Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator - Path of Exile 3.24

When it comes to the different builds that you can play in Path of Exile, those that use bleed damage are not that popular. That is because they are mostly mediocre compared to their direct damage counterparts like Spark or Lightning Arrow.

However, with the new Transfigured Gems in Patch 3.24, things have changed. The Gladiator has gotten some love because of the new Lacerate of Haemorrhage skill gem.

If you are interested in creating this character, then go ahead and read this article to its completion. This is our comprehensive build guide for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

Your main attack skill on this build is the new gem, Lacerate of Haemorrhage. Unlike the original version, this allows you to deal huge amounts of damage via bleeds. What's more, you get higher added physical damage against bleeding enemies, making this the ideal choice for slaying monsters on a budget.

When used, Lacerate of Haemorrhage prompts you to perform two slashes -; one situated a bit on the left and the other on the right. Despite this motion, enemies in the middle of the attack are hit twice, which is why positioning is key to maximizing your damage output.

Additionally, attack speed goes a long way on this build. The faster you can initiate attacks using Lacerate of Haemorrhage, the more effective you are at slaying enemies.

One of the main selling points of this build is that it can work on a minimal budget. Hence, we recommend this as one of the league starters you might want to consider, particularly if you want an ascendancy class that uses the Duelist as a base. You can craft your own pieces of gear, but there are some unique items you can equip as well.

Now, it is important to note that Lacerate of Haemorrhage has a damage ceiling. It is pretty competent when it comes to mapping, but it suffers a bit when talking about single-target damage. If you want this to be a somewhat good build for bossing, you may have to dabble in crafting. Luckily for you, we have a comprehensive crafting guide for all of the information you need regarding this topic.

In terms of defenses, you can wear armor/evasion-based gear to get some spell suppression. You also have a decent block chance, so survivability is pretty good on this build.

When you have enough PoE currency, you can transition to stacking as many Frenzy Charges as you can from gear, items, and passive skills. These will be discussed in greater detail later on in the build guide.

If you want to increase your damage output, look for the following modifiers on your gear:

• Added Physical Damage
• Increased Physical Damage
• + to Physical Damage Over Time Multiplier
• + to Damage Over Time Multiplier
• Increased Attack Speed
• + 1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges

Playstyle

The Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator is pretty easy to play. Use either Leap Slam or Shield Charge to move around the map and simply use the attack skill to eliminate your enemies.

Whenever you encounter tough monsters or bosses, use Blood Rage and drop your Ancestral Protector totem to gain a significant boost to attack speed.

Ascendancy

When it comes to builds that utilize bleed damage to slay monsters, there is no better ascendancy class than the Gladiator. It is as if Grinding Gear Games has made the class specifically for this archetype.

Blood in the Eyes significantly increases your chance to inflict bleeds upon your enemies. What's more, you maim them with each use of Lacerate of Haemorrhage, causing your enemies to take increased physical damage in the process.

Gratuitous Violence is a pretty awesome node that makes completing the campaign a breeze. That is because it not only grants you more physical damage over time, but you make bleeding enemies explode upon death, dealing 10% of their max HP as physical damage. This node, along with Blood in the Eyes, makes you clear maps quickly and effectively.

The next two notable ascendancy passive skills vary greatly depending on whether you are running the budget version of the build or the more expensive one.

For the budget version, you take Painforged and Reigning Veteran. These two ascendancy nodes greatly improve your survivability by increasing your block chance, armor, and evasion.

If you have enough PoE currency and you are ready to transition to the endgame version, you will take Arena Challenger for the third notable ascendancy passive skill, and Outmatch and Outlast for the fourth.

Arena Challenger enables you to gain Challenger Charges when you hit rare or unique enemies while in Blood Stance. For this reason, you are going to replace one support gem in favor of Blood and Sand or Flesh and Stone (since they are both interchangeable). This will be discussed in greater detail in the "Gems" section of the build guide.

Outmatch and Outlast enhances your offense and defense while you are at maximum Frenzy and Endurance Charges. However, you will need to equip certain items to make this node more reliable.

While not mandatory, you can use the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with "Masterful Form" as the matching modifier. This Slayer-only Ascendancy node raises your Maximum Frenzy Charges by one. Furthermore, it makes your Maximum Endurance Charges and Maximum Frenzy Charges on par with each other.

Gear

The Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator can operate with mostly self-crafted items, though there are some unique pieces of gear that you can wear that also provide a ton of value. Of course, if you want to take this build to the next level, you will have to spend some PoE currency in order to achieve a more comfortable experience.

Weapon

Jack, the Axe is a pretty affordable one-handed weapon that you can use for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator. This unique Vaal Hatchet grants you the Thirst for Blood skill, which reserves a small portion of your life to boost bleeding damage. Not only that but the weapon itself provides you with other useful mods, including added physical damage, increased physical damage, higher bleed chance, and damage over time multiplier for bleeds.

While the weapon is fine as it is, you can corrupt it with a Vaal Orb or "double corrupt" it with the Locus of Corruption in the Temple of Atzoatl for a chance to gain physical damage implicit modifiers.

For the endgame version, you'll have to craft a much better one-handed weapon using Reaver Axe as the crafting base. Take note that it is pretty challenging to craft the axe but it is definitely worth it. You can read the full instructions in our ultimate crafting guide.

Shield

An evasion-based shield can be used as a crafting base so that you will have a chance to roll spell suppression. Spam the shield with Essence of Greed (Life) until you get some evasion, spell suppression, chance to avoid elemental ailments, and block chance. If you want to get T1 spell suppression, you will need an item level 86 shield or higher.

Another viable shield for the build is The Surrender. This shield grants you a level 30 Reckoning skill, enabling you to swiftly initiate a counterattack when you block hits from the enemy. Besides that, you gain a considerable chunk of life back when you successfully block attacks with the shield on. The Surrender is a bit expensive to purchase early on in a new league, but if you can get your hands on it, you can use the shield well into the endgame.

Body Armor

Early on, you can utilize an armor/evasion-based chest and spam it with Essence of Greed (Life) or Essence of Envy (Chaos Resistance) until you get some elemental resistance, spell suppression, and attributes.

In terms of the implicit mods, spam the body armor with Eldritch Ichors to obtain the mod "Pride Has % Increased Aura Effect" and Eldritch Embers for "% Increased Global Physical Damage."

If you want to spend a bit more currency, you can craft the body armor that gives you a sizable boost to your chance to avoid elemental ailments. This heavily improves your survivability and we highly recommend that you do so as soon as you have enough PoE currency. If you are interested in learning how to craft this, refer to our ultimate crafting guide.

Alternatively, if you want to maximize the Outmatch and Outlast, as well as the Arena Challenger ascendancy nodes, you can equip Replica Farrul's Fur to give you a consistent uptime of your Frenzy and Endurance Charges.

If you are going to wear Replica Farrul's Fur, you should also equip a self-crafted rare shield that grants the Aspect of the Cat skill. The said skill can be beastcrafted on the shield via the Menagerie with Farrul, First of the Plains already unlocked. You can purchase an itemized version of this creature from the trade website.

Helmet

You can roll spell suppression on an armor/evasion-based helmet like the Pig-faced Bascinet or Nightmare Bascinet. Use Essence of Greed (Life) until you get spell suppression and elemental resistance. Leave a prefix slot open so that you can craft "% Physical Damage Taken as Fire Damage".

For the implicit modifiers, spam the helmet with Eldritch Ichors until you get "% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills" and Eldritch Embers for "% Increased Area of Effect". If you need more mana reservation efficiency, you can use a few Orbs of Conflict to try and elevate the Eater of Worlds implicit mod.

While a self-crafted helmet can go a long way, you can wear the Usurper's Penance as an alternative. You just have to make sure that you activate Blood Rage if you do not have Replica Farrul's Fur yet to have near-permanent uptime of Frenzy Charges to maximize this helmet's potential.

If you are going to use the Usurper's Penance for this build, purchase several of these from the trade website and corrupt them using Vaal Orbs. This is so that you will have a chance to obtain the implicit modifier: "Socketed Skill Gems Get a 90% Cost & Reservation Multiplier", which is quite helpful in activating your main auras for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator.

Gloves

By now, you have probably guessed that you can get spell suppression on gloves as well. The Dragonscale Gauntlets is the preferred crafting base, but you can use whatever armor/evasion-based gloves you can find.

Anyway, spam the gloves with Essence of Envy (Chaos Resistance) or Essence of Rage/Sorrow/Spite if you need STR, DEX, or INT, respectively. Do this until you get life, spell suppression, and elemental resistance. Added physical damage is also a good mod to have.

If you have an open prefix, bench-craft 28% increased damage during any flask effect for good measure.

In terms of the implicit modifiers, spam Eldritch Ichors for spell suppression and Eldritch Embers for physical damage over time multiplier.

If you prefer using some unique gloves, the Haemophilia is a great budget option. These gloves have the same effect as Gratuitous Violence in that enemies you kill explode, dealing physical damage in an area based on a small portion of their maximum life.

Now, if your budget permits it, the Hands of the High Templar provides tremendous value. What makes these gloves great for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator is that they can have up to five corrupted implicit modifiers, which allow you to get Vulnerability on hit, attack speed, and +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges, among many others.

Boots

For the most part, we recommend that you craft your own pair of boots so that you can achieve 100% full elemental ailment immunity. Use Deafening Essence of Loathing for the T1 "% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments" suffix. We also advise you to save some currency to craft a pair of Onslaught Boots as the Onslaught buff provides you with more attack speed and movement speed. 

To finish the boots, spam Grand Eldritch Ichors for 23% elemental ailment avoidance and Grand Eldritch Embers for 5% increased action speed.

If you are going to utilize Frenzy Charges, the Darkray Vectors are a great pair of boots for that. These boots increase your maximum Frenzy Charges by one. On top of that, they provide you with bonus evasion and movement speed per Frenzy Charge.

If you are stacking Frenzy Charges, wear Ralakesh's Impatience instead. Even though these unique boots do not give you plus one to maximum Frenzy Charge, you do count as having maximum charges at all times while you are wearing them.

Take note that Ralakesh's Impatience no longer has the movement speed mod in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. Not to worry, your Shield Charge or Leap Slam will get you to where you want to be in a jiffy.

Amulet

Get any of the amulets that have attribute implicit modifiers and use Harvest Reforge Physical until you get "+1 to Level of All Physical Skill Gems" or "+% to Damage Over Time Multiplier".

For the endgame version, you have a couple of options to take. You can either craft a +2 amulet or purchase a Stranglegasp, though it is important to note that the latter requires heavy investment.

The Stranglegasp is expensive because it can have up to four different anointments. Speaking of which, if you are to buy one of these, here are the anointments you should use:

• Charisma

  • 16% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills
  • 6% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from Your Skills
  • Requires Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils

• Sovereignty

  • 12% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills
  • 10% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from Your Skills
  • Requires 3x Silver Oils

• Fervour

  • +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
  • Requres Amber Oil, Black Oil, Silver Oil

• Frenetic

  • +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
  • Azure Oil, Silver Oil, Silver Oil

Rings

Get some Amethyst Rings and craft them using Harvest Reforge Chaos until you get a couple of elemental resistances and life. Leave a prefix open so that you can bench-craft "Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost".

This build deals incredible damage if you are able to apply the Vulnerability curse on your enemies. Now, if you were not able to secure other pieces of gear with the "Curse Enemies with Vulnerability on Hit" mod, you can get a Warlord-influenced Amethyst Ring and use Harvest Reforge Caster.

The hybrid HP and mana regen mod is a veiled modifier. To add it in, you simply have to sort out your suffixes, put "Suffixes Cannot Be Changed" from the Crafting Bench, and then use a Veiled Orb.

Bench-craft "Adds # to # to Fire Damage, Adds # to # to Cold Damage" and then head to Jun and unveil. Don't forget to put "Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost" to finish the craft. If you have Fertile Catalysts on hand, use that as well for good measure.

If you no longer run into mana issues as a result of having the right pieces of gear, you can replace one of the rings with Circle of Guilt, specifically with the mod "% Increased Physical Damage While Affected by Herald of Purity".

Belt

The Ryslatha's Coil is incredibly tough to beat, especially if you are using the said belt on builds that utilize bleeding damage like the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator. Why is that, you ask?

Well, this belt greatly increases your physical damage. What's more, it gives you a bit of STR and a considerable amount of life to improve your chances of survival.

There are a couple of belts that can beat the Ryslatha's Coil. However, they are only really viable if you purchase the other expensive items that were already mentioned in the build guide.

One of the unique belts you can replace Ryslatha's Coil with is Olesya's Delight. This transforms your Frenzy Charges into Affliction Charges. These special charges significantly make the bleeds you inflict deal more damage. This is only really viable if you have Ralakesh's Impatience, so do keep that in mind.

The Mageblood is another great contender when it comes to the belt slot, though if you have played Path of Exile for a while now, you know that this particular item costs a lot of currency. However, budget aside, this is pretty good because it grants permanent uptime of several of your magic utility flasks.

Flasks

• Granite Flask
• Amethyst Flask
• Jade Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Life Flask
• Replica Witchfire Brew
• Bottled Faith

With the budget version of the build, you can use the first five flasks mentioned above. The Granite, Amethyst, and Jade Flasks improve your survivability. The Quicksilver Flask boosts your movement speed, thus affecting your map clear speed in a good way. Use the Life Flask to regain some HP back after receiving a devastating blow from the enemy.

As you wear better pieces of gear, you are able to replace the Life Flask with one of the unique flasks on the list. The Replica Witchfire Brew alleviates the need for the "Curse Enemies with Vulnerability on Hit" mod. That is because you are surrounded by an aura that instantly applies the said curse while this flask's effect is active. Monsters that are foolish enough to come close will be affected by the curse, making it so much easier for you to dispatch them.

Additionally, the Bottled Faith creates a Consecrated Ground that increases the damage monsters take when they step on it. This unique flask is relatively expensive, but it is definitely worth it.

Flask Mods

• 60% Increased Armour (of the Armadillo)
• 17% Increased Attack Speed (of the Dove)
• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)
• 25% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills (Bench-craft)
• Corrupted Blood Immunity (Life Flask)

Jewels

It is a good thing that the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator does not require any mandatory jewels to work. However, this is not to say that you cannot include jewels to make the build even better.

Start by purchasing a Watcher's Eye from the trade website. Look for any of these mods to maximize the potential of this build:

• Pride

  • % Increased Physical Damage
  • Your Hits Intimidate Enemies for 4 Seconds

• Malevolence

  • +% to Damage Over Time Multiplier
  • Damaging Ailments You Inflict Deal Damage % Faster

• Determination

  • + to Armour While Affected by Determination
  • Chance to Block Attack Damage
  • Additional Physical Damage Reduction
  • You Take % Reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

• Vitality

  • % of Damage Leeched as Life
  • Regenerate Life per Second

Lethal Pride is another great jewel as it can grant you bonuses that can benefit the build immensely. Use the POB's "Find Timeless Jewel" option to find a Lethal Pride with plenty of "% Increased Melee Damage" and "% Increased Physical Damage" mods.

Get an 8-passive Large Cluster Jewel (Physical Damage) and use Harvest Reforge Physical until you get Battle-Hardened, Iron Breaker, and another notable passive skill. The third one should be situated in the middle so that you can save a couple of passive skill points.

A couple of Medium Cluster Jewels (Physical Damage Over Time) are also great additions to the build. Use Harvest Reforge Physical until you get any of two of these notable passive skills:

• Wound Aggravation

  • Axe or Sword Attacks Deal 20% Increased Damage with Ailments
  • 20% Increased Physical Damage with Axes or Swords
  • +5% to Physical Damage Over Time Multiplier while wielding an Axe or Sword

• Wasting Affliction

  • 20% Increased Damage with Ailments
  • Damaging Ailments Deal Damage 5% Faster

• Flow of Life

  • 24% Increased Damage Over Time
  • 4% Increased Maximum Life
  • Regenerate 0.6% of Life per Second

If you still have open jewel slots, you can populate them with base jewels that have the following modifiers:

• +% to Damage Over Time Multiplier
• +% to Physical Damage Over Time Multiplier
• % Increased Physical Damage
• % Increased Melee Damage
• % Increased Attack Speed
• % Increased Attack Speed with Axes
• % Increased Damage with Axes
• % Increased Damage
• % Increased Maximum Life
• Damaging Ailments Deal Damage % Faster

Gems

There is some degree of flexibility when it comes to the gems that you will use for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator. This heavily depends on the pieces of gear you are wearing. You can freely swap some gems for the ones that you prefer.

Body Armor

• Lacerate of Haemorrhage
• Awakened Brutality
• Awakened Melee Physical Damage
• Awakened Multistrike Support
• Volatility Support
• Fortify Support

The Lacerate of Haemorrhage is a better version of Lacerate, especially in terms of bleed damage. This is a melee attack skill gem in Path of Exile where you initiate a couple of slashes that inflict bleeds upon the enemy.

Awakened Brutality and Awakened Melee Physical Damage greatly increase the damage of Lacerate of Haemorrhage, so their inclusion in this setup is a must.

Volatility Support acts similarly to Ryslatha's Coil in that it increases the damage range of your main attack skill, effectively making the bleeds you inflict even more potent.

Fortify Support not only increases the bleed damage of Lacerate of Haemorrhage but it also grants you some Fortification stacks to improve your chances of survival.

If you do not have the currency to buy the "Awakened" support gems yet, you can use the normal version instead.

Helmet

• Pride
• Herald of Purity
• Malevolence/Determination
• Enlighten (lvl 4)

This build deals physical damage over time via the bleeds that you inflict with Lacerate of Haemorrhage. That is why Pride is one of the primary auras you need to activate. Get a Watcher's Eye with any of the mods mentioned earlier to maximize this aura.

Herald of Purity is another skill that gives you more physical damage. The Sentinel of Purity minions that you summon while this herald skill is active is just a nice bonus.

Now, the third aura can either be Malevolence or Determination. This depends on whether you want to improve your offense or defense, respectively. In our opinion, go for the former while mapping because it makes Lacerate of Haemorrhage's bleeding damage even more effective. Go for the latter if you tackle T17 maps or fight any of the pinnacle bosses in PoE.

A level 4 Enlighten Support is needed here so that you can activate all of these auras with some mana left in the tank. If you do not have access to this yet, you can disable Herald of Purity for the time being.

Gloves

• Ancestral Protector
• Multiple Totems
• Main Support
• Molten Shell/Immortal Call

As mentioned earlier, this build performs well the more attack speed you have. That is why it is crucial that you drop the Ancestral Protector totem whenever you are fighting tougher enemies like Essence monsters or bosses.

Multiple Totems is a support gem that enables you to lay down up to three totems on the battlefield. This is helpful because the totems can maim enemies on hit, causing them to take increased physical damage. The ability of the totems to apply the said debuff is thanks to the aptly named Maim Support.

For the guard skills, you can choose between Molten Shell or Immortal Call. If you are wondering what they do, the former provides you with up to 5,000 armor that can soak incoming damage, while the latter causes you to take reduced physical damage and elemental damage when it's active.

Since you can no longer bind instant skills on the left click in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, you have to manually activate the guard skill whenever you are in a difficult situation.

Boots

• Enduring Cry
• Call to Arms
• Blood Rage
• Lifetap

Call to Arms is a new support gem that was introduced in Patch 3.24. This triggers the linked warcry skill automatically whenever it is off cooldown. Now, the warcry skill you are going to use for this build is Enduring Cry mainly for the bonuses to physical damage reduction and elemental resistance when it is active.

Blood Rage gives you a boost to your attack speed, which is always welcome in this build. It also causes you to leech life off of your enemies, allowing you to survive longer on the battlefield.

With the mana changes implemented by GGG in the Necropolis League, you might not have enough of the said resource to be able to use all of your skills. Hence, you include Lifetap Support in this gem setup so that you do not need mana to activate Enduring Cry or Blood Rage.

Weapon

• Vitality
• Arrogance Support
• War Banner

Vitality linked to Arrogance Support gives you a comfortable way to regenerate life. Since you are not able to leech life off of your enemies, having some life regeneration can definitely go a long way.

War Banner is a banner skill that gives you an increase in accuracy and physical damage. While putting it down on the battlefield is not necessary, you do have the option to do so to increase this skill’s aura effect.

Shield

• Leap Slam/Shield Charge
• Faster Attacks Support
• Phase Run

The main movement skill for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator can be Leap Slam or Shield Charge, so choose whichever you prefer from the two. Just make sure to link it to Faster Attacks Support to make them feel less clunky to use.

Phase Run is another movement skill that you can utilize to bring the most out of this build. The cool thing about this is that it grants you a huge increase in physical damage if you follow it up with Lacerate of Haemorrhage immediately after use.

Tattoos

If you played Path of Exile a couple of leagues ago, you know that the Tattoos have provided your characters with some pretty juicy bonuses. Well, the thing is, GGG has brought them back in the 3.24 Necropolis League! That being said, what Tattoos are perfect for this build? Here are the ones that we recommend for the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator:

• Tattoo of the Kitava Warrior

  • 5% Increased Physical Damage

• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warmonger

  • 5% Increased Melee Damage

• Tattoo of the Kitava Shaman

  • 5% Chance to Bleed on Hit with Attacks

• Tattoo of the Kitava Heart Eater

  • Killing Blows Have a 4% Chance to Consume Corpses to Recover 10% of Maximum Life

• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warrior

  • Melee Hits Which Stun Have a 5% Chance to Fortify

• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warcaller

  • 8% Increased Warcry Cooldown Recovery Rate

• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Warrior

  • 6% Increased Armour

• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Guard

  • Guard Skills Have a 6% Increased Duration

Passive Tree

POB

Budget Version

Endgame Version (with Olesya's Delight)

Endgame Version (with Mageblood)

Final Thoughts

The Lacerate of Haemorrhage deals physical damage over time via bleeds. This Transfigured Gem works perfectly with the Gladiator ascendancy class thanks to its access to some amazing notable passive skills. The nodes you will take vary depending on the gear you are using.

One of the main selling points of this build is that it does not require any mandatory uniques, making it a top contender for league starters in Path of Exile. Even though it is comfortable enough to play on a minimal budget, you can take this to another level if you are willing to spend a lot of PoE currency.

The only downside we can think of here is that you need to get your hands on better equipment if you are going to take down the pinnacle bosses in PoE.

Other than that, the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator is a good league starter that has great map clear speeds and average bossing potential.

With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!

PROS

+Pretty good league starter

+Utilizes bleed damage to great effect

+Gladiator makes a resurgence thanks to the new Transfigured Gem

+Can work on budget gear

+Build does not require mandatory items

+Able to transition to other builds that use the Duelist as the base class

+Still awesome in Patch 3.24

CONS

-Melee build, which means that you have to be up close and personal with the enemy to deal damage

-Physical damage over time has a damage ceiling compared to elemental damage or chaos damage

-Average single target damage

-Needs better equipment to make it good as a boss-killing character