"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!