[2.5]MageBlade Tank – Shadows of the Hist

Armor Types

Gear and Item Set Info

Bahraha’s Curse/Seducer – Current Set

Head: Heavy, Infused – Bahraha’s Curse – Primsatic or Maximum Health

Shoulders: Heavy, Sturdy – Seducer – Maximum Health

Chest: Heavy, Infused – Bahraha’s Curse – Prismatic or Maximum Health

Gloves: Heavy, Sturdy – Seducer – Maximum Health

Belts: Heavy, Sturdy – Seducer – Maximum Health

Legs: Heavy, Infused – Bahraha’s Curse – Prismatic or Maximum Health

Boots: Heavy, Sturdy – Seducer – Maximum Health

Neck: Willpower – Healthy – Spell Damage

Ring 01: Willpower – Healthy – Reduce Spell Cost

Ring 02: Willpower – Healthy – Reduce Spell Cost

Mainhand 01: Sword, Defending – Bahraha’s Curse – Weapon Damage or Crusher

Offhand 01: Shield, Reinforced – Bahraha’s Curse – Maximum Health

Mainhand 02: Sword, Defending – Bahraha’s Curse – Hardening

Offhand 02: Shield, Reinforced – Bahraha’s Curse – Reinforced – Weapon Damage or Crusher

This has become my go to set for tanking. Bahraha’s Curse is a great set, giving a solid bonus to each of the three primary resources and has a great five-piece proc that is ideal for magicka nightblade tanks. Screenshots below will show that the proc can do just as much damage AND healing as Refreshing Path and even surpass it despite its small circular radius depending on the encounter. Despite the high proc chance; 25% per damaging ability use, the internal cool down is very low so you will see it proc quite frequently. The preferred champion point allocation aims to improve the damage and healing received to further increase it’s value. The only thing that can make it better is an increase to the radius but I will not hold my breath.

Due to an increase in popularity Bahraha’s Curse can be hard to find, especially Reinforced shields and they can be quite expensive, however, if you are patient you can find them reasonably priced. If you wish to use a monster set you can drop the Willpower jewelry for Bahraha’s Curse jewelry. Blue quality necklaces and rings are easy to find and relatively cheap with purple being much harder to come by. I personally do not use monster sets with my tank gear, however, were I to use one I would select either Engine Guardian, Lord Warden or Scourge Harvester for additional tanking utility. Nerien’eth is a valid option for those looking more extra damage.

General Info

Original Source

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/invellous-magicka-nightblade-tank-guide-tg-ready/

Introduction

Warm sands friends! Welcome to my magicka nightblade guide. When Zenimax Online Studios first announced that there would be a class system in the game they quickly reassured the community that the Elder Scrolls Online would stay true to The Elder Scrolls series and allow players to play how they wanted regardless of the class they chose. The guide aims to prove to you that a magicka nightblade can in fact tank and it will teach you how I myself do so with great success!

OVERVIEW

The nightblade like all classes brings with them a set of pros and cons to the tanking role. Pros include superb resource sustainability, a long lasting dodge skill that can be morphed to increase armor and by way of Refreshing Path the ability o further bolster resistance, as well as both self healing and off-healing through a number of skills. These benefits set them apart from other classes, however, they lack reliable and accessible crowd-control, damage shields spells and other active mitigation, and strong direct healing skills, all of which are defining elements of the other classes.

With the above defining elements in mind this build aims to insure that we retain these benefits and focus on them while maintaining a respectable amount of both Physical and Spell Resistance. We achieved this by combining the spell Mirage(Blur morph) with a spell from the Shadow skill line to activate the passive Shadow Barrier. We do this by using and maintaining Refreshing Path(Path of Darkness morph). By doing this we gain both Major and Minor Resolve and Ward as well as Major Evasion which results in a bonus of 6,270 to both Physical and Spell Resistance and a 20% chance to dodge attacks for twenty-six seconds. This combination allows us to select gear that offers both Magicka Recovery and Maximum Magicka bonuses combined with other options that make up the build’s whole to create an effective tank that never has to worry about resources.

SKILLS

Bar One: Main Bar

Puncture
Siphoning Attacks
Refreshing Path
Swallow Soul / Funnel Health
Defensive Posture / Absorb Magic
Ultimate: Veil of Blades / Aggressive Horn / Shooting Star / Soul Tether

Bar Two: Buff / Area-of-Effect Bar

Mirage
Dark Shades
Flex Spit*** Crippling Grasp, Inner Fire, Lotus Fan, Stalwart Guard
Sap Essence
Defensive Posture / Absorb Magic
Ultimate: Soul Harvest

ROTATION

Single Target: As a tank your job is establish threat on the boss and keep your buffs and debuffs going at all times while light attack weaving each skill and casting Swallow Soul/ Funnel Health as many times in between bar swaps as possible without letting a buff or debuff fade. I feel it is important which order you use your skills as it that order will either increase or decrease the difficulty. I personally use the following rotation.

Warhorn / Shooting Star* > Puncture > Siphoning Attacks > Refreshing Path > Bar Swap > Mirage** > Dark Shades** > Sap Essence** > Flex Skill*** > Bar Swap > Repeat.*

Warhorn or Shooting Star should be used at the start of the fight if you opted to take one of them over Veil of Blades otherwise save Veil of Blades until needed, ideally when there is a particular nasty mechanic coming up or when things get hairy.** When using Mirage and Dark Shades it is important to remember both last longer than 20 seconds meaning you will only need to refresh them every other bar swap. Also it is best to let Dark Shades fade completely before recasting otherwise you will teleport to the shade and despawn it. Sap Essence is our source for Major Brutality and Sorcery and should be used even on single target fights to refresh Major Brutality and Sorcery when they fade.

*** The Flex Skill typically does not fit into the rotation unless it is either Structured Entropy or Crippling Grasp. Inner Fire and Lotus Fan should be used as needed. Stalwart Guard is a potential utility skill that can help in fights where there is a lot of party wide damage.

Area-of-Effect: In AoE encounters it is important to prioritize melee targets over range as they typically deal more damage and can interrupt your healer. In dungeons such as veteran White-Gold Tower and Imperial City Prison I focus on the larger xivkyn and atronachs and let the party AoE down the weaker enemies. The following rotation should allow you to handle most situations easily.

Pre-cast Mirage and Siphoning Attacks > Shooting Star / Soul Tether* > Refreshing Path > Puncture all melee or dangerous targets > Bar swap > Sap Essence > Reapply buffs if needed.*

If you decided to take Shooting Star or Soul Tether over Veil of Blades or Aggressive Warhorn then it is perfectly acceptable to use Shooting Star or Soul Tether on AoE fights. Soul Tether can be especially useful as means of stunning enemies.

Champion Point Tips

The Warrior: 73 Hardy(20.1%), 73 Elemental Defender(20.1%), 28 Thick Skinned(10%), 3 Quick Recovery(19%) The allocation in Hardy and Elemental Defender along side Thick Skinned helps make up for what we lack in total resistances which is roughly five to six percent from cap if you have only temper gear to epic(purple quality).We drop our last few points into Quick Recovery just some added bonus healing from ourselves and other sources. The Thief: 90 Magician(15%), 48 Arcanist(15%), 24 Shadow Ward(9.2%), 15 Tumbling(5.5%) Last a magicka build we invest heavily into both Magician and Arcanist, however, as a tank we invest enough into Shadow Ward to help boost our reduction in block cost to twenty-three to twenty-five percent depending on how far you temper your gear. This helps with stamina sustain in both dungeons and trials. Our last few points go into Tumbling to help with stamina sustain once again. The Mage: 73 Elemental Expert(20.1%), 73 Blessed(20.1%), 27 Elfborn(10%), 4 Thaumatugre(2.6%) This may not be optimal but it has thus far worked out for me. We bolster our damage through Elemental Expert and our healing in Blessed. A few points into Elfborn which may not be the best for this build, however, I invest here to make swapping to a damage dealing setup easy. A few points in Thaumaturge helps bolster our damage over time skills which may be a place that is worthy of greater investment than Elfborn.

Build Rating