Updated for Patch 3.13
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Estimated budget: medium
Guide notes |
July 30, 2020 -Build created August 2, 2020 -Added gameplay video January 18, 2021 -Updated for Patch 3.13 |
Split Arrow/Puncture is currently the best combination of Bleed Skills in Path of Exile. It offers very high single-target damage, but also insane clear with entire screens of monsters falling down to Split Arrow's Piercing projectiles. This build doesn't use Crimson Dance, as by maximizing the speed at which your Bleeding damage is dealt, it's nearly impossible to get to the 8 Stacks of Bleeding DoT anyway. This build offers insane clear speed with Bleeding enemies exploding on kill for 10% of their Maximum Life, which causes enemies to die instantly all over your screen. Gladiator is simply the best Class for this build, as it offers very high Bleeding damage bonuses, but also very high Movement and Attack Speed bonuses, with an additional Damage Mitigation from Endurance Charges and Outmatch and Outlast Passive.
You can find our other Path of Exile builds right here The Best PoE Builds by Odealo
This is a Ranged build based on Bleeding Damage over Time. However, with how fast your Bleeding DoT is applied to enemies, it feels like you would do all the damage with your initial Hits, making it a very enjoyable build to play. Split Arrow, thanks to Pierce and high base Physical DPS can take down entire screens of enemies within seconds, and Puncture is used to apply a much more potent Bleed effect against Bosses. You are also going to use Ensnaring Arrow with Mirage Archer, to slow down enemies and increase the Projectile damage they take. For the defenses, you are going to have a decent Life Pool, high Armour Rating from Items and Iron Reflexes Passive, and high damage taken reduction from Endurance Charges, Outmatch and Outlast, and Soul of Steel Passives. For mobility, you can use Dash, which is apparently a faster Movement Skill than Blink Arrow because of the limited Attack Speed with Bows in this build.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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Leveling with Bows is quite easy and fast. This is a Bleed build where most damage comes from Bleed DoT Multiplier sources that are not accessible on lower levels, so initially, you will focus on increasing your base Physical DPS (by upgrading your Bow and getting Items with Added Physical Damage to Attacks). Bleeding itself will be just an addition to your DPS on lower levels. You should be using the same Skills during leveling as later on, not only they are quite good for that purpose, but it will also help you master them while you are progressing through the campaign, and the transition into Maps should be very smooth then. Below you will find the basic Gem links for the leveling part, as well as, some very useful Unique Items that you can try to obtain to fasten the process.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Split Arrow setup | |
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Split Arrow - one of the first Bow Attacks which shoots several Arrows by default, offering good clear speed and high added Base Physical Damage |
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Chance to Bleed Support - adds high bonus Physical Damage to Supported Attacks |
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Vicious Projectiles Support - increases the Physical Damage of your Projectiles and the Bleeding it inflicts |
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Maim Support - increases the damage of your Split Arrow and inflicts Maim on enemies, increasing Physical Damage they take and slowing them down |
Puncture setup | |
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Puncture - this is the primary single-target Skill used in this build which deals greatly increased damage with Bleeding |
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Chance to Bleed Support |
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Vicious Projectiles Support |
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Brutality Support - greatly increases Physical Damage dealt by Supported Skills |
Utility Gems | |
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Summon Ice Golem - you won't be using a Golem on higher levels, but during leveling the extra Accuracy can be really useful |
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Vulnerability - the best Curse for this build which increases your Physical and Bleeding Damage |
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Herald of Purity - adds extra Physical Damage to your Attacks |
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Dash - the recommended Movement Skill which increases your mobility |
Bandits:
We recommend killing all bandits for the additional 2 Passive Points
Leveling Skill Trees:
34 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Bravery 2) Deadly/Heavy Draw 3) Dirty Technique 4) Far Sight 5) Thick Skin
61 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Bloodletting 2) Bloodless 3) Red Storm 4) Constitution
Recommended leveling items:
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Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks 5% increased Physical Damage Adds 1 to 3 Chaos Damage to Attacks +(20-30) to maximum Life (2-4) Life Regenerated per second 10% chance to Cause Monsters to Flee |
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+(25-35) to Strength Adds 5 to 15 Physical Damage to Attacks +25 to Strength 10% increased maximum Life +(10-20)% to Cold Resistance 25% increased Flask Life Recovery rate |
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+(20-30) to Dexterity +(20-30) to Strength +100 to Accuracy Rating 30% increased Projectile Speed 10% increased Movement Speed 30% increased Projectile Damage |
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+1 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems (80-100)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +10 Mana gained on Kill +30 to Accuracy Rating |
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Arrows Pierce an additional Target (8-12)% increased Attack Speed +350 to Evasion Rating +(40-50) to maximum Life Adds (10-14) to (19-24) Physical Damage to Bow Attacks Arrows deal 50% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments to Targets they Pierce |
Final Skill Tree:
116 Points Final Skill Tree
116 Points Path of Building(PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits
Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%
[DPS] Split Arrow (general usage, AoE, socketed in Lioneye's Vision for extra Pierce) |
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Split Arrow - one of the primary Skills used in this build which fires several piercing projectiles which will obliterate most regular and Rare enemies on your screen |
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Vicious Projectiles Support - one of the most powerful Support Gems for this setup. It increases both the Initial Hit damage but also DoT caused by Split Arrow |
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Brutality Support - greatly increases Physical Damage by makes Supported Skills unable to deal Elemental or Chaos Damage (which is irrelevant for us here) |
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Deadly Ailments Support - increases the damage you deal with Ailments |
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Swift Affliction Support - greatly increases Damage over Time you deal with linked Skills |
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Chance To Bleed Support - grants more Damage with Bleeding |
Note: all the Support Gems except for Chance to Bleed have Awakened variants which grant even higher DPS bonuses |
[DPS] Puncture (single-target DPS, socketed in Bow) |
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Puncture - this skill offers the highest Bleeding Damage out of all skills that can be used with Bows. It's used solely for taking down Bosses so you will be fine with it firing just one projectile |
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Vicious Projectiles Support - you may have this Gem added from an Elder Bow affix, so if that's the case you can use Maim Support instead |
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Brutality Support |
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Deadly Ailments Support |
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Swift Affliction Support |
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Chance To Bleed Support |
[UTILITY] Vulnerability Curse (granted by Ring affix) |
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Vulnerability - increases Physical Damage and DoT you deal to Cursed enemies making it the best Curse for this build |
[UTILITY] Dash | |
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Dash - the recommended Mobility Skill. It gives you a quick way to avoid Attacks and Spells and progress through areas faster |
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Second Wind Support - increases the number of Dash's Charges and increases their cooldown recovery speed |
[UTILITY] Auras | |
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Malevolence - increases your Damage over Time Multiplier, and also allows you to use powerful Watcher's Eye Jewel with either even more Multiplier or the increased speed at which Ailments deal their damage |
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Flesh and Stone - should be used in Sand Stance for extra defensive utility |
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Herald of Purity - this Herald Spell adds Physical Damage to your Attacks, slightly increasing your DPS |
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Enlighten Support - reduces Mana Reservation cost of Supported Spells. Has to be level 2 or higher to have any effect |
[UTILITY] Enduring Cry | |
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Enduring Cry - generates Endurance Charges and grants high Life Regeneration which works in a similar way to an Instant Recovery Life Flask |
[UTILITY] Ensnaring Arrow | |
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Ensnaring Arrow - a very useful Bow Attack that slows down enemies and increases Projectile Damage they take. This Skill has to be cast once in a while and it will be then triggered automatically by your Mirage Archer |
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Mirage Archer Support - creates a Mirage Archer on your back after you hit enemies with linked Bow Attack. The Archer will use that Attach on its own with reduced Attack Speed |
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Greater Multiple Projectiles Support |
[UTILITY] Molten Shell | |
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Cast when Damage Taken Support - auto-casts Supported Spells after you take a certain amount of damage |
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Molten Shell - grants increased Armour and a protective shield based on 20% of your Total Armour Rating |
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Below you will find all the recommended gear for our Split Arrow/Puncture Gladiator Bleed Build. This build doesn't have any specific Unique Items required, however, it's important to stack as much Physical Damage over Time Multipliers as possible, which kind of enforces you to follow up a predetermined route when equipping your character. While this build will work just fine with easily accessible Rares, if you want to have enough DoT DPS to take down end-game Bosses, some investments will be necessary.
Using this opportunity, we would like to invite you to visit our Path of Exile marketplace where you can buy PoE Currency with real cash from regular players.
The recommended items from our list will:
Stat priorities on items:
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Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life Nearby enemies take 9% Increased Physical Damage Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance |
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10% reduced Physical Damage +(50-65) to Dexterity 16% increased Attack Speed (150-200)% increased Armour and Evasion +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed Mercury Footprints |
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Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Puncture Damage 30% increased Vulnerability Curse Effect Ensnaring Arrow has 30% increased Debuff Effect |
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6% increased Movement Speed (140-170)% increased Physical Damage (25-35)% increased Critical Strike Chance 50% chance to inflict Bleeding on Critical Strike with Attacks Enemies you inflict Bleeding on grant (60-100)% increased Flask Charges Adds (100-120) to (150-165) Physical Damage against Bleeding Enemies 50% chance to Maim Enemies on Critical Strike with Attacks <One Veiled Mod> |
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Min. requirements: 300 Physical DPS Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Vicious Projectiles 60% chance for Bleeding inflicted with this Weapon to deal 100% more Damage Bleeding you inflict deals Damage (22–25)% faster |
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Min. requirements: 70 Maximum Life 20% Physical Damage over Time Multiplier 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Added Physical Damage to Attacks |
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Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 15 Pierce (200-250)% increased Armour +(60-100) to maximum Life 0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana +160 Dexterity Requirement Enemy Projectiles Pierce you |
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Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed Bleeding you inflict deals Damage #% faster Optional affixes: Chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike Elemental Resistances |
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Boot enchantments: 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently |
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Min. requirements: 90 maximum Life 25% Fire Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance 25% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: Maximum Life% (Elder Belt) Increased Damage (Crafting Bench) |
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(20-30)% increased Stun Duration on Enemies +(20-40) to Strength (30-40)% more Maximum Physical Attack Damage (40-30)% less Minimum Physical Attack Damage Adds 1 to (15-20) Physical Damage to Attacks +(80-100) to maximum Life Gain 50 Life when you Stun an Enemy |
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Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life 40 Dexterity 15% Physical Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Intelligence Added Physical Damage to Attacks |
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Recommended Anointments: Growth and Decay Discipline and Training |
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Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life Curse Enemies with level # Vulnerability on Hit 75% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Added Physical Damage to Attacks |
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Physical Damage over Time Multiplier |
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Melee and Melee Weapon Type modifiers in Radius are Transformed to Bow Modifiers | |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence Damaging Ailments you inflict deal Damage (10-15)% faster while affected by Malevolence |
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Only affects Passives in <size> Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances Allocates Passives: Disciple of the Unyielding Disciple of the Slaughter Bravery Versatile Stance (optionally) |
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Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Physical Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Damage with Bows/Damage over Time Attributes Elemental Resistances |
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Suggested Flasks:
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.
Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.