You have to hit 2-4 times cleanly in succession to inflict bleeding. A bandit's knife only does 300 bleed dmg compared to the 500 Pricilla's does, but it does way more damage if upgraded to lightning or fire plus the ridiculous 147 critical multiplier, add to that the hornet ring and you can kill black knights with a single riposte. Same goes with the standard rapier. If you want to bleed someone out, use the uchigatana or the washing pole if you want ridiculous range. Also, I have never had any reason to use repair powder, I ALWAYS have a backup weapon. If you go strength, Black Knight Halberd is OP, but then you have less points to spend on other stats.