Yea the drop in character sheet dps was very off-putting at first. I am back up to about 400k now in-game but I kill things so much faster than when I was at 600+ with a 2h.
The proc happens all the time and I am seeing 1.5-2M crits now. Not to mention the slowed movement and attack speed which certainly affects the amount of toughness you need and is a boon to group play.
Hello all, writing my first guide here. This one is based on one of my favorite weapons from WoW that I happened to pick up in RoS right away: Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.
I am not claiming to be a master of the game, just sharing my experience with Crusader so far and what has worked.
Justice - Burst :
Using this as my main Wrath generator. I like the small aoe damage, the stun, and the bonus lightning damage awarded from gear and Blunt. It's not perfect, but having a ranged attack to replenish Wrath has saved me several times. It allows me to stay out of harms way until I can spam Blessed Hammer again.
Blessed Hammer - Thunderstruck :
The bread and butter of the skills. Everyone loves Blessed Hammer, right? I know it was the main reason I rolled a Crusader at the beginning of RoS since Hammerdin was the last thing I played in D2 a decade ago. I am quite pleased that it is a viable skill. Thunderstruck is synergistic with the lightning damage on gear as well as +blessed hammer damage and the Blunt skill. The lightning bolts that strike back to you from the hammers are a neat little addition. I preferred the Limitless rune while leveling and would probably still pick it but since I have gone a lightning damage route, this is the best choice.
Laws of Valor - Unstoppable Force :
This Law seems to work the best for the offensive-minded Crusader. Increased attack speed means spinning hammers faster and more hammers equals a good time. I've experimented with a few of the runes and settle on Unstoppable Force most often due to using a 1h weapon and having such a fast attack. It is very easy to run out of Wrath as we all know so firing off a few extra during short bursts or chaining Law activation during Akarat's Champion (with Rally, more on that later) is very nice. Critical and Answered Prayer are also viable in my experience and I would lean towards one of them if I were using a 2h.
Akarat's Champion - Rally :
The big Crusader cooldown. It looks like almost everyone runs this and for good reason, it's awesome. Faster hammers and a cheat death are great but the real bonus is having all your damage have a chance to shave seconds off your other skill cooldowns. This ability feels like a must have and is just a fun one use. I save this for elites and bosses which I will explain below in the strategy section.
Shield Glare - Divine Verdict :
I have [The Final Witness] shield which makes Shield Glare hit all enemies around you instead of a frontal cone. The short cooldown AOE blind is amazing but this would be a harder skill to recommend without the shield. I was using Condemn - Unleashed before getting this shield as an extra dps cooldown and that is what I would recommend replacing Shield Glare with in the meantime. The rune I use depends on which level of Torment I am in and whether or not I am in a group. T1 is Divine Verdict because we may as well kill things faster. On harder difficulties with a group I like using Uncertainty to help take the heat off other players. Soloing at higher difficulties I use Zealous Glare to restore Wrath to continue spinning hammers (keeping the life on hit up, etc).
Provoke - Charged Up :
Another Wrath management tool and another way to help keep the attention off other players. Charged up also increases dps and can be maintained during Akarat's Champion as well as helping maintain itself with Rally by providing another tick of damage on multiple targets.
Passives:
Blunt:20% more damage on our 2 attacks? This is an obvious choice with the lack of DPS passives available.
Righteousness:With how fast using a 1h is, the extra wrath and quicker generation makes a big difference in Blessed Hammer uptime.
Long Arm of the Law:Combined with the Unstoppable Force rune on Law of Valor, this is another way to keep spinning hammers for a sustained period. It also makes chaining with Rally simpler and even when not using Akarat's Champion, the bonus DPS for a group is excellent.
Divine Fortress:This slot is sort of a gimme since we don't need Heavenly Strength. I switch this one out a lot depending on gear and have tried other passives here including Hold Your Ground, Wrathful, and Finery. Feel free to experiment based on your current gear setup.
This is another area to experiment with along with passive skills. I have 12% speed on my boots so I put another 13% in Core points to reach the cap. Another viable Core option would be extra Wrath to keep spinning hammers.
In Offense I have been putting points in Crit Damage due to lacking it the most on my gear. I don't feel that Attack Speed is necessary due to the 1h attack rate. If you feel like you need more Crit Chance, feel free to put points there. I have not experimented with cooldown reduction but with chaining cooldowns during fights, I feel like damage output is more important.
In Defense I feel like my Life is lacking the most so I have put points there lately. Previously I was doing Resist All. Use points here to make up for spots lacking in gear.
In Utility I have my points in Life on Hit due to my Toughness being on the low end. If you are only doing Torment 1 or feel as though your gear is tanky enough, definitely switch into Area Damage.
The Gearz:
My gear choices have been made based partially on what has dropped and partially what I have experimented with and found successful. It seems that we are starting to learn the character sheet damage number is not reflective of the actual damage output. For example, I was breaking 500k after a day at 70 with a 2h weapon but barely able to solo T1 mobs in any respectable time. Now my character sheet shows about 350k in-game but I can basically run through T1 and toss the occasional Blessed Hammer and watch things die behind me.
That being said, here is what I am doing with my gear:
[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]:
This is basically the entire foundation of the build right now. I feel like the only Crusader having success with a 1h and that is definitely due to the proc on Thunderfury. It procs off every almost everything I do, frequently, and crits for 1.5-2M damage and many targets. 2h'ers are clearly viable due to the other awesome guides and videos I've seen on this site (cheers to you guys!) but there's something about spamming out 3 hammers a second and watching lightning hitting all over the place that makes me grin. It is hard to recommend a build based around a particular item since there is no certainty that everyone will get one in a reasonable time, so if you don't have Thunderfury, I highly recommend Kapsu's build linked on the Diablo Fans front page:http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/crusader-the-church-of-zakarum/83427-lightning-hammerdin-for-those-who-want-to-destroy
However, if you end up with Thunderfury...
The other slots of gear I have gone for +Blessed Hammer and +Justice damage wherever possible. In addition, +lightning damage is a great boost and there are a number awesome legendary items that have it: Stone of Jordan, Thundergod's Vigor, etc.
I've gone for Crit Chance and Crit Damage where possible to get bigger Thunderfury procs since the weapon damage is on the lower end relative to 2h'ers.
And I like getting increased attack speed otherwise to just spam hammers as fast as possible.
Strategyz:
The method is a standard hammer build strat. Run in, increase your attack speed and reduce cost with Law activation, start spamming hammers. As things move in closer I will blind them to increase the damage they take and hit provoke to trigger Charged Up while the hammers are already spooled. Then use Akarat's Champion to start Rallying.
The common theme is that regular mobs take a long time but with Thunderfury proccing all over the place they get wasted. Elites, as usual, just melt.
I am definitely seeking feedback on this as I have yet to do much beyond T4 but everything has been very successful and Crusader got fun!
The proc happens all the time and I am seeing 1.5-2M crits now. Not to mention the slowed movement and attack speed which certainly affects the amount of toughness you need and is a boon to group play.
It occurred to me that I forgot to add passives and Paragon points, I will update the post shortly to include those, sorry!
I am not claiming to be a master of the game, just sharing my experience with Crusader so far and what has worked.
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The Skillz:
Justice - Burst :
Using this as my main Wrath generator. I like the small aoe damage, the stun, and the bonus lightning damage awarded from gear and Blunt. It's not perfect, but having a ranged attack to replenish Wrath has saved me several times. It allows me to stay out of harms way until I can spam Blessed Hammer again.
Blessed Hammer - Thunderstruck :
The bread and butter of the skills. Everyone loves Blessed Hammer, right? I know it was the main reason I rolled a Crusader at the beginning of RoS since Hammerdin was the last thing I played in D2 a decade ago. I am quite pleased that it is a viable skill. Thunderstruck is synergistic with the lightning damage on gear as well as +blessed hammer damage and the Blunt skill. The lightning bolts that strike back to you from the hammers are a neat little addition. I preferred the Limitless rune while leveling and would probably still pick it but since I have gone a lightning damage route, this is the best choice.
Laws of Valor - Unstoppable Force :
This Law seems to work the best for the offensive-minded Crusader. Increased attack speed means spinning hammers faster and more hammers equals a good time. I've experimented with a few of the runes and settle on Unstoppable Force most often due to using a 1h weapon and having such a fast attack. It is very easy to run out of Wrath as we all know so firing off a few extra during short bursts or chaining Law activation during Akarat's Champion (with Rally, more on that later) is very nice. Critical and Answered Prayer are also viable in my experience and I would lean towards one of them if I were using a 2h.
Akarat's Champion - Rally :
The big Crusader cooldown. It looks like almost everyone runs this and for good reason, it's awesome. Faster hammers and a cheat death are great but the real bonus is having all your damage have a chance to shave seconds off your other skill cooldowns. This ability feels like a must have and is just a fun one use. I save this for elites and bosses which I will explain below in the strategy section.
I have [The Final Witness] shield which makes Shield Glare hit all enemies around you instead of a frontal cone. The short cooldown AOE blind is amazing but this would be a harder skill to recommend without the shield. I was using Condemn - Unleashed before getting this shield as an extra dps cooldown and that is what I would recommend replacing Shield Glare with in the meantime. The rune I use depends on which level of Torment I am in and whether or not I am in a group. T1 is Divine Verdict because we may as well kill things faster. On harder difficulties with a group I like using Uncertainty to help take the heat off other players. Soloing at higher difficulties I use Zealous Glare to restore Wrath to continue spinning hammers (keeping the life on hit up, etc).
Provoke - Charged Up :
Another Wrath management tool and another way to help keep the attention off other players. Charged up also increases dps and can be maintained during Akarat's Champion as well as helping maintain itself with Rally by providing another tick of damage on multiple targets.
Passives:
Blunt:20% more damage on our 2 attacks? This is an obvious choice with the lack of DPS passives available.
Righteousness:With how fast using a 1h is, the extra wrath and quicker generation makes a big difference in Blessed Hammer uptime.
Long Arm of the Law:Combined with the Unstoppable Force rune on Law of Valor, this is another way to keep spinning hammers for a sustained period. It also makes chaining with Rally simpler and even when not using Akarat's Champion, the bonus DPS for a group is excellent.
Divine Fortress:This slot is sort of a gimme since we don't need Heavenly Strength. I switch this one out a lot depending on gear and have tried other passives here including Hold Your Ground, Wrathful, and Finery. Feel free to experiment based on your current gear setup.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARAGON:
This is another area to experiment with along with passive skills. I have 12% speed on my boots so I put another 13% in Core points to reach the cap. Another viable Core option would be extra Wrath to keep spinning hammers.
In Offense I have been putting points in Crit Damage due to lacking it the most on my gear. I don't feel that Attack Speed is necessary due to the 1h attack rate. If you feel like you need more Crit Chance, feel free to put points there. I have not experimented with cooldown reduction but with chaining cooldowns during fights, I feel like damage output is more important.
In Defense I feel like my Life is lacking the most so I have put points there lately. Previously I was doing Resist All. Use points here to make up for spots lacking in gear.
In Utility I have my points in Life on Hit due to my Toughness being on the low end. If you are only doing Torment 1 or feel as though your gear is tanky enough, definitely switch into Area Damage.
The Gearz:
My gear choices have been made based partially on what has dropped and partially what I have experimented with and found successful. It seems that we are starting to learn the character sheet damage number is not reflective of the actual damage output. For example, I was breaking 500k after a day at 70 with a 2h weapon but barely able to solo T1 mobs in any respectable time. Now my character sheet shows about 350k in-game but I can basically run through T1 and toss the occasional Blessed Hammer and watch things die behind me.That being said, here is what I am doing with my gear:
[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]:
This is basically the entire foundation of the build right now. I feel like the only Crusader having success with a 1h and that is definitely due to the proc on Thunderfury. It procs off every almost everything I do, frequently, and crits for 1.5-2M damage and many targets. 2h'ers are clearly viable due to the other awesome guides and videos I've seen on this site (cheers to you guys!) but there's something about spamming out 3 hammers a second and watching lightning hitting all over the place that makes me grin. It is hard to recommend a build based around a particular item since there is no certainty that everyone will get one in a reasonable time, so if you don't have Thunderfury, I highly recommend Kapsu's build linked on the Diablo Fans front page:http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/crusader-the-church-of-zakarum/83427-lightning-hammerdin-for-those-who-want-to-destroy
However, if you end up with Thunderfury...
The other slots of gear I have gone for +Blessed Hammer and +Justice damage wherever possible. In addition, +lightning damage is a great boost and there are a number awesome legendary items that have it: Stone of Jordan, Thundergod's Vigor, etc.
I've gone for Crit Chance and Crit Damage where possible to get bigger Thunderfury procs since the weapon damage is on the lower end relative to 2h'ers.
And I like getting increased attack speed otherwise to just spam hammers as fast as possible.
Strategyz:
The method is a standard hammer build strat. Run in, increase your attack speed and reduce cost with Law activation, start spamming hammers. As things move in closer I will blind them to increase the damage they take and hit provoke to trigger Charged Up while the hammers are already spooled. Then use Akarat's Champion to start Rallying.
The common theme is that regular mobs take a long time but with Thunderfury proccing all over the place they get wasted. Elites, as usual, just melt.
I am definitely seeking feedback on this as I have yet to do much beyond T4 but everything has been very successful and Crusader got fun!
Thanks, Thunderfury!
My current armory:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Dies-1550/hero/43941129
Updates will be added as I play more and receive feedback.