Build Guide
Cratic's Condemn builds d3planner:
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This is my take on a hardcore crusader GR speed build. Tested GR82 runs (non ancient weapons, bad affix legendary shield, very few augments, no paragon), and up to GR87 with paragon / augment. Noting about 3-5m runs, depending on level. Very safe build. Able to live through most any attack the game throws at it, and still has the double second life.
Due to not having Furnace, this build takes longer to kill the RG, but Akkahn's Addendum more than makes up for this in utility. Enjoy!
Video includes guide section as well. Also included a swap run at the end for Guard + Strongarms at +2 GR.
EDIT (4/22/2018): Added option for VIT on shield in place of WPS. This swap requires RCR on shoulder. Increases toughness at the expense of offense.
Timestamps:
- 00:00 - run #1 - @ GR82
- 05:30 - Intro
- 06:21 - Skills and Items
- 16:06 - Affixes
- 20:27 - Swaps
- 23:46 - Conclusion
- 24:14 - run #2 - Lacuni Huntresses
- 29:22 - run #3
- 34:14 - run #4 - Slash Guard + Strongarms @ GR84
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I love the added tankiness with this setup, using Unity (use on follower also with do not die token).
Having the Akkahns Addendum is great too for the Rally rune on akkarat's champion, quicker resets on all of your abilities (more uptime on Iron skin and recasts of provoke).
The extra wrath regen from the embodiment of power rune also helps ensure uninterrupted condemn attacks. Make sure to use the inspire ability on templar follower.
Provoke is great here for slowing the attack speed of enemies, great against pylon spawns, elite packs, and the RG. Provoke also functions as a hefty Wrath recovery skill. Try to cast when more enemies are around your character to increase the wrath amount recovered.
Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard provides has a high passive health regen, and shielding. This gem functions as a method of passive health recovery. The reaping rune on smite, Templar's Loyalty, Wings of Angels Law, and a possible LPS roll on boots also help with life per second.
Holy Cause functions as a method of active heath replenishment, giving 1% per hit. Recall that both condemn, and smite are holy runed.
Esoteric + String of Ears provide protection from both melee / physical type attacks, and elemental attacks, increasing toughness significantly.
The double second life (prophet revive + Indestructible) also comes in very handy. I tested many times being hit by Grotesque and Molten explosions, sometimes 4+ at a time, and was able to live, even if the second life passives triggered.
You can use scripting or numlock for your autocast.
Keep all four abilities on auto cast. All you should have to manually cast with this build is Smite and provoke, though you can opt to swap the placement of provoke and iron skin, and instead manually cast the iron skin if preferred.
Use move and force move to position for oculus rings and use the vaccumm pull to your advantage.
Movement speed in this build comes from wings of angels with extra duration from long arm of the law. Not 100% uptime, but very close to it, due to the inclusion of both Leoric's Crown and Vigilante Belt. This skill also gives the ability to walk through enemies, and waller, quite nice.
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Alternates:
- Slash (Guard): up to +25% armor, however, this armor boost does not affect all of your armor (I think armor from paragon is excluded), and the amount added does not take into account armor after other skill increases. Actual toughness increase will usually be in the range of 7-10%, depending on paragon, gear, etc. A good rune for toughness, but unfortunately, not up all the time, can't rely on it being there, but if you want to push 1-2 GR higher with near the same gear, this is an option for increased toughness. Helps with chargers and the like, but does not help with health regen as much.
- Strongarm Bracers: Swap out Nemesis bracer. Another great option for higher damage, up to +2GR increase. Reason for swapping Nems is that swapping Nems out will not decrease toughness. This swap usually gives about the same clear time, maybe +1m longer, but at a slightly higher GR speed. Great to use in combination with Slash (Guard).
- St. Archew's Gage: Replace Gizzard with Gogok, and swap Vigilante for this item (wear string of ears). Higher shielding, which works wonders for defense on most elite packs, but falls flat on the RG, and since RG fight times are fairy extended with this build, I'd only recommend this swap for lower GR runs (About -5GR in relative clear position).
Nicely detailed Build Guide as usual !!! ... Brilliant idea of using Wrath Generation on Weapon / Shield combo ... works well for soft-core speed too.
I was using a similar soft-core setup with Justice Swords of Justice(instead of Smite), CoE (cube instead of Unity), Hexing Pants(instead of Leoric's - which was cubed), Boon(instead of Wildebeest), Goldwrap(instead of SoE), and Finery(use indestructible or Long Arm interchangeably). Using your setup with CoE and Wrath Regen seems faster, less Wrath/health starved and very very fast in T13 ... no need for Justice anymore ;-D ... gonna try you HC options for extra toughness next ... was looking for better options for GR's since it is too glass cannon,
Thanks Tend2it. Glad you're enjoying the wrath regen portion of the build. I'm thinking of running this build next season.
Hexing pants, while they do work as a means of resource, tend to put undo strain on your playstyle and hands. Even though we move around a lot as a condemn crusader, we're not always moving. Being able to take a short break and melee every now and again (also for F&R), is more relaxing.
EDIT (4/22/2018): Added option for VIT on shield in place of WPS. This swap requires RCR on shoulder. Increases toughness at the expense of offense.
EDIT (6/4/2018): Edited section on Slash guard, pointing out that this rune is more like 7-10% overall toughness increase. This is because the calculation for armor added does not include armor from paragon (not 100% certain on this one) or other skill mods. It's still a good option for extra toughness, if that's preferred.
Loving the build. Thanks for this. Quick question - how essential is Smite in this build? Unless i missed it, seems not discussed in the video, compared to the other skills. Swap options? Also, alternative/options of skills/gear for softcore?
Smite is placed for increased recovery. It gives a decent amount of LPS, but also will restore life via holy cause, since it's holy damage.
My take on this is that it's better to farm about 1GR lower than you potentially could with higher toughness, and be safer at that level, than possibly die on a higher GR without as much recovery.
However, it's fairly optional. You can certainly swap this out for say, slash guard, which would give higher toughness, and even potentially place Life per Wrath Spent on the shield instead of WPS or VIT. I do favor the WPS or VIT on shield though for hardcore at this time.
Softcore, I'd go this build instead:
EDIT: (6/11/2018): added option for LPWS on shield. This option has the downside of having to place RCR on shoulder, however, fits well if opting for slash guard.
Also adding the option for RCR in place of VIT on shoulder. The assumption here would be that you'd be spending more paragon on VIT to get your life pool up to a reasonable level.
Also adding option for EliteDmgRed% instead of VIT on chest, similar to the above, this assumes you put more paragon into VIT to make up VIT.