I’ve gone through the different classes and think that the Blade Dancer or Falconer would be the best choices for this build. Blade Dancer for 15 melee damage and dodge. Falconer for more dex, a pet bat (honestly it’s a bat!) and an awesome pounce ability using the carry.
Which abilities would you think would be best for stacking lots of bleed on the enemy. I’ve not played Rouge yet (just finished getting my Melee Poison Warlock to 209c and looking for a break). Puncture was a skill I was going to use but I saw the discussion about how poor it is and it got me thinking that I clearly don’t know what I’m doing so, I should ask for help. I see I can get 70% attack speed in the Falconry tree, which looks nice and something I’m going to aim for. But what abilities should you suggest for sucking the blood out of the enemies? Shadows sound awesome, so I’m hoping that they make an appearance in peoples suggestions.
I’m looking for a fun build in which to play and build. My Nurgle Knight (warlock) is extremely fun and I’ve gotten to 209c with no LP at all really rubbish gear. It’s been hard but fun!! I’m looking to replicate this as a Vampire!
Falconer bleed build is actually crazy strong. Like, easily 1000+ corruption potential. It just gets overshadowed by the even crazier stuff so it flies under the radar.
The way to build it out is to lean hard on your falcon for the bleeds. Blood Roost gloves are the must-have item here as they transfer your bleed chance to the falcon at up to 300% of your rating. Falconry also has skill and passive nodes that transfer your ailment chance to your falcon. You can end up with 550% of your bleed chance transferred to the falcon.
For stats, you stack your own bleed chance and minion damage. Take any skill nodes that increase your falcon’s global damage, like the one in Falconry that scales your bird’s damage based on your dexterity. Weapon is an exalted Dragonbone axe for the implicit bleed chance, and if you can get Flayer’s Pride from Fall of the Outcasts you can get extra defense while stacking bleed.
Valdyr’s Chalice is where you get your “vampire” part, as it lets you leech health based on physical damage over time - i.e., bleeds.
For abilities, just take the three falcon-focused ones to get as many hits from the bird as possible.
I like taking Net as a supplement - dropping caltrops for even more bleed while also boosting your falcon’s bleed chance for each enemy standing on the spikes. Spec into Puncture for the last ability for physical resistance shreds and additional bleeds, and spec your net to shoot out Puncture traps.
You will easily be at 999+ bleed stacks and melting bosses in the end game, although most regular mobs will melt way before they get to that point. It is a super fun, highly mobile bleed build.
True, as do pinnacle helms and stolen tithes. Anything that leeches based off of “damage” as opposed to hit/crit/elemental will pull health from bleeds.
The chalice is just my first choice based on what OP said, because what self-respecting vampire wouldn’t pick a big ol cup of blood?
It sounds like the Falconer is a strong bleed build but will it feel “Vampiric”? With all the bonuses to bleed on the Torkrefins hunger, it seems that I should be using that, especially if I can get a good slam when/if I get a good LP version? I’m not looking for a 1000c build, unless it’s a “happy accident” as Bob Ross would say.
I’ve all the gear of which you speak of but, what abilities would you use? This is the most important thing, as I need it to feel like a vampire play style more than how high it can climb.
My Nurgle Knight build got to 209c and I was over the moon at this because the playstyle is so much fun! I wouldn’t swap it for a 2000c 1 button build. it’s my precious.
You can definitely use Torkrefin’s hunger if you get a good LP version. The bleeds are the important stat and the sword has that.
Active abilities would be Aerial Assault for movement/bleeds, Dive Bomb for more bleeds, Falcon Strikes for even MORE bleeds, and then tossing your Net out to capture the enemies/drop caltrops for bleeds/shoot punctures for bleeds. Puncture would not go on your active ability bar. I like Smoke for the extra blinds in melee range.
As for whether it feels like a vampire, you will be flying in on the back of your falcon and blasting bleeds all around you, and in the aftermath will be surrounded by bloody corpses. It was pretty wild when I tried it out.
However, It would not feel like the vampire wading in on their own chopping enemies down. For that you might want bladedancer with shadows/shift/dancing strikes.
Aye, Shadow Cascade and Synchronous Strike are the 2 abilities that I can get from the Blade Dancer tree if I went down the Bat Handler route. if I went the Blade Dancer route, I’d get Net and Explosive trap. Hmmm
As I have all the basic gear (no LP) it’s vital it feels Vampiric above all else, even if it struggle at 100c.
How do bleeds and minion damage actually interact? Thinking of trying this build out. Does the minion apply the bleed damage value shown on my character sheet, influenced by physical damage/damage over time? Or does it have it’s own hidden bleed value? And is it’s bleed value affected/increased by generic minion damage? You say to focus bleed chance, and minion damage, so I’d assume minion damage would increase the bleed damage value. But you never know. Would Physical Damage and Damage over Time be a wasted stat on a Falcon-focused bleed build? So many questions lol.
Minion bleeds are only affected by minion % damage modifiers, they apply their own bleeds. So if your character sheet said a bleed would do 1,000 damage but you had no minion damage modifiers, your bleeds would do 1,000, your minions bleeds would do 53.
You do, it’s fairly obvious when you try it.
Yes, since the Rending Talons node only converts ailment chance not ailment damage.
) and an awesome pounce ability using the 
it’s my precious. 