Rolands Sweep Attack Crusader Skills and Runes

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Quick Reference
    • 2.1. Skill Setup
  • 3. Builds
    • 3.1. Gear Setup
    • 3.2. Legendary Gems
    • 3.3. Kanai's Cube
  • 4. Role in the Current Meta
  • 5. Reading Further
  • 6. ChangeLog
• ×Skills and Runes
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Skills, Runes and Passives
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
  • 1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
  • 2. Paragon Points
  • 3. Gems
  • 4. Kanai's Cube
  • 5. Follower
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Speed Farming Variation
  • 1. Speed Farming
  • 2. Adapting Skills
  • 3. Adapting Gear
  • 4. Adapting Gemming
  • 5. Adapting Kanai's Cube
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

Below, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Rolands Sweep Attack Crusader in Diablo 3. Updated for patch 2.6.1 and Season 14.

The other pages of our Rolands Sweep Attack Crusader guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

Active Skills
Sweep Attack Blazing Sweep Condemn Vacuum 1 Steed Charge Endurance 2 Iron Skin Flash 3 Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force 4 Akarat's Champion Prophet
Passive Skills
Heavenly Strength Long Arm of the Law Indestructible Finery

1. 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.

2. Skills, Runes and Passives

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. 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.

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.

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.

About the Author

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.

3. ChangeLog

• 31 Oct. 2017: Blazing Sweep is now the recommended rune for Sweep Attack.