Replies: 187

 

Welcome to the Dark Brotherhood, fellow Nightblades.
In this DLC, we got some major buffs to make Stamblades very viable again for end game PvE. With the build I will guide you through, I completed every PvE challenge in the game including Veteran Maw of Lorkay, Veteran Sanctum Ophidia Hardmode and Veteran Maelstrom Arena. Ok – you got me – still missing vMoL Hardmode

As the DLC is pretty new and ZOS added a ton of new sets and changes, there might be updates for this guides and the more we talk about the build, the better it will be refined. So keep observing, discussing and challenging this guide to stay up to date with your Stamblade.

I will go indept into every aspect but I try to give a TL;DR; whenever I can to make the read as comfortable as possible for those guys who just want a quick overview without the boring details. If you have questions or found errors, please write a comment. I try to answer and explain everything.

As I didnt do much PvP lately due to the bad performance in Cyrodiil and my reduced gaming time, I will focus mainly on group PvE. Other aspects of the game will be tackled briefly to give you some ideas but when you take PvP for example, there are better players out there who have more insight.

ATTENTION: You have to click on the SPOILER buttons to get all the information. I had to put those in for reasons of clarity and comprehensibility.

 

Tables of Content:

1. Build Overview
2. Race
3. Stats
4. Mundus Stone
5. Potions
6. Champion Points
7. Gear
   Optimized Raids
   Raid Setup
   Replacements
   Solo Play
   Veteran Maelstrom Arena
8. Raid setup
   Rotation
   No Potion Setup
   Veteran Maelstrom Arena
9. FAQ
10. Leveling Champion
11. DPS Screens
12. Theorycraft

 

I. Build Overview

For this build, we will use Dual Wield and Bow as a tool to achieve a maximum DPS. In group content, your survivability relies on your ability to avoid damage and your healer. For solo content, we rely on Vigor and Killer’s Blade. 2h with Rally is usually not required.

 

ADVANTAGES

• Amazing single target and the best AoE DPS
• Roguish play style
• Very flexible in terms of skills
• Easy access with crafted gear which enables you to farm “Best in Slot” gear
• Very rewarding as your DPS gets better and better the more you train
• Scales amazingly well with optimized groups
• Works with all races

 

DISADVANTAGES

• Harder to master and not as forgiving as ranged builds
• Requires good movement and coordination
• Can be hard to sustain especially when you have to block/dodge/run a lot
• Works best for 300 Champion Points and more
• Requires Maelstrom Weapons for best performance

 

II. RACE

TL;DR: 1. Khajiit, 2. Redguard 3. Imperial

The best race for DPS is Khajiit atm. The extra 8% crit chance allows them to use the Shadow Mundus as best choice which boosts their DPS in optimized groups especially. (More about that when I talk about the Mundus choice). As I dont play a Khajiit, I had do adept my playstyle to get the best possible build for my race. I will give hints from time to time what I would suggest doing as a Khajiit player but as I dont play Khajiit, I couldnt test those suggestions as indept as the rest of my guide.

The next best thing is Redguard, which helps a lot to sustain especially in longer fights. I personally do not run into sustain issues with this build and I will show you techniques to improve your Stamina Management but being a Redguard does help and allows you to go full DPS in most cases even without Templar support.

Then you have Imperial, Bosmer, Orc and Dunmer who all have some Stamina related passives, just not the best for PvE.

 

III. Stats

 

TL;DR: Attribute Points and Enchants into Stamina. Get ~ 18k HP. Penetration > Weapon Damage > Weapon Crit > Stamina

To maximize your offence, you have to minimize your defence. That means we work with the lowest HP and Armor value possible. Just enough to make sure you do not get one shoted. If you have 501 CP, you can invest all attribute points into Stamina and enchant your whole gear with Stamina enchants as well. You’ll have enough HP for any content in the game with the gear sets I will suggest. If you dont have 501 CP yet, try to get around 18k HP by putting some attribute points into HP.

This build works with a balanced mix of Penetration, Weapon Damage, Crit Chance/Damage and Stamina. In the Gear Section, we will talk more about how to adapt your setup to the group you’re playing with.

Use blue CP 150 food (Braised Rabbit With Spring Vegetables) which provides Stamina and HP.

You dont have to be Werewolf or Vampire for this build. There are some burst DPS possibilities when being a Werewolf which you can abuse to get easy kills on a few bosses in vMSA for example. But as they are pretty situational, I will not go into detail in this guide. Just know that it’s possible and if you’d like to be a puppy, there is no reason not to be.

Penetration is now a big factor when it comes to Stamina DPS. While it’s not displayed in the Stats Window, it’s a huge deal and can buff your DPS greatly. Optimized groups can stack Penetration to a point where bosses actually reach 0 armor. A huge benefit over Magicka builds. We have to be very flexible with Penetration as we need a lot when playing solo or in 4 player groups but far less in optimized groups where certain armor debuffs do count for the whole raid.

Other big factors that do not show up on the Stats Window are Crit Damage Modifier and “Special Buffs” like Monster Sets and MSA Weapon Procs.

Otherwise, we still want to get Weapon Damage, Weapon Crit and Stamina. Weapon Crit is a factor that scales especially well in groups and in general for people who are using the Shadow Mundus.

 

IV. Mundus Stone

TL;DR: If your Crit Damage Modifier is at least ~10% greater than your Critical Chance without any Mundus Stone, use the Thief.

This usually means that all races should run Thief while it’s possible for Khajiit to run Shadow in some cases.
You can calculate your Crit Damage Modifier pretty easily:

First option: Base 50% + 10% Hemorrhage + 12% Beast Trap + 9% Precise Strikes = 81%
Second option: Hit a mob. Critical Damage / Normal Damage -1 (e.g. Light Attack does 2799 normal, 5066 crit. 5066/2799-1 = 0,81)

 

V. Potions

The main DPS setup of this build uses Potions (Essence of Weapon Damage) to get the Major Brutality (20% Weapon Damage), Major Savagery (10% Weapon Crit) and 20% Stamina Regeneration all the time without having to use Evil Hunter, Drain Power, Flying Blade or Momentum. To get 100% Portion uptime, you have to skill the “Medicinal Use” passive in Alchemy. I use this potions for all Trials including Maelstrom Arena.

This is quite expensive for many players, so I will also show you ways to play without constant potion usage and save some money in situations where you don’t have to give 100%. Just be aware that if you want to squeeze out the last bit of DPS, you’ll have to have those Potions available.

 

VI. CHAMPION POINTS

There is always some discussion about that topic but realistically, some can be calculate exactly, some are preference. I will give you some templates to can aim for which I think work best for me. I work with this Website of @Asayre to calculate and adept to our current raid setup. It highly depends on your group setup how many points in Penetration is required for example. Also note that vs Single Target only or raw AoE encounters, there are better options. This setup works very good for both scenarios.

Template for 90 Champion Points:

• Green – The Tower: 30 Warlord
• Red – The Lady: 14 Hardy, 14 Elemental Defender, 2 Thick Skinned
• Blue – The Ritual: 20 Mighty, 3 Precise Strikes, 7 Thaumaturge, 0 Piercing

Template for 225 Champion Points:

• Green – The Tower: 45 Warlord // The Lover: 30 Mooncalf
• Red – The Lady: 35 Hardy, 35 Elemental Defender, 5 Thick Skinned
• Blue – The Ritual: 49 Mighty, 8 Precise Strikes, 16 Thaumaturge, 2 Piercing

Template for 315 Champion Points:

• Green – The Tower: 75 Warlord // The Lover: 30 Mooncalf
• Red – The Lady: 50 Hardy, 50 Elemental Defender, 5 Thick Skinned
• Blue – The Ritual: 66 Mighty, 12 Precise Strikes, 21 Thaumaturge, 6 Piercing
  

Template for 501 CP

• Green – The Tower: 100 Warlord // The Lover: 53 Mooncalf // The Shadow: 13 Tumbling, 1 Shadow Ward
• Red – Lady: 78 Hardy, 78 Elemental Def, 11 Thick Skinned
• Blue – The Ritual: 93 Mighty, 22 Precise Strikes, 44 Thaumaturge, 8 Piercing

In general, Warlord and the damage reduction stars from the Lady are the most “rewarding” things to put points in. But there are very good passive stars which require to put points into specific constellations like “Synergizer” in the Lover constellation.

In case you wonder why I didnt split the blue CP 50:50 between Mighty and Thaumaturge. There is a tipping point where you basicly get 0.2% increase per point on both. So when that happens, it’s better to keep stacking into Mighty as this buffs Light/Heavy Attacks, Killer’s Blade and Steel Tornado.

 

VII. GEAR

Now we dig in deep. First we discuss the optimal raid setup and then we find out what’s the best gear setup for you.

OPTIMIZED RAIDS
In a raid environment, you want to support your team rather than to go for your personal best performance. The following sets are awesome for your group and if your raid does not have one of them, you should consider being the one to use it:

1. Roar of Alkosh: Penetration Value: 3010 Armor and Spell Resistance => 6,02% Damage Increase for the whole raid. Drops in Maw of Lorkay.
2. Sunderflame: Penetration Value: 3360 Armor => 6,72% Damage Increase for all Stamina users. Drops in City of Ash, CP140.
3. Night Mother’s Gaze: Penetration Value: 2580 Armor => 5,16% Damage Increase for all Stamina users. Craftable.

Those sets combined with Major Fracture (5280 Armor), Minor Fracture (1320 Armor) and Crushing Enchant (1622 Armor) do give a raid a total of 17172 Armor Penetration = 34,34% Damage Increase.

Most bosses do have 18000 Armor, which means with this setup, your enemies are basically naked. That means you dont need to put a lot of points into the Penetration CP or use Sharpened Weapons in this kind of raid.

A very strong “Supporter Setup” that fits into this guide perfectly is “5x Roar of Alkosh, 5x Night Mother’s Gaze, Maelstrom Weapons“. Sunderflame is usually best used as a DK, combined with Mephala. If a StamDK uses the Morag Tong Set, you also benefit from 10% additional poison damage.

Due to Aggressive Warhorn, Weapon Crit is highly effective in optimized raids so you want to run 7 Medium. If your raid doesnt feature all those nice sets, use Sharpened over Precise on Weapons as the new Sharpened trait is insanely strong.

 

 RAID SETUP

TL;DR:

• Single Target: Axe + Dagger
• AoE: Double Dagger
• Boss with Adds: Axe + Dagger
• Only use Precise Weapons if your group is able to penetrate 15k armor or more.

 

 

Replacements:

[spoiler]

If you only have access to crafted gear, use 5 NMG and 4 Kvatch Gladiator (Head, Shoulder, Weapons).

For Night Mother’s Gaze:
If someone else in your group is running NMG, use another buff set I mentioned in the “optimized raid” section. If all buff sets are already taken, use:

(1) Twice Born Star: 7 Medium, Divines Traits, Stamina Enchants
Having access to the Shadow Mundus in additon to Thief buffs your DPS in optimized raids greatly due to the mechanic of Aggressive Warhorn. While the tooltip says it buffs your Crit Damage by 30%, it is actually multiplied with your own Crit Damage Modifier, meaning the more Crit Damage you have, the more benefit you get from Warhorn. This makes Twice Born a solid choice for the very best raid groups. Craftable.

(2) Hunding’s Rage: 7 Medium, Divines Traits, Stamina Enchants
The classic set, best in slot if buff sets are taken and your raid doesnt have a solid Warhorn rotation. Also great if you already run the Shadow Mundus. Craftable.

(3) Flanking Strategist: 7 Medium, Divines Traits, Stamina Enchants
A new Set in the Dark Brotherhood DLC. Basically Hunding’s Rage but more situational as you have to be behind the target. I didnt test this set, yet but there are many encounters where you can be behind the boss most of the time. For AoE, I think it’s not that good. Drops from Gold Coast World bosses.

 

For Spawn of Mephala:
Mephala is both, a great DPS increase especially against multiple targets and a way to sustain really easily without having to rely on Templar as you have to use a Heavy Attack every 10s. If you dont have this Monster Set yet, use this:

(1) Vicious Ophidian, Divines, Stamina Enchants
If you use the Jewelry already, you can use 2 additional parts of the set to gain access to the awesome 5pc bonus. That way, you have a very nice allround setup that is good vs bosses and trash. Drops in Sanctum Ophidia.

(2) Roar of Alkosh, Divines, Stamina Enchants
If you use the Jewelry already, you can use 2 additional parts of the set to gain access to the awesome 5pc bonus. It deals a ton of damage and helps the whole group. Drops in Maw of Lorkhaj.

(3) Valkyn Skoria, Medium, Divines, Stamina Enchants
This is a bit better than Mephala IF you only fight against a single target AND you fight a mobile encounter. With Rapid Strikes, basically your whole rotation consists of skills that are able to procc Skoria. In Raids, the fire procc gets buffed from Engulfing Flames as soon as a Magicka DK is part of the group. It’s a slot and forget option that doesnt require you to adept to anything. It just…proccs and does damage Head drops in City of Ash, Shoulders from Undaunted Daily Chests.

(4) 1 Molag Kena, 1 Blood Spawn, Medium, Divines, Stamina Enchants
A classic combo to gain some extra Weapon Damage as well as Stamina Regen. You could also use a Monster Set with HP Bonus instead of Blood Spawn if you struggle to survive. Kena drops in White Gold Tower, Blood Spawn drops in Spindleclutch.

 

For Agility Jewelry:
The Agility Set is a great VR16 Jewelry that gives 50% more stats than “normal” sets. It makes a huge difference as it’s basicly 3 Set bonuses (1.5 times 2).

(1) Roar of Alkosh / Vicious Ophidian, Robust, Weapon Damage
Whenever you fight a Boss, use this Juwelry as you get 5% extra damage vs. Bosses. That’s really strong and better than Agility usually. If the encounter features a ton of adds, you might have to test what’s best. It’s also an option to run 5pc of those sets (adding Shoulder and Head) Alkosh drops in Maw of Lorkhaj and Vicious Ophidian in Sanctum Ophidia.

(2) Endurance, Robust, Weapon Damage Enchant
Especially when you have sustain/survivability issues or you dont have the money to buy agility, you should check out this Set. If you still have sustain issues, Swap some Weapon Damage Enchants to Cost Reduction. Drops in Imperial City Treasure Vaults.

 

For Maelstrom Bow:
(1) Master’s Bow, Infused Trait
It’s still a decent choice considering with my setup, there is no way to incorporate this Weapon Slot in a set bonus. So you would have to run a random V16 Bow or this Master’s Bow which at least give you a solid amount of Weapon Damage vs targets affected by Poison Injection. Drops in Veteran Dragonstar Arena.

 

For Maelstrom Dual Wield:
(1) Leki Daggers, Sharpened or Precise, Weapon Damage Enchant Mainhand, Poison Offhand
Not gonna lie, this is a pretty noticeable DPS decrease. But you are in a decent spot to farm Maelstrom Weapons with these daggers. Also if you run Surprise Attacks instead of Rapd Strikes, always use those daggers. Rewards of the Worthy in Cyrodiil. 

If you dont have Leki, it’s okay to use a crafted Weapon Set with Crit Chance. Remember +Weapon Damage > +Weapon Criticial > Stamina as a rule of the thump.

[/spoiler]

 

SOLO PLAY

For solo play, small group content or non perfect raid setups, you want Sharpened Weapons. I also swap to 5/1/1 Medium, Heavy Chest, Light Belt Armor instead of 7 Medium as the extra Stats are more beneficial than the extra crit outside of raids.

I still do solo content with Surprise Attack instead of Rapid Strikes. Whenever you swap to Surprise Attack, dont use MSA Daggers/Axes but “normal” ones like Leki. The new Enchants like +Weapon Damage, Crushing and Poison are insanely strong and way better than the raw Weapon Damage Set bonus you get from MSA Dual Wield. They are also better than Poisons.

If you are still leveling, I suggest using the Training trait on all of your gear.

 

VETERAN MAELSTROM ARENA

For Veteran Maelstrom Arena, I use 5x Twice Born Star, 5x Vicious Ophidian (5/1/1, Heavy Chest, Light Belt, all Divines, all Stamina enchanted, Ring/Neck with Weapon Damage) and 2 Leki Daggers (Sharpened, + Weapon Damage and Crushing Glyphs).

Instead of Vicious Ophidian, 3x Agilily Juwelry and a Monster Set Combo (2x Mephala or 1x Molag Kena/1x Blood Spawn) does work as well.

3x Endurance Juwelry with all Weapon Damage Enchants is also quite good especially if you dont run TBS because of the exta HP.

Hunding’s Rage would be a good replacement for TBS. NMG not so much because penetration only buffs our offence while Stamina, Weapon Damage, Crit and Crit Damage also buffs our heals.

 

VIII. Skills

Certain bosses require certain skills, but in general, this works :). I will also list alternatives.

This is the skill set I mostly use when playing end game raid content and anything that requires maximum DPS. You need to use Essence of Weapon Damage Potions all the time with this setup.

[spoiler]

DUAL WIELD

Killer’s Blade: [Assassination – Assassin’s Blade] Our main execute skill I use from 25% to 0%. We use it when we dont have to reapply our “execute Dots”.

Rapid Strikes: [Dual Wield – Flurry] This build’s main spam ability is Rapid Strikes in raids. It proccs the Cruel Flurry Enchant from our Maelstrom Weapons which buffs the next Single Target Dot we apply. We always use it in between dots. It got buffed greatly in this DLC so DPS wise, it’s better than Surprise Attack…which is ok as Rapid Stikes is only damage while Surprise Attack does have way more utility.
REPLACEMENT: Surprise Attack: [Shadow – Veiled Strike] Without MSA Weapons, I still like Surprise Attack as you get great defence with Shadow Barrier (5280 Armor/Spell Resistance), Major Fracture and 3% more HP. It has a ton of benefits…just not THE highest DPS anymore.

Rending Slashes: [Dual Wield – Twin Slashes] It is also a great DOT which you have to keep up all the time. It’s also a really cheap skill which is good for your Stamina Management. Like any DW Skill, it starts getting stronger against targets below 25%.

Steel Tornado: [Dual Wield – Whirlwind] Not much needs to be said about that. It is THE STRONGEST AoE in the game for Stamina users. It has insane range, making it easy to dance around red circles and still hit every mob in a trash pack. When the enemies are below 25%, the damage really gets out of hands.
REPLACEMENT: Any Fighter’s Guild or Assassination Skill for the passive 3% Weapon Damage or 2% Crit Chance.

Relentless Focus: [Assassination – Grim Focus]  8% more damage plus additional Stamina Regeneration. This skill is really valuable. I also like to use the Spectral Bow whenever I swap to my bow bar and see that it’S ready. It’s basicly damage without having to spend resources and it hits pretty hard now that it deals Disease Damage and scales with Weapon Damage and Stamina.

Flawless Dawnbreaker: [Fighters Guild –  Dawnbreaker] 5% more Weapon Damage (+3 from the passive), low cost, high physical damage. I love the other morph as well but against encounters with no or very few adds, I still stick with Flawless. Especially in optimized groups, Dawnbreaker of Smiting is the hardest hitting ultimate for us. The DOT of this ultimate can be buffed by Maelstrom Dual Wield Weapons.
REPLACEMENT: Soul Harvest: [Assassination – Death Stroke] Vs Trash and bosses with many adds, I use Soul Harvest to gather Ulti really fast and spam Shooting Stars.

BOW:

Rearming Trap: [Fighter’s Guild – Beast Trap] Rearming Trap is the best single target Dot atm. The only weakness is that its stationary so for the full effect, the boss has to stand still. But it’s a must have in every rotation now. It also doesnt consume the cruel flurry buff from Maelstrom Daggers which means you get a free buff then you play the correct rotation.

Poison Injection: [Bow – Poison Arrow] Another Single Target Dot for our MSA Weapon Rotation. Great DPS especially from 50-0%.

Endless Hail: [Bow – Volley] Insane AoE Dot that you should also keep up vs Single Target mobs. Especially with a Maelstrom Bow, this becomes super strong. Arrow Barrage has a slightly bigger range so if you dont have a Maelstrom bow, you might be better off using the other morph. Endless Hail has a longer duration which synergizes very well with the Maelstrom Enchant. Also it’s great that Poison Injection and Endless Hail both have the same duration for optimal weapon swaps.

Razor Caltrops: Strong Stamina based Dot, huge Area of Effect, super long duration. Keep this buddy up 24/7. Anti-Cavalry Caltrops is actually better vs bosses and in longer fights but since most mobs are dead in less than 30s, I think it’s overall the better morph atm. Only one person can use Caltrops in a specific area. So if you run with multiple Stamina DPS players, you have to decide who’s allowed to use it.
REPLACEMENT: Bombard [Bow – Arrow Spray] if you need to CC Trash/Adds in vMoL for example or Shadow Silk [Undaunted – Trapping Webs] to give the Alkosh User another Synergy and because it’s actually pretty strong Focused Aim [Bow – Snipe] might also be an option sometimes.

Siphoning Attacks: [Siphoning – Siphoning Strikes] With Rapid Strikes as main spam skill, you will not get a lot of resources back from this in Single Target fights. In AoE fights, you still gain a good amount of Stamina back thanks to Steel Tornado. It just doesnt procc from DOTs anymore. Still too good to skip most of the times.
REPLACEMENT: Reaper’s Mark [Assassination – Mark Target] As Rapid Strikes doesnt provide Major Fracture anymore, this can be a source for that debuff. But usually the Tank applies it as well. It also grants a great Heal on kill plus 25% damage boost for 5s.

Soul Harvest: [Assassination – Death Stroke] While executing, you can use Soul Harvest to boost your final Damage especially if the boss will die before you can get 100 Ultimate for Dawnbreaker.
REPLACEMENT: Shooting Star: [Mage’s Guild – Meteor] Hits very hard and regenerates some Ultimate which is great vs multiple mobs. It’s also fire damage which means in raids, it’s buffed by Engulfing Flames.

[/spoiler]

 

ROTATION:

## UPDATE ## I took the rotation from this Thread as it is better than my original rotation. That’s because of the way it exploits the fact that Beast Trap does not consume Cruel Flurry.

I made a short video to showcase my old rotation. I will make a new video soon:

 

In every rotation, I use Light Attack Weaving for every skill I use, even buffs. I also block cancel or swap cancel the animation of most of my skills.

1) Buff Relentless Focus, Siphoning Attacks
2) Essence of Weapon Damage, Razor Caltrops, Endless Hail, Poison Injection, Beast Trap, SWAP
3) (If Mephala: Heavy Attack), Rapid Strikes, Rending Slashes, Rapid Strikes, Flawless Dawnbreaker, Assassin’s Scourge, Relentless Focus, Rapid Strikes until Poison Injection is about to run out, SWAP
4) Beast Trap, Endless Hail, Poison Injection, SWAP
5) GoTo 3.

Keep Relentless Focus and Caltrops up. Always use Rapid Strikes before you reapply your DOTs (Beast Trap doesnt consume the Buff you get from Rapid Strikes (“Cruel Flurry”) but it does benefit from it. That’s why we use Endless Hail between Beast Trap and Poison Injection). Also use Rapid Strikes before you use Flawless Dawnbreaker. If every Dot is running, you have a little window where you spam 2-3x Rapid Strikes. When your target is below 25%, you use Killer’s Blade in this time window only. KEEP THE FOLLOWING DOTS UP even when executing: Beast Trap, Endless Hail, Poison Injection.

 

This is the skill set that works for people that are not interested in squeezing out the last bit of DPS in 4 player content like undaunted pledges.

[spoiler]

DUAL WIELD

Killer’s Blade: [Assassination – Assassin’s Blade] Our main execute skill I use from 25% to 0%.

Surprise Attack: [Shadow – Veiled Strike] If you run this setup, you most likely dont have MSA Weapons. We also skip 1 Dot of the standard rotation and in a daily group, it’s not sure that everyone knows what he or she is doing. So I use Surprise Attack here.

Rearming Trap: [Fighter’s Guild – Beast Trap] Rearming Trap is the best single target Dot atm. The only weakness is that its stationary so for the full effect, the boss has to stand still. But it’s a must have in every rotation now.
REPLACEMENT: Resolving Vigor: [Assault – Vigor] If you use this setup to roam around, like killing Wrotgar Bosses, having a heal is nice.

Evil Hunter: [Fighter’s Guild – Expert Hunter] Grants 10% crit and 3% extra Weapon Damage. Never us it.

Power Extraction: [Siphoning – Drain Power] It now deals Disease Damage, grats Major Brutality and as a Siphoning Ability, you gain Ulti pretty fast. No need for Steel Tornado really if you dont need the last bit of execute DPS.

Flawless Dawnbreaker: [Fighters Guild –  Dawnbreaker] 5% more Weapon Damage (+3 from the passive), low cost, high physical damage. I love the other morph as well but against encounters with no or very few adds, I still stick with Flawless. Especially in optimized groups, Dawnbreaker of Smiting is the hardest hitting ultimate for us. The DOT of this ultimate can be buffed by Maelstrom Dual Wield Weapons.
REPLACEMENT: Soul Harvest: [Assassination – Death Stroke] Vs Trash and bosses with many adds, I use Soul Harvest to gather Ulti really fast and spam Shooting Stars.

BOW:

Siphoning Attacks: [Siphoning – Siphoning Strikes] With Rapid Strikes as main spam skill, you will not get a lot of resources back from this in Single Target fights. In AoE fights, you still gain a good amount of Stamina back thanks to Steel Tornado. It just doesnt procc from DOTs anymore. Still too good to skip most of the times.
REPLACEMENT: Reaper’s Mark [Assassination – Mark Target] As Rapid Strikes doesnt provide Major Fracture anymore, this can be a source for that debuff. But usually the Tank applies it as well. It also grants a great Heal on kill plus 25% damage boost for 5s.

Poison Injection: [Bow – Poison Arrow] Another Single Target Dot for our MSA Weapon Rotation. Great DPS especially from 50-0%.

Endless Hail: [Bow – Volley] Insane AoE Dot that you should also keep up vs Single Target mobs. Especially with a Maelstrom Bow, this becomes super strong. Arrow Barrage has a slightly bigger range so if you dont have a Maelstrom bow, you might be better off using the other morph. Endless Hail has a longer duration which synergizes very well with the Maelstrom Enchant. Also it’s great that Poison Injection and Endless Hail both have the same duration for optimal weapon swaps.

Razor Caltrops: Strong Stamina based Dot, huge Area of Effect, super long duration. Keep this buddy up 24/7. Anti-Cavalry Caltrops is actually better vs bosses and in longer fights but since most mobs are dead in less than 30s, I think it’s overall the better morph atm. Only one person can use Caltrops in a specific area. So if you run with multiple Stamina DPS players, you have to decide who’s allowed to use it.
REPLACEMENT: Bombard [Bow – Arrow Spray] if you need to CC Trash/Adds in vMoL for example or Shadow Silk [Undaunted – Trapping Webs] to give the Alkosh User another Synergy and because it’s actually pretty strong Focused Aim [Bow – Snipe] might also be an option sometimes.

Relentless Focus: [Assassination – Grim Focus] 8% more damage plus additional Stamina Regeneration. This skill is really valuable. I also like to use the Spectral Bow whenever I swap to my bow bar and see that it’S ready. It’s basicly damage without having to spend resources and it hits pretty hard now that it deals Disease Damage and scales with Weapon Damage and Stamina.

Shooting Star: [Mage’s Guild – Meteor] Hits very hard and regenerates some Ultimate which is great vs multiple mobs. It’s also fire damage which means in raids, it’s buffed by Engulfing Flames. I usually use it in the beginning of the fight and in sitations where burst is required. Otherwise, I tend to use Flawless mid fight vs single targets or mobile targets.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler]

DUAL WIELD

Killer’s Blade: [Assassination – Assassin’s Blade] Our main execute skill I use from 25% to 0%. Also a great heal you need.

Surprise Attack: [Shadow – Veiled Strike] In MSA, you need DPS AND survival. The raw utility of Surprise Attack hugely outweights the superior DPS of Rapid Strikes. You want to use Surprise Attack for Major Fracture, Shadow Barrier and additional HP. Also Surprise Attack proccs Siphoning Attacks which is a big help for your Stamina Management.

Ambush: [Assassination – Teleport Strike] Mobility is key in MSA. Ambush is even more: Mobility, Stun and Empower. Great!

Steel Tornado: [Dual Wield – Whirlwind] I dont use AoE a lot but sometimes, you need it. Dont forget to use Siphoning Attacks before using it.

Resolving Vigor: [Assault – Vigor] Our main heal.

Soul Harvest: [Assassination – Death Stroke] MSA has a ton of trash and we want to use Soul Tether pretty frequently. Also a burst option vs many bosses to finish them off quickly.

BOW:

Siphoning Attacks: [Siphoning – Siphoning Strikes] You gain a good amount of Stamina back thanks to Steel Tornado and Surprise Attack. Keep it up all the time.

Poison Injection: [Bow – Poison Arrow] A sick skill to combo with a heavy attack vs a spawning mob and to execute bosses really fast. Can also be a semi good ranged anytimer.

Endless Hail: [Bow – Volley] Insane AoE Dot that you should also keep up vs Single Target mobs. Especially with a Maelstrom Bow, this becomes super strong. Arrow Barrage has a slightly bigger range so if you dont have a Maelstrom bow, you might be better off using the other morph. Endless Hail has a longer duration which synergizes very well with the Maelstrom Enchant. Also it’s great that Poison Injection and Endless Hail both have the same duration for optimal weapon swaps.

Double Take: [Assassination – Blur] I love it, some hate it. I like the evasion part as well as the speed. Some people prefer using a bow dodge roll for speed, I just like to spend Magicka for that.
REPLACEMENT: Rearming Trap: [Fighter’s Guild – Beast Trap] is great to place down on portals. Just a bit more offensive.

Relentless Focus: [Assassination – Grim Focus] 8% more damage plus additional Stamina Regeneration. This skill is really valuable. I also like to use the Spectral Bow whenever I swap to my bow bar and see that it’S ready. It’s basicly damage without having to spend resources and it hits pretty hard now that it deals Disease Damage and scales with Weapon Damage and Stamina.

Soul Tether: [Siphoning – Soul Shred] AoE stun and heals. Pretty good. Stunned targets receive extra damage

[/spoiler]

 

IX. FAQ

Here, i want to tackle frequently asked questions I have to answer a lot on a daily base

(1) Can I run X skill instead of Y?
Sure! My guide is a general framework that works in most cases, but if you feel you need another skill in a certain situation, you can surely swap around stuff and look if it works better for you.

(2) Why do you have more/better stats than me?
First off, I’m Imperial, which means I get 12% extra HP and 10% extra Stamina. Also, I have maxed Champion Points. Every Champion Point you spend gives you extra stats (Red= HP, Green = Stamina, Blue = Magicka).

(3) How do I get 18k HP? Should I use Prismatic Enchants?
My prefered way to get to 18k HP is via attribute points. That way, you can get exactly to the value you want and you don’t have to juggle around with Enchants or use Healthy Traits on Jewelry. Dont use Prismatic Enchants in PvE. They are expensive and only benefical if you have a good use from Magicka, which we dont have in PvE.

(4) Why is my damage so low compared to yours? I have the same gear and the same skills!
First off, DPS is a group effort. Check the “optimized group” part of my guide for more details. If you dont have a good team, your DPS will be lower by default. Also, this is my build I practised A TON to play it the way I do. Dont get discouraged if you cant compete with my DPS on the first try…or the first week. Practise your rotation, your light attack weaving and your block canceling. Also learn the encounters you are facing. The better you know the boss you’re fighting, the more you can concentrate on your DPS and less on the environment.

(5) Why have you thrown away your maces?
Sharpened got buffed quite a bit in  this DLC so there is no need to run a mace anymore in PvE. Also with a good group, you can stack a ton of Armor Penetration. Third reason is that most mobs do have 18k Armor now which is pretty low.

(6) Why not a sword?
Swords do not compare to daggers anymore. With all the Crit Damage Modifiers we have now, 5% extra crit increases our damage more than the 2.5% extra damage you get from swords. In PvP, I could see a sword being better than a dagger because you cant crit on Damage Shields.

(7) All Divines? Why not Infused on the big pieces?
While it depends on the Mundus Stone you use, I calculated that for the Shadow, Thief and the Warrior Mundus, Divines gives me more DPS than Infused, even on big parts. Not much else to say.

(8) 5/1/1 or 7 Medium?
I prefer 5/1/1 in solo play. Especially as Imperial, extra Stats are usually pretty good beneficial. Also I really like the additional Armor and Spell Resistance I get from the heavy chest piece. In raids, the extra crit from 7 Medium is usually better.

(9) Can I play bow as main weapon with this build?
There are actually quite a few options to run a bow build now. While bow works with the gear I use, It’s not nessessarly the best. This build is designed for melee combat mainly.

(10) What about the Viper Set?
The proc doesnt scale with Weapon Damage or Stamina, only Penetration, CP and Crit Damage Modifier. It also only works on Single Targets. Its a great set if you have low DPS as you have a quaranteed dps increase of a fixed value. Lets say you only fight a single target in a mediocre group, then the set is good.

(11) What Addons do you use?
Here is a Screenshot of my UI with the most important Addons displayed.

 

X. LEVELING CHAMPION

Since many players want tips to level up their Nightblades, I give you some general hints for that. Note that this guide is mainly focused on end game PvE so I will not go into too much detail here:

[spoiler]

Gear
Always use 5 Medium, 1 Light and 1 Heavy to level up all Armor classes. If you craft the gear, use training on the heavy chest and light belt. You can use the same gear setup as I suggested for PvE in the upper section, just use a crafted shoulder and a bow from the Night Mother’s Gaze Set. At lower levels, 2x precise daggers should give you better results as your crit chance in general will be quite low compared to “end game”.

Skills
I highly recommend leveling all weapon lines and all skills at least to be able to morph them. You might need them in the future. It’s a pain sometimes when leveling but it pays off in the end.

I suggest a skill setup like this:
DW: Killer’s Blade, Surprise Attack, Power Extraction, Reaper’s Mark, Evil Hunter, Soul Harvest
Bow: Siphoning Attacks, Double Take, Venom Arrow, Bombard, Relentless Focus, Soul Tether

Tricks
Healing via Killing: while we have limited options to heal directly in combat, we have strong “heal on kill” mechanics we can use to effectively kill groups of mobs. Mark the weakest mob in a group with Reaper’s Mark and start fighting. When you feel like you need healing, focus this mob down with Surprise Attack + Killer’s Blade. As soon as he dies, your HP will be full again. Then you can mark another target that is about to die.

Avoid damage: Stamina Nightblades are not heavy armored and we often cant just run into a group of mobs and brute force them down. We have a ton of tactical advantages. With Blur and it’s morphs, we can avoid 20% of incoming damage completely. Also we have Dark Shades or Mass Hysteria to reduce the damage of a mob by 15%. That’s cool already.

But how about avoiding 100%? Welcome to kiting! With a Bow, you can kite single mobs with Mangum Shot and groups of mobs with Bombard as long as you have Stamina. Nice combo: Bombard and Steel Tornado. Steel Tornado does additional damage to rooted targets and it has a huge range. So you can run away from slowed mobs and still hit them with Steel Tornado. If they are about to catch you, Bombard again and run while spamming Steel Tornado. Also works nicely with Siphoning Attacks. As soon as you have Caltrops. you can use that instead of Bombard. You can also increase your Movement Speed with Double Take or the Hasty Retreat passive from the bow line.

Block and Dodge: Besides kiting, blocking and dodging heavy hitting attacks is really the key to survive. Whenever you block a heavy attack, make sure to to a heavy attack yourself to knock the opponent down. It doesnt have to be fully charged. Just keep the button pressed for a second and use a skill (Medium Attack Weaving).

Open with a sneak attack on single targets: A fully charged heavy attack from sneak and while you are behind a target does insane damage (2.5x normal damage) and stuns the mob. Most of the time, that gives you a substantial advantage. Also works with a bow heavy attack btw.

Adapt to your situation: If a mob or group is difficult, swap skills to counter them specifically.

[/spoiler]

 

XI. DPS Screens

White Gold Tower: Adjudicator: 41,4k
Imperial City Prison: Flesh Abomination: 39,7k
Sanctum Ophidia Vet: Manticora: 39,3k

 

XII. Theorycraft

 

CRIT AND CRIT DAMAGE BREAKDOWN

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

 

STACKABLE PENETRATION EFFECTS

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

• This topic was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by  Jeckll.