Nosferatu
Mastery: Warlock (Rogue / Spirit)
Build: Bleeding DOT caster
Recommended only for experienced players


Bleeding damage is kind of the ugly ducking of Titan Quest damage types. Bleeding damage is a DOT and is often an afterthought even for builds that have skills that apply it. Anniversary Edition improved Bleeding (along with Poison) by making it scale with Dexterity but it still has a number of flaws:

1. Damage is slow and somewhat inconsequential compared to some other damage types
   
2. Undead, constructs and devices are completely immune to its effects
   
3. Same type DOTS do not stack; if you hit an enemy with two bleeding DOTs only the highest one is applied

Warlocks have a number of ways to help mitigate some of these disadvantages through and allow them to actually use Bleeding as a main source of damage.

1. Skills to easily spread bleeding effects to groups
   
2. Skills to reduce damage taken and increased damage done to undead, constructs and devices
   
3. Skills to increase bleeding damage substantially
   
4. Skill to apply substantial bleeding resistance reduction

For the build you'll want to have some +bleeding buffing items to further increase your bleed damage. +rogue skill is important to help lower cooldown on Throwing Knives to make it more spammable. I played my lock as a Str/Dex char using enough Strength to equip a shield to be more tanky and Agamemnon's Death Mask, a nice Strength helm for bleeding damage. Alternatively warlocks should be able to be built as Int/Dex chars and played as a stave attacker, getting just enough int to equip their stave and using Ternion to spread Envenom Weapon debuffs and poison/bleed around. For a Ternion build, Troll's Branch (bleed/piercing) and Staff of the Chosen (poison/piercing) staves from Ragnarok would be excellent options.

• Easily able to spread DOTs and kite to death
  
• Optional pet support

• Lacking in burst DPS
  
• Undead / constructs / devices are still be quite grindy even with the damage buffs (but its harder to die from them at least)

Run completed with the xMax (x3) mod
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=755731339

Envenom Weapon


Envenom Weapon gives your weapon a poison DOT. Throwing Knife mechanics means the DOT is applied to all your knife projectiles as well. Throwing Knife makes for an effective way to spread bleed and Envenom Weapon DOTs quickly across groups. Nightshade synergy boosts poison damage % and more importantly applies a slowing debuff. Toxin Distillation synergy boosts Poison Damage % with Improved Duration %. Mandrake synergy applies an excellent CC debuff causing fumble and confusion.

Drop one point to unlock the base skill and Toxin Distillation synergy. Max both Nightshade for it's slow debuff and Mandrake synergy for confusion/fumble CC.


Deathchill Aura


Deathchill Aura reduces nearby enemies speed and health. Ravages of Time synergy reduces their damage and armour absorption while Necrosis synergy reduces their bleeding, vitality and life leech resistance.

An excellent aura that is worth maxxing due its debuffs but it has a rather limited range. Necrosis' bleeding resistance reduction will help boost your damage against enemies, however, it has no impact on enemies that are immune to bleeding (they effectively have 1000% bleeding resist I think) so it will not help against Undead, Constructs and Devices.


Throwing Knife


One of the most unique skill in the game. It carries over many unusual damage factors and effects:

• Uses Casting Rate rather than Attack Speed.
  
• Properties applied to Throwing Knife:
  
  • Armor, jewelery and artifact flat damage bonus
    
  • Armor and jewelery charms'/relics' effects
    
  • Any kind of percentage damage bonus from any source
    
  • Any on hit effect provided by armor, jewelery and artifact
• Properties NOT applied to Throwing Knife:
  
  • Any kind of flat weapon damage
    
  • Any kind of flat shield damage
    
  • Non-damage weapon properties
    
  • Non-damage shield properties

Throwing Knife has a 10% chance to pass through Enemies, applies a 3s bleeding DOT and does piercing damage. At rank 1/12 the skill has a 6s recharge, at 12/12 it has 1.6s recharge and at 16/12 it has no recharge. Flurry of Knives synergy turns Throwing Knife into a frontal conal aoe with 8 projectiles at 10/6.

Throwing Knife will serve as your primary spammable AOE skill to spread bleed DOTs and will also allow you to spread poison from Envenom Weapon. Both it and its synergy should be priorities so that you can actually cast if fairly often and hit multiple targets at once.


Disarm Traps


Constructs and devices are annoying to fight as a rogue in general and, as a bleed build, much more so as your primary source of damage is going to be pretty much useless. This passive will boost your damage inflicted on them while also decreasing damage you take from them. Generally speaking, a few points + skill should be enough to get you by, the damage reduction will allow you to slowly grind out the kills.


Spirit Ward


The base skill reduces damage taken from Undead while Spirit Bane synergy does the exact reverse, increasing damage done to the Undead. They're excellent passives for fighting the Undead.

Spirit Ward is weaker than Disarm Traps - it is not a passive but is an active buff so it can be stripped by spellshock or by running out of energy, is split into two skills and the individual skills have lesser impact. On the other hand, there are a lot more undead enemies in the game so it'll be more widely useful. Given the wide number of undead and the fact they are immune to bleeding you'll want to get a couple of levels + skill to make them a bit easier to grind down while avoiding dying yourself.


Dark Covenant


Dark Covenant is an activated buff that boosts your total speed by 10% and gives you a nice buff to energy regeneration at the expense of costing health per second. Unearthly Power synergy boosts your total physical, bleeding, elemental and vitality damage at the cost of additional health per second.

Dark Covenant is an excellent buff, helping with energy issues and boosting your bleeding damage. The skill has two drawbacks. Firstly, the active health cost. This is pretty negligible really. The second drawback is that you will only be able to use it for a slight amount of time. The skill has a lengthy cooldown of 80s and once activated the buff will last less than 30s. CDR gear can help reduce the cooldown letting you use the skill more often.

Cascade is more useful for the build to boost your bleeding damage more but until you get a bit of CDR you may want to invest in other skills first until maxxing it and Dark Convenant out.


CIrcle of Power


Summons an immobile, short lived totem that buffs allies within its radius. Boosts Bleeding, Vitality and Life Leech by 100% and boosts your casting speed, recharge while reducing your energy costs. Further points put into the skill further boosts the casting speed, recharge and energy reduction buff.

The skill has a 60s cooldown so you won't be able to use it too much, however, it's an one point wonder for that big +100% bleeding damage buff. One point + skill is all you'll need.


Poison Gas Bomb


Throws a bomb that explodes and does poison damage and slows. Shrapnel synergy adds bleeding and piercing damage. Poison Mayhem synergy skill fires multiple bombs and applies a chance for fear and impaired aim.

One of your prime skills to spread your DOTs. The base skill can be left at one point until late, instead level the Shrapnel synergy to give you a potent bleeding DOT and, if you have Atlantis, Poison Mayhem to allow you to potentially hit more targets. The Poison DOT from the base skill will help diversify your damage, unfortunately, poison isn't that hot against undead, constructs and devices either.


Anatomy


Passive to boost your bleeding damage. Normally this is a pretty meh skill. As a bleed build through this is a must max skill.


Death Ward


Excellent passive emergency skill. Death Ward gives you a small heal when your health drops below 15% and also gives you excellent damage absorption for a couple of seconds. Only applies if the last attack you took drops you below the the threshold without killing you; if you're above the threshold, take a hit and it reduces you to 0 health then Death Ward will not trigger. Has a lengthy internal cooldown between uses. At least one point is required, you can put extra points in as you wish.


Summon Outsider


One point wonder summon skill for bosses. Makes for a good tank/dps.

Calculated Strike


Primary spammable mouse attack for melee/throwing/bow. It boosts physical damage, goes through enemies and adds piercing damage. Every hit of the skill builds builds a charge; the skill requires 3 charges to be ready. When you have enough charges, the next attack activates skill, gets the bonuses, and consumes all of the charges. The Lucky Hit synergy skill has a chance to add physical damage, bleeding dot and pierce damage increase.

Not too much use imo. For groups you'll be spraying Throwing Knife and Poison Gas Bomb around and Mortal Strike is more useful for big single targets when available so Calculated Strike will just be used occasionally when you need to attack single target and don't need to apply Bleed with Throwing Knife or have better a bleed DOT with your weapon. One point into base skill and synergy and buff with skill at most.


Blade Honing


Increases pierce ratio and gives some flat piercing damage. Only useable when using swords, spears and throwing weapons. Can give a small damage buff to traps / Liche King. One point + skill is probably fine.


Vision of Death


Vision death is a CC ability on a short cooldown. It applies a debuff to nearby enemies that reduces damage and causes Chance to Fumble attacks, Chance of Impaired Aim and Fear for 3s. Has a somewhat short range of impact.


Flash Powder


An useful AOE CC ability for your arsenal. Causes nearby enemies a Chance to Fumble attacks and inflicts Confusion. Not 100% reliable but good if you're getting mobbed and you don't really have any great alternative options. Worth putting at least a point into as a panic button I think.


Summon Liche King


One of the best overall support pets in the game. A ranged elemental / vitality damage pet, Liche King does decent damage while also being relatively tanky. It's not designed for tanking but doesn't die constantly either. Requires a fair amount of investment to be useful through.

The Death Nova synergy gives the Liche King a short range AOE attack that does vitality damage, reduces enemy health % and converts attack damage to health for the Liche. The Wraith Shell synergy grants the Liche an ability to give themselves large amounts of physical resistance and overall damage absorption. The Arcane Blast synergy gives the Liche a multi-projectile elemental / vitality attack that stuns and slows enemies.

Open Wound


Gives you a chance to apply a bleeding DOT when using swords, axes, spears, thrown, bows. Normally pretty meh but a good pickup for a bleed build to give you a chance of having a bigger bleed DOT.


Lay Trap


A stationary pet that does piercing damage. You can summon up to three of them. The Rapid Construction synergy reduces cooldown and energy cost. The Improved Firing Mechanism synergy increases the number of projectiles, chance to pass through enemies and pierce damage.

Can provide serviceable additional damage through it's kind of an 'all-in' skill; you either leave it empty or you need to max it out. The base skill needs to be maxxed to make it useful and Rapid Construction needs to be maxxed (plus ultimate skill level) so you can actually summon them properly.


Enslave Spirit


Allows you to mind control enemies to add them to your army. On one hand you basically get some temporary minions, on the other hand they'll start trying to kill you again when it wears off. It also doesn't work on enemies 5 or more levels than you which can make it useless in late stages of the game.


Lethal Strike


Lethal Strike is a massive single target attack on a mid size cooldown. It does insane physical and pierce damage while the Mortal Wound synergy skill adds a stun and adds a huge bonus to bleeding and poison damage.

If using Lethal Strike the base skill can be left at one point while Mortal Wound should be maxxed for the big bleed damage buff.


Soul Vortex


An Atlantis exclusive skill, Soul Vortex applies a life and energy leech to nearby enemies and also slows them. Useful for sustain and leech.


Blade Barrier


Interesting skill Atlantis exclusive skill. Summons a trio of stationary whirling blades that can transmit effects like a regular weapon and does bleeding and piercing damage. Good way to spread poison from Envenom Weapon to nearby enemies but the bleeding DOT is vastly overshadowed by pretty much all your other sources of applying it.


If you're playing an Int / Dex stave attacker then you'll want to use Ternion instead of Throwing Knives for your spammable dot spreader.
Ternion Attack


A powerful spammable ability for staves. The base skill fires 3x projectiles in a spread pattern. At low skill levels, each projectile is individually much weaker than a normal staff attack. As you put additional points into the skill, the damage of each projectile goes up and finally at ultimate level (16/12), each projectile will hit for normal stave damage. The Arcane Lore synergy increase projectile speed and adds a splash affect to your Ternion attack.

Ternion can be a bit energy draining but once maxxed is a devastating shotgun attack. It's best used at close range so you hit enemies with all 3 three projectiles. ADCtH is a generally a good fix when comboed with Ternion; haven't played a bleed / poison stave Ternion build but I assume it should still work with that those.

Ranged / caster enemies will the be the most challenging enemies you face as they are harder to shotgun down quickly as Ternion's projectiles spread out the farther they go. Enemies with good projectile avoidance can be hard to take down as well. Also there are a few areas where changing elevation can screw with projectiles, watch out for these spots as if you're not hitting with Ternion you're not healing yourself with ADCtH.

Both skills are a priority to max. Drop a few points into the main skill to make the individual projectiles a little less weak, then max Arcane Lore before returning to max the base skill.

This is my final skill allocation. Maxxed out Poison Gas Bomb and Throwing Knives to serve as my primary DOT spreaders. Maxxed Anatomy for the big bleeding buffs, Dark Covenant for energy/bleeding buff, Mortal Wound for single targets, Deathchill Aura for its nice buffs.

One point into Outsider and Circle of Power buffed with +skill was all that was needed there. Using Liche King instead of traps. Makes for a good support pet and requires a lot less micromangement. Vision of Death and Flash Power for some CC. Blade Barrier provides a bit of extra AOE support with free points I had late.

I start off by activating all my buffs - Envenom Weapon, Spirit Ward, Blade Honing, Deathchill Aura.

For normal enemy packs, toss out Poison Gas Bomb and Throwing Knives to spread DOTs around. Vision of Death and Flash Powder if getting swarmed. Mortal strike against single targets, a bit of kiting, calculated strike on single targets if required.

For bosses, generally same thing, spread DOTs from range and kite. Activate major cooldowns (Outsider, Circle of Power, Dark Covenant, etc.) for support/buffs.

If you have Atlantis, the extra mastery points give you:

• Spirit mastery = +12 dex, +24 int, +160 health, +64 energy
  
• Rogue mastery = +14 str, +20 dex, +280 health

Health: You may want to pad your health pool a tad to make yourself a bit more tankier. You can toss some extra points here (maybe from quests that give attributes as rewards) if you wish.

Energy: Personally don't like putting any points in energy and just rely on energy potions and +energy/reduction from gear

Strength: Enough to equip your gear at a min. If you want to equip a shield, make sure you have enough for that and your weapon of choice. If you want to use Agamemnon's Death Mask you'll need 603.

Intellect: Not applicable unless you want to go Ternion stave attacker. Then it will replace Strength as your second stat and you will need enough to equip your gear and stave.

Dexterity: Your primary stat. It will boost your piercing, bleeding and poison damage. Not as many easy +Dex% buffs as there are Str%/Int% ones so may want to use those buffing items to help get enough of your secondary stat (or -requirement gear) to equip your gear and pad out the rest in Dex so as to buff your Bleeding damage up more

Ichthian Aegis and Agamemnon's Death Mask provide big buffs to bleeding damage. Death Mask also provides a lot of bleeding resistance which helps keep me from killing myself with my own bleeds against enemies with reflection.

Occult Loop of Grace helps make casting less clunky with improved casting speed, socketed with Demon's Blood with bonus vitality resistance to fix my vitality resistance hole. Star of Elysium buffs my bleeding and poison damage while also giving multiple resistances, a large boost to health and some Strength. Myrmidon's Pendant used for its numerous resistanes and bonus to health.

Stonebinder's Cuffs for it's +3 skill, socketed with Jade Emperor to buff resistances. Thracian Shin Guards for extra resistances and Str%. Using Moros' Wish for +spirit, CDR, bonus damage to undead and bleed. Priam's Gate primarily for resistances.

Talisman of the Jade Emperor is my favourite artifact giving excellent buffs to elemental resistances, Strength and CDR.

Agamemnon's Death Mask, Star of Elysium and Thracian Shin Guards have been upgraded via normal/epic/legendary craftman upgrade.


Some random gear suggestions:

Head: Agamemnon's Death Mask or Bonebreaker Cowl for +bleeding damage, Hallowed fix for +skill, something to boost resistances, etc.
Torso: Bonebreaker Mail, Bonecaster Shawl, Ichthian Aegis for +bleeding damage
Hands: Bonebreaker Gloves, Ismene's Bracers for +bleeding damage, Stonebinder's Cuffs for +skill, Archmage Clasp for CDR and casting speed
Feet: Bonebreaker Greaves for bleeding, otherwise just wear whatever covers your resistances
Throwing: Mongol Chakrams, Moros' Wish, The Red Fangs, Gorgon's Edge, Winds of Asphodel
Stave: Troll Branch, Fafnir's Heart for bleeding, Staff of the Chosen for poison
Shield: Anything to boost missing resistances, DA, etc.
Ring: Star of Elysium for +poison/bleeding and resistances, Occult fix for casting speed, Hale for +Str%/Heal%, etc.
Amulet: Aphrodite's Favour, Brisingamen, Torc of the Ancestors, Myrmidon's Pendant, etc.
Artifact: Talisman of the Jade Emperor, Blood of Ares, Sigil of Blast, Star of Ishtar

For charms/relics, Siguard's Courage boosts %bleeding damage and %Dex and can enchant all armour. Yen-Lo-Wang's Bloodletting adds bleed DOT and boosts %bleeding damage and can enchant all weapons. Saber Claw adds bleed DOT and OA and can enchant all weapons.

I started this character as an Accomplished hero to skip the early game. If you're planning on running this bleed build then I'd expect you to have some gear stashed away specifically for the build (ie: bleeding buffing items) and to start off as an Accomplished hero as well.

Starting as an Accomplished hero, you'll want to max Throwing Knives + synergy to have an easy way to spread bleed DOTs around and Anatomy to make them more powerful. One point into most other skills in Rogue for now; Calculated Strike, Blade Honing, Open Wound, Envenom Weapon tree, Flash Powder, Poison Gas Bomb, Mortal Strike and synergy. Maybe extra free points into Shrapnel to buff it's bleeding DOT.

In Spirit, level up mastery and unlock Deathchill Aura and synergies, Dark Covenant and synergy, Spirit Ward, Circle of Power, Outsider, Death Ward, etc. Liche King is an useful support pet, requires a number of points, may want to slowly level it up as you gain levels.

Deathchill Aura tree, Envenom tree, Shrapnel, Liche King are all good skills to level up now. If you have Atlantis you can max Rogue mastery to unlock Poison Mayhem and invest in that to get bonus PGB projectiles.



If you're starting at level one, I'd guess you'd start off as Rogue and use Envenom Weapon early on for poison damage. Throwing Knives takes some investment to get going and +skill to reach max potential so it will take a bit of time to get that going as a viable bleed spreader. Likely would have to mix Throwing Knife + Poison Gas Bomb (with one point) to spread some DOTs while you mostly attack with Calculated Strike early. At level 8, you can unlock Spirit to get get Deathchill Aura and start leveling up that mastery a bit to get access to Liche King, Spirit Ward, bleed buffs, etc.

If you want to go with a stave attacker through, then you'd start off with Spirit instead. One point into Deathchill to unlock and Life Drain for early spell, then level up the mastery quickly so you can get to Ternion and Arcane Lore and start investing in those. Drop one point into other skills in Spirit at the moment, once you have Ternion going you can start working on Rogue, investing in the Envenom Weapon tree to combo with Ternion. At this point, just use the best stave with Attack Damage Converted to Health that you can find.

If you have any queries about the build leave a comment and I will respond when I have time.