I'll just focus on PvE here, since there are a lot more PvP options depending on how you prefer to play. That and I haven't updated my PvP setup since the single target dot meta, but I digress.

What CP are you, and what kind of gear do you have access to? Have you done trials yet? And are you focusing on solo play, or group play? For 4-man and 12 man-content, you should be focusing on sustain and damage. I would not recommend running something like Pirate Skeleton - you shouldn't really need it. Keeping leeching strikes up, using vigor proactively and worst case scenario, slotting blade cloak on your DW bar should be more than enough to keep you alive. You also have the option to not proc grim focus for an extra 10% damage mitigation.
The current 'meta' uses cruel flurry with vMA DW, but if you don't have access to those, I would still recommend surprise attack as your main spammable. Nightblade passives that proc with shadow skills give you Major Resolve/Ward, so if you are using that they should be up the majority of the time.
I would recommend switching your monster set to either Velidreth or Selene's - or Stormfist if you are struggling with sustain, or Kragh for the extra penetration if you are a lower CP. At a lower CP, you could also consider running your monster set in 1 heavy and 1 light (5/1/1) or just 1 heavy head piece for the resistance + 1 medium for the passives.

As far as decent DPS goes, though, for me I didn't hit my stride until I had access to gear like Relequen's (from Cloudrest), Advancing Yokeda/Berserking Warrior from Hel Ra. I would prioritize getting Relequens, since you can pair that with Briarheart (which you would eventually want to replace with either AY, or Lokk, or Deadly Strike). I would personally recommend deadly strike since it is a PvP set you can obtain from vendors. I run it over Lokk because Lokk is synergy oriented.

If you are still worried about being squishy, though, there'd be nothing wrong with sticking with Briarheart and Relequens for now.

You'll want all divines and on a nightblade, you are going to want to be running the Shadow mundus. Our crit rate is very high, so that will give you a lot more damage output. You also want to make sure you are golding your weapons - that leads to a pretty significant damage boost.

Make sure you are checking your enchants for all of your gear/weapons as well. Body pieces should be stamina enchants and your jewelry/weapons depend. You can check on some guides online to see what recommendations are, but for example, ideally you would want weapon damage enchants on your jewelry. If you are struggling with sustain, some people put stamina regen enchants on which could lead to more of a damage increase if that is an issue.

IIRC right now people are recommending running poisons on your weapons, but other than that you'd want a mixture of weapon damage weapon enchant on your bow (if you keep up endless hail, which you should be, that's high uptime) and poison/disease damage on your daggers.

Running a dagger and an axe on your frontbar (axe for the bleed damage, which I believe is high this patch because of single target dot buffs) could also help, but I would focus on other things first.

And after all that... rotation. Not to be a downer, but nightblades have it rough this patch (and the last few patches) in PvE. In order to maximize our damage, rotation is really quite important and I would recommend practicing on a target dummy. A lot of our damage comes from keeping up our buffs and making sure you are proccing Grim focus's arrow, and using your ult as soon as it comes up. Once you've got your gear/Mundus/CP settled, most of your progress is going to come from practicing and figuring out how to keep all of your dots/buffs/procs up as much as possible, while balancing any sustain issues.

I'll also point out that transmuting all your jewelry to bloodthirsty on a nightblade makes quite a bit of difference because of our execute, killer's blade. I would recommend doing that too once you've got a set you want to stick with for a bit, since crystals are expensive.

For PvP, Truth/Bone Pirate/Bloodspawn or Trollking with Master Bow back-bar with Infusion Drink, you can also use Protective but i'm not sure if still worth.

You also need Tactician: When you use Roll Dodge to dodge an attack, you set the enemy Off Balance from The Atronach.
It's not that much necessary since you can proc from Surprise Attack but it's good to keep the extra dmg from Truth up when you roll cuz you want to heal when "strategic getting out".

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildEditor?id=157405

Good luck.

Michae wrote: »

Thanks for replies.

As for more info, I'm CP570ish and I mostly do solo plays since it's hard for me to make appointments. I play when I can, not when I plan to .

Here's my skill setup.

IMO relentless focus is a trash skill. Better off running something else like Fear, Camo Hunter, or DW bleed in that slot.

AuraoftheAzureSea wrote: »

SneaK wrote: »

Michae wrote: »

Thanks for replies.

As for more info, I'm CP570ish and I mostly do solo plays since it's hard for me to make appointments. I play when I can, not when I plan to .

Here's my skill setup.

IMO relentless focus is a trash skill. Better off running something else like Fear, Camo Hunter, or DW bleed in that slot.

I'm... assuming you are referring to PvP, in which case I agree. It is definitely not a trash PvE skill.

SneaK, what does your backbar look like, and is this for PvE or PvP?

Yea PvP, back bar would be something like shade shuffle vigor rally rapid/siphon..

Also, you can run relentless all you want I just find it to be a goofy skill nowadays compared to what it was. I’m stuck in the past. When I run DW setup on StamNB I’m usually in small group. Solo I’m always 2H/Bow.