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

I didn't have time to update the build, as it requires some testing. However for the most part - it should be exactly the same with few exceptions:

* You CANNOT use Deadly Ailments in Rain of Arrows setup. Use Swift Affliction or Cruelty instead, they should be your 6th link.
* Clearing skill (RoA) cost is massive now (67 at 6-link), but it should be possible to sustain it.
* Cluter jewels heavily nerfed, but still way to go. Wasting Affliction still strongest dps notable. Other notables are more or less equal in power, choose whatever you want as they're almost all the same.

* Flask nerfs extremely hit this build's defences. Because of this, use the build at your own risk. Should be fine until red maps, but i cannot guarantee it'll perform well in red maps at low investment.
* Flasks should be the same, but feel free to use whatever you think is right.


I will update the build tomorrow, but you won't see much more than what i mentioned.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
Last edited by DankawSL on Jul 23, 2021, 4:09:56 PM
3.14 Guide Archive Post #1
Spoiler


Overview
======


For the longest time bleed was in a rough spot, a mechanic that couldn't be used as a standalone... but is it still the case? Over time, new and more powerful toys were added to the game. Stronger ascendancies, influenced items, fossils, new crafting system. After everything, bleed finally became a force to be reckoned with.

This build features a reasonably tanky and well-rounded character capable of tackling all of the content this game has to offer. It uses Rain of Arrows for map clear and Puncture for single target damage, with bleed being the primary damaging mechanic. Guide also contains optional end game version of the build which uses Siege Ballista for single target instead.


Pros
+ Good clear speed and single target
+ Quite tanky thanks to dodge, evasion, corpse removal and Purity Sentinels (bodyguards)
+ Bleedsplosion popcorn sound
+ Relatively cheap to get started
+ Decent but not great for beginners, SSF and league start
+ Almost hardcore viable, almost
+ Reaches around 6000 life

Cons
- Requires few key items to really start rolling
- Puncture might feel sluggish
- End game gear is very expensive
- Can be hard to optimize



Passive Tree and Bandits
Level 94 - Base passive tree

Passive tree with all the essential nodes, that makes total level 90 + 4 for two extra jewel slots. Besides of scaling life and bleeding damage, the tree focuses on dodge/evasion as a secondary defence and Frenzy charges for extra attack speed and damage.

For levels above 94, just pick up jewel slots. They're way too good if they have 3 mods or more. Shouldn't be too difficult to buy few. You should also consider using cluster jewels at this point, they're also extremely strong. In case you don't have any spare money, you can always pick up Hunter's Gambit notable at shadow's starting area.

Bandit Reward: Oak (recommended) OR 2 passive points

Ascendancy: Gratuitous Violence -> Arena Challenger -> Outmatch and Outlast

Cluster Jewels and suggested Passive Tree
Spoiler
Level 83/98 - Cluster Jewel Tree
Level 70/100 - Cluster Jewel Tree

First tree is what i suggest you should use in the end game. Much higher damage while still having tons of QoL features. Second passive tree is there if you really want to go ham on the cluster jewels and damage at cost of QoL/speed. When using any of these tree i suggest using some form of automatic frenzy charge generations, you can find them in End Game Build section.

Suggested Cluster Jewels:
Large - 12% increased Physical Damage / 8 passives
* Master of Fundamentals (Prefix)
* Battle-Hardened OR Iron Breaker (Prefix)
* Furious Assault (Suffix)

There's not much to do discuss, this is the best possible combination for a large jewel.

Medium - +4% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier / 4-5 passives
* Any 2 of following notables:
* Wasting Affliction / Rend / Compound Injury - highest damage notables
* Vivid Hues / Flow of Life / Disorienting Wounds - defensive notables

Medium - +4% to Damage over Time Multiplier / 4-5 passives
* Wasting Affliction
* Flow of Life
* Optional notables: Brush with Death / Exposure Therapy / Brewed for Potency / Student of Decay

Physical DoT multi has higher damage potential while DoT multi is easier to craft and more defensive oriented. Personally i recommend going full damage due to how extremely efficient these notables are. You can cover loss of defenses in some other ways quite easily. All notables are prefixes in medium clusters.

Small notables aren't covered because they must have very good mods to be worth your time. Standard non-cluster jewels should be stronger in almost all cases unless you need a specific notable.

Pantheon
Major God: Soul of Lunaris

All around best god for evasion based builds. Extra speed is avoidance is always welcome. Solaris and Arakaali can be used too against specific content, but Lunaris is most versatile.

Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha OR Ralakesh

Minor one are more preference based, you can pick almost anything, really. Ryslatha is always a good option for builds that use instant flasks to quickly heal up after big hit. Also really useful for labyrinth.

Ralakesh is very viable option. Corrupted blood is one of the most troublesome mechanics i've encountered while playing. Reduced damage and chance to avoid might help in tough situations.

Gem Setups
NOTE: You can find list of worthwhile Alternate Quality Gems list at the end of this section.

Main Skill - Vaal Rain of Arrows:
Rain of Arrows has very wide area of coverage and often hits enemies multiple times. It doesn't deal high amounts of damage, but it's sufficient to quickly clear groups of enemies. Multiple hits mean it's more resilient to certain map mods and running out of mana.

The biggest strength of the skill is the Vaal version, which is the hardest hitting clearing bow skill for bleed. It also inflicts very strong slowing effect and can be used in variety of ways. Recharges very quickly.

Single Target - Puncture:
Dedicated bleed skill with massive damage multiplier, perfect for single target. It's gonna be your go-to choice against any tough enemy. Grants flat physical damage too, making the progression smoother.

There's one big drawback and it's the 70% attack speed multiplier, causing it to feel sluggish. It's partially resolved with Gladiator's Arena Challenger notable.

Swift Affliction can be used as an optional link but not recommended. Unless you deal very high amounts of damage, Unbound Ailments is a better option. The extra duration gives a lot of room for dodging and applying other debuffs on enemy. This is true especially against very tanky bosses.

Classic version of the build uses Siege Ballista instead with the same support gems. It can be found in End Game Build section.

Debuffing Setup:
Absolutely necessary bossing setup. Ensnaring arrow makes slowed enemies to always take extra 200% more damage from bleeding, which normally happens only if they're moving. It's a vital tool to bring down bosses quickly, plus it's an amazing kiting tool. The setup also curses enemies on top of that.

In order for Ensnaring Arrow to work you CANNOT have pierce, fork or chain on your gear or passive tree.

Frenzy Generation/Upkeep:
Blood Rage is a natural choice. Attack speed is great, physical leech is perfect for this build and frenzy generation during mapping is insanely easy.

For bosses you'll have to use Frenzy skill to generate charges. There are optional ways to automate frenzy charge generation which can be found in End Game Build section.

Guard Skill:
Steelskin for extra durability. If manually cast, it's great for any encounter. If you're lazy and linked Steelskin with CWDT, it protects you from multiple hits in quick succession. The entire setup is optional, but recommended nonetheless.

Primary Aura:
You have to choose ONLY ONE aura. You won't be able to sustain more than that unless you invest in specific gear. What auras offer and when you should use each one:

Grace - grants extra evasion. Default aura for levelling and early maps. Loses it's usefulness later on.

Malevolence - grants up to 20% more damage with bleeding. Default damage aura since it works regardless of distance. Watcher's Eye mods for this aura are amazing.

Pride - nearby enemies take up to 39% more physical damage. Superior clearing aura and works for hits, bleed and corpse explosion damage. Pride requires you to stay in close-mid range to enemy in order to work.

Other Reservation Skills:
Herald of Purity grants small amount #% more physical damage. The more important part are the minions who will block projectiles, draw monster aggro and tank enemies.

Blood and Sand is used solely to generate Challenger stacks from Gladiator's ascendancy node. You will have to switch stances during mapping in order to maintain maximum stacks.

Optional reservation setups can be found in End Game Build section.

Movement Skill:

Used to cross gaps and escape tough situations quickly. Your primary way of moving around is still on foot.

This marks maximum amount of gems you can have inside your gear. To include any optional gems you'll have to sacrifice something, use Unset Ring or replace the setup in some other way.

List of worthwhile Alternate Quality Gems
Spoiler
Superior Alternate Quality Gems:
* Rain of Arrows (if you can corrupt it to Vaal version) - Fires 4 additional Arrows
* Chance to Bleed - Supported Skills have 20% more Added Damage
* Deadly Ailments - Supported Skills deal 60% less Damage with Hits / Supported Skills have +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier
* Maim - Supported Skill have 20% increased Effect of Maim
* Unbound Ailments - Supported Skills deal 20% increased Damage with Ailments


* Vulnerability - 10% increased Effect of Curse
* Blood Rage - Buff grants 2% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you Hit a Unique Enemy
* Malevolence - You and nearby Allies deal 5% increased Damage with Ailments
* Blood and Sand - 20% increased Projectile Attack Damage while in Blood Stance / 20% increased Projectile Speed while in Sand Stance
* Siege Ballista (Classic) - 20% increased Projectile Speed

All alternate qualities listed above are straight up upgrades compared to what they usually give.

Rain of Arrow's quality is a long term goal. Increasing number of arrows effectively increases radius, but also number of arrows that land directly on top of enemies. This should result in overall more reliable pack clearing.

Awakaned Unbound Ailments and Deadly Ailments are better than alternate qualities from pure damage / utility perspective. Alternate quality Deadly Ailments should only be used on single target setup, you still want some hit damage for leech purposes after all. Blood Rage is interesting, you could link it with Enhance to boost frenzy on hit chance further. It has potential to be alternative way of gaining charges on bosses, although unreliable. Rest of the gems is quite obvious.

Optional Alternate Quality Gems:
* Chance to Bleed - Supported Attacks have 20% increased Bleeding Duration
* Deadly Ailments - Supported Skills have 20% increased Duration of Ailments on Enemies
* Puncture - Projectiles Pierce 2 additional Targets (QoL instead of damage)
* Ensnaring Arrow - 20% increased Area of Effect

* Steelskin - Steelskin Buff can take 10% increased amount of Damage
* Herald of Purity - Minions have 10% chance to Taunt on Hit
* Blink Arrow - +1 Cooldown Use
* Siege Ballista (Classic) - Fires 2 additional Projectiles / 20% reduced Attack Speed

Bleed duration increases are most useful when you want to use Swift Affliction on your single target skill. Puncture one is a straight QoL and nothing else, most people should stick to base quality.

Ensnaring Arrow's extra AoE makes it easier to kite enemies around and ensures longer upkeep of the debuff. Useful only for specific enemies/bosses. Steelskin is a choice between better buff or more reliable upkeep, your choice. Herald of Purity's quality is great, but from my experience sentinels are a little too squishy to make good use of it. Blink Arrow is again a small trade off, however extra cooldown is a VERY good alternative and likely worth it.

Siege Ballista's quality is extremely good, but then again Rain of Splinters exists and three projectiles is enough plus you can vaal it for Corrupted Blood immunity. Personally i really like all 5 projectiles despite not being that useful most of the time. Choice what to do is yours.

Equipment
IMPORTANT: YOU CANNOT HAVE PIERCE/FORK/CHAIN ON YOUR GEAR

My current gear / TL;DR:
Spoiler

Weapon: High physical damage bow
Quiver: Life, resists and DoT multiplier
Armour: Rare body armour OR Farrul's Fur OR Replica Farrul's Fur


Helmet: Life and resists OR Assailum (end game option)
Boots: Life, resists and movement speed
Gloves: Life, resists and added phys OR Farrul's Pounce (classic build)


Belt: Ryslatha's Coil
Rings: Life, resists and added phys
Amulet: Life, resists and added phys, Turquoise/Lapis base pref, Annoint: Cleaving (BASe)


Flasks: 1 Life flasks, 4 utility flasks recommended. Flexible, use what you want.


Jewels: Life and damage on all of them, very efficient if you have at least 3 good mods.
Watcher's Eye with Malevolence mods is also great.

Below you will find the gear explained in-depth. Piece by piece.

Bleed Bow
Spoiler

The core item of this build. The ideal bow needs:

* High physical damage
* High attack speed.
* +#% Damage over Time Multiplier OR #% Faster Bleeding

Everything contributes to damage and smoothness. High physical damage should prioritized. Attack Speed is also very welcome for QoL, mobility and slightly higher overall damage. Last two mods from the list also increase damage, but they rarely appear and Faster Bleeding is a Hunter influence modifier. Keep an eye on them, but don't feel bad if you don't have them.

Good bows shouldn't be too hard to craft or too expensive to buy. Lioneye's Glare or Reach of the Council are very good starting bows until you get your hands on something better.

Details how to craft it can be found in crafting section.

Body Armour
Spoiler

Rare Body Armour
High level chests can give you really high amount of life on top of other potential bonuses. Well crafted influenced body armours in particular can be amazing. Elder armour especially has some really useful mods for defence. Redeemer's influence has a mod that automates frenzy generation/upkeep on bosses.

Farrul's Fur
Optional body armour that automates frenzy generation if paired with Aspect of the Cat. Primarly used in classic build, but not limited to it. It's very expensive.

Replica Farrul's Fur
Special version of Farrul's Fur. It automates frenzy and endurance cahrges generation if paired with Aspect of the Cat. It's the best armour for Puncture based build - offensively, defensively and QoL. Original Farrul's Fur is expensive, and this one's price is even higher.

Quiver
Spoiler

At the beginning, a rare quiver with life, resistances is all you need. Added physical damage/speed mods are also welcome. It will serve you well until end game when you'll want to craft something better.

Hunter influenced quiver for Damage over Time multiplier modifiers is something to chase for. Huge boost to damage which is hard to ignore. However it will take you some time until you get your hands on one. Details how to craft it can be found in crafting section.

Helmet, Gloves and Boots
Spoiler

Packed into same category, as you want same thing from all of them:

* Life
* Resistances
* Movement Speed (boots only)

Evasion based preferred, especially the helmet (can achieve really high evasion).
You should avoid ES based gear due to very low intelligence this build has.
On top of that, gear with ES makes end game crafting much more difficult.

Optional End Game Uniques
Farrul's Pounce are unique gloves that are a core item in Classic build. Don't use them in main version of the build that focuses on Puncture.
Assailum is an optional helmet which gives a lot of single target damage in exchange for survivability and QoL. Used in main version of the build.

Details for both can be found in End Game Build section.

Enchantments

Gloves: of Spite

Nothing else is useful, really. You can totally ignore the gloves enchantments.

Boots:
#1 - 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently
#2 - 8% chance to Spell Dodge if you've taken Spell Damage Recently.
#3 - 10% increased Movement Speed if you haven't been Hit Recently

All of them are really good, pick based on your preferences.

Helmet: Any Puncture / Rain of Arrows enchantment

To be fair, helmet enchantment doesn't matter at all in this build. There's tons of fine options but none of them is a clear winner. Just use whatever you prefer, including secondary skills/auras.

Belt
Spoiler

Core item of this build.

Ryslatha's Coil is basically a 20-35% more damage multiplier on average. The more hits on an enemy the higher extra damage you get out of it on average. 50 life on stun is really useful during the map clear, as the bleedsplosions often stun enemies around. It can also be corrupted for some very good vaal implicits.

Until you buy one, just use a rare belt with life and resistances. However it's best not to plan around resistances from a rare belt in long term, it'll be harder to switch to Ryslatha's Coil.

Rings and Amulet
Spoiler

Like majority of other gear and little bit more:

* Life
* Resistances
* Added physical damage
* ~60-70 Intelligence total

You need to get your life and resistances somewhere, and jewellery is great for that. Vermillion Ring deserves a special mention, it's an amazing option to increase your life pool. Amulet can be anything, but Lapis, Turquoise and Agate are preferred especially early on.

You'll need around 60-70 intelligence in order to use some gems. Jewellery is most likely where you'll get it from.

Amulet Annoinments:
Cleaving - Black, Amber, Sepia
Cheap and very high damage notable. It might be for axes, but the 2 bleed modifiers are global. You can also allocate "Growth and Decay" notable instead. It grants slightly less damage but makes it worth considering. Unfortunately it's more expensive than Cleaving.

Thief's Craft - Amber, Sepia, Clear
Extremely cheap early mapping node. Extra 30 intelligence for easier gearing.

Constitution - Golden, Golden, Silver
Discipline and Training - Silver, Silver, Black
If you prefer permanent life boost. Former node is better, latter is slightly worse but also cheaper

Flasks
Spoiler
1 life flask for emergencies and 4 utility flasks. Standard for most builds. The setups are flexible, use everything to your preferences.

I VERY much recommend using Quicksilver flask of Adrenaline since this build doesn't have too much movement speed on it's own. Jade/Stibnite flask are a natural choice since it's easy to get decent amounts of evasion, allowing for relatively high mitigation. That's why i pick up life/evasion cluster on passive tree. Quartz flask is also one of my favorites due to synergy with acrobatics and phasing it provides.

Jewels
Spoiler

There's not much to discuss, you want any 3 out of these 6 mods on your jewels:

* 5-7% increased maximum life
* 14–16% increased Global Physical Damage
* 16–20% increased Damage with Bleeding
* 10–12% increased Damage over Time
* +3-4% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier
* 12–16% increased Bleeding Duration / Attacks have 3–5% chance to cause Bleeding

Life on the jewel is especially valuable, get it if you can. Bleeding duration might seem useless, but it's nice to have especially if you don't use cluster jewels yet and/or use Swift Affliction on your single target skill.

You also might want a single abyss jewel with chance to gain onslaught on kill if you don't have it on boost, awesome for clearing.

Getting a jewel with all 4 good mods is really hard/expensive, but finding one with 3 mods at once should be easy. Be sure to look out for other mods that can be beneficial for you:

* Attack speed mods
* 8–10% increased Damage
* 0.2–0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana
* 14–18% increased Evasion Rating
* Any resistance / intelligence mods

Watcher's Eye is an expensive jewel you might want to acquire once you reach the end game maps. It's capable of granting very high amount of damage and some extra defence/QoL. Unfortunately the only good mods it has are for Malevolence aura. Watcher's Eye modifiers for Pride aura don't work with bleed at all. The mods you're interested in:

* +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence
* Damaging Ailments you inflict deal Damage (10–15)% faster while affected by Malevolence
* Unaffected by Bleeding while affected by Malevolence
* (15–20)% increased Recovery rate of Life and Energy Shield while affected by Malevolence

Levelling and Progression
Bleed levelling (Act 1-10)
Spoiler
Gem Progression:
Split Arrow - Pierce - Chance to Bleed
Rain of Arrows - Chance to Bleed - Maim - Vicious Projectiles

Your levelling setups for first 3 acts. Split Arrow is going to be your clear skill for a short moment. Once you hit level 12 you can finally use Rain of Arrows which you'll stick with for the rest of the game.

Rain of Arrows - Chance to Bleed - Vicious Projectiles - Deadly Ailments OR Brutality

Your clearing setup after you finish normal labyrinth and respec to bleed.
You can use Deadly Ailments or Brutality depending on your 4-link colors.

Puncture - Chance to Bleed - Deadly Ailments - Vicious Projectiles OR Brutality

Additional setup for bosses. Hit once or twice and let the enemies slowly die to bleeding. Swap Vicious Projectiles for Brutality when you reach level 38 and have a suitable 4-link.

Ensnaring Arrow - Barrage Support

Extra setup for single target. Use on immobile bosses in order triple bleeding damage from Puncture.

Vulnerability - Curses enemies to increase damage. Use on bosses, tough packs, rares etc.
Blood Rage - Frenzy generation and attack speed against normal enemies
Herald of Purity - More physical damage and Sentinels for drawing aggro. You'll need extra intelligence on gear in order to use it.

Blink Arrow : Your movement skill
Grace : Your levelling aura, grants additional evasion.
Purity of Elements : If you REALLY need resistances. Use instead of Grace if necessary.

Passive Tree Progression
Level ~10 (Act 1)
Level ~22 (Act 2)
Level ~32 (Act 3)
Level ~32 (After Respec)
Level ~38 (Act 4)
Level ~46 (Act 5)
Level ~55 (Act 6-7)
Level ~70 (Blood Acqueducts farm)
Level ~71 (After Kitava)

Bandit Reward: Oak (recommended) OR 2 passive points

Ascendancy Order: Gratuitous Violence -> Arena Challenger -> Outmatch and Outlast

Gem Rewards:
* lvl 2 - Split Arrow
* lvl 3 - Pierce (Medicine Chest side quest)
* lvl 4 - Puncture

* lvl 8 - Maim
* lvl 10 - Blink Arrow
* lvl 12 - Rain of Arrows

* lvl 18 - Vicious Projectiles
* lvl 24 - Grace, Vulnerability (buy other one from Clarissa)
* lvl 38 - Barrage Support

Additional Gem Purchases:
* lvl 4 - Chance to Bleed (Act 1)
* lvl 18 - Ensnaring Arrow, 2x Deadly Ailments (Act 2)
* lvl 38 - 2x Brutality (Act 4)

General Levelling Guidelines
First and most important to remember - when searching for an equipment, your priority on them is Life and Resistances. Links are equally as important, be sure to look out for correct socket colors. Upgrade potions regularely. This applies to all acts.

The exception to the "Life and Resistance" part is your bow. You'll have to upgrade it overtime to maintain high amount of physical damage. In case you cannot find a good rare bow, you can create one on a crafting bench inside your hideout starting from middle of act 3 when you find physical damage recipe. There is also a vendor recipe that gives similar but slightly weaker damage (sell to shopkeeper):

Bow + Blacksmith's Whetstone + magic/rare Rustic Sash

Any of these two methods should easily carry you through majority of the storyline. There are few very notable bases you should be crafting with this method:

Bone Bow (lvl 23, vendor recipe) -> Decurve Bow (lvl 38) -> Citadel Bow (lvl 58)

Starting from Decurve bow, use Whetstones on a white bow to increase it's quality.

Act by Act Guidelines:
Spoiler
First 3 acts are trivial. Stack added physical damage early on since there's almost no danger. You'll be using normal attack based build as bleeding isn't very good just yet. Try to find Lapis Amulet before lvl 16, you'll need a little bit of intelligence to use Herald of Purity.

At level 32, after finishing act 3 and beating normal Labyrinth you can respec, now inferior, projectile nodes. You'll have to finish one of the side quests in Fetid Pool or Crypt to be able to remove all 4 nodes.

Once you fully convert to bleed, the playstyle will change massively. Majority of the monsters should die quickly, but those that don't move much will be huge pain in the ass. You'll be using Ensnaring Arrow to make them take full damage. It is absolutely necessary to take them down quickly.

In act 4 it's important to have good resistances, especially fire resist. At level 38 after you breach the beast, you can buy Brutality support. It's a good idea to link it to your main skills, if you have right colours.

Act 5 is where things get little bit tougher. Monsters out there are quite dangerous and it's recommended to have capped fire and lightning resitances. It's also a time where bleed removal life flask becomes necessary. I suggest to farm Chambers of Innocence until you reach level 45 and then face the Innocence himself. Next boss is Kitava, 1600 life is enough to tank almost all of his abilities.

Once you arrive in act 6, check your resistances. If they're below 50%, you should pick up Purity of Elements from Clarissa (act 3) - use it instead of Grace aura until you solve the resistance problem. It's recommended to have at least cold and lightning capped before the final boss.

Act 7 shouldn't give you any troubles outside of boss fights and spooky ghosts inside Crypt. Progress easily, collect all passive points and before you descend to Temple of Decay - you should face Izaro inside cruel Labyrith.

Act 8 should be a piece of cake, every single fight (yes, even Doedre). It's good to have freeze removal flask for Lunaris area, in case you don't have it already. Defeat the final boss of this act and proceed to Blood Acqueducts.
Preparing for maps:

The area with a long stream of blood is where you'll spend next 1-2 hours. It's a great place to farm experience, i recommend staying there until level 68-70. Look for gear upgrades and slowly adjust your gems to recommended final setups.

You should start looking out for 5-link body armour OR Tabula Rasa which you can farm in Blood Acqueducts. You'll probably end up buying, either the armour or the remaining Humility cards. The gem setup socketed inside should be:

Rain of Arrows - Chance To Bleed - Brutality - Vicious Projectiles - Deadly Ailments
6th link (Tabula): Puncture

You should also try to find/craft/buy a bow with higher damage and attack speed than your current one. There are two amazing and cheap unique options:

* Reach of the Council
* Lioneye's Glare

In case they're out of your price range or unavailable at all (first day of the league / SSF), just craft or buy an Imperial bow with at least 200 max physical damage. You cannot find one in acqueducts, but you can buy it from Irasha starting from level 66.

Once you're ready, go on and finish the storyline. Act 9 should be really easy. The monsters in act 10 hit quite hard so make sure to have a Jade/Stibnite flask for defence. It is a good idea to finish merciless Labyrinth before Kitava. 4000 life is enough to not get one-shot in both fights, might be a little hard to acquire tho.
Mapping Progression
Spoiler
If you're here, i'm assuming you have at least a 5-link AND/OR decent physical bow. Preferably both, but just one one them is enough for smooth experience.

White maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 80)

They shouldn't be a problem at all. Most map mods are trivial, running them blue is completely viable. No real danger outside of few bosses. The best of all, the equipment you acquired before Kitava is enough to easily kill everything. You have 3 very simple goals for this map tier

* 5-linked bow with high physical damage
* Upgrade your gear that's not a bow (Life and Resistances)
* Level up as much as you can.

If you haven't bought a bow with high physical damage, then it's finally time to do so. Cost of 5-linking it should be low. Simply buying Jeweller's Touch prophecy should do the trick.

There's nothing in particular besides this. You should prepare for what's to come in the next map tier.

Yellow maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 90)

This is where you'll spend quite a lot of time, recommended level is 80-90. This map tier isn't too risky, but some map mods might be deadly without proper defences/damage.
Gear goals for this tier:

* Ryslatha's Coil
* 6-linked body armour
* Amulet annointment
* General gear upgrades

Ryslatha's Coil is one of the most important parts of the build. Gives insane amount of effective damage and decent chunk of life. Try to get one with as much life and maximum physical roll. Unfortunately it's quite expensive due to rarity.

Acquiring 6-link armour shouldn't be too taxing. Simply buy a good base and craft it with Greed essences or chaos spam. There's also a high chance you can find a good corrupted rare with right socket colors. For convenience it's GGGRRB for single target setup.

It's worth mentioning amulet annointments. It's a relatively cheap yet very strong upgrade. Make sure your amulet is quite good before you use the oils.

Of course, with such major changes to the build you should also adjust your other gear. Never stop looking for upgrades.

Red maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 94)

That's where mapping becomes tough. Defences has worse effectiveness, monsters can hit hard, map bosses become tanky. Your damage should carry you through most maps easily, but the bosses combined with some map mods can be too scary. The build should be fully functional at this point and all you can do now is improve it to be faster and stronger.
There are 3 following goals for map tier:

* Very high physical damage bow
* End game build
* Min-maxing gear, self-crafting equipment

The bow is one of the obvious things to upgrade. Crafting it should be only a matter of time, since you can use Harvest to make it. Couple exalts might be required for multimodding. Again, all details how to make one can be found in crafting section.

End game version of the build is something you should check out. It has optional QoL and/or damage upgrades. It also contains classic version of the build. You can find the details in section below.

Lastly, general gear upgrades. It's all min-maxing at this point. I cannot tell what combination you should run as it all depends on your current and future gear. Overall, fossil crafted gear can massively increase your damage.


After that, all you can do now is enjoy the build, kill some end game bosses and look for another build you want to play.

Map Mods
Map Mods you absolutely can't run:

* Monsters reflect #% of Physical Damage
Don't shoot, you'll most likely kill yourself instantly. Reroll the map and move on. If you're inside map, leave it immediately.

Map Mods you can run but are slightly annoying/dangerous:

* Cannot Leech Life / Mana from Monsters
This mod is so rare it might as well not exists. It's really awful to run tho and makes clear very, very slow. You can bypass it with Enduring mana flask.

* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
Build mostly relies on leech so it's totally fine to run. Just make sure to not run out dry by using non-clearing skills. Mana pool is small after all. Blood Rage degen is going to be really awful

* Player Dodge chance is Unlucky / Monsters have #% increased Accuracy Rating
Scary mod, almost completely nullifies your defences. However you will kill majority of the monsters almost instantly so it's not that big deal. Some tanky rares might be very dangerous tho.

* +#% Monster Physical Damage Reduction
Absolutely awful. Unlike "Monster Life" mod, this also lowers the damage of bleedsplosions. Lowers clear speed and single target by a lot. Obviously doable but it's best to avoid it.

* Monsters have a #% chance to avoid Poison, Blind, and Bleeding
Almost the same as Phys Damage Reduction if not worse. It's annoying as hell during clearing, you'll often find yourself shooting multiple times at one pack. Rain of Arrows should still make it relatively smooth to clear the map. Bossing is where you'll feel the difference the most

* #% increased Monster Movement/Attack/Cast Speed
It's problematic if enemies are able to attack you. It won't happen most of the time, but the possibility exists. This mod bumps up that chance. Be cautious.

* Players gain 50% reduced Flask Charges
Really annoying in low density maps. It's OK for the most part tho.


Other than that, it's standard. Too many damage mods are dangerous, curses are scary for bosses etc.

End Game Build
End Game Enhancements
Spoiler
Considering the build is straightforward, there's not much to do creatively other than constantly upgrading the gear. However there are some improvements to make it more smooth to play and/or more damage.

Assailum Helmet

This is an optional yet very poweful helmet. Bow skill gems socketed inside this helmet cannot be used directly. They can be fired by using channeling skill Snipe, which also grants massive damage multiplier to them based on amount of channeling stages. However, great power comes also comes with big downsides. Breakdown:

Pros:
* With 4-link Puncture socketed inside, it deals up to ~125% more damage compared to standard 6-link. In majority of scenarios it's closer to 50-100% more damage, depending on luck and time spent.

Cons:
* Requires you to fully charge the "Snipe" ability to make this helmet worthwhile, roughly 2,5-3 times as long attack time.
* Longer attack time means it's more prone to RNG events and significantly more vulnerable during channeling.
* Harder to use since it's a channeled ability, instead of a single click.
* Almost no useful stats on the helmet itself.

In short, it brings a lot of damage to the table at price of survivability and QoL. I personally don't think the damage is necessary and don't recommend it as a result. However i feel obligated to mention it because it is an interesting and powerful item.

In order to use it, you must socket 4-link Puncture setup inside the helmet. Then you must channel Snipe ability which will fire the Puncture once you stop channeling. You cannot use this helmet in classic build. Suggested setup:

Puncture - Vicious Projectiles - Deadly Ailments - Brutality


Elemental Ailment Immunity
Very easy to acquire and very strong defensively. The primary cost is flexibility on your gear. Thick Skin life cluster grants 20% elemental ailment avoidance. You can combine it with following crafts on your gear:

* (21–25)% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments (gloves/helmet, veiled suffix)
* (20–30)% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments and stuns (body armour, veiled prefix)
* (31–35)% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments (boots, shaper suffix ilvl 81)

Combining high rolled affixes on gloves, helmet and boots/body armour craft allows to reach 100% avoidance, which in effect makes you immune to all elemental ailments (including scorch/brittle/sap).

You can also get 30% elemental avoidance from Elegant Form notable found in "1% chance to Dodge Attack Hits" small cluster jewel. It's not recommended unless you intend to play classic build, where you have to use in order to achieve ele ailment immunity.

Automatic Frenzy Generation
Having to recharge frenzies on bosses is definitely the most irrating part of the build. I mitigate this with 16 sec charge duration so they can last between boss phases. However you can automate this process in few ways. Which option you choose is up to you.:

#1 - Farrul's Fur with Aspect of the Cat.
#2 - Redeemer influenced body armour with "10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hit".
#3 - Dropping frenzy charges on passive tree and crafting +1 minimum frenzy charges on both rings and amulet.

Farrul's Fur option is the easiest, but this body armour is also very expensive. You have to craft Aspect of the Cat adds somewhere on the gear as well. Extra crit and other stats from the Aspect are fairly powerful and nice QoL as well.

Redeemer's armour is worse when it comes to charge generation, but should do the job in the long run. With enough currency it should give high amounts of life as well.

Third option is also easy to do and potentially the best one. With 3 minimum and maximum frenzy charges you always get Gladiator's 10% more physical damage buff. This method frees up body armour slot and at least 6 passive points to try out cluster jewels.

Automatic Vulnerability on Hit
Primarly for mapping. While extra clear speed shouldn't be necessary it will help in maps with awful defensive mods. There are two primary ways to get it:

#1 - Warlord influenced ring.
#2 - Ring from Delve node that gives physical themed items.
#3 - Vaal implicit on gloves.

The choice here is that there's none, sort of. You'll likely craft a Warlord's ring and be done with it. Ring from azurite mine is too unreliable and vaal implicit is too risky unless you want to use unique gloves. Methods how to make such ring can be found in crafting section.

Optional Mana Reservation
While i recommend Herald of Purity for extra safety and little extra damage, it's not the only option available. For more damage but also riskier playstyle you can use two other mana reservation skills:

You can replace Herald of Purity and/or Blood and Sand for them. Auras choices are still the same, but Pride is definitely way to go if you decide to use either of them. In order to make use of all skills you must remain in close-medium proximity to the enemies, which isn't ideal for safety reasons. You can link Flesh and Stone with Maim support to achieve highest amount of extra damage.

There's also a possibility of running TWO auras at once with Blood and Sand, which should give highest potential damage output. To do that you'll likely need Enlighten support gem and extra source of "Aura has X% reduced Mana Reservation". Easiest sources are helmet enchantment and hunter influenced amulet (Malevolence aura). With more investment you can run even more mana reservation options.


The only thing left that's interesting is classic build which you can find below. Other than that, just craft better gear.

Classic Build
Spoiler
This version of the build uses Siege Ballista for single target, combined with Farrul's Pounce gloves to deal damage similar to Puncture.

Pros:
+ Safer playstyle
+ Significantly more versatile in almost every scenario
+ Doesn't require you to stand still to deal damage
+ Combination of clearing by yourself and totem for single target doesn't feel boring

Cons:
- Still less damage than just using Puncture
- Unique heavy, requires good rares to cap resistances
- Uses Farrul's Fur so it's expensive by default

Passive Tree:
Level 94 - Classic passive tree
Level 81/96 - Classic passive tree with cluster jewels

They're not required but heavily recommended. Ironwood cluster makes totems significantly tankier and Panopticon notable is a huge effective dps increase.

What you do with remaining points is your choice. In case you need more than that, you can always change bandit reward to 2 passives.

Required Items:
Build Mechanics:
Farrul's Pounce gloves grant Crimson Dance periodically when combined with Aspect of the Cat. Standard bleed and Crimson Dance bleed don't interact with each other at all, allowing to apply both bleed types simultaneously. This means that if a build is capable of applying all 8 Crimson Dance bleed stacks, Farrul's Pounce effectively doubles the damage.

Puncture's attack speed penalty and necessity to stand still for longer periods of time make it impossible to use the gloves to their full potential. Three (or more) Siege Ballistas can easily achieve this while having relatively high damage multiplier. Everything combined allows classic build to deal similar damage to current version despite massive different in damage multiplier for bleed.

Item Explaination:
You already know why Farrul's Pounce is here. It's worth mentioning they're a unique gloves. You can try corrupting them to get Vulnerability of Hit vaal implicit.

Farrul's Fur is used to remove Cat Aspect's mana reservation cost, longer Crimson Dance phase and to generate frenzy/power charges as a bonus. There's almost no reason to not use this chest. Do not use Replica Farrul's Fur. While generally stronger, it also has negative effect on Crimson Dance uptime which impacts your single target damage.

Next is a rare helmet/boots with Aspect of the Cat. You MUST socket Less Duration support into that gear piece in order to cycle through Cat phases quicker. You can't get benefit from the gloves until you cycle through both phases after all. You can socket Swift Affliction or it's awakened version as well, but it's not necessary. Keep in mind that all global reductions or increases to skill effect duration also apply to Aspect of the Cat, this includes bonus from Malevolence aura.

Rain of Splinters jewel while not necessary is great to ensure hitting moving target or for extra clear. Encounters like blight, legions, abysses, breaches and delving greatly benefit from it.


If you decide to use this build version, i hope you'll have a great time like i do. It's nearly identical to the original build version back from 3.4 for which i wrote this guide. It's my preferred playstyle for bow bleed.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
3.14 Guide Archive Post #2
Spoiler

IMPORTANT NOTE: All videos have timestamps and character info in the description. Each video contains conqueror fight and map clear of his citadel. Level of gear showcased in non-harvest gear videos is obtainable with medium-high investment.
My Sirus fights are terrible, especially classic ones. Never really trained this fight due to playing HC and i knew risk of losing my chars was too great.

3.14 Build Videos
Puncture: Early maps (league starter) / T15 Veritania (medium budget)
Classic: Crusader / Redeemer / Warlord / Hunter / Awakener

3.12 Build Videos
Puncture: Crusader / Redeemer / Warlord / Hunter / Awakener
Classic: Crusader / Redeemer / Warlord / Hunter / Awakener

3.12 Build Videos (Harvest Gear)
Puncture: Crusader / Redeemer / Warlord / Hunter / Awakener
Classic: Crusader / Redeemer / Warlord / Hunter / Awakener


Path of Building (PoB)
PoB code:
https://pastebin.com/e1r1GMcp

This PoB is based on my character from Delve HC. Default gear is mostly life/resistances focused, with all crucial equipment pieces equipped. No mirror tier bullshit here.

It features 2 different gear setup versions for budget and end game build. There's 3 different bows for low, mid and high budget. Equipment for end game build is VERY expensive but still obtainable. You can change them at any time for quick comparison. For classic build use end game gear and switch gloves to Farrul's Pounce. Levelling trees, cluster jewel focused trees and classic trees are also available for convenience.

Ryslatha's Coil doesn't work in PoB, so the DPS is much lower than it is in reality. For levels above 94 i recommend picking up nearby 3-socket jewel slots. I socketed typical bleed jewels inside all nearby jewel sockets.

Shaper/Guardian config is enabled by default. "Enemies are moving" is NOT ticked since my bleed calculator also has that option.

=========================================
= CALCULATING EFFECTIVE DPS - PLEASE READ THIS =
=========================================

PoB is really awful at calculating bleed dps, even more if you use Crimson Dance.
For actual accurate DPS numbers, i've created google doc specifically for it.
Bleed DPS Calculator. All the necessary info can be found in the document.

Crafting Section
How to craft your own gear. To remind:

Magic items can have 2 affixes: 1 prefix and 1 suffix
Rare items can have 6 affixes: 3 prefixes, 3 suffixes
To check what mod is prefix or suffix, enable Advanced Mod Descriptions in game (Options -> UI)

Additional resources:
PoEDB.tw
Fossil Cheat Sheet

In case you don't have required crafting recipes, ask a trusted mastercrafter. You can find them on forums under Trading -> [your league] - Shops. They'll require a small fee for their services.

Bleed Bow crafting
Spoiler

Best bow bases:
* Citadel Bow - highest max phys with low AS
* Spine Bow - balanced option with good phys, AS and high crit chance
* Imperial Bow - highest AS with good max phys

Any of these bases are fine, use whichever you prefer. I personally go for Spine Bow since i make the most out of it in Classic build (including crit). Citadel bow has too low AS for my taste and Imperial has low crit and slightly less physical damage. However - any of these are fine, pick which one you like.

Key modifiers you want:
* High physical damage
* High attack speed.
* +#% Damage over Time Multiplier (if you're lucky)

Following crafting method focuses on all of those at once. It has two different stopping points - for budget version which should allow to get at least 400 max physical in couple of exalts worth of materials and probably no attack speed. Second version is more expensive and will produce a bow around 500-550 max physical damage (depending on a bow).

Of course there exist other methods, but this one is the most reliable and cheapest to make something you'll use for all end game. Keep in mind that should you choose expensive version, it can cost you quite a lot if you're unlucky, but probably still cheaper than most bows for sale.

Before you start crafting it is recommended to increase bow quality to 28% or more. Buying a 6-link base and crafting on it will save you lots of money on fusings too.

Bleed Bow Crafting Method
Spoiler
Required: Non-influenced bow ilvl 83+

PART 1 - CRAFTING PREFIXES

Step 1: Use Deafeaning Essences of Contempt until you get hybrid physical mod:
* (25–34)% increased Physical Damage / +(47–72) to Accuracy Rating (~1/20 chance)
* ...or better than that. Tiers above that are much harder to get (~1/50 chance).

Step 2: If bow has a free prefix, go to the next step. If it doesn't, check if:

* 3rd prefix is "(110–134)% increased Physical Damage" or better, go to the step 5.
* Hybrid physical mod is T4 (35-44)% increased Physical Damage or better, consider removing unwanted prefix with corresponding harvest craft. You shouldn't use "Remove Physical" or "Remove Attack".

* You have 3 suffixes - use Orb of Annulment. If you removed a suffix, repeat step 2.
* You have 2 suffixes or less - use "Remove prefix, add suffix" beastcrafting recipe.

Step 3: If you removed 3rd unwanted prefix, go to the next step. If you removed essence mod OR hybrid phys, go back to step 1.

Step 4: You have two choices:
* Budget version - Craft "(100–129)% increased Physical Damage" which finishes your craft (CRAFTING END).

* Expensive version - Use T4 Aisling's bench in research to add veiled mod. You'll have very high chance of unveiling mod with "(120–139)% increased Physical Damage", choose it. If you didn't get physical damage modifier, pick any chaos prefix OR minion damage and go back to step 2. This allows to remove veiled mod with harvest should you choose that route.

WARNING: If you still have a free suffix, there is a fair chance that you'll only add veiled suffix.


PART 2 - CRAFTING SUFFIXES
At this point your prefixes are locked and you can freely experiment with suffixes - as much as your budget allows. This part is optional, and if you're happy with you suffixes you can ignore it. I didn't cover all suffix crafting options to avoid clutter.


Step 5: Check your suffixes.
* If you have "+#% to Damage over Time Multiplier" and 2 suffixes, go to step 7.
* If you have "+#% to Damage over Time Multiplier" and 3 suffixes, consider removing unwanted suffix with corresponding harvest craft. You CANNOT use "Remove Physical" or "Remove Attack". If you can't remove other suffixes, go to step 8.

* If you have free suffix, go to the next step.
* If you don't have a free suffix, use "Reroll a Rare item, keeping all Prefixes" harvest craft. If you still have 3 suffixes, repeat step 5.

Step 6: Use "Remove non-Physical modifier, add Physical modifier" harvest craft to guarantee "#% increased Damage with Bleeding" suffix.

Step 7: Craft "(8–10)% increased Attack Speed / +(7–12)% to Quality" hybrid mod on crafting bench. If you already have attack speed, craft another suffix of your choice.

Step 8: Use Divine Orb OR "Reroll the values of ### modifiers" harvest craft until you're satisfied. (CRAFTING END).

Hunter Quiver crafting
Spoiler
Let's start with a quick look at the mods you're chasing:

* +(21–25)% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier (Hunter suffix, T2: 16-20%)
* +(16–18)% to Damage over Time Multiplier (suffix, T2: 12-15%, T3: 7-11%)

The goal would be to have both of them. Unfortunately chances of rolling both of them is small. That's about it. One more very important reminder: You can't have pierce on your quiver!

Useful non-shaper mods you might want on the quiver:
* +#% to Fire/Cold/Lightning/Chaos Resistance
* #% increased Attack Speed
* Adds X to X Physical Damage to Attacks

Alt -> Regal method should allow you to reliably get cheap damage upgrade if you wish. You will get what you want eventually, but it's going to be mediocre at best. You shouldn't expect getting more than 2 desired affixes with Alt -> Regal method.

Alt -> Regal Method
Spoiler
Required: Hunter influenced quiver ilvl 82+

Step 1: Spam alts/augs until you hit at least one of the following:

* +(21–25)% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier
* +(16–18)% to Damage over Time Multiplier
* +80 to Maximum Life (or more)

Step 2: If you don't have 2 affixes yet, augment the quiver.
Step 3: Regal the quiver:

* If you have at least 2 desired mods, proceed to next step.
* If you still have only one, scour the quiver and return to step 1.

Step 4: Depending on your mods and suffixes, do the following:

* If you don't have any life, craft 40-55 life at crafting bench and finish crafting.
* If you have life below 40 and both DoT multiplier suffixes, go to step 5a.
* If you have life and any 2 suffixes, craft remaining suffix and finish crafting.
* If you have life and any 1 suffix, go to step 5b.

Step 5a - Do in following order:
* Craft "Suffixes cannot be changed".
* Use Scouring Orb to remove prefixes.
* Craft 40-55 life at crafting bench and finish crafting.

Step 5b - You have two choices:
#1 - Craft suffix and finish crafting.
#2 - Craft an extra suffix with an exalted orb. You need to craft cheap prefix at crafting bench, afterwards use exalted orb, and then proceed with choice #1.

Damage crafts - Amulet, Gloves, Helmet
Spoiler
Elder/Hunter Amulet
Crafting method: Alt -> Regal -> 1 Craft/Multimod
Fossil Method: Jagged + Corroded (optional) + Pristine (optional)

Influenced mods:
* +(13–16)% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier (Elder/Hunter)
* (1.6–2)% of Life Regenerated per second (Elder/Hunter)
* (7–13)% increased Attack Speed (Elder)
* Malevolence has (20–25)% reduced Mana Reservation (Hunter)

Crafted mods:
* -9 to -8 to Total Mana Cost of Skills
* 0.7–1% of Life Regenerated per second

Both influenced mods should more or less the same. Hunter is probably slightly easier to craft.

Provides very high damage boost. Using both Jagged and Corroded will give you highest chance of rolling damage affixes and phys DoT multiplier. You'll have to be a little lucky with the life tho. You can add Pristine to increase chances of rolling life, but it will also affect chance of physical life leech mod that's not needed at all.

Marble amulet is really cool base to craft, it's always that little extra regen to mitigate degens (like Blood Rage). Not necessary by any means, only a personal preference.

Elder/Hunter Gloves
Crafting method: Alt -> Regal -> 1 Craft/Multimod
Fossil Method: Jagged + Corroded (optional) + Pristine (optional)

Influenced mods:
* +(13–16)% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier (Elder/Hunter)
* (31–35)% increased Damage with Bleeding / Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Chance To Bleed (Elder)
* +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges (Warlord)

Crafted mods:
* You have Onslaught during Soul Gain Prevention
* (31–36)% increased Attack and Cast Speed while Focussed
* Non-Vaal Skills deal (51–60)% increased Damage during Soul Gain Prevention

Elder influence has higher potential, but Hunter has much higher probability to craft phys DoT multiplier.

Gloves have high damage potential in general. Elder gloves can grant up to 16% phys DoT multiplier, increased bleed damage AND pseudo 5-link for clearing if your damage is high enough. Any approach to fossil crafting is viable pretty much.

Rolling high life might be hard, so you'll probably end up having to mastercraft it. Similarly to amulet, you can add Pristine fossil to increase chances of rolling life at cost of lower chance to hit damage mods.

Alt -> Regal method for methodical approach or spam fossils and pray to make a decent one.

Elder Helmet
Crafting method: Alt -> Regal -> 1 Craft
Fossil Method: Jagged + Pristine

Influenced mods:
* Nearby Enemies take 9% increased Physical Damage (Elder)

Crafted mods:
* 7–8% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage
* (121–140)% increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focussed

9% damage increase is quite big damage increase, as it's a straight multiplier to the damage dealt. The increase is additive with Vulnerability/Maim debuffs. Because of this, helmet crafting shouldn't be prioritized over amulet/gloves.

Focus craft can be useful, but most of the time enemy will die before you take advantage of the massive duration increase.

Other crafts - Rings, Boots, Jewels
Spoiler
Warlord Rings
Crafting method: Alt -> Regal -> 1 Craft/Multimod
Method: Jagged + Pristine (optional)

Influenced mods:
* Curse Enemies with Level 8 Vulnerability on Hit (Warlord)
* (18–22)% increased Damage with Bleeding / (9–10)% increased Bleeding Duration (Warlord)

Crafted mods:
* -9 to -8 to Total Mana Cost of Skills
* 17–20% increased Damage

Unlike amulet, rings don't have global physical damage prefix. If you want to craft the ring, you're probably doing it for Vulnerability on Hit mod. In this case the curse's level doesn't matter since benefit per level is minimal.

Alt -> Regal method for methodical approach or spam fossils and pray to make a decent one.

Elder/Redeemer Boots
Crafting method #1: Chaos Orb spamming
Crafting method #2: Alt -> Regal -> Multimod
Essence method: Screaming/Shrieking Essence of Greed
Fossil method: Pristine + Dense (optional)

Influenced mods:
* (7–10)% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Kill (Elder/Redeemer)
* (9–10)% chance to Dodge Spell Damage (Elder/Redeemer)

Crafted mods:
* All 3 hybrid movement speed crafts
* You have Onslaught during Soul Gain Prevention
* Non-Vaal Skills deal (51–60)% increased Damage during Soul Gain Prevention

Elder influence is easier to roll in general.

Great defensive craft. There's no tricks to easily craft these unfortunately. I suggest chaos spam or alt -> regal if you have something specific in mind. High life, desired mod and movement speed/open prefix are the key mods. 20%+ MS can be crafted, it's enough for the build. Essences will guarantee high life roll, but might be really costly.

You can also use fossils if you only care about endurance charge on kill. It'll remove nearly all prefixes (elder), making it somewhat easy to hit movement speed and charges. Craft 70 life / movement speed mod afterwards.

Crimson Jewels
Crafting Method: Alt -> Regal
Fossil Method: Jagged + Corroded (optional) + Pristine (optional)

Jewels have a really high pool of mods, so hitting the right mods might be really hard - especially hitting life. Getting right combination of damage mods should be relatively easy with either method. If you're seeking 5-7% maximum life mod, it's probably easier and cheaper to simply buy the jewel if you have the possibility.

Crimson Jewel is the base with highest chance of rolling physical/life mods. Don't craft any other jewel base.

FAQ
Q: Is this build good for a new player?
A: It's decent because it's easy to get good damage on a budget. Survivability might be a problem since build's defences aren't top tier, which means mistakes will be punished.

If you want a new player friendly build, you should check out my Caustic Arrow Raider guide.

Q: How's the hardcore viability?
A: On the edge of viability. It's fairly safe until red tier maps where mistake or very unfortunate event might take your life. I would only recommend it to exprienced hardcore players.

Q: How does it perform in SSF?
A: Mediocre. Due to limited gear acquisition you will often hit a wall starting around ~white/yellow maps transition. It's caused by Ryslatha's Coil being ridiculously rare and lack of it heavily hinders the build. It forces you to have 100% bleed damage elder mod which also might be hard to obtain early on. Same issue with acquiring oils for amulet annointment. All combined slows progression considerably. If you're fine it, feel free to try.

Q: How do you level with twink gear?
A: Using bleed with high damage bows should be fairly fast. Other than that usual Goldrim/Tabula/Wanderlust and you're good to go.

Q: Why can't i have pierce/fork/chain on my gear?
A: In order for Ensnaring Arrow to work and apply the debuff. It can only happen if the arrow hits an enemy and stops. Any of the mechanics above allow the arrow to hit the target an keep flying towards next victim, preventing debuff from being applied.

Q: How about Mirage Archer?
A: Sure, why not. If your damage allows you to run then there's nothing stopping you from using.

Q: Why don't you use War Banner?
A: Using it would mean having 5% of you mana pool unreserved. With some investment it should be possible to run it. Keep in mind that this build has very little room for extra skill gems.

Q: I don't like Rain of Arrows, can i use Split Arrow instead?
A: While not advised, yes you can do it. However you must link it with Pierce or Chain support. Without these supports, it won't clear well.

Rain of Arrows is simply much more versatile without giving up too much damage.

Q: Have you thought about using Lioneye's Fall and taking melee nodes in Marauder's starting location?
A: Yes, it's a very viable alternative. However it heavily encourages armour as a defensive mechanic which i dislike in general. Performance-wise it's very similar to the passive tree i provide. Overall going to shadow area is easier for newbies, has smoother progression and much less demanding gear requirements.

Q: I have problems sustaining mana, what can i do?
A: This shouldn't be happening to be fair. Best course of action is to craft "-X to Total Mana Cost of Skills" or even flat mana might solve the problem. Linking Enlighten (at least lvl 2) with mana reservation skills should do the trick as well. If you can't do any of those, you can always disable Herald of Purity/Stance until you can support every mana reservation skill.

Q: What is T4 Aisling research bench? Isn't T3 the highest?
A: Since 3.14 patch, if you successfully kill Syndicate Mastermind, all rewards from syndicate members in a safehouse are increased by 1 level. Maximum level was raised to 4 in the same patch. For example, this means T3 Aisling in research is upgraded to T4 in Mastermind's safehouse and will give better rewards.

T4 Aisling bench in research adds a veiled modifier to an item, with a chance to add 2 veiled mods.

Q: Path of Building (PoB) gives me an error when loading your build!
A: Then it means you're using original PoB which is no longer updated. You should download Community PoB Fork version which is up to date and has significantly more features.

Q: How does the bleed work?
A: Mechanics are quite simple:

#1 - Each hit that applies bleeding is inflicted on the enemy, but only 1 ailment can deal damage (or 8 in case of Crimson Dance).
#2 - Bleeding damage is based on source physical damage. That means it also inherits the high or low damage rolls.
#3 - Game ALWAYS proritizes stacks with highest damage.
#4 - Having previous points in mind, that means hitting target multiple times will increase the damage output since you apply more high damage bleeding debuffs.

Q: Are you sure Ryslatha's Coil works with bleed?
A: Yes, i'm certain. This video should dispel all your doubt

Q: How do Farrul's Pounce two different bleed types interact with each other?
A: They're completly separate debuffs. That means you can have up to 9 bleeds total, 8 from Crimson Dance and 1 standard bleed.

Q: If Farrul's Pounce have such potential, why don't you use it with Puncture for more damage?
A: That's a great idea that fails in practice. Use Vaal Rain of Arrows to quickly stack up Crimson Dance and Puncture for standard bleed and long term damage. Timing it felt awful and overall playstyle was more dangerous. While it dealt higher damage, the playstyle was significantly worse and gearing more difficult.

Q: Is it good for party play?
Should be fine overall. No matter what, bleedsplosions will contribute greatly to the team.

Changelog
To do list (for me mostly)
Spoiler
* Low priority: Bleed calculator update

* Proof read every single time there's a new big update.
May 12th, 2021
Videos:
* Added Awakaner kill for Classic build.

May 7th, 2021
Crafting Section:
* Added another failure check - if you didn't have an option for "#% Physical Damage" veiled mod, choose any chaos/minion prefix and go back to step 2.
* Added small comment about expensive version being well... expensive, especially if luck is not on your side.


May 6th, 2021
Gem Setups:
* Divergent Rain of Arrows (4 extra arrows) moved to superior alternate gems.
* Very minor commentary adjustments to optional gems.

Equipment:
* Added new bows for showcase.
* Fixed few typos and bring some of the sections up to date (minor adjustments).

Classic Build:
* Added explaination why you should use normal Farrul's Fur over replica version.

Videos:
* Added 6 new videos from 3.14 league. Two low/medium budget Puncture build and four medium budget Classic build.

Crafting Section:
* Added Bleed Bow crafting method and commentary.

FAQ:
* Added "Q: What is T4 Aisling research bench? Isn't T3 the highest?"

April 16th, 2021 - Ultimatum League
General:
* Small clean up of some outdated (and soon to be outdated) info throughout whole guide. Minor changes aren't listed. Didn't find much either way.

Passive Tree:
* Unchanged. Updated tree version to 3.14.

Gem Changes:
* Not yet, but we'll see soon enough if anything requires changes.

Equipment:
* "Elder Bleed Bow" rename to "Bleed Bow". Removed showcased item and heavily changed commentary.
* Small commentary adjustment to Rings and Amulet. Vermillion Rings are now recommended.

Path of Building:
* PoB link updated - https://pastebin.com/e1r1GMcp
* Passive Tree updated to 3.14 version.
* Removed old bows and replaced it with 3 completely new ones. Low, mid and high budget.
* Since Faster Ailment mod found on Watcher's Eye is working properly now, i removed warning and temporary fix.
* Removed 30% Global Physical Damage from Crafted Hunter Amulet since it's no longer possible to get... for quite few patches now.
* NOTE: There's a very good possibility i'll release new version in few days!

Crafting Section:
* Removed Elder Bleed Bow crafting. I'll update with a new method soon.
* Removed Hunter Quiver crafting... again.

Changelog's... changes:
* The changelog has been cleared out to keep it clean.
* You can still find whole changelog prior to 3.14 update on page 113 inside the archived guide.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
"
DankawSL wrote:
I didn't have time to update the build, as it requires some testing. However for the most part - it should be exactly the same with few exceptions:

* You CANNOT use Deadly Ailments in Rain of Arrows setup. Use Swift Affliction or Cruelty instead, they should be your 6th link.
* Clearing skill (RoA) cost is massive now (67 at 6-link), but it should be possible to sustain it.
* Cluter jewels heavily nerfed, but still way to go. Wasting Affliction still strongest dps notable. Other notables are more or less equal in power, choose whatever you want as they're almost all the same.

* Flask nerfs extremely hit this build's defences. Because of this, use the build at your own risk. Should be fine until red maps, but i cannot guarantee it'll perform well in red maps at low investment.
* Flasks should be the same, but feel free to use whatever you think is right.


I will update the build tomorrow, but you won't see much more than what i mentioned.


Hey there was testing your build today ( 2nd char decided to start a bleed bow glad one) and changing gems seem to show that the "nerf" to deadly ailments do not reduce dmg that we deal with bleed. Now the question is why do you consider this gem a dea one now? is it only because of the life leech due to very low base dmg per hit now? because this does not affect bleed at all from what i see..
I'm currently updating the guide in case anyone is wondering. Build seems fine because at end game i'm still facerolling. Mana costs are manageable. Biggest problem is still loss of ailment immunity, which is partially fixed by just killing monsters really fast.

"
ArteAlen wrote:
Hey there was testing your build today ( 2nd char decided to start a bleed bow glad one) and changing gems seem to show that the "nerf" to deadly ailments do not reduce dmg that we deal with bleed. Now the question is why do you consider this gem a dea one now? is it only because of the life leech due to very low base dmg per hit now? because this does not affect bleed at all from what i see..

Leech is very important to sustain both mana and life. We might not invest much into it (literally 1 passive tree point), but it's still extremely valuable. Without good investment it's probably impossible to sustain mana for RoA if you use Deadly Ailments. It's best to use Swift Affliction OR Lifetap instead. Cruelty support is also an option for mapping.

Besides, RoA is a clearing/utility skill. Lower damage is acceptable as normal and magic monsters will die fast regardless. In past 2 league i've run 5-link for overwhelming majority of the time and never really needed extra damage.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
Changelog, July 24th, 2021 - Expedition League
Spoiler
Pros and Cons:
* No longer considered hardcore viable. Flask changes killed remaining bits of it.
* No longer considered SSF friendly (requires time to grind core items).
* Clarified "tankiness". Now no longer considered tanky, but has decent survivability through previously mentioned reasons.
* Removed "Can be hard to optimize".
* Added "Might struggle in red maps at low investment".
* Reshuffled points so more important ones are further up.

Gem Setups:
* Replaced Deadly Ailments with Lifetap support in Main Skill - Rain of Arrows setup.
* Removed Deadly Ailments alternate quality, as it was changed this patch.

Equipment:
* Updated flask setup suggestions. Couple required mods, rest is up to you. 2 life flask setup doesn't seem bad to be honest.
* Minor update to bleed bow. Now i state getting "very good bow" will be expensive, and you should use cheaper options instead.

Passive Tree
* Updated medium cluster jewel information

End Game Build
* Removed Elemental Ailment Immunity. Investment cost is extremely high with Farrul's Fur, making not worth to be picked up.
* Added "Mana Issues and Solutions" to Classic build.

Path of Building
* Updated PoB link to newest version.
* Reflected changed from Gem Setups
* Now uses Pride aura by default instead of Grace. I've used it for so long and wouldn't switch to any other aura.
* Removed mention that Ryslatha's Coil doesn't work in PoB (since it does for some time).
* "Enemies are moving" is ticked on. With removal of 100% more damage bleed mod, PoB is now "somewhat" accurate. Combined with me not updating my calculator for some time, this seemed like a good move. I'm positive not having it up scared a lot of players.

Changelog's... changes:
* The changelog has been cleared out to keep it clean.
* You can still find whole changelog prior to 3.15 update on page 118 inside the archived guide.

I think i've got everything done for the most part. There wasn't much to begin with. Things that are still missing:

* Update PoB with new recommended flask (PoB doesn't support new affixes yet)
* Check bleed bow crafting and fix whatever is broken.
* Adjust mid and high end bow in PoB as a result too.

In a way, elder influence is stronger and weaker at the same time. There's less DoT multiplier overall, but at the same time you can craft DoT multiplier on suffix. So for now, i think i'm sticking with non-influenced bow still. I'll check it out just in case. But all of that for tomorrow.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
deadly ailments with -80% less hits with puncture, no good , dps is low
"
vvarior wrote:
deadly ailments with -80% less hits with puncture, no good , dps is low


It's not much of a nerf if you only use it for the bleed as its factored in before the "less hit damage" part so the bleed still hits full power. However if you used it as a constant skill (rather than Assailum/Snipe where you channel it once and use another skill whilst they bleed) then its a hit. Basically the more you use Puncture, the more the hits matter. The less you use it and rely on the bleed, its not really that much of a dps hit.
i have no assailum, i have 6 link punkture, pob say difference between deadly ailments ailmets and Swift Affliction 2k dps, but deadly ailments ailmets on impact have 5k dps on hit and with Swift Affliction dps on hit 27k dps.
Last edited by vvarior on Jul 29, 2021, 1:17:43 AM
Hi man,just wanted to ask if there is an easy way to craft end game bleed bow in this new patch. I am confused and don't really know how to do it step by step. Many thanks!

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