Replies: 7
I. Introduction
I wanted a stamina-based tank that I could bring into end-game content – be it new dungeons, trials, or PVP – who would have both the survivability I have come to expect from the Nightblade class, as well as some improved DPS capability, WITHOUT necessarily having to drastically change skills/gear sets. The Imperial City patch changed a number of tanking mechanics, from the removal of stamina regeneration while blocking to the usual round of ability adjustments/redesigns, and I knew this would force me to update my previous setup. Hopefully this guide will be of use to fellow tanks, and perhaps you folks will teach me something new, as you have done in the past.
Pros
- Nearly capped for physical resistance passively
- Respectable passive spell resistance
- Fairly mobile in PVE and PVP
- Good AoE damage
Cons
- Poor (albeit numerous) self-heals
- Definitely a team player (not a 1vX-type build in PVP)
II. Race
Nord is my personal preference. The recent update has given us +30% health regeneration (rather than just 30% more in combat), +9% health (up from +3%), and 6% flat damage reduction (no change here, but still worth mentioning). That being said, I freely admit Nord is also a roleplaying choice (my tank is my main character). Imperial may end up being a better choice due to having more health and more stamina, although you sacrifice the flat damage reduction. Certainly I think any race is more than capable of pulling the build off – others just may require more champion points.
III. Stats
I have opted to put 33 points into health, 31 into stamina. This leaves me with (un-buffed) ~9k magicka, ~24k – 27k (depending on weapon bar), ~17k stamina. With VR10-15 purple food, those numbers increase about 4k – 4.5k. You should aim for at least 30k (buffed) health on your shield and shield bar, and the rest can go into stamina.
[spoiler title="Unbuffed Stats"]
Sword and Shield
[img]http://i.imgur.com/HAsYEBp.png[/img]
Dual Wield
[img]http://i.imgur.com/cCGjahf.png[/img]
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title="Buffed Stats"]
Sword and Shield
[img]http://i.imgur.com/07AlXiE.png[/img]
Dual Wield
[img]http://i.imgur.com/71vbulN.png[/img]
[/spoiler]
IV. Mundus Stone
The Lover (Spell resistance). As I gain more champion points, which will likely be used to further shore up my lower spell resistance, I may switch this to something which will increase my damage.
V. Champion Points
Tested at 141 champion points
Heavy Armor Focus - 30 (6.6% more physical resistance when wearing 5 or more pieces of heavy armor)
Spell Shield - 17 (7.2% more spell resistance)
Mooncalf - 32 (11.3% more stamina regeneration)
Warlord - 15 (5.1% stamina cost reduction)
Mighty - 34 (11.8% more physical damage)
Piercing - 13 (6% armor penetration)
Future points will be devoted to improving:
Spell Shield, and eventually Block Expertise (to reduce the cost of blocking). The Shield Expert passive should be a huge benefit, increasing the armor value of your shield by a whopping 75%.
Warlord to further reduce stamina ability costs, and possibly Tumbling to make dodge rolling and breaking free cheaper.
Mighty and Piercing. 30 points will also be added into the Atronach tree (likely split between Blade Expert and Heavy Weapon Expert) for the 10/30 point passives the tree offers.
VI. Gear
I struggled with gear for a while when working on this build. For as long as I can remember, my tank was rolling around in 5x Hist Bark, 3-4x Alessia’s Bulwark, with Unassailable jewellery. The 5-piece set bonus for Hist Bark, however, was updated so that it now gives Major Evasion – a buff to which Nightblades have access as a class ability. This, combined with my desire to improve the damage output of my tank, lead me to entirely replace Hist Bark with Hunding’s Rage, and swap out Unassailable with Footman’s Fortune to replace the lost physical resistance bonus I was getting from Hist Bark.
[spoiler title="Gear Spreadsheet"]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7vF4f9h.png[/img]
[/spoiler]
5x Hunding’s Rage - This set is a large part of my DPS increase. Providing extra stamina, 2x weapon crit bonuses, and a whopping 299 weapon damage (at vr16 legendary), your enemies are definitely going to feel it when you attack. I had initially worried about not having a defence-oriented 5-piece set bonus, but the addition of Footman’s Fortune (discussed below) and utilizing the Shadow Barrier passive has put that worry to rest.
4x Alessia’s Bulwark - The set provides bonus health and 2x bonus physical resistance. I have always had more success boosting physical resistance over spell resistance, so this seemed the smart choice, rather than picking a set which offered additional spell resistance.
3x Footman’s Fortune - As above, this offers health and bonus physical resistance. I personally think the new Endurance jewellery is gods awful, so I opted for an older set.
Enchantments - 3x VR10-14 purple physical resistance glyphs for the necklace and rings, 4x VR16 legendary health glyphs for the “big” armor pieces (Head, Chest, Legs, Shield), 4x VR16 Purple stamina enchantments for the other armor pieces. I don’t quite have enough money to pour into getting the tri-stat runes at this time, but the current glyphs seem more than adequate. 1x vr16 legendary damage shield enchantment for sword, 2x vr16 legendary unresistible damage for maces. Weapon glyphs can be tailored to personal tastes.
Dual Wield - I have opted for dual wielding defending maces. I dislike the loss of a shield, so defending will help offset that somewhat, and maces increase your armor penetration by 10% each. As our weapon damage is not incredible like DPS builds, I believe this will help us significantly.
Why I Don’t Use Armor Master - In short, I think Armor Master is a fantastic set, but not for Nightblades. We already have a way to proc Major Resolve/Ward (Shadow Barrier via any shadow spell) and Major Evasion (Blur + morphs), so we do not need to slot Immovable/Evasion from the Heavy/Medium armor trees. As described below, you can slot Structured Entropy if you feel like you’re missing the bonus health this set would grant you for having an armor ability slotted.
Why I Don’t Mix Armor Types - I will be blunt. I care how my character looks, and I really enjoy the look of full heavy armor. You can easily replace smaller pieces of gear with light/medium to leverage the Undaunted passives and squeeze another 2-4% magicka/stamina out of your build. Also bear in mind the duration of Shadow Barrier scales based upon the number of heavy armor pieces you wear, capping at 11 seconds in 7/7 heavy armor.
VII. Skills
PVE Bar 1 – Sword and Shield
- Pierce Armor – This is your taunt, and applies Major Fracture and Major Breach. I prefer this over Ransack because I believe a tank should focus on debuffing, and Nightblades have other ways of acquiring the Minor Resolve and Minor Ward buffs.
- Heroic Slash – A cheap, relatively spammable attack which applies Minor Maim and a slow to your enemy, as well as helping to generate ultimate via the Minor Heroism buff.
- Swallow Soul – A cheap, spammable magicka-consuming ability which applies an admittedly small HoT on you, as well as granting Minor Vitality, increasing all healing you receive by 8% while it is slotted.
- Structured Entropy – Yet another damaging magicka spell which applies a HoT, this one also grants you Major Sorcery and increases your maximum health by 8% while slotted.
- Siphoning Attacks – Now only required to be on one bar! The ability is now an active, rather than a toggle, and restores flat values rather than percentages. This is your “I have near-infinite resources” button.
- Veil of Blades – 30% damage reduction while standing in it, and damages your enemies. Also increases your max health by 3% while slotted because of Nightblade passives. Yes, please.
PVE Bar 2 – Dual Wield
- Blood Craze – A DoT which also grants some healing. This slot is highly variable and can be changed as desired or required by the fight (I enjoy replacing it with Flying Blade).
- Steel Tornado – Your AoE execute that can end up hitting like a truck.
- Twisting Path – Minor AoE damage, grants you Major Expedition while you’re standing in it, and also procs Shadow Barrier, granting 5k+ physical and spell resistance for 11 seconds.
- Razor Caltrops – This skill is just wonderful, and is honestly one of the reasons I recommend everyone PVP for a time. It is fairly expensive to cast, but lasts a full 30 seconds, does wonderful damage, and slows enemies caught within.
- Mirage – Major Evasion for 26 seconds and not depending upon blocking (such as from Hist Bark), while also granting Minor Ward/Resolve for the same amount of time. A fully defence-oriented ability that relies on magicka, leaving us more stamina for dealing damage or blocking.
- Soul Harvest – Another variable slot, I tend to keep Soul Harvest here for the passive ultimate generation when killing enemies. Soul Tether is another solid choice, as it grants you some additional CC and the health-siphoning aspect can keep you up through a tough fight.
[spoiler title="Rotations"]
Boss
Mirage -> Siphoning Attacks -> Razor Caltrops -> Run in and drop Twisting Path as you approach -> Taunt -> Heroic Slash. You are now buffed, the boss is now fully debuffed. If the boss is susceptible to it, tack on Blood Craze at the end. From here it becomes a matter of keeping your buffs from falling off while keeping debuffs up on the boss. Shadow Barrier will last 11 seconds, just shy of when twisting path fades. You will also want to throw in the combo of structured entropy -> swallow soul. You will deal damage, apply a Dot, apply two HoTs to yourself, and swallow soul will hit 20% harder. You also no longer have to worry about losing the boss from taunting too frequently, as that particular mechanic was changed (for the better, in my opinion) in the recent patch.
Mobs
Mirage -> Siphoning Attacks -> Razor Caltrops -> Twisting Path as you run in -> Steel Tornado -> Veil of Blades as needed. I am sure there is plenty that could be optimized here, but I often refresh caltrops, twisting path, mirage, and siphoning attacks as they fade while spamming steel tornado (as long as I’m above, say, 20% max stamina) and weaving in light attacks. With siphoning attacks on, this should keep you from running out of stamina completely. Taunt any large, problematic mobs, as needed.[/spoiler]
For my PVP setup, I will only note differences between what is listed above.
PVP Bar 1 – Sword and Shield
- Invasion – A gap closer is very helpful in PVP. I like this morph because of the longer stun. You could also replace this with Ambush, which has a higher stamina cost but is also a teleport, which can help you get over certain terrain. Replaces Heroic Slash.
PVP Bar 2 – Dual Wield
- Flying Blade – I prefer this for PVP because it gives me another ranged ability and grants Major Brutality. Replaces Blood Craze.
- Mass Hysteria – As a Shadow spell, this will also proc Shadow Barrier, and is a wonderful CC. I often hear the words “If you’re a Nightblade not slotting fear, you’re wrong” when I travel around Cyrodiil. Replaces Twisting Path.
I almost never run solo in PVP, although occasionally I am forced (due to time of day) to join pug groups in Cyrodiil. I very much play this build as a way to annoy large groups of enemies while soaking up damage my allies would take. Razor Caltrops, Veil of Blades, and Steel Tornado will make your enemies regret swarming you and prevent them from fleeing effectively. Mass Hysteria will make them easier targets for your allies to pick off. Meanwhile, even if debuffed you should be at the armor hard cap.
I also believe this to be an ideal build to use in Imperial City and its sewers, as you are well equipped to handle enemy players and roaming bosses at the same time.
[spoiler title="Passives"]
All Assassination, Shadow, Siphoning, One Hand and Shield, Dual Wield, Heavy Armor, Fighter’s Guild, Mage’s Guild, Undaunted, and Racial passives should be taken. Some trees/passives worth calling out:
Assassination - More crit chance/damage for our dual wield bar, but nothing for our sword and shield bar.
Shadow - Shadow Barrier alone is fantastic (if you hadn’t gotten that from the rest of the post!). The other passives increase our regeneration rates, grant additional max health per slotted ability, and increase the duration of shadow spells.
Siphoning - Grants us some additional magicka while on our sword and shield bar, as well as increasing our healing done and helping us generate a little bit of ultimate. Does nothing for our dual wield bar, however.
Mage’s Guild - Might of the Guild is useful. After casting Structured Entropy (SE), your next attack hits 20% harder. Useful enough when using the SE -> Swallow Soul combo, you should also be able to follow SE with Veil of Blades and make its damage even more impressive.[/spoiler]
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This topic was modified 2 days, 12 hours ago by
Ralamil. Reason: Added gear spreadsheet
