In the harsh endgame of Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt, finding a build that balances speed, survivability, and overwhelming damage is no easy task. Enter the Bleed Huntress—a hybrid melee-ranged monster that thrives in endgame maps, effortlessly shredding Tier 15 content with a perfect synergy of mechanics and gear. After POE2 Currency extensive testing, this ritualist-focused bleed setup has emerged as one of the smoothest and most satisfying builds in POE 2 right now.

Here's your comprehensive guide to gearing, skilling, and mastering this build to make your endgame journey as smooth—and bloody—as possible.

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Core Mechanics: Bleed, Rage, and Pinning

The Bleed Huntress revolves around leveraging high physical damage and stacking bleed effects through clever use of Spear Throw, Rake, and Blood Hunt. All this is supported by the Bushwack Lizard Scale Boots, which ensure that every hit with physical damage pins enemies—setting them up for huge detonations with Spear Throw.

To take it even further, this build maintains maximum rage stacks permanently thanks to the Death Articulated Ornate Gauntlets. While these gloves drain 5% of your max life per second, this drawback is mitigated by gear stacking life regeneration and life leech, turning the gloves from risky to god-tier.

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Key Skills and Their Supports

Spear Throw (Main Clear + Burst)

- Lacerate – Enables Spear Throw to cause bleeding.

- Scattershot – Throws 3 spears at once; can lead to 6 explosions with forks.

- Heft – Scales base physical damage for bigger bleeds.

- Perpetual Charge – Increases frenzy charge generation, triggering more spear explosions.

Pro tip: Switch to "Retreat" for boss fights for maximum control.

Rake (Close-Combat Finisher)

- Ancestral Call – Hits extra targets every 6 seconds.

- Deep Cuts – Boosts bleed magnitude.

- Brutality – Increases physical damage.

- Heavy Swing – More damage with lower attack speed (irrelevant due to nature of the skill).

Disengage (Mobility + Bleed Setup)

- Ingenuity – Mandatory for spamming Disengage smoothly.

- Concentrated Effect – Boosts damage against single targets.

- Incision – Guarantees incision application, boosting bleed damage.

Blood Hunt (Execute)

- Execute – Used when enemies are under 35% health for high burst.

- Hourglass – Long cooldown, but worth it for damage spike.

- Bloodlust – Boosts damage against bleeding enemies.

Bloodhound's Mark (Utility Debuff)

- Single Out – Breaks armor of marked targets (boosts hit damage).

- Rupture – Amplifies bleeding on stunned bosses.

- Physical Mastery – Scales damage with higher skill level.

Herald of Blood (AOE Clear + Synergy)

- Deadly Herald – Bonus damage.

- HO Crystals – Boosts AOE clear.

- Bone Shrapnel – Occasional explosions on kill when pinned.

Combat Frenzy (Frenzy Charges + Sustain)

- Profusion – Generates frenzy charges faster.

- Cannibalism – Adds life leech on kill.

- Vitality – Flat life regen to offset glove drain.

Wind Dancer (Explosive Utility Spirit Gem)

- Magnified Effect – Increases explosion radius.

- Maim – Adds movement debuff on enemies.

- Arm's Length – Increases knockback utility.

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Gearing Breakdown: Prioritize Phys, Leech, and Regen

This build depends heavily on a few key uniques and specific modifiers:

Essential Uniques

- Bushwack Lizard Scale Boots – All physical damage pins, enabling massive bleed explosions.

- Death Articulated Ornate Gauntlets – Permanent rage; counter with strong regen.

- Venopuncture Iron Ring – Adds ideal bleed-related bonuses.

Weapon (Spear)

- Increased Physical Damage

- Flat Phys

- Life Leech

- Hybrid Phys + Accuracy

- +Melee / +Projectile Skill Levels

Other Gear Priorities

- Rings, Amulet, Belt: Look for life, resistances, evasion, leech, flat phys, and Spirit (preferably on amulet).

- Helmet, Body, Buckler: Life, Evasion, Resistances, Regen.

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Passive Tree Optimization

This build taps into critical passive clusters for bleed magnitude, life leech, rage, and evasion. Key points include:

- Three Jewel Sockets: Use Ruby Jewels with bleed magnitude, global physical, life leech, and regen.

- From Nothing Unique Jewel: Grants access to isolated passive nodes near Oasis, unlocking powerful ailment and evasion nodes without pathing.

- High Alert, Fork Chance, Rage Scaling, and Buckler Evasion Bonuses are all essential.

Be careful when selecting certain evasion nodes—only activate paired nodes at the same time, or they won't be efficient.

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Playstyle Tips

- Rotate Spear Throw and Disengage to set up and pop enemies.

- Use Rake to clean up packs or hit hard in close range.

- Save Blood Hunt for boss executes after building high bleed stacks.

- Use Warcries and Spirit Gems intelligently to stay mobile, apply debuffs, and maintain rage.

- Keep life leech active—this build relies on constant hits for sustain.

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Final Thoughts

This Bleed Huntress Ritualist is not just strong—it's stylish, strategic, and shockingly efficient for endgame content. With high evasion, massive burst POE 2 Chaos Orbs potential, and near-constant rage, it combines the best of ranged control and melee burst into a well-rounded, highly rewarding build.