nightblade
PvE DPS GUIDE
Nightblade excels at burst damage and rewards you for staying on the offensive with automatic healing, resources and damage mitigation. Despite this self-sufficiency, Nightblade can also be challenging because of its dependence on player execution. But this is also what makes it so satisfying to play. Throw in one of the most powerful execute abilities in the game and you’ve got a uniquely dynamic and engaging class that rewards players who take the time to master it.
UPDATE 41 MINI GUIDES
KEY PASSIVES
Penetration is something you either need desperately or not at all. An extra 2974 penetration can sometimes be very useful, freeing us up to invest more into other damage stats.
An extra 2% Critical Chance per Assassination ability slotted is significant, especially since we will always have Grim Focus and Impale/Killer’s Blade on our front bar, granting a 4% increase.
With Critical Damage capped at 125% this is not equally valuable everywhere, but it’s also the source of Minor Savagery, our unique group buff, and is easier to keep up than other class equivalents.
Transfer is already equivalent to other ultigen passives, but this effectively doubles it, letting us keep up even without a Siphoning ability. For a class which relies so much on its ultimate, this is huge.
Recent Changes
-
Grim Focus and its morphs changed to be always active - no precast necessary. Cost increased.
Relentless Focus stacking bonus increased from 60 to 80 Weapon & Spell Damage.
Buffs from Shadow Cloak and its morphs made permanent when slotted on either bar.
Major Savagery & Prophecy added to base morph and Shadowy Disguise.
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blunt and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
-
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
-
Major Berserk added to Wrecking Blow.
Jewelry damage glyphs hybridised. Stamina/Magicka Recovery added.
Runecarver’s Blaze and Ozezan the Inferno sets added.
Light Attack scaling increased, but base damage capped at 3,850 for melee, 3,465 for ranged.
Taunt added to single target pull abilities and procs when target is not already taunted.
Taunt immunity changed to activate only after 5 taunts from 2 players.
Pearls of Ehlnofey ultimate gain reduced from 5 to 3. Resource threshold raised from 30% to 50%.
Elemental Susceptibility fixed so Major Breach no longer overrides the ability.
Harmony trait changed to restore resources rather than boost synergies.
-
Syrabane’s Ward and Back-Alley Gourmand sets added.
Target marker system added.
Elemental Drain duration increased from 23 to 60 seconds.
Elemental Susceptibility changed to apply Burning, Chilled and Concussed every 6s. Duration reduced to 30s.
Volley fixed to scale dynamically and not solely with Weapon Critical.
Healing from Vigor reduced by 10%.
Occult Overload damage reduced by 60%, now applies a random status effect.
Recent Changes
Update 39
Grim Focus and its morphs changed to be always active - no precast necessary. Cost increased.
Relentless Focus stacking bonus increased from 60 to 80 Weapon & Spell Damage.
Buffs from Shadow Cloak and its morphs made permanent when slotted on either bar.
Major Savagery & Prophecy added to base morph and Shadowy Disguise.
Weapon passives changed to shrink the gap between different weapon types.
Long Shots renamed Vinedusk Training, changed to a universal damage bonus.
Bonuses from Twin Blade & Blunt and Heavy Weapons reduced slightly.
Ancient Knowledge changed to boost damage types based on type of staff equipped.
Tri Focus restricted to the final tick of fully charged Lightning Heavy Attacks, rather than any tick.
Merciless Charge changed to increase all direct damage for 18s after casting Critical Charge.
0.5s cooldown and 30% ramping damage per target added to Azureblight, base damage reduced.
Warchief, Battlereeve and General monster sets added to Cyrodiil.
Sourcing of Craglorn trial sets adjusted to fix curation.
Improved death notifications added to PvP areas.
Hundreds of bug fixes for quests, sets, items, companions etc.
Necrom (U38)
Arcanist class added.
Velothi Ur-Mage’s Amulet set added.
Default melee attack range increased from 5 to 7 meters.
Spectral Cloak changed to activate only when in combat.
Plaguebreak changed to apply only to enemy players.
Empower bonus reduced to 70% from 80%.
Scribes of Fate (U37)
Major Berserk added to Wrecking Blow.
Jewelry damage glyphs hybridised. Magicka/Stamina Recovery added.
Runecarver’s Blaze and Ozezan the Inferno sets added.
Light Attack scaling increased, but base damage capped at 3,850 for melee, 3,465 for ranged.
Taunt added to single target pull abilities and procs when target is not already taunted.
Taunt immunity changed to activate only after 5 taunts from 2 players.
Pearls of Ehlnofey ultimate gain reduced from 5 to 3. Resource threshold raised from 30% to 50%.
Elemental Susceptibility fixed so Major Breach no longer overrides the ability.
Harmony trait changed to restore resources rather than boost synergies.
Firesong (U36)
Syrabane’s Ward and Back-Alley Gourmand sets added.
Target marker system added.
Elemental Drain duration increased from 23 to 60 seconds.
Elemental Susceptibility changed to apply Burning, Chilled and Concussed every 6s. Duration reduced to 30s.
Volley fixed to scale dynamically and not solely with Weapon Critical.
Healing from Vigor reduced by 10%.
Occult Overload damage reduced by 60%, now applies a random status effect.
Magicka
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
Single Target
Relequen + Aegis + Zaan + Maelstrom 2H
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Zaan's Guise | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Zaan's Epaulets | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Relequen's Jack | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Relequen's Bracers | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Relequen's Belt | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Relequen's Guards | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Relequen's Boots | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Aegis Caller Necklace | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Aegis Caller Ring | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Aegis Caller Ring | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Aegis Caller Dagger | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | Aegis Caller Dagger | Charged | Poison |
Back Bar Main Hand | The Maelstrom's Greatsword | Infused | Berserker |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
2 x Light is recommended, but monster sets can be Medium or Light depending on your sustain and penetration.
You can swap Aegis for sets like Nirn, Yokeda or Whorl according to situation or preference.
To add a Mythic such as Coil to this setup, swap 2 x Zaan for 1 x Slimecraw and use the remaining slot for one of your primary sets.
CHAMPION POINTS
Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance is not being triggered on cooldown, drop Exploiter and slot Thaumaturge to boost your DOTs instead.
FOOD & POTIONS
Ghastly Eye Bowl
Increase Max Magicka by 4936 and Magicka Recovery by 493 for 2 hours.
"Eyeballs" and live worms in a chilled banana and fleshfly broth. Squirms inside all the way down!
Drink > Delicacies
Worms, Fleshfly Larva, Bananas, Rose
Essence of Spell Power
Grants Major Sorcery which increases your Spell Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Prophecy which gives you 2629 Spell Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Magicka immediately.
Grants you Major Intellect which increases your Magicka Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Corn Flower
Lady's Smock
Namira's Rot / Water Hyacinth
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Max-level Fruit recipes for maximum Magicka
Crunchy Spider Skewer for Magicka + Stamina Recovery
Max-level Savoury recipes for Health + Magicka
Witchmother’s Potent Brew for Health + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Clockwork Citrus Filet for Health + Health Recovery + Magicka + Magicka Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina
Essence of Weapon Power for Major Brutality + Savagery + Endurance
Tri Restoration Potion for Major Fortitude + Intellect + Endurance
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Barbed Trap, Impale, Concealed Weapon, Inner Light, Merciless Resolve, Incapacitating Strike
Back Bar: Stampede, Twisting Path, Barbed Trap, Dark Shade, Carve, Shooting Star*
*Slot this if you have enough ultimate to use it in your opening burst. If not, just slot Incapacitating Strike on both bars.
SEMI-STATIC ROTATION
128k DPS
This sequence gives us a repeating structure, but also plenty of flexibility to react to burst phases, mechanics and positioning. Concealed Weapon is both spammable and source of Major Berserk. Just make sure you keep up Path every 15-16s or the buff will expire. You can recast Path on cooldown if you prefer - it’s paired up with Stampede to ease us out of the latter’s awkward animation.
Only Trap, Shade and Debilitate need to be managed dynamically. Carve is nice and easy because it comes around at the same point every other rotation (if your weaving is a bit slow you may have to recast it earlier - don’t let it run out!). To fire Resolve 3 times per rotation, focus on your Light Attacks and once you reach 4 stacks, Light Attack ‘into’ the bow proc, waiting a moment for the 5th stack to register before firing it. If this doesn’t work for you, don’t worry - just fire Resolve whenever it’s ready.
Open with Shade, Shooting Star, Trap and a bow proc if it’s available.
Try to cast Incapacitating Strike only when all your DOTs are rolling and you can spend the next 8 seconds hitting spammables and bow procs. If you’re about to recast your back bar DOTs, just hold the ult and come back to it. From 25% switch to Impale, drop Resolve and only use Concealed Weapon to keep up Major Berserk every 10s. Try to make sure your DOTs will run until the end of the fight, but after about 8% just spam Impale until the target is dead.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Thierric + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Prior Thierric's Guise | Divines | Magicka |
Shoulders | Prior Thierric's Epaulets | Divines | Magicka |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Magicka |
Hands | Burning Spellweave Gloves | Divines | Magicka |
Waist | Burning Spellweave Sash | Divines | Magicka |
Legs | Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Magicka |
Feet | Burning Spellweave Shoes | Divines | Magicka |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Ring of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Dagger of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | Burning Spellweave Dagger | Charged | Poison |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
3-5 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
For important nukes, swap Sul-Xan for Acuity, Spellweave for Elf-Bane and Prior Thierric for Balorgh.
Other useful monster sets include Grothdarr, Stormfist, Kra’gh and Skoria, depending on what you need.
Whirling Blades also works very well as a secondary spammable for trash pulls, as an execute and/or a way to ease Magicka sustain.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Camouflaged Hunter, Inner Light, Sap Essence, Deadly Cloak, Merciless Resolve, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Unstable Wall of Fire, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Twisting Path, Proximity Detonation, Reaper’s Mark, Fiery Rage
CAVEATS
Reaper’s Mark can be precast on weak targets for Major Berserk when they die, but this is not a priority.
You can slot Whirling Blades as a secondary spammable if you want an execute or to ease Magicka sustain.
Stamina
No setup is perfect everywhere. Check your tooltips regularly and tweak your setups depending on the group and the content.
Single Target
Relequen + Aegis + Zaan + Maelstrom 2H
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Zaan’s Mask | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Zaan's Arm Cops | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Relequen's Jack | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Relequen's Bracers | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Relequen's Belt | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Relequen’s Guards | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Relequen's Boots | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Aegis Caller Necklace | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Aegis Caller Ring | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Ring | Aegis Caller Ring | Bloodthirsty | Spell Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | Aegis Caller Dagger | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | Aegis Caller Dagger | Charged | Poison |
Back Bar Main Hand | The Maelstrom's Greatsword | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
7 x Medium is recommended, but monster sets can be Medium or Light depending on your sustain and penetration.
You can swap Aegis for sets like Nirn, Yokeda or Whorl according to situation or preference.
In theory, Riptide should be slightly stronger than Relequen. But Stamina sustain can get very tight with this setup, especially in execute, so make absolutely sure you can manage it effectively.
To add a Mythic such as Coil to this setup, swap 2 x Zaan for 1 x Slimecraw and use the remaining slot for one of your primary sets.
CHAMPION POINTS
Deadly Aim - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
These are for when Off-Balance, Brittle, Catalyst, Alkosh/Crimson and all necessary buffs/debuffs are provided.
Outside of these conditions, use Backstabber and/or Fighting Finesse to reach the 125% Critical Damage cap, and Force of Nature to meet the 18,200 penetration cap (adjusting Medium-to-Light Armor ratio also helps). If Off-Balance uptimes are not perfect, drop Exploiter and slot Thaumaturge to boost your DOTs instead..
FOOD & POTIONS
Bravil's Best Beet Risotto
or
Hearty Garlic Corn Chowder
or
Tenmar Millet-Carrot Couscous
Increase Max Stamina by 6048 for 35 minutes.
Food > Vegetable
Beets, Saltrice
Corn, Garlic
Carrots, Millet
Essence of Weapon Power
Grants Major Brutality which increases your Weapon Damage by 20% for 47.6 seconds.
Grants Major Savagery which gives you 2629 Weapon Critical Rating for 47.6 seconds.
Restore 7582 Stamina immediately.
Grants you Major Endurance which increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 47.6 seconds (45s cooldown).
Blessed Thistle
Dragonthorn
Water Hyacinth / Wormwood
+
These are recommended for practice and easy content. Other options include:
Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice for Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Candied Jester’s Coins for Stamina + Magicka Recovery
Max-level Ragout recipes for Health + Stamina
Dubious Camoran Throne for Health + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Artaeum Takeaway Broth for Health + Health Recovery + Stamina + Stamina Recovery
Bewitched Sugar Skulls for Health + Magicka + Stamina
Essence of Spell Power for Major Sorcery + Prophecy + Intellect
Tri Restoration Potion for Major Intellect + Endurance + Fortitude
Essence of Heroism for Major Intellect + Endurance and Minor Heroism
(very expensive and very rarely needed)
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Barbed Trap, Killer’s Blade, Rapid Strikes, Concealed Weapon, Relentless Focus, Incapacitating Strike
Back Bar: Stampede, Twisting Path, Dark Shade, Debilitate, Carve, Shooting Star*
*Slot this if you have enough ultimate to use it in your opening burst. If not, just slot Incapacitating Strike on both bars.
EASY ROTATION
130k DPS
This no-bow-proc rotation feels weird and is not how Nightblade is ‘supposed’ to be played. But it is so simple and powerful that it’s worth recommending while it lasts. The rotation is not static, but it is a lot simpler than other recent examples because it has fewer moving parts.
Recast Stampede and Path every 15s, use Concealed Weapon every 10s to keep up Major Berserk and whenever you need to bar swap (Rapid Strikes is a channel, making bar swaps awkward). Trap and Carve are high-priority DOTs, so keep those up on cooldown. Ideally do the same with Shade and Debilitate, but these are lower priority so a bit of downtime does not matter so much.
Open with Shade, Shooting Star, Trap and a bow proc if it’s available.
Try to cast Incapacitating Strike as soon as its ready, and if you can manage your DOTs so they’re all rolling and you can spend the next 8s spamming direct damage attacks, that’s perfect. But don’t panic if things don’t quite line up and you need to recast a DOT or two during the ult phase. Just try to avoid this once execute starts.
From 33% replace Strikes with Killer’s Blade. You can keep up everything else until about 10%, but try to ensure at least that your priority DOTs are rolling until the end. Then spam Blade until the target is dead.
Trash
Sul-Xan + Spellweave + Master’s 2H + Ur-Mage
SLOT | ITEM | TRAIT | ENCHANTMENT |
---|---|---|---|
Head | Slimecraw’s Guise | Divines | Stamina |
Shoulders | Burning Spellweave Epaulets | Divines | Stamina |
Chest | Jack of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Hands | Bracers of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Waist | Belt of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Legs | Guards of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Feet | Boots of of Sul-Xan’s Torment | Divines | Stamina |
Necklace | Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Ring | Burning Spellweave Ring | Bloodthirsty | Weapon Damage |
Front Bar Main Hand | The Master’s Greatsword | Nirnhoned | Flame |
Front Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Back Bar Main Hand | Burning Spellweave Inferno Staff | Infused | Weapon Damage |
Back Bar Off Hand | - | - | - |
Perfected gear is NOT needed. The bonuses are nice to have, but small.
1-2 x Light is recommended. You can equip more Medium/Light pieces depending on your sustain and Critical Damage.
You can swap Slimecraw for a Stormfist, Kra’gh or Skoria 1-piece, depending on what you need.
Hitting the penetration cap of 18,200 in trash pulls is important. Using a Sharpened Master’s Maul on the front bar, upgrading to the Perfected version and wearing more Light pieces are some of the things you can do to get there.
CHAMPION POINTS
Biting Aura - Exploiter - Master-at-Arms - Wrathful Strikes
The best choices depend on your group and how long the fight lasts. Use Backstabber if you are below the crit cap (or Fighting Finesse if you cannot flank). Drop Exploiter if no one in your group is triggering Off-Balance consistently. And if trash pulls are lasting longer, DOTs will provide a higher proportion of your damage and Thaumaturge may be worth slotting.
ABILITIES
Front Bar: Camouflaged Hunter, Reverse Slice, Carve, Stampede, Relentless Focus, Flawless Dawnbreaker
Back Bar: Unstable Wall of Fire, Anti-Cavalry Caltrops, Twisting Path, Proximity Detonation, Reaper’s Mark, Fiery Rage
CAVEATS
Reaper’s Mark can be precast on weak targets that will die quickly, granting you Major Berserk for 10s (Concealed Weapon could also work in some cases) but this is not always feasible and definitely not a priority. Slot Dark Shade as an alternative.