What are the best skills for each playstyle as a Nightblade?
The Elder Scrolls Online is a game that excels in the variety of playstyles that each class presents to the player. Nightblades have a very versatile set of skills from the Assassination, Shadow and Siphoning skill trees, ranging from deadly melee strikes to powerful blood magic.
This article will go through the best skills for specific playstyles as a Nightblade, including weapon and world skills that can be vital to your build. Keep in mind that these are in no particular order, and rather are equally useful in different builds and situations.
15. Teleport Strike
Starting off our list with a classic Nightblade move, Teleport Strike. This skill serves as a great gap closer ability, being a great combo starter. Both morphs are also great options, either granting you with Empower and Minor Berserk for higher damage output, or granting an AoE effect and debuffing your enemies.
Why Teleport Strike Is Great:
- Amazing gap closer option;
- Ambush grants you with Empower and Minor Berserk, greatly enhancing your damage;
- Lotus Fan deals further damage to the target and other enemies around it, as well as afflicting them with Minor Vulnerability.
Teleport Strike full details:
- 22m Range;
- Magic Damage (can be converted to Physical damage through the Ambush morph);
- Gap Closer;
- Afflicts the target with Minor Vulnerability.
14. Veiled Strike
This is your bread and butter for DPS Nightblades, dishing out some great damage, with the bonus of stunning the enemy and setting them Off Balance when attacking from their flank. Usually Nightblades use this skill as what we call a “spammable” skill, being your main source of damage in between light attack weaving.
Why Veiled Strike Is Great:
- Great damage, being a nice option for your spammable skill;
- Afflicts enemies with Stun and Off Balance when used from their flank;
- Morphs can convert it from a Magicka ability to a Stamina ability, granting further bonus effects such as sneaking movement speed boost or the Sundered debuff to your target.
Veiled Strike full details:
- 5m Range;
- Magic Damage (can be converted to Physical damage through the Surprise Attack morph);
- Stuns and sets enemies Off Balance.
13. Shadow Cloak
Everyone knows why you’ve picked Nightblade as your class, you want to become invisible. The trademark ability of the Rogue role in any RPG is useful as always here in ESO. The Shadowy Disguise morph is the highlight here, giving you a guaranteed Critical Strike on your next attack.
Why Shadow Cloak Is Great:
- Becoming invisible is always useful as a breather in the middle of a battle, to engage enemies or to escape from danger;
- The Shadowy Disguise morph is amazing for DPS builds;
- The Dark Cloak morph is great for those who don’t care for the invisibility and would rather have sustain, such as tanks.
Shadow Cloak full details:
- Self Buff;
- Grants 3 seconds of invisibility;
- Self healing through the Dark Cloak morph (no longer turns invisible) or guaranteed Critical Strikes through the Shadowy Disguise morph.
12. Strife
Strife is another bread and butter ability, but this one is great for Magicka DPS and healers. This skill has amazing range, good damage output, self healing and also healing your teammates through the Funnel Health morph, enabling you to deal damage and heal your party at the same time.
Why Strife Is Great:
- Great range and good damage output;
- Self healing (which can be enhanced to party healing through the Funnel Health morph);
- Can deal damage and heal at the same time, making for a great spammable option.
Strife full details:
- 28m Range;
- Magic Damage and Self Healing;
- Through its morphs you are able to increase the damage or enhance the healing to affect your party members as well.
11. Siphoning Strikes
Siphoning Strikes is a personal favorite of mine, I simply cannot play ESO without this skill. It grants you such amazing amounts of sustain, recovering your health and your choice of main resource (Stamina or Magicka), enabling you to play the game without that constant worry about your attribute pools.
Why Siphoning Strikes Is Great
- Amazing source of sustain through self healing;
- The Leeching Strikes morph also recovers Stamina;
- The Siphoning Attacks morph also recovers Magicka.
Siphoning Strikes full details:
- Self Buff;
- Empowers your light and heavy attacks with self healing (heavy attacks provide higher recovery);
- Morphs will also grant you Stamina or Magicka recovery.
10. Drain Power
Drain Power is usually the best choice for AoE damage when it comes to Nightblades, but that is not the only reason why this skill is on this list. Drain Power also grants you with arguably the most important damage buff in the game, which is Major Brutality/Sorcery.
Why Drain Power Is Great:
- Good AoE damage;
- Grants you Major Brutality/Sorcery, greatly improving your damage output;
- The Sap Essence morph can turn it into a healing ability as well.
Drain Power full details:
- Area of Effect skill;
- Deals damage and grants Major Brutality/Sorcery;
- Morphs can turn it into a Stamina skill that debuffs enemies or into a healing ability.
9. Mark Target
This is a very self explanatory skill, it marks your target. Marks your target for death, that is. A very useful skill that absolutely melts your enemy’s resistances and also provides some great sustain by healing you when a marked enemy dies. Furthermore, both morphs are great, but Piercing Mark is the highlight here, making it so you can deal with those pesky invisible players in PvP.
Why Mark Target Is Great:
- Great for dealing with tankier foes, diminishing their resistances by a huge amount;
- Good sustain for the self healing when the marked foe is killed;
- The Piercing Mark morph is a great tool to deal with invisible enemies.
Mark Target full details:
- 50m Range;
- Debuffs target by reducing their Physical and Spell resistance;
- Heals the caster when marked enemies die.
8. Grim Focus
Grim Focus is one of the hardest hitting skills in the entire game. All you have to do is hit the enemy 5 times with your light attacks and then you’ll have access to an absolute monstrous damage ability, the Assassin’s Will, which shoots a spectral arrow that absolutely melts your enemy’s health.
Why Grim Focus Is Great:
- You have increased Weapon and Spell damage for the whole duration of the initial buff;
- One of the highest damage outputs of any skill in ESO;
- Self healing if used at melee range can provide amazing sustain.
Grim Focus full details:
- Self Buff;
- Increases your Weapon and Spell damage;
- After 5 attacks you can trigger the Assassin’s Will, dealing massive Magic damage to your target and healing if used at melee range.
7. Soul Shred
Soul Shred is the first Ultimate skill in this list, and another personal favorite of mine. This is an AoE ability that deals great damage to every enemy around you, while also healing you for a huge amount of health at the same time with the Soul Tether morph. The Soul Siphon morph, on the other hand, is a great option for healer builds.
Why Soul Shred Is Great:
- Great AoE damage (even if you’re on a Stamina build);
- Allies can activate the synergy to deal more damage and heal themselves as well;
- Morphs can further improve the damage and provide self healing by tethering you to the enemies or completely convert the skill into a great healing ability.
Soul Shred full details:
- Area of Effect Ultimate skill;
- Deals damage and stuns enemies;
- Morphs can provide you with self healing or completely turn this into a great party healing skill.
6. Momentum
Moving on to some weapon skills, this one is essential for those of you who are Nightblades that like to wield Two Handed weapons. Sometimes it’s ok to overcompensate. Momentum is an amazing skill that grants you Major Brutality/Sorcery, which is the greatest buff in the game for damage dealers, and Minor Endurance, increasing your Stamina recovery.
Why Momentum Is Great:
- Easy way to get constant Major Brutality/Sorcery;
- Minor Endurance is a great source of Stamina sustain;
- The Rally morph provides you with incredible amounts of self healing.
Momentum full details:
- Self Buff;
- Grants you Major Brutality/Sorcery and Minor Endurance;
- Morphs can make you immune to snares and immobilizations or grants you huge amounts of self healing.
5. Weakness To Elements
Now, for the Nightblades that prefer to use Magicka, this is a great skill from the Destruction Staff skill line. Weakness to Elements is a great alternative to Mark Target for players focused on Magicka skills. It debuffs your enemy with Major Breach, decreasing their resistances, and both morphs have very interesting effects.
Why Weakness To Elements Is Great:
- Melts the enemy’s resistance, great to deal with tankier foes;
- The Elemental Drain morph is a great source of Magicka sustain;
- The Elemental Susceptibility morph constantly inflicts more debuffs on your target.
Weakness To Elements full details:
- 28m Range;
- Afflicts enemies with Major Breach, reducing their resistances;
- Morphs can provide you with Magicka recovery when attacking the marked target or further afflicting the target with other debuffs.
4. Snipe
Bows are another very popular option when it comes to Nightblade weapons, and Snipe is a particularly great skill for the Bow skill line. In conjunction with some other skills mentioned in this list, such as Mark Target and Shadow Cloak, this skill can destroy your enemies quickly and from afar.
Why Snipe Is Great:
- Great damage for a spammable skill;
- Very long range;
- The Focused Aim morph afflicts the target with Minor Breach, decreasing their resistances and further increasing your damage and range.
Snipe full details:
- 35m Range (increased to 40m with the Focused Aim morph);
- High damage output;
- Morphs can debuff the target with Minor Breach or Minor Defile.
3. Rapid Fire
Another Bow skill and the second Ultimate ability on this list, Rapid Fire is another one of those skills that melt your enemy’s HP in the blink of an eye. This channeling ability hits like a truck and you are immune to all disabling effects for the whole duration of the skill.
Why Rapid Fire Is Great:
- Amazing range and damage;
- Immunity to all disabling effects for the duration of the channeling;
- The Toxic Barrage morph can further improve the damage by poisoning your target.
Rapid Fire full details:
- 28m Range;
- Very high damage output and immunity to disabling effects;
- Morphs can turn the skill into a ballista summon or further improve the damage by afflicting poison to the target.
2. Whirlwind
Dual Wield is perhaps the most classic weapon choice for the Nightblade, so we couldn’t leave them out of this list. Many Dual Wield abilities are great, but the highlight here has to be Whirlwind with its great AoE damage and potential to be a great spammable option. The real star of the show here is, however, the Whirling Blades morph, which can increase the damage up to 100% on low health enemies.
Why Whirlwind Is Great:
- Great AoE damage;
- Good option for spammable skill;
- The Whirling Blades morph also turns this into a great execution skill to finish off your enemies.
Whirlwind full details:
- Area of Effect skill;
- Deals damage to every enemy around you;
- Morphs can increase the radius and decrease the cost of the ability or turn this into an execution skill with up to 100% damage increase to low health targets.
1. Strike From The Shadows
The last entry on our list is perhaps an odd choice, but this is a passive skill that is definitely worth mentioning when it comes to Nightblades. Strike From The Shadows is a Vampire skill, meaning you will have to be a Vampire in order to gain access to this skill. What makes this great for Nightblades is the Weapon and Spell damage increase whenever you come out of invisibility, making for a great combo with the aforementioned Shadowy Disguise skill.
Why Strike From The Shadows Is Great:
- Great increase to Weapon and Spell damage;
- Nightblades have constant access to the Weapon and Spell damage increase due to their invisibility skill;
- Using this along with Shadowy Disguise guarantees devastating blows, with certain Critical Strikes and increased damage.
Strike From The Shadows full details:
- Self Buff;
- Passive;
- Increases Weapon and Spell damage when coming out of invisibility.
