Seraphayel wrote: »

Title says it all.

Which would you pick - and why?

Since you mention "solo", albeit in brackets, I go with nightblade. I suppose you could play a vampire magplar solo with Mist Form, but anything else wouldn't really cut it.

Magblade has been suffering for a long time. The damage is not there or, if it is, your defense is in the toilet. It is markedly inferior to stamblade. You can build a stamblade for damage and it still works due to the power of dodge rolls and because of Rally. Magblade, not so much.

That said I truly believe that, for solo play, your choices are nightblade or sorc. However it really depends on your experience level and playstyle. I like mobility and I don't care for getting stuck in an endless 1vX running around the tree. If you like the latter, then a tanky stamden or stamcro might be your cup of tea. Not a magplar, though.

Magblades are still the #1 choice for bombers, if you like stakeouts and waiting for your opportunity. Wear Acuity + Vicious Death.

Gankers are feasible, though inferior to stamblades. I play one. The raw power just isn't there. Caluurion plus Zaan (which I use) is probably your best bet, possibly with a Vateshran destro (which I do not use). The time to kill, or who you can kill, is still inferior to stamblades. Survival ends up the tough part on that kind of build, as you get pushed into defense easily. I use a Juggernaut backbar and I find Wild Hunt plus all Swift plus as much stamina sustain as you can get mandatory to make the playstyle (a) viable and (b) fun. I suppose I am a frustrated stamblade at heart. I don't use Shadow Image, which you absolutely should, if you like the skill. Absent Shadow Image, I find speed and stamina sustain terribly important. A magicka-stacking, shielding build doesn't really cut it for me. One advantage and a reason I keep playing magblade is the freedom you gain from cloak sustain when there are NPCs around, who can be very persistent and give you away if you just crouch.

In duels magblades can be quite decent. It's the diffculty in 1vX situations that makes magblade weak. Your attack to defense ratio is poor. You take too long to kill and you don't have a burst heal. Forced into cloak you find that you have no heal that won't uncloak you, unlike stamblade, because you only have resto staff heals. That said, in AvA scenarios any nightblade can be devastating in finishing people off.

Magblade because its who I am.....

Not easy to play though

Magblade. First last and always. Reason: stubborn.

If I were starting now? Neither. Stamina anything is better for solo.

Seraphayel wrote: »

Surprised it’s pretty even, I really thought Magblade would clearly win here.

It's because the're both so bad right now.

meh. Magika Templar. Magika Templar because the Templar class, traditionally involves magic, and defense in magic. Nightblade magic is cool, but in terms of "more real" game stress, it's better to have only stealth and deception spells AND rely on bare bones magic stats, this way you're not copping out %100 when things get a lttle tough, and escapes and steals will be that much more rewarding lol. Kinda goes for criticals too, because, one, critical stuff usu relies on stamina, which, overall is going to save your bacon more than stealth, and two, personally, I only like excessive critical hit characters in party battle settings. Last, with Elder Scrolls games, Nightblade is gonna get by just fine with poison equips and focusing on the Alchemy stat.

More personally, it depends on how you want to play. Nightblade is going to be story heavy, so much so, you might as well go full magic character unless you're definitely going Thieve's Guild anyway. Magicka Templar is going to be perfect for Fighter's Guild, Undaunted, etc, and all in all just swathing a path through every manner of undead concoctions.

stamblade, stamina warden, stamcro or magsorc should be your pick for pvp solo but with the recents changes, everything is dying really, really fast.

magblade good for pve, bad for pvp because has no burst healing which you kinda rely a lot in pvp to get out of the execute range, a lot of hots needed also, rotation gets messy if not a very very skilfull player which makes even harder, also depends of proc gear to survive and to deal damage, BRP Resto it's a must for this class.

magplar it's good, maybe the best choice here, has healing, hots, damage, mitigation, has a little bit of a problem with mobility but can be worked around also burst very predictable.

Not even joking: neither.