http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=24700

Note #1: The above link is for a revised build, where I swapped out Soul Assault for Soul Harvest. This has improved it's versatility, for example against flappy DKs, as well as it's overall damage. See below post, starting with "OK, based on our discussion, I have swapped out Soul Assault for Soul Harvest." for more notes on this change.

Note #2: Please also see my post from 1st October (may be 30th September US time), as I have made some set changes for greater tankiness, while retaining the same, or better, damage. These are not reflected in the above link.

This build is the end of a long line of evolution. Of course all builds are somewhat personal, so let me be upfront about my preferences:

• I like humanoid, non-vampire characters, thus Breton was the only racial choice I considered.
• I play primarily in Imperial City, in the CP campaigns. I am full CP. It's an all-round build for solo and random group PvP and PvE, in that environment.
• I like being able to perma-cloak and I like speed and mobility above all else.
• FYI, I have played this game for 2 years and started seriously getting into PvP when duelling was released with One Tamriel.

Let's talk about why the build is the way it is:

Perma-cloaking

This enables you to get around IC quickly and safely with the Concealed Weapon speed buff. In particular you can run around the flags without the guards detecting you, and you can scout the place with detection potions. It is the rare organised group that actively tries to detect cloaked nightblades with more than just low-range Inner Light. As far as NPCs, watch yourself in the Arboretum, where some of them run Magelight, around some of the bigger monsters, like Daedroths, who'll detect you when you get very close to their face, and of course the bosses who have a detection circle you'll see when cloaked.

Wanting to perma-cloak pretty much mandates light armor. You want quite a lot of cost reduction, and it has to be cost reduction and/or recovery that is effective outside of combat, as well as in combat. Magicka recovery item bonuses and jewelry enchants do not help regeneration outside of combat. Only the following does: Cost reduction enchants, drinks, Atronach mundus, and CP. Sets, like Seducer, can also help, but curiously not as much as the resulting tooltips would have you believe. The upshot is:

• You want to use drinks - Witchmother's Potent Brew, essentially.
• You want the Atronach mundus.
• You want to put 75 points into Magicka Recovery CP. (100 would give you only 1% extra, ugh).
• You want to use 2 cost reduction jewelry enchants.
• You want to use Shadowy Disguise, which is the cheaper morph of Cloak at rank 4 (it gets cheaper as it ranks up).

This is enough cost reduction to perma-cloak in a 5/1/1 light armor setup, as a Breton, and have a slight excess of magicka recovery while cloaking out of combat. I can't stress enough how nice that is, because you will arrive with full magicka at any fight after running around for a while, even if your previous fight left you depleted. You don't need to sit somewhere and wait for your magicka to come back. The other benefit is that, with an additional 2 magicka recovery item bonuses, Funnel Health is getting close to break-even, and this has a very positive impact on your sustained DPS while farming IC bosses.

Defenses

This took me a looong time to get right. For one thing Cloak is insufficient, on it's own, to get you out of trouble, because you get snared, rooted, CCd, or detected. If your are squishy, trying to rely on cloak for defense or escape, then it must be supplemented with one or more of the following, in my opinion:

• Shadow Image
• Mist Form
• Forward Momentum

My chosen skill, from that list, is Forward Momentum. This is the skill that gets you away from jabbing templars, Tremorscale or Low Slash spamming stamina characters, and Talon spamming DKs. In addition, the use of Immovability potions goes without saying, in PvP, I think - or at least for this type of build. The two potions I use are:

• Immovability / Detection / Magicka
• Immovability / Spell Crit / Magicka

Let's talk briefly about some skills that don't work, or are lacklustre, in this build:

• Shuffle is almost twice as expensive as Forward Momentum and gives you no sustained snare/root immunity to speak of. You will immediately be snared/rooted again, so it's useless.
• Retreating Maneuvers is extremely expensive and useless for ongoing combat. Can work as a bomb-blade, but not in general.
• Efficient Purge only clears 2 effects and is utterly unreliable in clearing the ones you want. Also expensive and provides no immunity to help you get cloaked and away.
• Mass Hysteria is buggy: If only one person around you has CC immunity, it fails CCing other people that don't.

For the longest time I played this build as either a Destro / Resto or a Destro / 2H build. When I used the latter, I used Troll King. Let's tackle that option first. The idea was that the small heal-over-time, from Foward Momentum, would reliably activate Troll King, even when I was CCd. This indeed works, but in the final analysis it didn't provide enough healing to keep up with even a single competent stamblade. There comes a point in a fight where the opponent's damage is so great that maybe you don't die, but you are completely forced into defense, and your attack collapses. This could even happen against single players, notably stamblades. Swapping Skooma Smuggler out for Wizard's Riposte helped, but basically having a resto staff trumps a single shield (even Dampen Magic) plus Troll King by a considerable margin.

The problem with the Destro / Resto setup is the roots and snares. Should you get locked into a high DPS templar's jabs / sweeps, who put Backlash on you, then you can find yourself in exactly the same situation of only defending. With Forward Momentum you just walk away from those people. The alternative would be Shadow Image, but my personal preference has always been Forward Momentum, and that is how I finally gave up the destro staff for a resto / 2H setup. I have never looked back. In the context of a light armor / cloaking / shielding build it's the best I've found so far.

Speed and Mobility

Fred, you're saying, you don't have a single great NB skill, that gives you speed, in the build. That's right. Well, I do have Concealed Weapon. It's such a shame having to slot this skill into a ranged build, just so I could get the 25% movement speed buff, but I have never regretted it. Did I mention I like speed? When you're circling a group, in cloak, that has fidgety streaking sorcs in it, you want that speed. You also want it during getaways and, finally, the skill does get some use against flappy DKs and, sometimes, for the stun prior to Soul Assault.

My other source of speed is the Skooma Smuggler set, which gives Major Expedition for 30 seconds after drinking a potion. That's 66% uptime in combat, while pursuing fleeing enemies, or during getaways. Let's look at the alternatives:

• Crippling Grasp: Another highly-rated skill with a serious flaw: If you have the Crippling Grasp DOT on an enemy, it knocks you out of cloak while the DOT ticks. No thank you.
• Double Take: Great for the dodge chance, but as a speed buff I find it way too short and expensive. With Skooma Smuggler I can pursue enemies, in cloak, and arrive to fight with full magicka.
• (Refreshing) Path: Limits where you get the buff and would give you away in cloak.

Armor Sets

Shacklebreaker is just such a PvP set, and it fits perfectly with Witchmother's Potent Brew. Since I am committed to that drink (see above), I chose this set as the basis for the build. You'll want it active on both bars, otherwise (at full stamina) you lose all-important stamina every time you swap bars. It's the one downside to this set, but the upside is that 1x Domihaus exists, and you arrive at that healthy 15K stamina pool. In conjunction with the 1x Shacklebreaker stam regen bonus, and Immov potions, I find that I have just enough stamina sustain. I used to have a smaller pool and used either Leeching Strikes or stamina poisons for added sustain then.

All things being equal I use Skooma Smuggler to round out the build, but I may swap it for the following sets, depending on the situation:

• Imperial Physique. For farming, obviously.
• Wizard's Riposte. Just too good, if you need something more defensive.
• War Maiden. It is literally all magic damage, in this build, thus a good choice for more damage.

Weapon enchants remain experimental. The prismatic enchant is obviously a good choice for dealing with PvE, in IC, and for vampire / werewolf players. If you want to be optimal, make your chest piece the heavy armor one. I made it the head for cosmetic reasons.

Skills

Let's start with the skills that define this build:

Funnel Health
Healing Ward
Harness Magicka
Light's Champion

Concealed Weapon
Forward Momentum
Shadowy Disguise

Not much (more) I can say about those. Funnel Health / Swallow Soul: You got to have a spammable, so take your pick. Healing Ward is what most of the resto-using population chooses, in PvP, I'm sure. I much prefer Harness Magicka over Dampen Magic for the sustain it gives. Light's Champion, again, is the morph that "everyone uses", right?

A word on Harness vs Healing Ward, and why you use both. The problems with Healing Ward are:

• It can go to another person.
• It is only small at full health.
• It is expensive and doesn't help with sustain the way Harness Magicka does.

In particular, if you are standing there, turning a flag, you must shield against ganks with this build, and Healing Ward on it's own won't cut it. On the other hand, Harness Magicka obviously doesn't heal you, thus you need Healing Ward or something else to do that. Funnel and Sap are way insufficient in PvP and boss fights. Light's Champion is not always available, and you want, nay, you need to use your aggressive ulti instead, while you're soloing.

So let's look at the remaining skills:

Piercing Mark, Sap Essence and Soul Assault round out the 2H bar. There's really two ways you kill players as a magicka nighblade: An Assassin's Will / Ultimate (Soul Tether) combo, or Soul Assault. Should you want to do the former, you could very easily swap out Sap and Soul Assault for Merciless Resolve and Soul Tether. You would still have the mandatory Siphoning ability on the bar, and you actually gain a lot of power from that Nirnhoned, 2-handed sword - as much as from a destro staff. In Minor Berserk you would also gain a damage buff that is exactly equivalent to the Major Sorcery buff, from Sap Essence, in the final balance sheet.

You could, of course also do away with Piercing Mark, instead of Sap Essence. I just like it, because it makes such a difference against other nightblades.

Sap Essence, besides being the mandatory Siphoning ability on the 2H bar, is there to get Major Sorcery and for soloing IC bosses that have adds. The technique is to activate the resto ult and spam Sap Essence when those spawn. Since these are all Undead / Daedra, the resto ult is back up again in no time.

Finally, on the resto bar, we have Prolonged Suffering and Impale. The former skill is unpopular, but I find I can't live without a hard CC in PvP. I used to have Flame Reach in this position, or Fossilize on my DK. As I mentioned, I dislike Mass Hysteria, and a ranged skill fits the build better. Even though, like Crippling Grasp, Prolonged Suffering puts a DOT on the opponent, it seems less prone to knock you out of cloak or be used at a point in time where that would be an issue.

Impale is useful against IC bosses and players alike. I find I miss it, if it's not there. You could obviously shuffle things around and put a different Assassination skill here. Merciless Resolve, perhaps, but although that fits more naturally on the ranged bar, it is arguably better slotted on the 2H bar for power and Tether comboing.