Magicka Nightblade DPS Build
Magicka Nightblade DPS builds are easier than ever to run, and deal incredibly high damage compared to other classes. With excellent sustain options and access to very easy damage modifiers, Magicka Nightblade DPS builds have a great time of stacking up damage, but their rotation can take some getting used to to really shine.
Gear Sets
Perfected Arms of Relequen: Magicka Nightblades deal a lot of damage and have nice bonuses to critical chance and critical damage. Adding as much extra damage as possible is the way to go, and Relequen has that in spades. You can get this from Cloudrest, or Aegis Caller from Unhallowed Grave if you can't do trials yet.
Perfected Whorl of the Depths: Another excellent set for adding raw damage, you can get this from Dreadsail Reef. If you don't have access to trials, Runecarver's Blaze from Scrivener's Hall will do great.
Zaan's: Magicka Nightblades work well in melee range, so Zaan's is a great addition to raw damage output. You can get this from Scalecaller Peak.
Maelstrom Staff: This weapon comes from Maelstrom Arena, and adds a ton of damage output over the duration of a fight. You can use the normal version instead of perfected if you can't manage vet yet.
Skills
Concealed Weapon: This is your primary spammable, and to use it most effectively, ensure you are attacking the flank of the enemy wherever possible, and use Shadowy Disguise every 15 seconds to empower this ability.
Impale: Your execute ability that you should use as much as possible once the enemy hits 25% health.
Merciless Resolve: By weaving your light attacks, Merciless Resolve will automatically build stacks. Be sure to fire this every time it is ready.
Barbed Trap: This is your source of Minor Force, which will increase your damage output substantially. Be sure to keep this up at all times.
Shadowy Disguise: Having this slotted applies Major Prophecy to both bars. We also use it to provide 10% extra damage to Concealed Weapon every 15 seconds.
Soul Harvest: Having this access allows you to automatically harvest tons of extra ultimates from any enemy you kill. If you are in content that does not have many adds, switch to Dawnbreaker of Smiting for an additional small damage boost.
Unstable Wall of Elements: A very powerful damage over time area skill when used with the Maelstrom staff. Be sure to keep it up as much as possible.
Twisted Path: Another potent area DoT that deals high damage and provides you and allies with Major Expedition.
Crippling Grasp: A simple, strong damage over time ability that is applied to a single target, and should be kept up as much as possible.
Dark Shade: This creates a shadow copy of yourself to attack the enemy and provide the Minor Maim debuff, helping your group's survivability.
Mystic Orb: A potent area damaging ability that slowly moves forward and has a synergy for allies to activate, increasing its damage potential. Also helps with your recoveries.
Veil of Blades: Your primary ultimate that deals incredible damage over its duration, and is highly underrated. You may use Incapacitating Strike if you prefer.
Champion Points
Fighting Finesse: A welcome addition to your critical damage output that will help you get up to the 125% crit damage cap. If you are exceeding this cap in your group, choose a different perk like Wrathful Strikes.
Thaumaturge: Damage in The Elder Scrolls Online is measured in how much damage you do per second over the duration of a fight, and stacking damage over time effects is the way to increase this. Thaumaturge will boost that damage type.
Master at Arms: An essential boost to one of the primary damage types that all DPS use - direct damage. This is important on almost any DPS build in ESO.
Deadly Aim: An important buff to single target damage that is essential to any build that gets hefty use out of a single-target spammable. It also boosts the power of single-target damage over time effects, stacking with Thaumaturge in that case.
Boundless Vitality: Every bit of health makes a difference, especially in some of the tougher content that The Elder Scrolls Online has to offer. This will help you bump yours up a little more, increasing your survivability.
Siphoning Spells: A potent addition that shines best when facing multiple enemies or boss fights with adds. Each time you kill an enemy, gain Magicka - perfect!
Rejuvenation: Recoveries are important for every role. For healers, it is essential for keeping your group alive, for tanks, it is the source of most of your buffs and debuffs, for DPS, you can't deal damage with no fuel, and in PvP, no resources means death.
Celerity: Extra movement speed is an amazing boost in all content. In PvE, it helps massively with avoiding nasty mechanics, and in PvP, it allows you to run circles around your opponents.
Mundus Stone
The go-to Mundus Stone for any DPS is the Thief. It is very rare that you will reach the optimal critical chance numbers without the Thief unless you are specifically building for it, which isn't ideal. a
Food Buff
The Ghastly Eye Bowls food buff is typically the best option for any PvE Magicka character. It offers the best combination of Max Magicka and Magicka Recovery. If you are in content that requires higher health, you can use the Withmother's Potent Brew or Clockwork Citrus Filet if you prefer.
Race
The best race to use for this build is a High Elf (Altmer). However, Dark Elves (Dunmer) have an almost negligible difference in DPS. If you struggle to reach the crit damage cap of 125%, then a Khajiit is your best option instead.
Potion
Spell power potions are required on this build to give you access to Major Sorcery, which is an important buff for reaching those top-tier DPS numbers. If you have a Dragonknight using Igneous Weapons or Molten Armaments in your group, you can run Heroism potions instead.
Mortality
Running a Vampire in PvE content will make you a liability to your tank and healer, forcing them to work much harder to keep you alive through much of the game's fiery damage in PvE content. A werewolf also offers no benefit. Therefore, it is recommended that you stick with being a Mortal.
Notes
Magicka Nightblades excel at single target damage, and Concealed Weapon is going to be central to this build. Ensure that you are making use of Shadowy Disguise every 15 seconds to gain a massive 10% damage bonus to Concealed Weapon, and use this spammable as much as you can while all of your damage over time effects are up.
Merciless Resolve is another massive source of damage that should be activated every time it is ready. Make sure you stay on top of that, and you will see your DPS increase massively.