Personally, Nightblades need a buff. But. Due to how they perform in PvP and the builds people run on them this is unlikely as there are a few gank builds that the community loves to cry about and they use this to say NBs are OP and so ZoS has been continuesly nerfing them for long times now.

In terms of PvE they can be amazing, but they face a different issue, most of their damage skills (class related one's) are locked to the 42/50 level in a skill tree (looking at Shade & Grim Focus) which both are a big part of your damage output and burst.

TL;DR it's to early to judge the class for your current level, try to make it untill you have both Shade & Grim Focus and then judge the class.

If you have no cp yet make sure your opponent isn’t secretly pumped full of cp at under 50 levels

Well... low level class is Always weak, so it is not something you are doing wrong. Duelling at low level is not a good way to determine if class is strong or not.

But if you are asking about how NB preforms vs others... Well... lets just say that there aren't many NB in a high MR BGs (Player skill rating. The more you win, mm will place you against more skilled players).
With that being said, NB can be used, if you manage to master it, but class has a very steep learning curve. But, even if you will be top NB player, with current state of the class, you will be only gimping yourself vs playing different class.

He's level 18 - "git gud"? No one is good at level 18 having never played a game before.

First off - you're low level. You aren't gonna be able to beat much of anything in PVP, you're still learning the basics so focus on that. Go start doing some reading and research into the class/game/what you want to do.

Agreed with others, you don't really need a point guide and it may very well tell you nonsense. Read the abilities - at this level you really should be able to tell what works best based on what you're doing and what you need. By the time you hit 50 (not CP past fifty just plain 50) you'll have maxed out all the NB specific skills and a few of the weapon lines too, no problem.

You'd be better served by doing a bit more research on where you want to go (pvp etc) here in the PVP forums and on other TESO guide sites so you'll know what 'end game' pvp build would be most helpful to you and that's where you can also really see how "viable" NB playstyle is for PVP or whatever else you are wanting to do. This game isn't so straight forward as "this is the one build to rule them all so spec into this and that's all you need."

Solo/Duel PVP is a whole other beast vs. Cyrodil/Group PVP and that includes what classes are best at which type of play.

TL;DR - You just started. Expecting yourself to own in PVP before you even get through half the levels is putting way too much pressure and expectation on you, the class, and the game. Put some more time into the research about what you are wanting to do at post-50 so you know where you're heading and then just play the game to practice. But practice is important and at level 18 you don't even have the skills or abilities you need to be able to even "practice" what wins.

To the dude saying "git gud" calm yourself, no one is "good" at low levels on their first character. So be nice, and if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

To OP, don't worry about it, you probably are bad right now, but so is everyone that is just starting and a lot of people that aren't just starting. Until at least level 50, don't worry about being "good" worry about having fun, worry about leveling a ton of skills, then go change your morphs and re-level them, worry about finding skyshards, and psijic portals, and mages books, and leveling fighters guild, and eventually undaunted.

Your first character is for learning and having fun, go explore, make some in game friends, find cool guilds, until you reach level 50 with high-ish CP and a bunch of maxed skill and crafting lines and millions of gold, you are at a disadvantage compared to other "low level" characters you see running around.

For example other low level characters you see may be benefiting from
-810 CP points (cp is account bound)
-Bought or crafted purple or gold gear SETS with bonuses (because many end game players have maxed crafting or the gold to just buy the gear, or saved it from a previous character they leveled because it is account bound)
-Expensive potions and food (because they can afford it or make it themselves)
-They bought maxed skill lines and sky shards (once an account has one character max a guild or world skill lines it can be purchased in the crown store for other characters, same goes for the skyshards in each zone)
-TONS of experience with eso's combat system and mechanics

(and yes nightblades are hard to level, they are supper squishy and lack their most powerful skills until level 40+ in each of their skill lines I believe)

For pvp you always want to have a 2 h because of the skill rally it gives you major brutality a nice damage buff and a burst heal it’s a very good skill most players use it including myself. You can either use dw front bar for damage and have your 2 h on the back bar with all your buffs or 2 h front and bow back bar this is how everyone plays stamblade in pvp.

So people saying you have to play in stealth are dead wrong. While they is the base of the class I wear medium with 2h and sword and board and NO stealth(use a different build for cyro groups). In battlegrounds I die rarely and easily get 7+ kills a game with tons of assist. Alot of people in this game love to stick classes into a bubble and refuse to think outside of it, where honestly any class can be played in almost anyway. Its about finding the right combination of gear and skill morphs and then practicing.

My advice would be to level your character to lvl20, then get a guildie or a generous player to craft you some level20 set gear like Hundings Rage, New Moon Acolyte or the like. Put lvl20 glyphs on everything. Get some lvl20 jewelry from guild traders. Get some decent buf drink like Dubious.

Then re-try Cyrodiil in the under 50 campaign.. you should be decently strong.

As others in this thread have already said... dueling can be a different story.. too many factors at play. The player you duel might be lower level but for all you know they may have 810CP applied which would make them wayyyyy stronger.

Try & find a PVP guild for your faction & ask in the guild chat for crafters, tips etc..

The stamina Nightblade is decently strong this patch IMO.

DementedCyclone24 wrote: »

Does the Nightblade class scale well as you level up? I'm level 18 and I can't win PvP duels against lower level people. I played against a DragonKnight or something and lost. I didn't do much damage at all. I'm a Wood Elf duel wielding swords and using a bow as backup. I'm also using the Umbral Assassin guide and choosing the skills its telling me to. Am I not very strong because I didn't choose the right abilities or because Nightblades aren't good in low levels?

Level 18 is pretty meaningless. You are 2% into the game. When fighting someone, a lot of things matter. Do you have champion points? Did they? What about gear? What were you wearing? What about them? Did they have upgraded sets? Did you?

If they have high champion points and you don't for example, that is a huge difference in power level.

Also, at level 18 you are missing a lot of key skills and passives as well.