Best In Slot Crusader D3
Crusader: Gems while Leveling up. Red Gems good ‘ol red gems. Best for Helm (+EXP%!!!), Weapon (Flat Damage) and since Crusaders use Strength as their primary stat, any other socket too. Don’t be shy to slot Red Gems EVERYWHERE! DON’T SAVE THEM, combine them often! Fresh 70 Crusader, now what? Grats on max level Crusader! Crusader is an STR Class – meaning you get free ARMOR from all the STR on your gear. This results in a huge lack of ALL RESISTS. So, in your reroll strategy REMOVE ALL ARMOR ROLLS as they’re pretty much USELESS – and replace them with ALL RESISTS. ALLRES is your best defensive stat by a LARGE MARGIN. Socketing Diamonds also gives you ALLRES. Its the only “normal” build that performs super well and I would categorize it firmly as the best crusader speedfarming build. Historically saders had to deal with thorns pony – I don’t miss this at all. More recently Akkhan Condemn or Shield Throw wasn’t that bad, I suppose. D3 Guides Directory: for more Crusader and other D3 Guides.
One of the best Crusader builds in the game. Tied with Sweep Roland build for the Top Tier Crusader build for Season 16 and Patch 2.6.4
Akkhan's Condemn Crusader is the Top Tier build for its' class. While still one of the best builds in the game, it's currently tied for the first place with the Sweep build based on Roland's Legacy set. This set was so powerful, it wasn't buffed in Patch 2.6.4, yet it still remains in the very top few builds in Diablo 3.
To check the full list of our Best Diablo 3 builds visit: The Best Diablo 3 builds by Odealo
Table of contents
- General information
- Recommended items
- Recommended skills
- Best builds for other Diablo 3 classes
General information
The entire build is based on the Armor of Akkhan set which provides the following bonuses:
- Reduces the Wrath cost of all abilities by 50% when Akarat's Champion is active (2/6)
- Reduces the cooldown of Akarat's Champion by 50% (4/6)
- While Akarat's Champion is active, the Crusader deals 1500% increased damage and takes 50% less damage (6/6)
Akkhan was the best set in the game in previous patches. It left the majority of other sets and builds far behind in terms of high GR pushing, and it was left untouched in Patch 2.6.4 so that other builds can cope up with its' immense capabilities.
The build's mechanics revolve around Akarat's Champion spell, which provides terrific offensive and defensive bonuses. Because of relying on the skill to be able to deal any damage, the most important attribute on your gear is Cooldown Reduction. If you are using Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan (as recommended in this guide) you will have to remember to be always on the move, otherwise, you will be losing a lot of DPS.
- Use Akarat Champion when facing Elites, Bosses, big packs, and in emergency situations
- Spam Condemn while under the effect of Akarat's Champion for immense damage.
- Keep five stacks of Slash Guard armor bonus at all times
- Using Provoke and Steel Skin when their cooldown is off for great defensive utility
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Recommended items
| Equipment | |
| Head - Helm of Akkhan Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Socket 3) Strength 4) Vitality 5) Secondary res. Socket: | |
| Chest - Breastplate of Akkhan Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) Increased Condemn damage 4) Secondary res. 5) Melee/ranged damage reduction Sockets: | |
Pants -Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan | |
| Gloves- Gauntlets of Akkhan Stat priorities: 1) Cooldown reduction 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Strength 5) Vitality | |
| Boots - Sabatons of Akkhan Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental res. 4) Armor | |
Pauldrons - Pauldrons of Akkhan | |
| Bracers - Strongarm Bracers Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Holy damage% 3) Strength 4) Vitality 5) Secondary res. Special power: Enemies hit by knockbacks suffer 20–30% more damage for 6 seconds | |
| Amulet - Talisman of Akkhan Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Holy damage% 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Critical Hit Chance 5) Strength 6) Secondary res. | |
| Ring - Focus Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Cooldown reduction 3) Critical Hit Chance 4) Critical Hit Damage 5) Strength (Part of the Bastions of Will set) Set bonuses:
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Ring - Restraint | |
| Belt - Vigilante Belt Stat priorities: 1) Cooldown reduction 2) Strength 3) Vitality 4) All elemental resistances | |
| Weapon - Blade of Prophecy Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Cooldown reduction 4) High special power's value 5) Damage% 6) Strength Sockets: Special power Two Condemned enemies also trigger Condemn's explosion, and increases Condemn damage by 600–800% | |
| Off-hand - Frydehr's Wrath 1) Cooldown reduction 2) Critical Hit chance 3) Strength 4) Vitality 5) Area damage% Special power Condemn has no cooldown and deals 600-800% increased damage, but costs 40 Wrath | |
| Bonus Items for Season 16 (thanks to built-in Ring of Royal Grandeur power) | |
| Head - Leoric's Crown 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit chance 3) Strength 4) Vitality Special power Increases the effect of any non-Legendary gem socketed into the helm by 75–100% | |
| Kanai Cube powers | |
| The Furnace Increases damage against elites by 40–50% Can be freely replaced with Blade of Prophecy in the weapon slot. Whichever weapon has better stats | |
| Illusory Boots You may move unhindered through enemies | |
| Convention of Elements Gain 150–200% increased damage to a single element for 4 seconds. This effect rotates through the elements available to your class in the following order: Arcane, Cold, Fire, Holy, Lightning, Physical, Poison | |
| Legendary Gems | |
Bane of the Trapped
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Bane of the Stricken
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Esoteric Alteration
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Recommended skills
Best In Slot Crusader D3 50000
| Active Skills | |
| Slash Performs a cone attack in front of the Crusader dealing 230% damage as Fire Guard Increases your armor by 5% for every enemy hit. This effect stacks up to 5 times This skill is used to generate Wrath, proc. Bastion of Will's effect and grant additional armor | |
| Iron Skin Absorbs 50% of all incoming damage for 4 seconds Steel Skin Increases the skill duration to 7 seconds Flash(optional) Grants increased movement speed when hitting during Iron Skin's effect. Can be used for faster clearing of lower GRs and when farming regular Rifts (though there are certainly faster builds for that) Mandatory defensive skill for every Crusader build. | |
| Condemn Unleashes a massive explosion after a 3-second delay, dealing 1160% damage as Holy to all enemies within 15 yards Vacuum Condemn will pull all enemies towards the Crusader. It counts as Knockback effect and will proc Strongarm Bracers Your main DPS spell. Spam it whenever under the effect of Akarat's Champion, as well as to pull enemies | |
| Akarat's Champion Increases damage dealt by 35% and increases Wrath regeneration by 5 per second for 20 seconds Prophet Grants 150% additional armor, and when the Crusader received fatal damage while in this form, instead of dying he is healed to full Life. This effect works only for the first time Mandatory skill for this build(and any other Akkhan build). Use it whenever facing Elites, Bosses, big packs and in emergency situations | |
| Provoke Taunts all nearby enemies and generates 5 Wrath for every enemy taunted. Taunt lasts for 4 seconds Too Scared to Run Affected enemies also have their attack speed reduced by 50% and movement speed slowed by 80% for the duration Generates additional Wrath, and applies an extremely powerful debuff on affected enemies | |
| Laws of Justice Passive: grants the Crusader and their allies 140 resistance to all elements Active: empowers the Law, granting the Crusader and his allies 490 resistance to all elements for 5 seconds Immovable Object Empowering the Law will also increase Crusader's armor by up to 7000 at level 70 Great defensive Aura. You can pick any other Law/Rune for low/mid tier Rifts; however, this one will shine in very high GRs | |
| Passive Skills | |
| Indestructible Upon receiving fatal damage, the Crusader becomes immune to incoming damage and all crowd control effects, gaining 35% increased damage and additional 82526 Life per Kill for 5 seconds This effect may only occur once every 60 seconds | |
| Holy Cause The Crusader gains 10% bonus to damage dealt with all skills and gains 1% of maximum Life when dealing Holy damage | |
| Heavenly Strength The Crusader is allowed to wield two-handed weapons in his main-hand slot. All damage dealt by the Crusader is reduced by 20% | |
| Finery The Crusader gains 1.5% additional Strength for every gem socketed into his gear | |
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Have fun with this build - we certainly did enjoy it ourselves. And see you soon in the world of Sanctuary.
If you have any ideas on how this build could be improved, or if you belive this is not precisely the best Crusader build in Season 16, please let us know in the comments below. We are open to feedback and constructive criticism.
Best In Slot Crusader D3 Build
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