Rating
+10

Akkhan Condemn Version 2 (EW) - GR 100 Clear Updated Video Added :)

by last updated Nov 20, 2017 ( Patch 2.6.1 )
Regular
Hybrid
BBCode Link
Edit

Skills

  • Slash Guard
  • Condemn Vacuum
  • Akarat's Champion Prophet
  • Iron Skin Flash
  • Laws of Justice Decaying Strength
  • Provoke Cleanse
  • Finery
  • Holy Cause
  • Indestructible
  • Heavenly Strength

Items

More Details

  • Legendary Gems

    • Bane of the Stricken
    • Bane of the Trapped
    • Bane of the Powerful

Kanai's Cube

  • The Furnace
  • Illusory Boots
  • Unity
Hello all
Welcome to Version 2 of my Akkhan Condemn Build (EW)

The Akkhan set is FINALLY viable thanks to the 2.6.1 patch and now I can finally climb with Holy damage abilities on Crusader :D!! I've always preferred the play style of Heavens Fury and Condemn builds and now they're finally relevant!

PLEASE READ: The reason for the change to the build is mainly for one toughness/survivability detail that I unfortunately have overlooked up to this point, I figure since I was previously not aware maybe some of you guys are not aware either. When you equip an item with a Vitality roll in game to replace something that doesn't have a Vitality roll, more than likely the game tells you that your toughness goes up. Which should mean that your SURVIVABILITY increases as well, however this is definitely not the case. Toughness is a combination of statistics that are thrown together to tell you one thing: the MAXIMUM damage you can take before dying. That's it. Survivability doesn't have a stat in-game, but it can be best described as how well your toughness, recovery, and MITIGATION can keep you alive in fights. When I say Mitigation I am referring to Armor and Resist All stats. Those stats are THE ONLY ones that DECREASE the damage you take from attacks (and obviously Damage Reduction). Stacking Vitality just increases your health pool and a larger health pool means you have MORE health to RECOVER via LOH, Life per Resource, etc. Stacking Vit to increase survivability is a misconception that is very prevalent in Diablo and hopefully this can help people understand it a little better.

So how do we Survive? The BEST way is to stack Mitigation (All Rez + Armor + Damage Reduction) AND keep health pool just high enough to take large amounts of damage, after all going through a GR 100+ will likely mean you're taking HUGE amounts of damage which means you need enough Life to not get 1 or 2 shot. Also, more All Rez and Armor will improve the EFFICIENCY of your Recovery because you will take LESS damage and lose LESS Life which means you have LESS Life to Recover resulting in Faster Life Recovery = More Survivability. Now determining the balance of Resists, Life pool, and Recovery is the tricky part. I will attempt to show you guys an example from the Leaderboards so you can get an idea of what to shoot for, and as such, this build has been altered to Reflect that :). Please see the "F+R LB GR 112 Clear" build: https://www.d3planner.com/502601751. I chose this build as the primary example because it cleared GR 112 WITH ONLY 1600 Paragons!! After reviewing this build as well as other Leaderboard builds, it looks like this is what we Crusaders generally need:

TOO LONG, DON'T READ (but I do HIGHLY suggest reading Above ^^^):

1. From what I can tell, it looks like a health pool of 450K - 550K provides the most efficient base for Survivability. Where you fall in-between will depend on your Mitigation and Recovery. I.E. More Recovery and More Mitigation means LESS required Life. The LB build referenced above had approximately 487K health.

2. I personally like LOH on my weapon, and this LB build has that stat roll as well. HOWEVER, Recovery is largely subject to your Mitigation and Health Pool, if you have SHIT TONS of Mitigation you don't need a lot of Recovery. So feel free to instead have a recovery roll on your bracers or shield, granted you have Good Mitigation and an optimal Health Pool.

3. STR gives us Armor, and Augments of STR give us even more! Armor is not a Crusaders problem, but All Rez is our weakness. So how much do we need? After looking at LB builds, I can tell you that you definitely do NOT want less that 1,000 for All Rez and that probably 1100-1200 is optimal. Now if you're using Law of Justice and/or Esoteric Alteration, this stat is very easy to fortify :)

4. Is F+R better than EW?? (Here's the ball-buster) Unfortunately for Condemn, Yes it is. The reason is because to push over 100, you really need DPS and F+R WITH cubing Hexing Pants provides so much damage (+150%) that EW can't compete with. However, DON'T FRET, after some testing I can tell you that the set-up proposed above will give you some of the most damage and survivability that a Condemn EW build is capable of :). Refer to the build planner link and the EW build for more details :).

Paragon Priorities

Core

Primary Stat
Vitality
Movement Speed
Maximum Resource

Offense

Attack Speed
Cooldown Reduction
Critical Hit Chance
Critical Hit Damage

Defense

Life
Armor
Resist All
Life Regeneration

Utility

Area Damage
Resource Cost Reduction
Life on Hit
Gold Find

If lower than 800 Paragon then prioritize:

  1. Movement and STR, possibly VIT if you really need it
  2. CDR, CHC, CHD on offense
  3. Life, All Res, Armor
  4. LOH, Area Damage, RCR

If above 800, then go with STR, STR, and more STR :). You can add Vitality if you have enough Paragon but not quite enough Vit rolls on equipment.


Also, equipment sockets should be all diamonds in armors and emerald in weapon.

Build Guide

If you guys like the build you can check out my YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzDzeOAJnvuvDAQkuhVYkgQ. Please up-vote the build and my channel if you like them! Thank you Diablo Community :)

GR Progress: GR 100 Rift was performed with non-optimal gear, 0 augments AND no Illusory Boots (needed CDR from Leorics), tons of potential on this set-up. Probably the quickest GR 100 RG kill I've experienced, see in video :). If you have more Paragons than what you see in the video and you can add more STR/Armor, you may be able to exchange Unity for Overwhelming Desire (potential 35% more DPS). Here's a forum link about the proc rate: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/16285108977


Need more DPS? Toughness? Recovery?? No worries, here's my recommended changes/tweaks to the build, IF you find yourself needing something:


Need more DPS? If so, try the following:

  1. Add STR augments (can only be done to ancient or primal equipment).
  2. If you're feeling daring, you can try replacing Laws of Justice with Laws of Valor-Critical. Survivability and recovery will decrease by a good amount, but if you can sacrifice it, more crit damage always helps DPS
  3. Replacing STR on shoulders with Area damage (AD) will help DPS as well. Other places you could roll AD would be: rings, shield, weapon, and hands. AD rolls should really only be considered for HIGH GR pushing limits (optimal rolls have already been achieved for all pieces as well as high-level augments). At High GR levels, AD actually gives you more DPS than STR, so replacing STR on equipment rolls will increase DPS. And with higher Paragon you can just add more STR via points.

Need more Toughness/Survivability? If so, try the following:

  1. Make sure you're utilizing all your defensive tools in fights. Move around if you find yourself taking shit-tons of damage to proc EW damage reduction. Also if you have enough Recovery, using Provoke-Too Scared to Run instead of Cleanse is a great way to slow down enemies and their attacks to decrease incoming damage. And of course, ALWAYS make sure you're activating Akarat's as well as maintaining Slash-Guard stacks.
  2. For some longer staying power, you can try changing Iron Skin-Flash to the Steel Skin rune and replace Slash-Guard with Justice-Sword of Justice. The up-time on the damage reduction may be just enough to give you the edge.
  3. Add STR augments (can only be done to ancient or primal equipment).

Need more Recovery? If so, try the following:

See discussion just below the recommended Kanais Cube equipment. Recovery needed for a build is highly dependent on Mitigation and Health pool.


For the follower choice, I do highly suggest the Enchantress buffs including Attack Speed, Ranged dmg reduction, and charms :). Always make sure they have the Oculus Ring and UNITY equipped on the follower.


Thanks for reading my build guys! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below!