
Magicka Nightblade PvP Build ESO – Umbra
Build Written By: Dottz Gaming – PC NA
Role: Damage Dealer
Patch: Firesong
Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to DottzGaming.com’s Magicka Nightblade DPS PvP Build, Umbra, for the Elder Scrolls Online! This build is intended for PvP of all kinds: battlegrounds, Cyrodiil and Imperial City. This build can be played in both CP and no-CP pvp without any changes to the build!
After playing my magicka nightbalde for melee for awhile, I decided to go back to a more “traditional” style, playing at a range and using Swallow Soul. The build that I came up with actually, dare I say, feels very strong and is a ton of fun! The build feels extremely well balanced: great damage, strong defense and fantastic healing!
Keep in mind that PvP builds are very personal. This is what worked for ME. If you don’t like something about it, change it to fit your playstyle.
Setup
Gear
Magicka Nightblade PvP Build | |||||
Gear Slot | Set | Weight | Trait | Enchant | Acquisition |
Head | Balorgh | Medium | Impenetrable | Prismatic | Vet March of Sacrifices |
Shoulders | Balorgh | Heavy | Impenetrable | Prismatic | Undaunted Chest |
Gloves | Wretched Vitality | Light | Impenetrable | Prismatic | Crafted |
Legs | Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Well-Fitted | Prismatic | Crafted |
Chest | Wretched Vitality | Heavy | Reinforced | Prismatic | Crafted |
Belt | Night Mother’s Gaze | Light | Well-Fitted | Prismatic | Crafted |
Boots | Night Mother’s Gaze | Light | Well-Fitted | Prismatic | Crafted |
Necklace | Armor of the Trainee | Jewelry | Swift | Spell Damage | Any Starting Zone or Guild Trader |
Ring | Night Mother’s Gaze | Jewelry | Infused | Spell Damage | Crafted |
Ring | Markyn Ring of Majesty | Jewelry | Infused | Spell Damage | Antiquities |
Weapon 1 | Night Mother’s Gaze | 1h Mace | Nirnhoned | Absorb Magicka | Crafted |
Weapon 1 | Night Mother’s Gaze | 1h Mace | Sharpened | Absorb Stamina | Crafted |
Weapon 2 | Wretched Vitality | Ice Staff | Defending | Berserker | Crafted |
Gear Explanation
- Balorgh: This monster set adds a nice amount of additional damage to the build by giving us a big boost to our penetration and damage when we use our ultimate!
- Nightmother’s Gaze: We wear this set due to the fact that we are unable to fit a source of major breach on our ability bars. This gives us a massive boost to penetration against our primary target, making it much easier for us to take them down!
- Wretched Vitality: This is a set that has become a staple on both of my nightblades. Since magblade liberally spends both stamina and magicka, this is the perfect set to help give us a sustain boost.
- Markyn Ring of Majesty: This set is a new mythic that came with Deadlands and it gives an extremely good spread of offensive and defensive stats, giving us 200 weapon damage and 2314 armor. For just 1 piece of gear, that is a ton of value!
Attributes
Health: 14
Magicka: 50
Skills
Main Bar – Dual Wield: Camouflaged Hunter, Concealed Weapon, Merciless Resolve, Mass Hysteria, Power Extraction, Incapacitating Strike
Back Bar – Destruction Staff: Healthy Offering, Shadowy Disguise, Resolving Vigor, Shadow Image, Refreshing Path, Temporal Guard
NOTE: If you dont like Shadow Image, feel free to replace it with Phantasmal Escape.
Vampire vs. Mortal
For this build I recommend playing a vampire. Vampire gives us the ability to get more weapon/spell damage coming out of mist form, as well as Undeath for extra tankiness! You’ll be in vampire stage 3 for this build.
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)
- Eldritch Insight – 20
- Piercing – 20
- Deadly Aim – 50 (Slotted)
- Master-at-Arms – 50 (Slotted)
- Precision – 20
- Quick Recovery – 20
- Elemental Aegis – 20
- Hardy – 20
- Resilience – 50 (Slotted)
- Ironclad – 50 (Slotted)
- Blessed – 20
- Tireless Discipline – 20
- Flawless Ritual – 40
- War Mage – 30
- Preparation – 20
FITNESS (RED)
- Boundless Vitality – 50 (Slotted)
- Tumbling – 30
- Mystic Tenacity – 10
- Pain’s Refuge – 50 (Slotted)
- Relentlessness- 50 (Slotted)
- Hero’s Vigor – 20
- Defiance – 20
- Hasty – 16
- Celerity – 50 (Slotted)
- Sprinter – 20
- Tireless Guardian – 20
- Fortification – 30
- Nimble Protector – 6
- Savage Defense – 30
- Piercing Gaze – 30
- Bashing Brutality – 20
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
Bewitched Sugar Skulls: Maximum Health, Magicka, Stamina and Health Recovery
Mundus
Atronach – Increased Magicka Recovery
Race
- Breton
- Imperial
- If playing as an Imperial, feel free to run less Prismatic glyphs in place for more magicka glyphs on the armor.
Potions/Poisons
Essence of Health (Restore Health, Magicka and Stamina)
Bugloss, Columbine and Mountain Flower
Passives
Class (all), Light Armor (all), Heavy Armor (all), Medium Armor (all), Destruction Staff (all except Tri-Focus), Dual Wield (all except Controlled Fury), Undaunted (all), Racial (all), Vampire (all except Unnatural Movement), Alchemy (Medicinal Use), Assault (all), Support (all except the first)
Tips & Misc.
- Maintaining Merciless Resolve will help make sure you’re always benefiting from the offensive bonus it offers, while also allowing you to weave Assassin’s Will into your rotation.
- Maintain Power Extraction and Leeching Strikes to maximize your defensive and sustaining capabilities. Re-cast rally if you need a heal in a pinch, and casting Vigor will also give you a good heal and heal-over-time to supplement that. Healthy Offering is also a very strong burst heal that gives you minor mending!
- Stamina Nightblades mitigate their damage best through being hard to pin down. Use your mobility via dodge rolling and major expedition from your bow passives, as well as your shade, to your advantage.
- Picking your opponents and learning how to weave yourself in and out of combat via cloak will be instrumental to your success.
- Don’t over commit to a kill. You’re a medium armor stamina nightblade – you’re not a brawler. If you over commit to a kill and your opponent survives, they can easily turn the fight on you.
- Always be aware of your surroundings. You want to get the jump on your opponents, not the other way around.
- Make sure you’re attacking from a flank to get the extra benefits from Surprise attack and Camo Hunter!
Contact
If you have any questions about the build, join our discord server and ask @Dottz about the build!
Update Log
8/14/2019 – Build created.
10/21/2019 – Grothdarr changes to Balorgh, Cost Reduction enchant changed to Spell Damage
10/25/2019 – Build overhauled after initial testing in dragonhold
2/24/2020 – No changes for Harrowstorm
8/26/2021 – build brought out of archives and fully overhauled
11/1/2021 – updated gear, food, mundus and cp
1/6/2022 – build overhauled
3/15/2022 – changed slimecraw to balorgh
6/7/2022- no changes for high isle
8/30/2022 – overhauled build
11/9/2022 – no changes for firesong