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SHADE - Stamina Nightblade 124k+ DPS Guide
15 December 2021
This Stamina Nightblade DPS guide will surely help you improve your Stamina Nightblade damage numbers while also providing you with alternative setups.
Inquisitor Mordrak showcases the best possible damage setup one could do on the Raid Dummies and on actual Trial bosses whenever possible as a Stamina Nightblade PvE damage dealer!
This written guide along with the accompanying video guide will not only go over how to perform your DPS rotation as a Stamina Nightblade in an optimal setting but also go over alternative setups for different scenarios such as Trial trash, Dungeons, Solo instances and Arenas.
Recommended race for this build is Dunmer / Dark Elf.
Recommended Mundus Stone is The Thief.
Recommended Potions to use for this build will be Essence of Weapon Power.
Recommended foods to use for this build will vary such as Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice (parsing) or any bi-stat food (Health + Stamina) for content that requires you to do so. You can also do Artaeum Takeaway Broth or Dubious Camoran Throne if need be depending on fights.
One piece of Slimecraw is the first option for additional Critical Chance as it's the only one piece bonus that offers more Critical Chance than other monster sets with a Critical Chance stat.
Relequen is still a highly desirable single target set even after all these years. Maintaining Relequen stacks is easier and straightforward. You definitely want this active on both bars meaning five body pieces or 1 jewelry piece with 4 body pieces depending on setup. If you don't have Relequen, you can use Pillar of Nirn which is especially good for fights shorter than ~35 seconds or in fights where you have to swap targets frequently or lose Relequen stacks. Potential alternatives can include Yandir's Might or Sul-Xan.
Harpooner's Wading Kilt will allow you to get closer to the new Critical Damage cap while dropping Fighting Finesse (both content and dummy) in favor of a different Warfare Slottable such as Master-at-Arms. If you have a bad Kilt uptime in content, you can replace the Kilt with a monster set such as Stormfist, Kjalnar, Velidreth or Iceheart.
Kinras's Wrath is a very solid secondary set as of Update 32 to equip due to the Major Berserk you can maintain while gaining considerably strong stat bonuses and can be front-barred as most of your rotation time takes place on the front bar.
Maelstrom Greatsword on the backbar is there for the use of Merciless Charge's bonus effect to the Stampede AoE.
In terms of traits, we want Divines on all armor pieces to boost the Thief's critical rating as much as possible. Bloodthirsty still outperforms Infused on the jewelry despite what certain mystical players may say.
If you play in a mag group, take maces or light monster set pieces or 2 piece Penetration bonuses instead of Critical Chance bonuses if need be.
Get 10 stacks of Harpooner's Wading Kilt before the fight along with 5 stacks of Relentless Focus (without firing it). Drink your potion about 25 seconds before you start a fight (because you want to get the 20 Ultimate gain from the Nightblade's Catalyst passive earlier in the fight).
Activate your Relentless Focus, Shade & then cast Barbed Trap on target.
Your opening rotation should look like this, in order with a light attack in between each skill:
Your priority (the skills you should always refresh/cast first) is the following in order from top to bottom:
Carve (3 stacks of Carve is essential as it's one of the strongest DoTs)
Relentless Focus (whenever possible, let loose your bow proc)
Stampede
Twisting Path
Deadly Cloak
Barbed Trap
Shade
Incapacitating Strike
Rending Slashes
Surprise Attack
Use Incap as soon as it is ready before the Relentless Focus procs. Try to use 3+ skills with a direct component after Incapacitating Strike such as Stampede, Rending Slashes or Surprise Attack to fully utilize the potential of the Incapacitating Strike's increased 20% damage debuff on target for 6 seconds.
25%, immediately replace Surprise Attack with Killer's Blade casts. Also stop using Rending Slashes and activating your Relentless Focus bow proc (keep the 5 stacks) at 25%.
12%, stop using Shade.
8%, stop using Barbed Trap and Twisting Path.
5%, spam Killer's Blade with a Light Attack in between each cast.
Replace Lethal Arrow with Killer's Blade & stop using Magnum Shot along with Relentless Focus at 25% of the target's health although you should make sure you have 5 stacks of Relentless Focus at this point.
Drop Shade at 12%
Drop Twisting Path at 8%
Only cast Killer's Blade with a Light Attack in between each one at 5%
Craft
PvE Combat (Craft)
Professional Upkeep
(50)
Steed's Blessing
(50)
Liquid Efficiency
(75)
Rationer
(30)
For a general Craft allocation for PvE.
Warfare
Stamina Nightblade PvE (Warfare)
Master-at-Arms
(125)
Deadly Aim
(125)
Wrathful Strikes
(50)
Exploiter
(10)
General Warfare Slottables for PvE Stamina Nightblade DPS. Check your Critical Damage value for deciding on Backstabber and Fighting Finesse in content.
Fitness
Stamina PvE DPS (Fitness)
Fortified
(50)
Rejuvenation
(50)
Boundless Vitality
(50)
Sustained by Suffering
(50)
General Fitness Slottables for a PvE Stamina DPS spec. Alternative slottables include Spirit Mastery or others depending on situations.
You need to be sure that you don't go over the 125% Critical Damage modifier cap in your raids or groups. If you have Elemental Catalyst or Minor Brittle on the boss/target, replace your Backstabber slottable with Biting Aura or you can keep it if the Major Force uptime in your group is less than 50% during the entire fight.
Blackrose Bow (Frontbar, Precise, Flame Glyph), alternative for this is a Master's Bow if you can't apply 8+ seconds on the Magnum Shot DoT with the BRP bow.
Introduction (Update 32, Deadlands)
Inquisitor Mordrak showcases the best possible damage setup one could do on the Raid Dummies and on actual Trial bosses whenever possible as a Stamina Nightblade PvE damage dealer!
This written guide along with the accompanying video guide will not only go over how to perform your DPS rotation as a Stamina Nightblade in an optimal setting but also go over alternative setups for different scenarios such as Trial trash, Dungeons, Solo instances and Arenas.
Recommended race for this build is Dunmer / Dark Elf.
Recommended Mundus Stone is The Thief.
Recommended Potions to use for this build will be Essence of Weapon Power.
Recommended foods to use for this build will vary such as Lava Foot Soup-and-Saltrice (parsing) or any bi-stat food (Health + Stamina) for content that requires you to do so. You can also do Artaeum Takeaway Broth or Dubious Camoran Throne if need be depending on fights.