Nightblade Tank, a few questions from a Warden Tank.

Casul · November 2018

Hello all, I have decided yesterday that I want to try and make a Nightblade Tank. So I went ahead and made a new Argonian Nightblade that I have been leveling up. I have a few questions though, that I was hoping to get some insight for.

1.) When it comes to Dark Cloak is it better to run gear that increases Maximum Health or Healing Done/Recieved?

2.) As a Nightblade what would you say is my main advantage that I bring to the table? For example DK has sustain, Warden has Ult production, Templar has purge and off heal, Sorcerer has negate and reduced Ult cost. So far I have seen that for Nightblade it seems like it’s main appeal would be the potion passive (which pairs beautifully with Argonian and Infused Jewelry). I could also argue that with shades you could have an easier time with kiting bosses where you would want them to be.

Thank you in advance.

MartiniDaniels · November 2018

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/444067/any-nb-tanks-out-there-or-all-wardens-dks-pve/p1

Everything you need is discussed in that, i.e. NB tank weakness is no ability to mass CC trash mobs, so you need caltrops and silver leash to do that 😂

OneKhajiitCrimeWave · November 2018

On my NB tank i usually run 2 Swarm Mother, 5 Plague Doctor and 5 Footman. 5 Cyrodiil's Crest is another option in place of Footman.

I run caltrops for main aggro tool.

The thing is that many NB skills cross over between the 3 roles and as such hits to 1 role hits us all. Basically when ZOS need precision like a sniper when balancing for NB's they balance by shotgun and we all feel it.

Old school sap tanks killed sap essence off for many setups.
Magblade DPS have had a number of skills altered that affect us (swallow soul slotting for minor vitality front bar is a key example of something we lost with recent changes)

If you're an experienced tank then you'll find NB tank both challenging and exciting.

If not as experienced then NB tank is more in the far end of the difficulty scale.

Enjoy the challenge.

ccfeeling · November 2018

Good luck

Psyonico · November 2018

NB does bring good ultimate generation to the table, but that's about it unfortunately. They used to bring extra DPS but that was nerfed in murkmire.

VaxtinTheWolf · November 2018

If you build for it, they still have very good ultimate gain. Dark Cloak scales off of health so I recommend a minimum of 30k in that area. I also stack Incoming/Outgoing Healing enough that it gives me 4-5k base ticks with that skill. If you are in Non DLC Veteran dungeons, as is my experience, you can function as a decent off healer as well, depending on your setup.

There is not really any thing left to be considered 'unique' when it comes to a Nightblade Tank after the latest main patch. You are 'just a tank' at this point that is still missing class given options to make this role a much smoother experience compared to other Class options.

SakuraRush · November 2018

A Nightblade tank used to be able to bring extra damage and healing to the table. Since they decided to obliterate our off healing capabilities we don't bring those things anymore. The removal of passive Dodge kind of hurt some Nightblade tanks as well. We still generate ult fairly quickly, but not much faster than a Warden.

If people thought the Nightblade tank was dead when sap tanking was killed before then the most recent changes took our corpses and fired them into the sun.

We essentially bring nothing to the table now. Shades for kiting as a tank not a thing we should bring to the table anyway.

As for Dark Cloak, max health is better. Though previously it was rare that the skill was used at all as funnel health and refreshing path were generally adequate.

I was stubborn and stuck to Bahraha's and Leeching, switching out the monster set based on situation. I never really had a place for Dark Cloak. Less so once meditate became a thing.

I wish you luck. You've jumped into this at one of the worst times for a NB tank.

Silver_Strider · November 2018

Prior to Murkmire, I'd have said NB Tanks had better Ultimate regen than Warden Tanks and maybe slightly better damage.

Now though, there is legitimately nothing to distinguish NB tanks as anything other than a meatshield with a potion addiction. We have no utility, no good CC options within our class, our sustain is abysmal, our damage was hit as well as our only remaining niche as Dodge Tanks was completely removed. The only thing NB Tanks offer at this point is practically free burst heals from Malevolent Offering and that's really it.