Hemorrhaging Bulwark
This build is currently a work in progress and will be updated as and when I further the build - I do not have decent gear yet so the amount of testing I can do with the build is limited but I will keep this guide as updated as possible
Hello all, welcome to my first build guide. This build was inspired by a few things:
- My friend was boosting me with his shaman/nightblade bleeder and ran into trouble when facing spectrals and skeletons
- I love playing durable melee bruiser type characters in all types of RPG games
- There is something that appeals to me about damage over time caused by melee weapon swings!
The Build - Theory
The theory behind the Hemorrhaging Bulwark is relatively simple: rend enemies with Internal Trauma and Bleeding damage while being durable enough to stay in the fray.
Pros
- Very durable
- No issues with spectral and skeletal enemies
- Uses 3 damage types so performs well against a large variety of enemies
- Internal Trauma is a very efficient damage type
- DoT oriented meaning you can focus on positioning and survivability while still doing sufficient damage
- Utilises several VERY strong defense mechanisms, coupled with high innate defenses makes it very hard to die
- Easy to play, only 5 active skills to manage
Cons
- Mobs resistant to both bleed and internal trauma are your worst nightmare
- Skill points in offense are a necessity early game as you HAVE to skill for internal trauma damage because bleeds will not be sufficient above level 20 when spectrals and skeletons appear, meaning your defenses are not optimal.
- Requires a fair amount of tolerance/patience - while early game you will see stuff dying very fast, slowly your damage will not scale as quick as the enemies you face, it will require a bit of patience to acquire gear/stats to reach a point where your damage has a wow factor again.
- The Markovian set is the best for this build, but the pieces provide bonuses to Menhir’s Bulwark which we do not go, we skill Oleron’s Rage instead.
The Build
Soldier 50/50
Blade Arc 16/16 - Laceration 12/12
Our primary skill, offers good damage in all of our chosen damage types, probably the best early game soldier skill for trash clearing, also offers a knockdown which is a very useful passive bonus to a skill we use very often.
Forcewave 1/1 - Internal Trauma 12/12
Secondary skill, the 2.8second cooldown makes it an optimal skill to weave between Blade Arc spam and the 12/12 Internal Trauma provides a very strong DoT in both of our primary damage sources, also similar to above, provides another useful passive bonus stun!
Fighting Spirit 12/12
One of, if not THE, best passive in the game, especially for a melee character expecting to get hit alot. This passive is used in basically every build that utilises the Soldier tree, and there is no wonder why. It is up 50% of the time, has such a high proc rate that you can rely on it procing when it’s off cooldown again, provides a minimum TWO HUNDRED PERCENT ALL DAMAGE…that alone is enough to make the skill mandatory, on top of that it then provides a large bonus to offensive ability, and further on top of those things it scales further with bonuses to all skills!
Oleron’s Rage 12/12
Apart from the pierce damage it provides huge bonuses to our offensive capabilities.
Blitz 1/12
Our movement skill, one point in this early on increases your clear speeds astronomically, flying from pack to pack, applying dots, then blitzing away while they bleed to death is very efficient.
Menhir’s Will 10/16 - Overguard 10/12
Two highly defensive abilities that have an above 50% up time and synchronise very well. 10 points in MW brings the cooldown to 19 seconds, with an uptime of 10 seconds it will almost always be ready for those pinch moments you take some heavy hits, then when it procs you receive over 50% health as well as a large amount of health regen which ties in well with Overguard, which provides good damage absorption, but mainly, it more than doubles the effectiveness of all health regen and a large number multiplied by 2+ is a VERY large number!
Various Solider Passives 1/8-1/10
Because this build will be using the Markovian set and some other + all soldier skills items it pays off to put just 1 point into these passives, while one point is not very impactful, with the right gear these will become 3-6 point skills, which will provide a tangible amount of defense, for a relatively low investment.
Nightblade 40/50
Pneumatic Burst 12/12 - Breath of Belgothian 1/1
Huge heal, almost spammable (5 second cd with BoB) also applies a nice regenerative passive that synergises with Overguard’s buff to health regen.
Alternatively Pneumatic Burst 11/12 - BoB 1/1 - Put the extra point in to Phantasmal Armor, just one point is enough to reach the maximum 10% energy absorbed from spells aspect and may alleviate some energy issues.
Anatomy of Murder 12/12
A very strong passive for this build, cunning increases all DoT, which includes internal trauma and bleeds, then there is the almost 100% increase to bleeding damage, then the 33% to humans is a nice bonus.
Ring of Steel 1/16 - Ring of Frost 1/1 - Circle of Slaughter 12/12
We aren’t stacking pierce damage so only one point required, Ring of Frost is a very nice defensive point, then topped off with a large amount of bleed damage and fumble chance, overall a lot of bonuses all rolled in to one skill, definitely a good investment.
Stat Point Allocation: Enough Physique & Spirit for gear, all the rest in Cunning.
Devotion
In Order Taken
Crossroads - Ascendant
+15 Offensive Ability
Falcon 5/5
Opens up Eldritch path
Provides good early game bleed bonuses, as well as a nice proc to add to Blade Arc.
Hammer 3/3
You should be getting some internal trauma damage now, either from Laceration or Internal Trauma, this provides 60% IT damage, as well as 30 physical, a very good low point devotion.
Anvil 5/5
Good defensive bonuses, the proc works off of self-buff skills, and has a chance on block to activate, this is perfect for Pneumatic Burst because the buff lasts longer than the cooldown, meaning as long as you have a shield to block, you can always proc the hammers which are a nice offensive boost.
Crossroads - Order
5% Health
Needed to open up the Order path
Crane 5/5
Solid affinity filler, good all round bonuses, required for Rhowan’s Scepter and eventually Oleron
Rhowan’s Scepter 6/6
All important 80% IT damage, bonuses to both offense and defense, required to get enough Order affinity for Oleron.
Empty Throne 4/4
Affinity filler with strong resistant boosts, required for final ascendant affinity for Oleron.
Oleron 6/7
Not quite sure how the devotion system fully works yet, so I don’t know if it’s possible to leave a point out, but still get the skill, and whether it’s possible to choose which point you skip out, as long as it’s not required to reach a further star?
The plan would be to start at his hand with the phys damage, get them all apart from the first point at the bottom with health and cunning and physique, Blind Fury will then replace Falcon Swoop on Blade Arc.
Alternatively you could get all points apart from the phys damage.
Fox 4/4
Great bleed bonuses, need more Eldritch to reach Modrogen the Wolf
Raven 4/4
Same as above, various stat boosts, nothing useless.
Modrogen the Wolf 6/6
active 2/3s of the time and provides an insane boost to bleeding damage, apply to Ring of Steel.
Gear
Basic idea is 5/5 Markovian Set
Reaver’s Claw or Bloodsong for weapon
Under Development
Leveling
Get Blade Arc first, don’t max it, head towards getting some form of internal trauma damage, either from Forcewave - Internal Trauma or Blade Arc - Laceration, you will need it quite early to deal with the spectrals and skeletons as you will find bleed is quite useless at this point.
Under Development
Let me know your thoughts and advice, whether you’ve tried a similar build and the limitations you found with it.