Crusader built

[Vaelorian]

I was looking at the talent calculator this morning. Thought about making a better synergy with my skill and how they would work.

The first link here is a link where I focus a lot of my powers on Blessed Hammer. I took a passive skill "Blunt" to increase my damage from my 2 base skills by 20%. Then took Provoke with "Flee Fool". Why? At first I thought this talent was pathetic. Why would I want my enemies to flee? Then I realised what was happening in battle:

Enemies are drawn to me and usually in big numbers. Sometimes I want to escape for X reasons.
I would then use Provoke to fill my wrath pool. Make them flee, meanwhile my hammers will still hit them. Hammers fly out starting at my own spot then slowly move away from me. So while they are fleeing I would have a pretty good wrath pool + hammers will likely find their target anyway,

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...PO!aYfi!cbbbaY

Or I would take Steed Charge with Nightmare. For pretty much the same reasons (to make room for myself) meanwhile get a nice cooldown of 20 seconds instead of 25 due to the passive Lord Commander.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...PO!aYfi!cbZbaY

Now the question is: Is this a good built? Do I need to change stuff? I use many gems, so the passive Finery is actually a very nice boost in dps. But what could I possibly lose then as a passive?

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This is my actual current built:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...lh!aYSi!cbZbbY

[Bombael]

Hmmm, theoretically the build you're describing seems sound. Since you're looking to maximize blessed hammer as much as possible, spreading out the enemy to go outward along with the hammers makes sense in addition to giving you room to breathe (especially if you find yourself in a horrible situation). I can't look at the links since i'm at work and it's blocked and my proxy went out, but based on what you're saying it definitely sounds good. Just keep in mind that what looks good on paper doesn't always apply to practice...(too much so I notice in this game lol...) I personally would use provoke flee fool for the extra wrath generation with your idea. That way you can keep hammers rolling as you're getting into a better position. I roll a crit/thorns/block build on my crusader, but i used a similar build to what you're talking about for a little while and it worked out well but i just hate blessed hammer =P.

[Vaelorian]

Hmmm, theoretically the build you're describing seems sound. Since you're looking to maximize blessed hammer as much as possible, spreading out the enemy to go outward along with the hammers makes sense in addition to giving you room to breathe (especially if you find yourself in a horrible situation). I can't look at the links since i'm at work and it's blocked and my proxy went out, but based on what you're saying it definitely sounds good. Just keep in mind that what looks good on paper doesn't always apply to practice...(too much so I notice in this game lol...) I personally would use provoke flee fool for the extra wrath generation with your idea. That way you can keep hammers rolling as you're getting into a better position. I roll a crit/thorns/block build on my crusader, but i used a similar build to what you're talking about for a little while and it worked out well but i just hate blessed hammer =P.

Yeah I disliked Blessed Hammer aswell. I don't particularly like "ranged". I like to stand up to my enemy and face them.

But I joined a lot of Torment I games with friends. And I don't particularly give the group any benefit apart from LAWS. Especially when you are dealing with friends who have near a million DPS. I just do not contribute much with a built that makes me walk towards my foes. So I changed to ranged and voila, I finally contribute (I do about 560k dps, have 11 million toughness and about 860 all resist). They play a little more then me, so... haha.

[Bombael]

Yeah I disliked Blessed Hammer aswell. I don't particularly like "ranged". I like to stand up to my enemy and face them.

But I joined a lot of Torment I games with friends. And I don't particularly give the group any benefit apart from LAWS. Especially when you are dealing with friends who have near a million DPS. I just do not contribute much with a built that makes me walk towards my foes. So I changed to ranged and voila, I finally contribute (I do about 560k dps, have 11 million toughness and about 860 all resist). They play a little more then me, so... haha.

Yeah you're much better geared than i am lol. I'm only sitting at like 380k dps, 6.8mil tough, and 13k healing (now i really don't think those numbers are entirely accurate since a lot of our survivability/damage/healing, at least from my build, come from procs that don't factor into those values). but yeah i agree, running into a group at higher torments is damn near suicide so having some form of range would benefit. as well as having some form of "oh shit" cc when things get a bit hairy.

[Cairhiin]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

[Vaelorian]

Yeah you're much better geared than i am lol. I'm only sitting at like 380k dps, 6.8mil tough, and 13k healing (now i really don't think those numbers are entirely accurate since a lot of our survivability/damage/healing, at least from my build, come from procs that don't factor into those values). but yeah i agree, running into a group at higher torments is damn near suicide so having some form of range would benefit. as well as having some form of "oh shit" cc when things get a bit hairy.

Oh yeah the healing is about 13k too with me

Tbh Bombael, I was worse geared then you last friday. After the weekend (and only played like 5 hours perhaps 6 in total) I ended up with these stats. That said, as you say: I don't have any block really. Just the shield I have. Torment was brutal on friday - I think I died almost every elite pack. Now I can safely walk around, gather some mobs and wtfpwn them - just not as fast as my friends.

Also I am deadbroke with 250k gold left. Damn those enchants!

[Xeroz]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

I have the same build . Its quite nice once you get some + % lightning damage.

[Bombael]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

definitely a good build, but the rune for valor seems kinda redundant imo. hammers don't cost that much and you can pretty much spam them as it is, especially with the 30 wrath gen from provoke. might be better off with the life on hit or stun one. but that's just my personal opinion and my playstyle.

[Vaelorian]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

Yeah I was thinking about Justice/Burst. Good combo, worked wonders while leveling my Crusader. I just felt like I could benefit from a little more Health per Hit.

Did not try Blessed Hammer/Thunderstruck yet, but it has caught my eye. Will try whenever I get a chance to play.

The Provoke/Charged up might be even better then my suggestion. I will still gain a lot of wrath from using Provoke and after that do "insane" dps. Could be worth it. Yet I still would not have a means of escape.

At the time of writing this, I have only about 860 all resist. Gaining Laws of Justice is sort of a must right now. Whenever I feel more comfortable (and I won't die as much) I'll def. give Laws of Valor a chance again.

Akarat's champion/Rally: I like this one, just did not have any synergy with my "Lord Commander" passive. Hence why I did not take it. Like it for the "Oh shit" moments tbh.

Since nor you or I use an ability that increases blockchance or does anything special with blocking right now, I feel "Hold your ground" is a bit meh. I imagine you have some gems right? Check it out what kind of dps increase that really is for you (Finery). It mattered a lot for me.

[Deleted]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

Thank you. I think my build is quite good indeed.

[Prophyt]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/P.../hero/44037142 - Profile
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Ol!SiaY!ZZYbYZ - Build

This is what I use and I've found it to be extremely good once you have the correct gear for it. The gear needed is + lightning dmg, + blessed hammer, and + bombardment dmg. Currently I have + 29% lightning, + 10% blessed hammer, I have to drop my + bombardment dmg for better main stats but I will be looking to add once I get the correct piece. It's silly crusader is more gear dependent then other classes but trust me once you get the correct gear it does insane amounts of dmg with good survivability. I'm currently sitting at 855k DPS which isn't the highest but the burst allows me to I blow through T2 very easily. I don't have much issue with T3 it's just not as efficient as T2 in terms of speed.

The reason why I chose the skills is because they all work together to provide huge burst every 45 secs and good dps increase every 20. When I get to an elite pack I pop 1, 2, 3, 4 and just spam the fuck out of hammer. If bombardment crits they die instantly if it doesn't crit then by the time my wrath is out everything is dead. In Rifts when Rift boss spawns I do the same thing with popping 1 and 4 every 20 sec. The passives I chose are finery because I have 5 sockets, blunt is obviously 20% more dmg to both my main dmg abilities, heavenly str that's obvious too (they really should just make this baked into the class), and righteousness because with it im at 138 wrath which gives me plenty of wrath to spam blessed hammer to clean up elite packs if bombardment doesn't crit.

[Bombael]

lol yeah it's silly how they give a passive that's all but mandatory. however i DID find a 1h that got me to drop heavenly str. since i'm building a block/thorns/crit build i got the 1h axe Hack that causes 99% thorns damage to be applied to every attack (everytime you deal damage it seems like, not just on cast, but i hope that's intentional or else they'll change it at some point =P). with 17.5k thorns, that retarded amount of damage getting thrown out has me doing about 3x-ish more damage than i was before.

[Cairhiin]

Yeah I was thinking about Justice/Burst. Good combo, worked wonders while leveling my Crusader. I just felt like I could benefit from a little more Health per Hit.

Did not try Blessed Hammer/Thunderstruck yet, but it has caught my eye. Will try whenever I get a chance to play.

The Provoke/Charged up might be even better then my suggestion. I will still gain a lot of wrath from using Provoke and after that do "insane" dps. Could be worth it. Yet I still would not have a means of escape.

At the time of writing this, I have only about 860 all resist. Gaining Laws of Justice is sort of a must right now. Whenever I feel more comfortable (and I won't die as much) I'll def. give Laws of Valor a chance again.

Akarat's champion/Rally: I like this one, just did not have any synergy with my "Lord Commander" passive. Hence why I did not take it. Like it for the "Oh shit" moments tbh.

Since nor you or I use an ability that increases blockchance or does anything special with blocking right now, I feel "Hold your ground" is a bit meh. I imagine you have some gems right? Check it out what kind of dps increase that really is for you (Finery). It mattered a lot for me.

Laws of Valor: Unstoppable Force is amazing. I understand your worry about resistances but Unstoppable Force allows you to spam hammers in combination with Long Arm of the Law for 10 seconds without worrying about Wrath. It's great for elite packs.

Hold Your Ground is simply a decent choice because our Dodge chance is something along the lines of 0.5%. I take 15% block over 0.5% dodge any day of the week. Obviously you could take something else instead (I personally wouldn't take Finery but to each their own), but I think it's worth the passive slot.

When you pop Akarat's you completely destroy elite packs. You can keep Provoke up increasing your damage significantly. I'd suggest to test it out. Before the above build I used Limitless with Holy Bolt, and imho it cannot compete.

[Vaelorian]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/P.../hero/44037142 - Profile
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Ol!SiaY!ZZYbYZ - Build

This is what I use and I've found it to be extremely good once you have the correct gear for it. The gear needed is + lightning dmg, + blessed hammer, and + bombardment dmg. Currently I have + 29% lightning, + 10% blessed hammer, I have to drop my + bombardment dmg for better main stats but I will be looking to add once I get the correct piece. It's silly crusader is more gear dependent then other classes but trust me once you get the correct gear it does insane amounts of dmg with good survivability. I'm currently sitting at 855k DPS which isn't the highest but the burst allows me to I blow through T2 very easily. I don't have much issue with T3 it's just not as efficient as T2 in terms of speed.

The reason why I chose the skills is because they all work together to provide huge burst every 45 secs and good dps increase every 20. When I get to an elite pack I pop 1, 2, 3, 4 and just spam the fuck out of hammer. If bombardment crits they die instantly if it doesn't crit then by the time my wrath is out everything is dead. In Rifts when Rift boss spawns I do the same thing with popping 1 and 4 every 20 sec. The passives I chose are finery because I have 5 sockets, blunt is obviously 20% more dmg to both my main dmg abilities, heavenly str that's obvious too (they really should just make this baked into the class), and righteousness because with it im at 138 wrath which gives me plenty of wrath to spam blessed hammer to clean up elite packs if bombardment doesn't crit.

Hmmm the judgement with 80% crit is quite nice. And since it is 80% + probably whatever you have already - is somewhat of a sure crit isn't it.

I would probably go with Falling Sword/Rapid Descent with your built. Because if they are stunned already the damage from FS will also crit right. The cooldown could potentially go faster then Heavens Fury and not just hit a small area/one target. Also Falling Sword is a means of escape while Heavens Fury is not. Heavenly Strenght SHOULD be class incorperated indeed. Its a default passive for everyone (unless perhaps when extremely lucky in your weapons for one handers).

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Laws of Valor: Unstoppable Force is amazing. I understand your worry about resistances but Unstoppable Force allows you to spam hammers in combination with Long Arm of the Law for 10 seconds without worrying about Wrath. It's great for elite packs.

Hold Your Ground is simply a decent choice because our Dodge chance is something along the lines of 0.5%. I take 15% block over 0.5% dodge any day of the week. Obviously you could take something else instead (I personally wouldn't take Finery but to each their own), but I think it's worth the passive slot.

When you pop Akarat's you completely destroy elite packs. You can keep Provoke up increasing your damage significantly. I'd suggest to test it out. Before the above build I used Limitless with Holy Bolt, and imho it cannot compete.

True about pretty much everything. All I can say right now: I'll try it out soon™

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What about this one:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...OQ!aYfi!aZYYYb

Laws of Valor: My Attack Speed is low anyway, sure increase in dps is an increase in DPS, but still. Alright then we get to the rune. The 50% less costs in wrath is nice but my wrath doesn't really get low anyway. So I don't really require that. Íf my wrath gets low I can use "Provoke/Charged up".

So with this "latest" built. I could potentally use: 1 - 2 - 3 pretty much every 40 secs (Lord Commander gets me 20 secs off Bombardment) - If I am in the shit, I'll use Akarat's Champion/Rally and get my cooldowns even fresh even quicker.

+80% crit (6 sec)
+50% weapon damage (4 secs)
---
Pretty insane

[jakeic]

Laws of Valor: Unstoppable Force is amazing. I understand your worry about resistances but Unstoppable Force allows you to spam hammers in combination with Long Arm of the Law for 10 seconds without worrying about Wrath. It's great for elite packs.

Hold Your Ground is simply a decent choice because our Dodge chance is something along the lines of 0.5%. I take 15% block over 0.5% dodge any day of the week. Obviously you could take something else instead (I personally wouldn't take Finery but to each their own), but I think it's worth the passive slot.

When you pop Akarat's you completely destroy elite packs. You can keep Provoke up increasing your damage significantly. I'd suggest to test it out. Before the above build I used Limitless with Holy Bolt, and imho it cannot compete.

i haven't tried all the runes, but long arm of the law appears to be bugged in that it only increases the duration of the law and not the effect from the rune. also i would suggest wrathful over hold your ground or long arm of the law.

[Prophyt]

Hmmm the judgement with 80% crit is quite nice. And since it is 80% + probably whatever you have already - is somewhat of a sure crit isn't it.

I would probably go with Falling Sword/Rapid Descent with your built. Because if they are stunned already the damage from FS will also crit right. The cooldown could potentially go faster then Heavens Fury and not just hit a small area/one target. Also Falling Sword is a means of escape while Heavens Fury is not. Heavenly Strenght SHOULD be class incorperated indeed. Its a default passive for everyone (unless perhaps when extremely lucky in your weapons for one handers).

I go with Heaven's Fury because it's free cast and my weapon damage is 2850 but all my abilities they are all 0 cast. Only thing I burn wrath on is Blessed Hammer. If I was playing hardcore I would want to add some more escape most definitely! Thanks for the suggestion though!

[Vaelorian]

Last night I did not have time to "tinker" much with the built. Did get a few upgrades.

My built from last night: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!aYfi!aZYYbY

Worked awesomely. I mean fantastic - sometimes I did get "wrathstarved" but only for a few seconds really.

So tonight I'll go with: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!aYfi!aZYYbY - to see if this matters much or not

[Cairhiin]

i haven't tried all the runes, but long arm of the law appears to be bugged in that it only increases the duration of the law and not the effect from the rune. also i would suggest wrathful over hold your ground or long arm of the law.

I have not tested this, but you could be right. However I would not take Wrathful, you're better off getting a holy weapon and going with Holy Cause instead, which is what I've done currently.

[Deleted]

This is in my opinion by far the best hammerdin build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QO!agUi!aZYYbY

Feel free to disagree.

Use this exact same build, it's just so good.

[Vaelorian]

Use this exact same build, it's just so good.

Could you please explain what is so good about it. I mean I understand that this is a good built as I tested the majority of the skills together. But just saying it is good brings nothing much to understanding why.

What about this? http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...OQ!abUi!aZYYYb