The SIPHONER Build is my take on a Solo Magicka Nightblade build that is incredibly EASY to play but also powerful! This build is FAST, with strong AOE damage capabilities and great self-healing – perfect for soloing dungeons, solo Arenas or grinding experience in ESO. Even better, this build can be run as a simple One-Bar set up with an extremely easy rotation and No Bar Swapping Required! Of course you can run the build with two full skill bars for increased damage and utility and I’ll show you how to do that as well. Let’s get started!
Primary Sets
The recommended items sets for the Siphoner Magicka Nightblade focus around amplifying our damage and healing as well as building off our existing Critical Damage passives as a Nightblade. More Crit is good!
First, the Mother’s Sorrow set is an all around great damage set for all Magicka Builds in The Elder Scrolls Online due to it’s amazing Critical Chance amplifiers as well as its increased Max Magicka. This item set can be obtained fairly early on in the game, does not require any DLC content and can be used all the way up until End Game. Get this set!
Next, Bahraha’s Curse, is a great solo set due to the fact that it increases all of our maximum resources. In addition to that, the “Curse” effect deals AOE magic damage AND heals us for 100% of the damage applied! This set fits in well with the overall theme of the Siphoner Magicka Nightblade, looks amazing and of course is extremely effective for Solo play due to the passive healing.
Finally, in terms of our Monster Set on the basic build, Iceheart will be a nice option for increasing our passive defenses due to the automatic damage shield it applies. This shield procs based on doing Critical Strikes, which this build does plenty of!
Click on a Set Name below to learn more.
Mother’s Sorrow
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 1528 Critical Chance
Bahraha’s Curse
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina, Reduces your damage taken from environmental traps by 40%.
(5 items) When you deal damage, you have a 25% chance to create desecrated ground for 5 seconds, which reduces the Movement Speed of enemies within 3.5 meters by 60%, damages them for 960 Magic Damage every 1 second, and heals you for 100% of the damage done. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds.
Iceheart
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(2 items) When you deal Critical Damage, you have a 20% chance to gain a damage shield that absorbs 5000 damage for 6 seconds. While the damage shield holds, you deal 500 Frost Damage to all enemies within 5 meters of you every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds.
Alternate Sets
Bahraha’s Curse is of course a unique and fun item set to run on this build, but it doesn’t do the most damage. The damage of this build can be further increased by running sets with either more Max Magicka, more Spell Damage or some combination of both. Some of favorite options are Crafty Alfiq or a crafted set such as Law Of Julianos or New Moon Acolyte.
For the Monster Set, if you’d like to push out even more damage on this build and are less concerned about defenses then the Grothdarr set is another great alternative.
Crafty Alfiq
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(5 items) Adds 2550 Maximum Magicka
Law Of Julianos
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 300 Weapon and Spell Damage
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
(5 items) Adds 401 Weapon and Spell Damage. Increases the cost of your active abilities by 5%.
Mythic Items
The best Mythic Item choice for this build is by far the Ring Of The Pale Order as this will increase our passive healing substantially without much overall reduction in damage. The Gear Set Up for incorporating The Ring Of The Pale Order is found below as well,
Ring Of The Pale Order
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) Restore 20% of the damage you deal as Health. This value is decreased by 4% per ally you are grouped with. You cannot be healed by anyone but yourself.
Basic Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | Mother’s Sorrow Lightning Staff | Nirnhoned | NA | Spell Damage / Shock Enchant |
| Backup | Maelstrom Lightning Staff Or Any Other | Infused | NA | Spell Damage |
| Head | Iceheart | Divines | Heavy | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Iceheart | Divines | Heavy | Magicka |
| Chest | Bahraha’s Curse | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Waist | Bahraha’s Curse | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Gloves | Bahraha’s Curse | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Legs | Bahraha’s Curse | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Feet | Bahraha’s Curse | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Necklace | Mother’s Sorrow | Arcane | NA | Spell Damage |
| Ring 1 | Mother’s Sorrow | Arcane | NA | Spell Damage |
| Ring 2 | Mother’s Sorrow | Arcane | NA | Spell Damage |
Mythic Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | Mother’s Sorrow Lightning Staff | Nirnhoned | NA | Spell Damage / Shock Enchant |
| Backup | Maelstrom Lightning Staff Or Any Other | Infused | NA | Spell Damage |
| Head | Iceheart | Divines | Medium | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Iceheart | Divines | Heavy | Magicka |
| Chest | Crafty Alfiq | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Waist | Mother’s Sorrow | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Gloves | Crafty Alfiq | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Legs | Crafty Alfiq | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Feet | Crafty Alfiq | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Necklace | Mother’s Sorrow | Arcane | NA | Spell Damage |
| Ring 1 | Ring Of The Pale Order | Bloodthirsty | NA | Spell Damage |
| Ring 2 | Mother’s Sorrow | Arcane | NA | Spell Damage |
Consumables, Race, Mundus
Race
Due to increased sustain and recovery sources available in the Markarth DLC (specifically potions with increased magicka recovery) you should now be able to sustain this build as a High Elf for the increased damage. Of course, other Races including Breton, Dark Elf, and Khajiit work perfectly fine as well. For more details on all ESO Races and passive bonuses be sure to check out our Full ESO Race Guide.
Mundus
The Lover
Increases Physical and Spell Penetration by 2744
With 7 Divines armor pieces
Increases Physical and Spell Penetration by 4489
Food/Drink Buff
Mistral Banana-Bunny Hash or Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Potions
Basic Magicka Potions
Spell Power Potions
Skills – One Bar Setup
Main Weapon: LIGHTNING STAFF – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
- Lotus Fan
- Unstable Wall of Elements
- Twisting Path
- Swallow Soul (Single Target) or Sap Essence (AOE)
- Merciless Resolve
- ULT: Soul Harvest (Single Target) or Soul Tether (AOE)
Skills – Two Bar Setup
Main Weapon: LIGHTNING STAFF – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
Backup Weapon: LIGHTNING STAFF – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
Skills Discussion & Rotation
One Bar Rotation
Buff with Merciless Resolve and your potion. Next, cast Lotus Fan, Unstable Wall and Twisting Path, followed by 2-3 Swallow Souls.
Cast your Ultimate and the Merciless Resolve Bow Proc when ready. You can replace one Swallow Soul with a heavy attack if you begin to run low on Magicka.
Two Bar Rotation
Buff with Channeled Acceleration, then Merciless Resolve and Siphoning Attacks on the back bar. Then cast Lotus Fan, Twisting Path and Unstable Wall -> Bar Swap
On the front bar: Cast Swallow Soul 2-3 times -> Bar swap back.
Cast your Ultimate and the Merciless Resolve Bow Proc when ready. You can replace one Swallow Soul with a heavy attack if you begin to run low on Magicka. You can also replace Swallow Soul with Sap Essence for AOE intensive fights.
Combat Tips
Remember to light attack in between casting each ability as this is what will charge your Merciless Resolve stacks in order to use the Bow Proc – this also helps with sustain and healing on the Two Bar Rotation due to using Siphoning Attacks.
If you have your potion ready, try to use your Ultimate first if you are closing to getting it. This way you will get an immediate 20 Ultimate back due to the Nightblade’s Potion passive.
Passive Skills
Class Passives
- Master Assassin
- Executioner
- Pressure Points
- Hemorrhage
- Refreshing Shadows
- Shadow Barrier
- Dark Vigor
- Dark Veil
- Catalyst
- Magicka Flood
- Soul Siphoner
- Transfer
Weapon Passives
Armor Passives
Guild Passives
Racial
Other
Companions
If you like playing Solo, this build can benefit greatly from using Companions! This Solo build for the Nightblade is good at absorbing damage and also GREAT at self-healing, so if you are going to use a Companion I would suggest a Ranged Damage approach for them. I recommend Mirri Elendis for Companion on this build with the setup below. More information on Companions Builds and Skills can be found in our detailed Companion Guides section.
Recommended Gear
- All Medium Armor – Aggressive Trait
- Companion Bow
Recommended Skills
- 1. Starfall
- 2. Piercing Arrow
- 3. Viper’s Bite
- 4. Sniping Silver
- 5. Vanish
- 6 ULT. Impeccable Shot
Additional Skills
The skills below may also be helpful in other situations.
Full Companion Build: DEADSHOT
The DEADSHOT Build is an easy Bow DPS Set Up for Mirri Elendis, one of the new Companions available to ESO players starting in the Blackwood Chapter. The theme of this build is focused around maxing our Mirri’s Ranged Damage as much as possible! The fact that Mirri’s Ultimate skill is also a Bow type ability makes her perfect for this build, though it can work on Bastian too with some tweaks.
Champion Points
Below you will find the recommended Active and Passive Champion Point Stars for this build, broken down into 300, 600, 900, and 1200 CP ranges.
For more information on Champion Points click on a Star name below or browse our detailed Champion Points Guides.
Constellation Descriptions:
Craft
The Green Craft Constellation is focused on crafting and utility-centered upgrades.
Warfare
The Blue Warfare Constellation focuses primarily on increasing player damage, healing and defenses
Fitness
The Red Fitness Constellation is focused on character survival and sustain.
– 300 Champion Points –
GREEN
BLUE
- 20 Precision
- 20 Piercing
- 50 Biting Aura (Slot)
RED
– 600 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 10 Fortune’s Favor
- 15 Wanderer
- 40 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer (Slot)
BLUE
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 10 Sprinter
- 8 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 10 Shield Master
- 50 Bastion (Slot)
– 900 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 10 Fortune’s Favor
- 15 Wanderer
- 40 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer (Slot)
- 50 Breakfall
- 50 Treasure Hunter (Slot)
BLUE
- 20 Precision
- 20 Piercing
- 50 Biting Aura (Slot)
- 50 Deadly Aim (Slot)
- 50 Thaumaturge (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 20 Eldritch Insight
- 10 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 10 Shield Master
- 50 Bastion (Slot)
- 50 Siphoning Spells (Slot)
- 30 Tumbling
– 1200 Champion Points –
GREEN
- 50 Steed’s Blessing (Slot)
- 50 Gilded Fingers
- 30 Fortune’s Favor
- 15 Wanderer
- 50 Steadfast Enchantment
- 30 Rationer (Slot)
- 50 Breakfall
- 50 Treasure Hunter (Slot)
- 75 Liquid Efficiency (Slot)
BLUE
- 20 Precision
- 20 Piercing
- 50 Biting Aura (Slot)
- 50 Deadly Aim (Slot)
- 50 Thaumaturge (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 20 Eldritch Insight
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
- 20 Flawless Ritual
- 30 War Mage
- 20 Elemental Aegis
- 20 Hardy
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 10 Shield Master
- 50 Bastion (Slot)
- 50 Siphoning Spells (Slot)
- 30 Tumbling
- 20 Defiance
- 20 Tireless Guardian
- 30 Fortification
How To Create Powerful ESO Builds
Crafting the Perfect Build for you in The Elder Scrolls Online can be frustrating. Which skills are best for each class? What about passives? The best race? The best armor type and weapons? The best trait and glyphs? There are literally THOUSANDS of different options!
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