PvE Stamblade Help 2

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Hi all, I made a thread like this before regarding my DW/Bow NB. However I found that I dislike DW, and I found that 2H is much more satisfying for me. So I have made a new build, plz rate the build.

Wood Elf

2H Bar:
Reverse Slice
Ambush
Surprise Attack
Rally
Power Extraction
Incapicating Strike

Bow Bar:
Endless Hail
Venom Arrow
Vigor
Caltrops
Relentless Focus
Pack Leader(WW)

Will this build be ok throughout the game?

VaranisArano · January 2018

You'll be able to complete all overland questing and all normal dungeons without a problem. PVP should be fine. That's actually not far off from a PVP build.

Once you get into Veteran Dungeons and Trials, whether or not you can complete them starts to depend on your rotation. So, its not that you can't complete those or have a good rotation with your current build, its just that you are going to have to practice the rotation on that build.

I found that for Veteran Dungeons, somewhere between 10-15K DPS was sufficient to complete most veteran dungeons. That's the very low end of DPS though, and the run of Vet City of Ash 2 my friends and I did with that DPS was long, and slow, and painful. So I really recommend higher DPS than that. For Trials, you'll want to have whatever level of DPS your trials group wants you to have.

So can you get to that level of DPS with this build? Probably. It'll just take practice, like with any other rotation. And yes, you'll have to put up with well-meaning people explaining "well, you'd get better DPS if you just followed the meta" but, meh, if it works for you, it works for you.

Loc2262 · January 2018

Having higher sustain also has an influence on DPS, since you need to do less heavy attacks and/or don't need stam recovery food and/or can put damage glyphs on all jewelry pieces.

Overall Redguard is possibly slightly better, but it's really really minor. Except you go for top leaderboard positions and want to squeeze out the last kDPS, you won't notice a difference between Bosmer and Redguard.

My stamblade main is a Bosmer too. I created her as my first char, before I had any idea about builds, and Bosmer are simply too cute to race change.

Loc2262 · January 2018

I agree with Varanis, your skill selection is solid. You'll do fine in all normal dungeons and most vet. I did a test with a two-handed build on my stamsorc, and reached 28-30k DPS, while with dual wield I got to 32-33k. Difference might be smaller on nightblade due to Surprise Attack (I used Wrecking Blow on the stamsorc). So dual wield is better, but not a must-have except for vet trials and the like.

Make sure to use Poison Injection as your morph for Venom Arrow, it does crazy DoT on low health enemies.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Thanks mate! Really encouragong words, I was really doubtful of myself. Im gonna give it a go!
I have one last question though. With my current build, would you go Redguard or Wood Elf?

VaranisArano · January 2018

hyuntaenoh1 wrote: »

Thanks mate! Really encouragong words, I was really doubtful of myself. Im gonna give it a go!
I have one last question though. With my current build, would you go Redguard or Wood Elf?

Technically, Redguard is the ideal race. Bosmer will work just fine since its also a stam build with bow bonuses. My take on race choice is that it only seems to matter for top-tier DPS, and otherwise just makes your life easier. I've got a Breton Stam Sorc that I wouldn't change for all the gold in the game, so if you want to play a Bosmer, play a bosmer.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Technically wouldnt Bosmer dish out the highest DPS, woth Redguard having more sustain??

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Thx all! From your points, I decided to go a Redguard female. She is really pretty.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

I'll take Ambush out and put in Killer's Blade, then.
Would Caltrops + Endless Hail be enough for AoE?
Also, I'm thinking on taking out Reverse Slice, and I just can't take Wrecking Blow out cuz I love that "CLUNK".

Loc2262 · January 2018

Wrecking Blow is fun, but as a Nightblade you really want Surprise Attack. It does not have a cast time, does comparatively almost as much damage as WB, and most importantly, it applies Major Fracture.

Caltrops and Hail is fine for AOE DOTs, that's the usual two skills you do for that (on a NB). If you want direct AOE damage, Brawler from 2H and nice and gives you a shield.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

I already have Surprise Attack. I was planning on using the two as as my main single target DPS.
So I wouldnt need Reverse Slash then? Since i already have two aoes?

Loc2262 · January 2018

Reverse slash is an execute, i.e. to be used on low-health enemies. It does less damage than the other single-target direct damage skills at first, but much more once the target is low. The fact that RS also does some AoE is an added bonus here.

Out of the two Surprise Attack and Wrecking Blow, you should choose one, i.e. the better one, because you don't need two single-target direct damage skills. Or rather, you'd waste a skill slot if you used them both.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Ah, that's a really hard decision. I love weave+surprise attack, but I also love oneshotting people with wrecking blow.

Also, wouldn't Reverse Slash be a waste if I was to use Killer's Blade?

Loc2262 · January 2018

Yes, RS and KB are both executes, so you usually want to choose one of them. In this case KB since it's stronger.

You can make multiple sets of skill bar allocations and swap them out depending on situation and mood. When you're soloing and feel like oneshotting things with WB, go for it. When you do a dungeon in a group and want to do maximum damage, switch to SA and KB.

If you're on PC, the addon "Dressing Room" allows to switch skill bars with a single keypress.

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Ok

thank you all very much for the help. This is my final build.

My 2h bar:
Killers Blade
Surprise Attack
Brawler
Rally
Ambush
Incapicating Strike

Bow bar:
Vigor/Leeching Strikes
Endless Hail
Caltrops
Relentless Focus
Poison Injection
Werewolf Ult

hyuntaenoh1 · January 2018

Btw, I have a second build as well, to switch when I feel like it

2h Bar:
Wrecking Blow
Killers Blade
Brawler
Reapers Mark
Rally

Bow bar:
Endless Hail
Caltrops
Poison Injection
Mirage
Relentless Focus
Ww Form

davey1107 · January 2018

That’s a solid build and it should serve you well. Based on the close combat approach, I think Redguard was the right choice. I have both a khajiit and Redguard...it’s not a dramatic difference, but they do perform slightly better when playing to their strengths.

The biggest downside to your build (in my mind) is the loss of the 12th slot on your attack bar. You’re giving up the benefits of either a 5th trait or monster set in exchange for the 2h skills. That’s a pretty big sacrifice considering that you can get most of the benefits from the 2h skills from other abilities, even if you ignore weapons skills completely. I’ve always returned my stamblades to DW...and you can probably run a DW attack bar with all class skills.

However, thinking about the content, there’s only a tiny fraction where I think you’d suffer for the underperformance of 2h on NBs. Probably trials and the harder vet dungeons. Usually I recommend using your weapon slots for your craft set if you’re using one, then play with both weapon types and see how they perform.

For long, tough dungeons you’ll probably want a config that slots vigor and Leeching at the same time. When you need the resource management from Leeching, you’re probably going to need vigor too. For vet dungeons my relentless moves to the front to accomplish this.

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PvE Stamblade Help 2

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