This is a Nightblade build designed for max movement speed while sneaking and keeping up Shadowy Disguise. Do not use this in combat (dungeons, etc.) as you will do very little damage.
This build is heavily over-provisioned in terms of speed, max magicka, magicka regen and minimal detection radius, meaning you're able to replace some skills/gear pieces without breaking the build.
With this build you can sneak run from the Dragonstar wayshrine to the Sandy Path wayshrine without slowing down or dropping Shadowy Disguise. Not sure why you would do that though ;)
Gear
- Vesture of Darloc Brae reduces the detection radius and gives a massive sustain boost.
- Night Terror also reduces the detection radius. We only need the 3-piece bonus.
- Ring of the Wild Hunt gives a massive speed boost.
- The single piece of Magma Incarnate offers double recovery which is nice, but can be easily replaced with another 1-piece bonus (e.g. only magicka recovery, max magicka).
- The type of weapon doesn't really matter, but we're using the bow here for the small speed boost after a roll dodge.
- The body traits/enchants are all Infused/Max Magicka for Shadowy Disguise uptime.
- The Reduce Spell Cost on jewelry will also help with Shadowy Disguise uptime as magicka regen is halted when moving around. The Swift trait offers extra movement speed, but you could use Arcane or Infused here for extra sustain.
- The Trainee pieces are used to fill in the gaps and for some extra resources. These can be replaced with two pieces of Druid's Braid or any other two pieces with a useful bonus.
- The weapon trait/enchant doesn't matter, I recommend slotting a poison for the Dark Brotherhood daily quest (e.g. random trash poison or the ones from the daily rewards). Powered is the only trait that can be useful outside combat.
Active skills
- Shadowy Disguise is Shadowy Disguise.
- Elusive Mist can be used as a movement/escape tool. Keep in mind that it's a Criminal Act.
- Resolving Vigor is our heal in case of accidents. Using the skill will break sneak, but its subsequent ticks will not.
- Swallow Soul is slotted for the Siphoning passives (Magicka Flood). It can be replaced with any other Siphoning skill.
- Concealed Weapon is slotted for its passive speed boost.
- Barrier is slotted for the Magicka Aid passive in Support. You can also slot the Siphoning ultimate here and replace Swallow Soul with Inner Light for some extra max magicka/magicka regen.
Extra passives
- Shadow passives help with recovery.
- Siphoning passives help with sustain/recovery.
- Light and Medium Armor passives help with sustain/recovery and movement speed.
- Bow's Hasty Retreat gives a little speed boost after a roll dodge.
- Vampire is useful for the Dark Stalker passive, specifically the ‘Ignore the Movement Speed penalty of Sneak’ part.
- Race doesn't really matter, Khajiit and Wood Elf have useful sneaking/thieving passives, Breton can be nice for extra spell cost reduction.
- Legerdemain's Improved Hiding passive helps with sustain.
- Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild add some flavor.