Are Nightblades seriously underpowered?

TheAstaroath · January 2018

Hi everyone,
I started off playing ESO Morrowind about three weeks ago, my previous experience with ESO in general being its two-days Open Beta Test. Now, being a fan of TES since TES III: Morrowind from way back in 2003, and wanting to keep my personal tradition of picking Dunmer in every TES afterwards, and considering I also have a fair amount of experience in assassin-type classes in various other MMOs ( I have a lvl 60 Wood Elf Trickster Rogue in Neverwinter, a lvl 45 Stygian Assassin in Age of Conan, and a lvl 40 Mordesh Stalker in Wildstar) I decided that the Dark Elf Nightblade would be my ideal choice of race+class combo.
My general way of operating such a class is: invisibilty/stealth + an attack that deals critical damage on first hit after stealth = a good deal of initiative damage that would take a huge chunk off the enemy’s health bar, followed by further attacks and/or something to keep me alive if the enemy has proven to be too strong and has not died by then.
So, I mostly use the following skills.

Class Skills:
Shadow Cloak morphed to Shadowy Disguise (Shadow Skills)
Veiled Strike morphed to Surprise Attack (Shadow Skills)
Strife morphed to Swallow Soul (Siphoning skills)
Teleport Strike Morphed to Ambush (Assassination skills)
Consuming Darkness morphed to Bolstering Darkness ( Shadow skills – Ultimate)

Weapon Skills:
Puncture morphed to Pierce Armor (One-handed and Shield skills)
Twin Slashes morphed to Blood Craze (Dual Wield skills)

-I also took Bow skills as my secondary long range option-
Snipe morphed to Lethal Arrow (Bow skills)
Volley morphed to Endless Hail (Bow skills)
Scatter Shot morphed to Magnum Shot (Bow skills)

I raised my count of Skill Points to spend in the above Skills by locating Sky Shards, and am currently lvl 24. Maybe it is still too early to judge, but I’ve had the following experiences so far, in both the PvE and PvP aspects of the game:

In PvE, since the very beginning, I am always struggling to kill River Trolls and Hungers, which I assume are the most powerful Daedra in early game overworld. I feel like I am not dealing enough damage to them per hit, although with the current skills I use, I apply multiple debuffs to them, while buffing my healing back. Even though I constantly spam Puncture-Veiled Strike-Swallow Soul, a River Troll deals from 4k to 6k damage with its skills, while a Hunger deals from 6k to 10k if it also manages to grab me, whereas my total health as of now is 21k. I started off with medium armor for the Critical Rating passive, but turned to Heavy Armor (the Warrior-Poet full set) for the extra armor just to keep myself alive.

Compared to my secondary character, a lvl 6 Orsimer Dragonknight that uses Uppercut/Wrecking Blow, Dragon Leap/Ferocious Leap, Spiked Armor/Hardened Armor, Dark Talons/Choking Talons, I feel like my Nightblade is a total sucker. It takes a total of 3-4 minutes and a great risk of painful death to kill a River Troll, and where the Orc deals 8k damage with one Uppercut, the Nightblade deals maximum 4.5k with a Veiled Strike, without calculating the initial 14k critical from stealth. If I manage to slay the Troll, if I’m lucky and it doesn’t start spamming its most powerful attack, Rend, that deals 4k constantly, I always find myself, barely surviving with 35%-25% HP. Meanwhile the Orc doesn’t even break a sweat, ending the fight in 1.5’- 2’ with 85%-75% HP.

Finally, in PvP, yesterday I dueled the char of one of my irl friends, a by-then lvl 4 Orc Templar with my by-then lvl 22 Dunmer Nightblade, and despite the huge difference in level I had, it felt like I was hitting a brick wall with bare hands. I started critically hit him from stealth for 14k initial damage, then Punctured and Veiled Striked him, then fell back and Lethal Arrowed him, and continued fighting him melee within my Endless Hail. In the end, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I dropped dead, and the Orc had 75% HP still left. After me, the Orc dueled another friend’s Nightblade that by-then was lvl 18 and we witnessed the same results.

I literally cannot understand if it is the class itself that is underpowered, or I chose completely underpowered skills/combos to use. What are your thoughts ?

The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO · January 2018

When I leveled my Stamblade it was laughably easy.

What are the rest of your stats? This game you need to stack magic or stam, you are using both, suprise attack is a Stam move and swallow soul is a magic move.

Also 4-24 isn't that big of level difference. And keep in mind this game is not balanced around 1v1s. There are a lot of things band in serious 1v1 tournaments.

ak_pvp · January 2018

Even with the incorrect build that seems to be strange, my guess is outleveled gear. And no, Nb isnt underpowered.

You are also using a split of mag and sham skills, which isn't really possible in eso. By your weapons you seem to be going stam whilst using mag skills, however the race works best with mag so that's what I suggest.

Put all points into magicka and use a staff, though dw is possible as a mage if you are pvp or for non endgame pve, but only for the stats and not the skills.

Use only skills that deal fire/shock/mag damage and passives/sets (Dont worry about sets yet.) that buff spell pen, spell damage, magicka and magicka regen. 2x Fire staff is probably the best bet, and if you are pvp pair one fire with a resto staff. 5 light armour, 1 heavy, and 1 med.

If you decide to go stamina, do the above but for weapon/stam. Dw/bow for pve and 2h/bow for pvp. 7 med armour for both pve/p works, but some people use off meta builds. Dark elf isn't really the best race choice for it, however it does have stamina bonuses, so if you want to keep it for the role, it would work decently.

TheAstaroath · January 2018

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

When I leveled my Stamblade it was laughably easy.

What are the rest of your stats? This game you need to stack magic or stam, you are using both, suprise attack is a Stam move and swallow soul is a magic move.

I tried to distribute my attribute points evenly, so it's something like 10 points in Stamina, 10 points in Magicka, 10 points in Health. True question I have is, will the Nightblade turn more powerful once I reach level cap and start Veteran Ranking ? Cause as of yet I feel terribly weak, and other forum posts from people that have capped their Nightblades and do end-game content suggest the same, for example this one https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/93795/people-rerolling-and-leaving-game-over-nightblade-broken-underpowered mentions that Nightblades totally suck. So, should I keep levelling or will I be completely dissapointed by the end?

Slick_007 · January 2018

my nightblade used to suck. very badly. to the point i hated playing it. then i respecced it and its my fave toon now.

this is very close to my build but i went for different gear. see the MA setup at the bottom

https://alcasthq.com/eso-stamina-nightblade-build-for-pve-morrowind/

Biro123 · January 2018

ak_pvp wrote: »

Even with the incorrect build that seems to be strange, my guess is outleveled gear. And no, Nb isnt underpowered.

You are also using a split of mag and sham skills, which isn't really possible in eso. By your weapons you seem to be going stam whilst using mag skills, however the race works best with mag so that's what I suggest.

Put all points into magicka and use a staff, though dw is possible as a mage if you are pvp or for non endgame pve, but only for the stats and not the skills.

Use only skills that deal fire/shock/mag damage and passives/sets (Dont worry about sets yet.) that buff spell pen, spell damage, magicka and magicka regen. 2x Fire staff is probably the best bet, and if you are pvp pair one fire with a resto staff. 5 light armour, 1 heavy, and 1 med.

If you decide to go stamina, do the above but for weapon/stam. Dw/bow for pve and 2h/bow for pvp. 7 med armour for both pve/p works, but some people use off meta builds. Dark elf isn't really the best race choice for it, however it does have stamina bonuses, so if you want to keep it for the role, it would work decently.

This.

You gotta go either all-out stam/wpn-dmg/wpn-crit OR mag/spelldmg/spell-crit. And choose abilities that use the resource you are focussing on.

For stam, use med or heavy armour, non-stave weapons.

For mag, use light or heavy armour and staves (not using staves is doable - but a little more advanced, so I wouldn't suggest it to a new player).

Not doing this just weakens everything.

STAMblade and MAGblade play VERY differently to each other.. In fact you can pretty much say that ESO has 10 classes, not 5 - as each can be either a stam or a mag version - and they are THAT different.

kylewwefan · January 2018

Your build looks a bit wonky. The only S/B skill I’d consider would be ransack. You can’t use DW skills with S/B. Endless hail is no good for PvP. Swallow soul is a mag NB skill. Consuming darkness is more a tank skill, also not great for PvP. This game pretty much promotes all attributes into one skill line other than maybe tanks. Hybrids are mostly all underpowered.

It’s hard to judge how a class will be before max level with max level gear. Scaling makes under leveled gear out classed very quick. Also, low level toons feel very strong due to scaling. Well, they’re very tanky anyways, but do t usually have good damage.

malicia · January 2018

@TheAstaroath - I don't think there really is anything such as a grossly underpowered or overpowered class in ESO. Nightblades can do incredible damage when setup and configured correctly, and though "highest DPS" is a very contentious statement, I wouldn't be surprised if the "highest DPS" on some days come from NBs.

I have a stamblade, a magblade, a magsorc, and a stamDK. Of those, my NBs are my favourites.

Try to get yourself a set of Night Mother's Gaze (3 body pieces, 2 daggers, 1 bow) and 4 body pieces of Hunding's Rage. If you're on PC EU I'll help you craft it if you can't do so yourself.

Take DW weapons on your front bar, and use the bow on your back bar. Don't regard the bow as a long-range weapon - it is an integral part of each and every fight. Open fights with your bow, setting down Volley on the terrain where you want the fight to be. If there is a boss/bigger enemy, use Poison Arrow on him. Then switch to your Dual Wield bar, move into the area where your Volley is falling, and fight in there. If you have Blade Cloak (DW line) activated, it will help you a lot. When Volley is close to running out, switch back to the Bow bar and reapply it. <- This isn't a complete rotation with all buffs, I'm simply trying to illustrate sort of what the progression of fights should be.

Also, don't mind the forums too much. You'll get people here saying how much OP NBs are, and people who say how underpowered they are. These forums can range from extremely helpful to badly toxic. I dislike playing my magsorc. If a new player were to hear my opinion about magsorcs, they might never want to try out the class. In the meantime it is just me that don't like magsorcs, there's nothing wrong with the class really.

Vapirko · January 2018

You’re a dark elf so focus on magicka nighblade. In PvE you’ll most successsfult play an inferno front bar and a lightning staff back bar. It’s also possible to go dw on front bar if you like. Once you hit cp 160 start with 5 pc Julianos 3 willpower jewlery and head, shoulder and staffs of another set that fills in whatever you feel you lack either sustain, max resources or spell damage. Backbar should look something like wall of elements, twisting path, crippling grasp, harness magicka, magelight and whatever ulti you want. Front bar should be something like impale, swallow soul, mercilous resolve, magelight and a flex spot. Use the stationary morph of elemental rage for your ulti. This is a very typical set up that should get you through most content until you can get some monster sets and trials sets, assuming you want to be a dps which is what’s magblade is good at for the most part. Good luck. Top tier dps is all damage over time abilities and learning to weave attacks. I’d suggest looking at some go to theory crafters like Alcast who has written guides for all classes.

malicia · January 2018

Just to clarify - my post above @Vapirko's was aimed at stamina playing. Generally it is a good idea to choose either stamina or magica, and to focus on that. Your damage for abilities that costs magica scales with your maximum magica, same goes for stamina abilities and max stamina.

Dark elf does fit magblade quite well, but if stamblade seems more like what you'd like, then play stamblade. Race makes some difference, but it won't cripple you to be a Dark Elf stamblade. It will only take you a few places lower on the top DPS leaderboards some day.

If magblade seems more like you, then you've chosen a race that fits it quite well.

Between the two, both can be really fun to play.

TheAstaroath · January 2018

@Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
@ak_pvp
@Slick_007
@Biro123
@kylewwefan
@malicia
@Vapirko

Ok, so the general consensus is to either go full Stam or full Mag, no hybrids. Got it !
And considering I'm Dunmer, the most viable option I have is full Mag.

Also, @malicia thank you for claryfying that it's all about scaling. I literally was not aware that damage scales off of the attributes too, so in essence it's much like in Dark Souls where weapons are scaling off of Strength/Dexterity and spells are scaling off of Intelligence/Faith ! I literally thought that my damage output only came off of my weapon's base damage, my weapon's enchantment, critical chance and critical damage, and the passives of the skill morphs like Poison etc. This is most illuminating ! Btw, yes, I'm in EU, but my pockets are somewhat empty of gold and materials right now.

malicia · January 2018

Well, chat to me ingame (@taciti). I can afford to craft you a starter set and make it blue at least.

Also, what Mundus do you have? For PvP you should look at the Apprentice. For PvE probably the Apprentice. In general you can make a character to be really good at PvE, or to be really good at PvE. Going for something that sits in the middle is possible, but not optimal. Once you get to know the game you'll know what you should change when going from PvE to PvP.

idk · January 2018

No offense, and not commenting directly on the NB class, but OP has played the game for a matter of a few weeks and is questioning a class because it does not perform as he expects using tactics he thinks should work well.

It does not make sense.

TheAstaroath · January 2018

malicia wrote: »

Well, chat to me ingame (@taciti). I can afford to craft you a starter set and make it blue at least.

Also, what Mundus do you have? For PvP you should look at the Apprentice. For PvE probably the Apprentice. In general you can make a character to be really good at PvE, or to be really good at PvE. Going for something that sits in the middle is possible, but not optimal. Once you get to know the game you'll know what you should change when going from PvE to PvP.

well, considering I am not a subscription member, and only have the base game + Vvardenfell, which Mundus Stones can I use ? Plus, I think I will focus my main char for PvE and make another exclusively for PvP if I decide to purchase Imperial City later on.

TheAstaroath · January 2018

idk wrote: »

No offense, and not commenting directly on the NB class, but OP has played the game for a matter of a few weeks and is questioning a class because it does not perform as he expects using tactics he thinks should work well.

It does not make sense.

It does make sense if you consider what I stated in the first few lines of my post "I usually play with assassin classes in other MMOs". As I was not aware that damage scales off of attributes too, and thought that it only comes off of your weapon and gear, I was picking up skills based on their descriptions, on what effects they do and if they suited the playstyle I was used to playing.

For example, in Neverwinter my Trickster Rogue's damage came out of the skill combo Stealth (20-30 second invisibility) + Lashing Blade (guaranteed massive critical attack) followed by Dazing Strike (single target daze attack) and spamming Gloaming Cut (single-target charged basic attack) while having casted the AoE spell Path of the Blade (which summoned an AoE zone of erupting blades off the ground) prior, plus my dual daggers and armor which were purple (Mythic). Also, although scaling was present, it was abyssmal, almost didn't matter really, and it came out of my racial attributes so I never had to keep an eye on it ( Trickster Rogue's scaled off of Dexterity, so I put 1 Attribute Point to Dexterity whenever I had one available, usually every three levels, and I also had +2 Dexterity from my race which was Wood Elf.

Now that it was clarified to me that the attributes Magicka and Stamina contribute to damage output, much like the way Stats contribute massively to weapon damage in the Dark Souls series, e.g. Strength contributes directly to the damage of Longswords, Greatswords, Clubs, Axes etc. it's much more clear.

malicia · January 2018

TheAstaroath wrote: »

malicia wrote: »

Well, chat to me ingame (@taciti). I can afford to craft you a starter set and make it blue at least.

Also, what Mundus do you have? For PvP you should look at the Apprentice. For PvE probably the Apprentice. In general you can make a character to be really good at PvE, or to be really good at PvE. Going for something that sits in the middle is possible, but not optimal. Once you get to know the game you'll know what you should change when going from PvE to PvP.

well, considering I am not a subscription member, and only have the base game + Vvardenfell, which Mundus Stones can I use ? Plus, I think I will focus my main char for PvE and make another exclusively for PvP if I decide to purchase Imperial City later on.

You can use any of the Mundus stones - they are in the base game areas. Google a bit about them - they'll help you.

Asardes · January 2018

NB of both flavors is extremely strong in both PvP and PvE but it has a higher skill requirement than other classes due to very high reliance on proper weaving to activate spectral bow often.

If you picked Dark Elf I suggest going full magicka with your attribute points, using inferno staff front bar, either inferno or lightning back bar (or resto in PvP), and donning at least 5p of light armor from sets that boost maximum magicka, recovery, spell critical, damage. Pick the magicka morphs of skills that also have a stamina one.

ereboz · January 2018

Someone's gotta be on the bottom.

Asardes · January 2018

As for materials the easiest way to always get materials of your level is to deconstruct the gear that drops from mobs at craft tables. This is always scaled to your level, and you also raise your skill and save inventory space since materials will stack to 200 or go straight in your craft bag if you are subscriber. Do not refine whilst you don't have the passives for extraction unlocked since you'll be missing on a lot of tempers. You are better off keeping those raw mats or selling them on guild stores.

LiquidPony · January 2018

TheAstaroath wrote: »

@Lightspeedflashb14_ESO
@ak_pvp
@Slick_007
@Biro123
@kylewwefan
@malicia
@Vapirko

Ok, so the general consensus is to either go full Stam or full Mag, no hybrids. Got it !
And considering I'm Dunmer, the most viable option I have is full Mag.

Also, @malicia thank you for claryfying that it's all about scaling. I literally was not aware that damage scales off of the attributes too, so in essence it's much like in Dark Souls where weapons are scaling off of Strength/Dexterity and spells are scaling off of Intelligence/Faith ! I literally thought that my damage output only came off of my weapon's base damage, my weapon's enchantment, critical chance and critical damage, and the passives of the skill morphs like Poison etc. This is most illuminating ! Btw, yes, I'm in EU, but my pockets are somewhat empty of gold and materials right now.

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/introduction-to-pve-damage-calculation-homestead/

If you'd like to see the inner workings of combat.

QuebraRegra · January 2018

TheAstaroath wrote: »

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

When I leveled my Stamblade it was laughably easy.

What are the rest of your stats? This game you need to stack magic or stam, you are using both, suprise attack is a Stam move and swallow soul is a magic move.

I tried to distribute my attribute points evenly, so it's something like 10 points in Stamina, 10 points in Magicka, 10 points in Health. True question I have is, will the Nightblade turn more powerful once I reach level cap and start Veteran Ranking ? Cause as of yet I feel terribly weak, and other forum posts from people that have capped their Nightblades and do end-game content suggest the same, for example this one https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/93795/people-rerolling-and-leaving-game-over-nightblade-broken-underpowered mentions that Nightblades totally suck. So, should I keep levelling or will I be completely dissapointed by the end?

there's the problem... no room for hybrids.

kaithuzar · January 2018

Yea, dark elf, maximize fire damage with destro staff using 5 light, 1 medium, 1 heavy armor, resto back bar.

Weave light attack & swallow soul, typical other skills are sap essence, refreshing path, crippling grasp, mass hysteria, soul tether, soul harvest, assassin's will, impulse/pulsar (from destro tree/section of skills), crushing shock, flame reach

You have to learn & work on the rotation that you perform the skills in as well
Also eat food/drink in game, also assign yourself a mundus if you haven't already.
Something like increase magicka recovery or increase spell damage

For resto back bar, you want healing ward, but it doesn't hurt & you may need to, level up healing springs, blessing of restoration/combat prayer, in order to get there.

Make sure your armor & weapons are within 4 levels of what your level is & make sure armor has all +(increase) magicka enchants on them

Those things should help get you going.

deepseamk20b14_ESO · January 2018

ak_pvp wrote: »

Even with the incorrect build that seems to be strange, my guess is outleveled gear. And no, Nb isnt underpowered.

You are also using a split of mag and sham skills, which isn't really possible in eso. By your weapons you seem to be going stam whilst using mag skills, however the race works best with mag so that's what I suggest.

Put all points into magicka and use a staff, though dw is possible as a mage if you are pvp or for non endgame pve, but only for the stats and not the skills.

Use only skills that deal fire/shock/mag damage and passives/sets (Dont worry about sets yet.) that buff spell pen, spell damage, magicka and magicka regen. 2x Fire staff is probably the best bet, and if you are pvp pair one fire with a resto staff. 5 light armour, 1 heavy, and 1 med.

If you decide to go stamina, do the above but for weapon/stam. Dw/bow for pve and 2h/bow for pvp. 7 med armour for both pve/p works, but some people use off meta builds. Dark elf isn't really the best race choice for it, however it does have stamina bonuses, so if you want to keep it for the role, it would work decently.

^ agreed

Unfortunately hybrid builds in ESO aren’t much of a thing. Pick one or the other but remember you can always change and respec. Race change is a little more....expensive, but can also be done.

Koensol · January 2018

idk wrote: »

No offense, and not commenting directly on the NB class, but OP has played the game for a matter of a few weeks and is questioning a class because it does not perform as he expects using tactics he thinks should work well.

It does not make sense.

@idk It makes perfect sense: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias
Its typical human behavior.

Although it does tell us one thing. This game sucks at explaining its mechanics to players. ZOS would rather people be snowflakes and then quit playing because they keep failing or getting kicked from groups, in stead of actually teaching the games mechanics and basic rules to players so they can actually be somewhat succesful.

SRASinister · January 2018

Honestly you should also look up some youtube videos on nightblades and pick the playstyle you want while viewing some of the players and their rotations. The nightblade can be played probably mores ways than other classes as well.

If you insist on stamblade then think about doing some quests in cyrodiil until you unlock vigor since it's a great stamina skill. Otherwise you will have to use a two handed weapon for rally as a heal or duel wield weapons for some heal over times.

If you want magic nightblade then you should choose either a duel wield (for melee) or inferno staff as a your front bar. I don't recommend using double destros yet since you don't have cp and are relatively new to the game. I would use a restoration staff on your back bar for heals and it will make it a lot easier for you. Magicka nightblade can utilitze a lot of heal over time skills such as swallow soul or refreshing path as well.

Also you should unlock the guild skill lines such as fighters and mage guild with mage guild being quite good for end game content. Also look into the vampire skill line since it synergizes well with nightblades.

NB is really fun to play especially considering you like rogue playstyles (i liked trickster rogue as well). It is a little harder to play in certain aspects but it is a fun playstyle with a really high potential for end game. Again you should watch some youtube videos to give you a better understanding of the class overall as well as gear sets and traits for pve versus pvp. I strongly recommend you try to join a friendly guild that can help you with the game as well as being able to craft things for you otherwise you will need to start investing in crafting skill lines now since they take a while i.e. researching traits.

xbobx · January 2018

i hate the idea of a magblade not dw/staff just because staffs don't match the job. You are an assassin basically. assassins don't run around with staves.

KramUzibra · January 2018

Nightblades are doing just fine.. I like running bone pirate, agility, bloodspawn, asylum

davey1107 · January 2018

NBs are powerful, and ifmyou like assassins in other games it’s probably your class of choice. However, they are the hardest class to master. But I always say that people who start as NBs really learn the game and can move into any other class pretty easily, while those who start with like Templars dont necessarily.

Anyway, people offered some pretty advanced tips. Let’s back this up with some starter tips.

- a general concept is that low level toon get handicaps that make them more powerful. As you level up, you are supposed to replace these through gear and abilities. This is why your low level toon is doing great damage...don’t stress it.

- people are correct that you need to focus on either magic or stam. Dunmer can do either, really, but are inclined to magic. Magblades are a little more “dark sorcerer” style of Assassin. They’re fun and powerful. Stamblades are fun too...they’re more your ninja weapons assassins. But play either. Your description of your Trickster Rogue sounds like a magblade. The rotation you describe is pretty much what you need to learn here, just it’s a different system. Yes, a magblade can buff...buff...defense skill...crit attack...aoe, and do massive damage in pvp or pve with it.

- when you pick a fighting resource, put ALL ATTRIBUTE points into that resource. All in stam or all in magic, for the entire game, then never worry about them again. (You can go reset them in a capital city...Elden root, etc). There is a complicated explanation that you don’t reallt need to understand on why this is.

- always spend in most every passive you unlock. Especially class skill lines, but also armor, weapons, etc. there is a lot of power in these. Don’t worry, there are a gazillion more skill points in the game than you need now. Spend freely.

- pay attention to the passives in your class skill lines. More than any other class, nightblades become more powerful by setting up your bar with the right skills. For example, they have a passive where any Assassin line skill slotted increases your critical strike rating. Choosing those skills will increase your power. A lot of their skills offer important buffs, like major brutality / major sorcery. It’ll take you a while to learn all the complex mechanics and be able to set your guy up right...give it time and you’ll figure things out and get more powerful.

- nightblades reach their full potential further along than most classes. Some of your most powerful skills open late, so don’t worry...you’ll get some better options as you level.

- think about skill morphs. If a skill morphs to give a choice between stam and magic, it usually means one variation is for a stamblade and another for a magblade. And be aware that damage that is magic, flame, frost or shock are magic damage and should be used by magblades, while physical damage, poison and disease is for stamblades. Some of your skills need to be re-morphed (Capitol city, shrines, ~300 Gold). Like if you’re going to be a magblade, you don’t want surprise attack, you want concealed weapon.

- use appropriate weapons. Magic builds use staves, while stam builds use the physical weapons. There are exceptions, but for the most part stick to this rule. You use a lot of physical weapon skills. If you love the bow and dual,wield skills, you should try a stamblade.

- wear a combo of light and heavy armor for magic, medium and heavy for stam. Down the road most players wear a little heavy. Like a 5/2 blend early on is good, so you level the lines.

- start to learn about gear sets. Your character has 11 or 12 slots. The gear sets in the game are vital to helping you succeed.

- don’t outlevel gear. In the current game, as you level you have handicaps that fall off and you’re supposed to replace them with better gear. If you get much more than 5 levels above your gear, you will start to suck. It’s a lot of costume changes, but eventually that slows down and doesn’t take as much time.

- if a magblade, early on join the mage guild and then unlock entropy. This offers +20% spell damage for 20 seconds. It’s an important buff for you that you can get this way even at a low level.

Oops. That’s a lot of tips. Hopefully that helps. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Your NB is off to a good start, it just needs some tweaking.

ascan7 · January 2018

idk wrote: »

No offense, and not commenting directly on the NB class, but OP has played the game for a matter of a few weeks and is questioning a class because it does not perform as he expects using tactics he thinks should work well.

It does not make sense.

Why not? He is a new player, doing the exact same thing on two different characters (presumably having kinda weak gear, choosing a class damage skill and spamming it and so on) but he is getting two different results.
It's not like he learnt rotation and animation cancel on the DK and not on the NB. So he's guessing that there is something wrong with the class.
And he is right. NB is the hardest class for beginners, so for new players it's kinda "underpowered"

Everstorm · January 2018

Koensol wrote: »

idk wrote: »

No offense, and not commenting directly on the NB class, but OP has played the game for a matter of a few weeks and is questioning a class because it does not perform as he expects using tactics he thinks should work well.

It does not make sense.

@idk It makes perfect sense: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias
Its typical human behavior.

Although it does tell us one thing. This game sucks at explaining its mechanics to players. ZOS would rather people be snowflakes and then quit playing because they keep failing or getting kicked from groups, in stead of actually teaching the games mechanics and basic rules to players so they can actually be somewhat succesful.

This. The most fundamental mechanic of the character and the game doesn't tell you that.

Strider__Roshin · January 2018

Nah, magblades are top dog in PvP. Stamblades are right there in the middle when it comes to stam builds, but stam is pretty bad as a whole in PvP.