If you’ve been to the ESO subreddit, or watched any videos on Nightblade builds then there is a pretty good chance you’ve come across a post or comment praising a Nightblade build that utilizes a Healing Staff. I’ve done some experimenting with this build over the past week, and thought I’d share.

The reason for equipping a Restoration staff is for the Cycle of Life passive, which grants you an additional 10% damage while at full health. This can also be combined with Combat Prayer, which provides an additional 10% damage making for some fantastic opening attacks when striking from stealth.

This build has proven very successful for leveling through VR content, and has drastically cut down the amount of time spent fighting mobs compared to my previous bow-based build. It also provides me with the ability to heal for dungeon, dolmens, world bosses, or simply keep myself topped off on particularly challenging quests.

Weapon Slot #1: Restoration Staff

I open each fight by entering Stealth and activating Ambush (making sure to attack the target from behind). This attack alone will one-shot many creatures of equal or lower level (wolves, in particular). For those that are left standing, I’ll follow up with either Concealed Weapon or Killers Blade. The choice here depends largely on whether the NPC’s health is below 20%, because Killers Blade deals additional damage on NPC’s whose health has fallen below 20%.

For Strong/Elite mobs that are not immune to stun, you need only activate Shadowy disguise > Concealed Weapon > Heavy Attack > Repeat. I’ve been able to solo every public dungeon I’ve come across in VR zones using that combination. By striking with Concealed Weapon while in stealth, you can keep your target stun locked quite effectively.

This build is not without it’s downsides, though. You will burn through magicka very, very fast. It’s important to weave heavy attacks into your rotation whenever possible on longer fights, and you’ll want to try to always keep enough magicka to allow an emergency Shadowy Disguise to get you out of those near-death situations.

Although I do have Swallow Soul slotted, I very rarely use it. In fact, it’s primary there for it’s passive +8% magicka, Increased healing, and increased potion effectiveness. If you’d rather not slot an ability purely for the passives then you can easily swap it out for Combat Prayer, that gives you a 10% damage boost when activated.

Weapon Slot #2: Restoration Staff

I don’t think this requires nearly as much of an explanation, as I think it’s fairly straight-forward. Taking advantage of the fact you’ve already got a restoration staff equipped.

These morphs are also largely based on my own preference. I’ve got them set up to fulfill more of an off-healer role, and don’t expect to be healing any VR dungeons with my current setup.

Edit: Fixed the Stat allocation to magicka and health