https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=345334

This is the happiest I've been with my melee magblade in a long time. Not because this is the strongest iteration ever, but because I'm making melee weapons work again - you kind of have to with the proc scaling this patch - and everything clicks into place reasonably well.

I'm calling this an Imperial City build, because I find there are some differences between boss farming and PvP, and this build caters to both. More generally it is an open world build that I will run in Cyrodiil as well. I have no plans for BGs, so that will remain untested.

Some people say that melee magblade is not viable, that it is suicide. Yet this is a common playstyle for stamblades. So what gives? Stamblades with identical sustain and playability tend to have more damage, resulting in shorter attack windows. They also tend to run medium armor, giving them slightly better resistances and they have better dodge roll sustain. How can you compete as a melee magblade?

Having played both recently, I think there is something that people don't fully appreciate: Cloak sustain and what it does for you. As this is my first and only MMO, my playstyle evolved from wanting to avoid PvP in the beginning. I wanted perma-cloak sustain. Over time I began to take this for granted, while always conceding that it was merely nice to have and that I was gimping my performance by oversustaining. I do not believe that anymore. When you're used to perma-cloaking and you switch to stamblade, the difference is stark. Can you make stamblade work? Of course you can. However, because you cannot cloak as casually as a magblade and be at the speed cap while doing so, even with Darloc Brae, you are - comparatively speaking - constantly in situations where you are discovered by NPCs or by players - and executed for it. If not, then you have probably learnt to be more circumspect than I am. Perma-cloak equates to complete freedom of movement. It lets you run around NPCs and through players unnoticed most of the time. Pumping cloak every second while making wild direction changes can trick zergs that use AOE, anyone who isn't using outright NB detection skills. Crouch is not nearly as effective to keep you hidden. In particular, if you aggroed an NPC, mixing cloak and crouch doesn't cut it anymore. As soon as you stop cloaking, you get exposed. Point number 1, if you want to take anything away from my experience, is that perma-cloak sustain changes the defensive performance of your nightblade dramatically for the better. If you think melee magblade is not viable, then IMO one of the reasons may be that you never fully committed to cloak sustain, the kind of build where you never run out of magicka when you keep cloaking. Magicka near zero due to combat? I can still cloak! Is it the only way to make melee magblade work? I don't know. I don't use Shadow Image. I can only tell you that, if you try my build, don't gimp the sustain.

Hand in hand with cloak goes speed. You must fully commit to speed as well. No ifs, no buts. Cloak gets much more effective the faster you are. This means Wild Hunt, all Swift jewelry, Race Against Time and Concealed Weapon. Gaze of Sithis? Nope. No room for that. Snow Treaders? Nope. Malacath? Nope. Torc of Tonal Constancy? Good grief, nope. Speed on a nightblade helps you avoid damage and indirectly helps you manage your sustain. With all of these measures and CP, a cloaked magblade is at the speed cap, while out of combat, even without Race Against Time. This is very useful not just to get away, but also for the pursuit of enemies. There is no gap closer in the build. I find I don't need it.

Lastly you need stamina sustain. Out of all defensive sets and measures you could possibly take, nothing beats it. This is the reason stamblades are stronger. Dodge rolls. I know that some classes make do with a large-ish stamina pool. For example they build with Sugar Skulls. This has never truly worked for me. Maybe on a high elf. On a Breton I prefer stamina recovery. Shields are out the window, by the way. Yes, I use Healing Ward, but that doesn't just scale with magicka, it scales with spell damage too. It's a Caluurion build. You need the spell damage.

These pillars, magicka sustain for perma-cloak, highest possible speed, and stamina sustain are not things you can change without substantially changing what the build is. You will then probably be one of the people who says melee magblade does not work. Either that or you're very adept with Shadow Image and are making it work a different way. Or you have really high expectations. I'm not claiming that single-target non-bombing melee magblade is meta. Trading speed for Shadow Image would incidentally also make it a different build. Shadow Image anchors you. Speed and Shadow Image aren't the greatest mix. My kind of speed makes Shadow Image pretty redundant. The build is about running, about constant movement. I can't stand still. If you're more disposed towards stakeouts or bombing, this is not for you.

With regard to sustain, it is worth noting that ZOS have re-instated the out-of-combat sustain contribution of the Atronach mundus stone. Breton, Atronach mundus and Hissmir Fisheye Rye are all mandatory to make the build work as intended. It would be nice if we could use Smoked Bear Haunch, but the sustain does not suffice. Absent the health from that and absent stamina from food, you have to build with all Hakeijo enchants. It's the most stat-efficient way to build when you're using drinks.

Although I use Caluurion and bursting from cloak is part of the game plan, I would not exactly call this a ganking build. This is a balanced build that can get in and out of trouble. It cannot brawl like a stamden, but it aims to mix it up as much as it can. An outright ganker aims to one-shot, but may get easily killed when the one-shot fails. It typically has to pick targets carefully and may get overwhelmed in complex AvA fights, for example because they get discovered by a streaking sorc and, then, have zero defense. Such is not the case here. This build has offense and defense.

Juggernaut is the best set I have yet tried for the back bar. You don't aim to proc it, but it lets you push harder and helps save you when you go too far. To that end I also use the new "From the Brink" CP star and I am trying the new Immolator Char monster mask instead of Balorgh. The latter is really hard to say no to, though, for the pen and the damage and the buff to Caluurion. On the other hand we're using a low cost ultimate. The blue CP allocation (no crit resistance from CP) mandated all Impenetrable gear in my book, by the way.

I've talked a lot about the things I view as non-negotiable for making the build what it is. Here are some negotiable things:

• Dual Wield versus 2H. The latter has some interesting passives, notably the stam regen after a kill.
• Swords versus maces. I just don't have any Caluurion maces to try.
• Enchants are flexible and still subject to experimentation.
• The trait of the resto staff. Mine is actually Defending right now, but switching to ranged mode is so lacklustre.

You have two main options for burst, Soul Harvest into Concealed or Merciless into Concealed. In both cases the initial skill is delayed by 400ms, which means Concealed may hit in the same GCD and it will ideally stun and Caluurion will hit at the same time. You then either spam Concealed or switch to the resto bar. If the target survives the initial burst, they may back away or they may counterattack. In either case you should now be on the resto bar, establishing some healing with Swallow Soul or spamming Impale. If they attack you they may be surprised to find you suddenly becoming very tanky when Juggernaut kicks in. I particularly like this against attrition style builds, e.g. templars. You can risk staying on the attack against some of them. If the fight goes on, you will proc Merciless and try to burst them again with that. Caluurion being only on one bar also helps you burst.

If there is a weakness, it's that Healing Ward isn't really good enough. The Juggernaut heal has been nerfed this patch. You can still be in execute range and find it hard to bar swap and get away. Mostly that means you are pressured by multiple opponents, though.

I prefer Soul Harvest over Incap, because I like the ulti-gen. This is another notable difference I found, compared to my stamblade. Soul Harvest is almost always ready, at least if you finish off people with Concealed or Merciless.

I'm happy the stats on both bars are balanced. It's neat. Juggernaut provides a health bonus that more or less matches the shadow skill bonus from the other bar. Double-barring Inner Light is a bit of a pain, but crit is one of the few things the build has going for it. The resto bar is the ranged option against players and the preferred way to engage Imperial City bosses. That's why Swallow Soul and Impale are there. Not having the crit on that bar would be missed and Inner Light allows using my favorite two potions, which are Spell Damage / Detection / Magicka (1v1) and Immovability / Detection / Magicka (AvA). Your bread and butter target as a perma-cloaking magblade are stamblades. You stumble across them all the time and that's why I have detection potions permanently slotted. You drink them just before engaging.

Finally, I am not a vampire for role-playing reasons. That should be a consideration, though.