Help - Lonely and confused stamina Nightblade

Okamu · June 2018

Hi everyone.

Recently I've been having some problems trying to create a build. I'm level 40 atm and I level up at a decent pace, I like to craft a lot of things, pick a lot of pockets, harvest every ressource I find, all that stuff. I mainly play alone.

The thing is, I have some issues when it comes to fighting a group of monsters, keeping buff/debuff up and swaping weapons, so what I want to do is have a build that let's me separate the monsters and try to keep battles 1 vs 1 as much time as possible.

I've been checking some skills to do so like Aspect of Terror, Ambush, Trap beast, Shadow Image and maaaybe Cripple, they sound good in paper but I don't understand how they actually work, specially when it comes to re-applying the stun/slow/fear on the enemy because as I can see they get some sort of invulnerability for some time.

I'm thinking in something like this (I know that resolving vigor and razor caltrops are good skills to have, I don't have them at the moment so please try to not suggest them ):

Slot A (Dual Wield)

Killer's Blade
Shadow Cloak (I have Shadowy Disguise but the new Dark Cloak looks nice and something that would help a stamina nightblade that plays alone to stay alive)
Surprise Attack
Ambush
Rending Slashes

Slot B (Bow)

Lethal Arrow
Endless Hail
Reaper Mark
Summon Shade/Trap Beast (Shadow Image as a escaping route. As for the trap, I think that Lightweight best trap would have a nice sinergy with Aspect of terror or Shadow Image to stun the enemy the moment I get away from them but idk)
Aspect of Terror (I don't know which morph is better, Manifestation of Terror sounds interesting but having to wait 3 secs to arm it seems like it is only useful at the start of a fight)

As for Ultimates, Soul Tether is working good for me, its a nice heal and multi stun attack. I don't know if Incapacitating Strike would be a better idea, I tried it but didn't feel like it dealt a lot of damage. Siphoning strikes and Grim focus, I don't know where to put them or if they are a must-have or not, i'm having problems managing the slots. About Siphoning Strikes . . . maybe I already have enough sustain using reaper mark, assasin's blade and Dark Cloak?

What I usually do is:

If the group has 3 enemies: Blade of Woe the archer/healer, Shadow Cloak and stun one of them with Surprise attack and spam the Light attack + SA combo until they have enough health to finish them off with killer blade, Then I pretty much do the same with the last enemy
If the group has more than 3 enemies I start having problems and some skills start having problems between them, for example, I have Aspect of Terror but it would be a bad idea to use it when Endless Hail is on, after casting Soul Tether, Ambush becomes useless because of the invulnerability to stuns that the enemies get plus a "Light Attack + Surprise attack" would deal more damage. Also for a stamina NB, summon shade doesn't seems to deal a decent damage and even if I morph it into Shadow Image, the teleport becomes useless in close-combat which is what I mainly try to focus on turning it into a skill that is better used at the start of a fight.

About sets, I'm currently wearing a Sithis to get that bonus damage when I kill someone with the blade of woe, but I like to roll dodge a lot so I'm thinking about getting the Senche's Bite set to get the weapon damage and critical buff.

As you can see, I have a lot of confusion. I really like the idea of having a nightblade with a good capacity of creating distractions and being sneaky/unpredictable. I mainly focus on PvE.

So, here comes the questions:

How does this build sounds?
Are there things/effects that would Overlap and make other skills useless during a fight?
In what cases Aspect of Terror comes in handy and what morph would be more useful?
What would you change?
What should I add at my current level?

That would be all folks, thanks for any response and help that you can give me and sorry for any grammar mistakes made, I speak spanish.

Everstorm · June 2018

I didn't read everything to be frank but you will be beter of focusing on area damage when dealing with multiple mobs.
Start with endless hail, switch back to dual wield bar and use deadly cloak and steel tornado. When you get to higher levels and proper gear setup you can deal with most quest-mob groups by just throwing shrouded daggers at them.

geonsocal · June 2018

howdy lonely and confused

trust me - most of us have been in that situation of trying to figure out what gear and skills to use for our characters...

the game constantly changes - so, even after years of playing I'm still trying different stuff out...

seeing that you are still beneath level 50 - fighting bad guys is going to be challenging...

the sithis set only really helps against humanoid npcs...

senche' bite is a good choice...although, you may want to look into going with a 5 heavy, 2 medium set up until you can boost your survivability with increased levels...

jewelry can be a real pain to locate at level 40...

you may want to try to locate some agility jewelry at a guild store, figure out a good "dropped" set like senche's bite or spriggans thorns to try to farm...

or, you could craft a useful set like shacklebreaker to help out...

you're choice of skills looks fine - except - you need a reliable heal...also, whirlwind might help a bit on your DW bar...

plus, you have to really be good at positioning and re-positioning to make good use of summon shade - it looks cool though...

also, you may need to do some pvping to unlock vigor...it'll take a few hours - but, you might have fun and stay longer

some of the content is going to be a little challenging without a whole bunch of champion points to help you out...

as long as you practice the basics like blocking, roll dodging, light and heavy attacks in between offensive abilities - things will get easier...

start quickslotting those "trash" pots (potions) you pick up from killing stuff...

potion use can make a big difference during fights...

Aspect of terror (fear) is a great pvp tool, less so in pve...

caltrops (pvp skill) can help control enemies a bit better for pve (slows them up, damages them a little)...

geonsocal · June 2018

I'm sure I'm forgetting to answer some stuff @Okamu ...please let me know if you have more questions...

and, your English is excellent

Juju_beans · June 2018

For aoe damage (anything more than 2 mobs) I'll shoot off endless hail, swap to DW and run in there with steel tornado.
I have vigor slotted on my dw bar to stay alive (bigger packs in public dungeons).

It's working out well for me. Vigor is the only heal I use. All other skills are morphed for damage.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · June 2018

I agree with others. Your best way to deal with overland mobs is AOE damage. I dont play my stamblade all that much in trials, but she is my main crafter, which means I spend far more time in overland content with her than any other character. Mostly, because I use her to grab surveys, treasure maps, and the occasionally farming run. The bars I run are as follows, and they seem to give a good mix of everything, including a fun playstyle. They are certainly not min/maxed damage.

DW: Surprise Attack, Killers Blade, Relentless Focus, Ambush, Steel Tornado.

Bow: Caltrops, Endless hail, Poison Injection, Vigor, Rapid Manuevers

You can run whatever you want for ultimates. You also have some flexability. Your execute is barely worth running in overland content. Surprise attack will kill most things under 25% just like killers blade would. You could slot cloak here if you needed to. Poison injection is also barely needed, as most things are dead before its done ticking. Really, they are only useful for things like world bosses.

If I come across a pack of any 3 mobs, buff relentless (not that you really have to), throw down Hail and/or Caltrops (rare that you need both), bar swap, ambush, steel tornado until things are dead. If you fall below 50%, use vigor. Ambush is there for fun more than anything else. Your really dont need gapclosers in PVE, but they can be entertaining. I usually wear velidreth on my NB, so if that procs when I ambush, I often dont even get a chance to spam steel tornado.

If you come across a bigger enemy, same opening, but use surpise attack/killers blade instead of tornado.

If you want to get into a pure DPS build, or something more suitable for soloing world bosses, you def want to make some changes, but for most overland content this works really well.

LadyJohanna · June 2018

Hi there!

I think it's no surprise that you're struggling. I started playing the game with a Stamina Nightblade and found myself dying a lot. It's hard without the Vigor heal which you only get with PvP, or Rally which you need a 2-hander for, or without proper gear.

I changed it to a Magicka character with a restoration staff backbar and found that much easier.

At Champion level I finally created a dedicated Stamina Nightblade, and did much better leveling and playing it because I could make armor sets but also because I had Champion Points to buff it.

Now, if you are really fond of your Stamina Blade, then there are some things you can do to help you survive better:

1. Wear some pieces of heavy armor. Maybe go to Bangkorai zone and farm up Seventh Legion Brute set, which is heavy armor but also weapon damage focused, so it's the best of both worlds. Or if you can craft at your current level and have traits researched, craft yourself a set of Hundings Rage or another stamina DPS set with a few pieces in heavy armor (like the chest, legs and helm) with Infused trait and a Health glyph enchantment. Combine a survival-boosting set (like Seventh Legion or Bahraha's Curse) with an offensive damage set (if you like Senche's Bite, then of course feel free to use it). I think that Sithis' Touch is very situational unless you really enjoy using Blade of Woe in every fight.
2. Learn to block and bash heavy attacks and spells. They can't hurt you if they can't get that spell off.

3. Use buff foods, all the time. The best choice is a blue quality food that boosts your health as well as your stamina. Something like Necrom Beetle-Cheese Poutine or Rumare Slaughterfish Pie would work nicely at level 40. If you only have recipes for green quality food, then make something that boosts your health and use it.
4. Use potions, all the time. The game provides them abundantly, so don't feel like you need to save them. Use stamina potions to boost your damage and sustain, and health potions when you think you need that extra health recovery.
6. Use skills like Endless Hail and Steel Tornado to kill everything at once, when they're grouped together.
7. You could try Trap Beast/Rearming Trap from the Fighters Guild line to keep an enemy "stuck" while you kill it from a distance.
8. Use an evasive skill like Blur/Mirage or Evasion (Medium Armor line) to dodge and get hit less.
9. If you're having trouble surviving, then Blood Craze is a better morph for you than Rending Slashes because it gives you health back.
10. Siphoning Strikes is really good because you get health back with every light attack.

Basically, get together a tool set of offensive and defensive abilities, to help you survive better while you kill faster.

RavenSworn · June 2018

As a Stam nb levelling, with a group all I did was to target down one mob with reapers mark, ambush, surprise attack and Killers blade. Then it's rinse and repeat, blocking all heavy attacks and bashing casters. I then become a nonstop assassin. I throw in a few light attacks here and there. It worked even in public dungeons.

Still_Mind · June 2018

My 2 cents:

Slot Siphoning Strikes.

The heal morph of shadow cloak is WORSE for survival, unless you stack a lot of HP and use heavy armour. Avoiding damage is better than healing it, unless you build for healing.

Consider the heal over time morph for slashes.

Consider joining a zerg in Cyrodill and pelt the enemy raid with AoE bow attacks, or hammer them with meatbag/scattershot catapult fire. You'll get Vigor in no time.

Also, be sure not to spread your attributes thin. If you play a stam assassin, stack Stamina like there's no tomorrow, equip sets and enchants that improve weapon damage and stam pool.

Okamu · June 2018

Sorry everyone, I couldn't reply on the forums for some days.

Thanks everyone for your quick and polite responses, I'll give the Endless Hail + Whirlwind a try, it sounds crazy and now I see those skill from a different perspective, rather that using Endless Hail from the distance, I HAVE to stay inside it and KEEP the enemy inside it, so as I can see the idea is to stay inside it's area and complement it with more AoE damage, maybe, since it's a soft CC (I've been reading some stuff), I could use Crippling Grasp in between attacks to constantly keep the enemy in place and Ambush for the stuns.

I'm trying to morph Siphoning Strikes into Leeching strikes, the HP and Stamina recovery looks awesome, It will be a great addition to the bar.

THANKS A LOT everyone for your help!

hakan · June 2018

You said no vigor or caltrops and already using soul tether, so lets see...

Bloodthirst ( that five consecutive hit thingy) this heals better than bloodcraze ( the rending slashes' other morph)

Brawler (two hander skill morph. Very good i used it back when i was new)

Refresh path ( yeah yeah magicka but before helped me a lot)

Siphon soul morph ( same with refresh path)

i mean you wont go trials with this. For overland content and dungeons these are also very good.

maybe try clever alchemist with potion time reduction on jewelry? One pot every 21 secs and 653 weapon damage lasts for 15 seconds.

Johngo0036 · June 2018

@Okamu - Get someone to make you 5 pce hundingsrage and the rest Eternal hunt,

find stamina recovery rings(endurance or Agility)

Use steel tornado on your dualwield bar and just obliterate mobs,
the quicker they die, the less damage they can do.

jlb1705 · June 2018

I tried playing a similar style when I was leveling my stamblade. It's how I'd prefer to play solo content if I'm being honest - I find it more fun and immersive to be strategic and use awareness of situations and surroundings to my advantage. The problem is, overland is not really built for that. It expects us to take on mobs head-on with brute force at full speed. Outside of Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, stealth gameplay isn't robust at all in overland settings.

That said, when I was around your level and finding it difficult to survive, I found a pseudo-stealth approach that helped me out by letting me start fights on my own terms:

Reaper's Mark > Endless Hail > Ambush > [bar swap] > light attack weave while spamming either Steel Tornado (AOE) or Bloodthirsty (single target)

Reaper's Mark applies major fracture to your target, making them easier to kill. When they die, you get a burst heal which helps you stay in the fight if there are other enemies in the group. You can apply it from range while in stealth without drawing aggro. Endless Hail is a decent AOE DOT, so it does damage for you while you perform other attacks. It has a two-second cast time, so if you apply it from range & stealth to start the fight you can do directly into Ambush. Ambush doesn't do much damage, but it helps you close the gap from your ranged/stealth position into the acutal fight. Using this gap closer also keeps your targets in the Endless Hail damage area so that it stays effective. Endless Hail does nothing for you if the enemy runs out of spot that you cast it on. After that, you just spam light attacks and dual wield abilities until everything dies.

A lot of the other replies suggested things that you'll want to try to build toward, but my suggestion is for what you can do right now - because in order to unlock a lot of those things you will need to complete content (and survive while doing it.)

I wouldn't bother with trying to gear yourself out or wear sets. You're going to quickly out-level everything you get, and it's not worth the trouble to re-craft or re-farm everything. Just wear what's dropped from whatever content you're doing. Take whatever bonuses you can, but if it means you wear mostly heavy armor for now because that's what keeps you alive, so be it. You shouldn't worry about gear until you get up to CP160.

Eventually your character will become stronger, you'll get better gear, and you'll become better at the game. You'll outgrow all of the things I just wrote about, just like I did. Once you do, there really won't be a point to playing from stealth for most overland content - you'll be able to run in full-speed and cut everything down with ease.

PapaGhosty · June 2018

Honestly Killer's Blade and Siphoning Strikes (weaving is important) should be enough to keep yourself alive. Spam steel tornado or surprise attack, depending on the size of the mob. Then finish with KB. Rinse, repeat.

JumpmanLane · June 2018

Really, knuckle down and get to level 50 cp 160 and get a couple of 5 piece sets and a 2 piece monster set. PvP and get Vigor and caltrops. If you’re DW. Steel Tornado. If vamp. Bats wouldn’t hurt. All sorts of things to try.

Stibbons · June 2018

You just need more stamina sustain. As nightblade i have insane 2700 stam recovery. You can kite kill all day long and dodge allways if needed. Unbuffed damafe should be like 2500 of so. Depeds on you crit rate. Works just fine in pvp too. Tanked veteran dungeon today with 14 500 health with foods. Some idiot was not a tank but an dps. Plenty of dodgerolls and you will be just fine. In pvp you can wear medium purple sloads with some dps monsters or oldie viper.

Stibbons · June 2018

Caltrops are poo, but get vigor from wvw. Bow is not needes either. Two-hander and dw is ok if you can time your dodges.

Okamu · July 2018

Stibbons wrote: »

You just need more stamina sustain. As nightblade i have insane 2700 stam recovery. You can kite kill all day long and dodge allways if needed. Unbuffed damafe should be like 2500 of so. Depeds on you crit rate. Works just fine in pvp too. Tanked veteran dungeon today with 14 500 health with foods. Some idiot was not a tank but an dps. Plenty of dodgerolls and you will be just fine. In pvp you can wear medium purple sloads with some dps monsters or oldie viper.

Should Stamina recovery a prority over "total stamina"? I barely have anything that increases my stamina recovery, i try to increase the total pool of it and get some ressources back thanks to leeching attacks for example

jlb1705 wrote: »

I tried playing a similar style when I was leveling my stamblade. It's how I'd prefer to play solo content if I'm being honest - I find it more fun and immersive to be strategic and use awareness of situations and surroundings to my advantage. The problem is, overland is not really built for that. It expects us to take on mobs head-on with brute force at full speed. Outside of Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, stealth gameplay isn't robust at all in overland settings.

That said, when I was around your level and finding it difficult to survive, I found a pseudo-stealth approach that helped me out by letting me start fights on my own terms:

Reaper's Mark > Endless Hail > Ambush > [bar swap] > light attack weave while spamming either Steel Tornado (AOE) or Bloodthirsty (single target)

Reaper's Mark applies major fracture to your target, making them easier to kill. When they die, you get a burst heal which helps you stay in the fight if there are other enemies in the group. You can apply it from range while in stealth without drawing aggro. Endless Hail is a decent AOE DOT, so it does damage for you while you perform other attacks. It has a two-second cast time, so if you apply it from range & stealth to start the fight you can do directly into Ambush. Ambush doesn't do much damage, but it helps you close the gap from your ranged/stealth position into the acutal fight. Using this gap closer also keeps your targets in the Endless Hail damage area so that it stays effective. Endless Hail does nothing for you if the enemy runs out of spot that you cast it on. After that, you just spam light attacks and dual wield abilities until everything dies.

A lot of the other replies suggested things that you'll want to try to build toward, but my suggestion is for what you can do right now - because in order to unlock a lot of those things you will need to complete content (and survive while doing it.)

I wouldn't bother with trying to gear yourself out or wear sets. You're going to quickly out-level everything you get, and it's not worth the trouble to re-craft or re-farm everything. Just wear what's dropped from whatever content you're doing. Take whatever bonuses you can, but if it means you wear mostly heavy armor for now because that's what keeps you alive, so be it. You shouldn't worry about gear until you get up to CP160.

Eventually your character will become stronger, you'll get better gear, and you'll become better at the game. You'll outgrow all of the things I just wrote about, just like I did. Once you do, there really won't be a point to playing from stealth for most overland content - you'll be able to run in full-speed and cut everything down with ease.

I'm trying to make something similar but before rushing I summon a shadow clone as a fast escape route in case I need to get out of a dangerous zone. I0m trying to get the Night mother's set atm, only 1 piece remaining and maybe combine with other stuff.