In the armies of Cairn, Arcanists bend Reality itself. They use the power of the Aether to sling Fireballs, let Meteors rain on foes and melt their enemies with Rays of Destruction. But some are different and fight on the front row with their sisters and brothers. They summon insect swarms and vines with vile thorns to hinder the movement of incoming enemies…but if the enemy breaks through they pick up their swords and fight like any other soldier there.
This is the tale of one of them.
What started as a joke/Meme-Build on Discord turns out to be quite…interesting. I didn´t know if Arcanist is a mastery for a possible Bleeding Build, but well…here we are.
Build Explanation
I had no real expectations when making this build. I asked myself: “What does Arcanist bring to the party?” I had the sturdy chassis of Bleeding Shaman, but would Arcanist fit?
Well, sort of:
- Gear: You don´t need any green items. The only thing which comes to my mind would be an Incorruptible Cronley Signet for better resistances and perhaps a very good rolled Kuba pants.
- Devotions: Standard 2H-Melee Bleeding Devotions; Owl and Viper are important for Energy Management
- Gameplay: Very easy. Slow them with Grasping Vines, pepper them with Devouring Swam, place your Totem…and when they arrive, hit them with Rancor.
- Stats: Get as much Physique as you need for pants. Rest: Go for Cunning. All 3 crafted items are with Physique-Bonus.
- OA/DA: Nearly 3k/3k. Check.
- RR: 114…enough for nearly everything
- AoE: 12/12 Grasping Vines plus Rend Devotion. Add Devouring Swarm and Falcon Swoop.
- Sustain: A lot of ADctH from Piercing Damage thanks to Rancor. And Absorption from both masteries. And, not forget: An “Oh-Shit-Button”, which is really helpful (Mirror of Ereoctes). @dmt: You had been right, Blade Barrier should look like this!
- Resistances: The one weakness (next to low Health)…hard to cap/overcap the resistances, especially Poison and Pierce.
- Other details: Arcanist gives nice secondary resists, especially Trap Resist is very helpful in SR.
- Weakness: Every build below 14k Health makes me nervous.
Build Performance
I had no expectations and the first tests weren´t really successful. Low Damage on Dummy, my Energy Bar was empty faster as a mug of beer on Bavarian Octoberfest. But when trying this “in field”, the build started to shine. Due to Energy Leech, there aren´t any problems, and the damage, though not the greatest at all (only 1 WPS), is okay to kill most things with ease.
Will it be enough for Crucible? I think “Yes”, but I don´t know. I will add Save-File later for everybody, who wants to try it. Again, the “on death”-proccs are nice on this build.
For SR:
(without Maiven´s and Seal of Blades for better screenshots)
Quite easy, even with not the best of mutators. Yep, I used pharma: For Poison Resistance and Health. Did I need it? No (and I think it´s fair game after SR 60). Didn´t die once, everything very smooth. ADctH, Wendigo Totem, Mirror…always had 2 enemies on me in Boss Room, no sweat.
Update:
Some more thoughts on SR. I died more in normal shards than in Boss Shards. You can facetank up to 3 Bosses excluding some. Grava´Thul is still hard, but more manageable due to Mirror. Garbagol has to be kited and the real PITA is Valdaran (where does this damage come from?). On Screenshot, there are 2 buffs from Shrines. Well, Vire was not my best choice (-3 % OA for 40 % Armor on a low armor build…good call, Mr. Rhylthar…
) and Rattosh was for Resistances. Other pharma used in SR 76 was just for Health.
Update2:
Thanks to RomanN1 from Discord I have now 2 videos:
- One with 6:50 (4 Buffs, 1 Banner)
- One with 7:20 (3 Buffs, 1 Banner)
Not bad for a Meme-Build.
RomanN1 piloting Bleeding Druid - 4 Buffs, 1 Banner
RomanN1 piloting Bleeding Druid - 3 Buffs, 1 Banner
Leveling Guide
You can read everything here at my Ritualist. Just one addition: If you level as a Caster put some points into Inner Focus. OA plus Spirit will help while levelling.
As always: Enjoy your ride through Cairn!
Thanks everyone for reading. 
