Solo Magicka Nightblade PvE Build ESO – Crimson Death

Build Written By: Dottz Gaming – PC NA

Role: Damage Dealer

Patch: Blackwood

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Setup
   1. Gear
   2. Attributes
   3. Skills
   4. Vampire vs. Werewolf vs. Mortal
   5. Champion Points
   6. Other Important Info (Food, Mundus, Race, Potions, Passives)
3. Resource Management & Rotation
4. Contact Info
5. Update Log

Introduction

Welcome to DottzGaming.com’s Solo Magicka Nightblade Build PvE, Crimson Death, for the Elder Scrolls Online! This build is intended for playing solo PvE content, such as questing, public dungeons, Maelstrom Arena, etc.! This build is focused around the vampire skill line, utilizing some of the great skills and passives that the skill line has! The build is focused around blood bending, using your own life force and the life force of your enemies to deal damage and heal yourself! My goal with this vampire MagBlade build was to create a magicka nightblade build that could play solo effectively, but had strong thematic ties, so you will feel like a true vampire in ESO with this themed solo PvE build!

Setup

Gear

Gear Set Explanation

Iceheart: This set is one of the strongest sets for solo PvE due to offering both offensive and defensive bonuses. We get a strong damage shield every time we deal critical damage (which adds a ton of survivability) and a solid frost damage AoE while that shield holds. Even after some of Iceheart’s nerfs, it still remains one of the best monster sets for solo PvE!

War Maiden: Since the majority of the damage in this build comes from Magic Damage, we are able to take advantage of War Maiden for a nice boost to our damage!

Mother’s Sorrow: This set works perfectly for magicka nightblade, allowing us to to gain a ton of additional damage via critical strikes, allowing us to take full advantage of the Hemorrhage passive. Combined with the Precise trait on our front bar and Major Prophecy from our potion, this allows us to have an insanely high crit rate, allowing us to take full advantage of the Shadow mundus as well!

Attributes

All points into magicka.

Skills

Front Bar – Destruction Staff: Blood for Blood, Impale, Merciless Resolve, Reaper’s Mark, Swallow Soul, Soul Harvest

Back Bar – Destruction Staff: Sap Essence, Elemental Blockade, Dark Shade, Siphoning Attacks, Blood Mist, Swarming Scion

Vampire vs. Werewolf vs. Mortal

For this build we are playing as a Vampire, as the build’s theme is based around it. However, I recommend staying at stage 1 or 2 so that your ability costs dont get too high.

Champion Points

The list below showcases the order in which champion points should be acquired, the number of points you need to place into that perk and whether or not it needs to be slotted in the CP bar. The Warfare CP perks increase your damage and mitigation and are the most important, the Fitness tree has some miscellaneous sustain and defensive perks and the Craft tree has crafting and non-combat bonuses. The Craft CP points are entirely customizable to however you want, or you can follow the list below.

CHAMPION POINT SETUP
WARFARE (BLUE)

• Precision – 20
• Fighting Finesse – 50 (Slotted)
• Piercing – 20
• Deadly Aim – 50 (Slotted)
• Master-at-Arms – 50 (Slotted)
• Reaving Blows – 50 (Slotted)
• Eldritch Insight – 20
• Battle Mastery – 40
• Mighty – 30
• Quick Recovery – 20
• Preparation – 20
• Elemental Aegis – 20
• Hardy – 20
• Blessed – 20
• Tireless Discipline – 20

FITNESS (RED)

• Boundless Vitality – 50 (Slotted)
• Rejuvenation – 50 (Slotted)
• Tumbling – 30
• Mystic Tenacity – 10
• Hero’s Vigor – 20
• Siphoning Spells – 50 (Slotted)
• Ironclad – 50 (Slotted)
• Defiance – 20
• Tireless Guardian – 20
• Fortification – 30
• Hasty – 16
• Sprinter – 20
• Nimble Protector – 6
• Savage Defense – 30
• Bashing Brutality – 20
• Piercing Gaze – 30

CRAFT (GREEN)

• Steed’s Blessing – 50 (Slotted)
• Breakfall – 50
• Wanderer – 15
• Steadfast Enchantment – 50
• Rationer – 30 (Slotted)
• Liquid Efficiency – 75 (Slotted)
• Treasure Hunter – 50 (Slotted)
• Fortune’s Favor – 50
• Gilded Fingers – 50
• Soul Reservoir – 33

Other Important Info

Buff Food

Mistral Banana-Bunny Hash – Maximum Health and Magicka

Mundus

The Thief – Increased Critical Damage

Race

Breton – Definitely the best race for this build, as it helps mitigate some of the negative effects that vampire brings, offering us a nice amount of tankiness, damage via magicka, bust most importantly, an absolute boatload of sustain.

Potions

Essence of Spell Crit (Restore Health, Magicka and Major Prophecy)
(Bugloss, Lady’s Smock, Water Hyacinth)

NOTE: If your budget is tight, you can just use regular restore magicka potions!

Passives

Class (all), Light Armor (All), Heavy Armor (all), Destruction Staff (all), Vampire (All), Undaunted (all), Racial (all), Alchemy (Medicinal Use)

Resource Management & Rotation

• Open a fight with Sap Essence, and then maintain Elemental Blockade, Dark Shade, Siphoning Attack & Merciless Resolve at all times. In addition, maintain Reaper’s Mark on your primary target (so that when it dies you get the heal and major berserk). These things will maximize the build’s offensive/defensive potential.
• When you have all of your buffs up and DoTs on your enemy, you’re going to want to use a light attack and then Swallow Soul to get the skill’s HoT on yourself, and then swap over to light attack weaving with Blood for Blood. When your target is below 25% health, Impale becomes your spammable. In an AoE situation with a lot of enemies, use Sap Essence as your spammable, but be careful as this can be a bit magicka intensive.  When your Merciless Resolve hits 5 stacks and turns into Assassin’s Will, use it as that is your big burst skill and it gives a nice heal!
• If you take or know you are going to take a big chunk of damage, use Blood Mist to further mitigate any damage you take, and heal yourself up from the AoE damage you’ll be dealing to your enemies!
• You can use either ultimate that you want on this build! Soul Harvest is going to be good for short bursts of damage combined with Assassin’s Will, while Swarming Scion will turn you into an absolute juggernaut, making you tanky and giving you amazing AoE pressure via Bat Swarm.

Contact

If you have any questions about the build, join our discord server and ask @Dottz about the build!

Update Log

5/22/2020 – Build created.
5/27/2020 – no changes from PTS to live build.
8/24/2020 – no changes for stonethorn
11/2/2020 – no changes for markarth
3/8/2021 – updated CP for flames of ambition
6/2/2021 – changed gear, vamp stage, cp and mundus