Starting Diablo 3: Barbarian or Crusader

[Lord Pebbleton]

Hi everyone.
I think I will buy Diablo 3 + RoS after having won my doubts about it. I skipped Diablo 2 because reasons and the fact that you're presented to the old cathedral after 10 minutes of gameplay is a huge bonus in my eyes. However.

I was used to the bulky warrior in Diablo 1 and I'm staying that way. No monks, wizards and stuff. Just big guys going for the face screaming.
However, it looks like I cannot play Crusader through the trial. I made a Barbarian and it feels alright, things get crushed the way I like. But here's the thing: I'd like to see some of the Crusader myself. If you play one, what does it have over Barbarian?

From what I've gathered, Barbarian:
-Is almost always half naked
-Smashes things
-Builds power with Fury for special attacks
-Looks badass

Crusader:
-Is always fully plated
-Smashes things
-No idea how it builds power, explainations for dummies please!
-Looks badass

Having awesome full plates is the best thing in Diablo for me, second to the satisfaction of the grind. So Crusader kinda wins... for now. Did I miss something about the two classes?

[Jester Joe]

Unless I'm mistaken, Crusader's power is built either over time, or by a specific set of attacks (it's like, set default to the left or right click, I forget).

Personally, I can only get a crusader to like, 10-20 before getting bored, they don't have much in the way of AoE at the start for my tastes.

[Martinussen]

Unless I'm mistaken, Crusader's power is built either over time, or by a specific set of attacks (it's like, set default to the left or right click, I forget).

Personally, I can only get a crusader to like, 10-20 before getting bored, they don't have much in the way of AoE at the start for my tastes.

If you judge a class by the way it feel while leveling you're not playing the game the way its meant to be played....

Diablo is about the end game farm game where you continuesly improve your gear while demolishing hordes of demons. Not prancing around bare knuckle punching a puny skeleton.


Reply to OP: Why not both? Both rely on the Strength stat, so if you create one and play it for a while and get bored, you'd most likely be able to gather a simple gear set for your second character and kick start it into proper farming.

Personally, for this season im going for barbs AND crusaders. First im leveling my barbarian because i love spin to win, and then im going for my crusader

[lightofdawn]

crusader is a bit tankier at max level if im not mistaken. i have a barb at 64ish so im not sure. all i know is a wreck face on my crusader, and i very much enjoy the visuals of their abilities

do what you want, and fuck what other people have to say :P (unless you're going for a rank on ladder, then you should probly read up)

gl/hf

[Lord Pebbleton]

Thanks for the replies so far. I've completed the free trial with the Barbarian, and I'll raise a Crusader to about the same point when I buy the full game.

[Bigbazz]

Barbarian is always fully plated too in actual fact, just not at level 10!

[raikenhatake]

Personally, I can only get a crusader to like, 10-20 before getting bored, they don't have much in the way of AoE at the start for my tastes.

Agreed, I managed to to get to 56? With Crusader...and found it was a bit boring play wise. Although, you could make the same argument for barb I guess. It really depends on the role/strategy you want to play.

[Usagi Senshi]

I like them both but I like my crusader more! Plus she looks pretty damn cool in full armor! SHIELD BASH!

[Coldkil]

From what I've gathered, Barbarian:
-Is almost always half naked
-Smashes things
-Builds power with Fury for special attacks
-Looks badass

Crusader:
-Is always fully plated
-Smashes things
-No idea how it builds power, explainations for dummies please!
-Looks badass

Having awesome full plates is the best thing in Diablo for me, second to the satisfaction of the grind. So Crusader kinda wins... for now. Did I miss something about the two classes?

Awesome explanation

My addition:
- barb has a definitely more mobile gameplay, especially because all the sets/most effective builds favor or focus on mobile skills (leapquake, charge, whirlwind). It may do a difference because it feels faster than a crusader. You can also go Super Sayan.
- crusader is more bulky and has an innate better defense due to bearing a shield. It has some mobility skills but they're more a safety net than an actual offensive button like the barb. However you can taunt enemies so you don't have to move as much or even play a ranged build as in make gigantic beams of holy power fall from the sky. You can also fall from the sky together with your rays and go full Gundam.

You can definitely see that more work as been put onto the barb because it's a more refinite class due to more time spent on it; crusader is not on that level -still-.

Personal opinion: i like more crusader armors and shield+2h is a very good-looking setup.

Imho, try both. Leveling to cap doesn't take much so you can easily play both classes - also since paragon levels are shared, once you get both to 70 you can jump on each other without losing any progress.

[Darsithis]

From an emotional standpoint: I have always been a barb, starting on HC (I play mostly SC now). There is nothing like a barb smashing his way through everything, covered in blood. Crusaders are fun but what I have issues with is resource generation and slow 2H attacks if you take heavenly strength (which most people do). With my barb I pretty much am never out of fury.

[Jester Joe]

If you judge a class by the way it feel while leveling you're not playing the game the way its meant to be played....

Diablo is about the end game farm game where you continuesly improve your gear while demolishing hordes of demons. Not prancing around bare knuckle punching a puny skeleton.

Because it doesn't sound like it changes much from other posters, Barb sounds like it's a quicker class with moves than crusader overall, which is more fun to me.

[Darsithis]

Because it doesn't sound like it changes much from other posters, Barb sounds like it's a quicker class with moves than crusader overall, which is more fun to me.

It is. There is a fundamental disconnect between attacks that I can feel when I play my S3 crusader that I don't get on my barb. Times when I press buttons or click attacks that I expect something to happen and it doesn't. The rhythm isn't right.

[Justin-Sane]

Barbarians are better. Arguably the best solo class, they have amazing survivability, great movement speed and clear speed and they're easy to gear. They also have several viable options in terms of builds, all of which are ridiculously easy to play. They're much more fun than crusader imo.

[Lord Pebbleton]

Ah yes, should've mentioned I'm mostly going to do solo things.

From what you guys have told me, Barbarian is more fun and also gets full plate sets (I previously saw pics of said full sets, but I had the impression they were fewer in number compared to Crusader).
Also I don't exactly know what Paragon is, but if I really can take them both to max level and not lose progress regardless of which one I play, I'll have an easier time.

(I think I'm going with Barbarian though, even if I'll try Crusader for sure).

[Darsithis]

Ah yes, should've mentioned I'm mostly going to do solo things.

From what you guys have told me, Barbarian is more fun and also gets full plate sets (I previously saw pics of said full sets, but I had the impression they were fewer in number compared to Crusader).
Also I don't exactly know what Paragon is, but if I really can take them both to max level and not lose progress regardless of which one I play, I'll have an easier time.

(I think I'm going with Barbarian though, even if I'll try Crusader for sure).

Paragon is a shared post level 70 leveling system across all characters of your bracket (softcore, hardcore, or season) that grants points to spend in four tiers. For instance, all of my softcore toons have 109 paragon levels (shared) while hardcore has 59.

[Justin-Sane]

There's no cloth/leather/mail/plate in diablo. It's about stats. You can wear your barb's gear on your demon hunter or wizard (unless they're class specific items like mighty weapons) it'll change the appearance of the item depending on what class is wearing it, unless it's a legendary with a unique model. Worst case scenario, if you don't like the look of the gear, you can transmog it or even use vanishing dye to look naked.

as for paragon levels, they're an infinite leveling system after level 70. The soft cap is 800, from then you only get points in the first tree to put in mainstat or vit, but you can still get more. Some people are paragon 1300+ but don't expect to get that high unless you play 10 hours a day with exp gear for 3 months at the very least.

[Soulzar]

Barb is a ton of fun, especially the new WhirlWind set. I had forgotten how much I loved it (really enjoy charge too, but spin2win!!)

My only gripe with Barb is how terrible its single target dmg is. If you are looking to push high Grifts, you may like me, start getting frustrated when you can clear a Grift in 5 minutes, then need to exit game because you can't kill the guardian in the following 10 minutes.

So far the new set combos are feeling really good and not so terribly painful when your down to just one target. I'm enjoying myself so far much more this season than I did last.

[mizeri]

do them both like other have said, i like how the crusaders look in end gear though

[Justin-Sane]

My only gripe with Barb is how terrible its single target dmg is.

I agree. barbs have amazing AoE but very terrible single target, which makes it very annoying for rift guardians. Still though, they can push Grifts much, much higher than any crusader can.

[Deleted]

Because it doesn't sound like it changes much from other posters, Barb sounds like it's a quicker class with moves than crusader overall, which is more fun to me.

Honestly. Barbs currently can get boring real quick. The removal of Mortick's Bracer a few days before the season started just was the biggest Dick move towards Barbs Blizz ever performed. Not to mention that console players who have gotten the Bracer before it's removal on Consoles actually get to keep it and thus play a whole nother Game. (You can't argue that having all Runes on Wrath of the Zerker changes the feel of your current Build, since it's just such a huge buff to both DPS and Thoughness when you utilize the IK 4-Piece.)