making replacement gear for their level. Each higher level, from level 2 to 4 etc, every level increase, the bonus stats for the set increases. So a level 4 set of night's silence has better stats than a level 2 set, etc. I highyly suggest researching crafted set gear and start researching asap. My name on the NA pc servers is beodawn. I can't make enough for everyone of course, but if you would like me to create a starter set for you, levels 25 or less, I can try to do so. Just send me an in game email. I don't mind at all giving you a taste. lol

One more tip:
every day- Steal enough to fence and launder your daily limit. This will advance the legerdemain skill line into which one should invest points into "Improved hiding"

At legerdemain level 16, one may max out Improved hiding. At 4/4, Improved hiding reduces stamina cost of sneaking by 40%.