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Advice for solo stamina nightblade, please

kind_hero
kind_hero
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I would like some advice for my stamina nightblade (530+cp)

I am interested in a solid setup, abilities and gear, for solo play (PvE overland and public dungeons) that has good survivability and decent aoe damage.

I have a setup for dungeons and trials, but that is mostly focused on single target, not much heals or protection as a nb, and my case is that I am not doing dungeons so often. I can craft 9 traits gear, and right now I have 5 pieces of Relequen (ring, belt, helmet, nirn/infused daggers, sharpened bow and two handed). I have a selection of monster sets too.

I know it is not really nightblade-ish, but using the two handed build was the most fun and easy to use for general gameplay. With 2 daggers things do not work so well while taking on large groups or bosses (solo). With my magicka sorceror things seem easier, more aoe and heals, but even though I am not struggling with my NB, I would like a more effective setup if possible.

Thanks in advance
[PC/EU] Tamriel Hero, Stormproof, Grand Master Crafter
  • ArpamiesFin
    ArpamiesFin
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    5 hundings rage+5 spriggan+2 velidreth+ maelstrom bow, hundings weapons nirhoned dagger with poison glyph on main hand and infused axe with weapon damage glyph on off hand.
    front bar: steel tornado,rending slashes,relent focus,suprise attack,vigor,flawless dawnbreaker, switch vigor for killers blade in dungeons.
    bow bar: razor caltrops,rearming trap,leeching strikes,endless hail,poison injection,incap strike.
    easy gear to get and you can hit 40k dps on 3mil dummy
  • Chibs
    Chibs
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    While true that ravager is mainly a stamplar set, if you use relequen with any Stam class this patch, Ravager is very strong because Relequen procs Ravager.
  • Jim_Pipp
    Jim_Pipp
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    It sounds like you know this already but I want to state it before making my suggestions. Stamblades with good survivability are not meta; they are a squishy, squishy class.

    However you can make non meta stamblades that take basically 0 damage if you use two-handed weapons and wear bone pirates tatters. You need a burst heal (rally) and you need the Stam Regen because if you rely on heavy attacks you won't be able to spam defensive abilities.

    The brawler skill from the 2 handed tree is one of the most underated abilities in the game - most Stam builds are vulnerable to being overwhelmed by large groups of mobs but the damage shield from brawler gets stronger the more mobs that are hit. Expect a 20k damage shield from hitting 3 mobs... And the ability is cheap enough to spam and applies a nice damage over time. Even against one enemy it is a 10k shield which will take the edge off what might have been a one shot mechanic.

    The hardest bit of good survivability is weaving in surprise attack roughly every 6 seconds to keep the shadow barrier (major Ward and major resolve) up.
    #1 tip (Re)check your graphics settings periodically - especially resolution.
  • ArpamiesFin
    ArpamiesFin
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    have that vigor on main bar and you will be fine. whats that big world boss in summerset cave with water? soloed him with my setup no problem.
  • RT_Frank
    RT_Frank
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    Can also use bow/bow stam nb. While not the best of the best dps, it can hit around 47k if you're geared correctly and have a solid rotation. Best of all, being at range makes you a lot less squishy and can avoid most one shot mechanics or getting clipped by bosses. Imo the best protection any stam dps class can have, without hurting dps too much, is range.

    If you do go range, I think BiS is relequen (which you have), briarheart and stormfist with maelstrom bow.
  • Bladerunner1
    Bladerunner1
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    Here's an AOE stamblade build, for soloing group stuff I'd recommend the 2H option to get brawler shields.

    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/347682/stamina-cleave-focus-dps-build-nightblade
  • Sparr0w
    Sparr0w
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    Just go 2H, pair with a pen set e.g. spriggans.
    @Sparr0w so I get the notification
    Xbox (EU) - l Sparrow x | CP 810+
    DD: All Mag + Stam
    Heal: Templar | Sorc | NB | Warden | Necro
    Tank: NB | DK | Warden
    Completions: All HM's + TTT + IR + GH
    PC (EU) - Sparrxw | CP 810+
    DD: All Mag + Stam
    Heal: Templar | Sorc
    Tank: DK | NB
    Completions: All HM's + TTT + IR + GH + GS
  • kind_hero
    kind_hero
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    @Jim_Pipp You pointed out well what I found by playing outside the dungeons/trials where the NB is more focused on doing single target dmg while being supported with heals/buffs from others, but outside it is a different game. The overland content is easy, but it is annoying to see that you are not very efficient at disposing groups as other classes :)
    At one point I wanted to farm the pieces for the 6th house robe in Forgotten Wastes public dungeon, and found out that I was easy overwhelmed by mobs even though the first two died very quickly. So I switched to a 2h instead of dual wield, which gave me brawler and better procs with Mechanical Acuity (that was before the nerf). I also have vigor unlocked, so I can use that too. With 2h setup it is easy to cut through large groups.
    I am wondering if any Psijic ability might be useful for a stamblade in such a situation...

    @RT_Frank The bow/bow build sounds quite interesting. Can you give a link? I saw a version that works in dungeons because you need time to apply the Relequen debuff stack. Is that the same?

    Thanks all
    [PC/EU] Tamriel Hero, Stormproof, Grand Master Crafter
  • ArpamiesFin
    ArpamiesFin
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    jeesus, switch dual wield to 2h on my setup and switch tornado to brawler and rending to reverse slice
  • Beamer_Miasma
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    I soloed my stamblade all the way to cp750, some opinionated tips:

    - Once you go bow/bow, you never go back. Makes handling groups a breeze, AoE damage is unsurpassed compared to other NB options. I started as DW/Bow but went full bow around CP400 and never looked back.
    - Don't use typical damage proc sets with a 10--20% chance of firing when you're soloing. They are good for team situations when 12 different proc sets average out together, but when you're soloing with a typical proc set with a 10-20% chance it will be under-performing more than half your fights. This is due to the fact that the upper end of the scale tends to be much wider than the lower end of the scale - to put it in a (very) simplified way: for every fight your 10% proc sets fires 3 out of 10 times, you will have 2 fights where it fires 0 out of 10 times.
    - Dodge roll is your bread and butter, well-fitted is a great trait and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If they knew what they were talking about they wouldn't be soloing on a raid-meta build.
    - Have a few different sets for different situations. Since dodge roll is such a useful tool sets that proc on dodge roll are very nice to play around with and there are several that are very useful for a bow/bow build. Learn how to use them effectively. Some can give you more damage, some can give you some extra CC, and yet others can give extra healing. Being able to swap between them depending on what you need for a particular situation is very useful.
    - Look at and take hints from PvP builds. When soloing survivability is more important than the raw damage output that typical PvE meta builds focus on. Of course you don't need impen trait in PvE but most PvP builds tend to strike a better balance between sustain/healing, CC and damage than group PvE builds.
  • Kelces
    Kelces
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    If you are up to using a bow aswell, I would suggest using endless hail/arrow barrage and caltrops for a nice AoE. Then you could add a carve/brawler from the two handed tree aswell, works really nice for me.

    As far as self-heal is concerned, you shoudn't need more than rally. To avoid getting low on health, I had a better experience with dodging than healing. Also I think something like "mirage" might be interesting (+ crit chance, 15% dodge chance and resistance). The only magicka ability I use in PvE.

    Edit: Got some numbers wrong
    Edited by Kelces on July 4, 2018 1:43PM
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  • goldenarcher1
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    If you are soloing on a bow/bow build then Bombard is your friend for trash fights.

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