Crusader Armor of Akkhan Fresh 70 Starter Build (Patch 2.7 / Season 23)
This build is a starter build for fresh Level 70 Crusaders who have access to the Armor of Akkhan set.
This guide is part of our Crusader Seasonal Progress Guide, which also includes a leveling build and other early builds for fresh 70 characters.
Fresh 70 Build
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
How to Play the Build: Skills and Rotation
Due to the utility focus and generic nature of the set, it is hard to point
at a specific build path as best for a beginner Akkhan build. The natural
recommendation is to keep Akarat's Champion from the leveling and fresh 70
build, since the set builds up your resource management and damage bonuses around
the uptime of this cornerstone steroid skill. You can otherwise keep the beginner
spec as-is (if you favor
Blessed Hammer), change to any Wrath spender of
your liking, or follow the
Blessed Shield-centric spec outlined above.
Blessed Shield is recommended as a good Akkhan set starting skill, as
it strikes a good balance between resource cost and damage dealt, and it also
bounces between targets by itself while allowing you to keep your distance. The
recommended rune is
Combust, as it offers decent AoE and single target
all at once; it is also a fire-based rune, which allows easy synergy with common
drops like
Cindercoat and
Magefist.
Your resource management will be split between the activated effect of
Laws of Valor
Unstoppable Force and the targeted refill of
Shield Glare
Zealous Glare. Combined with the Wrath regeneration of an
active
Akarat's Champion, you will all but nullify the
Blessed Shield costs for comfortable spam.
Finally, you will split your utility skills between mobility and defense. The
staple movement skill of Crusaders, Steed Charge, will of course be taken
with the lengthiest rune —
Endurance. Round out your build with
Iron Skin
Steel Skin for a massive, lengthy defensive boost — especially
useful during
Akarat's Champion downtimes.
In the passives, alternate between Heavenly Strength and
Fervor
depending on your best weapon at the time.
Indestructible will be vital
when you push against your gear limits, especially considering the squishiness of
Akkhan set builds. The generic Strength buff of
Finery is one of the
strongest passives in the Crusader arsenal, boosting damage and toughness by a
substantial margin with the number of sockets in endgame gear. The fourth passive
slot can be adjusted to your chosen spender; in the build we recommend,
Towering Shield is a fitting choice for the
Blessed Shield damage
bonus and
Shield Glare cooldown reduction.
Gear and Builds Using This Set
The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.
- Akkhan Bombardment
Build —
Belt of the Trove (belt);
Aquila Cuirass (chest);
In-geom (1h sword);
Nemesis Bracers and
Strongarm Bracers (bracers);
Flail of the Charge and
Shield of the Steed (flail and shield set);
Ring of Royal Grandeur (replaced by
Stone of Jordan in Season 16) and
Unity (rings).
Changelog
- 02 Apr. 2021: Reviewed for Season 23.
- 13 Mar. 2020: Reviewed for Season 20.
- 22 Nov. 2019: Page added.
Crusader Fresh 70 Akkhan Build
This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.
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