Stamina Nightblade is Considered the Hardest DPS Class in ESO
Out of all the damage-focused classes in The Elder Scrolls Online, the stamina nightblade reigns supreme in complexity. Their unforgiving playstyle, intense buff/debuff micromanagement, and astronomical skill ceiling cements them as the undisputed hardest hitting DPS class when mastered.
An Intricate Rotation That Punishes Imperfection
At the core of maximizing a stamina nightblade‘s damage lies their extraordinarily intricate ability priority system. The sequence of skills must be executed with extreme precision – activating certain attacks within a 0.5 second window and weaving accelerated light attacks in between.
Missing a single ability activation or delaying your next skill by a split second disrupts this delicately balanced rotation, plummeting DPS by 10-20k easily. Stamblades have zero margin for error thanks to how their kit synergizes. This makes their rotation the most mechanically demanding by far.
Squishy By Nature With No Survivability Tools
Unlike dragonknights or wardens, nightblades completely lack any of their own damage shields or healing abilities. Heavy Armor and increased health from other classes also gives them much thicker skin. This forces stamina nightblades to run Vigor from the support skill lines just to sustain themselves.
But devoting a skill slot to Vigor lowers a stamblade‘s already narrow rotation flexibility even more. The resulting glass cannon build leaves their health bars incredibly fickle – dipping too low on health tanks DPS. Consequently, stamblades end up juggling maintaining self-buffing Vigor on top of an already packed rotation priority for maximum damage.
Rigorous Buff And Debuff Micromanagement Required
Siphoning Attacks, Relentless Focus, Barbed Trap, Endless Hail, Shadowy Disguise – stamina nightblades rely on a plethora of long-duration buffs and debuffs to push their DPS to the limits. The issue lies in maintaining 100% uptime on all these abilities WHILE ALSO executing your primary rotation.
If even one of these powerful, 20-30 second buffs drops off, you instantly lose out on 3-5% of your total DPS thanks to how they augment your other attacks. This intense micromanagement forces stamblade players to track all buff/debuff timers like a hawk, leaving no attention for missing rotation ability activations.
Weaving Light Attacks Perfectly Make Or Breaks Overall Damage
Light attack weaving forms the foundation of dealing strong damage in ESO. But for stamina nightblades, the difference between perfect and imperfect weaving may as well be a damage abyss. Missing out on just 1 light attack per rotation cycle tanks your DPS by nearly 8-10k because of how their skills heavily scale off weaved attacks.
And if you accidentally clip your acceleration buffs by weaving too slowly? That results in another 5-8k plunge in the endless pit of direct damage loss. In contrast, other classes have very generous windows for weave timings. This unforgiving light attack playstyle central to stamblades adds immense mechanical difficulty.
Best In Class DPS Cements Stamblade‘s Extreme Difficulty
The payoff for mastering stamina nightblades exacting demands lies in their unmatched damage potential. Currently, stamblades hold 5 out of the top 10 highest DPS parses ever recorded – sitting comfortably in the 90-97k range. No other class even comes close to keeping up.
Their astronomical skill ceiling means stamina nightblades scale exponentially harder with player skill compared to any other damage class. But this immense power lies behind impossibly tight windows for error. Top level players need to utilize animation canceling tricks and near frame perfect ability timing to push their limits.
Out of all the classes, stamina nightblades also have BY FAR the lowest trifecta and personal best clearance rates relative to the wider playerbase. This showcases how their difficulty gates most players from success. But the ones at the pinnacle shine as paragons of maximized DPS potential.
