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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
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Primary Skillset
[Dual Wield - DPS Bar]
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 (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 (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 (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 (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. | |
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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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. | |
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 (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 (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 (Nightblade: Assassination) - increases your Weapon Critical by 219 for each slotted Assassination ability. This has some synergy with the Hemorrhage passive | |
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 (Weapon: Bow) - increases your Weapon Critical rating by 1095. More Crits equals more Damage | |
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 (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 (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 (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 (Nightblade: Shadow) - increases your Helth, Magicka, and Stamina recovery by 15%. Again, more Stamina equals more Damage | |
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:
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:
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:
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:
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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. |
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