Replies: 494

Hi fellow nightblades,

This is it – my take on Stamina Nightblades for endgame PvE. in this guide, I will stick to Dual Wield and Bow and I’m going to show you how to get competitive DPS with those weapons. The guide is mainly focused for group based endgame PvE. You can use “The Starter” gear Setup to level your Nightblade, but the skill sets I will present are not optimized for a fast leveling experience. This is just one way to achieve it and you have to see it as a general framework. What I’m going to show you does work for me, but you can always tweak stuff here and there to make it more comfortable for you. Also, I will go into detail quite a bit in this guide to make sure people that recently started can understand. So if you’re already a veteran player, you can skip those parts obviously.

As people started to give builds a name, I will go with “Ravaging Blade”. Keep in mind that the patch is still quite young so the build might change over time as I get more experienced.

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.

Update Archive:

[spoiler]

UPDATE: 2015-07-12:
– Tested “Precise Strikes” passive in “The Ritual”.

UPDATE: 2015-07-08:
– Double Potion Trick got fixed. Deleted those tip.

UPDATE: 2015-05-31:
– Deleted the “beast mode” gear. Dont need it anymore. As long as Sharpened Mace give so much Armor Pen, it doesnt make sense to wear anything else. I also updated the Starter Gear to go for Mace.
– Completely redone AoE Skills
– Some updates on Single and Jack of all Trades
– All SPOILER descriptions updated in the Skills Section
– Switched to Camouflaged Hunter as it’s bugged and you can stack the effect to last virtually forever

UPDATE: 2015-05-28:  I added a “Theorycrafting” section for detailed math stuff, also swaped Reaper’s Mark for Evil Hunter due to the tests with Sharpened (Major Fracture reduces your damage). Also added a TL;DR to all my Skill bars to explain the Rotation more clearly.

UPDATE: 2015-05-12: Got rid od the “Jack of all Trades” Gear and added a “Trials Master” Gear for the best Trial Preformance. I did our actual best SO Score (82k points) with this setup. To give you numbers, I get 16-18k on the Manticora with that, depending on eruptions. Also added more emphasis on Poison Injection as the Weapon Damage passive granted by the Master’s bow affects the Dual Wield bar as well after swapping. Redone some of the texts as well and updated the Starter Gear.

UPDATE: 2015-05-07: I have redone the whole Skills Area. Changed Scorched Earth into Arrow Barrage for higher Area of Effect but mainly because it’s physical damage that gets buffed by “Mighty” and “Piercing” in the Champion System. Got rid of Siphoning Attacks in the AoE because with good Templars and Repentance, you dont need SA to sustain. Finally switched to Ice Comet instead of Shooting Star because the Single Target Damage is snightly higher. Also some minor changes and I added a recent DPS Screenshot for Manticora (16.5k DPS) Next up: Will redo Armor sets soon…and add help to level with this build.

UPDATE: 2015-04-05: Swapped Enchants to Crushing/Poison. Got a bit better results at bosses in SO with that. Added DPS Screens of Manticora (12,8k) and Blood Spawn (19k). Now running the following Blue Champion Points: 10 Blade Expert, 1 Precise Strikes, 1 Piercing, Rest Mighty (~35).

UPDATE: 2015-03-27: Redistributed Blue Champion Points. ATM running 10 Precise Strikes and and 30 Mighty. Get a ton more Mighty until you see serious diminishing returns.

UPDATE: 2015-03-21: Added information regarding Surprise Attack. Not only does it give you Shadow Barrier, it also procs Major Facture even out of stealth which means the skill debuffs your target the whole time. Awesome

[/spoiler]

 

Tables of Content:

1. Build Overview
2. Race
3. Stats
4. Mundus Stone
5. Potions
6. Champion Points
7. Gear
   The Trials Master
   The Starter
8. Skills
   Single Target DPS
   AoE DPS
   Jack of all trades
9. General Tips
10. Screens
11. Theorycrafting

 

I. BUILD OVERVIEW

The Ravaging Blade is a melee Stamina based PvE build, specifically designed to be effective in Trials, Veteran Dungeons and Dragonstar Arena. You will use Dual Wield mainly while Bow is your option if you have to stay away from the target for some reasons.

ADVANTAGES

• Amazing single target and AoE DPS with good sustain
• Build in Spell Resistance/Armor Selfbuff as well as Armor Debuff
• Very good defence with high Spell Resistance and Armor
• Roguish playstyle
• Very flexible in terms of weapons and skills
• Easy access with cheap crafted gear, good DPS progression with better setup

DISADVANTAGES

• Harder to master than ranged builds
• Requires good movement and coordination
• Requires constant Potion usage for maximum single target efficiency
• Tricky sustain especially when you have to block/dodge a lot.

 

II. RACE

I think the strongest choice at the moment is Redguard and Imperial. Redguards a monsters when it comes to sustain the very Stamina expensive Rotation this build uses. But the more we can invest into Stamina Cost Reduction and Stamina Regeneration of the Champion System, the less you will have to rely on Redguard passives to sustain the Rotation. The 22% extra Stats you get as Imperial are really strong as well, especially when you have a solid amount of CP (more than 250). A solid Templar Healer to support you with Spear Shards and Repentance will help to prevent running out of Stamina no matter what race you choose. Don’t worry, this build will work with any race and any amount of CP.

 

III. STATS

I think you should not get lower than 18k HP as a DPS for DSA Veteran or Sanctum Ophidia. Get 20k for Hardmodes. I personally prefer 20k all the time, but as Imperial, those Stats are easier to obtain. 18k does work.

Always use blue VR10 buff food for HP and Stamina.

I like putting all my Attribute Points into Stamina and compensate with Gear Enchants to get the HP required but you can do as you like it. Please consider becoming a Werwolf. You gain 15% Stamina Regeneration in human form without any disadvantages. You only get additional Poison damage in Werwolf form – which I never use. Just be a Werwolf in human form all the time.

For DPS, I strongly suggest you take Weapon Damage as your primary stat, followed by Weapon Critical up tp 50%. After that, Stamina gets more important than additional Weapon Crit.

Here are my Stats with The Trials Master Gear and 187 CP. Passives: Spell Shield, Lycanthropy, Boon: The Warrior, Medicinal Use, Soul Siphoner, Emperorship Alliance Bonus, Offensive Scroll Bonus II, Defensive Scroll Bonus II:

 

IV. MUNDUS STONE

I use the Shadow right now, as it gives you the best results as soon as you hit around 50% Crit. Warrior is the better choice below ~ 45% crit, though as you get so vital Weapon Damage. Thx @Asherrion, @Fnoptik, @Alcast for helping me test this.

 

V. Potions

This setup uses Potions (Panacea of Weapon Power) to get the Major Brutality (20% Weapon Damage), Major Savagery (10% crit) and 20% Stamina Regeneration all the time without having to use Evil Hunter, Drain Life or Momentum. To get 100% Portion uptime, you have to skill the “Medicinal Use” passive in Alchemy and get 1 Jewellry Glyph with reduced Potion Cooldown. But be prepared – not everyone can afford to constantly use Potions.

There are good addons that allow you to keybind Potion Slots like Greymind’s Quickslot Bar or Advanced UI.

 

VI. CHAMPION POINTS

I think there is a ton to test left in this section but I feel very comfortable with my allocation. You can vary here, just make sure to get 30 points into the ritual for the extra Weapon Critical and most of your green points into the Warlord.

GREEN:

The Tower: 32 Warlord for 8% Stamina Cost Reduction. This is not a magical number to make things work, I just like straight numbers to calculate and as I happen to need 32 points to get 8%, I have spend those here.

The Lover: After 32 points into the Warlord, I put up to 30 into Mooncalf for additional Stamina Recovery.

Don’t let people fool you. Stamina Cost Reduction is way better than Stamina Recovery. After 30 points in Mooncalf, put all points into Warlord again.

BLUE:

The Ritual: A no-brainer really. Perfect Strikes is awesome so invest your first 30 points into that. Get 1 point into Precice Strikes, 1 point into Piercing, 1 point into Thaumaturge and up to 27 points into Mighty. After that, if you are more into “normal” PvE, putting everything elso into Mighty is cool, for Trials, especially Hardmode, going 10 into Piercing is better as Trial bosses do have a lot of armor. In general, keep pushing Mighty until you get at least 75 points in the Ritual. Later on, you can think about spending more points into Piercing and Thaumaturge.

RED:

The Lady: Hardy, Elemental Defender and Thick Skinned reduce the incoming Damage better than Medium Armor Focus or Spell Shield do. I’m adding points in a 1:1:1 ratio in these passives. Stacking points to be stronger in a certain encounter (additional Poison Resist for the Serpent for example) is also an option, but that’s really hardcore :D.

The Steed: Block Expertise is really good in trials, just dont go all out as you dont need it in all encounters. Put some points into that after you got 75 in the Lady. You can also spend some points into Spell Shield and Medium Armor Focus to get the 30 point passive which is pretty decent.

VII. GEAR

I tried a ton of different stuff and there are other combinations and slight variations that result in kind of similar DPS. The following setups work best for me, but feel free to swap around stuff as you please. I use Alpha Tools to quickly swap Gear and Skills.

 

THE TRIALS MASTER

[spoiler]

This is what I use the majority of time. While there are other setups that provide more Weapon Damage or better stats in general, there are some major benefits in this setup which makes it really strong in trials, especially Hardmodes. First, you cant choose the kind of weapon you want to use. While Daggers work okayish in the normal world because most mobs have very low Armor, in Trials, bosses have a ton of it. As long as Sharpened Mace is bugged, there is no way around it. You have to use it for maximum dps no matter if you’re in a trial or elsewhere. Second, you will require Nirnhorned Gear at the Serpent Hardmode and probably also to learn Mage Hardmode as it’s just easier with a bit more survivability.

This is what I use for competitive Trials.

The core of my Ravaging Blade build is…who would have guessed: The Ravanger Set. I think most people already heared about it as I think every Stamina based DPS build will sooner or later incorporate this set. The 5 piece bonus grats hilarious 728 Weapon Damage as a proc on melee hits. I will show you some tricks to proc this even more often. To be honest – it’s up like 98% of the time. Really – it’s that good. It comes with Jewellry (2 rings, 1 neck) and 2 pieces of Heavy Armor. So we get additional 2% on all stats from the undaunted passive “Undaunted Mettle” as well as additional defence. And we can still get all the benefits from Medium Armor as 5 slots are still available.

You can buy the Ravanger VR14 at the Elite Gear Vendor in Cyrodiil. It costs 248.000 AP per piece. You can ask people how do a lot of PvP to buy them for you.

We take the Hunding’s Rage Set and use the Weapons from that Set, to make sure we can craft a Mace with Sharpened and a Sword with Precise. Testing was done be several indepenent people, all came to the same conclusion: This is atm the best possible weapon setup to do Trials. A Sharpened Mace is bugged atm, giving you over 70% armor penetration instead of 17%. So we have 3 pieces of Armor left and I have those pieces with regular Traits as well as Nirnhorned for the Hardmode boss encounters in AA and SO.

Hunding’s Rage is a crafted Set.

Because we use Hunding’s Rage Weapons, we have 2 armor slots available. I use Morag Tong because if give Weapon Damage and the Trait is better than Red Mountain for example. You will have to run in a Trial eventually, but you never Explore  You could also use Shadow Walker Armor.

The Morag Tong Set is a random drop from Vr14 PvP chests in Cyrodiil. Those chests cost 6.400 AP each but you have to get really lucky to get the pieces you need. I bought mine at the Guild Traders.

I also use the Master’s bow. It’s important to note that the Enchantment (+348 Weapon Damage on targets affected by Poison Arrow) also works if you swap back to your DW bar. So you get a ton of extra Weapon Damage for the duration of Poison Injection while spaming Surprise Attacks

The Master’s bow drops at the last boss of Dragonstar Arena. There is a chance to get a VR13 version in normal mode, but you want to aim for the VR14 version, that only drops in veteran mode. It comes with random traits and you want to get Infused or Precise. Infused is great because it buffs the enchantment.

BONUS-TIP: For Manticora Burst, you’re DPS will be a bit better with 3 Ashen Grip (with the same Weapons as mentioned above), 4 Morag Tong Armor, 5 Ravanger. But 1 Nirnhorned piece is not enough for Serpent Hardmode. Maybe in the future with more CPs. As Manticora doesnt require Nirnhorned, you can improve your DPS with that Setup.

[/spoiler]

 

THE STARTER

[spoiler]

No one starts with all the premiere gear and fear not – you dont have to. Just use the Starter gear and work towards getting better stuff. That’s what MMOs are about, right? Getting those shiny drops You can use the Starter without having to have a ton of Champion Points or something like that. It will give you a solid foundation to get into PvE in ESO.

I chose the Ravanger Jewellry but really, if you are just starting, use anything you like here. A very cheap option is to get 2 Pact/Dominion/Covenant rings. They are common PvP drops and give you some Weapon Crit. Not so bad. Not having a solid ring set at the beginning is no problem. But if you invest money, you can just buy the Ravanger items you need anyways.

The rest are just crafted sets. Hunding’s Rage and Ashen Grip are excellent choices for starting the way of a Stamina Nightblade and you can wear them while leveling as well. Before 1.6, this actually was my raid setup, so you dont have to hide with this stuff. The Mace for the mainhand is mandetory, offhand is Sword or Dagger. The general rule is: If you have more than 50% crit without Daggers, use Swords. Good thing is, the Gear will be useful later on even in competive trial raids 

I chose the crafted gear pieces in a way so that you can slowly swap the Ravanger pieces and Morag Tong for Ashen Grip so that way, you dont have to craft new Hunding’s Rage pieces ever. Exchange the Ashen Grip Legs and Chest with Ravanger and the Belt and Boots with Morag Tong. If you find other pieces of Morag Tong, thats fine as well but then, you’d have to craft another piece of Hunding’s Rage.

First thing you want to invest in are the Ravanger Pieces. Start with rings and Jewellry and get the 2 armor pieces afterwards. That is already a very good overall. There are also lower VR versions of the Ravaging Set which are extremely cheap. So if you’re kind of low on money and AP, consider those to get things started. After the Jewelry, get the remaining 2 Ravanger Armor pieces (Legs/Chest). Last thing on your ToDo List are the Morag Tong Items.

[/spoiler]

 

VIII. SKILLS

I will give you some ideas for good skill combinations that I tested and found very effective. Keep in mind that I switch around skills quite a bit to adept to the encounter ahead. I use Alpha Tools to quickly swap Gear and Skills. I know many of you guys do not have access to Caltrops. I highly suggest making it a project to get it. It adds a lot to any Stamina based build. Until then, feel free to add some utility skill you might find useful to help the raid like Shades, Circle of Protection or something like that.

This build’s main spam ability is Surprise Attack. This ability might be the best Stamina based Skill in the game right now (go away, Wrecking Blow!) for the following reasons: It does more damage than Rapid Strikes while procing Shadow Barrier (5120 Spell Resistance and Armor for 6s) and Major Fracture (5120 Armor Reduction for 17.3s). Yes that’s right, it grants the Armor debuff even out of stealth. For the whole group! Granted most of the time, the tank has  Puncture up which doesnt stack but there are also times where the tank has to use Inner Beast or you’re fighting an add that is not debuffed by default.

SINGLE TARGET DPS

Rotation:
Relentless Focus, Camouflaged Hunter, Panacea of Weapon Power, Ice Comet, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Poison Injection – SWAP – Rending Slashes, Surprise Attack
Use Spectral Bow 1s before Relentless Focus runs out, keep Rending Slashes up, keep Caltrops up, Refresh Poison Injection whenever you swap for Ice Comet or Caltrops. From 50%-0%, keep Poison Injection up all the time. From 25%-0%, use Killer’s Blade without Light Attacks.

[spoiler]

Killer’s Blade: The main Execute skill I use from 25% to 0%. Dont Light Attack weave that skill. Just spam it. It’s really cheap.

Surprise Attack: This build’s main spam ability is Surprise Attack. This ability might be the best Stamina based Skill in the game right now (go away, Wrecking Blow!) for the following reasons: It does more damage than Rapid Strikes while procing Shadow Barrier (5120 Spell Resistance and Armor for 6s) and Major Fracture (5120 Armor Reduction for 17.3s). Yes that’s right, it grants the Armor debuff even out of stealth. For the whole group! Granted most of the time, the tank has  Puncture up which doesnt stack but there are also times where the tank has to use Inner Beast or you’re fighting an add that is not debuffed by default.

Rending Slashes: This DOT is really good and I keep it 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%.

Rapid Strikes: I use it just if my Stamina runs low as a backup skill. If you are a Redguard or you have a ton of Champoin Points, you will never have to use it. I personally dont have to use it anymore but it was helpful in the past. I usually use Steel Tornado here now so you have some AoE for dealing with adds for example. If you use Rapid Strikes, make sure the Heavy Attack Weave with it. To use Rapid Strikes correctly, just keep the left mouse button pressed the whole time and everytime your arm starts to go backwards by starting a heavy attack, press the hotkey for Rapid Strikes.

Relentless Focus: Our primary selfbuff. It gives you 8% extra damage without having to hope for someone keeping Combat Prayer up all the time and you get 10% Stamina Recovery which is always great. I use the Spectral Bow 1 second before the duratation expires and immediately reapply the buff. If you double tab the key, you can get it faster. Also, block canceling Relentless Focus does improve your DPS (use the skill then right click).

Flawless Dawnbreaker: It is only for the passive Weapon Damage increase. Only against Undead or Deadra, you should use Dawnbreaker as active Ultimate.

 

Camouflaged Hunter: I used to use Evil Hunter because you get Stamina back on proc but atm, this morph is bugged and if you kill a few undeads/deadra with this buff enabled, the buffs duration is basicly forever. I think ZOS messed up the timer here, giving extra minutes instead of seconds if you kill an undead/deadra. So until they fix that, I use Camouflaged Hunter. What you can do is farm a few undeads in Coldharbour before the raid and then, you have the buff up for the whole raid without having to reapply it.

Poison Injection: A super strong DOT from 50%-0%. But it also triggers the Master’s Bow enchant, giving you 348 extra Weapon Damage for the duration of Poison Injection. That keeps working if you swap back to your DW bar. If the target is at 50% HP, make sure to keep Poison Injection up all the time. If you have the Master’s bow, refresh Poison Injection every time you have to refresh Caltrops or use your Ultimate as well.

Arrow Barrage: This morph is dealing physical damage, which means it benefits from the “Mighty” passive of the Champion System. I use it mainly when I have to get away from my target for a short time (like Mantikora’s Erruption or the World Shaper at Serpent Hardmode). In that case, use Poison Injection and Arrow Barrage and then run back to the target. Those skills dont slow down your movement speed like Snipe does. But you could use Snipe (Focused Aim) here if you dont have issues with slow movement. I also like it for bosses with adds.

Anti-Cavalry Caltrops: The key to keep the Ravanger proc up all the time. Caltrops deal good damage, have a high initial cost but the duration makes them very effective. Definitely use Anti-Cavalry over Razor. Razor is only okay for encounters shorter that 30s. It’s important to note that only one person in a raid can use Caltrops as the effect doesnt stack atm, which means only one person should use it. Just make sure it’s you :). Ravanger is still worth it if you cant use Caltrops and I would not switch gear. But you will recognize the DPS recrease.

Relentless Focus: It’s just comfortable to have it on both bars but you can be flexible here and slot other things like taunt if you have to do the lamias or other supportive skills.

Ice Comet: It’s the strongest Ultimate for Single Target Encouters atm. Use it as primary active Ultimate. It also triggers the “Empowered” buff, making your next attack stronger. So dont use a Light Attack after using Ice Comet. The other morph is good as well especially against multiple mobs as you get Ultimate back. I think Ice Comet is a bit stronger when it comes to Single Target DPS.

[/spoiler]

AOE DPS

TL;DR: Rotation:
Quick Cloak, Relentless Focus – SWAP -Mark weak target with Reaper’s Mark, Ice Comet, Caltrops, Arrow Barrage, Acid Spray – SWAP – Steel Tornado.

[spoiler]

This setup is mainly for Trashpacks in Sanctum Ophidia. So skip it, if you’re not there yet. I stoped using Siphoning Attacks to Sustain infinitely because advanced groups use Repentence to help the Stamina users sustain without the need of Siphoning Attacks. If your group is not there yet or you dont have a Templar Healer, use Siphoning Attacks (Bar 1 – replace Killer’s Blade, Bar 2 – replace Acid Spray. I keep some Single Target DPS on my Bar in case a troll is out of AoE range for some reason.

Ambush: Sometimes it’s useful to have a gap closer. Dont use a Light Attack afterwards or you’ll waste the damage buff. I prefer Steel Tornado after Ambush

Surprise Attack: To finish off single survivors in AoE packs and to trigger Shadow Barrier if needed.

Steel Tornado: Your main AoE skill.

Quick Cloak: Triggers the Ravanger, gives you a 20% AoE damage reduce and also gives you a nice speed boost.

Relentless Focus: Our primary selfbuff. It gives you 8% extra damage without having to hope for someone keeping Combat Prayer up all the time and you get 10% Stamina Recovery which is always great. I basicly never use Spectral Bow in AoE situations. Also, block canceling Relentless Focus does improve your DPS (use the skill then right click).

Flawless Dawnbreaker: It is only for the passive Weapon Damage increase. Only against Undead or Deadra, you should use Dawnbreaker as active Ultimate.

 

Camouflaged Hunter: I used to use Evil Hunter because you get Stamina back on proc but atm, this morph is bugged and if you kill a few undeads/deadra with this buff enabled, the buffs duration is basicly forever. I think ZOS messed up the timer here, giving extra minutes instead of seconds if you kill an undead/deadra. So until they fix that, I use Camouflaged Hunter. What you can do is farm a few undeads in Coldharbour before the raid and then, you have the buff up for the whole raid without having to reapply it.

Acid Spray: A nice Dot that will become even better as soon as you put some extra points into Thaumaturge. It’s nice for some extra damage at the start of the fight. But I only reapply it if I need to run to  a target out of Steel Tornado range.

Arrow Barrage: Deals physical damage and has a gread area of effect. It’s really strong and I reapply it frequently as long as my targets have more than 25%.

Anti-Cavalry Caltrops: The key to keep the Ravanger proc up all the time. Caltrops deal good damage, have a high initial cost but the duration makes them very effective. Definitely use Anti-Cavalry over Razor. Razor is only okay for encounters shorter that 30s. It’s important to note that only one person in a raid can use Caltrops as the effect doesnt stack atm, which means only one person should use it. Just make sure it’s you :). Ravanger is still worth it if you cant use Caltrops and I would not switch gear. But you will recognize the DPS recrease.

Reaper’s Mark: Just to mark the weakest target before the pull. As soon as that target dies, you get a ton of extra dps for 5s.

Ice Comet: It’s the strongest Ultimate for Single Target Encouters atm. Use it as primary active Ultimate. It also triggers the “Empowered” buff, making your next attack stronger. So dont use a Light Attack after using Ice Comet. The other morph is good as well especially against multiple mobs as you get Ultimate back. I think Ice Comet is a bit stronger when it comes to Single Target DPS.

[/spoiler]

 

THE JACK OF ALL TRADES

TL;DR: Rotation:
The rotation is straight forward really. Start a fight with Relentless Focus, Poison Injection, Caltrops. Then I use Surprise Attacks and Killer’s Blade for Single Target encounters and Arrow Barrage, Sap Essence into mass Steel Tornado for AoE. Not much to explain here. Dont be fooled. Even these simple rotations give me at the very good DPS.

[spoiler]

This is what you can use most of the time. It’s a solid mix of AoE and Single Target skills and doesnt require expensive Potions to give you all the buffs.

Killer’s Blade: The main Execute skill I use from 25% to 0%. Dont Light Attack weave that skill. Just spam it. It’s really cheap.

Surprise Attack: This build’s main spam ability is Surprise Attack. This ability might be the best Stamina based Skill in the game right now (go away, Wrecking Blow!) for the following reasons: It does more damage than Rapid Strikes while procing Shadow Barrier (5120 Spell Resistance and Armor for 6s) and Major Fracture (5120 Armor Reduction for 17.3s). Yes that’s right, it grants the Armor debuff even out of stealth. For the whole group! Granted most of the time, the tank has  Puncture up which doesnt stack but there are also times where the tank has to use Inner Beast or you’re fighting an add that is not debuffed by default.

Steel Tornado: Your main AoE skill.

Sap Essence: I prefer that morph over Power Extraction as it works as a Magicka dump and gives some healing which can help from time to time. Keep it up for the Major Brutality buff all the time.

Camouflaged Hunter: I used to use Evil Hunter because you get Stamina back on proc but atm, this morph is bugged and if you kill a few undeads/deadra with this buff enabled, the buffs duration is basicly forever. I think ZOS messed up the timer here, giving extra minutes instead of seconds if you kill an undead/deadra. So until they fix that, I use Camouflaged Hunter. What you can do is farm a few undeads in Coldharbour before the raid and then, you have the buff up for the whole raid without having to reapply it.

Flawless Dawnbreaker: It is only for the passive Weapon Damage increase. Only against Undead or Deadra, you should use Dawnbreaker as active Ultimate.

 

Relentless Focus: Our primary selfbuff. It gives you 8% extra damage without having to hope for someone keeping Combat Prayer up all the time and you get 10% Stamina Recovery which is always great. I basicly never use Spectral Bow with this. I reapply it between combat mostly.

Poison Injection: A super strong DOT from 50%-0%. But it also triggers the Master’s Bow enchant, giving you 348 extra Weapon Damage for the duration of Poison Injection. That keeps working if you swap back to your DW bar. If the target is at 50% HP, make sure to keep Poison Injection up all the time. If you have the Master’s bow, refresh Poison Injection every time you have to refresh Caltrops or use your Ultimate as well.

Arrow Barrage: This morph is dealing physical damage, which means it benefits from the “Mighty” passive of the Champion System. It also does solid AoE and has a great area of effect.

Anti-Cavalry Caltrops: The key to keep the Ravanger proc up all the time. Caltrops deal good damage, have a high initial cost but the duration makes them very effective. Definitely use Anti-Cavalry over Razor. Razor is only okay for encounters shorter that 30s. It’s important to note that only one person in a raid can use Caltrops as the effect doesnt stack atm, which means only one person should use it. Just make sure it’s you :). Ravanger is still worth it if you cant use Caltrops and I would not switch gear. But you will recognize the DPS recrease.

Ice Comet: It’s the strongest Ultimate for Single Target Encouters atm. Use it as primary active Ultimate. It also triggers the “Empowered” buff, making your next attack stronger. So dont use a Light Attack after using Ice Comet. The other morph is good as well especially against multiple mobs as you get Ultimate back. I think Ice Comet is a bit stronger when it comes to Single Target DPS.

[/spoiler]

 

IX. General Tips for the Ravanging Blade

• Get Caltrops. It’s important for any Stamina based build, especially for the Ravanger. Beware: The Skill is bugged ATM, meaning multiple persons cant use them on the same mob. So if you are in a raid against a single target, make sure to cummunicate who’s the one who uses Caltrops.
• Use your tools to survive. Deadly Cloak for AoE and Surprise Attack for Single Target does make you way stronger in terms of defence than Light Armor Users and some other Stamina users. You will survive longer while receiving damage and therfore deal more damage.
• Stamina management is hard, especially with lower Champion Points and without the Vicious Ophidian. Another way to get decent Stamina Recovery is using a piece of the Blood Spawn Set (Drops in Spindleclutch).
• Farm those Champion points until lvl 90. 12% crit is awesome.
• Use Shards, but also other Synergies. With the undaunted passive, you get resources back for every Synergy you use. Most of them are really strong now in 1.6.
• You cant get close to a boss? You have to play ranged? OOOOKAAAAY. Use Relentless Focus, Focused Aim, Poison Injection and Caltrops. If you dont have the Master’s Bow, start using Poison Injection at 50% boss HP. Swap Flawless Dawnbreaker to the bow bar for that. Best Armor Setup I know for Bow is 5 Hawk’s Eye, 5 Morag Tong and the Master’s bow with tons of points in Thaumaturge instead of Mighty.
• The Weapon Damage buff you get from the Master’s Bow also applies for your DW Bar after you swap.
• A Sharpened Mace gives you around 70% Armor Penentration instead of 17%. ZOS messed up the calculation on that big time. It’s also true that applying a Armor debuff like Puncture or Mark Target can reduce your damage. But that cant be helped, Mace+Sword is still the best.
• Use Flawless Dawnbreaker as Ultimate when fighting undead/deadra.
• Use Camouflaged Hunter: The skill is currently bugged and the additional duration you gain for killing undead/deadra is waaay to long. Like additional minutes instead of seconds. That way, you can farm some undeads before the raid and have the Camo Hunter buff up FOR THE WHOLE RAID TIME without having to reapply it.

 

X. Screens

 

Sanctum Ophidia – Manticora: 18,3k DPS

Spindleclutch – Blood Spawn: 25,6k

Elden Hollow – Bogdan: 25,2k

Aetherian Archive – Varlariel: 18,9k DPS

Sanctum Ophidia – Serpent Hardmode: 14,5k DPS

 

XI. Theorycrafting

 

“Precise Strikes” Passive from “The Ritual”

TL;DR: 1 point in Precise Strikes is the best in terms of return on invest ratio.

[spoiler]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/wWaXUR5.png[/img]

[/spoiler]

 

SHARPENED TESTING

TL;DR: Sharpened Mace does way to much Armor Penetration (>70% instead of 17%). Using a Major Fracture Debuff in a mob when you’ve put CPs into Piercing lowers your damage.

[spoiler]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/EMsBh87.jpg[/img]

Calculation regarding 70% penetration:

First of all, you can confirm a mobs Armor as you know the damage mitigation formula.
This is a parse from a Rift Mammoth, attacked with Flying Blade and 0 pt in Piercing. Offhand is always a dagger with no trait.

Mainhand: Dagger precise: 3533
Mainhand: Mace precise: 3612 (2,23% increased damage)
Mainhand: Mace sharpened: 4078 (15,68% increased damage)

A Rift Mammoth is Vr10, which means 610 Armor migrated 1% damage.
From the parse, we know that a mace precise increases our damage by 2,23% so 610*2,23=1360,3 Armor reduction.
A single mace reduces 10% of the targets armor with means a Mammoth has 13603 Armor.
A Sharpened Mace gives us 15,68% increased damage * 610 = 9564,8 Armor reduction.
If 13603 is 100% armor, 9564,8 is 70,31% of that.

 

[/spoiler]

 

SHADOW vs WARRIOR Mundus

TL;DR: Shadow is better when your crit rating is ~50%.

[spoiler]

Link to math from @Asherrion.
Link to math from @Alcast.

[/spoiler]

 

DAGGER vs SWORD OFFHAND

TLDR: At 50% crit, dagger is SLIGHTLY ahead, the more crit you have, the better sword becomes.

[spoiler]

Basics: 100 hits, 1000 base damage, 50% crit, Crit Modifier 1.68 (Shadow, Hemorrhage, +1 Precise Strikes)

Sword (+2,5% Damage):
1000 normal x 50 hits = 50.000
1680 critical x 50 hits = 84.000

50.000+84.000 = 13400 x 2,5% = 137.350

Dagger (+5% crit):
1000 normal x 45 hits = 45.000
1680 critical x 55 hits = 92.400

45.000 x 92.400 = 137.400

 

Basics: 100 hits, 1000 base damage, 60% crit, Crit Modifier 1.68 (Shadow, Hemorrhage, +1 Precise Strikes)

Sword (+2,5% Damage):
1000 normal x 40 hits = 40.000
1680 critical x 60 hits = 100.800

40.000 + 100.800 = 140.800 x 2,5% = 144.320

Dagger (+5% crit):
1000 normal x 35 hits = 35.000
1680 critical x 65 hits = 109.200

35.000 + 109.200 = 144.200

 

Basics: 100 hits, 1000 base damage, 70% crit, Crit Modifier 1.68 (Shadow, Hemorrhage, +1 Precise Strikes)

Sword (+2,5% Damage):
1000 normal x 30 hits = 30.000
1680 critical x 70 hits = 117.600

30.000 + 117.600 = 147.600 x 2,5% = 151.290

Dagger (+5% crit):
1000 normal x 25 hits = 25.000
1680 critical x 75 hits = 126.000

45.000 + 92.400 = 151.000

[/spoiler]

• This topic was modified 1 day, 23 hours ago by  Jeckll.