Is Nightblade Two Handed or Dual Wield? A Comprehensive Analysis

As an experienced Nightblade player, this is a question I see come up often. Fortunately, the answer is that both two-handed and dual wield setups can excel on a Nightblade depending on your preferred playstyle.

While most Nightblades have typically leaned towards DW for higher single target DPS, recent patches have brought two-handed builds back to the forefront as viable and competitive options. This guide will dive deep on the pros, cons, skills, and gear for both setups so you can make an informed decision!

Dual Wield Nightblade

Dual wielding has been a Nightblade staple for years due to its faster attack speed and higher damage-over-time potential. Equipping two daggers or axes allows you to leverage multiple weapon skill lines and stack bleeds from abilities like Twin Slashes.

Pros of DW Nightblade:

• Higher single target DPS over long fights
• More Damage over Time from bleeds
• Flexibility from two weapon types
• Faster attack speed

Based on community theorycrafting and parses, dual wield pulls ahead in longer single target fights. For example, some players have hit over 110k+ DPS on 21M HP dummy parses.

Cons of DW Nightblade:

• Lower AOE and cleave damage
• Less burst potential
• Lower weapon damage weapons
• More complex rotations

While great on longer single target fights, dual wield struggles more in AOE situations compared to two-handed. This can make some content like trash pulls take longer.

Skills and Gear

Popular dual wield Nightblade setups focus on DoT abilities and power increasing ultimates like Soul Harvest. Commonly used skills include:

• Twin Slashes
• Rending Slashes
• Barbed Trap
• Relentless Focus
• Killer‘s Blade

Many dual wield builds front-bar a Maelstrom dagger for higher single target damage. Paired sets include Relequen, Bahsei‘s Mania, Tzogvin, etc.

Two Handed Nightblade

While dual wield has reigned supreme for many patches, two-handed Nightblade builds have risen in popularity recently. The larger weapon damage and crushing blows provide burst needed in some encounters.

Pros of 2H Nightblade:

• Stronger AOE and cleave damage
• Higher burst potential
• Simpler rotations
• Higher damage shields

Two-handed is fantastic for quickly killing trash mobs and AOE. The bonus cleave damage from abilities like Reverse Slice and Momentum having strong survivability shields give 2H builds an edge in many solo situations.

Cons of 2H Nightblade:

• Lower single target DPS
• Less Damage over Time
• Slower attack speed

Despite recent improvements, 2H still falls a bit short in longer single boss fights compared to DW. The slower and more sustained damage style struggles to match dual wield damage outputs.

Skills and Gear

Popular two-handed Nightblade builds focus more on weapon abilities over class skills. Commonly used abilties include:

• Brawler
• Reverse Slice
• Carve
• Rally
• Executioner

Gear wise, two-handed builds achieve higher weapon damage through sets like Pillar of Nirn, Kinras‘s Wrath, and Truthreader to enhance massive Reverse Slice crits.

Comparing 2H vs DW Metrics

Based on community theorycrafting, here are some averages for 2H vs DW Nightblades:

As shown above, dual wield pulls ahead in single target while two-handed dominates AOE and survivability. This aligns with the assessments earlier about their strengths and weaknesses.

Hybrid Setups

Many players choose to get the best of both worlds by front-barring dual wield and back barring a two-handed weapon.

This enables them to use dual wield abilities for single target then swap to 2H for AOE clearing. It‘s a great way to maximize damage outputs for all situations.

The Verdict?

While dual wield remains the higher DPS option for most trials and boss fights, two-handed is making a comeback in ESO. Recent buffs to two-handed have greatly improved viability.

My verdict after analyzing the numbers, community feedback, and playtesting is:

If your focus is end-game PVE, dual wield will provide the best single target DPS for trials and dungeons

But,

If you plan to do mostly solo and open world content, two-handed is amazing with its AOE, survivability, and simpler rotation

As such, the "best" option depends a lot on what content you plan to play! Both setups have strengths and many Nightblades utilize both by hotbar swapping.

Let me know if you have any other questions about dual wield vs two-handed Nightblades! I‘m happy to provide additional guidance as an experienced player.