What increases bleed damage Elden Ring?

One of the best things about Elden Ring is the ability to experiment with different builds. This rewards players for collecting a breadth of useful items, while encouraging multiple playthroughs. Sure, it’s easy to gravitate towards Strength or Dex setups, but a highly effective (and underrated) strategy is to utilize a Bleed build. This status effect causes blood loss and can deal large amounts of damage over time. But what is the best Bleed build in the game? There’s lots of room for choice in this regard, but here, we’ll cover one of the best Bleed builds you can use in Elden Ring.

The best Elden Ring bleed build

Armaments

Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword x2

The most important aspect of the build is the armament (or, armaments in this case), which will allow you to dish out tremendous amounts of damage while also inflicting blood loss. For this particular build, we recommend dual-wielding the Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword, a thrusting sword that inflicts high Bleed damage.

The Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword will serve you well.Bandai Namco

It’s also a relatively fast and lightweight weapon, allowing you to quickly strike with ease. While dual-wielding, you’ll essentially be able to inflict damage twice as fast, maximizing the power potential for the build. You’ll just need to be decent at dodging since you won’t have a shield.

To find this weapon, farm the Cleanrot Knights from the Swamp of Aeonia in Caelid. Then, equip the Seppuku Ash of War to convert it to a Blood weapon.

Ash of War: Seppuku

Use the Seppuku Ash of War for increased Bleed damage.Bandai Namco

A forbidden technique used by swordsmen from the Land of Reeds. Plunge the blade into your stomach to stain it with blood. Increases attack power and improves ability to inflict blood loss.

The Seppuku Ash of War is ideal since it improves your Bleed damage and stacks with other buffs that make up this build. It’s also used to convert the Cleanrot Knight’s Sword into a Blood armament. Just be aware that you’ll take a little damage after initiating this Ash of War, but the benefits are worth it.

Seppuku is found east of the Freezing Lake Site of Grace and is dropped by an invisible scarab. You can see its trail, so get into position and strike as it comes by.

Dragon Communion Seal

To enhance this build, you’ll want to use certain Spells, and you’ll need a catalyst to do so. The best one, in this case, is the Dragon Communion Seal, which scales at an S rank with Arcane once you level it up enough. For that reason, the Dragon Communion Seal is highly effective and makes this build even more powerful. Just make sure to cast your buffs before engaging in battle for the best results.

This item is found in the Fringefolk Hero's Grave in a small room past the large chariot.

Talismans

Deal more damage with the Marika’s/Radagon’s Soreseal.Bandai Namco

• Claw Talisman — Enhances jump attacks
• Marika’s/Radagon’s Soreseal — Raises fire attack, but lowers damage negation
• Lord of Blood’s Exultation — Blood loss in vicinity increases attack power
• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia — Greatly raises attack power with successive attacks

When it comes to Talismans, there are lots of different viable options, but we’ve got four that are highly recommended for this build.

The Claw Talisman is great since it increases damage dealt from jump attacks by 15% (this stacks with the Raptor's Black Feathers chest armor, as well). Both the Marika’s/Radagon’s Soreseal Talismans “greatly” increase your attributes, so we recommend throwing at least one of them on to become more powerful.

The Lord of Blood’s Exultation Talisman is practically essential for this build since it boosts your attack power by 20% if a nearby enemy is inflicted with blood loss. Finally, go with the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia for even more of an attack boost to successive attacks (working in tandem with your dual-wield Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Swords).

Flask of Wondrous Physick

The Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword scales with Strength, so use the Strength-knot Crystal Tear Physick mixture.Bandai Namco

• Greenburst Crystal Tear — Temporarily boosts stamina recovery speed
• Strength-knot Crystal Tear — Temporarily boosts Strength

To boost your performance even further, we advise using the Wondrous Physick mixtures above. The Greenburst Crystal Tear improves your stamina recovery speed, allowing you to start attacking much sooner after your stamina depletes.

As its name suggests, the Strength-knot Crystal Tear improves your Strength, temporarily, and since the Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword scales with this stat, you’ll deal even more damage while this Wondrous Physick is active.

Spells

Golden Vow is a powerful spell that increases your attack power.Bandai Namco

• Golden Vow — Increases attack and defense for self and allies
• Flame, Grant Me Strength — Raises physical and fire-affinity attack power

You should buff your character with a couple of Spells before engaging in battle.

The Golden Vow spell is pretty straightforward, granting you (and any allies) improved attack and defense. You can find this Spell in Corpse-Stench Shack in Mt Gelmir.

As for the Flame, Grant Me Strength Spell, this will increase your physical and fire attacks, making you even stronger. Acquire this from the Fort Gael Tunnel on the western side of Caelid.

Looking for the best Elden Ring bleed build? Bleed is the best status effect in Elden Ring, as it applies an extra burst of damage to enemies after just a few hits. With that in mind, you may be searching for the best Elden Ring bleed build. For this, we recommend using Rivers of Blood, a late-game weapon with a remarkable skill that inflicts the bleed effect incredibly quickly. With the Rivers of Blood, you can make the best bleed build and one of the best builds in Elden Ring overall.

In this guide, we'll explain how to make the best bleed build, covering the Rivers of Blood location, required stats, and any important items that you'll need to make this build incredibly powerful.

Elden Ring bleed build: how to make a Rivers of Blood build in Elden Ring

Rivers of Blood is a katana that deals blood damage. However, its real strength lies in the Corpse Piler skill, which is the key to this build. It unleashes a 6-hit combo that will almost always inflict the bleed effect onto an enemy, destroying any foes with ease. This makes Rivers of Blood one of the best weapons in Elden Ring, and a must-have for any worthy Tarnished.

If you want to see some other Elden Ring bleed builds, check out our Bloodhound Dexterity build and our Arcane Blood Lord build.

Elden Ring Rivers of Blood location

The Rivers of Blood is a katana that you can get in the Mountaintops of the Giants, which is a late-game area. When you reach the Foot of the Forge Site of Grace, head West to find the Church of Repose. Here, an NPC named Okina will invade your world and attack. Kill Okina to get their signature weapon, the Rivers of Blood.

Before patch 1.04, Bloody Finger Okina would only spawn before killing the Fire Giant boss. If you had already slain the Fire Giant for the main quest, you wouldn't be able to get the Rivers of Blood weapon. FromSoftware have since fixed this issue, meaning you can now get Rivers of Blood at anytime. Simply head to the Church of Repose to trigger the invasion.

Rivers of Blood build stat requirements

The Rivers of Blood katana requires the following stats:

• 12 Strength
• 18 Dexterity
• 20 Arcane

This means you’ll need to invest in a range of attributes as you level up in Elden Ring. Since this is a late-game weapon, you can simply respec to reshape your character if your current stats don’t allow you to use this weapon.

After meeting these requirements, continue to invest in Arcane and Dexterity for increased melee damage. You should also put points into Vigor and Mind to increase your health and FP. This allows you to soak up some damage if hit, while boosting your FP so that you can continuously use the Corpse Piler weapon skill on Rivers of Blood.

Important gear for the Rivers of Blood build in Elden Ring

To get the maximum potential from this Rivers of Blood build, there are a few powerful items that you should equip. We'll explain the talismans and Crystal Tears that you need for this bleed build below.

• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: a talisman that boosts the power of successive attacks. Since the Corpse Piler skill makes 6 attacks in quick succession, this talisman will massively increase your damage with the skill on Rivers of Blood. You can find it by completing Millicent's questline. This starts in Caelid, but it ends in the late-game legacy dungeon Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, where you can also find Malenia, Blade of Miquella. When faced with a choice to either help or fight Millicent, help her to earn the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia as your reward.
• Carian Filigreed Crest: another exceptional talisman for this Rivers of Blood build, as it reduces the FP cost of the Corpse Piler skill. This talisman is much easier to find, as you only need to complete a few steps. First, meet Blaidd in the Mistwood and help him kill Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. After winning this fight, head to Caria Manor in Liurnia and follow the path southwest to meet Master Iji, who will sell the Carian Filigreed Crest if you mention Blaidd.
• Lord of Blood's Exultation: a talisman that increases your attack power when a nearby enemy receives the bleed effect. Since this Rivers of Blood bleed build is focused purely on haemorrhaging every enemy, it will benefit greatly from the Lord of Blood's Exultation talisman. You can get this by killing Esgar, Priest of Blood in the Leyndell Catacombs, a dungeon hidden beneath the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds.
• Thorny Cracked Tear: a Crystal Tear that makes you deal more damage with successive attacks, just like the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia. As explained above, Corpse Piler is an incredible weapon skill that makes this bleed build shine, so use the Thorny Cracked Tear to boost its power even further. You'll get the Thorny Cracked Tear by killing the Putrid Avatar at the Consecrated Snowfield Minor Erdtree.
• Cerulean Hidden Tear: a Crystal Tear that temporarily makes spells and skills cost no FP. This makes Corpse Piler free to use, so you can use it just before starting a big fight and then sweep up in seconds. Since you won't need to worry about chugging FP potions between each use of Corpse Piler, you can swing Rivers of Blood around like Darth Maul slicing through a clone army. You can get the Cerulean Hidden Tear from the Ulcerated Tree Spirit boss at the Mt. Gelmir Minor Erdtree.

There isn't any specific armor set that we'd recommend for this build. Take a look through our list of the best armor sets in Elden Ring and consider using something that will give you either a light or medium load, so that you can quickly dodge enemy attacks. This will give you an opportunity to quickly follow up with the Corpse Piler skill as a counter.

That covers everything you need to know to make an Elden Ring Rivers of Blood build. If you want to slice through some of Elden Ring's hardest bosses to test this build, take a look at our Elden Ring boss locations guide. To push forward with Elden Ring's main quest, check out our full Elden Ring walkthrough. If you're replaying to see every ending in Elden Ring, take a look at our Ranni and Fia questline guides to get through some of the longer quests in the game.