I just started playing a magBlade myself, so here are some tips I've picked up since creating it:

I recommend putting as much as you can into spell penetration. I used CP from a previous character and have been hitting crits of 10k+ since level 20. Acquire the Precise trait on every staff you intend to use.

Level up alchemy and provisioning as quickly as you can.
The potions you can craft can be very helpful in a fight without having to spend magicka for the same (or take up a precious skill slot) effects. Invisibility will last much longer through a potion than a spell, for example, and you can still get any crit bonuses a skill provides. Fracture, Spell Penetration, and Speed are also helpful.

You can also unlock a passive which restores 10 Ultima when drinking a potion, and that can help if you use your ultimates frequently (I don't, but more on this in a bit).

Magicka+health recipes are going to be your "heals" with this build, so find/buy/steal/guild store every purple recipe you can find (at level) to buff these attributes. Plan ahead. Don't pass up a recipe just because you can't use it now. It can be harder to find later.

If you're using a bow, toss it in the fire. No melee weapons for this build. Strictly staff, and I'd recommend at least two types (I use fire and lightning). You won't be using these much to attack with, but rather, use them to restore magicka with heavy attacks.

Your skill attacks will do the damage, not your weapon. Get ready to practice with several combos that will work with your play style. You can read all you want on a build, but if it doesn't match your play style, no skill will help you.

I play a mix of close and personal with distance, and I spec my bars accordingly. Fire for close and personal, with knockback for CC. Lightning for distance since it's DoT (be sure to unlock the passive to spread the love!). Depending on weapon, skills relate to the type of attacks I'm dealing.

Shadow is a mistress you don't want to tick off. The skill can be great, but I highly recommend not to rely on it, such as I see every single player going shadow, then striking on first attack. This is a habit you don't want to form. Instead, use it for mid-late battle, as those seconds of invisibility can help in tough boss fights (and get the crit). Attacking first guarantees a 6-10 second immunity and mobs don't wait while pummeling you. Use Shadow effectively, and it's a fantastic. Use it incorrectly, bring lots of soul gems.

I have yet to use my Ultima attacks in battle, simply because I've not found a PvE boss which requires its use. By balancing out my magicka attacks and swapping between weapons, managing magicka and using CC has made it moot. Healing is done with a combo of potions (first) and siphon (second), depending on how much damage I'm taking.

1 or 2 mobs drop like flies. I doubt you'll ever use health restoration during these fights. 3+ mobs can be tricky, especially with Silence casters. Those can wreck your day, so be sure to take them out first! You don't want to be defenseless and 6 seconds is a long time to be silent.

I lost my first boss fight yesterday because I got careless. I backed myself behind a bookcase, and the guy just wailed on me until I was toast. Remember, keep moving at all times. This is the true skill of a NB.

Finally, my best piece of advice: swap your bars BEFORE you turn in a quest! This will help you level up all your skills by rotating them out, giving them the same exp. If you want a skill or two leveled quickly, slot them both, but just remember to unslot once they've level up (something I forgot to do).

So there you go. I've been playing a mNB for about 2 weeks now, and I have to say it's one of the best builds I've ever played with. I love the flexibility and the challenge.

Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than watching a boss drop after delivering 15k crit damage.

Hope this helps!

casparian wrote: »

No no no. Sharpened is better by a mile. I think @Violynne might have meant Sharpened, since this line appears in a paragraph about acquiring spell penetration. But OP, you definitely want Sharpened weapons on a magblade, just like any other class.

Oops! Yep, this is correct. Sorry about that. Not sure why I had Precise on the mind.

Impale is a great execute ability, but to get the most out of it, you need to learn to animation-cancel it. Tap block immediately after activating this ability, and it will hit instantly instead of playing that long stabbing animation.

Something I also need to learn how to do. On XB1, blocking is the LT button, but I've been so used to pressing both LT+RT, I first have to stop doing this bad habit.

Good advice. Thanks for the reminder.

More than one mob:
Siphoning attacks, Refreshing Path, flame staff aoe, sap essence spam.

One mob:
Siphoning attacks, degeneration, cripple, strife spam weaved with flame medium attacks

For pve go 5 L 1 H 1 M

Build for crit (i have 70% crit in my dungeon setup) more than penetration. I know it's not meta but it's more fun.

You have so much self healing that you can literally pull an entire public dungeon and just sap them all in light armor - the more mobs the better.

Ok so I get where I was getting the wrong idea about the class build combo. So many thanks for this! I think I might just start an entirely new toon to try it on.

So much to write about magblades I don't know where to begin. I'll provide some general themes:

They are a grest DoT class so make sure you use those spells (sap, twisting, wall of elements, etc.)

You'll never have a universal set-up for all occasions since they have so much utility -- be prepared to have 3 set-up that work for solo/open world, pvp, and group pve. For example, when I solo I like to play with different skills on the backbar but generally keep my front bar as force pulse (or strife morph), wall of elements, twisting path, sap, other. Then on the backbar I can just have fun. For group PVE you'll need a more uniform setup (see Alcast or others) depending on your group.

Run 2 destros -- some like dual fire, some like s mix with lightning....try both

Vampire or WW or not? I love vampire for the speed and the passives, but you'll need to learn to take big hits in dungeons and trials, so learn to use harness/dampen

There are a lot of gear choices -- certainly the metsa id BSW, MD or IA, and a monster set such as Grothdar...but, unless you are doing serious trials, there are a lot of fund options. Other sets to consider include Spinners (solo), Rattlecage (viable snd strong), Vampire Cloak (I use for soloing Craglorn), Mother Sorrow (ultra crit), Necro (if you can keep pets up -- more of a fun build than serious), Clever Alchemist etc.

The other great thing about magblades is the ultimate generation. Once you understand what your cycles are you'll understand it is different than other classes -- you can pop off your major ultimates 2-3x quicker than other classes.

That's it for now. Let me know if you have any specific questions.