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Oh, the most basic of advice ever for new Crusaders -

Use Heavenly Strength and a 2H + Shield.

Other basic gearing/stat info... Armor is your friend! Strength gives damage + armor, but never neglect +armor on gear either

Passives:
Wrathful is one of our best ways to stay alive
You can swap Wrathful for Renewal if you have ~60% or so block chance (gear + spec) but it is a lot more effective when playing Solo because in groups you won't always have the aggro

Active Skills:
Provoke- Charged Up is one of the best skills we have for almost any build - Crusaders have Wrath problems (for the most part) and Provoke-Charged up is like having two pools of Wrath with the 2nd pool also doing 50% additional damage!

Also on Laws- (saw this from someone else on these forums, great advice!) Use the +all resists Law when you are pushing new difficulty levels, but once it feels comfortable/you gear up switch to Valor and use either Critical or -50% wrath usage Rune for faster kills/farming

I think a good point to make is that any spec that is decently thought out will work for Torment 1 - 4 and it's really a matter of gearing.

So play how you like, and enjoy it!

If you want to push for T5-6 you will probably be pigeonholed into highly optimized builds and gear sets, but that is both natural and expected.

Also no matter what spec you are (for the most part) if you look out for gear with +strength, all resist, crit chance, and crit damage - you'll do OK T1-4.

I got one Mortal Drama with a terrible roll, don't even use it. Thankfully I got one good/decent Maximus, but beyond that I've gotten 2 of the 2H Polearm that spawns the Cow army, 1 of the 2H sword that does a 340% weapon damage throw, and I think 3 or 4 of the Poisen AOE cloud 2H. That's it.

3 leg shields, only 1 a Crusader.

Probably 30 useless 1H, none of which were flails, I finally build a Golden Scourge but found it very underwhelming.

I have found that raw +str and +crit as well as +crit damage are far, far better for your overall damage than any +elemental damage.

Also, the added weapon damage for using a 2H greatly, greatly outweighs the +elemental damage or anything else. Weapon/attack speed is only really useful for character sheet damage and Wrath generation. I only use Laws of Valor for the +100% crit damage rune to melt through elites/boss'.

I also think Provoke + Charged Up rune is just about required for every build, it does great Wrath generation and the damage is quite powerful. I can pop Judgement: Resolved, Valor: Critical, burn through my Wrath on FotH, then pop Provoke, get all or most of my Wrath back, burning through my FotH again (with Righteousness you can get maybe 5 in a row) and that burn is with +50% weapon damage... things just melt.

For a bigger boss throw in a Bombardment: Impactful and bye bye.

I had a holy build, with Hallowed Defender and a Golden Scourge etc. and I am doing at least 2x the damage now w/ a good 2H.

I'm only using a +lightning based FotH build due to my bracers and amulet:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Heerobya-1188/hero/43765784
The clones from Haunt of Vaxo are just so, so OP and combine them with the demon from Maximus and it is just insane extra free damage.

Of course character sheet damage/toughness is a lie, especially on profiles as they don't reflect paragon points etc. but in game I am at 740k damage, 7.5mil toughness, 22k healing.

Easily doing Torment 2 and 3, but I prefer 2 just for faster clearing speed.

54% crit, 320% +crit damage (still trying to reroll Haunt of Vaxo from +62% up to closer to 100%) and 1010-1164 on all resists, I also have 9018 strength which gives me 16k armor for 82% reduction.

Point is, go 2H, focus on crit and crit damage, all resists, use +elem damage as a bonus, not a set builder, and +skill damage is also huge (I'm a bit on the poor side so I need to re-enchant some pieces for better +skill damage.)

Hit a wall as in "not sure where to go from here" fuuma, thanks for the useless advice on sets I can't build as I don't have the recipes.

Hoenheim, great advice! I have been trying to upgrade to a new amulet, just hard to beat all the damage of my well rolled Rare. Condemn is fun, but yeah it is probably far less useful on boss/champ than bombardment would be, so that is a good change.

I think I can still re-roll the boots, I can def switch the block to crit on my shield, and perhaps I will roll w/ my Maximus and see how it feels.

I have a few +lightning pieces too, maybe I'll give that a whirl. I hate fissure though, yeah it hits hard in between but is such a pain to maintain and just drains my Wrath. Thanks!

I'm feeling like I've hit a wall until I can get super duper lucky and get a build-changing weapon and/or shield like Fate of the Fell, Blade of Prophecy, etc.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Heerobya-1188/hero/43765784

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#bkiRlf!eSYa!YaZYab

In game I've got like 650k damage and 10.2 million toughness, my healing is awful. 42% crit, 400% crit damage, all resist between 900-1200, +38% holy damage, running your basic condemn/judgement/FotH holy build.

Yeah I know there are probably some random little things I can do, up a few gems to higher levels here and there, re-roll a stat or two (like my shoulders to more +Heaven's Fury damage or some such) etc.

But I feel like I've hit a wall until I get a new 2H that is a real build changer. I've got a Maximus but no supporting +fire gear, I've got a Mortal Drama but with a TERRIBLE roll it's pretty much useless. No good shields save my Hallowed and that is just for the +holy damage.

Paragon's are in Str, CD, AR, and then I use area damage when solo'ing and life on hit in groups just cause my healing is so awful when I'm out of Wrath.

Currently rolling T2 solo well, doing T3 in groups, not really sure what my next move should be except to keep trying to get a Prophecy or FotF.

I'm only using Finery because I don't have a holy weapon yet for Holy Cause, but I might swap it out to something more healing based as I have plenty of offense and toughness but my healing is abysmal. The only healing I have/get right now is from Wrathful (and I have a fair number of +Health Globe secondary stats on my gear just by luck) and while I don't and never feel squishy doing T2 solo or T3 in groups, when I DO take damage if I'm low on Wrath (what Crusader isn't?) I'm kind of F'd if my pot isn't up or I'm not playing solo w/ Templar and his heal is on cooldown.

I just wonder if the +healing from Holy Cause (I use a FotH holy-damage build) would be worth it even w/o a +holy damage weapon just for the healing? Or if I'd be better off taking say Divine Fortress or Renewal on top of Wrathful/Heaven's Strength/Righteousness.

Quote from Zanthyst

Quote from heerobya

Quote from heerobya

I've also wondered if Scourge would stack with:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/armor-of-the-kind-regent
Which I have. And I have the plan for Scourge just need the Hilt of the Silver Wolf. If I get one made, I'll test it and let you know!

Got the mats, crafted the Golden Scourge, got a decent roll, put a Socket in it - sitting at +67% Holy Damage, definitely does a little less damage than my 2H, but not that much and the effect on Smite DOES stack with the Armor of the Kind Regent, so my Smite hits like 6 targets at once. It's certainly the best 1H Leg I've yet used, by far.

It will be fun to use until I can get a Prophecy or some such. I'll probably swap Smite for Slash-Zeal for single target/boss fights though.

How are your condem blasts? I would say that the fast cooldown of condemn is where this build really shines, and that hits soooooo hard with a 2h. I wonder what the difference would be between say a random legendary 2h without holy, and that flail 1h with holy. I don't have that so I can't do any testing would you be able to post any numbers? I'd suggest timing a single target run like Grom and comparing the two, then timing an aoe boss like siege and comparing the two or something of that effect.

It's hard to say. Character sheet damage took a big hit going from 2H to the Golden Scourge, but the extra 17% Holy Damage on all abilities kind of makes up for it. It is nice to move a bit faster not being slowed down by HS!

The Golden Scourge w/ a gem has more damage (raw on character sheet) than any of my 2H without a gem in them, but obv the 2H's do more damage with a gem in. I'll have to put a gem back into my best 2H and test kill speed between the two.

My initial guess and just based on the "feel" of Torment 1 bounties/rifts the damage of a 2H is > the amount lost using the 1H even with the +holy damage. Smite is pretty lame, yeah I can hit LOTS of targets at once with this combo, but the range sucks w/o the rune for 30 yard and Slash hits a lot harder + gives you the attack speed buff...

I'd say it's not really worth spending the time getting the mats for Golden Scourge. Just keep grind'n for a Prophecy / Fate of the Fell. I've got a Mortal Drama and Maximus, but neither rolled very well. My best 2H is a decently rolled Stalgard's Decimator.

Quote from heerobya

I've also wondered if Scourge would stack with:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/armor-of-the-kind-regent
Which I have. And I have the plan for Scourge just need the Hilt of the Silver Wolf. If I get one made, I'll test it and let you know!

Got the mats, crafted the Golden Scourge, got a decent roll, put a Socket in it - sitting at +67% Holy Damage, definitely does a little less damage than my 2H, but not that much and the effect on Smite DOES stack with the Armor of the Kind Regent, so my Smite hits like 6 targets at once. It's certainly the best 1H Leg I've yet used, by far.

It will be fun to use until I can get a Prophecy or some such. I'll probably swap Smite for Slash-Zeal for single target/boss fights though.

I've also wondered if Scourge would stack with:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/armor-of-the-kind-regent
Which I have. And I have the plan for Scourge just need the Hilt of the Silver Wolf. If I get one made, I'll test it and let you know!

Quote from safka

Is 2h mandatory for this build?

What about http://us.battle.net/d3/en/artisan/blacksmith/recipe/golden-scourge ?

I wouldn't think it would be mandatory.. the +15-20% Holy Damage of Golden Scourge is a good extra as few weapons I've seen have +elem damage % other than like Maximus, replace Holy Strength passive with say Finery, I bet it'd be close to comparable damage as a non-holy 2H. Maybe?

Having smite hit 6 targets is pretty good too, but Smite in general is lower damage than Slash, Justice, or Punish - hence why you never see it used in builds.

Quote from Zanthyst

Quote from heerobya

I love this build, always have been a big fan of FotH.

I just have had ZERO luck with getting a good/decent weapon to drop with +Holy Damage.

It actually performs well without the holy dmg on the weapon and then you can substitute that passive for another one such as finery and see a more or less equivalent increase if you're running max gems on your gear.

That is great advice, thank you. I was trying really-good-rolled Rare 2H w/ Holy Damage and Holy Cause vs. Legendary w/o HD and using Finery instead, Finery (and the Leg I'm using) are better for me by far due to higher speed, free damage secondary affix on Leg, etc.

Still gunning for a 2H Leg w/ HD though. Then it'll be a better 1 to 1 test of Holy Cause + HD vs. Finery.

I love this build, always have been a big fan of FotH.

I just have had ZERO luck with getting a good/decent weapon to drop with +Holy Damage.

I found a combo that works really great, not sure why I didn't think of it before.

(This is for champion/rare/boss)

So you build like this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#aSRdlf!egUa!ZYYYab

Nothing fancy:

Judgement-Resolve, pop Heaven's Fury and Valor-Critical, spam Blessed Shield, and when you are low on Wrath pop Provoke-Charged Up to regain/refill your Wrath so you can keep blasted Blessed Shield, and you'll be doing more damage due to Charged Up. Key to that is Long Arm of the Law passive, giving you 10 seconds of +100% crit damage.

This combination just plows through health bars.

Heaven's Fury nerf only hit the one Rune, for the shotgun blast builds, Ascendancy or the one that leaves a DoT on the ground are both the same as always.

I know Shattered Shield is Holy, not sure about Phalanx but I think that is physical. If you look in game, maybe it's an option, but it'll be bordered by Yellow on your skill bar if Holy, Red if physical, Orange if Fire, Dark blue if Electric, lighter blue if Ice.