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GINX TV > Guides & Tutorial > Elder Scrolls Online

ESO Best Stamina Nightblade Build

Here's our best Stamina Nightblade build guide in Elder Scrolls Online.
By Shreyansh Katsura | 
First Published November 2, 2023, 14:34
ESO Best Stamina Nightblade Build
Shreyansh / Zenimax Online

Nightblade is an incredibly powerful class in Elder Scrolls Online. If you're looking to put together a Nightblade-focused melee build, the Stamina Nightblade is relatively easy to build and has insane survivability, so much so that you can solo world bosses without a hitch. In addition to leeching enemy health to heal and having a constant damage shield, this build lets you deal an enormous amount of  AOE Bleeding, Magic, and Physical damage.

Our Stamina Nightblade build is a rather simple one-bar build for PvE activities. This guide covers everything you need to know to put together the best Stamina Nightblade build in ESO, including the best active and passive abilities, champion skills, gear set, and Mundus Stones.

Table of Contents

Best Active Abilities For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

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Here are the best active abilities you need for the best Stamina Nightblade build. (Picture: Shreyansh / Zenimax Online)
Skill Description
Merciless Resolve IV  Focus on your senses for 40 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell damage by 60 with every Light and Heavy Attack, up to 5 times.
Reverse Slice IV Spin around and strike an enemy down, dealing 5235 Physical Damage to them and all nearby enemies. Deals up to 300% more damage to enemies with less than 50% health.
Carve IV  Focus your strength into a mighty swing, dealing 7602 Bleed damage to enemies in front of you, and causing them to bleed for an additional 12558 Bleed Damage over 12 seconds. 
Surprise Attack IV 

Slash an enemy, dealing 11038 Physical Damage and applying the Sundered status effect.

If you flank an enemy from their flank you set them Off Balance. This attack will also be guaranteed to be a Critical Strike, up to once every 4 seconds. 
Swallow Soul IV Steal an enemy's life force, dealing 9934 Magic Damage and healing you for 40% of the damage inflicted every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. 
Incapacitating Strike IV

Ravage an enemy with a swift strike, dealing 17098 Disease Damage and causing them to take 20% more damage from your attacks for 6 seconds. 

If cast with 120 or more Ultimate, the enemy is stunned for 3 seconds.

While slotted you gain Reave, which restores 100 Magicka and Stamina when you deal damage with a Light or Heavy attack.

You begin by casting Merciless Resolve, which buffs all your attacks and provides the perfect opportunity to cast your Ultimate, Incapacitating Strike. In addition to dealing Disease damage, it also stuns all the enemies, so if you're targeting ads instead of a boss, make sure they are grouped together so you can cast Carve next to deal massive AOE damage while they are unconscious.

You can also cast Suprise Attack alongside it to deal devastating Physical damage and make enemies off-balance. Once enemy health goes down 50%, it's time to spam your execute, Reverse Slice, which deals 300% more AOE damage.

The Hexo's Ward set bonus should give you a constant damage shield, but in case your health goes low, you can always heal by leeching off an enemy's health by casting Swallow Soul. It also deals massive Magic damage to that enemy, which is a bonus.

Best Passive Abilities For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

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Here are the best passives you need for the best Stamina Nightblade build. (Picture: Shreyansh / Zenimax Online)
Skill Description
Athletics Increases the Movement Speed bonus of Sprint by 3% for each piece of Medium Armor equipped. Reduces the cost of Roll Dodge by 4% for each piece of Medium Armor equipped.
Battle Rush II Increases your Stamina Recovery by 30% for 10 seconds after killing a target.
Master Assassin II Increases your Physical and Spell Penetration against enemies you are flanking by 2974. Increases the duration of the stun from Sneak by 100%.
Forceful II Your Light and Heavy Attacks damage up to 3 other nearby enemies for 100% of the damage inflicted to the primary target.
Heavy Weapons II Grants a bonus based on the type of weapon equipped: Swords increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 258. Axes increase your Critical Damage done by 12%. Maces increase your Armor Penetration by 2974.
Balanced Blades II Reduces the Stamina cost of your Two-Handed abilities by 15%.
Executioner II When an enemy dies within 2 seconds of being damaged by you, you restore 1000 Magicka and Stamina.
Follow Up II When you complete a fully-charged Heavy Attack, your damage done with Two Handed attacks increases by 10% for 4 seconds.
Pressure Points Increases your Weapon Critical and Spell Critical ratings by 438 for each Assassination ability slotted.
Hemorrhage Increases your Critical Damage by 10%. Dealing Critical Damage grants you and your group Minor Savagery, increasing your Weapon Critical rating by 1314 for 20 seconds.
Refreshing Shadows II Increases your Health, Stamina, and Magicka Recovery by 15%.
Dark Vigor II Increases your Max Health by 3% for each Shadow ability slotted.
Dexterity II Increases your Critical Damage and Healing done rating by 2% for every piece of Medium Armor equipped.
Catalyst II After drinking a potion you gain 20 Ultimate.
Magicka Flood II Increases your Max Magicka by 8% while a Siphoning ability is slotted.
Soul Siphoner II Increases your healing done by 3% for each Siphoning ability slotted.
Transfer II Casting a Siphoning ability while in combat generates 2 Ultimate. This effect can occur once every 4 seconds.
Wind Walker II Increases your Stamina Recovery by 4% per piece of Medium Armor equipped. Reduces the Stamina cost of your abilities by 2% per piece of Medium Armor equipped.

The goal with passives, like always, is to enhance your active abilities. Most of the ones listed above are pretty self-explanatory and contribute towards increasing your max weapon, spell, and critical damage, and improving health, magicka and stamina recovery.

Two of the most important passives include Transfer and Wind Walker. The former will regenerate your Ultimate, thus allowing you to follow the rotation we explained above more frequently. The latter will significantly increase your stamina recovery, granted you have Medium Armor equipped. This will allow you to spam all your Stamina-costing abilities, which is what this build is all about. 

Best Gear Set For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

Weapon / Armor Stats  Set Bonus  How to Get
Oakensoul Ring Bloodthirsty - Increases your Weapon and Spell damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350. (1 item) While equipped, you are unable to swap between your Primary and Backup weapon sets and gain Minor Berserk, Minor Courage, Major Brutality, Major Sorcery, Major Prophecy, Major Savagery, Minor Force, Minor Protection, Major Resolve, Minor Mending, Minor Fortitude, Minor Intellect, Minor Endurance, Minor Heroism, Minor Slayer, Minor Aegis, and Empower. Obtain five leads in the High Isle.
Ring of Prayer Bloodthirsty - Increases your Weapon and Spell damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350. N/A Obtained from the Spindleclutch Dungeon.
Epaulets of Prayer (Shoulders) Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1%. (2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka. Obtained from the Spindleclutch Dungeon.
Necklace of Prayer Bloodthirsty - Increases your Weapon and Spell damage against enemies under 90% Health by up to 350. (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell damage. Obtained from the Spindleclutch Dungeon.
Maul of Prayer (Two-handed Mace)
Precise - Increase Weapon and Spell Critical by 7.2%		 (4 items) Adds 120 Magicka Recovery Obtained from the Spindleclutch Dungeon.
Any Prayer Shawl Off-Hand weapon Precise - Increase Weapon and Spell Critical by 7.2% (5 items) When you overheal yourself or an ally, you grant them a damage shield that absorbs 5747 damage for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 2 seconds. Obtained from the Spindleclutch Dungeon.
Hexo's Ward Helmet Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1%. N/A Random drop in the Deadlands DLC.
Hexo's Ward Bracers  Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1%. (2 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance.  Random drop in the Deadlands DLC.
Hexo's Ward Guards Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1% (3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell damage.  Random drop in the Deadlands DLC.
Hexo's Ward Boots Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1% (4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance. Random drop in the Deadlands DLC.
Hexo's Ward Belt Divines - Increase Mundane Stone effects by 9.1% (5 items) Dealing direct Critical damage grants you a direct shield that absorbs up to 14151 damage for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 7 seconds.  Random drop in the Deadlands DLC.

Since we are running a one-bar build, the Oakensoul Mythic Ring is the go-to choice since its set bonus provides an unprecedented amount of buffs.


The five-piece set bonus from the Hexo's Ward set is perhaps even more important because it gives you a near-constant Damage Shield. Granted, you have decent stats, this should let you solo most content in the game. If you're playing in a group, you can also provide your allies a Damage Shield with the Prayer Shawl set bonus.

Best Champion Skills For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

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Investing in the right Champion skills will improve the effectiveness of your active skills. (Picture: Shreyansh / Zenimax Online)
Constellation Type Skill Description
Warfare Wrathful Strikes Grants 41 Weapon and Spell damage to your damaging abilities per stage.
Warfare Deadly Aim Increase your damage done with single target attacks by 3% per stage. 
Warfare Master-At-Arms Increase your damage done with direct damage attacks by 3% per stage. 
Warfare Preparation Reduces your damage taken from non-player attacks by 5% per stage.
Fitness Boundless Vitality Grants 28 Max Health per stage. 
Fitness Hero's Vigor Grants 280 Max Health per stage.
Fitness Rejuvenation Grants 1.8 Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery per stage.
Fitness Bastion Increases the effectiveness of your damage shields and damage against shielded enemies by 3% per stage.
Craft Steed's Blessing Increases your out of combat Movement Speed by .4% per stage. 
Craft Treasure Hunter Increase the quality of items you find in treasure chests.
Craft Rationer  Adds 10 minutes to the duration of any food or drink that increases your character's stats per stage. 
Craft Liquid Efficiency Whenever you use a potion or a poison you have a 10% 

Champion Skills work similarly to passives. You get different types of damage buffs, increased health, better magicka, and stamina recovery, to name a few. Two of the more important ones are Bastion and Rationer. The former will make your shields more effective, while the latter will increase the duration of the consumables' effect. This is important because you will want to use the Lava Foot Soup-And-Saltrice to increase max stamina and stamina recovery. 

Best Races For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

Race Bonus
Orc Increased Max Health, Stamina, Weapon and Spell damage, XP gain with Heavy Armor.
Nord Increased Max Health, Frost Resistance, Stamina, Physical and Spell Resistance, XP gain with Two-Handed skill line. 
Imperial  Increased Max Health, Stamina, XP gain with One-Hand and Shield skill lines, and reduced cost of all abilities.
Redguard Increased Max Stamina, Stamina Recovery, XP gain with One-Hand and Shield skill lines, and reduced cost of all abilities.
Khajit Increased Health, Stamina, and Magicka.

Surprisingly, a lot of Races work with the Stamina Nightblade build. You may want to prioritize choosing a Race that offers increased Stamina, but having better resistance and proficiency in Two-Handed weapons will be a bonus.

Best Mundus Stones For The Stamina Nightblade Build In ESO

Mundus Stone Effect
Lover Increased Physical and Spell Penetration.

Since you already have increased Magicka and Stamina from your passives, it's best to get a Mundus Stone like Lover that grants other buffs. Increased Physical and Spell Penetration will let you crack the enemy's defenses faster, giving you the much-needed edge in the battle.