Stam Nightblade Tank Help

Gahmerdohn · March 2017

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to mention that I'm already aware of the fact that Mag NB tanks (sap tanks) are actually way better .

The problem for me with that is the sides-build available . Tanks aren't always needed in all fights , even if it's just for questing I'd like to have a secondary DD build and that's the problem , I never enjoyed playing as a magicka caster in MMOs . If I play as a Sap Tank (magicka) I'd have to play a magicka DD build as well .

With that being said I'd like to know if there's a viable way to build a stamina based NB tank . I don't pretend to do the headquarters with him, I just want to be able to clean all the PVE content .

VaxtinTheWolf · March 2017

I wanted to make a stamina NB tank a while ago but gave up on it because stuck up DPS disbanded group if they had lead and ignored I was using caltrops for CC. This was a while ago though, and some group mechanics changed. Anyway..

Here are a few suggestions for a basic Solo PvE setup that I find easy or fun. Wear 5 heavy 2 medium, or you can use 5 medium 2 heavy, whichever passives you want go for more. I'll leave it to you to choose your own armor set to play in.

If you go for the 5 medium 2 heavy, I recommend having the Chest and Leg pieces in the Heavy armor category.

Weapon bar setup 1

1H&S bar:
Surprise attack - Heroic Slash - Killer's Blade - Absorb Magic - Dark Cloak - [Soul Harvest]

Bow Bar:
Volley Morph - Poison Injection - Vigor Morph - Relentless Focus - Siphoning Attacks \ Mirage - [Shooting Star, Soul Tether etc]

Weapon bar setup 2

Dual Wield:
Blood Craze - Bloodthirst - Steel Tornado(or Power Extraction) - Killer's Blade - Vigor Morph - [Soul Harvest]

Bow Bar:
Volley Morph - Poison Injection - Mark Target Morph - Relentless Focus - Siphoning Attacks \ Mirage \ Summon Shade Morph - [Shooting Star, Soul Tether etc]

Weapon bar setup 3

Dual Wield:
Blood Craze - Bloodthirst - Steel Tornado(or Power Extraction) - Killer's Blade - Vigor Morph - [Soul Harvest]

1H&S Bar:
Pierce Armor - Heroic Slash - Absorb Magic - Relentless Focus - Siphoning Attacks \ Mirage - [Shooting Star, Soul Tether etc]

Gahmerdohn · March 2017

Thanks you for anwsering @VaxtinTheWolf there's a lot of good advices .

Do you have any suggestion for PVE group content (Vet Dungeon , Trials..etc) as a NB stam Tank ?

VaxtinTheWolf · March 2017

@Gahmerdohn I have never touched trials. I basically live in the content provided by the Base game. I have completed all of the non-DLC Veteran hard modes at some point across my various alts though. I haven't setup a stamina tank yet, but I can give a general setup I would probably use for a pledge group. Thought about this a long time before actually posting something, so only have one setup that may or may not be good enough.

Group Setup 1

1H&S:
Pierce Armour - Heroic Slash - Power Extraction - Vigor Morph - Absorb Magic - [Soul Harvest]

1H&S:
Inner Fire(Magicka) - Filler Slot(Killer's Blade?) - Caltrops Morph - Siphoning Attacks - Mirage(Blur Morph) - [Soul Tether, Veil of Blades, Shooting Star, Aggressive War Horn]

* The thing about having a heavy Stamina focus, you don't really have a good Shadow Ability to use other than Surprise Attack to refresh the passive major defenses, but using Pierce Armour makes Surprise Attack somewhat redundant, and summon shade lasts 20 seconds, but the passive only has a max of 11 seconds. You could consider finding a place to use the Heavy Armor Ability for that, but it costs a lot of Stamina, and doesn't last that long, but I'm seeing 18.2s on "Unstoppable 1" with 7 pieces of Heavy. Only advice I could give is to make liberal use of Light attack weaving and Heavies when you can manage to sustain your stamina pool if you decide to try making use of it.

Gahmerdohn · March 2017

Hello guys,

Thank you a lot for all the information and help @VaxtinTheWolf !

So based on what you guys told me and what I had already I've been able to make something that actually work , not perfectly but we are , I think , in a good path.

SO when I'll have all the skills up I'll probably use :

1

1H&S Bar :
Pierce Armor - Heroic Slash - Absorb Magic - - Siphoning Attacks - Path of Darkness (morphs) [ Soul Harvest / Soul Tether]

Dual Wield :
Blood Craze - Inner Rage- Steel Tornado/ Razor Caltrops - Killer's Blade / Vigor Morph - Mirage - [Agressive war horn, Soul Tether etc]

2

1H&S Bar :
Pierce Armor - Heroic Slash - Absorb Magic - - Siphoning Attacks - Path of Darkness (morphs) [ Soul Harvest / Soul Tether]

1H&S Bar :
Inner Rage- Razor Caltrops - Killer's Blade (flex) - Vigor Morph - Mirage - [Agressive War horn , Soul Tether etc]

With Tava's Favor + Ebony + Swarm mother/Blood Spawn for the moment .

For now that what it looks like :

subir fotos a internet

subir gif

The only questions I have remaining are : How about CP ? And what morph of "Path of Darkness" you think is better ?

Here you have a clip to see it in action (not perfect gameplay but I'm working in it )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7AAmhEvS78&t=200s

Stannum · March 2017

think of such an idea about frost staff.

WalksonGraves · March 2017

Ditch heroic slash for shades, a single cast gets you 9 seconds of 5k added defense and 25 seconds of maim. Not to mention that they are immortal and count as pets. Don't forget your passives, bolstering darkness is a much better tanking ult than soul harvest/tether since it is a long lasting team saving skill vs minor damage.

If you weave light attacks they generates ult at practically the same rate as heroic slash. Tavas and heroic slash is pretty much overkill for ult generation since dks are the class with the weakest generation and nbs don't have that problem. I'd say tavas was overly valued by dk tanks and wasn't that good even before the nerfs.

I've made a healing tank, max dr tank, max ult generation tank and surprisingly the max dr works best by far.

I'm running leki's, reactive and pirate skeleton. Because of leki I use invigorating drain instead of vigor or refreshing path but hey it just happens to be an hp scaling heal with the highest self heal/ ult generation AND a 3 second stun as the cherry on top.

Refreshing path is the only real option, its main use is triggering other skills (like the defense passive shades shares) since the healing/damage is so low but its rate of fire is high. Try it with Sentinel and you'll always have that bot out.