Barb or Crusader?

[Bling]

I played D3 extensively before RoS came out and ended up maining a Barbarian. I pretty much ended up with BiS gear for my barb and was able to blow through everything even in MP 10 with ease, got bored and quit the game for awhile. Now I've picked up RoS and leveled both my barb and a crusader to 70, but now I can't decide which will end up being the better character to gear up first. I gravitate towards strength based armored bruisers and enjoy both classes.

So what do you guys think?
Which are better grinders?
Which pack more offensive punch?
Defensive might?
Which would you rather have in BiS gear?

Help me figure out which of the two to main.

[rated]

Only you can make this choice

If you want my biased opinion, play the Barbarian.

If you just want to play what ever is stronger, play the Crusader.

[OrcsRLame]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, Crusader is the stronger class right now.

[Calzaeth]

I'd personally pick the crusader, for the incredibly simple reason that 2h+shield looks boss as fuck.

[Deleted]

Crusader is like a train while Barbarian is more like a lawn mover.

[Gallahadd]

Only played Crusader since RoS launch, they're super fun insane tanks and great damage with a few viable builds (and unless you're playing T6 like 1000 workable builds) plus some freaking awesome looking abilities.

[IRunSoFarAway]

Crusader. I don't know why, but Barbarian just bores me to death.

[Graeham]

I find that the Crusader is a lot more enjoyable and polished across the board. I also greatly prefer the character's aesthetics - the male barbarian doesn't do anything for me yet the male Crusader is pretty easy on the eyes and is voiced by Gideon Emery!

[Vasilisa]

The only problem is that crusader requires rare legendaries (+6 set pieces) to advance smoothly to T5/T6.

[OrcsRLame]

The only problem is that crusader requires rare legendaries (+6 set pieces) to advance smoothly to T5/T6.

They're not that rare anymore with the buff to their drop rate. Just spam out them rifts. I'm not up on the Barbarian meta, but don't they use Shard of Hate? That ties for rarest item in the game with like 6 others.

I started serious playing my Crusader again 2 days ago, already have 3 Akkhan's pieces. Granted, one of them is total shit, but still.

[Deleted]

Crusaders are stronger than Barbarians currently. I put a lot of effort into gearing my Barbarian to be able to do T2, but I could do T2 with my alt Crusader in no time. Says enough for me.

I just leveled my Crusader to 70 on RoS release for fun and didn't look back for a while. I then started playing my main Barbarian again a lot, put a lot of hours into gearing him and eventually reach T2. Only many weeks and months later did I return to my Crusader to learn that with only a few hours of gearing him I could do the same.

Barbarians need a buff imo. I do prefer playing a Barbarian for the aesthetics and vibe, they're my favourite class. But sadly Crusaders level and kill faster with more ease.

[Deleted]

Having quit the game just after release I picked it up again last week and made a Crusader now currently steaming my way through T2 - T3 solo with a little over 800k damage and 7m toughness, very easy class to play.
Though I did get lucky I guess with a Maximus and Scourge drop in the same afternoon

[AeneasBK]

The only problem is that crusader requires rare legendaries (+6 set pieces) to advance smoothly to T5/T6.

Individually the legendaries are rare, but as there are so many that can be used to make t6 viable builds it isn't really an issue. You're bound to get a Darklight, Gyrfalcon, Fate of the Fell, Baleful Remnant, Blade of Prophecy etc. relatively quickly.

I have about 38 hours on my seasonal Crusader and have Blade of Prophecy/[Unnamed seasonal that removes CD from Condemn] combo, and 4 set Akhans (got my RoRG this morning, so roll on chest piece and I'm golden ).

I feel (although can't speak from experience) that after 38 hours on a Barbarian you're still going to be pottering about in torment 1 hoping to finish off MotE or Raekors so you can actually start to bash things. Having said that Barbs got some nice buffs on the latest PTR build I think so maybe this info is out of date.

[announced]

id still play a sader. i prefer their speed mount skill, wearing a 2h + shield is also really decent, their 6set bonus is insane and shotgun holy is kickass. its a bit harder to find a good fate of the fell, but just hold onto any u see and u can add a socket in it for almost free (just find a tiny item to do it) and you'll be great.

crusaders do require a decent amount of CDR though, well a lot of CDR but its not that hard to obtain.

[Puzzony]

With the barb 2.1 buffs they will be around the same, but i'll stick around my crusader, and farm out the new shieldbasher set to rape everything all along the game ~40M shield bashes even now without specialized gear, and they buff pound even more, along with the set that gives +100% dmg to it

[Faesroll]

Play both?

[Deleted]

It's really depends on gear, Barb is fun to play if you have nice items, but Crusader better suits for party, so go for Crusader.