Why does my nightblade sucks ?

I have found that Nightblade survivability and enjoyment of play is highly dependent upon gear and spec. You can kill insanely fast and survive against packs of 3 mobs even 5-8 levels higher than you if you do it right. Here is what I recommend:

  1. A 3-piece and 4-piece Ashen Grip set:
  • Head - Medium - Infused trait - Stamina enchant

  • Shoulders - Medium - Divines trait - Stamina enchant

  • 1-Handed Weapon (see below) - Precise trait - Flame enchant

  • 1-Handed Weapon (see below) - Precise trait - Poison enchant

  • Bow for second Action Bar - Precise trait - Poison enchant

  1. A 5-piece Hunding's Rage set:
  • Chest - Medium - Infused trait - Stamina enchant

  • Gloves - Medium - Divines trait - Stamina enchant

  • Waist - Medium - Divines trait - Stamina enchant

  • Legs - Medium - Infused trait - Stamina enchant

  • Boots - Medium - Divines trait - Stamina enchant

  1. Rings and Neck — this one depends upon how OCD you are with getting maximum stamina and maximum weapon damage, both of which are going to help tremendously. If you are OCD like me, obtain blue-quality Robust-trait rings and neck if you can get them. Green is sufficient but has less Stamina (the Robust part). If you can obtain jewelry with the Weapon Damage Enchantment, great. If not, buy whatever Robust-trait jewelry you can get and re-enchant it with Weapon Damage. For example, if you can only find Robust with Cold Resistance or Shield-Play, that's fine... you will be overriding that enchant with the Weapon Damage Enchantment.

  2. Attribute Points — either put all your Attribute points into Stamina for maximum killing power or find some balance between Stamina and Health. Points in Magicka will be worthless for this build. Your goal is to have as much Stamina as possible while still having enough health to survive an "oopsie" moment. (see 5)

  3. Food — For my health, I tend to eat blue Health/Stamina food. You can find it at 10, 15, 20, 25... pretty much every 5 levels has a food upgrade. Try to always eat the one closest to your level if you can for maximum effect. If you just want absolutely the maximum amount of Stamina, foregoing any health, you can eat just green Stamina food. However, if you want any extra health, the blue food is the most efficient way to do it rather than spending Attribute points.

  4. Health Pots — You will be killing so quickly that these will become less important, but always have the highest-level health pot you can obtain pinned to your Q key. It need not be a tri-pot until VR levels or until you reach the end of the main story. Just a regular health pot will do for now.

  5. Dual-Wield Action Bar — I have a way I typically set up all my Action Bars for all characters when I can. It makes it easier to switch between them:

  • 1 — Heal or short-term buff

  • 2 — Closer (if any) or DPS skill

  • 3 — AoE DPS or General DPS

  • 4 — AoE DPS, Execute or Finisher

  • 5 — Long-term buff (like 2H Momentum) or Toggle-buff (like Magelight)

So, for the DW build, I would go this way:

  • 1 — Swallow Soul (Strive) — You probably will not need to deliberately self-heal very much because things will be dying quickly and you will obtain decent heals from Blood Craze. However, it's here if you need it. Plus, it helps the Siphoning skill line level up.

  • 1 — Evil Hunter (Expert Hunter) — This is an alternative from the Fighters Guild skill line that you can use instead of Swallow Soul. (see below)

  • 2 — Ambush (Teleport Strike) — Ambush now uses Stamina, making it the obvious choice.

  • 3 — Blood Craze (Twin Slashes) — A DoT with accompanying HoT? Yes, please. Firing this off on the mob to which you teleported will be instinctual but unnecessary. However, once that first mob quickly dies, this is the first thing that should go onto the second mob and even the third if you want that level of micro-play and continual passive self-heals.

  • 4 — Rapid Strikes (Flurry) or Steel Tornado (Whirlwind) — Yes, you can swap spells after every pull if you want. If you tire of that, you can move one of these to 5 instead of putting Dark Cloak there. I often play that way instead, relegating Shadow spells to my Bow Action Bar to "off" level the skill line or perhaps using Consuming Darkness as my Ultimate, again, just to make sure the Shadow skill line keeps leveling with me.

  • 5 — Dark Cloak (Shadow Cloak) — this is mostly a filler to make sure that the Shadow skill line keeps leveling as you do. It can help in some nasty situations since it will drop any debuffs and hopefully allow you to sneak away, Magicka permitting.

  • Ultimate — Single Target: Soul Harvest (Death Stroke). 3 or more targets: Soul Shred (Soul Tether). If you just want one on there, without having to swap around, just go Soul Shred. It takes longer to build up, but is useful in any type of fight and eliminates the need to keep swapping.

For your Bow bar, I would go this way:

  • 1 — Swallow Soul (Strive) or Evil Hunter (Expert Hunter)

  • 2 — Poison Injection (Poison Arrow) — This is your ranged execute and is wonderful against a single target. It's the first thing you should cast on a single-target after opening from stealth with a long hit (hopefully from behind). If the mob does not die shortly after, then it's probably elite and then you need to swap to DW or Magnum Shot (Scatter Shot) yourself away from it in a backwards kite, probably in a circle.

  • 3 — Scorched Earth (Volley) — One of my favorite things to do with a bow is to lay waste to up to a dozen enemies at a time using Scorched Earth and Bombard. I will explain how in the next spell.

  • 4 — Bombard (Arrow Spray) — This spell, combined with Scorched Earth, is ESO "Easy Mode," but is so fun to use. The technique is to lay down a Scorched Earth on a group of mobs and, while its arrows are still on the way down, fire off one or more Bombards to "lock down" the group, forcing them to stay in the Scorched Earth. Shit dies fast (assuming you use my build). You can kill giant groups of enemies with almost no effort.

  • 5 — Magnum Shot (Scatter Shot) — For those times you need to GTFO... big, nasty elite is about to take a swing at you... fire this and he cannot hit you... for a moment.

  • Ultimate — Choose an ultimate from whichever skill line is lagging behind.

  1. Evil Hunter (Expert Hunter) — I put this in my 1 position because I have it, it's a short-term buff and it's superb even just for the Major Savagery buff. The fact that casting it makes your weapon glow is a "kick ass" bonus. It requires Fighters Guild level 6, so it might take a while, maybe until your late 20s or early 30s unless you focus on leveling that skill line. The way to do this quickly is to farm Undead and/or Daedra. You can do this fairly quickly by farming Dolmens, making sure to tap as many spawning mobs as possible with your bow for more kill credits. Or, if you are in the Aldmeri Dominion, you can repeatedly clear the Mehrunes' Spite delve, which is full of Daedra. If you are Daggerfall Covenant, there are a ton of Undead around the graveyard in northern Glenumbra. I don't remember any good farming spots for Ebonhart Pact. I am sure you can find something online.

  2. Spell weaving — With a few exception (like after Ambush), you do not want to be casting spells on your action bar one after another. You will get far more dps if you add in or "weave in" a basic weapon hit between spells. There are three levels of weapon hits: light, medium and heavy. A light hit is when you just tap your left mouse button. A heavy hit is when you hold that button down until the weapon either finishes its swing or, in the case of bow, the animation has stopped and your toon is waiting for you to release. A medium hit tends to be the most efficient as far as time spent casting compared to damage done (same as a heavy hit since it technically is one), at least in the middle of a fight. You will have to practice finding that sweet spot of timing for a medium hit. It's easier with some weapons than others. I find a flame staff to be the easiest to judge. You want to hold the left mouse button down long enough for it to not be a light hit, but not so long as the animation is completing its full cycle. About halfway is just right.

  3. Dual-Wield Single Target: Evil Hunter (if you have it), Ambush, Blood Craze, Medium Swing, Flurry, Medium Swing, Soul Harvest. If it's not dead after Blood Craze, then it's probably an elite and you need to dance around quite a bit, taking whatever swings you can, interrupting any spells cast and blocking any big hits. Make sure the DoT/Hot from Blood Craze is always running; reapply when it drops off (every 9 seconds). Other than that, it's alternating Medium Swings with Flurry with an occasional Ultimate until the elite is dead. Some elites you just won't be able to kill. Reroll a Dragonknight for those.

  4. Dual-Wield Group Targets: You will usually take out groups with your bow, but if you are feeling frisky, Evil Hunter (if you have it), Ambush, Blood Craze any living mob (preferably one with high health), spam Steel Tornado until everything is dead. If you get a straggler or one last runner, Ambush and do the single target bit.

  5. Bow Single Target: get behind them if you can, stealth, draw out your bow for a heavy attack, release. Are they still alive? Then Poison Injection. Still alive? Elite? Alternate Poison Injection with Medium hits and Magnum Shot yourself away if they are about to take a swing at you.

  6. Bow Group Targets: Scorched Earth followed by spamming Bombard. Loot corpses. Smile.

  7. Always interrupt casters by bashing them when you see the red sparks; switch targets if you need to. Always block heavy hits when you see the yellow sparks, even if it's being cast by the mob you are not currently targeting. Just those two things alone separate novice players from seasoned players.

I am now tired and want to go back to bed. Hope that helps.

/r/elderscrollsonline Thread