Uploaded February 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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-- UPDATE - 22Feb'19

We tested Nirnhoned + Sharpened Daggers with 60 points into Piercing. Very similar to 2x Sharpened Daggers for the Shadow Orc Advancing Yokeda (AY) Relequen setup as you can see here: https://i.imgur.com/VukoO6K.png

--- Intro

This post details the results from comparing different Stamina Nightblade setups (Race, Gear and Mundus) with a given selection of raid buffs.

Many thanks to @andy.s, @LokiClermeil, @stileanima and @Heelie for providing 3 hours of consistent group support. Cheers to @WarfireX and @Web_Silliams, two fellow Hodor DD's, for hitting the dummies with me. Thanks, @Inig0 and @ChaosAD2077 for helping out in round 2!

The video content itself is just here so you can see how our testing setup looked.

If you just want the final results -- https://i.imgur.com/9ld5Ip6.png


--- Group Buffs

I've provided the info below to enable others to make a direct comparison if they wish to.

Both tanks wore Alkosh to ensure 100% uptime. In a real trial situation, it is very possible for only 1 tank to reach such uptimes, but here we are going for consistency. We had the Tanks use Torugs (for the Torugs Infused crusher) and Powerful Assault as their second sets. One of the tanks, a Warden, provided the Budding Seeds synergy and the DK provide Minor Brutality.

We had a Sorc Healer to provide the Conduit and Bone Shield synergies, as well as Minor Vulnerability via IA, and Off-balanced. The Templar healer was here to provide Olorime and Minor Breach via Power of the Light and the Blood Altar synergy.
Both healers were throwing Orbs for the DD's and Tanks.

All supports were using the Sentinel of Rkugamz Monster set. Although reasonable to set up this way in a real trial situation, the sustain provided here in this test may be slightly better than many trial situations. We did this to enable a true raw power comparison.


--- Comparing Races

Comparisons were made between the Redguard (a race that many current Stamina Nightblade players are representing), the Orc and Khajiit (the two potentially outstanding races). We did not directly compare with the Wood Elf (considered very similar to Redguard) and the Dunmer (considered very similar to Orc). The gear used by DDs in this comparison is the BIS from Murkmire bar Dagger traits (Velidreth, Relequen, AY, Nirnhoned and Precise Daggers, with the Lover Mundus, with 17 points into Piercing to allow us to meet the 18,200 Physical Penetration cap suitably). Note, that due to the Centurion's hitbox, Velidreth DPS ranged from 1.7k to 5.7k, and since it is completely independent from the rotation, we normalized all parses to cancel out the fluctuations caused by Velidreth's 2nd-piece bonus.

Blue food was used on Redguard, since it is possible to comfortably sustain on it. Gold food was used on the Orc and Khajiit to provide it with equally (if not better sustain). Side note: with the scaling changes to attributes, Orc and Khajiit are sitting at 16-17k selfbuffed with Gold food now; perfectly reasonable to use in all raid situations now.

18-21 parses from each sample was collected, and potential outliers were removed, leaving 15 for each race.

Each of us individually and collectively came to the same outcome, though I'll allow you to make your own conclusions -- https://i.imgur.com/kkCGvYq.png


--- Comparing Gear and Mundus

We took the Orc, which appeared to perform the best, and compared a few new setups. These included the usage of the recently buffed Shadow Mundus Stone.
The Murkmire BIS setup (as described before) were compared with:
1. Orc, Shadow Mundus, Relequen + AY (2 sharpened daggers) and 34 points into piercing
2. Orc, Shadow Mundus, Relequen + TFS (Nirnhoned and Precise Daggers) and 17 points into piercing
3. Orc, Shadow Mundus, Relequen +AY (1 nirnhoned 1 sharpened) and 60 points into piercing

Again, 18-21 parses, choosing 15 from each.

Once again, each of us individually and collectively came to the same conlusion, but feel free to suggest otherwise. Results -- https://i.imgur.com/VGUVncC.png

--- Conclusions

Should things stay the same going Live, chances are something like these will be my general Veteran Trials setup: https://i.imgur.com/5VFPKNC.png
https://i.imgur.com/u4Kd548.png

Personally, I would be happy with either of Orc, Khajiit and Dunmer though. (Orc ≥ Dunmer - Khajiit - Wood Elf = Redguard, if I had to rank them).

One thing is for sure; there is less to gain/lose than previous patches as a result of your choice of Race, when playing as a Stamina Nightblade.

Final combined overview -- https://i.imgur.com/9ld5Ip6.png


--- Future Testing

We didn't have time to test Wood Elf, Dunmer, and a baseline such as Nord. Might've been useful, but doesn't affect our primary goal to explore the potential best setups for End-game Trials.

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