For the last 2 betas I have played a sorcerer to level 15, once with destro /resto staff, and the second with bow since I usually play mage archetypes in MMOs. After replaying skyrim with all sorts of difficulty mods using Nightingale's bow and Blade of woe + Mehrune's razor over the last month , I have decided to try the stealthy Nightblade this beta instead and will probably even make it my main come launch. Not to mention nightblade (just my opinion) looks a lot more exciting to play compared to the sorcerer's crystal fragment spam/ mage's fury spam(in execute phase) in early game.

After reading up on different nightblade builds i have a few questions regarding what skill set i should start out with if i wish to play the stealthy assassin.

I decided along something similar to the one posted here : http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1493843-nightblade-in-depth-class-guide/.

The first question I have is regarding which weapon I should start the game out with , dual daggers or Bow?The option to have 2 weapon sets opens up at 15 and am really not sure which of these weapons will make early game a bit smoother. Logically speaking melee will be squisher at early game and the bow has more kiting options and might make boss(story/public dungeon) fights easier, but dual wielding seems to have more burst .

Second question is , as a melee most of the assasination abilities seem heavily magicka based , and I dont see any magicka regen passives assuming I use full medium armor. Would it be wiser to go 5 medium /2 light or will it become a non issue later on?

Thirdly , strife looks like our only self healing option in early game . Can someone explain how this ability works and how effective it is ?

Hail Sithis.

If you're dead set on Nightblade, I'd recommend looking through the builds at Tamriel Foundry if you haven't already. Some are better than others.

http://tamrielfoundry.com/forum/classes/nightblade-class/

Between DW and Bow, I'd go with DW for starting out. The first ability you gain in DW (Twin Slashes) has a morph that returns health (Blood Craze). Combined with the HoT effect of Strife, you should be in good shape for health recovery. One will recover your health with a stamina cost, the other with a magicka cost.

Strife is still quite good, despite a recent nerf. The damage is meh, but that was never really it's main draw.

Strife puts you in the Siphoning skillset, which has EXCELLENT resource management (health, stamina, magicka recovery) options later. But you could do alright without them, if you'd rather.

Your use of medium or light armor will probably be dictated by what sources of damage are more prevalent in your build. If you're going Dual Wield and Bow, then you'll probably want to focus on Stamina and Medium Armor. I wouldn't waste points into Light Armor until you have a stronger grasp of your character build and where it's weak points are. You might wind up 5 Light/2 Medium... but it's almost certain you'll be vested in Medium Armor, while Light Armor might not be necessary at all for you.

Strife is my go to skill. Its amazing and will most likely get a nerf if it hasnt already. As for armor medium armor suits most nightblade builds the best.

I was like you. I was gonna play a mage. Then i played a nightblade and was hooked. I know right now nightblade is not getting a ton of love but i think the reason is its not easy to build with. Once you do get a nice build you will have a really awesome one. I feel like its the most complicated class and most people dont want complicated.

Thanks for the response. Early game , is it worth getting twin slashes or should i wait for flurry ? The reason i ask is that i am planning on going for shadow cloak, teleport strike, assasinn's blade as my first 3 abilities. So that leaves the options with veiled strike,strife or dual weilding skills for the last 2 spots . WHat do u guys suggest? And when exatctly does one pop strife? At the start or just whenever healing is needed?Also should i be worried about lack of CC pre level 15 if i go dual wield?

Shadow Cloak into either Teleport Strike or Veiled Strike is nice and hard to pass up.

Flurry, frankly, svcks unless you're going for a haste build. And even then, haste build DPS is decent but not great and requires a lot of selfbuffing maintenance. It can be made worthwhile, but best starts with choosing an Imperial. Keep your eye on how fast you're burning stamina and magicka. Whichever one runs out the fastest, slot more of the other kind. Assassin's Blade is an 'execute', as is Dual Wield's Whirlwind (sorta). Assassin's Blade is single target, uses magicka. Whirlwind is AoE. If you go for AoE, try to get all of the AoE options (Teleport Strike->Lotus Fan, Whirlwind->either morph, Consuming Darkness or Soul Shred ultimates).

Virtually every skill has some build where it shines. It's hard to come up with decent advice without more information, much of it being your playstyle - no two players play the same way.

I tend to pop strife early and often, but then, I strongly favor skill-spam Nightblades focused on Siphoning (and for that matter, Destruction and Restoration staff, on a Breton).

CC is nice but not crucial in the early levels, especially if you go with an AoE loadout. But if you need CC, Siphoning's Agony (I prefer Prolonged Suffering morph) should lock down a single target long enough for you to take out another single target.

Regardless of what skills you use to level, you'll have ample opportunity to respec later into just those skills you want to keep.

edit: Good advice for every character, every build: load up your hotbar with skills from skillsets you want to level EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T UNLOCKED THOSE ABILITIES YET. This will put more experience points into those skillsets.