Crusader Leveling Build Guide (Patch 2.7.7 / Season 31) (2024)

Last updated on Jan 10, 2024 at 09:00by Deadset30 comments

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Active Skills
Blessed Hammer LimitlessSteed Charge Endurance1Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force2Condemn Vacuum3Provoke Too Scared to Run4Akarat's Champion Prophet
Passive Skills
Heavenly StrengthLong Arm of the LawFineryBlunt

Note that while the skills and runes recommended in the build arespecifically chosen to be available at an early level and remain a solid pickthroughout the leveling and early character progression, you will have totemporarily work with other skills as the build gradually unlocks. Tofamiliarize yourself with the class, experimentation is stronglyencouraged.

The build focuses on the dynamic between Blessed Hammer and Condemn, combining the circular destruction of the former withthe vortex effect of the latter. Strive to open fights with Condemn Vacuum,drawing as many enemies as you can on top of you for maximum efficiency per Wrathspent. Then begin the Blessed Hammer onslaught, clearing entire screens ofenemies with the efficient Limitless rune. To balance the resourcespending of this no-generator setup, you will alternate Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force with Provoke; the combination of thetwo should provide enough sustain with the cheapest Crusader spender equipped. Akarat's Champion will temporarily boost both your damage and toughness,but with its low uptime in barebones gear setups, it should be limited toimportant fights. An efficient farming build would be incomplete without mobility,so we also include Steed Charge as the most reliable movement tool of theclass.

The basis of every build lies in its chosen damage dealing skills. As theyinvariably require resource or cooldown management mechanics of some sort, andsuch are scarce for low level and less geared characters, you will focus on onedamage dealing ability early on. The typical early game build will feature adominant damage dealer, a mobility skill, buffs and/or shields, and resourcegenerators (either active or passive). The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage dealing ability: Reliant on sets and high levellegendaries to skyrocket the damage of most of his spenders, the Crusader doesbest with his cheapest damage dealer early on — Blessed Hammer.Until you acquire it at level 12, you will have to make do with Shield Bash (level 2) and Sweep Attack (level 5), both of whichare significantly more taxing on your Wrath reserve. Once the hammers becomeavailable, switch to them and add the Burning Wrath rune at level 18,sticking to it until level 35 where you swap it out for Limitless. Youcan safely stay on the latter for the remainder of the leveling process. Blessed Hammer becomes especially attractive with some of the gamblingstrats you can apply, discussed in our Beginner Seasonal Guide.
• Slot 2 — Mobility skill: Crusaders have a single reliablemovement tool in the form of Steed Charge; a high-cooldown celestialmount that boosts your speed and removes enemy collision for its duration. Itunlocks at level 13, but gains the only relevant upgrade to the role quitefurther down the line — the Endurance rune at level 42.
• Slot 3 — Resource management: As cheap as Blessed Hammeris, for a decent chunk of your leveling you will have to include a Wrathgenerator to replenish some of your reserve. Any of your four primaries — Punish, Slash, Smite or Justice —will do early on. Once you hit level 45 however, you will add the resourcemanagement powerhouse Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force, and will never haveto resort to a generator again.
• Slots 4 & 5 — Utility: With the scattershot approach of Blessed Hammer, you will do well to include control abilities to reducewhiffed hammers. Provoke unlocks at level 9, and taunts enemies tobeeline straight into your AoE; you will add some healing to it at level 15through Cleanse, but will gain the biggest defensive benefit at level 32— from the percentage based debuff of Too Scared to Run. Provoke also has considerable Wrath generation utility, which cannot beignored in a generator-less setup. Condemn (level 21) will not assistyou with Wrath, but will compensate with the best monster pulling ability at thedisposal of Crusaders in the face of the Vacuum rune, available at level26.
• Slot 6 — Supplementary damage: You have considerable freedom foryour final active skill slot, with reasonable options like Falling Sword Part the Clouds (level 28), Phalanx Bowmen (level 30)or Heaven's Fury Ascendancy (level 36). The standard recommendation Akarat's Champion becomes available at level 25, and despite its lowuptime in a beginner build brings considerable, directly controllable damageincrease to the build, along with additional tankyness and a cheat death withthe Prophet rune (level 49).
• Passives: You should alternate between Heavenly Strength and Fervor according to your currently equipped weapon. You can maketemporary additions to the passive setup for defense ( Indestructible atlevel 25) or offense ( Holy Cause at level 27), but definitely make wayfor Long Arm of the Law as soon as it unlocks at level 45 — along with Unstoppable Force, it will be the basis of your Wrath management. Finery will spike both damage and toughness when it unlocks at level 60,amounting to a hefty boost of toughness and damage with an assumed average of 10sockets across a well-equipped character. You will solidify your Blessed Hammer powers with Blunt at level 65, adding more than anitem's worth of skill % to your build.

As the leveling process in Diablo 3 is relatively quick, specific legendaryrecommendations are impossible. During leveling finding upgrades is frequent, soyour gear will be swapped in and out within the span of a few minutes. Followingthe in-game comparison system and the stat priorities outlined in the tablesbelow will result in a solid character throughout the leveling journey.

The table below is meant to point you in a general correct direction and isby no means indicative of the exact rolls you want to go for. They can varygreatly from build to build and it is always preferable to refer to ourexact guide page. If you simply use the rolls below however, and roll for skilldamage on the applicable pieces:

• Blessed Shield, Shield Bash, Phalanx, Blessed Hammer, Fist of the Heavens, Sweep Attack on helmsand boots;
• Condemn, Heaven's Fury, Falling Sword, Bombardment on shoulders and chest;
• Justice, Punish, Smite, Slash on belt andpants.

Wherever it says 'Elemental damage', match it to the rune of your damagingskill of choice. You will come out with a functional spec, and probably not toofar off from what we would recommend in a dedicated build!

Note that skill damage and elemental damage recommendations only apply if themajority of your damage is done through that skill or element. For alt charactershowever, sockets take priority above all other attributes, since you can slothigh level gems and benefit massively from their stat increase. For the purposesof an alt character, leveling a Gem of Ease to level 25 and socketing itin a level 70 weapon will be the single biggest boost you can provide to theleveling process.