Elden Ring DLC Bleed Build: Top 10 Best Bleed Weapons in Patch 1.13

TL;DR

  • Blood Fiend’s Arm delivers unmatched bleed buildup with exceptional stance damage capabilities
  • Dual-wield Scavenger’s Curved Swords with Occult infusion for maximum DPS output
  • Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear provides devastating AOE despite recent bleed buildup adjustments
  • Nagakiba’s superior range makes it the most versatile katana for bleed-resistant encounters
  • Great Stars offers unique health regeneration while maintaining strong bleed and damage potential

The bleed build in Elden Ring has reached new heights of effectiveness with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, particularly through powerful consumables like the sacred bloody flesh consumaable elden ring shadow of the erdtree dlc wiki guide 200pxSacred Bloody Flesh, which significantly amplifies bleed damage output. Understanding bleed mechanics is crucial: this status effect rapidly inflicts percentage-based damage, dealing approximately 15% of maximum health against standard enemies and 10% against bosses, establishing it as one of the game’s most reliable damage strategies.

Many players underestimate the importance of proper stat allocation for bleed builds. The most common mistake is over-investing in Dexterity while neglecting Arcane, which directly impacts bleed buildup on most optimized weapons. For maximum effectiveness, prioritize reaching the soft cap for Arcane (typically 50-60 points) to maximize the bleed accumulation rate on weapons like the Scavenger’s Curved Sword and Nagakiba.

Advanced players should note that jumping attacks have received substantial buffs in the DLC, making them particularly effective for weapons with innate bleed properties. The timing between attacks is also critical – maintaining consistent pressure without over-committing allows for continuous bleed proc chains against even the toughest opponents.

1. bloodfiends arm colossal weapon elden ring shadow of the erdtree dlc wiki guide 200pxBloodFiend’s Arm: Top Weapon for Bleed Build

Dominating the landscape of hemorrhage-focused armaments, the Blood Fiend’s Arm distinguishes itself through exceptional attack velocity combined with devastating posture-breaking capabilities. This weapon’s lightning-fast assault patterns enable rapid blood loss accumulation, positioning it as the most efficient instrument for dedicated bleed specialization. Its remarkable stance damage proves particularly valuable against formidable adversaries and boss encounters, facilitating posture breaks that create openings for critical strikes.

Pro Tip: Combine with the Raptor’s Black Feathers armor and Claw Talisman to amplify jumping attack damage, creating a devastating combination that can trigger multiple bleed procs in quick succession. The weapon’s charged heavy attacks also benefit from this setup, making it versatile across different combat scenarios.

For players seeking to maximize their combat effectiveness, the Blood Fiend’s Arm works exceptionally well with the weapon enhancement strategies from our comprehensive guides, ensuring you’re getting the most from this exceptional armament.

2. Scavenger’s Curved Sword

The Scavenger’s Curved Sword performs admirably as a standalone weapon, but achieves its true potential when employed in dual-wield configurations, especially with elevated Arcane attributes and Occult infusions during New Game Plus cycles. Its swift combat animations, when paired with enhanced leaping and sprinting assaults, establishes it as a premier damage-per-second selection for hemorrhage-focused loadouts. The expansion content further improves running attack effectiveness, elevating this blade’s combat performance even further.

Advanced Strategy: When dual-wielding, alternate between jumping L1 attacks and running L1 combos to maintain constant pressure while avoiding predictable patterns that skilled opponents might punish.

Many experienced players recommend pairing this weapon with the White Mask and Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman for additional attack power whenever bleed triggers nearby. This combination can increase your damage output by approximately 20% during extended engagements, making it particularly effective against health-sponge bosses and elite enemies.

3. Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear: Best for High Damage Output

Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear represents a formidable greatspear option boasting outstanding reach, substantial strength requirements, and meaningful Arcane scaling. Its signature ability, Bloodboon Ritual, executes a high-impact area-of-effect assault that incapacitates and eliminates surrounding foes despite recent adjustments to its hemorrhage accumulation. The technique additionally empowers the weapon with fire damage augmentation, transforming it into a hard-striking and adaptable armament across diverse combat situations.

Combat Insight: Despite the nerf to its passive bleed buildup, the weapon skill remains exceptionally potent for clearing groups of enemies and creating space in challenging encounters.

For players transitioning to more advanced class specializations, this spear excels in controlling battlefield positioning while applying consistent pressure through its hybrid damage profile.

4. Nagakiba

Widely regarded as the premier katana selection within Elden Ring, particularly for hemorrhage-focused blade configurations. It provides extraordinary reach, exceptional blood loss accumulation, and substantial posture damage. While it might not equal the Uchigatana in pure damage statistics, its extended range and adaptability provide ample compensation. Even when confronting bleed-resistant opponents, the Nagakiba’s excellent moveset and potent heavy assaults maintain its status as a top-tier option, especially when combined with elevated Arcane attributes and Occult enhancements.

Expert Technique: Utilize the Nagakiba’s exceptional range to maintain optimal spacing, attacking from distances where enemies cannot effectively retaliate.

 
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The weapon’s running R2 attack is particularly effective for applying bleed while creating distance, making it invaluable against aggressive enemies that punish close-range combat.

5. Raptor Talons

The Raptor Talons constitute an elite-tier armament within Elden Ring, celebrated for their extraordinary damage output and rapid hemorrhage application. While alternative claw weapons such as Bloodhound Claws provide superior DPS metrics, the Raptor Talons excel through their bonus damage on aerial assaults and superior heavy attack featuring a forward-leaping motion. They demonstrate remarkable versatility, performing effectively with both Dexterity-focused and Occult-oriented builds, and maintain high efficiency even absent weapon art activation, securing their position among the premier rapid-attack weapons available.

Optimization Strategy: These claws truly shine when combined with the Raptor’s Black Feathers armor set, which amplifies jumping attack damage by approximately 10%, creating devastating burst potential when bleed triggers simultaneously.

For players mastering aggressive playstyles, the Raptor Talons enable constant pressure through their rapid attack chains, though this approach requires careful stamina management to avoid being caught without defensive options.

6. Great Katana

The Great Katana frequently receives insufficient recognition due to its comparatively deliberate movement patterns when measured against standard katanas, yet it bears closer resemblance to curved greatswords and can potentially inflict greater damage per strike. It incorporates an adaptable combat system incorporating thrusting maneuvers and horizontal cleaves, complemented by superior weapon art selections. When combined with techniques such as Blood Tax or Repeating Thrust and augmented with hemorrhage enhancements and Occult modification, the Great Katana can construct a formidable configuration that excels in both raw damage output and blood loss accumulation, rendering it capable of overwhelming adversaries, particularly those vulnerable to stun locking effects.

Advanced Application: The weapon’s unique heavy attack combo can chain into multiple hits that rapidly build bleed, making it particularly effective against large enemies with extended vulnerability windows.

Many players overlook the Great Katana’s ability to hyper armor through attacks during certain animations, providing trading potential that smaller weapons cannot match.

7. Star Fist

The Star Fist ranks among the most effective armaments in Elden Ring, particularly celebrated for their exceptionally swift and potent charged heavy assaults, which deliver substantial posture damage. While they don’t represent the optimal choice for blood loss accumulation, they remain viable with Occult modification or hemorrhage augmentations. Notwithstanding their limited reach, which can occasionally result in missed strikes, the Star Fists demonstrate exceptional performance in close-quarters combat and can overwhelm most boss encounters, establishing them as a powerful, though imperfect, selection for Bleed-focused configurations.

Combat Technique: Master the timing of charged heavy attacks to maximize stance break potential, creating frequent critical hit opportunities that compensate for their bleed buildup limitations.

 
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The weapon’s rapid R1 chain can quickly build up bleed against faster enemies that don’t allow for charged attack setups.

8. Bloodhound’s Fang: Beginner-Friendly and Powerful

The Bloodhound’s Fang represents an extensively popular weapon within Elden Ring, recognized for its accessibility during early gameplay stages and its impressive combat performance. As a curved greatsword, it incorporates swift, efficient movement patterns, respectable reach, and inherent hemorrhage accumulation. The armament can be additionally improved with enhancements such as Bloodflame Blade, amplifying its bleed potential. Its distinguishing characteristic is the technique “Bloodhound’s Finesse,” which constitutes a potent, low-FP-cost assault that includes an integrated evasion maneuver, enabling players to avoid incoming damage while inflicting substantial harm themselves. The sole limitation involves its quality-oriented scaling, restricting compatibility with specific spell types, but comprehensively, it represents an easily-mastered weapon with outstanding damage and hemorrhage capabilities.

Beginner Strategy: This weapon’s early availability and straightforward playstyle make it ideal for players new to bleed builds, providing a gentle learning curve while maintaining competitive performance throughout the game.

9. Great Stars: Versatility with Health Regen and Bleed

The Great Stars constitutes an exceptionally adaptable and potent great hammer within Elden Ring, celebrated for its remarkable posture damage, rapid combat animations, and passive hemorrhage accumulation. It additionally provides health restoration with each successful strike, rendering it a distinctive and valuable armament for prolonged engagements. The Great Stars can be combined with diverse weapon arts such as Wild Strikes or Prelate’s Charge to optimize damage output and health regeneration. This synthesis of bleeding, elevated damage, and health recovery establishes it among the premier hammers available. To further improve your combat effectiveness, consider consulting our complete gameplay guide for additional optimization strategies.

Advanced Tactics: The health regeneration effect, while modest per hit, becomes significant during extended combos against large enemies or in situations where healing opportunities are limited.

Many experienced players utilize the Great Stars with the Taker’s Cameo talisman for additional health restoration, creating a nearly unkillable build when combined with proper dodging and positioning.

10. Falx: A New Curved Sword with Unique Skill

The Falx features one of the most effective combat systems within Elden Ring, particularly when employing power stance configurations and its distinctive technique, Revenger’s Blade. While it doesn’t equal the damage output or hemorrhage accumulation of alternative curved swords such as the Scavenger’s Curved Sword, Revenger’s Blade enables the Falx to rapidly close distances and deliver substantial burst damage, rendering it effective against both lesser adversaries and boss encounters. Despite its advantages, the Falx presents limitations, including extended animation sequences and absence of hyper armor properties, which can complicate usage against more resilient, unstaggerable opponents.

Combat Application: The weapon’s unique skill provides exceptional mobility that can catch opponents off-guard, though its commitment requires careful timing to avoid punishment.

For players seeking to master this weapon’s unique playstyle, practice against slower enemies to understand the timing windows and positioning requirements for optimal performance.

Action Checklist

  • Prioritize Arcane stat investment to 50-60 for optimal bleed buildup on most weapons
  • Acquire and upgrade your chosen bleed weapon to maximum level
  • Farm Sacred Bloody Flesh consumables for significant bleed damage amplification
  • Obtain supporting talism (Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Claw Talisman)
  • Practice weapon-specific combos and timing against training enemies
  • Experiment with different armor sets for optimal synergy with your chosen weapon

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