Magicka Nightblade Build PvP for Elder Scrolls Online

“Spectral”

Elsweyr Chapter

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Changes from the previous version
• Resource Management
• Battlegrounds Setup
  • Gear
  • Skills
  • Champion Points (810, 600, 300)
  • Important Info (Food, Mundus, Race, Potions, Passives, Attributes)
• Combos & How to play
• Gameplay
• Update Log

Introduction

Welcome to the Magicka Nightblade Build PvP “Spectral” for Elder Scrolls Online. Make sure to bookmark the link as I will keep updating the build for each new Update of ESO. This Magicka Nightblade Build is optimized for Battlegrounds, but also works in Cyrodiil both for the Non Champion Points and Champion Points Campaign.

The build is focusing on high burst damage and ranged gameplay. Our Merciless Resolve provides high burst damage in combination with Light Attacks and Destructive Reach ability which knocks the enemy back and stuns for a brief moment. Destructive Reach with the Destructive Impact is very cost efficient and does really good damage. We do run an infused Flame enchantment on the front bar and an infused Oblivion enchantment on the backbar. The infused trait makes the two enchantments already strong and on top of that we also use Torug's Pact to even further boost the enchantment damage and also reduce the cooldown of the enchantments. Valkyn Skoria also deals a fair amount of damage and will proc often.

This build evolves around proc damage and burst combos. Enemies are usually toast in a few seconds once you get your combos off. You have to try to stay ranged with this build as you can work on your combos a lot better and pressure the enemy more. If you get into a melee fight you can always use Shadowy Disguise and Shadow Image to confuse the enemy and easily get away. Another great feature of this setup is that you can kill off dodgeroll builds easily because your Restoration Staff with the infused Torugs Oblivion enchantment will hit through dodge roll or also go through shields. A lot of enemies will try to dodgeroll once they are low health because that way they usually avoid damage while they heal back up, same goes for magicka setups that will apply shields. But the Oblivion enchantment on the Restoration Staff both counters those two options. Make sure to check out the “Combo Section” of this guide to read on how you should play this build.

• Light Armor Build
• High Burst Damage
• Cloaking
• Crazy Sustain
• Damage through  dodgeroll & shields
• Ranged playstyle

Changes from the previous version

Changes to the build in the Elsweyr Chapter:

Grim Focus:

• Removed the Minor Berserk buff from this ability and its morphs.
• The spectral bow now heals for 33% of the damage dealt if you are within 7 meters of the target when firing it.
• Fixed an issue where this ability and its morphs would continue to persist after logging off.
  • Merciless Resolve (morph): Now increases healing done to 50%.

Resource Management

The Atronach Mundus Stone, Clockwork Citrus Filet and one Magicka Recovery glyph on the jewelry give us a very nice base Magicka Recovery setup of around 1700 Magicka Recovery. This gets further strengthened with two infused Spell Cost Reduction glyphs we get around 600+ cheaper abilities which helps a lot. The Siphoning Attacks ability has to be kept up at all times as it again increases sustain and also gives us a bit of extra healing. You should also make sure to keep using the Spell Power Potions on cooldown as they boost your Magicka Recovery to around 2000 and also give you Major Sorcerery and Major Prophecy, both increasing your Spell Damage and Spell Critical stats.

The most important sustain tool is the Restoration Staff heavy attack, with the Cycle of Life passive you restore 30% more Magicka then with other weapons. On top of that you keep the pressure on the enemy because the infused Torugs Oblivion enchant will keep procing on the enemy all the time.

• Atronach Mundus Stone
• Clockwork Citrus Filet (or Witchmother)
• Spell Cost Reduction
• Magicka Recovery
• Spell Power Potions
• Siphoning Attacks

Stamina Management

As you have noticed, your stamina pool is very low with this setup. You need all your stamina to break free from stuns. I almost never block because otherwise I would run out of stamina way too quick. I use my shield more often to dampen the incoming damage or simply use cloak to disappear.

If you feel uncomfortable with such a low amount of stamina, you can always increase your stamina pool.

Battlegrounds Setup

On this character I am playing as a High Elf.

• Unbuffed: Unbuffed stats
• Buffed: Major and Minor Resolve & Ward and Spell Power Potion were active

Note: The picture is from Murkmire patch, so stats might slightly differ from the Wrathstone DLC due to balance changes.

Gear

• Master Fire Staff: If you do not have a Master Fire Staff then you can use a Endurance or Agility Staff instead. You can use both more health or more max Stamina which is nice to have. In case you use one of those sets, make sure to run them both on the front and back bar. Also please keep in mind, if you run Master Staff, make sure to run triple infused on jewelry, as sustain will be tougher due to no cost reduction on clench.
• Blackrose Restoration Staff: You only do need an imperfect version which can be aquired in normal Blackrose Prison Arena.
• Maesltrom Restoration Staff: If you have sustain issues I can also recommend using the Maelstrom Resto Staff with Mutagen (which we already have) on the back bar.
• Monster Set: My favourite is Valkyn Skoria as it kills off enemies that try to dodge roll and overall does really nice damage. However, you can use any monster set you want.

Where can I get the gear?

Torug's Pact: Craftable
Vakyn Skoria: City of Ash 2, Glirion Chest
Willpower: Guildstore
The Master's Inferno Staff: vet Dragonstar Arena
Mender's Ward: normal Blackrose Arena
Maelstrom's Restoration Staff: vet Maelstrom Arena

Skills

Championpoints

The build is optimized for Battlegrounds. However, you can also play this in the Champion Points Cyrodiil Campaign if you want, I would use a Champion Points setup similar to this:

Championpoints [810]

The Ritual
18 Thaumaturge
The Atronach
56 Master-at-Arms, 20 Shattering Blows, 21 Staff Expert
The Apprentice
27 Elemental Expert, 48 Elfborn, 53 Spell Erosion, 27 Blessed
The Shadow
58 Tumbling, 30 Shadow Ward
The Lover
100 Arcanist, 32 Tenacity
The Tower
38 Warlord, 11 Sprinter, 1 Siphoner
The Lord
37 Quick Recovery
The Lady
43 Hardy, 43 Elemental Defender, 28 Thick Skinned
The Steed
44 Ironclad, 55 Resistant, 20 Spell Shield

Important Info for Magicka Nightblade Build PvP

Buff-food

I highly recommend using the Clockwork Citrus Filet food, it will give you overall better stats. However, if you do not have the money you can also use the Witchmother drink which gives similar stats.

Clockwork Citrus Filet (Max Health, Max Magicka, Magicka Recovery, Health Recovery)
or
Witchmothers Brew (Max Health, Max Magicka, Magicka Recovery)

Mundus Stone

We need the extra Magicka Recovery from the Atronach to sustain this setup.

The Atronach (Increased Magicka Recovery)

Race

All magicka based races work for this setup. If you want to know more about races you can also check out my racial guide for ESO that showcases all the benefits of the different races.

Breton
Altmer
Darkelf
Argonian

Potions

Spell-Crit Potions
(Spell-crit, Spell Damage, Magicka)
(Cornflower, Ladys Smock, Water Hyacinth)

Passives

• Assassination: Master Assassin, Executioner, Pressure Points, Hemorrhage
• Shadow: Refreshing Shadows, Shadow Barrier, Dark Vigor, Dark Veil
• Siphoning: Catalyst, Magicka Flood, Soul Siphoner, Transfer
• Destruction Staff: Tri Focus, Penetrating Magic, Elemental Force, Ancient Knowledge, Destruction Expert
• Restoration Staff: Essence Drain, Restoration Expert, Cycle of Life, Absorb, Restoration Master
• Light Armor: Grace, Evocation, Spell Warding, Prodigy, Concentration
• Heavy Armor: Resolve, Constitution, Juggernaut
• Fighters Guild: Intimidating Presence
• Assault: Continuous Attack, Reach, Combat Frenzy
• Support: Magicka Aid, Combat Medic, Battle Resurrection
• Alchemy: Medicinal Use
• Undaunted: Undaunted Command, Undaunted Mettle
• Racial: All

Combos & How to Play

Damage & Combo

The main focus of the build is that we have a lot of unavoidable damage in combination with a huge burst combo. The Flame and Oblivion enchantments which are both infused and also get boosted by Torug's Pact keep going off every two seconds on the enemy on top of Valkyn Skoria that will also rain down on the enemy. Those things basically proc automatically without you having to do much. The one thing you need to get down is to stun the enemy in the right moment with Destructive Reach and then follow up with the  Spectral Bow proc from the Merciless Resolve ability. That will kill off most targets. I also recommend using Swallow Soul to pressure your enemies and to keep your healing up.

Enemies will often try to dodgeroll or shield when they drop low on health. If that happens you want to swap to your back bar and do Restoration Staff heavy attacks and weave Crippling Grasp in between. The Oblivion enchant will go through shields and also keep ticking on the enemies that dodge roll because you can’t dodgeroll Restoration Staff heavy attacks.

Keep in mind that both your enchantments can proc every 1.4 seconds because of the infused Torugs combo. So you should weapon swap often to get the most out of your oblivion glyph on the back bar.

Positioning & Cloak

Shadowy Disguise and Shadow Image are key abilities for this build. Shadow Image placement is crucial to survival, it will take time to get used to place this correctly. If you learn how to place this correctly you can escape tricky situations easily and you also debuff the enemy on top of that. Shadowy Disguise should be used very often because the enemy can not hit you with a lot of abilities while you are cloaked, on top of that it also procs the Shadow Barrier passive that increases your spell and physical resistances.

Healing

Mutagen, Ward Ally and Swallow Soul are your main healing abilities. The build does not have a lot of heals so it is best do keep shielding or disengaging once you drop low. Also always make sure to stay close to your allies as they often provide you with extra heals in battlegrounds. make sure to keep up Mutagen and Swallow Soul all the time, those are nice healing over time ticks that will keep you alive, keep up Ward Ally as often as possible as even a small shield can mitigate a lot of damage.

Cloaking is still your best option as when all the healing over time abilities do their work. Also keep in mind that the Blackrose Restoration Staff Mender's Ward boosts all your healing abilities by 30% for a short duration.

Gameplay

Magicka Nightblade Spectral Build Battlegrounds Deathmatch gameplay.

Update Log