ESO Thief Build

Welcome to the Best Thief Build for ESO! Cloak and Dagger is a fun Nightblade Thief Build in The Elder Scrolls Online that will help you Become Rich from the activity of Stealing without being Detected! The Build is utilizing Nightblade and Scribing Skills to offer a fun and 100% Pacifist Play style in ESO!

This Thief Build relies mostly on passive abilities from Legerdemain, Thieves Guild and Vampire Skill-lines. It is also a great Build to complete Daily Quests for the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, if you wish to increase your rank with them or earn more rewards! Cloak and Dagger offers a great setup that you can also use every time the Crime Wave Event is live! More Nightblade Builds and Guides you can read:

• Nightblade Beginner Guide
• Nightblade Builds
• Magicka Nightblade Beginner Build
• Stamina Nightblade Beginner Build

Best Skills for Thief Build ESO

The Build is focusing on stealth gameplay and staying undetected! Its skills will help you remain in the shadows, boost your defense but also allow you to escape in case things start going South! Shadowy Disguise is the core ability of the Build. Nightblade’s Stealth skill that allows you to remain hidden.

Concealed Weapon assists with Speed thanks to its passive effects. Stupefy from the Vampire skill line can stun enemies and help you escape. Cloak and Dagger can also use a few scribing skills that enhance your Pacifist play style and allow you to escape without killing NPC. Unless you want to! The Scribing Skills you can use are:

• Binding Vault: Immobilize+Hunter’s Snare+Maim
• Dazing Torch: Stun+Gladiator’s Tenacity+Evasion
• Dazing Knife: Stun+Hunter’s Snare+Uncertainty

Binding Vault immobilizes enemies, reduces their speed to help you escape but also their damage! Dazing Torch stuns targets in front of you, reduces the damage you take and grants you Evasion. Finally Dazing knife also stuns targets, reduces their speed and Damage!

• Shadowy Disguise(Shadow Cloak): Cloak and very important survival skill.
• Refreshing Path(Path of Darkness): Use this skill to move faster when escaping. Can also heal you if you are under attack.
• Binding Vault: Immobilize+Hunter’s Snare+Maim
• Mirage(Blur): Defensive buff.
• Mass Hysteria(Aspect of Terror): Defensive skill that can help you escape.
• Soul Tether(Soul Shred): Stuns enemies and heals you.
• Dazing Torch: Stun+Gladiator’s Tenacity+Evasion
• Stupefy(Mesmerize): Stuns enemies and reduces their speed.
• Concealed Weapon(Veiled Strike): Helps you move faster with its passive effect.
• Siphoning Attacks(Siphoning Strikes): Sustain ability.
• Resolving Vigor(Vigor): Active healing ability.
• Bolstering Darkness(Consuming Darkness): Reduces speed of hostiles and protects you.

Rotation

Stay in the shadows and steal everything that moves! Very easy gameplay, just be careful of NPC proximity. If you are caught, use one of your many defensive skills to escape. Mass Hysteria, Soul Tether, Refreshing Path, Binding Vault, Dazing Torch and Stupefy can all help you escape without killing anyone! The Hasty Retreat passive from the Bow line can also give you a speed boost when in combat and help you escape. You will never have to kill anything unless you want to. Which makes this build the perfect option for an ESO Pacifist Gameplay.

ESO Thief Build and Subclassing

With Subclassing available, you can now turn your favorite ESO Class into a Thief! To achieve this, you can add the Shadow Nightblade Skill Line to your favorite Class and benefit from its skills. Shadowy Disguise is an important ability for every Build that wishes to move in the shadows and steal items. Refreshing Path can also help with heals and faster movement. Like this you can make Thief Subclassing Builds with every Class!

ESO Thief Build Setup

The Build is designed to offer superb sustain, speed while crouched and help you steal items undetected! Even if you get caught, you can easily escape from enemies without killing anyone, thanks to a few Scribing and Vampire skills. Shadow Queen’s Cowl is an amazing Mythic Set that shows you Guards and Witnesses behind walls when you are crouched. Like this you can monitor NPC movement and plan your thieving without any risk! Complement this Mythic Item with one Piece from the Magma Incarnate Monster Set or any other Monster Set with support bonuses.

Vesture of Darloc Brae and Night Mother’s Embrace are the core Sets of the Build. Vesture of Darloc Brae restores Magicka, Stamina, Health while Crouched and reduces the radius you can be detected while sneaking. Night Mother’s Embrace also reduces the radius you can be detected while sneaking making it even harder for NPC to find you! Ring of the Wild Hunt is another great Mythic Set you can use with this Thief Build in ESO!

Piece	Set	Type	Trait	Enchantment
Head	The Shadow Queen's Cowl	Light	Divines or Well-Fitted	Max. Stamina
Shoulders	Magma Incarnate	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Hands	Vesture of Darloc Brae	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Legs	Vesture of Darloc Brae	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Chest	Vesture of Darloc Brae	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Waist	Vesture of Darloc Brae	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Feet	Vesture of Darloc Brae	Medium	Divines	Max. Stamina
Necklace	Night Mother's Embrace	Jewel	Swift	Prismatic Recovery
Ring	Night Mother's Embrace	Jewel	Swift	Prismatic Recovery
Ring	Night Mother's Embrace	Jewel	Swift	Prismatic Recovery
Two Handed Weapon	Night Mother's Embrace	Bow	Defending	Hardening
One Handed Weapon	Night Mother's Embrace	Dagger	Infused	Prismatic Onslaught
One Handed Weapon	Night Mother's Embrace	Dagger	Defending	Weakening

Best Armor Sets for ESO Thief Build

These are the Best Armor Sets you can use with the Thief Build! Their bonuses will help you maximize your potential as a Thief in The Elder Scrolls Online.

• Shadow Queen’s Cowl: Antiquities Reward
• Magma Incarnate: (Veteran)The Dread Cellar, Urgarlag Chief-Bane
• Vesture of Darloc Brae: Northern Elsweyr, Overland
• Night Mother’s Embrace: Deshaan, Overland
• Ring of the Wild Hunt: Antiquities Reward

Important Passive Skills for ESO Thief Build

Very important Passive abilities that will help you play as a Thief in ESO! Try to unlock them as fast as possible, so you can make more Gold from stealing faster. These are the Passive Skills you should unlock for the ESO Thief Build.

• Legerdemain: Improved Hiding, Light Fingers, Trafficker. Must be at least level 3 to be truly effective as a Thief.
• Vampire: Dark Stalker(Stage 1), Undeath(Optional, Stage 3).
• Thieves Guild: Haggling, Clemency, Veil of Shadows.
• Dark Brotherhood: You do not need any skill from this line. Take Blade of Woe if you do not mind killing innocents! NPC can carry only 3 items you can pickpocket from them, so you can use Blade of Woe to “reset” empty NPC.

Best Champion Points for ESO Thief Build

Below you will find the best Champion Points setup for the Build. When allocating Champion points to Slottable and Passive Stars your primary goal is to create paths! Allocate the minimum required points to stars along your path in order to reach your desired Slottable Stars faster. Once you have unlocked all Stars, start allocating more Champion Points to them to fill them out. Focus on Slottable Stars first, then Passive Stars. If you would like to learn more about Champion Points and how they work, you can read my ESO Champion Points Guide.

Warfare

• Slottable Stars: Arcane Supremacy, Endless Endurance, Duelist’s Rebuff, Ironclad
• Passive: Eldritch Insight, Tireless Discipline, Piercing, Battle Mastery, Mighty, Quick Recovery, Hardy, Elemental Aegis, Preparation, Precision, Blessed,

Craft

• Slottable Stars: Sustaining Shadows, Steed’s Blessing, Fade Away, Friends in Low Places
• Passive: Infamous, Cutpurse’s Art, Gilded Fingers, Fortune’s Favor, Out of Sight, Wanderer, Steadfast Enchantment

Fitness

• Slottable Stars: Fortified, Rejuvenation, Boundless Vitality, Celerity
• Passive: Sprinter, Hasty, Tireless Guardian, Hero’s Vigor, Mystic Tenacity, Tumbling, Defiance

Best Food and Potions for Thief Build

Jewels of Misrule is the Best Food for the Build while Essence of Magicka or Tri-Stat Potions are the best options as Potions.

Info for ESO Thief Build

Several important info for the Thief Build. What Mundus to use, the best race for the build and how to assign your attribute points.

Attribute Points

19 points to Magicka and 45 to Stamina!

Mundus Stone

The Atronach for better Magicka Recovery or The Steed for better Speed!

Race

The Best Race for a Nightblade Thief Build in ESO is Khajiit. This is because of their amazing stealth and stealing racial passives. Cutpurse passive boosts pickpocket chance while Feline Ambush reduces Detection Radius in Stealth.

Vampire or Werewolf

At least Vampire Stage 1 for the Dark Stalker passive. Vampire Stage 3 if you also want the Undeath Passive.

Best Companion for Thief Build ESO

If you wish to bring someone along while stealing with the Thief Build, you can choose one of the available Companions! Companions in ESO are helpful allies that can assist you in combat and make gameplay more enjoyable. Every Companion can fulfill every role in the game and help you enjoy ESO more by clearing content faster or by simply interacting with them and their charming personality! There are various Builds you can use for every available ESO Companion!

As a Thief focused character my recommendation is to bring along a Companion that will not judge you for your actions! The Best Companion for a Thief Build is Ember, Tanlorin or Sharp-as-Night! You can use them in various setups. Damage dealer to defend you if you have to fight, Tank to draw aggro from guards or Healer to keep you alive while escaping! To find out which ESO Companion is the Best in every role you can take a look at my ESO Best Companion Guide! To further maximize the potential of your chosen Companion, you can wear the Telvanni Efficiency Set! A Crafted Set that reduces the cooldown of your Companions abilities, improving their damage and overall effects and assisting you further in combat.

FAQ – ESO Thief Build