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PoE 2 Build

[0.5] Lexd's Shield Wall + Rake Bleed Titan

End Game

Starter

Warrior

Titan

0.5 RotA

By Lexd

Updated on Jun 7, 2026

Jun 7, 2026

Build Overview

Lexd's Spear & Shield Bleed Titan 0.5: Return of the Ancients

Hey guys! This is my Spear & Shield Bleed build that I came up with while messing around late in the 0.4 league in preparation for Axes, which will likely be Bleed and Rage focused weapons.

It started as a bit of an experiment but ended up becoming one of my best builds as it has a bunch of sustain through Leech, and some serious Bleed damage against pinnacle bosses (~22 million+ if setup properly). All you really need for this build to start working is a high-armour Shield and a decent Spear, which you can craft mostly deterministically, after the crafting nerfs.

Overall, Herald of Blood does a ton of work when clearing groups of mobs with its chaining-effect due to the Poison III + Bursting Plague + Bleed III combo, which doesn't work remarkably early in the campaign but gets stronger and stronger as you get access to the right support gems.

We're using Rake to start these Herald of Blood chains to clear mobs, which is a nice combination of guaranteed-Bleed-inflicter and Travel Skill. We can zoom past and sometimes through mobs with this skill, and we want to use the leap-portion of this attack for mobility and more damage. The skill feels pretty good to use throughout the campaign and once you get access to Ancestral Call I, it feels even better.

Aside from that, we're also using the Shield Wall + Fortifying Cry combo for single target damage to inflict massive bleeds, which will always be critically striking due to Nebuloch (a cheap unique) in the late game. It's easy to scale big damage with Nebuloch by just leaning into Critical Damage Bonus and not having to worry about Critical Hit Chance, as long as you have the Endurance Charges at the right time. The Bleeds inflicted by this combo often deal ~50% or more of the boss's life, as they are often Aggravated due to how we have set up the Passive Skill Tree.

QUICK NOTE: this build is largely unaffected by the Shield Wall + Fortifying Cry shotgun nerf. I tested this build using Infernal Cry as a detonator instead, and the damage was still insane. We're relying on Shield Wall inflicting huge Bleeds rather than the shotgun effect, so this build is definitely safe to pursue in 0.5.

We're getting our survivability through Leech as I mentioned earlier, but we're also capitalizing off of this with Couture of Crimson, which allows us to Overleech for even more maximum life, which is what you want to stack on every piece of gear you can on this build.

Lastly, Constricting Command is a sensible purchase when you can afford it, as is a From Nothing Diamond to access some juicy Critical Damage Nodes around Resonance. These just let us optimize our Passive Skill Tree to a great extent, and are the two pricier pieces of this setup.

We may see an alternate version of this build based on the changes to Blistering Bond, where we go Avatar of Fire to inflict some serious Ignite + Bleed damage overtime with Saitha's Spear. Keep an eye out for that!

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong clear, as long as corpses are involved (especially for Breach encounters)
Quite tanky once you get Couture of Crimson and some Leech going
HUGE single-target Bleed damage makes pinnacles bosses a breeze

Rake is a little jank; helps to "travel" while clearing, but sometimes you can get stuck
Delirium mobs do not leave corpses, which much of this clear relies on
Involves a bit of respeccing for Early Maps; a minor point, but will cost you a handful of gold

Build Variants

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Interludes

Early Maps

League Start

Optimized

Shield & Spear Bleed Warrior: Act 1 Overview

Honestly, early on in this Act you don't really need to buy a Spear straightaway. If you want to get by with Mace Strike and Boneshatter for a bit, you are more than welcome to use this for clearing and bossing, and is actually what I prefer for almost all of Act 1. It's super effective for early Warrior playthroughs, but you'll likely want a Spear and start making some solid Spear skill gems around when you get to the Cemetery. You also don't get Rake until The Rust King so Mace Strike and Boneshatter may be the better choice for clearing until then.

A Spear becomes more handy once you get your first Spirit Gem from the King in the Mist, which will obviously be Herald of Blood. You don't really get a strong "chaining" effect from it just yet, but it does help with clearing nonetheless, and can combo with Boneshatter quite effectively.

Overall though, you will mostly be using your Spear for both clearing and bossing at the end of Act 1 with Rake and Rapid Assault + Explosive Spear. Killing Rares can be wiped with Herald of Blood explosions from surrounding mobs, Disengage, Rake, even Spear Stab with a good enough Spear.

Frankly, a high-armour Shield is not a high priority in this Act. Grab one if you can, but really your Spear is going to be doing the heavy lifting here.

Equipment

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Interludes

Early Maps

League Start

Optimized

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Shield & Spear Bleed Warrior: Act 1 Gearing

Your Spear will be the most important piece of equipment in this Act, and will remain something you want to keep updated as you progress through the campaign. Good rolls are any +physical damage rolls and +melee skill rolls. Elemental damage rolls are "fine" this early on, but you're going to want to scale Bleed damage so scaling physical is where we'll want to go eventually. Check the shop for Spear upgrades often, throughout the whole playthrough (unless you get a strong one that you know will last awhile!).

That said, during the earliest parts of your playthrough, you may want to lean into Mace skills a bit more. Mace Strike DPS is still insane single-target damage against bosses, and Boneshatter is still a VERY good clearing option. I find that I am often using pure maces up until around the Grim Tangle, since you can use the first level 3 Support Gem you get for Rake, but even then there's no real "clearing" benefit from this and Herald of Blood until later. So, keep an eye out for decent maces as well, and you can dual wield them in Weapon Set 2.

Heavy armour is great, but if you want to wear some DEX/STR pieces, go for it. Just grab whatever you can and stack life, life regen, resistances, etc., but this early in the playthrough it's difficult to actually optimize your defenses so use what you have access to.

Like I said earlier, a high-armour Shield is not your first priority here, but you should get one at some point. Resonating Shield can actually hit kinda hard with a strong Shield, and this skill will be able to assist in clearing once you socket it with Bleed I so you definitely want it to hit somewhat hard.

Skill Gems

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Interludes

Early Maps

League Start

Optimized

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 40

Dex 10

Int 10

Rake

Level 5

Herald of Blood

Level 4

Rapid Assault

Level 5

Explosive Spear

Level 4

Resonating Shield

Level 5

Disengage

Level 5

Spear Stab

Level 5

Infernal Cry

Level 4

Gem Priority

+12

Shield & Spear Bleed Warrior: Act 1 Skill Gems & Support Gems

Early on you want to get some Rage generation and solid DPS out of one of your standard attacks with Spear Stab or Mace Strike with the Rage I and Rapid Attacks I Support Gems. If you start out with these two support gems in Mace Strike, totally viable, just switch them over to Spear Stab once you find or buy a decent Spear.

We don't get Rake until later, that's why I do think it's worth considering using Mace Strike with the Rapid Attacks I + Rage I and Boneshatter socketed with Impact Shockwave and Magnified Area I for your earliest clears until you get that level 3 Skill Gem. Even then, honesty I would consider keeping Maces in your second weapon set for Boneshatter clearing because Herald of Blood + Rakedoesn't really feel great until Act II. Also grab Explosive Spear at some point with one of your spare skill gems as we'll need it for later.

PRO TIP: You can also set Boneshatter to Weapon Set 2 and Dual Wield maces for even stronger clears + single target nukes when targets are primed for stun.

Once you get Rake, it feels very good to combo with Disengage since this bumps you backwards and you want to get the "leap portion" of Rake to go off when you attack with it. You'll have to get a feel for the max range, but you do much more damage when you leap towards your target. Sometimes this won't be enough to kill your target, but enough to do a bit of damage and Prime them for Stun; this is where your Dual Wielded Boneshatter can still do some work in your second Weapon Set.

NOTE ON CLEARING: Rake gets a significant damage boost when you utilize its leap, as I said earlier, so when you are choosing targets to "leap to," try to select targets a little further from you character in the "back" of crowds and/or ranged mobs.

Herald of Blood won't chain when you get it, but it will still help with clears. So yeah, no chaining effect yet, but we'll get some of that in Act 2.

Prioritize getting Rapid Assault ASAP when you have access to level 5 Skill Gems, and if you happen to get a second one, Resonating Shield next. Really, on bosses all you need to do is spam Rapid Assault until the boss has 3-4 Spears in them, then detonate them with Explosive Spear (keep hitting them with Rapid Assault until Explosive Spear detonates as well). You'll do significantly more damage if you are able to time this detonation with a heavy stun on the boss; watch that stun meter and try to build it up with multiple Rapid Assaults. Spear Stabs in between to maintain Rage if possible.

If you have Resonating Shield for Geonor, the gameplan is the same; just make sure you fully break his armour first and keep that debuff up by tapping Resonating Shield every now and then. This goes for pretty much all the boss fights going forward; maintain that armour break debuff, but the fights usually don't last very long. I also socket this with Rage I to help generate and maintain Rage while bossing and clearing.

Infernal Cry is totally optional; you don't really need to grab this but I had a spare skill gem, and it be used to empower some of your Rapid Assaults and Rakes if desired.

Passive Tree

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Interludes

Early Maps

League Start

Optimized

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Shield & Spear Bleed Warrior: Act 1 Passive Skill Tree

These are the 5 notables on the passive skill tree that I think are the ones you want to hit in Act 1. Pay attention to their "priority" as that's the order you want to grab them.

Having Brutal before the The Rust King will help the fight go much more quickly, and once you get Smash you want to make sure you are timing your Rapid Assault + Explosive Spear combo to go off when the boss is heavy stunned. It doesn't have to be perfect, but your damage can get nutty if you pull this off correctly.

Aside from that, progress to that bunch of one-handed damage nodes for Impair then Reaving for some useful Dexterity, Attack Speed, and significant damage increases for clears and bosses.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character

Clearfell — Beira of the Rotten Pack

+10% to Cold Resistance

Hunting Grounds — The Crowbell

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Freythorn — The King in the Mists

+30 to Spirit

Ogham Farmlands — Una's Hut

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Ogham Manor — Candlemass, the Living Rite

+20 to maximum Life

Keth — Kabala, Constrictor Queen

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Valley of the Titans — Medallion

30% increased Charm Charges gained

+1 Charm Slot

Deshar — Final Letter

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan

+10% to Lightning Resistance

Jungle Ruins — Mighty Silverfist

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Venom Crypts — Venom Draught

25% increased Stun Threshold

Jiquani's Machinarium — Blackjaw, the Remnant

+10% to Fire Resistance

The Azak Bog — Ignagduk, the Bog Witch

+30 to Spirit

The Molten Vault — The Molten Vault

Reforging Bench

Aggorat — Blood Sacrifice

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Journey's End — Captain Hartlin

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Skill Gem(Lv 13)

Delirium Drop

Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest

5% increased Maximum Mana

Halls of the Dead — Yama The White

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Halls of the Dead — Tawhoa's Test

+5% to Lightning Resistance

Abandoned Prison — Goddess of Justice

30% increased Life Recovery from Flasks

Halls of the Dead — Tasalio's Test

+5% to Cold Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Ngamahu's Test

+5% to Fire Resistance

Wolvenhold — Oswin, the Dread Warden

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Akthi and Anundr

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Molten Shrine

5% increased Maximum Life

Qimah — Tabana's Pillar

3% increased Movement Speed

Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear

+40 to Spirit

Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

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Path of Building Code

1. Build Overview Lexd's Spear & Shield Bleed Titan 0.5: Return of the Ancients 2. Strengths and Weaknesses 3. Build Variants 4. Equipment 5. Skill Gems 6. Passive Tree 7. Quest Rewards

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