Everything I've looked at here seems to be providing build recommendations for builds when you are at 70. I just started my first ever crusader, and am currently at level 20. Just looking for some information on best to proceed in building him up to make sure I end up being effective at a very high level when I get to the serious challenges in the game. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Every time I level one, I seem to end up back to a simple hammer build to level up. The fire rune for blessed hammers is really nice, and I would personally use that until you can get to the limitless rune, which I prefer. I also go cooldown heavy with this build while leveling, grabbing skills like heaven's fury / law of your choice / horse / provoke / maybe Akkharat's champion.
Hammer's just seem to be the best dmg : resource spent while leveling.
Im levelling a crusader myself atm and crushing expert difficulty (it seems WAY too easy IMO :S)
Build I'm using atm is just focusing on str for items until later levels when they give more stats and using the best damaging 2h I can find (swapping out to 1h's when the bonuses or damage is respectable enough)
ATM I'm using:
LMB - Slash with crush rune (level 34) This provides some melee AoE damage ona short cooldown and is basically just for regerating wrath/finishing off enemies that get close. Prior to getting the crush rune i used Punish.
RMB - Blessed Shield (level 20) with combust rune (level 29) My current favourite wrath spender, basically Avengers shield from WoW, hits multuple targets like a truck, doesn't use much wrath and is highly spammable on groups.
1 - Heavens Fury (level 30) with Ascendancy Rune (level 36) prior to this I used Steed Charge for getting around faster but I prefer the ability to melt my enemies faster than a faster travel speed. Great for dealing steady damage to bosses/elites and has a fairly short cooldown, can generally be used to soften up targets before the shields start flying.
2 - Falling Sword (level 19) with Part the Clouds rune (level 28) Great AoE nuke, deals massive damage to all targets caught and brilliant to initiate a fight/finish off a fleeing target (looking at YOU treasure goblin!). Can also be used to cross gaps to avoid long distances of running around in some dungeons.
3 - Laws of Valor (level 14) with Critical rune (level 33) Since I never take enough damage in this difficulty (presumably pre-torment?) this is the best Law to use atm. Great ATKSPD buff to quickly recover your depleted wrath along with high crit damage to melt targets, also provides a smaller permanent ATKSPD buff to you and your followers which cant be knocked.
4 - Akarats Champion (level 25) with Fire Starter rune (level 29) Enourmas damage buff, always activate it before a boss/pack of elites before you jump in and use all your abilites and everything seems to turn into dust. The wrath regen also helps you spam your more damaging abilites a bit more before you have to revert to your main wrath generator.
Passives - Heavenly Strength/Fervor. Always active dependant on whether I have a 2h or 1h equipped and change it every time I change my weapon. Not much to say here.
Holy Cause - Boosts weapon damage and increases life gain from dealing holy damage. Good all round damage increase.
Fanaticism - Increases attack speed of all major Wrath generators, means quicker wrath recovery and more flying shields
Hammer's just seem to be the best dmg : resource spent while leveling.
Build I'm using atm is just focusing on str for items until later levels when they give more stats and using the best damaging 2h I can find (swapping out to 1h's when the bonuses or damage is respectable enough)
ATM I'm using:
LMB - Slash with crush rune (level 34) This provides some melee AoE damage ona short cooldown and is basically just for regerating wrath/finishing off enemies that get close. Prior to getting the crush rune i used Punish.
RMB - Blessed Shield (level 20) with combust rune (level 29) My current favourite wrath spender, basically Avengers shield from WoW, hits multuple targets like a truck, doesn't use much wrath and is highly spammable on groups.
1 - Heavens Fury (level 30) with Ascendancy Rune (level 36) prior to this I used Steed Charge for getting around faster but I prefer the ability to melt my enemies faster than a faster travel speed. Great for dealing steady damage to bosses/elites and has a fairly short cooldown, can generally be used to soften up targets before the shields start flying.
2 - Falling Sword (level 19) with Part the Clouds rune (level 28) Great AoE nuke, deals massive damage to all targets caught and brilliant to initiate a fight/finish off a fleeing target (looking at YOU treasure goblin!). Can also be used to cross gaps to avoid long distances of running around in some dungeons.
3 - Laws of Valor (level 14) with Critical rune (level 33) Since I never take enough damage in this difficulty (presumably pre-torment?) this is the best Law to use atm. Great ATKSPD buff to quickly recover your depleted wrath along with high crit damage to melt targets, also provides a smaller permanent ATKSPD buff to you and your followers which cant be knocked.
4 - Akarats Champion (level 25) with Fire Starter rune (level 29) Enourmas damage buff, always activate it before a boss/pack of elites before you jump in and use all your abilites and everything seems to turn into dust. The wrath regen also helps you spam your more damaging abilites a bit more before you have to revert to your main wrath generator.
Passives - Heavenly Strength/Fervor. Always active dependant on whether I have a 2h or 1h equipped and change it every time I change my weapon. Not much to say here.
Holy Cause - Boosts weapon damage and increases life gain from dealing holy damage. Good all round damage increase.
Fanaticism - Increases attack speed of all major Wrath generators, means quicker wrath recovery and more flying shields
My current Character sheet for reference - http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/ishnaarishok-2375/hero/50354558
Hope this helped!