Nightblade Evade Tank....Plausible?

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

So, I have been toying with a couple builds that are pretty "out there" for the Nightblade, and the one I wanted to share with the community was this one:

5 Pieces of Medium Armor--->For the attack speed, extra dodge on Elude, Reduced dodge roll cost, and Stamina Regen
2 Pieces of Heavy Armor(Body and Head)--- More armor and the survive passives

Attributes: Can vary, but I was looking mostly at health
Magika:1
Health: 7
Stamina: 2

Skill Set 1:One-handed + Shield--->For the shield blocking, Defensive Skillset
1: Defensive Posture(Absorb Magic)--->To counter spells + gain health + blocking passive,spam move
2: Haste(Focused Attack)--->Combo with Siphoning Strikes to gain resources
3: Blur(Double Take)--->Dodge chance, also possible spam in tough situations, buff carries over between skillsets
4: Evasion(Elude)--->More dodge chance
5: Siphoning Strikes(Leeching Strikes) --->To restore resources and gain ultimate points through Transfer
Ult: Consuming Darkness(Bolstering Darkness)--->Wonderful survive ability

Skill Set 2: Dual Wield---->For Ember Explosion, Aggro Skillset
1: Sparks(Ember Explosion)---> Spam for aggro and AoE miss chance
2: Whirlwind(Whirling Blades)---> Used to restore stamina to spam Ember Explosion, also provides AoE aggro
3: Inner Fire(Inner Beast)--->Single taunt w/ range
4: Circle of Protection(Ring of Preservation)--->Adds Badly needed Spell resis. that carries over into both Skillsets
5: Evasion(Elude)---->Placed so the buff from Skillset 1 swaps over
Ult: Soul Shred(Soul Siphon)---->Used to stun large groups so you can get aggro without dying

Playstyle: The dodge tank requires a very active player. For trash mobs, get both dodge buffs up beforehand and begin with the aggro skillset. Get the Ring down and spam Ember Explosion/Whirlwind to gain aggro and maybe Soul Siphon if permitting. This should be done quickly, then switch into One Handed+Shield. Quickly get up Siphoning Strikes and Haste to restore resources lost from SkillSet2, then auto-attack while using Absorb Magic accordingly. If the fight lasts longer, basically repeat this with some minor alterations and using Bolstering Darkness when possible and spamming Double Take every two seconds if in a tight situation. Also block large attacks. Roll Dodging is only recommended if literally stuck in a tight situation.
For Single bosses, you will spend most of your time in skillset one and only use the second skillset for Ring and aggro.

Personal Thoughts: The build is very weak versus Magical Abilities, but I did my best to counter that. The build also relies heavily on skill play, but those are the best builds imo

. I have not tested this build in full, but the dodge chances seem iffy in ESO, and I believe that bosses cannot miss meaning blocking, bolstering darkness, and Ring are your best bet along with a very competent healer when facing difficult bosses.

Post your thoughts/changes below and please try to make a logical argument to support them.

Thank you!

EDIT: Questions about the mechanics of some abilities:
1. Does Siphoning Strikes give you ultimate points through the siphoning passive? I assumed it did, but not so sure now....

2. Which buffs transfer between weapon swaps? I based my original assumptions off the animation still going through swaps, but after installing some combat mods, the buffs look to still be there but with no visible effects on your character.

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

Bump

Splattzilla · April 2014

I personally enjoy the 2 pieces of light armor for the extra resistances. Also, a friend of mine did some heavy theorycrafting and mentioned that Nightblade would be a super effective single-target tank. Made me think of some possible boss encounters in Craglorn.

Lyzaaa · April 2014

the damage is total trash honestly.. this game's all about AOE atm, even tho ur dodge is affecting everyone sort of, it doesnt damage them. Theres alot better damage wise builds /clearing speed out there.

On top of this, not sure if this is meant for pvp aswell, but theres no gapcloser and the damage is just insanely low.

All in all youre skillset seems to be more of a tanking rather than a clearing build.

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

All in all youre skillset seems to be more of a tanking rather than a clearing build.

This IS a tanking build hence the "evade tank" in the title

. Sorry you were confused. This is in no way a good dps build. I do agree with the statement about the PvP play lacking though. The "aggro skillset" would mostly be obsolete since it is not applicable. This was made for PvE.

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

Also, a friend of mine did some heavy theorycrafting and mentioned that Nightblade would be a super effective single-target tank.

I actually already run a build in which I can tank in light armor because of how much regen you can get with the Nightblade. If you run siphoning strikes, degeneration, haste, and then some defensive abillities, the Nightblade shines very well versus single target.

I used the build to fight Molag Bal and he was a piece of cake when those daedra titans were not helping him.

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO · April 2014

Well idk I run Heavy armor with a 2h sword and a few assassination ability Im constantly spamming my ultimate and pretty much overtanking veteran.

GreasedLizard · April 2014

I've run with some amazing NB tanks. Evasion, Degen, Siphon Strikes, Swallow Soul. Pretty sure you roll Hvy, as Siphoning gives u all the regen you could ask for. If you do want a few off-pieces, just make them the lesser ones like gloves etc

Volcanic Rune is good to get a pack's initial aggro up, and head into another pack with an AoE. I'd say S&B + a Stave of some sort, but DW is fairly common too. Blood Craze stacks I hear

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

Pretty sure you roll Hvy, as Siphoning gives u all the regen you could ask for.

As I said, I have not fully tested it as spending money for an experimental build is..well...costly

;however, I do agree that the build already has lots of resource management, but I was leaning towards the medium armor for its attack speed and increased dodge on Elude. In all honesty, the heavy armor would probably out preform the medium, but I was trying my best to steer away from the popular conceptions of a tank that soaks up damage and more towards avoiding/healing through it.

Also, the health gain on Siphoning I believe is bugged, so its not as good as it could be $:\$

Anzer · April 2014

Jopam_Merichi wrote: »

Pretty sure you roll Hvy, as Siphoning gives u all the regen you could ask for.

As I said, I have not fully tested it as spending money for an experimental build is..well...costly ;however, I do agree that the build already has lots of resource management, but I was leaning towards the medium armor for its attack speed and increased dodge on Elude. In all honesty, the heavy armor would probably out preform the medium, but I was trying my best to steer away from the popular conceptions of a tank that soaks up damage and more towards avoiding/healing through it.

Also, the health gain on Siphoning I believe is bugged, so its not as good as it could be $:\$

You can use the medium armor active skill while wearing heavy armor, just FYI.
Also, Veil of Blades is significantly better than Bolstering Darkness, unless you're the healer (even then, I'd choose the Soul Siphon ((which removes the stun, sadly)) ) I might highly recommend swapping Haste and Inner Fire, you'll probably want your taunt on your shield set.

But hey, play around with it and let us know how it goes.

Jopam_Merichi · April 2014

Anzer wrote: »

You can use the medium armor active skill while wearing heavy armor, just FYI.
Also, Veil of Blades is significantly better than Bolstering Darkness, unless you're the healer (even then, I'd choose the Soul Siphon ((which removes the stun, sadly)) ) I might highly recommend swapping Haste and Inner Fire, you'll probably want your taunt on your shield set.

But hey, play around with it and let us know how it goes.

Well, what I was talking about is if you read the Elude ability, the dodge chance increases per piece of medium armor. As for the Bolstering Darkness choice, I was focusing more on dungeon play and making that move an OH *** pop to help not only yourself but your team as well, so the extra healing is better than damage IMO. Also, if I were to go with a taunt in the shield set, I would most likely want Ransack as it gives extra armor, though I do agree switching weapons to taunt would be difficult. So, if buffs transferred between skill sets, which I still have to test which ones specifically with a combat addon, are a thing, then I could switch all my non toggle buffs to the second skill set and open up some moves on my sword and shield bar.