Welcome, Exiles! Bleed builds are finally getting the spotlight they deserve in Path of Exile 2, hands-on coverage gave us our first look at a blood-soaked new playstyle built around one of the most exciting Spirit skills revealed yet: Herald of Blood.
gore and damage, Herald of Blood marks the beginning of a whole new archetype — a visceral, tactical playstyle based on stacking bleed effects, triggering brutal detonations, and watching enemies melt in red-tinted eruptions. And who better to wield it than the agile POE 2 Currency Orbs, deadly Huntress, our starter class for the Bleed Amazon build?
Let's dive deep into the core abilities, theoretical progression, and skill synergies that could shape the Bleed Huntress into one of the most satisfying builds for launch.
The Core of the Bleed Hunter Build
- Herald of Blood: The Game-Changer
This Spirit skill is the heart of the build. Herald of Blood deals unavoidable physical damage and causes enemies to explode for 15% of the blood loss they had remaining upon death. That's right — when a bleeding enemy dies, their unspent pain becomes your payload, chain-exploding into nearby enemies and even aggravating their bleeds.
Aggravated bleeding means 100% more bleed damage, and if that enemy moves, the damage scales even higher. Combined with other mechanics, this allows a vicious cascade of chain reactions that both clears packs and melts bosses. Herald of Blood will be our go-to aura and the thematic anchor for the entire build.
Early Game Setup and Tier 1 Skills
Starting as the Huntress, we have access to multiple physical-based spear skills. Among these, three tier-one gems stand out:
Disengage
Whirling Slash
Twist
Explosive Spear (the one we care about)
While Whirling Slash (a tornado-like spin attack) and Twist are visually cool, they don't synergize well with a pure bleed setup. Instead, our main attraction is Explosive Spear — a tactical skill where you throw a spear that sticks into the ground and explodes after 5 seconds (or instantly with Frenzy charges).
With Overabundance, you can plant two explosive spears, throw–throw, then follow up with melee stabs before they detonate. This creates a rhythm: throw–throw–stab–stab–stab–boom.
Early Setup:
Explosive Spear + Overabundance
Standard Spear Attacks with Martial Tempo and Rage
Build Frenzy charges, boost physical damage, then layer detonations
Tier 2-4: Bleed-Centric Progression
Now we start layering in bleed-focused skills.
Rake (Tier 3):
This is your primary bleed inflictor. Rake is a gap-closer and guarantees a 100% bleed chance on hit, dealing heavy DoT over 5 seconds. You'll use Rake to initiate, apply bleeds, then switch to secondary abilities for bonus effects.
Spearfield (Tier 4):
Plant spears in a field that erupt when enemies touch them, applying bonus damage to bleeding foes. Perfect synergy with Rake. With Bloodlust support, Spearfield gets a 30% more physical damage multiplier against bleeding enemies. Now your field of death becomes lethal territory — bleed them with Rake, trap them with Spearfield, then step back and let the bleeding do its work.
Mid-Game Combo Loop:
Rake in → Bleed enemies
Spearfield → Amplify damage
Explosive Spear → Detonate
Herald of Blood → Chain reaction
Tier 5+: Rapid Assault and the Bleed Detonation Engine
Rapid Assault (Tier 5):
Perform six rapid stabs — the final stab inflicts bleed and impales the enemy with a spearhead. These lodged spears are the detonation triggers. Using a Detonator skill will cause all embedded spears to explode for bonus damage.
And what's a Detonator skill?
You guessed it: Explosive Spear. So now you can:
Rapid Assault → Load the enemy with spears
Explosive Spear → Detonate all for burst bleed + Herald procs
This creates a high-synergy, single-target nuke for bosses, with repeatable high-impact damage.
Tier 7: Blood Hunt and the Climax Combo
Blood Hunt:
A powerful forward-thrust that causes a bloody explosion based on how much blood loss the enemy has accumulated. The more damage they're about to take from bleed, the bigger the explosion.
This is your finisher, a bleed-based execute that can:
Trigger Herald explosions
Amplify bleed damage
Finish off packs or bosses in style
Combo:
Rake → Bleed
Rapid Assault → Spear Implants
Blood Hunt → Detonate + Herald Procs
Ascendancy: Amazon Path – Crit & Bleed Synergy
Going with the Amazon Ascendancy further empowers our strategy:
Precision Killer: Accuracy above 100% converts into base crit chance
Added Physical Damage from Accuracy
More Damage vs Weakened Enemies (Reveal Weakness)
This enhances both hit-based and bleed-based damage — the more you crit, the more you bleed, the more damage you do. It also fits perfectly into scaling Martial Tempo, Rage, and Critical Bleeds.
Take Predatory Instincts early for movement speed and skill speed boosts, perfect for fluid combat and faster combo rotations.
Keystone Passives: Crimson Assault and Hemoc Crystals
Crimson Assault:
Your bleeds are always aggravated
Bleed duration is fixed to 1 second
This turns bleeds into instant nukes rather than slow DoTs. Instead of 1000 damage over 5 seconds, it's now 1000 damage in one second — perfect for high-velocity combat, stacking fast bleeds, and instant detonations.
Hemoc Crystals:
Supported skills don't apply bleed
But consume the bleed to create Hemoc Crystals (up to 20)
Crystals explode for the full bleed damage the enemy would have taken
This introduces a new playstyle loop — instead of waiting for bleeds to tick, you harvest them as immediate burst damage via Crystals.
Potential Companions and Beasts
While bleed is your main focus, companions can support your setup:
A tanky Beast to hold aggro while you bleed and detonate
Or a Bleed-enhancing Beast that increases DoT damage
Use Trusted Kinship Keystone to summon two companions
This can offset survivability challenges while maintaining offensive pressure.
Example Gear & Skill Links for Early Build:
Explosive Spear – Overabundance, Concentrated Effect, (Later: Detonator synergy)
Spearfield – Bloodlust, Martial Tempo
Rake – Brutality, Chance to Bleed
Rapid Assault – Rage, (later Crit or Detonate supports)
Blood Hunt – Magnified Effect, Brutality
Herald of Blood – Always on, core skill
Passive Focus: Bleed chance, Physical damage, Accuracy, Crits
Closing Thoughts: Is Bleed Hunter Right for You?
The new Bleed Hunter concept in Path of Exile 2 isn't just a fresh build — it's a whole new mechanical identity. It blends tactical skill usage, positioning, timed detonations, and explosive chain reactions into one blood-soaked ballet.
With Herald of Blood at its center, this build offers:
Efficient pack clearing via chain explosions
Boss-melting combos with Rapid Assault and Blood Hunt
Deep theorycrafting potential with support gems and passives
A visceral, satisfying fantasy: turn blood into bombs
And the best part? We're still just scratching the surface. With over 100 new support gems and ascendancy combos yet to be fully revealed POE 2 Orbs, the Bleed Hunter might end up being one of the most exciting, flexible, and downright fun builds in PoE 2's launch meta.
So — are you ready to bleed out the competition?
