Crusader: Normal to Hard (and beyond)

[Gloriandus]

A few days ago I purchased RoS after not having played D3 since June 2012. A lot of great changes, especially to loot (getting useful drops? amazing!).

I've finished Normal mode with a Crusader and have been doing Adventure mode in Normal, Nephalem Rifts, and all that. I have some decent gear and Normal rifts and bounties have been rather easy, so I switched difficulty to Hard, and it's a huge leap in difficulty. Whereas I barely ever lost any life in Normal, positioning and consideration are required in Hard. I can only image how bad it gets in later difficulties.

I like the Crusader, so I want to stick with him. Should I just keep doing Normal bounties/rifts until I'm better decked out, then return to Hard Campaign, then Hard bounties/rifts, then Expert Campaign, then Expert Rifts, and so on?

Here's my gear/stats/build atm:

http://s4.postimg.org/h36sfksbh/Capture.png

Any suggestions are welcomed!

EDIT: Here's my full profile instead of a screenshot (gear has changed substantially since I made this thread.)

[Orange Joe]

Hard to tell from just the screenshot. If we could get your actual armory it would help.

[jakeic]

you should do everything you can to get to torment, since in torment you have a chance at the best items dropping.

[Tyrgannus]

you should do everything you can to get to torment, since in torment you have a chance at the best items dropping.

This. Torment has it's own "tier" if you will. Paragon levels make you stronger while the enemy stays the same unlike normal levels. Eventually everyone is on torment. The gear will come, eventually

[Pool of the Dead]

With the Gear you are rocking at the moment you should easily be able to clear Master Adventure mode. Just grind out some rifts until you get a nice Legendary 2H drop.

Also, try crafting a Sovereign 2H Flail at the Black Smith with hopefully Str/Vit and Socke, that alone will up your damage immensely, Since you seem to be rocking a low level Axe.

[Endus]

You should be able to step your gear up pretty quickly. I started new in Seasons, in Hardcore, and leveled mostly via Bounties, saving the rift keys. Since hitting 70, I've run maybe 10-15 rifts (so not a lot, really), and my gear's progressed enough that I started out at Hard and am now running Torment 1 (and could possibly handle Torment 2 or 3, but it's Hardcore, so I'm supercautious).

Some things to know;

A good weapon is a big deal. It needs to be a good level 70 rare. Your DPS seems really low, I was sitting somewhere over 200k when I hit 70.

Long-term, you'll want to be stacking a single damage type. Holy is most common for Crusaders, though people make Fire or Lightning work sometimes. This allows you to get gear that adds to that damage type; a bracer with +18% Holy Damage is a really big boost, if all (or most) of your abilities deal Holy.

Prepare to change your spec. Not because it's wrong, per se, but because you'll get gear that pushes you to a new spec, and it's better to use that legendary than stick with your objectively worse gear rather than switch things up. I started out aiming for a Shotgun build, but I got that shield that makes Condemn costs 40 wrath and have no cooldown, so that totally changed how I was building.

Don't just stack health. I'm guilty of this myself but I'm tuning my gear away from it, now. %Life and Vitality both add to Toughness, which looks good, but they don't reduce damage taken, just give you a bigger pool. If your health regen (base regen, life on hit/kill, etc) outpaces damage taken, though, max health only matters in terms of spike damage. You're better off, generally, stacking All Resist to reduce damage taken; the same amount of Life On Hit is significantly more effective on 400k health with high resists than it is on 600k health with low resists.

[Frozen Death Knight]

You should easily do Master/Torment 1 if you get a decent 2-handed weapon as well as update your gear through crafting when possible. Also, don't forget to use Ruby gems in your weapon socket at lower levels if you aren't lvl 60+ yet. The damage from just a marquise quality gem is insane if you have one. If you're lvl 70 already, then use an Emerald gem and see the dps just fly through the roof.

[Deldavala]

One of the most efficient ways of progressing a Crusader is with a hammer build. Either Fire or Lightning works wonders up to about torment 4.

The gear requirement is almost non existent, the damage is decent and it teaches you how to manage Wrath which you will need when you really want to progress to the higher tiers of Grifts.

Something similar to http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QV!iSea!abYYaZ will get you a long way until you get the build defining legendaries that you need too conquer the higher torments.

Just as a side note. I used this build on the start of the season, it carried me from around lvl 30 to torment 4(at 70). All within 24 hours of season start(was farming torment 6 on Sunday morning)

[DemoBytom]

well.. i recently rolled Cruasder and from lv 1 to 70 I never dropped game difficulty below Torment 1.. Most was actually on Torment 2. The only "good" thing I had was crafted yellow 2hander with reduced level req, but even without that I see no reason to really go below T1, especially if you're already on adventure mode.

Just get that passive that gives you HP for wrath spent and spam the hell out of it.
Untill lv 70 I was changing my skills almost on every level, but I really liked spinning hammers..
After 70 I changed to this:
http://www.diablofans.com/builds/108...ant-holy-cause

[Devboy]

I recently levelled a crusader myself, doing 1-70 on master for the most part, I'm now doing rifts and bounties on T1. I'm considering upping to T2 as I do immense AoE damage, but seem to lack ST damage.

try getting some sets with a RoRG, as this should boost your damage and survivability.

My current build - http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/D.../hero/48944394

(not to hijack, but if anyone has any tips for myself to increase my ST damage while maintaining the AoE, please PM me if poss )

[Deldavala]

I recently levelled a crusader myself, doing 1-70 on master for the most part, I'm now doing rifts and bounties on T1. I'm considering upping to T2 as I do immense AoE damage, but seem to lack ST damage.

try getting some sets with a RoRG, as this should boost your damage and survivability.

My current build - http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/D.../hero/48944394

(not to hijack, but if anyone has any tips for myself to increase my ST damage while maintaining the AoE, please PM me if poss )

Without changing gear I would recommend swapping Condem for Bowmen. Shattered shield gives HUGE amounts of AoE damage, and Bowmen are a really strong single target damage buff.

If you want a different specc I would recommend Hammer build. It has good AoE and very good single target when you pop Akkarats champion.

About your health and other stuff. You have more than 200k more health than I have(have cleared Grift 38 Solo and 41 in group on seasons). Get some Gems in your pants. I would also suggest you get some good reaper wraps since they are the number one bracers until you start running pony/condem on higher Grifts(35+)

[Devboy]

Without changing gear I would recommend swapping Condem for Bowmen. Shattered shield gives HUGE amounts of AoE damage, and Bowmen are a really strong single target damage buff.

If you want a different specc I would recommend Hammer build. It has good AoE and very good single target when you pop Akkarats champion.

About your health and other stuff. You have more than 200k more health than I have(have cleared Grift 38 Solo and 41 in group on seasons). Get some Gems in your pants. I would also suggest you get some good reaper wraps since they are the number one bracers until you start running pony/condem on higher Grifts(35+)

I can craft Reapers but didn't want to yet as I don't want to drop my 3 set aughilds just yet, unless I should run with augs chest instead of bracers. Don't think I'll change my build just yet, as I quite like the playstyle currently.

[Deldavala]

I can craft Reapers but didn't want to yet as I don't want to drop my 3 set aughilds just yet, unless I should run with augs chest instead of bracers. Don't think I'll change my build just yet, as I quite like the playstyle currently.

If you swap to Reapers(and wear aughilds chest if you really want the bonus) you can after some practice start running without Punish. This opens up for either Shield glare(with the wrath regen) or Provoke(Either Charged up for more damage or Too scared to run for some nice Slowing, or cleanse for some heal). I would also consider swapping either Wrathful or Holy cause for Towering for some extra damage.

Anyways if you like the playstyle you will have to get Rolands set anyways. This means you will loose most of the parts you have currently equipped.

[Devboy]

If you swap to Reapers(and wear aughilds chest if you really want the bonus) you can after some practice start running without Punish. This opens up for either Shield glare(with the wrath regen) or Provoke(Either Charged up for more damage or Too scared to run for some nice Slowing, or cleanse for some heal). I would also consider swapping either Wrathful or Holy cause for Towering for some extra damage.

Anyways if you like the playstyle you will have to get Rolands set anyways. This means you will loose most of the parts you have currently equipped.

Cool thanks for the tips, I'll put some into practice tonight and see how I go

[Kaykay]

Do rifts on master, collect blood shards.

Get a full set of equipment:
Head: Socket + crit + vita + str
shoulder: Str, vita, all res + (either life%, cooldown reduction, or ability damage on something you use alot)
chest: str, vita, all res,+ability damage or life%, 3 sockets (all str sockets, once you have 5+ sockets in your gear, use the finery skill slot to increase the benefit)
legs: str, vita, all res + 2 sockets
feet: str, vita, all res, (armor or movement speed, depends on your paragon level, you should aim to have 25% movement speed at all times)
gloves: str, vita, Crit damage (40-50%) crit chance (8.5-10%)
rings: str, vita, crit damage(40-50%), crit chance (8.5-10%) (Once you start doing greater rifts, replace vita with a socket slot, or if you get Stone of jordan, unity, or the "-1 item to get a set bonus" ring, hold on to those, elite damage and %elemental damage is rare on rings.
amulet: str, crit damage(80-100%), crit chance(8.5-10%), Vitality or elemental damage (elemental damage is better if your build focuses solely on one elemental damage source)


As a crusader there quite a few succesfull builds, here's a very quick overview.

Fire crusader with bombardment : Requires a fall of mortality 2h flail, which lets you drop twice the number of bombardments. Good for clearing T1-3 champion packs.

Holy Crusader : Shotgun spec: Requires a fate of the fell 2h flail, and has you take heavenly fury with the glyph that allows you to spam it, The mace effect tripples the damage of heavenly fury. And is very wrath consuming, which means you might want akkarats champion to keep wrath generation up. (T6 viable)

Holy Crusader: Condemn spec, requires blade of prophecy and a crusader shield which lets you cast condemn for wrath, but incurs no cooldown. (The most successfull spec used by the best geared/most succesfull crusaders running greater rifts 30+)

Lightning crusader:requires Schaefers 2handed mace, thundergods vigor belt, and blessed hammer with lightning glyph, good at clearing T1-3 fast with constant aoe.

Physical crusader:requires Furnace 2h mace mainhand, unrelenting phalanx shield. Uses phalanx stampede to stunlock the entire screen to death. (Competes with the condemn build for most succesfull setup in greater rifts 30+)

hope this was helpfull, most if not all of these specs also benefit greatly from a full Akkhan's set, which only drops from Kadala or Torment 1 +

[Tyrean]

I looked at your profile and there are a lot of places you can improve.

1.) You need to get sockets on all your jewelry. I cannot tell you how much more damage you get out of the mini conduit gem, and the smite gem. The elite gem you have is okay, but you will get a big boost out of those two gems. (it will also add some strength through finery passive. You should do this first, as it will be the easiest and most efficient upgrade to damage. If you don't have all the gems already, just get a trial keystone on T1 or higher rift boss, and start the trial. As soon as you get zoned in, teleport out to town and let the trial fail. You will get a rank 1 key. Use this key to run a rank 1 greater rift and just slaughter everything. Wait until there is 4:30 left on the timer to kill the rift guardian. This will give you gem drops from the guardian, and let you upgrade your gem one rank (instead of a bunch). Repeat and you will have all the gems by rank 8 or so (still super easy). If you spawn the rift guardian with a bunch of time left, you can teleport out and run a bounty or two while you wait on the timer.

2.) You have gear problems. Sets are cool and everything, but you are not really optimized. Asheara's set is good for some easy toughness, but the 4 piece is not that super great. You are better off running reaper's wraps in wrist, aughild's shoulder and helm for 3 piece, asheara's gloves and boots for 3 piece. Also, you need to either recraft or reroll some of you pieces. Your gloves need crit damage and crit chance. Bracers really need crit damage at the least, and elemental damage of your skillset. Legs need two sockets for sure. You probably also want to go with a diamond in your helm for cooldown reduction instead of life.

3.) Spec problems. Steed charge and law are pretty much mandatory for most people. I would probably switch my rune on punish to roar, nice aoe damage, drop condemn and get phalanx/bowmen which is a huge dps boost on single target, change one of your passives to pick up towering shield which will up the damage of your main attacks and see if you can get good at using shield glare. You can either use the one that generates wrath when you hit stuff with glare or the one that increases damage by 20% on stuff you hit. Coupled with some CDR and the tower shield passive you will get good usage out of it.

4.) Crusaders are super gear dependent. Don't try to come up with one spec and stick to it. When an item drops that changes one of your skills, reevaluate your spec because chances are you can change things around to get super OP.

Those are just the things to start off with....

[Deleted]

As a crusader there quite a few succesfull builds, here's a very quick overview.

Fire crusader with bombardment : Requires a fall of mortality 2h flail, which lets you drop twice the number of bombardments. Good for clearing T1-3 champion packs.

Holy Crusader : Shotgun spec: Requires a fate of the fell 2h flail, and has you take heavenly fury with the glyph that allows you to spam it, The mace effect tripples the damage of heavenly fury. And is very wrath consuming, which means you might want akkarats champion to keep wrath generation up. (T6 viable)

Holy Crusader: Condemn spec, requires blade of prophecy and a crusader shield which lets you cast condemn for wrath, but incurs no cooldown. (The most successfull spec used by the best geared/most succesfull crusaders running greater rifts 30+)

Lightning crusader:requires Schaefers 2handed mace, thundergods vigor belt, and blessed hammer with lightning glyph, good at clearing T1-3 fast with constant aoe.

Physical crusader:requires Furnace 2h mace mainhand, unrelenting phalanx shield. Uses phalanx stampede to stunlock the entire screen to death. (Competes with the condemn build for most succesfull setup in greater rifts 30+)

hope this was helpfull, most if not all of these specs also benefit greatly from a full Akkhan's set, which only drops from Kadala or Torment 1 +

gloves: str, vita, Crit damage (40-50%) crit chance (8.5-10%)

Going to correct you here, your ideal gloves would have CDR instead of Vitality in every build except the Pet one.

And going to add some stuff here.

You can run Darklight builds up to Torment 6.

So for example you could go with the "Lightning crusader" mentioned above, and just switch the weapon for a Darklight and use Fist of the Heavens with Fissure. The build will not deal massive crits, but it will do so much dps in small hits that it's kind of silly. Although the build does have a problem, or at the very least I have this problem (needs more testing and optimizations on gear), that it can't clear Greater Rifts above difficulty level 30 fast enough.

Another viable build (up to T4-T5 ish) is the Firestarter Blessed Hammer with Maximus build. It has a lot of AoE damage from the Blessed Hammer spam, and quite a bit of single target damage with the Maximus proc.

Then there is the "pet build", although it has the worst item requirements. You need Unrelenting Phalanx, Tasker and Theo and Eternal Union. And your weapon should be a Baleful Remnant.

You should also always try to aim to have the Akkhan 6 set bonus and 56% CDR. The Rolands set is nice and all but it can't clear high Greater Rifts, and generally the crusader community is waiting for some sort of buff to it.



If you feel like none of these builds are what you want to play, you can always just experiment with builds. That's basically what I'm doing now that I'm missing a single item from a "full set" on my Condemn build.

If you have any questions about crusaders and are playing on the EU side, you can just send me messages in game.

[Gloriandus]

Wow, a LOT to think about from all the replies. My gear has changed quite a bit in the three days since I opened this thread. I haven't tried anything beyond Hard yet, but seeing as how I rarely see my life dip at all (really only if I'm standing in one of those explosions), I obviously should.

Here's my full profile instead of a screenshot.

Crafting seems like a total crapshoot just as is the gambling with Kadala.

EDIT: Also, I have a ton of Exquisite Essences. Are they worth anything once you get into the higher-level crafting plans? I've got enough to net me about 150k in gold.

[Deleted]

Here's my full profile instead of a screenshot.

So okay, first thing:

Change your weapon socket to a Emerald immediately.

Also change your leg gems to proper 200+ Rubies, shouldn't be that hard to come by.

Your Hallowed Barricade needs to be rerolled a bit. Life regen -> Crit chance.

That Tasker and Theo is nice if you're going for the pet build, reroll Vitality into Crit Damage.

Your boots are missing Strength.

Your wrist are missing Crit, and you may want to try to craft a good pair of Reaper's Wraps.
Just don't throw your wrists away with those Taskers, as you might want to keep them for the pet build.

You probably want to change that helm gem to a Diamond, Crusaders are incredibly CDR dependent, as most of our cooldowns are quite long.

You should try to get a Ring of Royal Grandeur from Act 1 bounties. It can drop from Torment 1 and up, but should be farmed at the very least on Torment 2 as that has a 50% chance of a legendary from the Bounty Cache, you should have the damage for this. It will reduce the amount of items needed for set bonuses by 1, to a minimum of 2. (So you get a 3 set bonus with 2 items, 4 with 3 items.)

Akarat's Champion: Rally is useless. Switch to either Firestarter for more single target damage, or Embodiment of Power. Prophet is also an option but you probably don't need it as low Torment mobs don't really have that much damage.

Also change Fanaticism to Holy Cause. No sense to miss the 10% extra damage.

Almost forgot this one, when you get a chest with 3 sockets, you should probably change Righteousness to Finery.


Other than those try to aim for Akkhan set pieces and just try to get general upgrades. Examples being rings with critical hit chance/cooldown reduction and critical hit damage, or even sockets, flails or other legendary weapons with special effects.

[Gloriandus]

Man, just making those changes (not sure if I had the absolutely correct gems), I can see some of those consistent "big numbers" starting to pop!