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Welcome to our ESO Nightblade Class Overview.  Playing a Nightblade (NB) is like wielding an electric chainsaw on fire.  Fast, scary, and deadly.  If in the right hands, this class can be devastating if not the best burst DPS in Elder Scrolls Online.  This is part one of our Nightblade Class Guide series where we cover the basics and talk about the overall style of the class.

 Overview

The NB class is your typical rouge/assassin character that uses stealth to provide burst damage.  The great thing about NB is it’s versatility at range and at close distance.  Moreover, the class abilities allow for quick in-and-out style combat.  The class isn’t perfect and has some drawbacks, but it can one-shot nearly anything with the right build and play-style.  Here’s my opinion on the strengths and weakness of the NB.

+ Fast
+ Resources
+ Hard Hitting
– Lacks AoE
– Squishy
– Primarily DPS

Play-Style

NBs can literally do anything in the game effectively.  They aren’t the best at tanking and healing, but can manage well even if you don’t like the sneaky sneaky play-style.  Now, putting them in a DPS role, that’s where the class shines.  After some testing, I’ve played a lot of different styles and will have some builds later on highlight these archetypes.

One-Shot-Willy (OSW) – This build is your typical cookie cutter NB stealth with dual wield.  While it’s not the most original build, it’s deadly.  The strengths are one-shotting everything that moves, but you’ll lack some AoE damage.  If you like sneaking around nuking enemies, stay tuned, I’ll have a perfect build for you in part three of this guide.

Squad Designated Marksmen (SDM) – This is another typical build that I modify, focusing on bow ranged attacks and stamina.  It’s a blast to play and similar to OSW trying to kill an enemy instantly.  This is effective in PvP and PvE boss battles because of the high single target damage.  Though it can be lacking AoE and solo play might be difficult.

Drain Tank – I love NB tanking personally.  It’s passive health return always keeps HP flowing my way.  It’s also so fast in comparison to my Dragonknight, I feel like I’m zipping around the battlefield.  This style focuses on keeping health, siphoning abilities on a rotation, and keeping a boss at bay.  Though the build lacks group utility that other tanks can bring.

Blood Mage – A healing build that uses a couple of the NB’s class skills to augment its healing.  I really enjoy healing on my NB and find this style fun because it can do a little bit of damage while throwing out good healing.  The major downside is the NB just can’t keep up with a Templar healer due to passives and a couple of abilities.

Personally, I hate sneaking around in MMOs.  I’m the typical rambo/meathead that rushes into every fight pulling all the mobs and trying to stay alive.  But with the NB, combat and stealth play feels so natural.  Every attack flows well, the animations rock, and timing burst can be jaw- droppingly powerful.  But the NB, just like every class, has some downsides.

Limitations

Area damage – Inherently the NB class is suppose to be a sneaky stealth with high single target damage.  The class skills lack a lot of area or AoE damage,1 though with some weapon based skills (Steel Tornado, Carve, or Impulse) this can be countered.

Survivability – While stealth can be an “oh s***” button, the other weaknesses the NBs have are poor defensives.  Compare it with the DK’s Green Dragons Blood and there’s really nothing close.  But you can counter this with some outside class skills and constant siphoning.

DPS role – As an NB most people will assume you’re a Dual Wielding DPS.  These assumptions are warranted because the NB rocks with this build, but it can do so much more.  The class is centered around stealth and stats to suffer when playing different roles.  Don’t stick to cookie cutter builds, though sometimes they are the most effective.

I hope you enjoyed this short overview.  What are your thoughts on the NB class?