Decent gladiators are a dime a dozen, but most of the players that I co- op with seem to obsess over Ceraunic Storm or Phalanx, that is DoT spam or tanking. These strategies have their place, but that poor Xiphos tree gets overlooked almost every time. This is probably because bleed damage alone can't kill, and even worse, it didn't get invited to the Maelstrom party that boost two other DoT types to fever pitch.

Give that Xiphos a second look. Bleeding alone does nearly no damage, but anyone who takes bleed damage gets opened up to additional damage, and the capstone lets you fly around the battlefield like Hermes and keep that Maelstrom cycling at a constant ~250 level, while cherry picking the most appropriate perks from Phalanx to ensure that you don't shed ichor when some poor skav is lucky enough to hit you.

Sans a mod-


With Celestial Gladiator applied-


In solo, this setup had no problem with anything in the game, even the raid bosses. In multiplayer, it rolls so quickly that it takes a decently- built Nisha just to keep up with you. Some of the items this build calls for can be difficult to farm, but I'll show you other, easier to find items that will be viable place- holders.

I have everything set up like this because it works best for me, and I'll explain why, but I'm not gonna send the Gestapo after you if you personalize it. Have some fun with it and feel free to respond with any questions, concerns, or tips you may have.

The first ability we're gonna pick up is Invictus, a free 35% damage bonus to our shield toss so that anything that would have barely survived gets mopped up without wasting any ammo. We'll also pick up Ephodos for a 20% bonus to gun damage. It also gives us a coincidental speed bonus, which I mostly used to sprint faster between fights, since the Kinetic Aspis cooldown is such that you can be ready to strike within a few seconds of getting to the battle.

The second tier takes a point in Vanguard to take advantage of our Celestial Gladiator mod and let us heal up as we're sprinting around macerating our enemies. More importantly than that slight health bonus is Hold the Line, extending the duration of our Aspis by an impressive 8 seconds, due to the CG bonus.

The next two tiers give us Prismatic Aegis and Clear! Prismatic Aegis is a free damage boost, since many enemies will be using elemental weapons, and the throw from it will cause DoT damage, adding a nice synergy with Ceraunic Storm. Clear is an excellent one point grab in solo and multiplayer, since it give you a whopping 40% damage bonus when you're in FFYL, and an instant Second Wind to your partners who are sadly less immortal than you.

Nearing the top, we pick up Prepare for Glory. Since you'll probably be your teams damage tank, everyone will be shooting at you, so why not get a damage boost for doing your job? This will rarely get above 3-5 stacks, but at 10% per stack, you can't lose.

We pick up the capstone here, Wrath of the Goddess. While that 33% damage penalty looks pretty heavy, the first enemy still takes 135% damage, thanks to invictus. After that, 102% on the second, 69% on the third, and 36% on the final enemy. Plan out your throw so that the full damage hits the biggest palooka on the field, the other bounces take out his weaker friends. The extra time your Aspis is out won't count against your cooldown timer, which starts recharging when it leaves your arm, not when it returns.

We'll capitalize on our CG bonus with five points in Gun Kata and Clarity of purpose for a total of 150% melee damage bonus, 30% health bonus, and 30% gun damage bonus.

The next tier gives us Omega- Senshu. While not as effective as Maya's Reaper, or Dopplejack's Integrity, 35% means that enemies will die that much faster once you've melee'd the royal blood out of them. Sadly, we pass up the healthy speed bonus from Mercurial to save some points for the other trees.

Rend doesn't seem like an amazing ability, but once applied, it gives us...

Tear, a 35% damage bonus to any bleeding target, which immediately stacks with Omega Senshu, because our melee damage bonus reduces almost any enemy in the game to half it's health bar. We also pick up Epicenter, because I'm lazy and I'd prefer enemies come to me, rather than making me walk all the way over to them. The range of Epicenter is relatively short, but it's still handy since we'll be buttslamming quite a bit for the Hades' Shackles damage.

We'll skip Fury of the Arena and Bloodsplosion... er... You've Got Red on You because we're out of spare points, and skip straight to Blood Rush. The range on this lunge is ridiculous, just jump up, press melee, and fly across the map to your intended target. This is especially helpful since our corrosive weapon will be a shotgun. You'll lunge up to those Stolen Dahl Jet Fighters, proc bleed for the damage bonus, then fire two or three shots to leave them falling to the ground, using their last breath to wonder why you have a thirty meter vertical leap. Blood rush recharges instantly if you apply bleed or kill with it, so as long as you plan your hits and don't miss, you should always have it fully charged.

We'll pick up the bottom abilities, Storm Weaving and Maelstrom because we don't really have any choice in the matter. Storm weaving stays active just long enough to get a few shots off after you switch weapons and do a melee lunge. The real hero here is Maelstrom, which will provide the entire reason for this tree's existence, and add some meat and potatoes to our build.

The next tier gives us four points Gathering Tempest. While we're encouraged to switch weapons for Storm Weaving, instead of reloading, it's still nice to have this bonus to make combat a little smoother. We'll max out Conduit, since we'll be smoochin' on the face of danger, and since we'll average around 250 stacks per firefight, recovering 50% of our substantial shield every second is an incredible trick to have.

The third tier gives us Smite. It's helpful to add a little damage and a few stacks every time you jump up for a buttslam. If you find yourself forgetting to take advantage of this, just put the extra point in Gathering Tempest to compound its bonus, while still unlocking the capstone. We also pick up Unrelenting, because an average 75% fire rate bonus to stack with our other abilities is pretty ridiculous.

Nearing the top, we grab Zeus' Rage for the sake of building and maintaining stacks, but we'll avoid the other surrounding abilities because we only have one point left, for...

Hades' Shackles. I don't usually buttslam very often, since I feel the up and down motion can cause one to miss shots and waste ammo, but this ability has good synergy with my combat strategy. This is; activate Aspis, jump up from high ground, slam into the biggest crowd, let Epicenter draw stragglers, get a Many Must Fall style chainstab with Blood Rush, then turn around and get bonus damage on a handful of bleeding enemies. Any survivors will get picked off by the now- ready Aspis and the Maelstrom that we've accumulated. As I mentioned earlier, this strategy will yield around 250 stacks, but it can float between 100 and ~450 depending on the amount of enemies present. With this strategy, I finally found a use for Frostfire, the stubborn cousin to Chulainn. Since you basically become a glass turret when Frostfire freezes you, you'll instantly die because you can't evade or chase enemies. But this freeze doesn't reduce Blood Rush's effectiveness. So pick up a melee variant, and use the same strategy, and don't worry about being more susceptible to damage because your Aspis will keep you from any harm. I don't recommend using it if you opt for Flash Freeze, though, since it's ~25% proc chance will lock your maelstrom under 100 stacks, and be thus rendered worthless.

Thunderfire-
Dahl Barrels are my favorite on lasers, and this gun sends out electric laser blasts, with a fire AoE. For my Athena, it's the best of every world.

Acuminous Frostfire-
A surprisingly effective counterpart to Thunderfire, this not only covers our obligatory Cryo slot, but it doesn't force us to do so while sacrificing Maelstrom stacks and it boosts the melee damage we get on frozen targets. It takes luck, skill, and a little psychosis to make this work, but it'll always pay off when you get used to it's particular mechanics.

Practicable Crowdsourcing (Corrosive)-
While normally, I'd prefer a Development for it's frontloaded burst damage, I had much better luck with the Crowdsourcing, since we'll be doing so much flying and slamming that the extra accuracy will pay off more than the extra damage. Also, it only consumes three rounds, instead of four, letting you conserve your ammo a little easier. The Blood Rush jump even works against RK5, just wait until he drops low to strafe, hop up, and empty two or three magazines into him. Couldn't be easier.

Muckamuck or Snider-
This slot gathers some dust since this build is all about close- range combat, but it helps to have a ranged option just in case we get pinned down for one reason or another. I prefer cryo or electric elements on my Snider, since they're more adaptable than the other options. You could also put a Badaboom or Barrigan in this slot, but you won't need it very often, since you'll practically never be in FFYL.

Thunderfire, Frostfire, and Crowdsourcing cost more than one ammo per triggerpull, so try to be as accurate as possible to prevent waste, and be sure to invest heavily in moonstone ammo capacity boosters.

Maliwan Laser-
You'll want a fire or electric option here, be it Thorny Ol' Rosy, Vibra- Pulse, or just the best purple laser you come across. I prefer the firing mechanics of Dahl barrels, but just use the best one you come across.

Maliwan or Hyperion SMG-
You'll want fire here if your laser is electric, or vice versa. You'll probably opt for the best one you come across, but I had luck with Maliwan, due to it's close relationship with elemental damage, or Hyperion, for it's higher fire rate and above average accuracy.

Three Barrel Shotgun-
This will be your corrosive go- to, so just go with the highest damage option you find. I prefer Hyperion, since it won't waste any pellets after the first shot, but go with what you're comfortable with. A four barrel can also work here, just keep in mind that it won't be as accurate, and thus be less efficient in some situations.

A "Get Out of Jail Free" Card-
You'll want the highest damage rocket launcher or sniper rifle you come across to fill this spot. Going down is rare, but when you do, your other weapons may not be reloaded yet, so it's wise to diversify.

Shield- Shield of Ages
Black Hole rarely got to fire with Conduit constantly cycling, and Rerouter didn't seem to help much on top of our quick fire rate, so I opted for this, so that any enemy shooting me in the back wouldn't get a free kill while I was using Aspis on a Badass. I had high hopes for the Fabled Tortoise, since its slow down would be nil beside Ephodos and Mercurial, and it's speed boost would stack well with them, while Aspis prevents me from dying while at warp speed, but the massive health reduction, something along the lines of double the Shield of Ages' penalty, was just too high a price to pay, especially since Conduit prevented the speed bonus.

oZ kit- 3DD1.E
Free shield recharges, free ammo, and a free damage boost to Thunderfire. If you're not sold on this one, Moonlight Saga also has a place here, letting you vampire health to survive, in case your respectable shield crumbles at a bad time.

Grenade- Quasar or Meganade
Sometimes enemies will be too spread out for Epicenter to work, so one quick toss from this will help amend that, while getting you some free Maelstrom to warm up. A shock Transfusion grenade can work here too, in case you find yourself taking more damage than you expected while berserking.

Mod- Celestial Gladiator
While other mods are viable within their specific strategies, the CG gives a broad bonus, allowing us to be very aggressive, while not having to short- change our defenses or team mates in the process.

Shield- Turtle Shield
It's hard for other shields to get use their unique effects with Aspis constantly stealing the spotlight, so I prefer to have the extra defense for when there are enemies behind me that Aspis can't stop. That said, feel free to experement with other options to experience the other divine flavors.

oZ Kit- Precision Strike
This has good synergy with Smite and our arguably inefficient weapons, working like Hyperion reverse recoil, making us more accurate before we even start firing.

Grenade- Cryo Transfusion Grenade
Since the prescribed alternate weapons don't include a Cryo option, we can fill that in here with our grenade. I prefer Transfusion, just in case our other means of healing are otherwise indisposed.

Mod- Storm or Dragon
I prefer the elemental damage boosting mods, since I don't really need the cooldown reduction or melee boosts from the others, but feel free to test the various other mods you'll encounter on your journey.

This is the part where I compile good questions, and subsequently answer them, so you don't have to waste time rifling through comments and such.

I have an idea to improve this build. Should I add you to talk about it?
Na bruv, just comment it. If it's cool, I'll add you and we can spitball. If you plan on being insulting, at least be funny. If you make me laugh, I won't delete it.

Why did it take you so long after the games release to start this series?
Long story short? Life just happens, m8. But we're pretty much done now, so no worries.

I'd really like to try this build, but I don't have time to farm all that gear. Would you mind duping for me?
As a matter of principle, I'd rather not, sorry.

Why did you waste so many points on Xiphos?
I almost avoided this tree entirely, but I am a big fan of melee Zer0 builds, and Blood Rush feels like the more user friendly version of Many Must Fall. I opted for this tree at first, just to get in touch with my inner Assassin, and then discovered that it makes for a really aggressive style of gameplay.

Why bother with Epicenter and Hades' Shackles, since half the game takes place on a giant H in the sky that has gravity and prevents your buttslam?
If you think your buttslam is prevented, you just aren't using your environment properly. Just hop on any object taller than a meter, ie- railing, shrubbery, trash cans, etc. Then jump to your max height, and slam onward. It takes a little more thought than just slamming around on Elpis, but is certainly isn't impossible.

How does this build fair against bosses?
Dropped Sentinel and Iwajira on the first try. Is it just me or are the raid bosses in this game sorta... bad?

Do you have any other guides?
Yes I do, ta very much for asking. A link to them is down in the notes section. This guide finishes up all the currently released vault hunters, but I'll get busy when the next one comes out.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you enjoy this build as much as I do.
If you'd like, check out my other guides here: http://steamproxy.net/id/opheliologist/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides

Feel free to post any questions, tips, or comments below.

7/27/2015
- Guide created
- Several spelling, grammar, and continuity fixes
- Guide finished and posted

7/28/2015
- Several spelling, grammar, and continuity fixes