I participated in the GD Community League that just ended, and I played a Bleeding Witch Hunter, which is able to complete all of the endgame content with ease.
I made two unique takes on the class and I’m here to share my experiences with both:
First I used a full Demonslayer build, which is normally used for vitality damage. It performed well, but it was completely carried by Scarab Shell. I think bleeding damage is lacking in variety right now, and Demonslayer set could be a fun alternative to Bloodrager. Sadly, it barely provides support for bleeding damage. The Phantasmal Blades part of it is severely lacking. I think it could be good (without relying on an OP shield) with just a couple of modifiers and % bleeding damage on the 2-set bonus. Maybe 3 pieces can go well with Rancor. Though it is inconvenient how it’s a 4-piece set that uses the head, neck and weapon slot without giving a bonus to all Nightblade skills.
After that I switched it to a Chillheart Bloodrager build for a huge power boost. Here’s a video of it making quick work of Crate of Entertainment. Chillheart is probably the strongest bleeding weapon out there, and all it provides is 1 positive modifier and ~33 OA. No other weapon in this slot was able to compete (like Totally Normal Buckler which could be cool as it has natural synergy with Scarab Shell), it gives too much flat bleeding damage.
Scarab Shell was the best choice here as well, both for offense and defense. Ragrathar’s Horn is worse even with the extra 60% total damage to RoS from Chillheart, which is kind of ridiculous.
I have some feedback on other items I used as well:
Bleeding gloves options for a Witch Hunter seemed poor and almost the same because of bonus skills and resistances (heavy focus on vitality res).
Eldritch Gaze is a very interesting helm for bleeding but I found it to be lacking compared to the other ones.
I’m a fan of bleeding damage and I’m looking forward to the Goredrinker set, but I think there’s some improvements to be made to help build variety with existing items.
I know you wrote this as a feedback thread, but huge props on the Chillheart build! Everything about it strikes me as super clever—the nice amount of easy-to-obtain items is perfect for something like League, and the lack of a true filler skill (e.g. Phantasmal Blades, Savagery) allows it to play like I wish every bleed build could play (not to mention that the lack of investment in a filler skill lets you take literally every other skill point investment you could want). Using Chillheart like this feels smart, too (rather than like a circumvention of game design like aether->lightning totems). Best of all (as I’m partial to Witch Hunter and Occultist classes in general), you’ve found a compelling justification to take Occultist over Shaman here. I’ll definitely be giving this one a try.
I’d be inclined to disagree— if you don’t mind the other elemental conversion, pierce also has access to this total damage buff. I’d think the way to lock other damage types out would be to include a large cold damage buff rather than total damage, but maybe that’s just me.
I certainly hope the build doesn’t get patched away; I really like the build precisely because unlike bleed builds with filler skills, it actually presents a true hit-and-run playstyle experience.
Incidentally, have you played around with bleed dw Chillheart Trickster at all? The idea in my head is a little half-baked, and I’m not sure if there’s ever really a good justification to drop the shield for a second Chillheart (though you’d need to give up some of those Blade Spirit skill points if you want to invest in Savagery). Idk, the whole thing looks very point-starved anyway.
Right, but bleeding damage can utilize the total damage modified while almost completely ignoring the increased cooldown downside, since it’s a DoT.
It would still probably be very good, it’s just that a couple of items are overperforming right now.
I haven’t, but Trickster shouldn’t be too different in terms of ability, just more hands-on. It can get more skill points thanks to bleeding items being geared more to that mastery, with Massacre relic and Guthook Belt.
Dual wielding Chillhearts would be a good option if the shield wasn’t so damned powerful.
I just realized there’s an element of nonsense to a part of my Trickster comment— Chillheart isn’t doing anything for flat bleed, so any building around weapon damage (e.g. Savagery) is going to be held back as a result.
It’s certainly clear that the weapon and shield in particular are doing a lot of heavy lifting right now, the shield even more than the weapon. I assume that via the shield especially, situations with multiple tough enemies felt fairly comfortable, but were there any situations where the build struggled or felt risky at all (e.g. particular crucible waves)?
Nothing should give it trouble because you can always run around and even use Blade Barrier while still doing your full damage, and it’s not some kind of squishy caster at that.
Edit: One weakness I can think of is particularly strong slows, but movement abilities and Blade Barrier will get you out of trouble, if there even is any.
