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I should not have to make this post - NB Above and Beyond

XVestigeXx
XVestigeXx
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Above and Beyond's critical dmg being set to 5% in PvP is such a overly heavy handed nerf that it makes the critical damage class mastery on the class most focused around critical damage do less damage than something like Nocturnal's Inspiration, the ult gen mastery, with Balorgh.

Seriously, I am getting about 1.1 ult out of Nocturnal's Inspiration so every potion cooldown (45 seconds) I get about 50 un-buffed weapon dmg and 1,150 pen. If you were to look at it from the mundus stones and their values this 50 Wpn dmg and 1150 pen is already a lot more stat value than 5% crit dmg before the buffs like major brutality. And that's just if i ult every 45 seconds.

I am literally a high crit nightblade and I am finding more value in Nocturnals inspiration when it comes to my damage than the entire crit damage class mastery. I am not even running Above and Beyond anymore and I've been seeing other Nightblades not running it either. Why was this allowed to make it to live? This needs to be adjusted. Nightblade should not even have a pvp related nerf on their class masteries in nightblade's current state at all, let alone a 80% nerf.
I feel like this was missed because the 30% increase to crit cap was taken into account and weighted incorrectly without thought for crit resists and how it functions with crit damage in pvp which led to NB getting shafted. We would have to build like 200%+ crit dmg in order to make use of the 155% crit cap, Zos. Because enemy players crit resist negates crit damage so we were already building above the 125% crit cap. The cap increase does nothing for us. PvP is not PvE. Alls any NB is gonna care about in pvp is the crit damage and not the crit cap increase. Especially with everyone running rallying cry. I shouldn't have to make this post to point this out but here is an example anyway

Say you are attacking someone with 3,300 crit resist (50%) and you are NOT running above and beyond so your crit cap is 125% but your crit damage is 155%. The enemy crit resist will eat the 155% critical damage reducing it to 105% crit damage done because crit resist takes into account all your crit damage even if its over the crit cap. Now if you were to run above and beyond for the crit cap increase to 155% you would still deal 105% crit damage to that same person if you had 155% crit dmg. The crit cap increase really has no value in PvP. If you wanted to deal the full 155% crit cap as crit damage to a player with 50% crit resist, you would have to have 205% crit damage. I am not even sure if that much crit dmg is possible, and even if it is, its weird beyond niche fringe builds that benefit from this only. The crit cap increase is of infinitely less value to the point of being worthless than the crit damage is in current sandbox.

If you really are dead set on nerfing at least something on Above and Beyond then nerf the crit cap increase down to 5% or 0% and give us the full 25% crit damage. Until then I will not use Above and beyond because my ult gen mastery gives me more damage than my crit dmg mastery on my crit dmg build on my crit dmg class
Edited by XVestigeXx on August 27, 2026 3:23AM
  • rlindsey912nub18_ESO
    Agreed and for the love of god give nbs its stun back on its spammable and we might be able to kill someone
  • GulmarAvocado
    GulmarAvocado
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    Yeah, it’s insane to me that both Above and Beyond and An Eye for Exploitation get such severe nerfs in PvP, while classes like Sorc don’t have any Battle Spirit limitations on their masteries despite already being arguably the strongest open world PvP class in the game.

    Above and Beyond probably shouldn’t give the full 25% Critical Damage in PvP, that’s admittedly quite a lot, but even half of that would be nice. Meanwhile, Warden and Sorc can get class masteries that provide 1k+ Weapon and Spell Damage in most circumstances, while NB’s An Eye for Exploitation is dependent on the current health of your target and is capped at 1k instead of the 2k it gets in PvE.

    I understand that some masteries can become overpowered in PvP and need Battle Spirit adjustments, but NB in particular didn’t deserve nerfs this severe when other, stronger classes have no such restrictions at all.
    I like avocados
  • Luneca
    Luneca
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    Agreed and for the love of god give nbs its stun back on its spammable and we might be able to kill someone

    No. It was bad design, or do you think other class spammables should also deal high damage and be mindlessly spammed for easy victories as well? CCs should be done with the purpose of actually wanting to CC in mind.

    I also wouldn't want to see someone using a spammable interfering with my tanking in PvE.
  • Abstraqt
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    Yeah the nightblade class masteries are really lackluster compared to other classes
  • DrMedBorn
    DrMedBorn
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    yeah its not fun. You die quick and make not much damage.
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Agreed and for the love of god give nbs its stun back on its spammable and we might be able to kill someone

    I wouldn't put the stun on the spammable. I do think surprise attack could use a buff and spec bow could use something, I feel like it hardly ever lands because NB combos are so telegraphed and widely recognized. It would be nice if we had some form of an unblockable or undodgeable stun or burst damage that you could work into the NB combos. The NB fear isn't good because its not delayed, and it does no damage so you essentially are giving up an ult or a spec bow just to ensure the stun but then you won't be able to kill anyone because of it.

    I mean Sorc gets streak which is better than cloak as a defensive skill and it does decent damage, it stuns in an AOE and it is unblockable and undodgeable, AND you can combo with it with delayed burst from the class AT RANGE. Sorc is just a better NB at this point and I don't know why Zos is afraid to buff NB besides casuals moaning and complaining because they hate the stealth mechanic in ESO even though its the easiest thing to counter in the game
  • rlindsey912nub18_ESO
    Zos would not have to keep buff nbs damage if the class abilities had better utility for killing players like a stun a surprise attack like its use to be every other class had mindless stuns but you guys draw the line at nbs lmao
  • rlindsey912nub18_ESO
    Sorcs have streak , dks wings stun and petrify is busted and warden has a stun on its heal lol and plars javelin and charge and arcs hav a great skillless stun but no trash blades would be a god with its stun back guys give me a break nbs don’t need more damage nbs problem is their abilities suck and offer nothing to help the rogue/ assassin class kill like good dots or stunning you from stealth like og rogues are suppose to do because the eso community hates stealth and dying in PvP without having a chance
  • SneaK
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    They want all NBs to be healers, Templars to be tanks, Necros and Arcanists to stay at the log in screen.
    "IMO"
    Aldmeri Dominion
    1 Nightblade - 1 Templar - 7 Hybrid Mutt Abominations
  • BardokRedSnow
    BardokRedSnow
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    Sorcs have streak , dks wings stun and petrify is busted and warden has a stun on its heal lol and plars javelin and charge and arcs hav a great skillless stun but no trash blades would be a god with its stun back guys give me a break nbs don’t need more damage nbs problem is their abilities suck and offer nothing to help the rogue/ assassin class kill like good dots or stunning you from stealth like og rogues are suppose to do because the eso community hates stealth and dying in PvP without having a chance

    Petrify was busted, now it’s just pretty good now that there’s a delay and counterplay for the stun, and it has to be planned to be effective

    That should be the norm now instead of spamming streak or surprise attack
    Zos then: Vengeance is just a test bro

    Zos now: Do you want Vengeance permanent or permanent...
  • Oh_Dawg
    Oh_Dawg
    Soul Shriven
    While I agree some of the NB class masteries are abit lackluster. Above and Beyond is not one of them. I can comfortably reach 155% crit damage (sitting at 115% unbuffed) then I buff up with major and minor force (30%) aswell as minor brittle(10%) in battlegrounds (With the new major force pots coming out, I'll definitely be switching out Monomyth for those). In Cyro I'm way above the cap. Not to mention I also have over 50% crit chance and am using Surprise Attack (which guarantees a crit every 3 seconds) You just have to build towards crit and think outside the box. An Eye for Exploitation isn't bad either, but I think it could use a rework from a ganker's mindset.

    In 1v1 scenarios my build is capable of taking out Dks and Sorcs. Don't get me wrong its tough, but that's what makes NB fun right now. PvP would be boring if you just steamrolled all your opponents. WWs are just a piece of cake, because they go all in on HP and no resistances, they are an easy three-shot (incap, surprise attack, spec bow). Even when surrounded if you use Soul Tether with Soulcleaver then spam Power Extraction, its deadly.

    Ofc you definitely have to account you're definitely much squishier than Dks and Sorcs. Using Shadowy Disguise and well-timed dodges are necessary during this patch for survival. I must also mention that I do die, but I use my death and reflect on what I could do better with my build. Also pro-tip (especially for Battlegrounds) DO NOT USE VAMPIRE! IT IS NOT WORTH IT IN THIS PATCH! Too many Dks are running around for the extra fire damage to be worth it (I play Khajiit, Dark Elf might be a different story, I haven't tested it). Not to mention it also increases the cost for your skills.

    I guess my point in sharing this is that its definitely possible to be good in PvP as a NB. It just will take more critical thinking than when you build for Dk, Sorc, or WW because they have more noob friendly toolset. If you're struggling as a NB and reading this, stay strong, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

    qm1jw2fv5twy.png

    (This was taken in NO CP Imperial Sewers)
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Oh_Dawg wrote: »
    While I agree some of the NB class masteries are abit lackluster. Above and Beyond is not one of them. I can comfortably reach 155% crit damage (sitting at 115% unbuffed) then I buff up with major and minor force (30%) aswell as minor brittle(10%) in battlegrounds (With the new major force pots coming out, I'll definitely be switching out Monomyth for those). In Cyro I'm way above the cap. Not to mention I also have over 50% crit chance and am using Surprise Attack (which guarantees a crit every 3 seconds) You just have to build towards crit and think outside the box. An Eye for Exploitation isn't bad either, but I think it could use a rework from a ganker's mindset.

    In 1v1 scenarios my build is capable of taking out Dks and Sorcs. Don't get me wrong its tough, but that's what makes NB fun right now. PvP would be boring if you just steamrolled all your opponents. WWs are just a piece of cake, because they go all in on HP and no resistances, they are an easy three-shot (incap, surprise attack, spec bow). Even when surrounded if you use Soul Tether with Soulcleaver then spam Power Extraction, its deadly.

    Ofc you definitely have to account you're definitely much squishier than Dks and Sorcs. Using Shadowy Disguise and well-timed dodges are necessary during this patch for survival. I must also mention that I do die, but I use my death and reflect on what I could do better with my build. Also pro-tip (especially for Battlegrounds) DO NOT USE VAMPIRE! IT IS NOT WORTH IT IN THIS PATCH! Too many Dks are running around for the extra fire damage to be worth it (I play Khajiit, Dark Elf might be a different story, I haven't tested it). Not to mention it also increases the cost for your skills.

    I guess my point in sharing this is that its definitely possible to be good in PvP as a NB. It just will take more critical thinking than when you build for Dk, Sorc, or WW because they have more noob friendly toolset. If you're struggling as a NB and reading this, stay strong, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

    qm1jw2fv5twy.png

    (This was taken in NO CP Imperial Sewers)

    Above and beyond raising the crit cap will not effect your critical damage done because players run between 1600 (24.24%) crit resist and 3300 (50%) crit resist in pvp. This crit resist eats your crit damage.

    So as an example, say you are attacking someone with 3,300 crit resist (50%) and you are NOT running above and beyond so your crit cap is 125% but your crit damage is 155% like in your build. The enemy crit resist will eat the 155% critical damage reducing it to 105% crit damage done because crit resist takes into account all your crit damage even if its over the crit cap. Now if you were to run above and beyond for the crit cap increase to 155% you would still deal 105% crit damage to that same person. The crit cap increase really has no value in PvP. If you wanted to deal the full 155% crit cap as crit damage to a player with 50% crit resist, you would have to have 205% crit damage. the crit cap increase is of infinitely less value to the point of being worthless than the crit damage is in current sandbox.

    I understand you might not have known the math works this way, but Zos definitely should know this.

    Also an eye for exploitation is terrible because it equates to 100 weapon damage for every 10% missing hp your target has. This means you only really get any value on your follow up ability after your ult. Meanwhile classes like warden get 1000 wpn dmg for casting ele sus.
    The dmg mitigation has no value in pvp because people go on the offensive usually at full hp or near it. Its ok in some situations, but its so unimpactful that I don't notice when I have the class mastery on or not.

    NB was turbo shafted while they buffed even better classes like sorc with fantastic masteries with far more dmg and from neutral. I mean sorc gets the equivalent of like 4 wretched vitalities in CoE or the pure dmg of font of power while we get 5% crit dmg.
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Zos would not have to keep buff nbs damage if the class abilities had better utility for killing players like a stun a surprise attack like its use to be every other class had mindless stuns but you guys draw the line at nbs lmao

    No I totally agree they need a better stun nowadays I just don't think it should be on surprise attack/concealed weapon. I would much rather them rework aspect of terror or Mark target to include some form of delayed stun that would allow you to line up a ult and spec bow better. I think if you could place the fear on the target for aspect of terror and then it feared after 2 seconds or something that could be really cool. I am just spitballing rn but I def do agree we need better stuns that enable burst combos that are useable and not based on enemies walking into a trap or something

    If they put some form of stun on mark target then they need to remove the vfx because it makes no sense the most stealthy class has the most telegraphed skilles
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Sorcs have streak , dks wings stun and petrify is busted and warden has a stun on its heal lol and plars javelin and charge and arcs hav a great skillless stun but no trash blades would be a god with its stun back guys give me a break nbs don’t need more damage nbs problem is their abilities suck and offer nothing to help the rogue/ assassin class kill like good dots or stunning you from stealth like og rogues are suppose to do because the eso community hates stealth and dying in PvP without having a chance

    Petrify was busted, now it’s just pretty good now that there’s a delay and counterplay for the stun, and it has to be planned to be effective

    That should be the norm now instead of spamming streak or surprise attack

    Not to mention now I use antidk2 add on and it just tells me in bold blinking letters that the dk cast either morph of petrify on me and that I need to roll dodge. Its wonderful
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