How to Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online

Choosing Your Race

Play as a Khajit. The Khajit are a natural choice for a Nightblade as they have a race-based bonus to their stealth radius. However, their other race bonuses make them better as a more combat-based Nightblade (they also have bonuses to medium armor and melee attacks). Lean towards a dual wield, instead of a bow, to take advantage of the bonus. Khajit are available to those in the Aldmeri Dominion.

Play as a Bosmer. Bosmer are another natural choice for a Nightblade. They have a bonus to stealth as well, plus a bonus to bow use. Accordingly lean towards a bow if playing with this race. Bosmer are available to those in the Aldmeri Dominion.

Play as an Argonian. Argonians have natural healing abilities, which can seriously come in handy since Nightblades will have to put many of their points into magicka and stamina, rather than health. Their natural weapon bonus is for a Restoration Staff (not the most useful weapon for a Nightblade) so you can choose any weapon you want (bows and dual-wield are best for Nightblades). Argonians are not the best Nightblades but they are the most qualified race available to those in the Ebonheart Pact.

Play as a Breton. Bretons are great at protecting themselves and have a hefty magicka pool from which to draw (magicka is used when executing class-based abilities). Since their emphasis is on magicka, you will need to choose abilities which help them attack effectively, since their abilities to use weapons may be decreased. Bretons are not the best Nightblades but they are the most qualified race available to those in the Daggerfall Covenant.

Choosing Your Abilities

Try the Assassination tree. This tree of abilities is based heavily on dealing damage...and boy, is it a lot of damage. You will be passing out the hurt like candy on Halloween with this skill tree. These abilities will make for a great offensive character, making you a useful damage dealer for your group.

Try the Shadow tree. This tree is mainly about getting you out of sight, so that you can attack from range and stay out of the way. Many of the skills are about turning invisible, but this isn't as great a boon as it sounds. While invisible, you'll be unable to regenerate magicka. The higher level abilities in this tree do let you deal more damage, though.

Try the Siphoning tree. This tree is about taking health, speed and power from your enemy and giving it to yourself. For any Nightblade regardless of play style, it will make sense to have at least a few of these skills, in order to protect the fairly minimal amount of health associated with this class.

Strategizing Your Gameplay

Get in the fights. There are two styles of gameplay for Nightblades. The first is a more combat-based style, where your Nightblade will be getting all up in the action and dealing damage to your enemies. If you want to do this style of gameplay, you'll want to focus on the skills in the Assassination tree (and to a lesser extent, the Siphoning tree).Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 8Bullet1.jpg Leaning towards dual-wield is also a good idea, as that does more damage than a bow and is intended for more face-to-face combat.Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 8Bullet2.jpg If taking this route, it might be a good idea to distribute some points to health, though the majority should still go towards magicka and stamina.Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 8Bullet3.jpg

Avoid direct combat. The other style of gameplay is more stealth-based, where your Nightblade will avoid the bulk of the action in favor of distanced attacks and staying out of sight. If you want to do this style of gameplay, you'll want to focus on the skills in the Shadow tree (and to a lesser extent, the Siphoning tree).Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 9Bullet1.jpg Leaning towards bow use is also a good idea, since you'll want to be attacking from a distance and not up close.Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 9Bullet2.jpg If taking this route, it might be a good idea to distribute more points towards stamina than magicka, as magicka points do not regenerate while using your class abilities (which are mainly related to turning invisible, if you took our suggestion of the Shadow skill tree).Play a Nightblade in Elder Scrolls Online Step 9Bullet3.jpg

Take advantage of your sneak skills. Even if you're playing a melee-based Nightblade, you should still take advantage of your sneak skills when you can. You aren't a tank, so avoid conflict if possible, especially if you're by yourself. Don't neglect your dodge-roll, a helpful way of getting past traps and out of an enemy's line of fire.

Use medium armor. The medium armor skill trees include several bonuses that are useful for Nightblades, including increase chance to critical strike and dodge. The more medium armor you wear, the faster you will level this skill and the more bonuses you will have available to you.

Level your magicka. Overall, a healthy magicka level or cache of potions is a good idea for Nightblades. They are heavily reliant on their class abilities, all of which use magicka. There is also an emphasis on stamina, since your Nightblade will use weapons, but to what degree is somewhat dependent on your play style.

Choosing your craft

Choose Clothing. Clothing involves creating medium armour and so you will be able to upgrade your armour much quicker. As you are playing a Nightblade, who usually wear medium armour, this will be a good profession to pick up.

Wood-Working. If you are using a bow or staff, wood-working is suited to you. This is because you can upgrade your bow or staff faster. Do not worry about going out into the land for just crafting items as you will find many when just questing and can spawn in or next to towns anyway.

Get Keen-Eye. For any profession that you choose, invest a skill point in Keen-Eye as this will make items have a particle effect and so easier to see when out and about.

Explore for special crafting stations. As you should already know, exploring is a good thing to do, and one of the things you can find are special crafting stations for specific items that have special bonuses.