Elden Ring Bleed Build Arcane Guide – Blood Dragon

In this Elden Ring Bleed Build Arcane Guide, I introduce the Blood Dragon build. This build is a fusion of the Blood Blade and Dragon Priest builds, providing a balance between them. If you’re interested in an arcane-based build that emphasizes bleed effects, this guide will show you how to create and play a build that capitalizes on both arcane and bleed mechanics. Whether you’re new to arcane builds or seeking an effective combination of bleed and dragon-themed elements, the Blood Dragon build offers a unique approach that might suit your style.

Elden Ring Bleed Build Arcane Guide – Blood Dragon

A dual-wielding Arcane Build that uses Bleeding and Dragon Spells to obliterate enemies.

We have over 110 Elden Ring builds. Each one is meticulously crafted to offer unique playstyles, strategies, and experiences, ensuring there’s something for every adventurer in the Lands Between. Whether you seek the raw power of heavy weapons, the finesse of spellcasting, or the versatility of hybrid builds, our collection has you covered. Explore the depths of the game’s mechanics and unleash your full potential with our diverse array of builds.

Elden Ring Arcane Bleed Build – Equipment

For this build, you’ll need two Curved Swords or any pair of fast weapons. Faster weapons are preferred because they build up bleed much quicker, allowing you to trigger Hemorrhage more rapidly. I recommend Scimitars since the Warrior class starts with them, providing a convenient starting point.

To equip Bloody Slash on both swords, you’ll need Lost Ashes of War, available from the Nomadic Merchant in the southwest part of the Weeping Peninsula. Take the Lost Ashes to a Site of Grace and select “Ash of War Duplication” to copy Bloody Slash. Apply it to both Curved Swords, then select the bleed affinity, ensuring each sword has bleed buildup.

With this setup, you can use L1 to attack with both swords simultaneously, causing rapid bleed buildup. This increases your chances of triggering the bleeding status effect, leading to massive damage through Hemorrhage. If you’ve seen the Blood Bay build before, this strategy should feel familiar. The double Curved Sword approach, combined with Bloody Slash, makes for a fast and deadly combo against enemies.

The next thing you’re going to want is the Dragon Communion Seal that’s found below the very start of the game there, that drops from the Banished Knight in the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave area, and the reason this is good for this build is that it uses Somber Smithing Stones. You’re going to need all the Smithing Stones you got to upgrade both your blades, and it also boosts Dragon Communion Incantations or Dragon Incantations, which you’re going to use for this build.

The Dragon Communion Seal is especially valuable because it scales with Arcane, offering excellent scaling. As you increase your Arcane stat, it boosts the damage of your spells while also accelerating blood buildup, which is crucial for bleed weapons like scimitars. This double benefit makes it a key item for this build.

By investing in Arcane, you’ll not only increase your spell damage, but you’ll also enhance the bleed effect on your scimitars, allowing them to trigger Hemorrhage more quickly. This dual advantage means you can maximize both your spell damage and your bleed potential with the same stat. The Dragon Communion Seal is a perfect fit for builds that rely on bleed and spellcasting, providing a versatile boost to both damage and blood buildup speed.

For armor in this build, you can choose almost anything that allows you to maintain a medium roll. The key is to use the heaviest armor you can while staying within the mid-roll range, ensuring you have decent protection without sacrificing too much mobility. Given that this build doesn’t have a high Endurance stat, you might not be able to use extremely heavy armor, but aim for something sturdy that doesn’t slow you down. This balance of defense and agility is crucial for this build’s playstyle, providing enough protection while allowing you to move freely in combat.

Elden Ring Arcane Bleed Build – Talismans

For talismans for this build, you’re going to want the Blessed Dew Talisman, the Winged Sword Insignia, and Marika’s Seal.

The Blessed Dew Talisman is one of the best all-around talismans in the game, I feel like, and it’s really good for this build because you’re going to be using Bloody Slash, which is the weapon skill of the Scimitar, and it takes health away when you use it. It consumes 60 HP per use so that talisman is going to help replenish that little chip damage you take when using it.

The Winged Sword Insignia boosts your attack power based on the number of consecutive attacks, making it ideal for dual-wielding or fast weapon builds. The faster you hit enemies, the more the bonus builds up. The talisman gives an increasing percentage of attack power with each stack, eventually reaching about 20-22% at max stacks, according to my testing.

The interesting part about this talisman is that it doesn’t lose all its stacks at once. If you pause between attacks, the bonus gradually decreases over time, so it’s not an instant reset. As long as you keep attacking within a reasonable time frame, you’ll retain some of the stacks, allowing you to maintain a portion of the attack power boost. This is beneficial for a bleed-focused build where you’re constantly engaging enemies to trigger Hemorrhage. By staying active in combat, you can leverage this bonus to increase your overall damage output.

The last talisman we’re using in this build is Marika’s Scarseal. This talisman boosts your Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. Out of these four, three are crucial for our build: Mind, Faith, and Arcane. This build requires a lot of different stats: Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Faith, Arcane, and even Dexterity for increased damage. Marika’s Scarseal helps reduce some of this stat pressure, providing a boost to key attributes, allowing you to meet requirements for Faith and have enough Mind (you need at least 15, which will be explained later).

This stat boost helps you balance the build more efficiently, especially early in the game, giving you more flexibility in how you allocate attribute points. Later on, as you accumulate more levels, you might replace Marika’s Scarseal since it increases the damage you take by about 5%. While that’s not a significant drawback, it could become less desirable as your stat needs change. However, during the early stages of the game, Marika’s Scarseal is a valuable asset for achieving the right attribute spread to make the build effective without taking on too much risk.

Elden Ring Arcane Bleed Build – Spells & Gameplay

The two spells we use for this build are Dragonclaw and Rotten Breath. Both are Dragon Incantations, which you’ll need to obtain by defeating dragons. The first dragon is near the beginning of the game, and the second is in Liurnia, so you should be able to acquire them relatively early. However, to get Rotten Breath, you must travel to the Cathedral of Dragon Communion in Caelid. You don’t need to defeat anything there; just ride over to the Cathedral to exchange for Rotten Breath. Dragonclaw can be obtained much earlier in the game.

This build offers a lot of flexibility, with several effective offensive options. Using L1, you can quickly build up bleed, devastating enemies that are vulnerable to it, like human types. This makes the build particularly effective against these types of foes.

Bloody Slash is another powerful tool, delivering high damage that scales with weapon upgrades and the Arcane stat. Regardless of your weapon’s affinity, each point in Arcane boosts Bloody Slash’s damage, making it ideal for Arcane-focused builds. The skill is also cost-effective, requiring just 6 FP per use, and has a unique mechanic where your character ducks during the attack, allowing you to avoid some enemy swings.

For tougher enemies, Dragonclaw provides excellent poise and super armor, allowing you to tank through most attacks. It has a high cost of 42 FP, which is why this build aims for 84 FP—you can perform a two-hit combo with R1 before needing to restore FP. This provides an effective way to deal with stronger foes without interruption.

With these different offensive tools, this build is adaptable, letting you shift between fast bleed buildup, powerful slashes, and high-poise attacks with Dragonclaw. It offers a range of strategies to tackle various enemies and bosses throughout the game.

It works well against enemies with large shields that are difficult to penetrate with your Scimitars or that block your breath attacks. It’s particularly effective against these types of enemies, as well as larger foes that you want to take down quickly. For example, it can defeat a troll with a well-timed combo, or even a golem, dealing significant damage.

You won’t use it often, but when you do, it’s incredibly effective. Rotten Breath is almost overpowered with this build—it’s effective to the point of feeling broken. This Dragon Incantation is great for starting boss fights or using from horseback against large enemies in the open world. Although Rotten Breath itself doesn’t deal massive damage upfront, it can clear large groups of smaller enemies and is excellent for applying damage over time to bosses.

Casting Rotten Breath at the start of a boss fight—like against Rennala or similar bosses—can make a significant difference. It inflicts scarlet rot, which rapidly depletes the boss’s health, potentially reducing it by about half. This allows you to focus on other strategies while the rot does its work, making the fight easier to manage.

Rotten Breath is particularly useful against difficult enemies, especially those you don’t want to get close to due to their high damage output or unpredictable attack patterns. Using Rotten Breath from a distance to apply damage over time gives you the opportunity to observe and plan your approach.

Another advantage is that it’s not affected by bleed immunity. If you encounter an enemy that is immune to bleeding, they may still be vulnerable to scarlet rot. This makes Rotten Breath a valuable tool for a wider range of enemies, giving you flexibility in situations where bleed may not be effective.

Elden Ring Arcane Bleed Build – Recommended Attributes

Vigor: For this build, you need at least 20 Vigor for sufficient health, as Bloody Slash consumes 60 HP with each use. Higher Vigor is also important for Dragonclaw, which can leave you vulnerable to counterattacks, and because you’re playing a melee build, you’ll take hits.

Mind: You need at least 15 Mind to get 84 FP. This allows you to use Dragonclaw’s double swipe before needing a flask. Less than 15 Mind means you can only use one swipe, which limits your combo potential.

Endurance: Aim for around 20 Endurance. This provides enough stamina for the heavy use of dual-wield attacks and rolling. Higher Endurance also gives you more equip load, allowing for heavier armor and better protection.

Dexterity and Strength: These aren’t a focus at this stage. Dexterity mainly comes from your class (Warrior), and you only need enough to meet weapon requirements. Later on, you’ll increase Dexterity for weapon damage.

Faith: You need 17 Faith for Dragonclaw and 15 for Rotten Breath. This is your breakpoint, as Faith does boost spell damage through the Dragon Communion Seal but scales better with Arcane. In later game stages, if you acquire spells with higher Faith requirements, you may need to increase it.

Arcane: The most critical stat for this build. Arcane improves Bloody Slash’s damage, enhances weapon damage, boosts bleed buildup speed, and strengthens spell damage. It’s the primary stat to focus on, and you’ll continue increasing it as you progress through the game.

Elden Ring Bleed Build Arcane Guide – Blood Dragon: Final Tips

A couple of tips for this build before wrapping up the guide. Since patch 1.09, the Roar Medallion now boosts all Dragon Communion incantations, except for Dragonmaw and Dragonclaw, which it previously did not.

Another point is to make the most of Bloody Slash. This skill is exceptionally strong, especially in boss fights, if you can time it well. You use Bloody Slash primarily for its high damage, not necessarily for its bleed buildup. It’s one of the best weapon skills in the game for boss fights, with a low HP cost relative to the damage it deals.

Marika’s Scarseal is another consideration, providing +3 to Faith, Arcane, Mind, and Intelligence (although we don’t need Intelligence for this build). If you’re using it, adjust your stats accordingly. For instance, if you need 15 Mind, having Marika’s Scarseal means you only need to invest 12 in the attribute, as the talisman will boost it to 15. The same goes for Faith—14 with Marika’s Scarseal getting you to the required 17 for Dragonclaw.

Lastly, when deciding how to upgrade your weapons, prioritize your right-hand weapon. This will maximize the damage of Bloody Slash, which is tied to the right-hand weapon’s upgrade level. If you can either upgrade both weapons to +8 or upgrade one to +10 and the other to +7, opt for the latter, with the higher upgrade on the right hand. This will ensure Bloody Slash has the most impact, which is crucial for boss fights and high-damage scenarios.

That wraps up our Blood Dragon build. As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree so stay tuned for those. If you need help finding the spells, items, or equipment in this build, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map.