Nightblade talent calculator, you can find bellow, will help you find the best build to match your playstyle as this, mostly, DPS class. Nightblade is the only class that has a vanish skill that lets you get out of sticky situation or prepare your most devastating attacks. Assassination Nightblades will be all about dealing damage (or buffing themselves to do the most damage). Shadow is the skill line you want to follow if you want to get utility abilities that will make you vanish and do the most damage while surprising your enemies. Siphoning is more about DOTs and leaching health. Great for weakening mobs while staying alive. Whether you use a bow, daggers or other means of dealing damage to your enemies, Nightblade’s skill will help you dispose of them the fastest. Pick and choose skills bellow and save them so others can see your preferred playstyle.
ESO Nightblade Skill Calculator has been updated with ESO: Morrowind PTS 3.0 data. We will be update it with new data DLC release draws closer. Be warned that this data is from the beta server and may differ from the live version. We will update it with new data at that time.
ESO Morrowind update: Nightblade Skill Calculator has been updated with 3.0.5 live server data introducing all the changes that the expansion brought. Make sure you update your builds accordingly.
Dragonknight
Sorcerer
Nightblade
Templar
WardenChampion Points
Skills
Popular builds
Dual wield stealth Nblade low lvl PvE
UPDATED: Added more passives and an ultimate. This is a good solo PvE build for up to lvl 30. Rotation stays the same and you can now pick another ability for 5th slot. Since I rely heavily on skills I am more concerned about having enough magicka and health for survivability than stamina. What you really want to go for is Executioner passive in Assassination and use Killer's Blade to kill all your enemies. This bumps back both your hp and mp. Down side of this whole build is lower weapon damage so without skills you are just waiting for your Magicka to regen. This makes it hard to take on more than one group of mobs. You also can have trouble with heavy armor mobs, but this is the downside of any nightblade build I guess.
After several tries I think I found a very nice Nightblade build for lower level PvE leveling. This build made it possible for me to kill single targets very quickly with low chance of dying. I can take on two mobs as well due to having a long range stun in the build.
During the tutorial section on Coldharbor I go for Shadow Cloak (which is your 2.5 second invisibility) so I can level Shadow skill line from the start. I also choose Assassin's Blade from Assassination skill tree as a finishing move to complement just my weapon damage.
As soon as you get enough skill points and Shadow level (either through getting skyshards or leveling) I go for Veiled Strike. This makes my rotation Shadow Cloak (when close to mob so I can perhaps hit it from behind) -> Veiled Strike (which stuns them if executed from stealth) -> hard hit (hold your left mouse button to charge your attack) to knock them down -> slice with weapons and Assassin's Blade when they are low health.
Next I take Strife in Siphoning tree to help with healing and to get to Agony. Agony is great if you are facing two or more mobs. You can stun one of the mobs from afar and when the other mob gets close go invisible and execute your rotation. You can then proceed with killing the stunned enemy. Strife is also great as a DOT once it gets to level 4 or is morphed.
Since I played Breton I went for Light Armor +magicka buff since all these skills use magicka.
You can also mix in Teleport Strike from Assassination tree to quickly jump to the mob , go invisible, stun, hard hit, Assassin's blade them to death. Depends of what you find sexier :)
Khajiit DMG Monster
Khajiit PVP and PVE Damage monster build, with sufficient self healing ability. With right use of these abilities the player gets the hughest damage output i can imagine.
100/100 Skillpoints used (But i count some more when you get all skyshards, didnt put any points to Alliance-Skill-Trees cause of that.)
"General Grievous" NB OP BUILD! Insane Single Target DPS - Solo Elites Easily- Leveling Efficient !
"General Grievous" NB OP BUILD! Insane Single Target BUFFED DPS - Solo Elites Easily- Leveling Efficient !
Hey guys, like most of you all, I have been playing ESO for the past few weeks. I also am playing a nightblade class! Seeing as how I played a rogue on WoW for 5+ years, I was instantly drawn in to the nightblade class. Let's get started!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A. Introduction/Brief Explanation
B. Why it Works (Ability Explanation)
C. Leveling Advice/Skill Order
D. Leveling Rotation
E. Solo Elite Rotation
F. AoE Rotation
G. Weapons
H. Best Questions
A: INTRODUCTION/BRIEF EXPLANATION
This build allows you to do insane self buffed single target DPS, while still having the option to go ranged or aoe crazy. Best part? You will feel like General Grievous with FOUR daggers! I discovered this build around level 20, since then I have had the flexibility to do whatever I want--all with one build. How can a build have defensives to solo elites AND have amazing DPS/AoE? Well, let's break it down bar by bar.
B: WHY IT WORKS (ABILITY EXPLANATION)
BAR 1: Your Single Target DPS Bar
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Slot 1: Teleport Strike-Ambush (5 out of 5)
Pretty obvious choice for any nightblade build. Great Utility with the 1.5s stun, 22m teleport, AND 36% extra damage on next ability--plus some nice starting damage. Get it.
Slot 2: Flurry-Rapid Strikes (4 out of 5)
This is your only stamina dump, aside from movement related actions (sprinting, stealthing, dodging). Really nice damage, plus 18% attack speed afterwards. Use it.
Slot 3: Veiled Strike-Surprise Attack (4 out of 5)
Nice damage, 40% armor pen, AND a very nice 4s stun (if used when stealthed) that can lead into a 1s knockdown. This should be used to apply/refresh the 40% armor pen debuff, or when you need a stun for survivability/control--otherwise save the magicka.
Slot 4: Assasin's Blade-Impale (5 out of 5)
INSANE damage while in execute range, it also has decent range! What's not to love? This ability should ONLY be used when a mob is under 25% HP--otherwise save the magicka.
Slot 5: Shadow Cloak-Shadowy Disguise (5 out of 5)
This ability has immense utility, completely unmatched compared to any other nightblade abilities. This is your stealth essentially, but it will not have a 100% uptime. Here is why: You are completely invisible for 2.5 seconds, it has no cooldown (only magicka resource limitations), gives you 100% critical strike rating during, and-oh yeah, it makes you completely invisible.
Get it. Use it. Love it.
Ultimate: Death Stroke-Soul Harvest (5 out of 5)
The best ultimate for DPS, hands down. It will come up frequently, use it frequently.
BAR 2: Your Ranged, AoE, Buff Bar
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Slot 1: Hidden Blade-Flying Blade (4 out of 5)
This is your stamina dump for whenever you need to go ranged or avoid certain boss mechanics, this is also crucial for being able to solo elites.
Slot 2: Strife-Swallow Soul (4 out of 5)
This ability has great damage, and a very decent heal. This ability should be used when at range for some damage, or while in need of HP.
Slot 3: Whirlwind-Whirling Blades (4 out of 5)
Your AoE ability! This has really nice damage attached to it, and at a decent stamina cost. Can be used with Drain Power (in the siphoning tree) for even more AoE damage.
Slot 4: Cripple-Crippling Grasp(4 out of 5) OR Drain Power-Power Extraction (3 out of 5)
This is your switchable button. Cripple is better for when you will be leveling, soloing elites, or when ranged is needed (extra ranged DoT and slow will help you tremendously). Drain Power will help you AoE down things a lot stronger, I would take this IN BETWEEN boss fights for extra AoE(if needed).
Slot 5: Haste-Focused Attacks (3 out of 5)
This is a nice self buff. I usually only use it when in a dungeon, casting it right before a mob pull. May find a stronger ability to replace this, but for now this fits perfectly.
Ultimate: Consuming Darkness-Veil of Blades (4 out of 5)
This is a nice utility based ultimate. Strong defensives for you and your group as well as some very nice AoE damage for dungeons. Use it to hog the AoE dps meters, or to simmer down certain boss mechanics with it's defensives.
PASSIVES:
All the passives I chose compliment the abilites you will be using pretty nicely. I went for critical hit over everything. 5 out of 5 medium armor. Free rez every hour is a nice passive to have (Soul Magic tree).
CHARACTER STATS:
I did a 3/1/3 ratio. You will need the Magicka/Stamina more than you will need the extra Health.
C: Leveling Advice
Quest and Complete. Quests give you skill points every so often. Complete all the content ESO is giving you (skyshards, open world dungeons, solo instances, dark anchors) everything gives you experience. Skyshards give you skill points (they start adding up), and there are "tier 2" solo instances which give you even more quests and a guarenteed skill point--plus they are epic! My routine consists of completing all the quest hubs in the zone, then go around doing all the solo instances, open world dungeons, and collecting skyshards.
Skill Order
This is the general order I would follow, keep in mind you will not be fully range viable until later levels (30s), but you won't be in desperate need of it anway.
-MORPH WHATEVER YOU WANT (ALTHOUGH I PERSONALLY THINK MY MORPHS ARE THE BEST)
-PASSIVES SHOULD BE LEVELED ALONGSIDE THESE ABILITIES, YOU WILL HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH SKILL POINTS.
-TAKE NOTE THAT BAR 2 LEVELS WILL ALWAYS BE BEHIND BAR 1, DEPENDING ON USAGE.
LEVEL 1 ABILITIES:
Assassin's Blade
Shadow Cloak
Twin Slashes (ONLY to level dual wield tree--you can respec out of this later)
Strife
LEVEL 4 ABILITIES:
Teleport Strike
Veiled Strike
Flurry (replace twin slashes)
This is where there will be a break of skill points, until level 10-12. Also keep in mind skill levels will be higher than your actual level. Remember to level passives.
LEVEL 12 ABILITIES: (~ level 10)
Death Stroke
Consuming Darkness
LEVEL 14 ABILITIES: (~level 15)
Whirlwind
Another major break in skill pick ups, also Deshaan and Shadowfen are quite a drag because of this. Consider respeccing or experimenting during these levels--only if you get too bored. Otherwise, the abilities you have will carry you through easily.
Keep leveling passives.
Level 20 ABILITIES: (~level 30)
Cripple
LEVEL 30 ABILITIES:(I am level 38--still do not have this ability, don't sweat it)
Siphoning Strikes
LEVEL 38 ABILITIES: (~ level 30)
Hidden Blade (again, you will probably be able to pick up hidden blade and haste faster than cripple/siphoning strikes--even though both require higher levels) *If you are confused please ask and I'll add a section explaining this thoroughly*
LEVEL 42 ABILITIES: (~level 35)
Haste
This is where I am currently at in game. Level 38 Khajiit Nighblade.
D: LEVELING ROTATION
You will mainly be using Bar 1. This is how ability usage usually goes down with single questing mobs.
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Teleport Strike->Veiled Strike->Flurry OR Death Stroke -> Assassin's Blade
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They usually die after Flurry/Death Stroke. So 3 abilities used, 2 used for actual damage. Now, this will not always be the case. That is why I have made a priority list that goes as follows:
-Teleport Strike (only when you need to close a gap)
-Impale (Execute range-Note it is magic damage, and does not need veiled strike debuff to be effective)
-Veiled Strike (to apply/reapply debuff)
-Shadowy Disguise (when tied in with Death Stroke for 100% crit)
-Death Stroke
-Flurry
-Veiled Strike (for stun/damage)
-Shadowy Disguise (for 100% crit)
-Teleport Strike (for stun/damage)
The priority list may seem confusing, but with time you will learn the abilities and understand why the list is how it is.
E: SOLO ELITE ROTATION (Requires lvl 30+)
The main tool you will be using is Hidden Blade, although I believe you can still make it work with only Cripple.
Being able to solo elites relies heavily on a slow, effectively kiting the slowed elite, rather than tanking it, until your resources are replenished. At this point you switch to Bar 1 and attack with a 5 second stun window (thanks to Veiled Strike/Shadow Cloak combo).
Trust me, you can do A LOT of damage with those 5 seconds of stun time, plus the passive damage off kiting with Hidden Blade/Cripple will slowly widdle down each and every elite you come across.
-ALWAYS GO FOR A CROUCH STEALTH OPENER
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Stealthed Auto Attack-> Shadow Cloak-> Veiled strike (4s stun applied)-> Flurry-> Hidden Blade-> RUN!
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From here you keep running and keep the Hidden Blade debuff (snare) up until you have enough magicka/stamina for another rotation of the above(aside from the initial stealthed auto attack).
F: AOE ROTATION
Pretty simple, use Power Siphon before Whirlwind for maximum damage, and use Veil of Blades for even more damage. Chances are other builds WILL have stronger AoE, but this should more than suffice.
G: WEAPONS
Use any 4 one handed weapons for your swaps. But, daggers are always more desirable.
H: QUESTIONS
Any questions? Feel free to ask, and I will post the best/frequently asked questions here! Post in the comments and let me know what you think!
why is there not an option for the second bar that u get at lv 15
So you’re going to stack magika so you can use all of your skills?
This spec is terrible.
150 magicka for a single rotation is a bit much, but you’re looking to kill quickly with this so you shouldn’t need much more than 1.
We are working on the second bar at the moment
A solod duelist spec, with some options of self healing and sneak killing. Any thoughts would be appreciated
This build is just awful. Almost no use of any stamina based abilities, and complete reliance on magicka based attacks. As someone stated, this build is useful if you want to a mob down quickly, but try to run this in a dungeon, or a fight that last more than 10 seconds, and you will end up chaining auto attacks, waiting for magicka to regen.
After extensive PvP experience I have found as an NB its better to choose a play style and go all out. I found bow to be relatively useless, its DPS sucked and I could range just as well with life leech and throwing dagger, plus it detracted from my ability to max out my DPS and go into melee. Depending on your play-style my goal was the max melee DPS.
I like the idea of going for pure melee DPS. A good combo is duel wield and one handed/shield. I had the most fun with that combo.
I use duel wield to do damage and one-handed/shield as my buffing/stun/retreat bar. This is after the instant weapon switch. As an NB you need to always have a heal running from siphon seal so I like it being on my fighting bar. Furthermore I like having at least one stamina attack on my attack bar and throwing dagger is badass, plus it snares.
Bar 1.
1. Impale 2. Ambush 3. Surprise Attack 4. Throwing Dagger 5. Siphon Soul
Bar 2
1. Power Slam 2. Crippling Slash 3. Mark Target or Evasion or Defensive Posture 4. Evasion or Immovable 5. Shadowy Disguise
Bar 2 is pretty flexible. One downside is having two snares (throwing dagger and crippling). Crippling slash has immobilize. You can substitute caltrops in place of crippling slash if you are in a large group and alter the other bars accordingly. I like to be able to fight in large organized group fights. Immovable is a nessecity there and just nice to have in general. Defensive posture rocks when used right. Evasion is ok but more for melee, a lot of people say its useless. Marked target isn’t a requirement if youre in large group fights moving from target to target and it is dangerous when going after high DPS casters.
Forgot to say. Using 1 handed and shield allows you to have a defensive set bonus as well and it confuses the crap out of people. When youre out of magicka you still pack a punch as well.
with the Nightblade abilities going to Stamina morphs now, you should pick either Magicka or Stamina to go with, I run a heavy Stamina Hybrid, I do stack some Magicka, but that is only so I can use the few remaining abilities that still use magicka as much as I need them.. for example Dark Cloak is the best for PvP so you can get into cloak and escape (if needed) since it removes Dot’s (damage over time) that are cast on you..
A good build for a Stamina build is like,
weapon swap one (pick your weapon)
1. Surprise Attack (stamina morph) [main damage and debuff of armor to the enemy)
2. Free slot for weapon (uses stamina)
3. Ambush (stamina morph) [or some other gap closer, or could be used as a free slot)
4. Dark Cloak (magicka) [your escape and used with surprise attack will cause a stun to the enemy]
5. Killers Blade (stamina morph) [execute after 24%]
U. either a Deathstroke morph and use it frequently or Flawless dawnbreaker for the extra 8% weapon damage it gives.
weapon swap two (pick your weapon)
1. Reapers Mark or Piercing Mark (magicka) [only effects the enemy now 🙂 ]
2. Free slot for weapon (uses stamina)
3. Free slot for weapon or class ability (your choice)
4. Some sort of Heal, Vigor (if you can get it, it will be moving to Alliance skill rank 5 sometime after console drops after the 6/9/15), Rally for 2H or Strife/funnel health/swallow soul or Blood craze for DW. (stamina or magicka)
5. Mass Hysteria (magicka) [best Nightblade CC in the game]
U. your choice but a survival Ultimate like Soul Tether or Veil of Blades is really good.
These are the kinda best for a Nightblade or something close to this. You will use your Stamina more and your Magicka is for your escape or tools/utility.