[3.5] Elder Bleed Gladiator ft. Blasphemer's Grasp

3.3.0 Patch Notes work in favor of this build - We are buffed!


Which build can be more interesting than the one with Elder items in all slots using Lacerate as main skill to inflict bleed damage?

… And the best part is that this build works perfect as a league starter & let you melt Level 13-15 maps without having any problems about survivability (at level 82, even before getting Versatile Combatant in Ascendancy).

Credits should go to Bobby Googus when it comes to awesome character design & skill tree (please check his guide and awesome build on https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2050982/page/1). I would like to thank him for being so kind in letting me create this guide which is contender for "Build of the Week" (GGG please do not forget to give credits to Bobby too if this build ever makes it to Build of the Week :) ). I took his skill tree and combine it with Blasphemer's Grasp (which I fell in love with when it was first released at the start of Abyss League) together with Elder items which bring damage output & survivability to an insane level. Before diving deep into the item synergy, lets talk about how this build works.

How does this build work?
We are using bleed as our main damage by being able to inflicting Bleed up to 8 times thanks to Crimson Dance in the skill tree (for bleed is our main damage, you should not focus on low tooltip damage that will have). We make use of the following abilities coming from Blasphemer's Grasp;

1) 15% increased Damage with Ailments per Elder Item Equipped
2) Remove an Ailment when you use a Flask if all Equipped Items are Elder Items
3) +6 to Maximum Life per Elder Item Equipped
4) 8% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments per Elder Item Equipped

to gain

1) 150% increased bleed damage
2) Flexibility to use Blood of the Karui & Lavianga's Spirit flasks to quickly fill up our health and mana without being in need of using flasks removing ailments (any flask removes any ailment on us)

3) +60 to maximum life
4) 80% increased chill/freeze effect which works perfectly with Arctic Armour gem set-up

considering that we have Elder items in all item slots.

Blasphemer's Grasp also gives us "(150-200)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield" as bonus



We are using "Mind Over Matter" to have further 30% damage mitigation while focusing on increased mana regeneration rate & increased maximum mana thanks to available slots in skill tree & insane increased mana regeneration rate coming from Elder rings. Thanks to Lavianga's Spirit flask' mana filling recovery rate, we are nearly all the time have our mana pool full immediately after taking damage.

One of the best things about this build is that we can inflict bleed damage by using Shield Charge and we can melt the thrash by shield charging the whole map.

Let's have a look on other additional damage output & survivability options that Elder items grant us:
- 20% increased maximum mana coming from Elder helm which supports "Mind Over Matter" utilization to the full
- Fortify support on Elder boots together with increased totem damage which work perfectly with our Ancestral Protector gem set-up
- "+# Life/Mana gained for each enemy hit" coming from Elder rings
- "Recovery of 6% of maximum life on kill" coming from Elder body armour makes us nearly invulnerable
- Increased damage output coming from Elder Body armour's "+1 level to socketed support gems".
- Additional block chance coming from elder shields as compared to regular shields in game
- Increased survivability coming from "+% increased maximum life" which can be rolled in several different elder items such as body armours, shields & belts
- Melee Physical Damage / Brutality / Ruthless support on weapons which are supporting our Shield Charge inflicting additional bleed damage
- "% increased area of effect" coming from Elder helms & shields
- "100% reduced Vulnerability mana reservation" coming from Impresence is significantly increasing our survivability thanks to "Mind Over Matter".


We can further increase bleed damage/effectiveness of bleed damage with a weapon having following option(s) first being the most important one:
- "X% increased damage with bleeding": We are preferably looking for 24%+ increased damage with bleeding
- "% increased bleeding duration"
- "% increased area of effect"
- "Hits with this weapon have culling strike against bleeding enemies".



Can I use skills other than Lacerate?
Skills having comparably high AOE such as Sunder & Reave is perfectly ok to use but keep in mind that Lacerate "slashes twice" & "enemies in the middle of slashes can be hit by both slashes". So Lacerate skill doubles the bleed damage inflicted with right positioning. I suggest you give a try to different skills and play the character with the one suits your play style

Considering that we are able to inflict bleed by also shield charging into enemies (which can cover a huge area quite fast thanks to faster attacks support gem), I personally prefer to have double bleed damage instead of having a comparable large AOE.

Please also keep in mind that Reave does not work with axes. So, if you decide to play Reave, axe nodes in the skill tree needs to be replaced with sword nodes.




The Good

+ Relatively fast clearing speed (not the fastest out there)
+ Having option to experience a rare skill in POE meta: Lacerate
+ Insane survivability
+ Reflect damage proof build
+ Ability to run all map modes
+ Ability to run T14-15 corrupted maps

The Bad

- Relatively long end game boss fights
- Being in need of going back in the map to collect loot for we inflict bleed and move forward while mobs' lives are drained & they finally die

and The Ugly

= Trying to capture the full potential of elder items may cost a fortune



Skill Tree



Bandits


Ascendancy



Gems


Gear


Flasks


Jewels



Levelling


Videos



Final Thoughts
I started playing POE just before the Abyss League and come up with this build idea towards the end of Abyss League based on Bobby's Lacerate Bleed Gladiator. I really enjoyed playing it and will certainly continue to play it. It clears maps quite fast and gives you opportunity to play with rare skill (Lacerate) and mechanic (Bleed) in the current meta while experiencing a very satisfying game-play. I hope you enjoy the build as much as I do!

Reserved

OMG this is such a great and brilliant build, gonna play it next league!

Hope I see this build in the next "Build of the Week" !

"

Is there something I missing with Lacerate?
The AOE seems small in comparison to Sunder/Reave.

Any suggestions on what I should link to this axe?

Ruthless lv 20
Ancestral Call lv 18

Ancestral Protector + Melee Phys + Maim (or faster attacks)

Sunder & Reave is certainly ok but Lacerate "slashes twice" (x2 bleed damage) & "enemies in the middle of slashes can be hit by both" (x4 bleed damage). I suggest you give a try to Sunder & Reave too if you do not like Lacerate play style. Please also keep in mind that Reave does not work with axes. So, if you decide to play Reave, axe nodes in the skill tree needs to be replaced with sword nodes.

Considering that we are able to inflict bleed by also shield charging into enemies (which can cover a huge area quite fast thanks to faster attacks support gem), I personally prefer to have double bleed damage instead of having a comparable large AOE.

Weapons give us huge "increased damage with bleeding" boost. If you can find an elder weapon with 24%+ increased damage with bleeding that would be a huge damage increase. "% increased bleeding duration" & "% increased area of effect" is also nice touch on weapons together with "hits with this weapon have culling strike against bleeding enemies".

Ancestral Protector + Melee Phys + Maim set-up looks ok. I would chose Maim over Faster Attacks because maimed enemies take "X% more physical damage" from our main skill attacks. Maim gem double chances of enemies being maimed (other 30% comes from Ascendancy). So, we would be relying of our bleed damage (which is increased by physical damage after enemies being maimed) instead relying on totem damage.

"

orionous escribió:

OMG this is such a great and brilliant build, gonna play it next league!

Hope I see this build in the next "Build of the Week" !

Thank you orionous! I hope you will enjoy the build.

"

To this point I looked for such weapons but for me swing speed is a showstopper...

My order of importance

1. APS 1.8 or greater
2. Pure phys big damage 300+

What I like about this build is drive to research and find interesting elder rares...

I haven't found a good use for the lv 20 Conc link yet which has a nice multiplier on it.

I am thinking off coloring this to 4R and link it up

CWDT + IC + MoltenShell + Life Leech + (Free lv 15 Increased Duration)

***
I intend to give lacerate a fair chance and have leveled with it mostly.
It just seems to be unfair comparison when Reave can apply bleed to most of the screen versus two mid size projectiles hitting 1/8th of it.
Since Lacerate is one of the skills they are thinking about buffing - let's hope they do it well!

Fair point about Lacerate. I searched for a decent elder sword in standard to test Reave but it seems swords cost a fortune as compared to axes.

CWDT + IC + MoltenShell + Life Leech + (Free lv 15 Increased Duration) is quite nice.

Yes, there is lots of room for improvement and possibilities thanks to Elder stats.

Yeah, it gives us option to use below two flasks which immediately fill mana & life and helps survivability.

I elaborated it more on the 1st post to be crystal clear.

I was quite lucky in finding ilvl 79 Elder Stygian Vise with really bad rolls for 6ex at the end of Abyss League. I spent something like 200c to re-roll mine.



I imagine it will be crazy expensive in Beastiary League. There is currently one ilvl69 Elder Stygian Vise being sold for 10ex in Standard.

There are really nice regular elder belts with 80+ maximum life with good "% increased maximum Life" which are comparably quite cheap & are also a really good choice for this build

http://poe.trade/search/inagamanuruden

They had already done that :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8yAWGFMFUs

Yes seems to be. I gave it a try and got below