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Steal your enemies’ life and keep your allies safe with today’s detailed Nightblade build.
Looking for a new build for your Nightblade? Today’s player build utilizes the class’ life-stealing powers along with heavy armor to create a deadly tank. This build covers it all, from abilities and attribute distribution to traits, enchantments, and armor sets. Read on to find out how to build your own, and enjoy Floki Iceblade’s short background story, too!
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The Bastion of Night
Floki is a proud warrior from the north who's been seeking out the greatest challenges in Tamriel since he was just a boy. He’s always thrown himself into any fight he could, not caring whether he was outmatched and never stopping to rest. He originates from a family that has been associated with Templars for generations. Day after day, steel clashed with steel as he trained with his brother, a staunch devotee of the Aedra. Over the years, Floki grew to become a formidable warrior. He offered his services to King Jorunn and proved himself to be a skilled warrior, full of ferocity and always determined to win.
Right before every battle, Floki slammed his sword into the ice—both a ritual and a symbol for his enemies. “I am as cold as my steel! No mercy! I shall steal your warmth and leave your blood frozen on the snow!” he yelled at his foes as he charged towards them, so his brothers in arms started to call him Floki Iceblade.
Once, Floki fell suddenly ill. A shadow consumed him, and he fought against himself for weeks to defeat the darkness that tried to devour his soul. All the years of Floki walking in the light of the Aedra now paid off. His faith alone empowered him to defeat the evil he battled.
Upon recovery, his mind didn't bear a single scar, but remnants of the shadow he battled flowed in his veins. He bent this shadow to his will, becoming a warrior with power over his own darkness, a Bastion of Night.
Floki Iceblade is a Nord Nightblade from the EU Megaserver who concentrates on withstanding prolonged fights with continued resource regeneration. He achieves this through life siphoning as well as magicka- and stamina-regenerating attacks.
With his heavy armor, he's an unmovable rock as he drains his enemies’ life-giving essence. His trusty sword and shield are permanent companions and an absolute must, for protecting yourself and your comrades from the dangers of Tamriel. Should a situation become less intense, he's got his sword and a dagger as well, to strike down more of his foes.
But let's have a closer look how this stout warrior is built:
Stats and Equipment
Magicka (32), Health (30), Stamina (0)
Despite this being a tank build, we'll need almost no additional stamina thanks to spells and equipment. With 27 points in health and four pieces of Infused armor and health glyphs, you get a significant amount already. The remaining three pieces are Divine and utilize magicka glyphs. The added boost of the Mage Mundus Stone tops everything off—also very useful for magicka.
It's very important for this warrior that his armor consists of two different crafted sets.
The first, Hist Bark, grants additional armor, health regeneration, and maximum health. The last bonus, which grants an 18% evade chance while blocking, is especially important. Floki wears five pieces of this set for the full bonus.
The second set he wears is the Song of the Lamae. He wears four pieces of this set—two pieces of heavy armor, his weapon, and his shield, adding another safeguard to health regeneration, spell damage, and maximum health.
Why is Hist Bark so important? And why do the various abilities have to work so close together? We'll come to that now.
Primary Ability Bar
(One-Handed and Shield – Precise – Infused – Song of Lamae)
Siphoning Strikes (Siphoning Attacks) – This very nice ability is an important part of the whole build. With this, each and every attack restores 3% stamina and magicka. In addition, you'll get a 10% chance to instantly restore 15% of your total magicka and stamina. This means shield bashes, ability hits, and normal attacks always have this opportunity. Sometimes you'll need some luck, but with so many opportunities, luck becomes relative. The only downside here is that your weapon damage at rank four will be reduced by 22%. “We're tanks, we won't do much damage anyway!” You might think that, but not with this fellow.
Blur (Double Take) – A wonderful ability. Now let's look back at the Hist Bark set once again. Do you remember the 18% evade chance while blocking? In combination with Double Take, you're now more or less “dancing” rather than blocking, since this spell will grant you a 15% chance for enemies to miss you for 26 seconds. At rank four, you'll get another 3.5 seconds with an additional 15% dodge chance. This essentially means that you'll block less often, which means that you'll use less stamina. This lets you “waste” your magicka without problems, since you've got stamina as a backup. And hey, we'll have a chance to regenerate 15% magicka, too! Great! In the event that something still hits you, you'll just regenerate some stamina and you're able to continue keeping your shield up. Awesome!
Path of Darkness (Refreshing Path) (Interchangeable) – This path isn't just good for you, but for your buddies as well. Enemies standing on the path will be damaged for 11.5 seconds. You'll get increased movement speed, which allows you to catch up to casters or archers rather quickly. In addition, you and your friends will get some healing while they stand in it. If you're standing in front of an enemy, like some kind of boss, then the path points away from you. To stand in it “correctly,” you should run around your enemy once, changing the side you’re standing on. If you want some diversity, to try something new, or adjust for a specific boss, simply exchange this ability. Sometimes I like to replace it with Annulment or Dark Shades.
Puncture (Ransack) – To keep the enemies off your friends, Puncture is perfect. With the morph I'm using you'll also reduce the armor of your foes while adding the same value to your own armor. In addition, you'll taunt your target.
Drain Power (Sap Essence) – This is unbelievably important and is one of the biggest cogs in this Nightblade tank clockwork. Drain Power damages up to five close enemies. It will also raise your own weapon damage for every target hit. It's a great AoE spell even for single enemies, although it's better when you’re fighting packs. Here it really boils down to “the more the merrier”! Why? Because you and nearby allies are healed for every enemy hit. And as an added bonus, this is the best way to charge your Ultimate quickly. And remember Siphoning Strikes! Of course, its proc triggers here as well, and it does so quite often.
Ultimate:
Consuming Darkness (Veil of Blades) – This Ultimate allows you to stand right in the middle of your enemies without any problems, since it both reduces the damage you receive as well as dealing lots of damage. Thanks to Sap Essence, this ability recharges very quickly, so you're able to deal lots of damage as a tank and still absorb it as well. If things get intense, you'll have the opportunity to recharge it with Sap Essence, evade repeatedly, and utilize Siphoning Strikes as well.
Secondary Ability Bar
(Sword and Dagger – Precise – Song of Lamae)
Siphoning Strikes (Siphoning Attacks) – Once again, the strikes are here, and since they're in the same slot on both bars, the effect won't disappear when switching hotbars. Of course, you can disable the effect if you'd like to deal more damage, assuming your resources allow you to do that.
Assassin's Blade (Impale) – This ability is great for finishing off enemies, since it will do massive damage if they're low on health. Also, it's possible to use it from a distance, so you're able to hit hard and reach distant enemies even though you're melee.
Shadow Cloak (Shadowy Disguise) – Shadowy Disguise a great escape from nasty situations. You disappear and your enemies can't see you anymore. It has the most important role on the secondary bar—with this ability, your last combo will do significantly more damage and stun your targets as well. This is due to the passive abilities from the Assassination tree. It also secures you additional spell resistance and armor, which you also get from the very same passives. At the highest rank, your critical hit chance is doubled.
Puncture (Ransack) – With the morph, Puncture reduces the armor and spell resistance of enemies by a whopping 43 % at rank four. Since you're dealing magic damage with Sap Essence and can hit up to five targets, you'll not only do more damage, but you're able to keep larger groups of enemies stuck to you early on. This happens mostly due to fast damage, which allows you to get on top of your enemies' aggro list. But you can't rely on that for long. Since you have Puncture, you can taunt your target and make sure it keeps paying attention to you.
Veiled Strike (Surprise Attack) – In combination with Shadowy Disguise, this becomes a real beast. You go into stealth, sneak up to an enemy’s back, disappear with Shadowy Disguise before they can see you and then use Surprise Attack. What you'll see is some massive burst damage. Even if you're in a fight already, you're able to go back to the shadows and use this attack. It still does impressive damage, stunning your enemies and granting you armor and spell resistance. When fighting bosses, might allow you to defeat them without them doing anything at all, given the right timing. Try it yourself.
Ultimate:
Soul Shred (Soul Tether) – This Ultimate recharges rather quickly. It stuns nearby enemies and connects you with your closest foe. They'll then receive additional damage. This is quite good for getting some breathing room.
Note: To get the most out of all abilities and combos, I've maxed all passives in all three skill trees. The bar for two weapons also works rather well with medium armor.
So, that's my build for playing a Nightblade as a tank. I hope you enjoyed reading it and that you find it useful. To get a closer look, I've sent my Bastion of Night to Craglorn to break into Hircine's Haunt on his own. Have a look at it!
- Best wishes from Floki Iceblade.
