[3.15] Crimson Bow Gladiator, RoA + Puncture | Pure Bleed Build | All Content | In-depth

I've finished updating CA Raider, now it's time to clean this one up. It will take a bit longer as i'm thinking about changing levelling process. There's fair chance it will remain unchanged, as i might run out of time before doing all of the necessary tests.

Everything else should be updated soon.

"

Haasts wrote:

Spoiler

A few things that might be worth a look:

* Pride's a 50% reservation aura with the effect

"Nearby Enemies take at least 19% more Physical Damage, raising up to 39% as they stay in the Aura for 4 seconds"

(It's slightly odd in that it feels more like a Blasphemied Curse than an Aura)

* Probably can't find the points for it, but the Razor's Edge and Cleaving notables are both within range of a jewel socket for Lioneye's Fall. Eleven passive points to pick up the socket and the notables; IIRC it would convert to

"

151% increased physical damage with bows
30% increased damage with hits and ailments against bleeding enemies
161% increased damage with ailments from attack skills while wielding a bow
Bleeding you inflict deals damage 30% faster
Attacks have a 45% chance to cause bleeding
20% increased bleeding duration
+10 to Strength

Probably slight overkill on the chance to cause bleeding, eh.

Pride is definitely getting included as an optional aura. No doubt. Technically stronger than Malevolence, but also requires you to be in close proximity to the target. It's a trade off.

The nodes you suggested are indeed incredibly strong. You can get 30% faster bleeding on top of 25% the build already gets. There's one problem tho - not enough passive points.

You can pick them up, but that would lower build's defenses tremendously. You could potentially ignore some current damage nodes (like frenzy, but shorter duration sucks). If you were to pick these nodes up, i would probably do something like this (not fully optimized):

The damage goes up by ~1/3rd, but you lose tons of evasion plus easy dodge/spell dodge. Also global physical damage from shadow's starting node doesn't scale bleedsplosions anymore. It should be fine to use it tbh, but it's not my cup of tea. I just can't stand 0 defences.

I always forget about Lioneye's Fall so it's awesome that you told me about this location.

"

3thunders wrote:

Spoiler

Was thinking the same. I seriously consider going that side of the tree and make some serious changes to defenses. Maybe try block with Rareguard... I'll have to run the numbers.

If you use the double block chance keystone from legion jewel, then i can see the block being actually good. With it you could ditch right side of the tree. Otherwise achieving high block with bows is really, really high investment and not worth it. If you use Rearguard, then you can't use two ballistas - so you should change your single target skill as well. Puncture should do the trick. Feel free to try it out.

"

DankawSL wrote:

The nodes you suggested are indeed incredibly strong. You can get 30% faster bleeding on top of 25% the build already gets. There's one problem tho - not enough passive points.

You can pick them up, but that would lower build's defenses tremendously. You could potentially ignore some current damage nodes (like frenzy, but shorter duration sucks). If you were to pick these nodes up, i would probably do something like this (not fully optimized):

Passive Tree

https://i.imgur.com/NUoDAxV.png

The damage goes up by ~1/3rd, but you lose tons of evasion plus easy dodge/spell dodge. Also global physical damage from shadow's starting node doesn't scale bleedsplosions anymore. It should be fine to use it tbh, but it's not my cup of tea. I just can't stand 0 defences.

Oh wow, thanks for the tree mockup - I hadn't considered looping up and around the left like that. I'm also fond of Acro/Phase Acro and equiv (though I've run The Perfect Form more than Kintsugi) - my hacked-together way of siphoning points was a little self-serving in dropping the five totem-related nodes and a few 4%ish life nodes and Blood Drinker (but getting to swap in a rare quiver with +max life) as I'd like to see how far I could get with Puncture as a single-target option before admitting defeat and slinking back to Siege Ballista's damage/QoL.

It's unlikely Flesh & Stone with Maim Support will outperform Herald of Purity + Blood & Sand, but for the record:

"

Bex_GGG
That depends on what you mean by that. If you have Flesh and Stone in Blood Stance, and Maim support on a different skill, and use that skill to hit something within the Flesh and Stone maiming aura, then only one maim, and only one "takes increased physical damage" will apply (the strongest one).

If you support Flesh and Stone itself with Maim support, then you're inflicting a single maim, and you have two modifiers that both stack additively to increase the physical damage taken by things suffering that maim.

Basically, don't split your extra Maim bonuses over different Maims. Put them all on one.

The Maim Support will have its text changed to "Supports attack skills or other skills that can maim enemies." in the live version.

(via https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/bxcehl/path_of_exile_legion_gem_information/eq5abqi/)

Changelog - June 6th, 2019

I've decided that old way of levelling is still way to go. Puncture has problems with hitting all the targets before you have GMP and the 70% AS multiplier would be very annoying and potentially slow you down. Still superior for single target damage, however i decided that i would rather teach new players the build's playstyle with Siege Ballista. Puncture remains as an option.

Everything's ready for release now, can finally relax. Looking forward to tomorrow's launch, hope you guys have fun (i know you will, this league can't really fail).

"

Haasts wrote:

Spoiler

Oh wow, thanks for the tree mockup - I hadn't considered looping up and around the left like that. I'm also fond of Acro/Phase Acro and equiv (though I've run The Perfect Form more than Kintsugi) - my hacked-together way of siphoning points was a little self-serving in dropping the five totem-related nodes and a few 4%ish life nodes and Blood Drinker (but getting to swap in a rare quiver with +max life) as I'd like to see how far I could get with Puncture as a single-target option before admitting defeat and slinking back to Siege Ballista's damage/QoL.

It's unlikely Flesh & Stone with Maim Support will outperform Herald of Purity + Blood & Sand, but for the record:

"

Bex_GGG
That depends on what you mean by that. If you have Flesh and Stone in Blood Stance, and Maim support on a different skill, and use that skill to hit something within the Flesh and Stone maiming aura, then only one maim, and only one "takes increased physical damage" will apply (the strongest one).

If you support Flesh and Stone itself with Maim support, then you're inflicting a single maim, and you have two modifiers that both stack additively to increase the physical damage taken by things suffering that maim.

Basically, don't split your extra Maim bonuses over different Maims. Put them all on one.

The Maim Support will have its text changed to "Supports attack skills or other skills that can maim enemies." in the live version.

(via https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/bxcehl/path_of_exile_legion_gem_information/eq5abqi/)

"If you throw enough damage and currency into the build, even glass cannon like this can be very strong. After all, you can't take damage when everything is dead!" We all learned it's not true at the end of the day, but with corpse explosions and good clear it's actually somewhat right. You simply require enough effective hp (which is why i ditched acro) and rest is just you trying to kill the monsters before they do the same. I didn't get hit very often using the build so... should be possible.

I think that with enough attack/movement speed, Puncture is going to be fine. At low speed you just won't have enough time to attack enemies. It also has the upside of having real quiver rather than Skirmish with it's 0 hp...

About the Flesh and Spirit - i really wanted to include it in the build. There's one big reason preventing me from it, blood stance is just horrible. Considering that gladiators that utilizes stances in their builds want to use blood for actual damage/challenger stacks upkeep, switching to it to receive almost nothing is just... no. You lose your defensive ability like that. Not to mention you will be blinding bosses anyway. It's good for mapping, but i didn't find mapping difficult back in Delve/Betrayal. I don't see any real synergy here with the current build.

The maim not stacking from different skills - that's good to know. I assume Gladiator's bonus stacks with other maim bonuses too.

June 7th, 2019
Passive Tree:
* Updated all trees to 3.7 version of the game. Also applies to levelling section.

Bleed Calculator (PoB):
* Updated Ruthless modifier
* PoB now reflects Faster Bleeding modifier while calculating the bleed duration and dps (separate from More multiplier). I adjusted calculator to account for this change.
* There's A LOT of stuff to do, i'll fully remake the calculator to include all of the changes at later date.

===================

Guide is fully ready for 3.7 launch now.

As always, i'll start my league with CA Raider. Level 100 this type hopefully. My next build is probably going to be melee bleed, as they can reach insane numbers now. I already have draft in mind, but final details are yet to be determined.

Have fun in Legion guys.

Hey DankawSL, thanks for your awesome guide!
I really wanna give hc a shot for legion. Would you recommend the champion version over the gladiator version for hc? Exited to try your build :)

On a league start i would only play with Gladiator. The extra damage and bleedsplosions are crucial for smooth levelling. Later on you can switch to Champion if you wish, after you get Haemophilia gloves and decent bleed bow.

I know that build is fairly hardcore viable, but the average life pool and defences start to take tool at the highest level of content - where Champion's defences excel.

What do you think of the new impale nodes / support? Are they good for a bleed build? People say impale is a strong more multiplier, does that affect bleeds too? Or rather the hit that causes the bleeding?

Got to act 3 so far and still alive and going strong. Your leveling section is well put together, thank you!

Impale does not interact with bleed at all. Impale is basically a stacking damage multiplier for physical hit builds, primarly for durable enemies.

No posts in the past couple days here, but I want to give an update on my progression.

Main issue right now is the bleed effects on the legion mobs: there are no explosions before or after you free them. I have not yet gotten the high kill count achievements yet this league.

Otherwise it feels pretty good and pretty fast.


I have a six link bow but need to craft it better. Kills bosses up to tier 8 pretty well, just need more map drops to see how it performs at high levels.



I also have the other build enabling uniques.

I did change it up and am using Warlords Mark. Will try adding in a CoH ring. Not a priority until I get the last trial so I can do uber lab. The build is quite survivable right now after getting the belt though.

''My next build is probably going to be melee bleed, as they can reach insane numbers now. I already have draft in mind, but final details are yet to be determined.'' Are you going to use a gladiator too for your melee build? Also already got some info on it? :D