crusader more lame version of paladin

[Tauren]

they bring back his abilities but make them so much lesser. what are blessed hammers purple? and purple fist of the heavens with no cool sound effect? its just way worse this guy seems to just be some magic warrior not a true paladin. and the crusader is just an elite paladin why is he less of a pally

[Angarin]

Runes alter the effects of abilities.

And unlike in d2 where you had infinite mana with the correct follower with d3 resources aren't infinite. So you can't spam hammers or fits of heavens infinitely.

He's not a paladin though and they clarified this at blizzcon.

He's a crusader. They clarified he's a mid-range character. Not melee like monk/barbarian, not pure ranged like DH or Wizard, but a mid-range. Meaning he can melee or ranged just fine or in between.


Please go watch the blizzcon info or read about it and then come back.

[Djuntas]

Lets not make a paladin 2.0...I appreciate a new class.

The problem with paladin inn Diablo2 is maybe not so much the build, but the fact that the game has everything to make it own:

Barely any magic immune mobs

Easy max block 75%

Enigma for teleport infront off mobs for fast position

INSANE survival, while having some off the best damage (This is a gear thing somewhat)

[Gallahadd]

Pretty sure Blessed Hammer isn't purple, not the base version anyway, it's a single glowy, metallic white.

As for Fist of Heavens not having a 'cool' sound effect... How exactly does that make the class worse? Most people I know play with the volume down anyway

Personally I think the Crusader fits my mental image of a "Holy Warrior" (which is what a paladin should be) FAR more than the D2 paladin ever did. He's more focused on the holy magic, has a strong focus on the shield, has some strong healing abilities... All very 'paladinish' imo.

[Deleted]

what.. I don't even..

[Herecius]

Fist of the Heavens has a badass effect, don't know what you're talking about. A great beam of light slams down on where you click it and sends out a fancier equivalent of holy bolts in all directions, at least with the rune available at Blizzcon. It has an explosive sound effect... like, what else should it have? Should a choir of angels scream HALLELUJAH like a holy hand grenade?

[Ratyrel]

So you evidently watched a stream for ten seconds, jumped to conclusions, and then graced us with this amazing topic for discussion? If you were expecting the crusader to be hammerdin 2.0, I think you may need to readjust your views.

[Deleted]

He's not a paladin though and they clarified this at blizzcon.

He's a crusader.

And yet he has almost the exact same abilities. Smite, Blessed Hammer, Blessed Shield, Fist of the Heavens to name a few.

[Angarin]

And yet he has almost the exact same abilities. Smite, Blessed Hammer, Blessed Shield, Fist of the Heavens to name a few.

His lore is nothing like the paladins lore. They come from a separate order and do what they can to not be corrupted.

It has VERY few abilities that are exactly like diablo 2's paladins. They added a few & removed some.

So if you want to call it a paladin because it has hammers, a shield slam, and fist of the heavens, then yeah sure its a paladin.

But last I checked you don't pronounce crusader as paladin.

[Stormspellz]

aren't lore wise crusader's elite paladins, who left order due to the corruption within the paladin order.

[Angarin]

aren't lore wise crusader's elite paladins, who left order due to the corruption within the paladin order.

I guess thats somewhat what I said...

But yes thats true.

Currently they're a separate order, but they were elite paladins, but left to avoid corruption.

[Zaqwert]

Pretty much. Just like the Witch Doctor is a really lame version of the Necromancer. They basically just rebranded a lot of the old classes only making them crappier in the process.

Which is pretty much the spirit of Diablo 3. "Hey remember that thing you liked from Diablo? Well it's back... kinda Only it's much worse. $50 plz?"

[von Richthofen]

The Crusader lore from in-game is kind of neat. Two-hundred years ago, a Zakarum cleric sensed there was corruption in his faith, and so he prayed and came upon the idea for the Order of Crusaders. He recruited the most martially adept and devout Zakarum adherents, and trained them to use the Light in ways that no Paladin could ever manage. He then sent them out into the world to seek a way to cleanse the corruption, but there was no clear goal for them to pursue.

With no clear goal, the Crusaders ended up forming their own little knightly order where none believed they would ever end the crusade by cleansing the corruption, but instead believed that the search ennobled them and that the discipline of their life and journey was the true goal. They believed they were meant to find meaning in the quest itself.

Two-hundred years ago, they took their apprentices and headed into the eastern swamplands, and were never heard from again... until now. The Crusaders survived to the present day by taking on apprentices, which would take up the armor, place in the order, and even the name of their master when the master Crusader fell. Of the original 427 Crusaders who disappeared into the east, 341 returned.

[Stormcall]

and trained them to use the Light in ways that no Paladin could ever manage.

Yeah, he taught them the power of the mighty "cooldown" rather than, you know, spamming their blessed hammers that killed every enemy around them.

[Angarin]

Yeah, he taught them the power of the mighty "cooldown" rather than, you know, spamming their blessed hammers that killed every enemy around them.

There isn't a cooldown if you actually knew anything about the crusader in d3.

Crusaders resource is called wrath, it generates just like barbarian fury or monk spirit, I do not know if it generates passively though.

Blessed hammers are spent using wrath.

So long as you have sufficient wrath, you can spam hammers...

No different than d2...except in d2, hammerdins are stupid op because mana was infinite because of a single follower with meditation.

[Stormcall]

There isn't a cooldown if you actually knew anything about the crusader in d3.

Crusaders resource is called wrath, it generates just like barbarian fury or monk spirit, I do not know if it generates passively though.

Blessed hammers are spent using wrath.

So long as you have sufficient wrath, you can spam hammers...

No different than d2...except in d2, hammerdins are stupid op because mana was infinite because of a single follower with meditation.

In D2, you didn't have to build anything to spam hammers, you HAD your resource from the start. And even without Insight you could spam hammers basically infinitely, since, you know, paladins can get Meditation as well, so spam till your mana got low(and since hammers only cost 17 mana even at slvl 50, it's not likely you would run out fast) then swap to Med for a second and regen your mana right back up. Or they could just flash Redemption after they'd killed a couple of mobs to basically insta-fill their mana if it got low. If you had mana problems as a hammerdin, even without an Insight merc, you were doing something wrong.

[Repefe]

It's lame that we get two holy classes in 6 class roaster and that they named it crusader indirectly connecting the class to some kind of catholic church order (not sure there is even one of those in D3).

But mid range caster on its own is ok idea.

[Gallahadd]

In D2, you didn't have to build anything to spam hammers, you HAD your resource from the start. And even without Insight you could spam hammers basically infinitely, since, you know, paladins can get Meditation as well, so spam till your mana got low(and since hammers only cost 17 mana even at slvl 50, it's not likely you would run out fast) then swap to Med for a second and regen your mana right back up. Or they could just flash Redemption after they'd killed a couple of mobs to basically insta-fill their mana if it got low. If you had mana problems as a hammerdin, even without an Insight merc, you were doing something wrong.

You've not seen many streams have you? I've watched people SPAM hammers, like constant spam, The resource system is RoS is SUPER forgiving.

Also... why would you WANT to do nothing but spam hammers? This isn't D2, this is a whole new game there are a bunch of other super strong abilities to use, why on earth would you gimp yourself by just spamming one?

[Olrox]

On the topic of Crusaders - what's the weapon choice looking like?

Are they like Barb and can bust out 1H+board / 2H/ DW or just 1H + shield?

[Nerraw]

Shield + whatever. There's even a passive that allows them to wield a 2H+Shield at the same time.