Returning2Game need help

king408 · February 2018

Hello fellow Esoheads. Im planning on returning to the game and would like some insight and or guidance on my characters build. I will be returning to my previously used character, a magicka based vampiric imperial nightblade using sword and board. I really prefer not to reroll or class change etc. The reason i chose imperial a while back was strictly for the hp bonus and lifesteal mechanic that they are blessed with. I chose nightblade because they also have lifestealing and shadowy abilities which interest me, i chose sword and board for the natural affinity it provides in protecting vs attacks<tankness> i chose to become a vampire to further capitalise on life draining mechanics. I really like the idea of being able to self sustain and use lifestealing abilities to keep myself healthy. This reminds me of my shadowknight from eqoa back in ps2 days. I know this build would probably not be best for a min /maxxer, but i would like for it to be the best it can be with what options are available in game. What would be the best route to go as far as armors gems traits etc. I would like to be able to take some hits like a tank but would also like to deal damage so the fights arent so drawn out. Again, not looking to reroll into the best tank or the best damage dealer. I want more of a hybrid mix in between the two. If this is at all possible I would like to know my options, and your 2 cents on the build. Also, i plan to play more pve then pvp for now, i would like to eventually pvp but just wanna focus on learning rotations and maxxing my character before really trying hard in pvp. Please, and thanks in advance for your help.

VaranisArano · February 2018

What content are you wanting to play in, PVE or PVP? That determines a lot of build advice.

king408 · February 2018

I would like to max out my character in pve before i dip into pvp but i dont mind some pvp here and there for fun, btw thanks forgot to mention that in op. Updated.

VaranisArano · February 2018

For overland PVE, assuming you want to focus on stamina, I'd lean towards a bow back bar where you can put DOTs like Endless Hail and eventually caltrops. Then you can swap to the One-hand and shield bar for your single target attacks and defense. Siphoning is a nice skill line, but I'm not sure how useful it is for stamina nightblades. If you go magicka, grab a destro staff for Wall of Elements as your DOT, and fill in the rest with abilities you like.

In PVP, your one-hand and shield bar is a great defense bar for when you come under pressure.

Marginis · February 2018

Imperial would work nicely enough with a stamina nightblade, I agree. Try getting some good DPS abilities and building toward that with a bit of medium armor - if you still use 1H+shield you should get plenty of defense with that as well as higher than expected DPS. You might not make the most of your siphoning tree, but it's still quite useful if you use the magicka abilities more for buffs and procs rather than one of your spams, and it's good for a bit of self healing in solo content.

king408 · February 2018

I mightve went magicka thinking it would help my strife ability, but couldve put all my points into hp not knoeing which route to go. As far as a back bar, which one would be more damage? Stamina bows hail spell or magicka staffs element spell?

VaranisArano · February 2018

So your abilities will do more damage the more magicka you have. So if you want to do more damage, its wise to put as many of your attributes as you feel comfortable with into magicka. If you do go magicka, I'd recommend using a destro staff for your back bar because those abilities will use and benefit from having more magicka.

king408 · February 2018

Yeah i think i did put points into magicka and started goin magicka before i quit a while back, so ill adopt a destro staff and use that as my back bar, for sure, thanks.

king408 · February 2018

Ive found out since logging in ive put almost all my points into magicka and a few in health. So im a magicka nightblade, i also realized i have a resto staff on my back bar, is this viable? Or should i switch to destro asap

VaranisArano · February 2018

king408 wrote: »

Ive found out since logging in ive put almost all my points into magicka and a few in health. So im a magicka nightblade, i also realized i have a resto staff on my back bar, is this viable? Or should i switch to destro asap

Resto staff is good if you want to be a healer. Otherwise, I'd recommend swapping to destro staff for PVE content. In ESO, generally the faster you are able to kill things the easier the fights are.

king408 · February 2018

Cool thanks ill find a destro staff and get wall of elements on my bar asap

Alqu · February 2018

king408 wrote: »

I know this build would probably not be best for a min /maxxer, but i would like for it to be the best it can be with what options are available in game. What would be the best route to go as far as armors gems traits etc. I would like to be able to take some hits like a tank but would also like to deal damage so the fights arent so drawn out. Again, not looking to reroll into the best tank or the best damage dealer. I want more of a hybrid mix in between the two.

For a 'hard to kill' DPS, magic nightblade has a few good things going for it.

Namely, maxing out spell damage and buffs healing. So it is less of a blocking tank, more of a healer really. You certainly can do these things with a sword and shield but it is not optimal.

For heals and damage make sure you look at
Path of Darkness/Refreshing Path, AoE damage and heal. Also important for Shadow Barrier passive (shield)
Of course Strife/swallow soul or funnel
Sap Essence - heal, dmg, buffs damage

Ultimate generation. NBs have some good tools to quickly generate ultimate. That way you have an array of choices to go massive offense or defense more often.
Strife and Sap Essence both give ultimate with passive
Soul Harvest - a lot of people just keep this on the bar for ultimate but use the one on the other bar.

Mirage and Tava's Favor armor is another tankier option

If you are indeed doing sword and board thus, definitely look at Heroic Slash. That also adds ultimate.

And I would look at harness Magic from Light armor line for another shield +

You might also consider a frost staff. Frost staff gives you some blocking perks. That seems like a more viable route to me that 1hand and shield unless you just really want that for looks, role play, or whatever which I personally would never quibble with.

I think the frost staff and darkness NB abilities, kind of a nice theme, cold death mage.

king408 · February 2018

First off thanks for the time put into your post. I will definately consider all of your tips and will most likely go with all of the suggested actions. I would really like to keep sword and board on at least one of my bars, even if its on the back bar, as far as being a damage dealing tank would it be better as sword and board with a resto staff or destruction staff? I like the frost idea. Is there a way to make sword viable as a pure magblade? I like being able to block with a shield and i want to be able to get some value out of my red diamond ability, even if it sucks as a magblade lol. Again thanks for your help, i cant wait to get back into eso. Just downloaded patch last night, plan on getting some playtime after work.

Alqu · February 2018

This discussion may be informative. This is going straight for dps, but is using magic as you'll see. Also is going dual wield, much more damage, but less tanky. The advantage they share over staff is an additional item slot, i.e. for having equipment set bonuses.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/396842/new-melee-magblade-meta-update-now-49k-selfbuffed-dps-with-dual-wield-no-offbalance/p1

I'm not sure about the Red Diamond aspect. The tooltip looks to me like it was just be a tiny perk, not a big deal in the face of the potential heals from your NB skills, but I don't know how it scales. I don't have an imperial.

king408 · February 2018

Ill take a look thanks for your help. I plan to be that one and only magblade imperial with sword and board. I want to focus on survival and outlasting opponents more then just destroying them and being less tanky. Maybe thats why i went with the resto staff back bar to always have healing options to recover. Im a control player at heart and love being able to take damage more then being able to dish it.

IcyDeadPeople · February 2018

king408 wrote: »

Hello fellow Esoheads. Im planning on returning to the game and would like some insight and or guidance on my characters build. I will be returning to my previously used character, a magicka based vampiric imperial nightblade using sword and board. I really prefer not to reroll or class change etc. The reason i chose imperial a while back was strictly for the hp bonus and lifesteal mechanic that they are blessed with. I chose nightblade because they also have lifestealing and shadowy abilities which interest me, i chose sword and board for the natural affinity it provides in protecting vs attacks<tankness> i chose to become a vampire to further capitalise on life draining mechanics. I really like the idea of being able to self sustain and use lifestealing abilities to keep myself healthy. This reminds me of my shadowknight from eqoa back in ps2 days. I know this build would probably not be best for a min /maxxer, but i would like for it to be the best it can be with what options are available in game. What would be the best route to go as far as armors gems traits etc. I would like to be able to take some hits like a tank but would also like to deal damage so the fights arent so drawn out. Again, not looking to reroll into the best tank or the best damage dealer. I want more of a hybrid mix in between the two. If this is at all possible I would like to know my options, and your 2 cents on the build. Also, i plan to play more pve then pvp for now, i would like to eventually pvp but just wanna focus on learning rotations and maxxing my character before really trying hard in pvp. Please, and thanks in advance for your help.

Sword & board magicka nightblade can certainly work in PVP.

As for PVE, most of the quest content can be completed without even any specific build, just whatever random gear you find, but for the 4-man dungeons and 12-man trials (especially veteran mode), you will need to make a specific choice about whether you want to queue as tank or dps role. You might find sword & shield to be a hurdle for the dps role.

This is not to say you have to reroll to perfectly min/maxed dps or tank, and lots of people use some specific builds for completing the dungeons and then change it up for PVP or overland quests, etc. If you are on PC, you can even use add ons like Alpha Gear to instantly change all of your skill and gear loadouts with one button.

It is particularly challenging to get up to that certain level of sustained single target dps which is considered good for veteran dungeons and trials, but definitely possible as imperial magicka nightblade.

king408 · March 2018

Awesome news. I plan to pvp eventually so thats good ! I would go tank over dps in any dungeons or other content requiring me to choose. I like heavy armor and defense> damage i probably got to mix up my armor some to get passives out of the other lines, but im in all heavy at the moment.