Getting the Most out of my Magblade

EldritchPenguin · March 2017

I've been leveling a Magblade lately, and I realize that they have a bit of a reputation. Out of the four Magicka DPS setups, Magblades are commonly regarded as the fourth best. Regardless of this, however, I am very fond of the class, and I want to see my Magblade be successful.

I just have a few questions about how to be a better Nightblade.

First, the most important question: Is it worth firing Assassin's Will over Force Pulse? Considering that Force Pulse gets pretty substantial boosts from Dunmer passives, is a single Assassin's Will more powerful than two Force Pulses?
Second, the question of frontbar ultimates: Shooting Star or Soul Harvest? Neither of them see a whole lot of use from an endgame DPS build, and most builds seem to just slot them for the passives; extra Magicka and Magicka Recovery in the case of Shooting Star, and extra Spell Critical and 10 Ultimate per kill on Soul Harvest. I'm already going to run the Destro ult on the back bar, so what's more beneficial for me to stick on the front bar: more Magicka, boosting every single ability I have, or a better uptime on Destructive Rage?
Third, should I use Grothdarr, Ilambris, or Valkyn Skoria? Grothdarr is likely the most powerful, but requires me to fight in melee range, losing one of the few advantages that a Nightblade has over a Dragonknight or a Templar. Ilambris comes behind it, but likely requires me to run Lightning backbar for Lightning Rage, which would cost me 10% of its damage for not using an Inferno staff, as well as an additional 5% for losing the best Dunmer passive. Skoria is probably the safest, but is also the weakest.
Fourth, is Necropotence usable on a Magblade? I've been hearing that Shade is fixed and doesn't steal buffs like Spell Power Cure. Does that make it worthwhile to use it in a rotation? And would using Shade in a rotation make Necropotence worthwhile at all? Or should I just stick to the tried-and-tested Burning Spellweave?
Fifth, how can I amass Alchemy materials? Since one of the Nightblade's passives depends on using a potion every time it's off cooldown, as well as the fact that both my Nightblade and my Sorcerer are going to depend on potions for Major Sorcery (and additionally Major Prophecy in the case of my Sorcerer), I'm going to need a lot, lot, lot of Lorkhan juice.

I think that's all I have (for now). Thank you very much for your time.

Tryxus · March 2017

1. Assassin's Will is your burst: proc it and fire it. You can do a few weaves with Force Pulse, or apply your dots in between buffs.
2. Shooting Star. Def go Shooting Star front and Destro Ulti back
3. It depends: Grothdarr is a must-have for when you're in melee range, but if you go further back you'll need either Skoria or Illambris which in turn depends if you run a Lightning Staff on back
4. Nah, it's better to stick with either Julianos, Scathing or BSW
5. You can got by lakes or waters for the Tears, and go on a harvest spree for the reagents. I like Craglorn the most for farming materials. Alternatively for the tears, you could go to a dungeon with lots of urns and backpacks and get motifs/blueprints for extra money (or valuable set pieces in public dungeons)

Jitterbug · March 2017

1. Yes.
2. Destro ult
3. Valkyn
4. Yes.
5. Farm along rivers and lakes.

Note that these are my opinions, but ones I have based upon long and fruitful conversations with very smart nightblades.
If you like Grothdarr then go Grothdarr.

JinMori · March 2017

I would personally put Shooting star on front bar and soul harvest in backbar, along with your spammable aoe. so you get the extra max magicka and recovery on your primary bar, and a *** of ulti generation on your backbar.
And shooting star outperforms destro ulti in pure single target

hedna123b14_ESO · March 2017

EldritchPenguin wrote: »

I've been leveling a Magblade lately, and I realize that they have a bit of a reputation. Out of the four Magicka DPS setups, Magblades are commonly regarded as the fourth best. Regardless of this, however, I am very fond of the class, and I want to see my Magblade be successful.

I just have a few questions about how to be a better Nightblade.
First, the most important question: Is it worth firing Assassin's Will over Force Pulse? Considering that Force Pulse gets pretty substantial boosts from Dunmer passives, is a single Assassin's Will more powerful than two Force Pulses?

Second, the question of frontbar ultimates: Shooting Star or Soul Harvest? Neither of them see a whole lot of use from an endgame DPS build, and most builds seem to just slot them for the passives; extra Magicka and Magicka Recovery in the case of Shooting Star, and extra Spell Critical and 10 Ultimate per kill on Soul Harvest. I'm already going to run the Destro ult on the back bar, so what's more beneficial for me to stick on the front bar: more Magicka, boosting every single ability I have, or a better uptime on Destructive Rage?

Third, should I use Grothdarr, Ilambris, or Valkyn Skoria? Grothdarr is likely the most powerful, but requires me to fight in melee range, losing one of the few advantages that a Nightblade has over a Dragonknight or a Templar. Ilambris comes behind it, but likely requires me to run Lightning backbar for Lightning Rage, which would cost me 10% of its damage for not using an Inferno staff, as well as an additional 5% for losing the best Dunmer passive. Skoria is probably the safest, but is also the weakest.

Fourth, is Necropotence usable on a Magblade? I've been hearing that Shade is fixed and doesn't steal buffs like Spell Power Cure. Does that make it worthwhile to use it in a rotation? And would using Shade in a rotation make Necropotence worthwhile at all? Or should I just stick to the tried-and-tested Burning Spellweave?

Fifth, how can I amass Alchemy materials? Since one of the Nightblade's passives depends on using a potion every time it's off cooldown, as well as the fact that both my Nightblade and my Sorcerer are going to depend on potions for Major Sorcery (and additionally Major Prophecy in the case of my Sorcerer), I'm going to need a lot, lot, lot of Lorkhan juice.

I think that's all I have (for now). Thank you very much for your time.

1. Yes but only once per its 20 second duration..
2. Shooting Star
3. Run Dual staff with ilambris
4. BSW
5. You should be using potions on every toon, since you wont be slotting any skills that buff your spell damage as they are a dps loss. Use potions on cooldown...yes it will be expensive, but such is endgame.

RedFireDisco · March 2017

1. Assasin's is a little bugged for me, so I back barred it for now

2. Ice comet even on a Dunmer is a superior choice, the extra 800-1000 mag at higher ends is very useful to DPS and sustain

3. Never Grothdarr - If you're fighting melee ranged on a glass canon, you will die too often

4 Have you thought about Elegant set - 20% more damage from heavy and light attacks. Being that heavy flame will inevitably be your opener, with points in staff expert in CP, you can spam heavy from stealth and keep sustained well

5. It's okay to keep using potions, I sell all my rewards for the worthy and potion ingredients are really the only thing I buy. 20 Ult is soooo valuable. 100% uptime on immovable with save your bacon many times and increase your dps.

Slot immovable (Restore health, restore mag, immovable for 16 sec). CC's are a magblades death and mistform is broken right now. It's a nice way to heal and cloak away. The stam version of immovable is great to as you can breakfree, dodge roll and get some stam back from the potion and then cloak away.

Always cloak away lol.

Cloak is broken.

Magblade is hard

The Elder Scrolls Online

Getting the Most out of my Magblade

Best Answer