The DARK ARROW Build is an exceptionally Strong Bow Build for Nightblade class in The Elder Scrolls Online. This build mixes Magicka-based spells from the Nightblade class with Stamina-based Bow Skills for a truly unique playstyle, making the traditional bow build stronger than ever!
Primary Sets
Briarheart is our main damage set on this build, giving us a ton of Weapon Damage as well Critical Chance, plus some extra healing when this set procs.
Tzogvin’s Warband is another extremely powerful damage set for ranged builds, adding even more Critical Chance as well as passively granting the Minor Force buff which increases our overall Critical Damage.
Finally, the Stormfist Monster Set is an amazing option for Bow Builds. Now that this set can critically strike again, it does big, BIG damage!
Of course the Thunderous Volley set is another great option to add greater DPS while utilizing the Volley skill on the back up skill bar.
Briarheart
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) When you deal Critical Damage, you increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 450 for 10 seconds. While this effect is active your Critical Strikes heal you for 100 Health. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds and the heal scales off the higher of your Maximum Magicka or Stamina.
Tzogvin’s Warband
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(4 items) Adds 1487 Offensive Penetration
(5 items) When you deal Critical Damage, you gain a stack of Precision, increasing your Critical Chance by 177 for 5 seconds, up to 10 stacks max. At max stacks, you also gain Minor Force, increasing your Critical Damage done by 10%. This effect can occur once every half second.
Stormfist
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(1 item) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(2 items) When you deal damage, you have a 10% chance to create a thunderfist to crush the enemy, dealing 1650 Shock Damage every 1 second for 3 seconds to all enemies within 4 meters and a final 8470 Physical Damage when the fist closes. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds. The Shock Damage dealt from this set bypasses Spell Resistance.
Thunderous Volley
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Increases the damage Volley deals by 430 each tick. This bonus increases by 143 every time Volley ticks, up to a maximum of 8 times.
Alternative Sets
Either 5 piece set can be easily replaced with easier-to-obtain sets such as New Moon Acolyte. You can even upgrade the build to a Trials setup by using Arms Of Relequen.
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%.
Arms Of Relequen
LVL 50 – CP 160
SET BONUS
(2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Your Light and Heavy attacks apply a stack of harmful winds to your target for 5 seconds. Harmful winds deal 52 Physical Damage per stack every 1 second. This effect can stack once every half second, up to 10 times and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage.
Gear Setup
| Weapon/Armor | Set | Trait | Weight | Glyph |
| Main Hand | Briarheart Bow | Precise | NA | Absorb Stamina or Damage Poisons |
| Backup | The Maelstrom Bow | Infused | NA | Weapon Damage |
| Head | Stormfist | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Shoulder | Stormfist | Divines | Light | Magicka |
| Chest | Tzogvin’s Warband | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Waist | Tzogvin’s Warband | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Gloves | Tzogvin’s Warband | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Legs | Tzogvin’s Warband | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Feet | Tzogvin’s Warband | Divines | Medium | Stamina |
| Necklace | Briarheart | Bloodthirsty | NA | Weapon Damage |
| Ring 1 | Briarheart | Bloodthirsty | NA | Weapon Damage |
| Ring 2 | Briarheart | Bloodthirsty | NA | Weapon Damage |
Consumables, Race, Mundus
Race
For the most critical damage possible on this build, go Khajiit. This race is also great for both Hybrids and Bow setups thanks to the extra max stats and recoveries.
For an easier time sustaining your abilities, Redguard will be the best option. For more details on all ESO Races and passive bonuses be sure to check out our Full ESO Race Guide.
Mundus
The Thief
Increases the Critical Strike rating by 1333
With 7 Divines armor pieces
Increases the Critical Strike rating by 2167
Food/Drink Buff
Lava Foot Soup-and-saltrice
Increase Max Stamina by 4936 and Stamina Recovery by 493 for 2 hours. These effects are scaled based on your level.
Potions
Tri-Stat Potions
Skills
Main Weapon: BOW – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
Backup Weapon: BOW – Click on a Skill Name to learn more
- Poison Injection
- Endless Hail
- Echoing Vigor or Shrew Offering
- Piercing Mark or Razor Caltrops
- Degeneration
- ULT: Ballista
Skills Discussion & Rotation
Rotation
Buff with Relentless Focus, then Debuff any boss with Piercing Mark. Then cast:
Degeneration -> Endless Hail -> Poison Injection -> Bar Swap
Debilitate -> Focused x4 -> Relentless Focus Proc -> Bar Swap
Notes
You MUST light attack between each ability in order to charge up the Bow Proc from Relentless Focus. When the enemy enters Execute Range (less than 25% Health) switch to spamming Impale instead of Focused Aim.
Passive Skills
Class Passives
- Master Assassin
- Executioner
- Pressure Points
- Hemorrhage
- Refreshing Shadows
- 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 will benefit the most from the additional healing and defensive options a tank-focused Companion can offer, so if you are going to use a Companion I would suggest a full tank build for them. I recommend Bastian Hallix 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 Heavy Armor – Mixed Vigorous and Quickened Traits
- One Handed Weapon and Shield
Recommended Skills
1. Provoke
3. Kindle
4. On Guard
6 ULT. Unleashed Rage
Additional Skills
The skills below may also be helpful in other situations such as trash pulls.
Full Companion Build
Featured: GUARDIAN DRAKE
The Guardian Drake is a strong option for Bastian Hallix as a Tank. Bastian is one of the new Companions available to ESO players starting in the Blackwood Chapter. The theme of this build is focused around Self-Healing and Survival, allowing Bastian to keep himself alive against many tough opponents and even bosses with very little help from others.
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
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 Master-At-Arms (Slot)
- 50 Deadly Aim (Slot)
- 50 Backstabber (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 20 Battle Mastery
- 30 Mighty
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Bloody Renewal (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 Master-At-Arms (Slot)
- 50 Thaumaturge (Slot)
- 50 Backstabber (Slot)
- 50 Fighting Finesse (Slot)
- 20 Battle Mastery
- 30 Mighty
- 20 Tireless Discipline
- 20 Eldritch Insight
- 20 Quick Recovery
- 20 Hardy
- 20 Elemental Aegis
- 20 Preparation
RED
- 50 Boundless Vitality (Slot)
- 50 Rejuvenation (Slot)
- 20 Sprinter
- 16 Hasty
- 20 Hero’s Vigor
- 50 Bloody Renewal (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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