Crit Bloodcurse Tiel
TielThe earliest strong build in the game, assembled almost entirely inside Mushroom Village. Tiel and the Axe and Dagger are both available in the opening hours, and the Duality Stone makes every light attack land twice, so the crit chance from the Auspicious Stone and Magdalena's Memento gets double the rolls. Arbiter's Prize puts Bloodcurse on the weapon and the Grisha Remnant procs a summon on top, which is how a level 16 character deletes the Lost Child in seconds.
Damage
Doubled light attacks with 200%+ crit damage by level 17
Survivability
Fragile. Shadow Dash i-frames and Shadow Clone instead of armor
Boss
Lost Child died in roughly 15 seconds at level 16
Tiel
Tiel the Acolyte is the nimble shell, built around dashing and quick strikes rather than trading blows. His Lingering Shadow ability hides him and sets up a heavy Shadow Strike with his dagger, and his Shadow Dash passive grants Shadow and inflicts Stagger Damage when you dash just before a hit lands. He has no stamina bar, so he can dash and swing as often as you can input it.
Take this the moment you can reach it and put every upgrade material you own into it. The light attack strings are short and fast, which is what makes the Duality Stone worth so much here. More hits per opening means more crit rolls, more Bloodcurse stacks and more Resolve for the sidearm. Do not spend anything on the Iconoclast starter glaive before you switch.
How to Obtain
The sidearm you already own when the build comes together, which is most of why it is the pick at this stage. It fires an explosive short-range blast fuelled by the Resolve your melee generates, and it is the sidearm the Emberseed Stone is guaranteed to accept. Fire it into the stagger window after a Shadow Strike.
Alternatives
- Salvaged TrebuchaxeWiki
How to Obtain
A free damage source that costs you nothing to run. Once equipped, your melee hits carry a chance to summon a Grisha that fights alongside you, and the Duality Stone doubling your hit count doubles the number of rolls against that chance. Collect all three copies, because at the third the summon's damage and the proc rate both scale with how many you have found.
How to Obtain
Combat Strategy
- ▸Apply the Bloodcurse infusion before the fight by holding the axe. Until Arbiter's Prize is maxed you can stack it up to three times.
- ▸Put every upgrade material into the Axe and Dagger and every Glimpse into the shell. Nothing else in the loadout needs investment.
- ▸Equip the Grisha Remnant in the passive slot and leave it there permanently.
- ▸Carry one or two Common Moonshine if the fight is long enough that Resolve will run dry.
- ▸Open with a light attack string rather than a heavy. The build scales with hit count, not hit size.
- ▸Dash through incoming attacks with Shadow Dash timing so each dodge also builds Stagger Damage.
- ▸Circle to the enemy's back and keep the string going. Ambush only pays out from behind.
- ▸When a boss staggers, skip the riposte and keep swinging from behind instead. The riposte is worth less than the free combo window.
- ▸Spend 100 Resolve on Magdalena's Memento for the aerial flurry. Each strike in it carries the Bloodcurse infusion and its own crit roll.
- ▸Follow a Shadow Strike with a melee swing so Critical Role's guaranteed critical lands on a full-damage hit.
- ▸Fire the Naylshotte into the stagger window a Shadow Strike creates, which is enough time to pull the sidearm and land it.
- ▸Let the Bloodcurse stacks detonate on their own rather than rushing. The build applies them faster than most enemies can shed them.
- ▸Shadow Clone is a tempo tool, not damage. Drop one to hold an enemy's attention while you reposition behind the real target.
- ▸Quitting to the main menu and hitting continue reloads you at your last beacon, which works as free fast travel when a pickup run goes wrong.
- ▸Swap Arbiter's Prize for the Serpent Stone while farming so the stone gains experience and you get Poison for trash clearing.
- ▸Tiel has no stamina bar, so there is no reason to ration dashes or swings. Input as fast as you can read the fight.
Sources
Verified: 2026-09-15 · All content is original with full credit to original creators.