In a game as massive as Elden Ring, there are any number of ways to build one’s character and engage the many powerful boss enemies that inhabit The Lands Between. For most of the game, one really can’t go wrong with how they develop their character, but that may not be entirely true when it comes time to confront the final few bosses near the end. Unless one possesses truly top-tier skills, this is probably the time to re-spec into a more-focused build capable of using one’s loadout to the fullest. There are many of these to choose from of course, but one that focuses on bleed is probably the most effective for struggling players. So, let’s get into it.

The Basic Idea

As the name implies, the idea of a bleed build is to inflict as much blood loss damage as possible as quickly as possible. Aside from a handful of enemies and bosses, just about everything in Elden Ring is susceptible to this which makes it very easy to get a lot of bonus damage when engaging otherwise beefy enemies. Many weapons can inflict blood loss, including the samurai starter weapon: the Uchigatana. Some are better at this than others though, so that'll be the first thing to take care of after doing a character re-spec.

The Character Stats

By this point in the game, one will likely be in the low to mid hundreds as far as their level goes, so there should be a lot of points available for a re-spec. All of the weapons typically employed by this build scale on Arcane, so that will be the stat focused most. Assuming a level 130 character, the stats should be something like this:

• Vigor – 40 (Less can work, but more health is always better)
• Mind – 22 (these skills consume FP, so more is good. Take a couple of point from health and get to 26 if possible. It’s needed for a certain Ash summon)
• Endurance – 20 (One can’t swing a sword without energy , right?)
• Strength – 24 (This is the minimum needed to wield Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear effectively.)
• Dexterity – 21 (This is the minimum needed to wield Eleonara’s Poleblade effectively.)
• Intelligence – 14 (This and faith can be adjusted, but they’re good to have for utility spells like “Flame, Cleanse Me)
• Faith – 13
• Arcane – 55 (This is where a lot of the damage will be coming from)

The Weapons

At the moment, consensus seems to that there are three weapons that compliment a bleed build best: the Rivers of Blood katana, Eleonara’s Poleblade and Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear. To get the Rivers of Blood, players will need to go to the Church of Repose on the Mountaintops of the Giants. Upon arriving there, a named NPC will invade. Defeat him to claim the katana. Eleonara’s Poleblade can be obtained at The Second Church of Marika on Altus Plateau.

Once again, a named NPC will invade and players must defeat them to get the weapon. As for Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear, they’ll have to travel to Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum and defeat the Lord of Blood himself in order to get his weapon. All of these weapons are not necessary to have on hand, but they make for a nice range of options. Of the three, though, Rivers of Blood is the most usable, so go for that one at the very least. Of course, these will all need to be upgraded in order to get the full effect.

The Talismans

These aren’t exactly mandatory, but they do pair well with the above weapons. So for starters, try to get the Shard of Alexander talisman, as it gives a big buff to the attack power of weapon skills. It can be obtained at the conclusion of Iron Fist Alexander’s questline. Next is the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, which increases attack power if blood loss is inflicted upon an enemy. This can be won from Esgar, Priest of Blood in the Leyndell Catacombs. Another handy talisman is the Godfrey Icon; this one buffs charged spells and skills.

All of the weapons compatible with this build have a bit of wind-up for their skills, so this one can help. Grab it from the Golden Lineage Evergaol located to the southwest of the Grand Lift of Dectus on the Altus Plateau. If one has unlocked a fourth talisman slot, then just put whatever suits the situation best. Most often though, either a damage negation or FP increasing talisman is what works well in this slot.

The Ashes

One can always use their favorite Ash summon, but there are a couple that are particularly good for fighting bosses near the end of the game. The first is the Mimic Tear of course. It doesn’t do a ton of direct damage like it did at Elden Ring’s outset, but it’s still got a ton of health and draws enemy attention like nothing else. Better yet, it gets to use all equipped weapons and items, meaning it can help trigger blood loss on enemies. If one doesn’t already have it, it can be fought and obtained near Nokron.

The other useful Ash is Black Knife Tiche. Bosses have a difficult time hitting her, and her ranged attack drains health for a certain percentage. She can drain bosses for a stupid amount of damage if they leave her alone for too long. There are two main drawbacks to using her, though. The first is that she’s expensive to summon, requiring around 132 FP. The second is that she doesn’t draw aggro as often, so players will need to be more careful about avoiding hits. If she sounds useful, though, she can be obtained by defeating Alecto in the Ringleader's Evergaol in Liurnia (accessed by progressing Ranni's questline).

The Wondrous Physic

Again, this isn’t exactly a necessity for this build, but certain tears can help compliment the overall strategy. The first is the Spiked Cracked Tear, which further enhances consecutive attacks while the physic is active. The other is the Cerulean Hidden Tear; this one eliminates all FP consumption while active, so players can use it at the beginning of the battle and summon Black Knife Tiche for free. One could also probably get a few hits in too before it wears off. These won’t necessarily be the go to choices for every fight, but they do at least consistently give more attack power and allow a summon that may or may not be impossible otherwise depending on how many points one has in the Mind stat.

Putting It All Together

Once everything is ready, it’s time to go out and fight. What to use will come down to personal preference, but there are a couple of important things to keep in mind. The primary means of dealing damage with these weapons is their weapon arts, so one is going to spend the majority of their time in combat exposed. So please be use careful timing when launching an art, since it can be interrupted during the wind-up by most enemies and also mid-attack by enemies possessing a high stagger threshold. If one needs to go on the defensive, switch to the spear and hide behind a medium-size shield if possible.

As for weapon choice, the poleblade does well against single enemies, but struggles against groups; use the katana or spear for those. The spear does well against massive enemies with exploitable blindspots such as dragons, but its weapon art leaves the user exposed to smaller enemies/bosses with a high stagger threshold. The katana is good overall, so it’ll probably be one’s weapon of choice more often than not. Its drawback is that it leaves the user exposed if it doesn’t either kill or stagger the target with the opening series of slashes. In short, consider the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses and choose accordingly. The same goes for the Ash summons and the tears used in the Wondrous Physic. This build isn’t a guaranteed win every time, but it should make many encounters go much more easily once one gets used to it. So why not give it a shot?