Looking for starting advise

Englishking · January 2018

I'm not new to mmorpgs. But I am to ESO.

I've found a build that I ll enjoy and want to build it. But obviously it's mainly focused on end game. Which is fine.

But now I need to know how to reach that, lvl 50?

Anythins better than nothing. Advise or guide. Just a rough description of what to do when where and how would be great.

I'm lvl8

Building a stamina nightblade bow , aimed at late game PvP but I ll do whatever to reach that so a pve setup if I have too

Starting to struggling and I'm fearing I may need to switch weapon for the grind...

Any info would be helpful or links.

Plus I have tons of questions. Like

Are the skills I'm applying into classes perm choices?

Can I take skill points back out or reset then spend again?

If a ring says it perm binds is that to the account or actual slot? Second surely wouldn't make sense.

Carbonised · January 2018

Answering your questions:

No, skill point choices aren't permanent, you can respec all skills and morphs, though it will cost you some gold. This is done in your alliance capital or Vivec City, at a shrine.

This answers your second question as well, yes, you can reset your skill points.

Binding is to your account. So if you wear a piece of bind-on-equip item (BoE), you will not be able to give, trade or sell the item to anyone else. but you can freely transfer it between all your characters, and your bank.

As for leveling up, just do the questlines and story quests in the zone you're in. doing the quests and the story will automatically take you all over the world, and you level up nicely along with that.

If you're impatient and want to simply grind your way to end level, many people do that in the public dungeons, especially in DLC areas, or the Skyreach dungeon in Craglorn.

Many people also grind Dark Anchors, especially in the Alik'r zone.

But for a first time player, I'd still suggest you do the questline and explore the world instead of grinding your way to level 50 in the same place.

Englishking · January 2018

Thank you so much for your fast and helpful reply. I wish there were more like you. May I comment on this thread/topic in the future if I get stuck again?

thanks

Carbonised · January 2018

Sure, ask away. You can also just make another thread for another topic.

VaranisArano · January 2018

For leveling, its great that you've found a build you like and enjoy playing! Seriously, that's half the challenge of leveling. The other half of the challenge is how to level.

If you want an experience as close to the "authentic" original pre-One Tamriel game as possible, talk to the Hooded Figure in your alliance's starting town. That will start the base game's main quest. From there, you can go through your faction's zones in order, doing the Main Quest, Fighters Guild, and Mages Guild as you progress through the zones.

If you don't really want the original experience but you do want to feel comfortable playing the game before you hit level 50, I highly recommend that you do the MAin Quest, Fighters Guild and Mages Guild quests. The reason for this is there are some benefits - MQ gives lots of skill points and the soul magic line. FG and MG can be leveled by killing daedra and finding lore books. But most importantly, the Main Quest, FG and MG have some challenging boss fights. Many players will say these aren't as bad as they used to be, that's true. However, those fights are still challenging and will help you become a better player and learn the strengths and weaknesses of your build. If you are planning to grind dolmens or skyreach or something that won't teach you how to play your build well, doing those quests is a good learning experience.

As for your build itself, I found that bow is a great starting weapon. If you are struggling with healing, Dual Wield has some options for skills that will keep you healed. At reaching level 15 when you get a second weapon bar, I usually have a bow bar and a dual wield bar. 2-handed is also a good option although that tends to be used more often in PVP. A hint: you can level a weapon skill even if you don't have it equipped by putting that skill on your bar. So when I level, I often use a bow, but one of my skills will be a dual wield skill so that the dual wield skill line levels even though I'm using a bow.

Hope that helps!

Nestor · January 2018

Englishking wrote: »

But now I need to know how to reach that, lvl 50?

Just getting to L50 is not going to do much for you. Instead you need to be thinking more about skill points. I maintain that you need about 150 skill points to have a flexible useful character. You can get by with less, but your a one trick pony that can't react to changes in the game. Also, your real goal is CP160 for your first character. So here is an answer in two parts:

How to get to 150 or so Skill Points

Let me give you an example of what I did with my last two leveling characters.

1. I collected all the Skyshards in the zone. I avoided any and all quests other than those that show up in the delves that have skyshards. These quests do not give set items for rewards so no loss there.
2. I would farm the dolmens a few times to get set jewelry that helped my character
3. I would do the Public Dungeons including all the bosses
4. Then I would move to the next zone.

In doing this, I could fully gear up my character with level appropriate stuff, and it was helpful gear. May not have been the best, but you don't need the best while leveling. Any gear I farmed from Dolmens or PD's is repeatable, so I can get it at CP160 by just repeating. Then, I had all the content quests left for me once I reached CP160 as those can give you sweet Set Drops in good traits you want. And, Quest Experience is huge for gaining CPs once your past CP160. Kind of a waste before that.

In about 8 zones, I would be fully leveled in Mages, Fighters, Class, 3 Armors and Weapon Skills. Leaving only Undaunted to level, although I would get to almost 3 in that from Dungeon Achievements.For most efficient Lore Book collecting, stick to one Alliance's zones for the first 5, then farm other zones.

What to do with your Skill Points as you Level:

First leveling character? Forget about Builds right now. No need, your handicapped anyway by the game so you are way more powerful than you need to be. Instead take advantage of this buff to properly level your character so you can be deadly when it matters later on when you are not buffed by the level scaling. In other words, you can create a rotation that makes you think your all that and a biscuit because of the scaling buffs, then get a rude awakening come Champ Ranks when you are on your own.

In other words, right now if your wearing any gear, the mobs will die.

1. Have one class skill on your bar at all times, swapping them out once the skill reaches Morph stage. Worry about your Morphs later.
2. Have one weapon skill on your bar at all times, again until Morph stage
3. Wear a mix of all 3 armor types so they all level about equally
4. From L1 to L20, invest in attack skills and actives
5. From L20 to L35 start investing in Passives and Support Skills
6. From L35 to L50 start investing in Morphs (but only if all your class skills are at the Morph Stage), Passives and Crafting Skills
7 From CP10 to CP160 try out dropped sets to see which ones fit your playstyle, don't worry about traits right now, fill in passives and actives you may have missed
8. Grind on Dolmens to level your Fighters Guild, or find the Lore Books to level Mages Guild
9. Do some stealing to level Legerdemain, best source for money in the game
10. Decon every piece of gear you get that you are not going to use immediately to level equipment crafting, no need to invest skills points until Champ Ranks.

Kraynic · January 2018

Nestor's advice about skill points is very good.

One thing I would add is that you should work on finding a good social guild. You can do most group content by level 10. Only "vet" content requires you to be past 50+. If you are in a guild that allows it, you can even experience normal trials as you level. While your build may not be complete for some time, you don't have to wait until then to participate in group content. ESO is amazing for the ability to group up and do things at almost all levels.

Englishking · January 2018

Thanks so much for the help!

My builds a glass cannon build. Instant death mostly to others and very squishy, that's all I want, its all I enjoy.

But it seems I'm going to have to go through the trials of growth to get anywhere first like someone mentioned earlier.

I'm now level 12. I've just done my first dungeon!

So to confirm I can respec all skill points that I've put into guild, class, bow and passives? For gold later on. This means there's little easy way for me to screw up.

I'm fighting with a bow and following the end game skills of the build but not fully as I've had to adapt, but it's hard for me to stray far from the build as the further I go the less I enjoy.

I'm in audiran or however you spell it. I've gone back to that zone. I was following MQ but I keep getting killed doing worm quest following Cadwell.

There's a quest counter on the screen somewhere, it says like 2/24 , is that my counter of quests done in that zone? If it is that's handy

And to confirm, quests scale with you whichever region and u can start most any region? Quite sophisticated I like it

Thanks

Loc2262 · January 2018

GG on your first dungeon!

I still remember my first rookie Banished Cells run, when I was like, "wait, this boss has 1,2 MILLION health? that must be a display bug".

Yes, you can respec attributes and skill points at any time. Also CP later on. It costs IIRC 3k for the attributes, and 50 gold per assigned skill point. The only two aspects of a character that can NOT be changed by any means are class and alliance.

Stamina Nightblade unfortunately is the hardest class to start with in terms of survivability. Until you get Vigor in PvP, you only have on-damage/on-kill self-heals. For the bow, you have Draining Shot, that's all. In tense situations, you might want to switch to Dual Wield or a Two-Hander. You have much better self-heal abilities there. Blood Thirst heals you on each hit, Blood Craze is a heal-over-time. Brawler gives you a 2k shield for each enemy hit, and Momentum heals you over time.

At level 15, you can use two weapons and get two skill bars, which you can swap at any time. You'll probably use the Bow on the back bar then and DW or 2H on the frontbar.

Until then, be prepared to die a lot when playing solo.

You can of course always create a second character and start e.g. as a sorc (stam or mag is fine) or a magicka nightblade. Those have much better self-heals, and especially magicka classes have great survivability due to damage shields.

davey1107 · January 2018

I run a bow stamblade in pvp. Good choice...very fun.

Nestor gave you a great rundown on a general approach. Let me add some tips, and I’m going to try to focus more on long skill grind stuff and things specific to stamblades.

General starting advice

- put all your attribute points into stamina. Don’t mix. There are complicated reasons why, but the short answer is that you can get health and magic from armor enchantments if you need to.

- don’t be concerned about spending skill points. There are so many in the game that you will not ever be forced to make hard decisions on these. Experiment with skills at will, it’s how you’ll learn.

Stamblade advice

- Stamblades are my favorite class, but I’m not going to lie...they’re the hardest class to start the game on. The pro is that you’ll learn and emerge a stronger player. But be warned that you will struggle a lot on the way to vet. And also be aware that stamblades unlock a lot of their best avilities at higher levels. You will feel mediocre at least to level 30, then bit by bit you’ll unlock their core skills and they get way powerful.

- a lot of your best abilities start as sucky magic skills then morph to stamina. Ambush. Veiled strike. Killers blade. Look up the skill charts...any that converts to stam is a strong skill for you, and most start as low damage poop magic versions.

- pay attention to how your skills work, what buffs/debuffs they offer, and what passives in their lines do. Nightblades are a bit more complex than other classes, imo. For example, each assassination skill you put on your bar increases your crit rating. Your character thereby hits harder by stacking more of these on their bar. Activating a shadow skill increases your resistance. Etc.

Skill leveling advice (focusing on what’s important for pvp nightblades)

Class lines - these level as you earn xp while abilities from those lines are on the bar as the xp comes in. The more skills slotted, the faster the class line levels. As a rule, while working to fifty try to always have at least one skill from each line slotted so that all three are advancing. Spend in every passive in these lines.

Weapons lines - same system...slotting a dual wield ability levels the dual wield line. Your stamblade should level dual wield, bow and 2h while working to vet. Tip: you don’t have to have a weapon type equipped to slot its ability on the bar. If I’m using daggers and put a bow ability on my bar I can’t proc the attack...the button is wasted. But the xp still goes toward the bow line and that ability. This can be a good strategy for working up lines that fall behind. You can spend in all passives in these lines.

Armor - levels by wearing that armor weight. Work up medium and heavy, you’ll likely use a little of both. You’ll spend in all passives in medium, then the first three in heavy. (The ones that offer a per piece buff, but not the last two that work when wearing 5+ pieces of heavy.)

Fighters guild - levels by fighting undead and closing dolmens. Run a lot of dolmens, they’re great xp and you’ll want to work up fighter’s guild.

Legerdemain - levels by stealing and fencing. This is very important for a pvp stamblade...you need Legerdemain level 16 so you can spend in the passive to reduce sneak costs. Every once in a while empty your inventory, go to the ships in daggerfall (glenumbra), then steal everything. Fence it all, selling and laundering your daily max. It’s about ~20 daily max fencing to get to 16.

Alchemy - the one passive that helps with fighting in the craft lines is the alchemy passive that makes potions last longer. Sunshine daydream has a crafting guide, and in it you’ll find a chart for fast leveling alchemy by discovering traits efficiently.

Undaunted - this is a looooong grind. You can’t start until you’re in your 40’s, but when you can start running the delve dailies and dungeon dailies at the undaunted enclave. There are some powerful passives, but it takes months to level this line.

Alliance war assault and support skill lines - level these lines by earning AP, the pvp currency. As soon as you can get into cyrodiil join a campaign and get in. Don’t wait. Your first priority is earning ~85k AP to unlock Vigor. This is your only burst heal as a stamblade and it will change your life. Change. Your. Life. Unlock it early, slot it, use it, love it. You get 6k AP by being on property when your team captures a keep. Just go assist your team taking keeps...a dozen and you’re there. (Tip: once per hour go kill a delve boss. This awards a 20% ap buff. As a pvp-er, try to always maintain this)

And now we come...

...sigh...

...to mages guild.

Mages guild: this line ONLY levels by picking up the blue lore books you find lying around. There is a list in menu...journal...lore books...shalidors insights. Here’s the thing. To get to mage guild 10 you have to collect like 20+ complete collections from the list...hundreds of books. There are plenty of online maps, but it’s a grind.

You’ll say you’re a stamblade, so why would you even think about mages guild? Sigh...because there’s a passive called “might of the guild” which increases your next attack after using a mage guild ability by 20%. Any attack, even stamina attacks. And in pvp a glass canon bow build will fully buff themselves in sneak, proc magelight (which leaves you hidden) tomget that buff, then snipe gank an enemy. On my ganker, might of the guild is buffing my opening attacks from 12,500 to 16,000. People generally run 22k health...that’s a big buff.

You kinda want this...find an online guide and start collecting the books. A decent strategy is to pick,a zone and grab all the books and sky shards in one run...that’s about 2 hours per zone if you’re new at it.

That’s a lot of info...but you know MMOs so hopefully it wasn’t too confusing.

If you have any questions, when you respond use @davey1107 in your post. The system notifies me so I know to come back and reply. In fact, feel free to tag me in any post you have with nightblade questions, or message me direct. I have thousands of hours on my stamblade in pve and pvp and am happy to help.

And let me know if you’re on PS4 NA. If so, my friend and I can help get you set up with some supplies and if you want show you the ropes in Cyro when you’re ready.