Nightblade

“

Nightblades are adventurers and opportunists with a gift for getting in and out of trouble. Relying variously on stealth, blades and speed, Nightblades thrive on conflict and misfortune, trusting to their luck and cunning to survive.

— Game Description

This article is a work in progress by Zoroark173

Nightblade

The Nightblade is a powerful 'assassin' class in the ESO which utilizes stealth, cunning and powerful siphoning magic to defeat their foes. The Nightblade, while not an extremely versatile class, fills the roll of DPS very well through its three skill trees; Assassination(DPS), Shadow(STEALTH) and Siphoning(DPS/CC).

Nightblade Skills

The three skill trees of the Nightblade are:

• Assassination, a set of skills relating to dealing heavy burst DPS
• Shadow, a set of skills relating to staying hidden and stealthy
• Siphoning, a set of skills relating to applying DoT's and CC's on enemies.

Assassination

The Assassination skill line mainly focuses on dealing high burst DPS, or Damage Per Second, with skills that help you to quickly incapacitate your enemy, without letting them touch you.

Passive Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Rank	Description
	Master Assassin	Passive	8		Deal 5% more damage while crouched or invisible. Successful sneak attacks stun for longer.
					Successful crouched attacks stun for a longer duration.
	Executioner	Passive	14		Killing an enemy with an Assassination ability restores 12 Magicka over 6 seconds.
					Killing an enemy with an Assassination ability restores 24 Magicka over 6 seconds.
	Pressure Points	Passive	22		Increases the Nightblade's critical strike chance by by 1.5% for every Assassination ability on their current hotbar.
					Increases the Nightblade's critical strike chance by by 3% for every Assassination ability on their current hotbar.
	Hemorrhage	Passive	39		Increases the Nightblade's bonus critical strike damage by 5% for each Assassination ability on their current hotbar.
					Increases the Nightblade's bonus critical strike damage by 10% for each Assassination ability on their current hotbar.

Active Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Morphes into / Skill Descriptions		Skill Cost
	Assassin's Blade	Active	1	Deals moderate damage with a large damage multiplier when used against low health enemies.		25 Magicka
				Killer's Blade	Heals you when ability kills a target. Heals player for 15 – 18% Max Health when killing an opponent with this ability.
				Impale	Ability may be used at range. Range: 15 – 18 meters.
	Teleport Strike	Active	4	Teleport directly to your target, dealing damage and stunning them for a short duration.		53 Magicka
				Lotus Fan	Deals AoE damage and snares enemies. Unleashes a fan of knives for 7 – 10 Magic Damage to all nearby enemies. Affected enemies are snared 60 – 70% for 6 seconds and bleed for 12 Physical Damage.
				Ambush	Your next attack against enemy deals extra damage. Next attack on target deals 30 – 36% additional damage.
	Blur	Active	20	A medium duration self buff that gives attackers a percentage based miss chance when attacking the Nightblade.		49 Magicka
				Mirage	Misses have a chance of setting attacker off balance, for 3 – 6 seconds.
				Double Take	Miss chance increased on activation. Miss chance increased by an additional +15% for 2 – 3.5 seconds.
	Mark Target	Active	30	Place a mark on a high-health target; while marked you deal extra damage to the target. Killing the marked target will heal the Nightblade.		70 Magicka
				Piercing Mark	Reduced cost and you can see target if they stealth or go invisible. Cost: 53 – 49 Magicka.
				Reaper's Mark	Gain damage bonus and a bigger heal when killing marked target. Killing a marked target restores player's health by 60% and increasing Weapon Power by 12 – 15 and Spell Power by 12 – 15, for 30 seconds.
	Haste	Active	42	Increases the attack speed of normal and power attacks for a moderate duration.		49 Magicka
				Focused Attacks	Adds stamina regeneration. Recovers a total of Stamina.
				Incapacitate	Your weapon attacks immobilize enemies. Every 10th weapon attack immobilizes enemy for 2 seconds.
	Death Stroke	Ultimate	12	Deals damage to your target, and reduces their incoming healing. The damage dealt is increased by your Ultimate pool.		50 Ultimate
				Incapacitating Strike	Stuns if the caster has lower health than target. Stuns for 3 – 4.5 seconds if caster has lower Health than target.
				Soul Harvest	While slotted you gain more Ultimate from kills. Passively increases Ultimate recharge from successful kills while slotted.

Shadow

The Shadow skill line is all about being stealthy, surprising your enemies, and gaining the upper hand, through under-handed methods.

Passive Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Rank	Description
	Refreshing Shadows	Passive	8		Activating a Shadow ability increases stamina regeneration by 15% for 6s.
					Activating a Shadow ability increases stamina regeneration by 30% for 6s.
	Shadow Barrier	Passive	14		Increases armor and spell resistance by 17 for 4s when coming out of stealth or invisibility.
					Increases armor and spell resistance by 35 for 4s when coming out of stealth or invisibility.
	Fortitude	Passive	22		Increase max Health by 2% per slotted Shadow ability slotted.
					Increase max Health by 4% per slotted Shadow ability slotted.
	Dark Veil	Passive	39		Increase duration of Shadow abilities by 8%.
					Increase duration of Shadow abilities by 15%.

Active Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Morphes into / Skill Descriptions		Skill Cost
	Shadow Cloak	Active	1	Gain invisibility for a short duration.		56 Magicka
				Shadowy Disguise	While invisible, you gain increased critical strike rating
				Dark Cloak	Removes one DoT effect
	Veiled Strike	Active	4	Deals increased damage and stun enemies. Requires Stealth.		35 Magicka
				Surprise Attack	Reduces armor by 40% for 12s
				Concealed Weapon	Adds stealth movement speed while slotted
	Path of Darkness	Active	20	Deals damage in a path in front of you, increases your movement speed along that path.		53 Magicka
				Twisting Path	Larger conal AoE
				Refreshing Path	Very minor heal per second for caster
	Aspect of Terror	Active	30	Nearby enemies are afflicted with Fear.		60 Magicka
				Mass Hysteria	Snares and reduces affected target's power for 3s after fear ends
				Manifestation of Terror	Sets a fear trap, target cap removed
	Summon Shade	Active	42	Summons a shade which attacks and debuffs your enemies causing them to deal less damage.		35 Magicka
				Dark Shade	Splits your shade into 2, each dealing less damage
				Shadow Image	Activating again teleports player to shade
	Consuming Darkness	Ultimate	12	An AoE snare that renders the Nightblade invisibile. Attacking an enemy removes the invisibility for a short time. Allies can activate the Slip Away synergy, also gaining invisibility.		200 Ultimate
				Bolstering Darkness	Adds a heal to the synergy
				Veil of Blades	Deals damage every 0.5s for duration

Siphoning

The Siphoning skill line is one focused on DoTs, and cripples. Instead of doing the maximum amount of burst damage quickly, siphoning is based on self-heals and crowd-control.

Passive Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Rank	Description
	Catalyst	Passive	8		Increase potion effectiveness by 10%.
					Increase potion effectiveness by 20%.
	Magicka Flood	Passive	14		Increase maximum magicka by 4% when you have a Siphoning ability slotted.
					Increase maximum magicka by 8% when you have a Siphoning ability slotted.
	Soul Siphoner	Passive	22		Increases healing taken by Siphoning abilities by 8%.
					Increases healing taken by Siphoning abilities by 15%.
	Transfer	Passive	39		Gain 1 Ultimate when dealing damage with a Siphoning ability.
					Gain 2 Ultimate when dealing damage with a Siphoning ability.

Active Skills

Image	Skill Name	Skill Type	Level	Morphes into / Skill Descriptions		Skill Cost
	Strife	Active	1	Places a DoT on your target which also heals you for the duration.		35 Magicka
				Funnel Health	Also heals two nearby allies for 30% of the damage inflicted, every 2s for 10s
				Swallow Soul	Player also receives 7% more healing from all sources while ability is slotted
	Agony	Active	4	Stuns and DoTs an enemy for a long duration, but the effect is broken by any other damage.		42 Magicka
				Prolonged Suffering	DoT effect remains even if the stun effect ends
				Malefic Wreath	Does magic damage to nearby enemies as well
	Cripple	Active	20	Places a DoT on an enemy which gradually decreases its movement speed, transferring an equal speed bonus to the Nightblade		42 Magicka
				Crippling Grasp	On impact does a little extra damage and immobilizes for 1.5s
				Debilitate	Reduces target's attack speed, scales with level
	Siphoning Strikes	Active	30	Sacrifice a portion of your own weapon damage in to restore a portion of your Magicka and Stamina with every hit.		None
				Leeching Strikes	Basic attacks heal you for 2% max health
				Siphoning Attacks	Abilities also have a 10% chance to restore 15% stamina and magicka
	Drain Power	Active	42	Debuff the attack power of nearby enemies, transferring a portion of that power to the Nightblade for each affected enemy.		46 Magicka
				Power Extraction	Target cap increased to 9, weapon damage increased
				Sap Essence	Damage removed, heals based on targets hit
	Soul Shred	Ultimate	12	Deals PBAoE (Point-blank AreaOfEffect) damage and stuns nearby enemies. Initiates the Leeching Strike synergy.		150 Ultimate
				Soul Tether	Closest enemy is tethered to you, taking magic damage while near
				Soul Siphon	Siphon your health into nearby allies

Sources

• Tamriel Foundry - Description and list of Nightblade skills