Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree end-game Bleed Build Guide

This guide focuses on the key aspects of an End-game Bleed Build for Elden Ring: explaining weapons, armor, stats, and how to play.

This build guide has been updated for Elden Ring Patch 1.13.

End-Game Bleed Build Guide – Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

In Elden Ring, Bleed or Hemorrhage has always been one of the most overpowered status effects that, if appropriately worked into a build can melt a boss’ healthbar in mere seconds. This holds true for Shadow of the Erdtree as well. Bleed is even more effective in the DLC, thanks to the attack power buff you receive courtesy of the Scadutree Blessings, as well as the inclusion of weapons like the Bloodfiend’s Arm, which scales incredibly well with Arcane, i.e., the stat governing Blood-loss build-up.

However, even if you work the most powerful Bleed weapon in the game, there’s no guarantee that it will work against all enemies and bosses, especially in the end-game and New Game+ cycles. The best example of this would be Rivers of Blood, which, despite working quite well in base New Game, isn’t all that effective from New Game +2 (NG+2) onwards.

Thankfully, there are Bleed weapons that you can create a buildaround for, which can easily carry you from the base New Game, all the way to New Game+7. Here’s a build that I’ve created, which is centered on Bleed damage and can help you get past almost all the major bosses in Elden Ring, as well as Shadow of the Erdtree, without much hassle.

Bleed Build Guide Features – Elden Ring

The following list presents all the essential End Game Bleed Build Mechanics and Features in Elden Ring:

• Weapons:
  • Heavy Great Stars +25 (x2)
  • Cragblade Ash of War (Bleed affinity)
  • Dragon Communion Seal
• Armor: Rakshasa’s armor set
• Talismans:
  • Erdtree’s Favor +2
  • Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
  • Claw Talisman
  • Lord of Blood’s Exultation
• Incantations:
  • Golden Vow
  • Black Flame’s Protection
  • Beastial Vitality
  • Flame, Grant Me Strength

Best Elden Ring Bleed Build Weapons

The best Bleed Build Weapon for Elden Ring is the Great Start because it has the most flexibility with Ash of War.

While there are weapons like Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear or the Rivers above of Blood that can cause Hemorrhage much faster than Great Stars, they don’t allow you to switch their Ash of War. My second reason for choosing the Great Stars is that it doesn’t scale with Arcane but retains passive Blood-loss regardless of the applied Ash of War and affinity.

My final reason to go for the Great Stars is that it can be obtained fairly early in the base game, that too, without having to defeat any major bosses. And if that’s not all, you can get two Great Stars in a single playthrough. The Bleed build I created uses two Great Stars, power-stance, alongside the Claw Talisman, which helps inflict Hemorrhage even faster while also dishing out tremendous amounts of damage.

There are certain limitations to this build, which I will get to later in this guide, but overall, it’s an incredibly effective Bleed build that carried me from the base New Game all the way to New Game+3, with little to no changes.

Best Elden Ring Bleed Build Ash of War

Cragblade is the best Ash of War for an End Game Bleed build because it boosts the weapon’s base attack power.

Given the Great Star already hits like a freight train, with Cragblade you’re guaranteed to get a posture break, with just two charged-heavy or jump attacks. Additionally, since Cragbalde isn’t an active ability, you won’t have to invest too much into Mind to get this build working.

There are a few options if you’re looking for alternatives to Cragblade. The first, and probably the best option, is Lion’s Claw, which gives you hyper armor and lets you dish out massive amounts of damage. The second option is the Savage Lion’s Claw, which is the same as the standard Lion’s Claw, but instead of just a single hit, it allows you to extend its attack into a combo by pressing the heavy attack button.

Savage Lion’s Claw doesn’t do the same damage as the standard Lion’s Claw. The only advantage of choosing Savage Lion’s Claw is its combo attack, which does give you hyper armor and can help reposition yourself in the heat of the battle. As for the affinity, given that we will be investing many points into Arcane, it’s best to go with Bleed. However, you can also choose Heavy to get a flat increase in the weapon’s attack power.

Additionally, using Heavy affinity will allow you to apply any elemental grease on the Great Stars, giving it temporary access to other passive affinities on top of blood loss.

Best Elden Ring Bleed Builds Talismans

The best Talismans for an End Game Bleed Build in Elden Ring are Erdtree’s Favor+2 and Dragon Crest Greatshield Talism because they boost survivability and damage. Although getting all the Scadutree Blessings does provide you with a defensive buff, it’s not enough to help ensure survivability, especially in boss fights. Additionally, I highly recommend using Boiled Crabs before a boss fight to temporarily boost your defenses.

As for offensive Talismans, I went with the Claw Talisman and the Lord of Blood’s Exultation. The Claw Talisman significantly increases the efficiency and damage output of your jump attacks, which you will use a lot with this build. Meanwhile, the Lord of Blood’s Exultation will provide a passive buff to your attack power (20%) for 20 seconds whenever there’s blood loss in the vicinity.

You can switch Lord of Blood’s Exultation for the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman if you often run out of Stamina during combat.

Elden Ring Bleed Build Incantations

While it’s not really necessary to invest in Faith for this build, doing so gives you access to some cool Incantations to buff your attacks and defenses further. If you do choose to invest a few of your stat points into Faith, I highly recommend using the Dragon Communion Seal, which scales with Arcane. As for Incantations, I went with Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength to raise attack power and Black Flame’s Protection for passive defense buff.

I also used Beastial Vitality for passive HP recovery, but it’s completely optional. Other Incantations that can be used in this build are Protection of the Erdtree, as well as the Dragon Communion Incantations.

Elden Ring Bleed build Crystal Tears (Mixed Physick)

Opaline Hardtear and the Greenburst Crystal Tear is the best Crystal Tears because Opaline Hardtear increases your defenses against all forms of damage (physical and non-physical). In contrast, the Greenburst Crystal Tear vastly increases Stamina recovery speed. Stamina is help in this Bleed build, which is primarily focused on jump and charged-heavy attacks.

You can circumvent using Greenburst Crystal Tear by using the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman, but doing so means sacrificing one of your Talisman slots.

Elden Ring Bleed Builds Armor

For armor, there are three choices to go with; you can either use Sir Ansbach’s set, which boosts Blood Oath and Dynastic skills (Bleed Incantations and affinities), White Mask Varre’s War Surgeon set, which slightly raises attack power (10%) with Blood-loss in the vicinity, or the Rakshasa set, which increases damage dealt and received. For this build, I went with the Rakshasa set.

The primary reason to choose the Rakshasa armor set is the DPS boost it provides, and secondly, it looks incredibly cool while doing so. However, given armor plays very little role in defining a build in Elden Ring, you can go with anything that suits your fancy, without any major repercussions.

Elden Ring Bleed Build Stats (Attributes)

The stat allocation for the Bleed build is primarily focused on two things: Arcane and Strength. However, given that it’s an end-game build meant to be used in New Game+, you should have enough points left to invest in Dexterity and Faith. We are essentially going for a “Quality” setup. I went with a Level 280 character for this build. However, getting this build working on a Level 200 (the new meta for PvP) character is very much possible.

Here are the stat allocations for Levels 200 and Level 280 with the Best Elden Ring Bleed Build for End Game:

Level 280

• Vigor: 60
• Mind: 35
• Endurance: 50
• Strength: 50
• Dexterity: 65
• Intelligence: 9
• Faith: 30
• Arcane: 60

Level 200

• Vigor: 60
• Mind: 15
• Endurance: 40
• Strength: 40
• Dexterity: 30
• Intelligence: 9
• Faith: 30
• Arcane: 55

How to Play Elden Ring Bleed Build

Since we are using dual Great Stars and Claw Talisman, our primary mode of dealing damage would be jump attacks. While you can occasionally use charged-heavy and even regular (R1/RB) attacks, those should be used sparingly and only to facilitate stance-break. With this build, your main goal would be to deal enough damage to inflict both a stance break and a Hemorrhage.

In addition, using Cragblade and the attack power buffing Incantations, you can deal almost 3600-4000 damage with a single jump attack, which is enough to stagger an elite enemy and cause Hemorrhage in most bosses. The reason for jumping attacks over charged-heavy attacks is the faster recovery animation, which is very important, especially in boss fights.

Before you enter a boss arena, here are a few things that you should do first:

• Consume a Boiled Crab or Boiled Prawn.
• Use the Flask of Wondrous Physick, followed by Incantations in the order – Beastial Vitality > Black Flame’s Protection > Golden Vow > Flame, Grant Me Strength.
• Dual-wield the Great Stars on your left hand, use Cragblade, and then go back to power-stancing mode. 
• Use Cragblade on the right-handed Great Stars and then enter the boss arena.

Following these steps ensures that you have access to all the buffs for the longest possible duration in a boss fight. The only ones that you will need to re-apply are Flame, Grant Me Strength, and Cragblade.

Additional Gameplay Tips

Additionally, this Bleed build is made with flexibility in mind, as such, you can use a few other weapon combinations with it, without having to make any major changes. If you’re looking for a much safer option that can help you against the likes of Malenia, Blade of Miquella, Messmer the Impaler, Commander Gaius, and even the Promised Consort Radahn, you can go for the Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear and Fingerprint Shield combo.

Lastly, for the Great Rune, I highly recommend Morgott’s Great Rune or Radahn’s Great Rune, purely due to the buff they provide to your HP. Additionally, this build is mostly meant to be used without a summon; however, if you do want to bring a Spirit Ash with you, there’s no better option than the Mimic Tear. You can also use the Bloodfiend Hexer’s Ashes, which goes really well with the Bleed theme of this build.

Build Summary – Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree end-game Bleed build guide

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