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ESO Stamina Nightblade PvE DPS Build

ESO Stamina Nightblade PvE DPS Build

The highest DPS build in Elder Scrolls Online - ranked #1 on our DPS Tier List

Stamina Nightblade
PvE DPS ESO build
[Wrathstone/Update 21]

You can find all our Pocket ESO Builds right here: Best ESO builds

 

Sorcerer Icon ESO

Nightblade Class

Build Overview

Nightblades is the Stealthy class of the Elder Scrolls Online. They tend to avoid open combat, and prefer surprise and sneak attacks instead. Stamina Nightblades are known for their great Single Target DPS, and very high Single Target Burst Damage which puts them on #1 spot on our DPS Tier List. They rely on Dual Wield and Bow setup, which gives them a lot of flexibility and very good team support capabilities. High Stamina and great passives let them sustain themselves in even the longest engagements. Important note: The best races for running Stamina Nightblade Build are currently Khajit and Redguard.

We have decided to feature only one item set based on the best items for general usage. There are better setups for certain encounters and tweaks for either Boss fights or AoE clearing. If you would like alternative gear options included please let us know in the comments section below.

 Pros  Cons
 Very High Burst Damage  High-End Gear is required to make the most out of this class
 Fairly Strong AoE Damage   Although quite easy, the rotation has to be mastered in order to achieve good Sustain
 Great Single Target DPS  
 Can Sustain itself in a long engagement  
 Strong Utility kit  

 


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Attributes Priority

  1. Magicka - Increases your Magicka pool, makes your spells more effective, and lets you cast more of them. Stamina Nightblade is not a caster, and this is a primary Caster statistic, so you should avoid it completely.
  1. Health - Boosts your maximum health pool, and increases the effectiveness of Healing spells targeted at you. Do not allocate your points here, unless you plan to make some sort of PVP/PVE hybrid build. Health is mainly for tanks, DPS builds do not really need it.
  1. Stamina -  Increases your avoidance and mobility in combat. It also boosts the power of all Stamina-based abilities and skills. Damage of your Daggers and Bow is also positively affected by your total Stamina. You should allocate all of your points here.

 

Primary Skillset
[Dual Wield -  DPS Bar]

Surprise Attack Surprise Attack (Nightblade: Shadow, morphed from SVeiled Strike) - your main DPS ability, it deals high amounts of Physical Damage and reduces Target's Armor by 5280 for 15 seconds. This also works as an opener; when used from Stealth, it stuns the enemy for 4 seconds.
Steel Tornado Steel Tornado (Weapon: Dual Wield, morphed from Whirlwind) - your go-to AoE skill which deals Physical Damage. It boasts great DPS potential and Range. This should be used instead of Surprise Attack in an AoE situation.
Relentless Focus Relentless Focus (Nightblade: Assassination, morphed from Grim Focus) - a buff which increases your Stamina Recovery by 10%, and your Damage Done by 8% for 20 seconds. Every 5 Heavy or Light attacks made during the uptime will change this into Assassin's Scourge which, when activated will deal high Disease Damage. This effect can be triggered multiple times in one spell duration, and any stacks left will be preserved after Relentless Focus is reapplied.
Deadly Cloak Deadly Cloak (Weapon: Dual Wield, morphed from Blade Cloak) - when activated, it deals AoE damage to all Enemies around you for 15 seconds, and reduces all AoE Damage taken by 25%. This greatly boosts your survivability and lets you shrug off surprisingly high amounts of Damage.
Killer's Blade Killer's Blade (Nightblade: Assassination, morphed from Assassin's Blade) - the finisher ability, great for execute phases. Use this when Boss has less than 25% HP remaining because its damage is tripled against low HP Targets. It also heals you if the target dies within 2 seconds, so it can be used on trash as a combat heal ability.
Flawless Dawnbreaker Ultimate: Flawless Dawnbreaker (Guild: Fighters Guild, morphed from Dawnbreaker) - a potent AoE Ultimate, which deals high Physical Damage up front and Over Time to all enemies in front of you. It also passively boosts your Weapon Damage. Great and flexible choice overall, because it provides AoE and a Permanent Damage buff in one ability.

 

Secondary Skillset
[Bow - Buff/AoE/DoT Bar]

Poison Injection Poison Injection (Weapon: Bow, morphed from Poison Arrow) - very strong Damage over Time ability, especially great for Execute phases, because it deals up to 200% more damage to Enemies under 50% of total Health. As a ranged skill, this can be used in order to avoid Downtime when relocating.
Endless Hail Endless Hail (Weapon: Bow, morphed from Volley) - deals Physical Damage to every enemy in the Targeted Area for 10 seconds; its synergy with the Maelstrom Bow makes it one of the best AoE abilities in the game for a Nightblade. Great both for Single Target, and AoE situations.
Rearming Trap Rearming Trap (Guild: Fighters Guild, morphed from Trap Beast) - one of the most flexible abilities in the game, and a staple of all Stamina builds. It serves as Crowd Control, Buff, and a DoT in one ability. When used, it places a Trap under your feet, which when triggered, deals Physical Damage, applies a DoT, immobilizes the Enemy for 6 seconds, and grants you 10% increased Critical Damage. It also rearms itself after being triggered, so it can activate multiple times during its 1-minute uptime.
Razor Caltrops Razor Caltrops (Alliance War: Assault, morphed from Caltrops) - great AoE Damage over Time ability which deals Physical Damage to the primary Target, and all other Targets around it. Every Target damaged is also slowed for a short time. The main downside of this ability is its relatively high cost, so it requires proper resource management in order to be used to its full potential.
Leeching Strikes Leeching Strikes (Nightblade: Siphoning, morphed from Siphoning Strikes) - a Health and Stamina leech ability, which boosts your survivability and the Sustain by a large margin. It causes your Heavy and Light attacks to restore 106 Stamina and 1452 Health; it lasts 20 seconds and should be maintained at all times. This also restores additional Stamina when it fades away, or when recast, based on how long it was active, so it should be reused as close to its expiration as possible in order to maximize Stamina injections.
Ballista Ultimate: Ballista (Weapon: Bow, morphed from Rapid Fire) - very strong Single Target Ultimate ability. It summons a turret which shoots arrows at your Target for 5.2 Seconds. This effect will continue even if you switch weapons; you should take advantage of this fact, and switch your Weapons immediately after casting this in order to maximize your Damage output.

 

Notable Passive Skills

Below you will find the notable Passive Skills for this build. Please note that there are dozens of good passive skills for Stamina Builds available in the game, which provides a lot of space for tweaking customization. You should treat the below-described passive abilities as guidelines which should be followed in order to optimize your character.
Slaughter Slaughter (Weapon: Dual Wield) - you deal 20% more damage to Targets below 25% Health. This paired with your Killer's Blade and Poison Injection greatly increases your Burst Damage potential in execute phases
Transfer  Transfer (Nightblade: Siphoning) - activating a siphoning ability now grants you 2 Ultimate points; this effect has a 4-second internal cooldown. Great synergy with your Leeching Strikes
Pressure Points Pressure Points (Nightblade: Assassination) - increases your Weapon Critical by 219 for each slotted Assassination ability. This has some synergy with the Hemorrhage passive
Hemorrhage  Hemorrhage (Nightblade: Assassination) -increases Critical Damage done by 10%; your Critical Hits now give you 6% increased Weapon Critical for 20 seconds. This provides you with straight up Damage increase
Accuracy Accuracy (Weapon: Bow) - increases your Weapon Critical rating by 1095. More Crits equals more Damage
Hawk Eye Hawk Eye (Weapon: Bow) - successful Heavy and Light attacks increase the damage of your Bow skills by 5%; this effect lasts for 5 seconds and stacks up to 5 times. Pretty self-explanatory provides you with a nice Damage boost
Dexterity  Dexterity (Armor: Medium Armor) - increases your Weapon Critical rating by 328 for every piece of Medium Armor equipped. You want to wear pretty much only Medium Armor, so this is just a must-have passive
Wind Walker Wind Walker (Armor: Medium Armor) - increases your Stamina Recovery rate by 4% and reduces the Stamina cost of your abilities by 2% for every piece of Medium Armor equipped. More Stamina equals more Damage, which makes it another must-have
Agility Agility (Armor: Medium Armor) - increases your Weapon Damage by 15% if you wear at least 5 pieces of Medium Armor. Another great Medium Armor passive
Refreshing Shadows Refreshing Shadows (Nightblade: Shadow) - increases your Helth, Magicka, and Stamina recovery by 15%. Again, more Stamina equals more Damage
Undaunted Mettle Undaunted Mettle (Guild: Undaunted) - increases your Magicka, Stamina and Maximum Health by 2% per type of Armor equipped. This has good synergy with your Leeching Strikes  Stamina injection effect because it lets you avoid overcapping Stamina when the effect triggers, and straight up Stamina increase is great in and of itself

 

Gear

Recommended Items and Sets:
Chest: Hunding's Rage Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Legs: Hunding's Rage Set
Gloves: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Gloves: Hunding's Rage Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Boots: Hunding's Rage Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Belt: Hunding's Rage Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Head: Velidreth Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Shoulder: Velidreth Set
Type: Medium Trait: Divine Glyph: Stamina
Necklace: Briarheart Set
Type: Jewelry Trait: Bloodthirsty Glyph: Weapon Damage
Ring 1: Briarheart Set
Type: Jewelry Trait: Bloodthirsty Glyph: Weapon Damage
Ring 2: Briarheart Set
Type: Jewelry Trait: Bloodthirsty Glyph: Weapon Damage
DW Weapon 1: Briarheart Set
Type: Dagger Trait: Nirnhoned Glyph: Poison Damage Enchant
DW Weapon 2: Briarheart Set
Type: Dagger Trait: Sharpened Glyph: Absorb Stamina Enchant
Ranged Weapon: Maelstrom's Bow
Type: Bow Trait: Infused Glyph: Weapon Damage Enchant
Sets used in this build:

Hunding's Rage: Craftable Armor, Jewelry and Weapons Set available in all armor types (Light, Medium, and Heavy). Very good for Stamina-based DPS builds, thanks to the 299 Weapon Damage increase set bonus. This set is a part of the base game, and its Crafting Stations are located in The Rift (Trollslayer Gully), Bangkorai (Wether's Cleft), and Reaper's March (Broken Arch). This can be bought from Players, or crafted (each part requires 6 Traits to make). This set grants the following bonuses:

  1. (2 items) Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  2. (3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  3. (4 items) Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  4. (5 items) Adds 299 Weapon Damage

Velidreth Set: A Helmet and Shoulder Monster set available in a form of Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor. It can be obtained by using an Undaunted key on Urgalag Chief-Bane's chest (Shoulder), and from Cradle of Shadows (Shadows of the Hist DLC) in Shadowfen (Helmet). The set grants the following bonuses:

  1. (1 item) Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  2. (2 items) When you deal damage, you have a 20% chance to spawn 3 disease spores in front of you after 1 second that deal 10320 Disease Damage to the first enemy they hit. This effect has a 9-second internal cooldown.

Briarheart Set: this is a very solid set choice for any Stamina DPS build. It is a world drop from the Orsinium DLC content and drops in Wrothgar; it can also be purchased from Guild Traders. It can also be bought from Guild Traders. This set grants:

  1. (2 items) Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  2. (3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  3. (4 items) Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  4. (5 items) Dealing Critical Damage has a 10% chance to increase your Weapon Damage by 449 for 10s. Your Critical Strikes heal you for 609 HP during the uptime; it has a 10-second internal cooldown.

Maelstrom Set - this set is made up by a single piece and can be obtained from veteran Maelstrom Arena. All Maelstrom weapons have a special proc which depends on a weapon type, and is related to a specific ability; a Maelstrom Bow will grant you:

  1. (1 item; Bow) Volley now deals 161 more Damage with each tick, and an additional 56 every time it ticks.

 

Champion Points

High priority
The Lover: Mooncalf
The Steed: Ironclad
The Shadow: Tumbling
The Ritual: Piercing
The Atronach: Master-at-Arms
Medium priority
The Ritual: Precise Strikes, Mighty
The Tower: Warlord
The Lover: Tenacity
The Lady: Elemental Defender, Hardy, Thick Skinned
Low priority
The Steed: Spellshield
The Ritual: Thaumaturge
The Shadow: Shadow Ward
The Lover: Tenacity


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END NOTE

This is the premiere version of our Stamina Nightblade Pocket Build for Elder Scrolls Online. We believe this to be the best DPS setup for the Nightblade class, but obviously, we are open to suggestions and your feedback. Please leave those in the comments below. We also plan to add customization options for certain encounters and alternative gear options in the foreseeable future. 

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Bethesda Softworks