Categories: Best ESO Builds, Best Nightblade Builds, Solo Builds
The CATALYST Nightblade build is a unique hybrid class build for The Elder Scrolls Online that combines the Nightblade’s Shadow and Blood Magic class abilities with powerful Dual Wield and Destruction Staff skills! This build has great offensive and defensive capabilities and is extremely strong in Solo encounters in The Elder Scrolls Online. This guide includes two versions of the build, one with room for a Mythic Item, and one without.
Nightblade Class Overview
The Nightblade Class is an extremely powerful way to play in The Elder Scrolls Online. Nightblades have many powerful abilities located in their dedicated Class Skill lines for DPS, for Healing, and for Tanking. Nightblades are a great choice for dealing damage, mobility and healing, and are very fun for both PVE and PVP content in ESO. For a more detailed guide be sure to review our ESO Nightblade Class Guide.
Primary Sets
A great option for this build is New Moon Acolyte which can be crafted or bought on guild traders! We will also be utilizing the unique Toothrow set to easily boost our Critical Chance for both Spell and Weapon Damage attacks without wasting potions or precious bar space.
For the Monster Set, Domihaus gives us even more magicka and stamina to work with, PLUS extra Weapon and Spell Damage, making it one of the best options in the game currently for Hybrid builds.
Click on a Set Name below to learn more.
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%.
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Adds 171 Weapon Damage and Spell Damage, Gain Major Savagery and Prophecy at all times, increasing your Weapon Critical and Spell Critical rating by 2629.
Domihaus
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina, Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(2 items) When you deal damage, you create either a ring of fire or ring of molten earth around you for 10 seconds, which deals 431 Flame Damage and 431 Physical Damage every 1 second. Standing within the ring grants you 300 Weapon and Spell Damage. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds and scales off your highest offensive stat.
Alternative Sets
For alternatives, sets like Shacklebreaker or Clever Alchemist will be great options for getting started with this build. For stronger automated defenses, the Iceheart Set can also be used in place of Domihaus.
Shacklebreaker
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(3 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) Adds 2065 Maximum Stamina, Adds 2065 Maximum Magicka
Clever Alchemist
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
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.
Mythic Items
Finally, this build can be further improved with the use of Mythic Items such as The Ring Of The Pale Order, though Mythics are not required.
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, your pets, or your Companions.
Bleak heraldry covers the surface of this knightly signet. Those who place it on their finger feel a cold rush of power … and a deep, nagging paranoia.
Ring Of The Pale Order Lead Locations
The Ring Of The Pale Order is the perfect Mythic for Solo Builds in ESO! Check out our full Ring Of The Pale Order Guide for ALL Lead Locations!
Basic Gear Setup
| Main Hand | New Moon Acolyte Daggers (2) | Nirnhoned/Precise | NA | Damage Health Poison |
| Backup | Any Inferno Staff | Infused | NA | Weapon/Spell Damage |
| Head | Domihaus | Divines | Heavy | Tri-Stat |
| Shoulder | Domihaus | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Chest | Toothrow | Divines | Medium | Tri-Stat |
| Waist | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Gloves | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Legs | Toothrow | Divines | Medium | Tri-Stat |
| Feet | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Necklace | Toothrow | Bloodthirsty | NA | Stamina Reduced Cost |
| Ring 1 | Toothrow | Infused | NA | Weapon Damage |
| Ring 2 | Toothrow | Infused | NA | Spell Damage |
Mythic Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | New Moon Acolyte Daggers (2) | Nirnhoned/Precise | NA | Damage Health Poison |
| Backup | Any Inferno Staff | Infused | NA | Weapon/Spell Damage |
| Head | Domihaus | Divines | Heavy | Tri-Stat |
| Shoulder | Toothrow | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Chest | Toothrow | Divines | Medium | Tri-Stat |
| Waist | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Gloves | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Legs | Toothrow | Divines | Medium | Tri-Stat |
| Feet | New Moon Acolyte | Divines | Light | Stamina |
| Necklace | Toothrow | Bloodthirsty | NA | Stamina Reduced Cost |
| Ring 1 | Toothrow | Infused | NA | Weapon Damage |
| Ring 2 | Ring Of The Pale Order | Infused | NA | Spell Damage |
Consumables, Race, Mundus
Race
The best race for any Hybrid build in The Elder Scrolls Online is going to be Dark Elf, due to their passive weapon AND spell damage as well as magicka and stamina bonuses. However, High Elf, Orc, Khajiit and Argonian all have hybrid focused passives as well. For more details on all ESO Races and passive bonuses be sure to check out our Full ESO Race Guide.
Mundus
Increases the Critical Strike rating by 1333
With 7 Divines armor pieces
Increases the Critical Strike rating by 2167
Food/Drink Buff
Bewitched Sugar Skulls
Increase Max Health by 4620, Max Stamina and Magicka by 4250, and Health Recovery by 462 for 2 hours.
These effects are scaled based on your level.
Potions
Basic Stamina Potions
Basic Magicka Potions
Tri-Stat Potions
Attributes
30 Magicka
0 Health
34 Stamina
Skills
Main Weapon: DUAL WIELD – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
- Sap Essence
- Relentless Focus
- Debilitate or Steel Tornado
- Surprise Attack
- Barbed Trap
- ULT: Incapacitating Strike
Backup Weapon: INFERNO STAFF – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
Skills Discussion & Rotation
Buffs/Debuffs
Keep up Leeching Strikes and Relentless Focus.
Rotation
Start with Backbar DOTs: Razor Caltrops, Twisting Path, Elemental Blockade -> Bar Swap
Sap Essence, Debilitate, Barbed Trap, then 3x Surprise Attack -> Bar Swap back
Notes
Remember to light attack between every ability & use Relentless Focus bow proc when ready.
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
- Slaughter
- Dual Wield Expert
- Controlled Fury
- Ruffian
- Twin Blade And Blunt
- Tri Focus
- Penetrating Magic
- Elemental Force
- Ancient Knowledge
- Destruction Expert
Armor Passives
Guild Passives
Racial
Other
Companions
If you like playing Solo, this build can benefit greatly from using Companions! This Solo build will benefit the most from the additional healing and buff options a healer focused Companion can offer, so if you are going to use a Companion I would suggest a full healer build for them. I recommend Mirri Elendis for Companion on this build with the set up below. More information on Companions Builds and Skills can be found in our detailed Companion Guides section.
Recommended Gear
- All Light Armor – Quickened Traits
- Restoration Staff
Recommended Skills
Additional Skills
The skills below may also be helpful in other situations such as trash pulls.
Full Companion Build: NFUSOR
The INFUSOR Build is an easy Healing 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 Blood Magic Healing, as Mirri’s own class skills are very similar to that of a Nightblade.
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 TREE
The Green Craft Constellation is focused on crafting and utility-centered upgrades.
Warfare TREE
The Blue Warfare Constellation focuses primarily on increasing player damage, healing and defenses
Fitness TREE
The Red Fitness Constellation is focused on character survival and sustain.
– 300 Champion Points –
GREEN
BLUE
- 20 Precision
- 20 Piercing
- 50 Deadly Aim (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)
- 20 Sprinter
- 8 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Bloody Renewal (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 Deadly Aim (Slot)
- 50 Master-At-Arms (Slot)
- 50 Thaumaturge (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 10 Eldritch Insight
- 10 Tireless Discipline
- 10 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Bloody Renewal (Slot)
- 50 Fortified (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 Deadly Aim (Slot)
- 50 Master-At-Arms (Slot)
- 50 Thaumaturge (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 20 Eldritch Insight
- 20 Tireless Discipline
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Preparation
- 20 Flawless Ritual
- 20 Battle Mastery
- 30 War Mage
- 30 Mighty
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Bloody Renewal (Slot)
- 50 Ironclad (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!
This is why we created the ESO Zero To Hero Build Academy – A Simple, yet Powerful build system that teaches the fundamentals of ESO Theorycrafting, step-by-step.
Build your character exactly how YOU want by following this simple process from start to finish and FINALLY start enjoying ESO the way you want to play it!
Our Guides are designed with New and Intermediate players in mind! Stop wasting hours searching the internet for the best ESO build information – get what you need NOW to succeed!
More Nightblade Builds For ESO
Want more Nightblade Builds? Check out our dedicated Nightblade Builds overview page for even more great options!
