Roland's Sweep Attack Crusader Skills and Runes
On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Roland's Sweep Attack Crusader in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.3 and Season 26.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Rotation
The build approaches fights with the unrelenting assault of
Sweep Attack, its damage augmented by the fierce ticking DoT of
Blazing Sweep. While the
Golden Flense flail will help you
balance resources, another indispensable tool for Wrath management will be
Laws of Valor
Unstoppable Force, used on cooldown. Standing face to face with
the enemy has its costs, and it is paid in strong defensive abilities like
Iron Skin and
Akarat's Champion; the former is to be used on
cooldown, while the latter should be activated as a strategic boost against
elites and Rift Guardians. The AoE focus of
Sweep Attack mandates the use
of movement tools:
Condemn
Vacuum for short range pulls, and
Steed Charge for long range repositioning. Use both liberally during
fights, with a single purpose in mind: creating the biggest brawl possible, where
the
Sweep Attack Crusader thrives.
Skills and Runes
The primary damage dealer of the build is Sweep Attack, empowered by
both the Roland's set bonuses and the
dedicated shield for the skill —
Denial, (see this build's gear page for more information).
As previously mentioned, the bigger of a fight you engage in, the more this skill
shines — and to top it all off, you will be spreading the considerable
Blazing Sweep DoT on all affected enemies.
You will be taking Condemn in the build, but not as a damage-dealing
skill — your priority is the crowd-control of
Vacuum. This rune
choice not only procs
Strongarm Bracers, but also the
Bane of the Trapped gem, while grouping enemies near you to maximize the
benefits of the
Sweep Attack AoE. It goes without saying, but in high
progression environments this skill can expose you to a lot of danger as well by
grouping enemies on top of you, so be prepared to apply the
Iron Skin
defenses shortly after.
Often times, you will stumble into one of the following scenarios: a monster
pack that is too small to be worth your time; or you have leftover enemies from
a bigger fight; or an isolated elite pack that will be disadvantageous to fight
alone. In these cases, you have two options: efficiently seeking the next big
fight with the Endurance rune of
Steed Charge, or employing the
pull of
Draw and Quarter in the hopes of dragging the enemy into better
density. Keep in mind that crowd control gets less effective over time, and
previously
Vacuumed enemies will be far less susceptible to dragging, in
certain situations negating the benefits of the
Draw and Quarter rune.
One of the stronger aspects of the Roland's set is the Laws and Defensive
skills cooldown reduction, triggered as you fight with Sweep Attack or
Shield Bash. This utility cannot be ignored, and dictates the use of two
skills in the respective categories:
Iron Skin and
Laws of Valor.
Iron Skin is a staple damage reduction tool, cutting incoming damage
in half and removing enemy collision through the
Flash rune. With
the Roland's 2-piece bonus, the standard 30-second cooldown will be promptly cut
down through fighting alone, and the ability to chain cast it will not be
uncommon. As such, do not hesitate to re-apply
Iron Skin as soon as it
becomes available.
Another mainstay of the generally resource intensive Crusader class is
Laws of Valor
Unstoppable Force. Cutting down the Wrath cost of all skills in
half, the Active part of the law will stabilize your resource spending in the
unfavorable (but inevitable) single target situations. Even the passive Attack
Speed bonus, which is rarely valued in two-handed Crusader builds, is
surprisingly synergistic as it translates into CDR for Roland's. Note that
Unstoppable Force's Resource Cost Reduction bonuses also feed into the
defensive bonus of Cpt. Crimson's set, making its inclusion even better in the
build.
The signature Crusader steroid Akarat's Champion is incorporated once
again — but unlike Akkhan set based builds, you cannot rely on its
permanent uptime. In the Roland's setups, it becomes a strategic cooldown, so
plan your riskiest engages around its availability. Increasing your damage
multiplicatively by 35% and supplying you with 5 Wrath per second as a base
effect, the skill also takes on a defensive role through the tanky
Prophet rune, allowing you near-invincibility for a 20-second window.
Layering you with 150% additional Armor and a free life, this rune will rotate
with the
Indestructible passive to keep you alive.
This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.
Passives
Heavenly Strength allows you to wield two-handed weapons in one hand,
and have a shield in the other. It is a natural inclusion in a
Sweep Attack build, where the
Golden Flense reigns as the
best-in-slot weapon.
You have some freedom in choosing your utility passive; you can solidify your
Wrath management by including Long Arm of the Law, doubling the duration of
the active effects of Laws and ensuring near-permanent uptime of
Laws of Valor. Should you struggle for healing, you can incorporate
Wrathful — if you lean on
Unstoppable Force only in
emergency single target situations (as you should), you will receive the full
recovery benefits of this passive, and gain a solid source of regeneration.
Indestructible is the cheat death passive available to Crusaders, and
arguably the strongest such passive of any class. With a standard 60-second
cooldown, it will prevent the lethal outcome of a sudden damage spike — a
common sight in Greater Rift progression. On top of that, it provides you with
a 5-second window of invulnerability, 35% damage increase and an immense Life per
Kill boost. To top things off, it will trigger second after
Prophet in
the chain of proc mechanics, essentially adding a third life while
Akarat's Champion is active.
Last but not least, Finery is added as a well rounded boost to both
damage and Toughness. Providing with a 1.5% Strength increase for your every
socket, including weapon and jewelry, it amounts to a hefty boost with an assumed
average of 10 sockets across a well equipped character.
Changelog
- 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 09 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Season 25.
- 23 Jul. 2021: No changes required for Season 24.
- 31 Mar. 2021: No changes required for Season 23.
- 18 Nov. 2020: Minor adjustment to rune selection preferences.
- 30 Jun. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
- 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 19 Nov. 2019: Guide revised and updated for Season 19.
- 22 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
- 15 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 17 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 31 Oct. 2017: Blazing Sweep is now the recommended rune for Sweep Attack.
More Crusader Guides
Builds from Other Classes
Farming Guides
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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