Q: How to level a low level NB?

[Lightning]

It seems the NB is the weakest of them all to begin with, but once I hit 20, I put all my points into the stats up to 50 and now maxing out that Blade spirit skill seems to cut everything alot better than all those dual wield skills.

Are those Dual wield skills actually useful late game?

[Robert Zerker]

The game isn't balanced for single-mastery characters (Though it's totally viable with 'best in slots' gear late game for Demolitionist/Soldiers) the reason being that allowing points into your mastery bar gives a lot of base stats and hp. So two masteries = more stats, evenif you don't invest in the skills from your second mastery.

Dual wielding works wonderfully late game, providing you have decent attack speed and gear.

[Lightning]

Ah ok, yeah I was just wondering cause this blade spirit is working a ton better than dual wielding skills right now leveling up from 21

[jamesc70]

I use Nightblade for all my mules, because it's the fastest killer at low levels.

Pump up Amarasta's Blade Burst first, and forgo adding to the mastery bar, and groups of 20 undead all die in 1-2 attacks at low levels because of the AoE.

The Dual Wield skills kind of suck imo, except the first skill that gives you piercing damage and allows dual wielding. All that % chance to be used doesn't allow you to use those attacks when it would be best (ie. you can't rely on using the arc in front (shears?) when you actually have multiple enemies in front and not behind you).

[Jet Uppercut]

Nidalla's Hidden Hand makes those dual wield skills worth using, if you're not going with a Poison & Acid build though you can skip them early on. With NHH and 5 points in the skills it modifies you melt through groups and Nidalla's Justifiable Ends takes care of bosses or tough mobs very quickly. How I started off my Witch Hunter, at least.

[Grilvhor]

Hi there,

I'm a Lvl 50 nightblade/ demolitionist in my Veteran Run, just cleared Darkvale village.
Died around 20 times but that was before I got OP, first playthrough! :P

I started as a nightblade/ soldier using cadence though, but at some point, around level 40, I was struggling too hard so switched "magically" to nightblade/ demolitionist.

I've been using the auto attack/dual wielding build since start, it was hard at first because of a low attack speed and life steal on hit but now that i'm level 50 with 13K DPS and 10% life steal this is really fun and effective, the last skill in that dual wield line deals like 350% damage for each weapon, that's a 14K damage hit for me, great!

I think it may be better to not start on dual wielding and come back to it when you have a lot of points to re-invest in it.
Those passive skills cap at 20% chance to occur at level 4, that was my objective at first.
Some more points can be interesting for the single targets attacks to fight heroes/bosses.

[Lightning]

Yeah I thought Nb / Soldier would have been the tankiest set in game with all the passives, I'm using that Blade spirit to level up though at level 20 it seems to be doing quite a good job just like the wind devils for Shaman.

Also I've been wondering if that Blade spirit could be viable late game if you stack piercing & cold damage, since I did loot this legendary sword azure something I think it was with tons of cold damage and a cold aura you can activate.

[Matthew]

A few points into them is nice to up the % chance to proc, but not really needed to max IMO. On my recent NB I leveled, I only put in one or two points and let +skills from items boost it from there.

Shadow strike, on the other hand, is a must have even if 1 point. The movement the skill provides is too good to ignore.

[Lightning]

Ah ok ill try shadow strike soon

[Lightning]

Yeah I think i'm liking the shadow strike more than the twirly blades now, its also pretty decent in the level 30s using that ground stomp boot too, also gives me a use for all my stocked up mana pots now.

[Lightning]

Yeah that Shadow strike is pretty neat, I had decent gear but not like twink heavy at level 38 I managed to beat Normal main boss

I got a question about that legendary they give you at the end of the boss is it a set item per base class you picked or is it just totally random?

[Mordeth Kai]

Advice from personal experience, max the dual wield skill before doing anything else, put a point in the veil of shadow, but don't worry about maxing it until later, max pneumatic burst and put a point in breath of belgorath for DPS increase and self heal. Just about any dual wielding melee build you will want to start that way, after that use your better judgement but maxing nights chill and veil of shadow will likely end up on the agenda. Also, save your stat points for armor requirements.

NB varients are some of the best DPS in the game last I checked, but you have to max the skills that up your base damage rather than trying to balance the build. Also, save stat points for equipment requirements. They make awesome glass cannons, but difficult to use effectively but rewarding.

If you go glass cannon, go for life drain bonus's with your devotion points and don't worry if your armor is weak. Put a single point in Shadow Strike and use that to get in and out fast, kill support units before anything else and focus on guerilla tactics, killing a unit and running. Be prepared to die a lot learning how to play it, but you will kill insanely quick and melt bosses if you do it right. Mixing it with occultist for acid damage or demolitionist for fire damage is recomended.

[Lightning]

If you don't bother with going dual wield and go more tanky with shield and the shadow strike is it possible to kill stuff later on in ultimate?

[Azunai]

if you can't figure out a way to level up a toon with class skills, you can always use component spells to breeze through the game (my favorite is fireblast / greater fireblast). by the time they become too weak, you should have enough skillpoints to make a viable build from class skills.

that being said - i never found dual wield NB weak for levelling. quite the opposite, really. much faster than a twohander oder s&b build.

i'd either max the base dual wield skill or go with 1 point in ABB and then max lethal assault. both variants give a decent chunk of flat damage.

of course, if you aren't going for pierce, cold or acid damage, you might as well get the base damage from the other class (firestrike, savagery, cadence) and only use the WPS proccs from the NB dual wield line to multiply/spread the damage more.

[FlySC]

General tip for early game leveling: use an augment that gives you an active, like for example searing ember. Put that in one of your weapons and the fireball will carry you throught the early levels. Once you are level 15 you can upgrade to Flintcore bolts, which give you greater fireblast. Using those will easily allow you to progress up to lvl 30-40 where you can switch to whatever skill you were planning on using. This is very usefull for leveling builds that dont work amazingly until you have a few levels, items and devotions unlocked.

[Lightning]

Oh I see, then you can just dismantle it later since it'll be on a crappy piece of equip?