With abilities that grant invisibility, teleportation, and high-damage attacks, the Nightblade is a natural fit for those who favor stealth and deception. Of course, that’s just one way to play a Nightblade.
While popular builds often focus on burst damage and mobility, Nightblade skill lines also offer exceptional utility. With plenty of options for crowd control, self-healing, and resource generation, Nightblade abilities can support virtually any playstyle.
Class Skill Lines
| Skill | Description | Stamina Options |
|---|---|---|
| Assassination | The Assassination skill line leans heavily toward direct damage, but it offers a variety of useful effects. Assassin’s Blade is a powerful execute, and Teleport Strike serves as a class-exclusive gap closer. Mark Target applies useful debuffs, and Grim Focus is a go-to ability for a variety of Nightblade builds.While all of this skill line’s Passive Abilities are worth consideration, Hemorrhage deserves special mention. This powerful Passive not only increases Critical Damage; it also procs Minor Savagery for you and nearby allies. This Passive requires a slotted Assassination ability, but the skill line features viable options for any build. | The Assassination skill line offers three Stamina morphs:Killer’s Blade: This Assassin’s Blade morph acts as a Stamina-based execute with a potential self-heal.Ambush: This Teleport Strike morph improves the Nightblade’s gap closer by increasing the damage of any follow-up attack.Relentless Focus: This Grim Focus morph deals Disease Damage. It also grants Minor Endurance, increasing Stamina Recovery by 10% for 20 seconds |
| Shadow | The Shadow skill line largely focuses on mobility. With options for snares, stuns, fears, speed boosts, and invisibility, players hoping to outmaneuver their enemies would do well to consider each of the available abilities. However, most Shadow abilities feature multiple effects; you’re sure to find buffs, debuffs, and damage abilities to complement any playstyle.Nightblades often rely on Veiled Strike for single-target damage, and the available Stamina morph makes this ability a viable option for any melee build. It’s also worth noting that Shadow Passive Abilities all serve to enhance survivability, making the skill line an important part of most Nightblade Tank builds. | The Shadow skill line offers one Stamina morph:Surprise Attack: This Veiled Strike morph adds the Major Fracture debuff to a versatile direct-damage attack. |
| Siphoning | True to its name, the Siphoning skill features abilities that simultaneously harm enemies and benefit the caster. The simplest example is Strife, which combines direct damage with a healing effect, but the skill line includes options for buffs, resource generation, and crowd control.Siphoning is largely a support skill line, making it the focus of most healing builds. However, any Nightblade concerned with survivability and/or sustainability would do well to invest in one or two key abilities. | The Siphoning skill line offers one Stamina morph:Power Extraction: This Drain Power morph serves as a Disease Damage area-of-effect attack. As with the base ability, a successful hit grants the caster Major Brutality.This skill line also features another ability:Leeching Strikes: This Siphoning Strikes morph costs a small amount of Stamina, but returns Stamina on each strike—restoring a larger amount of Stamina when the effect ends.Of course, both morphs retain the Magicka and/or Stamina generation offered by Siphoning Strikes. A Stamina-based Nightblade might consider any version of this ability to be a viable option. |