Blessed Hammer Crusader

[Valks 2,373]

On 1/27/2017 at 2:05 PM, Guest inf3rno said:

I'm also curious for an answer on this. Rapid Descent seems overkill since OROTZ ring takes care of the cooldown pretty well and also I don't really want to spam FS anyway since I don't always want to reset the Faithful Memory DPS buff for a weaker one. Any opinions?

 

sorry for spamming :/

Answered this above to your other comment.

[Valks 2,373]

On 1/30/2017 at 1:34 PM, Guest inf3rno said:

Any opinions on this one?

Another issue to remember is that your blind won't do anything against certain enemies. The free Judgement is a guaranteed 40% reduction against any enemy, regardless of DR. Mainly looking at RGs here. It's still a very good belt, but it's situational basically. It's amazing vs. trash, but will eventually do nothing against RGs.

[Valks 2,373]

On 1/31/2017 at 7:45 PM, Guest kupo said:

Has anyone ever used a SOJ on this build? Seems like it could work and be a nice help for higher grifts perhaps?

You can, but CoE is better.

[Valks 2,373]

On 1/31/2017 at 7:45 PM, Guest kupo said:

Also I am a horse rider. Which makes a bigger difference Iron skin or Laws of valor if I had to pick?

Can't edit for some reason, but you'll die without Iron Skin almost instantly.

[Valks 2,373]

On 2/2/2017 at 9:05 AM, Guest inf3rno said:

I would say in higher GRs you have no chance to survive even trash packs without Iron Skin Steel Skin.

Thanks for helping to answer :)

[Valks 2,373]

On 2/13/2017 at 2:29 PM, Inso said:

 If not, then what is wrong with my gear (other than it's not all augmented and not all ancient).

• Compass Rose is weak rolled.
• There's a few very low Strength rolls.
• Not the best damage roll on weapon.
• Weak rolls on Traveler's

These are small things, but when you want to push into 90s, these are the things that matter.

[Valks 2,373]

On 2/14/2017 at 9:08 AM, Guest Torhm said:

I used Faithful Memory instead of Johanna's Argument cause I find it in ancient and not the other. Is it a good idea ?

Yes, but only if you have Johanna's in the cube. In an ideal world, it is better to have Johanna's equipped because it is a 1-hander, but it's not that important.

[Guest inf3rno]

18 hours ago, Blainie said:

Another issue to remember is that your blind won't do anything against certain enemies. The free Judgement is a guaranteed 40% reduction against any enemy, regardless of DR. Mainly looking at RGs here. It's still a very good belt, but it's situational basically. It's amazing vs. trash, but will eventually do nothing against RGs.

Could you explain a little bit more pls? I'm still not really convinced :)

What I see is a guaranteed 40% DR for 6 seconds vs. a slightly less guaranteed "100% DR" for 4 seconds. What exactly do you mean by "it will do nothing against RGs"? Even at GR80 RGs are by far my smallest issue, as I can continuously Blind them and they are just sitting ducks during the Blind. Yes, they will come out from Blind and do their attacks, but that's what Iron Skin, the dodge with Falling Sword or the Toughness buff of Akarat's Champion is for.

I'm no pro or anything whatsoever, playing only casually so I might not know the underlying mechanics very well. What am I missing here?

[Torhm 0]

On 15/02/2017 at 1:25 PM, Blainie said:

Yes, but only if you have Johanna's in the cube. In an ideal world, it is better to have Johanna's equipped because it is a 1-hander, but it's not that important.

Thx for the answer :)

This week end, I found an ancien Johanna's Argument.

 

But I'm still stuck to GR 71. Can you help me improve my stuff ? Cause I didn't really see what improve first.
My profile : http://eu.battle.net/d3/fr/profile/Torhm-2299/hero/87850471

 

[Guest Sarvoth]

Hi all,

I hate to bug the experts to help me, but I am a bit frustrated and I am not sure where I went wrong.

tl;dr... I have all the pieces for this Deadset build, mix of ancients and non-ancients. Die instantly with all CDs on, in lvl 60+ GRs, need help in understanding why.

Here is my current build: http://www.d3planner.com/729722680

I can barely do level 55 GR, I die super fast. I have pushed upwards into the 60's, and I had to stop at 64, I think. Entered the GR, blue pack right in the front, killed me instantly, even with all CDs on and a unity ring on my undying companion, so I am kind of lost how my gear is that bad or I did something majorly wrong. I heard this build can do 90+ GR, and I am not sure how. Is it because I am not full ancients?

This is my favorite build to play as Crusader, 2nd is holy condemn build, that I switched to this from. I also have a thorns build, which is incredibly tanky, but can't stand how slow it feels. Just not fun.

I am using Fallen Sword as much as possible, especially on density packs. What kills me right now is projectiles. I swapped all my gems to diamonds to help with resists, at this point, I am not sure how to push GR levels without dying 30 times to complete it.

While I am not greatest at timing for the elemental ring buffs, I do save my Iron Skin and even Akarat's champion when I go low. I have a bottomless potion I also use. Finally, I swapped to  a new law that heals and reduces damage in hopes it would help a little. For the record, I don't have a unity on, because I duo almost all the time with my wife, who plays a DH. Her toughness is greater than mine by, and she has no problems not dying (she is using an Unhallowed build/grenade build).

Hoping someone can help me. I know my rolls are not perfect, if its just the gear that is the problem, then I guess I'll have to keep farming level 55 GRs, just annoying I can't upgrade my gems anymore at this GR level without lots of failures :(

Hoping I did something silly/stupid that someone catches.

Thanks!

-Sarv 

<merged>

Sorry, my last post's link for some reason lead to a profile that was mostly good, not sure why it showed the wrong cube'd items. This should work better: http://www.d3planner.com/357572815

I have the Faithful Memory/Hammer Jammers/Convention of Elements equipped on cube with this build.

[Kaelos 74]

Why no more steed charge in speed variant. Build is a bit slow now :/

[Gunthur 1]

On 3/22/2017 at 9:54 PM, Guest Sarvoth said:

I can barely do level 55 GR, I die super fast. I have pushed upwards into the 60's, and I had to stop at 64, I think. Entered the GR, blue pack right in the front, killed me instantly, even with all CDs on and a unity ring on my undying companion, so I am kind of lost how my gear is that bad or I did something majorly wrong. I heard this build can do 90+ GR, and I am not sure how. Is it because I am not full ancients?

I am using Fallen Sword as much as possible, especially on density packs. What kills me right now is projectiles. I swapped all my gems to diamonds to help with resists, at this point, I am not sure how to push GR levels without dying 30 times to complete it.

While I am not greatest at timing for the elemental ring buffs, I do save my Iron Skin and even Akarat's champion when I go low. I have a bottomless potion I also use. Finally, I swapped to  a new law that heals and reduces damage in hopes it would help a little. For the record, I don't have a unity on, because I duo almost all the time with my wife, who plays a DH. Her toughness is greater than mine by, and she has no problems not dying (she is using an Unhallowed build/grenade build).

Hoping someone can help me. I know my rolls are not perfect, if its just the gear that is the problem, then I guess I'll have to keep farming level 55 GRs, just annoying I can't upgrade my gems anymore at this GR level without lots of failures :(

Hoping I did something silly/stupid that someone catches.

So, I noticed a few things that might help you.  Just for reference, my gear is in the same general range as yours- a few Ancients, no augments.  See for yourself: http://www.d3planner.com/818181088.  My paragon level (861) and legendary gems (82) are certainly higher, which is a not insignificant difference.  I'm able to do GR65 with relative ease, and have done 70.  Unless my skills improve (not bloody likely!), I think 75 would be the ceiling with this gear.  Like you, I'm not a pro at timing CoE rotations (in fact, I ignore them entirely SHAME ON ME).  I also don't use potions, because...well, maybe I should look into that.  Nonetheless, I am confident that you should be capable of GR60 without difficulty, and possibly GR65.

On to the advice:

• You rightly point out that some of your gear rolls are not ideal, and that is certainly part of the issue.  Your damage bonuses for unused/unhelpful skills (Condemn/Slash/Falling Sword) are taking the place of buffs you would benefit from.  You might consider rerolling them in the cube, and when enchanting them, replace damage bonuses to skills you won't use (even Falling Sword, which is here purely to synergize with your armor set, Faithful Memory, and Sacred Harness) with anything else.  Even less prioritized buffs to Armor, All Resist, and even Life Regen are at least doing something to help you, no matter how small.  Your shoulders and boots are both good candidates for rerolls and enchants.  Also, I know that Weapon Dmg % is prioritized higher in the build than Cooldown Reduction for your Johanna's Argument, but in your situation I'd consider rolling that off to improve your overall CDR.  Increasing uptime for Akarat's Champion is hugely important, and quicker resets on Iron Skin will help, too. 
• With regard to Falling Sword, make sure you're not using it too much and resettting it to a lower multiplier than what you already have; typically, if I manage to get anything 6 or better (watch the little hammer icon on the UI to see what your multiplier is), I'll avoid jumping again unless I can land on a bigger pack or I need to reset the 8 second 50% damage reduction from the (4) set bonus.  
• This build thrives on dishing out huge amounts of damage, and doing so while utilizing an aggressive, alert style of play helps you stay alive.  The more damage you can do, the more your should be healing yourself from Life on Hit.  I like to put an Oculus Ring on my follower, and make a point to move into the circle for greater DPS.  You mentioned the Unity ring on your follower, but that will not improve your survivability unless you ditch either the OROTZ or the CoE for another Unity ring, which I would not recommend.
• Consider replacing the passive Blunt with Holy Cause; the incoming 1% heal procs from your holy damage will help once you're GR60+.  The 1% doesn't seem like much, but every collision of every one of your many hammers is contributing.
• In lieu of saving Iron Skin and Akarat's Champion for emergencies, I'd suggest using them as often as they're up; with this build and at these difficulties, any arrow you didn't see, explosion you were just on the edge of, or pit of nastiness you stand in too long can take you down in an eyeblink.  Increasing your CDR as suggested above will help with this.

That's all I can think of for now.  Good luck!  I'll be eager to hear how it goes.

[Sajakain 104]

Season 10:

I feel that I'm either not understanding this build or I'm doing something wrong. (Which, one could argue, is actually the same thing). You can find my armory profile for my Crusader this season by clicking here: Sajakain's Crusader.

The problem I'm having is that, despite landing with Falling Sword Rapid Descent and even using Akarat's Champion Prophet, I sometimes instantly die. This has even been in situations that once I land with Falling Sword, I'm dead. The average Greater Rift I'm running is 55 - 60 right now trying to level my gems a bit more.

Is this build supposed to be that squishy? I can't adequately explain how frustrating it is to die in this manner in such a low GR (imo, 55 is low but I may be wrong).

[Gunthur 1]

4 hours ago, Sajakain said:

Is this build supposed to be that squishy? I can't adequately explain how frustrating it is to die in this manner in such a low GR (imo, 55 is low but I may be wrong).

Take heart in the fact that when played well, this build can decimate huge groups with enough speed to make the occasional death  tolerable.  Until you get more Ancient pieces and level your Legendary gems into the mid 50s, GR 55-60 is respectable, especially with a higher skill-cap build.  However, you are certainly correct in assessing that this is by no means a durable build.  As such, it is possible at times to burn through the "cheat death" abilities provided by Indestructible and Akarat's Champion Prophet before either gets a chance to reset.  When that happens, insta-death is possible, especially when fighting elites with nasty affixes.  Make sure you're spamming Provoke and Iron Skin whenever possible to decrease enemy attack speed, generate wrath, and buff your durability.  Provoke in particular should be almost constantly available due to the Seeker of the Light 2p bonus.  Remember also the Life on Hit mechanic; if you are taking a beating, move around to get damage reduction from The Compass Rose while simultaneously using Provoke to group enemies close, then Falling Sword the lot of them and start DPSing like mad.  Hopefully you'll be able to self-heal enough to offset incoming damage, and possibly even recover health.  That said, certain elite affixes are bad news; Arcane (especially on minions) can get ridiculous, and Juggernaut champions can take forever (especially if you're solo) once you no longer have adds to proc Faithful Memory and Bane of the Trapped is neutered by the Juggernaut's immunity to CC.

You can probably make some adjustments to your gear that will help a bit; the life regen on your chest piece is probably worth rerolling; unfortunately you can't get All Resist because of the secondary Lightning resist, but Armor or +Life % will help with one-shots.  Also, the 421 Vitality is pretty poor.  Frankly, it's probably worth trying to reroll with Law of Kulle in the Cube or getting another from Kadala or loot drops.  Likewise, the Punish and Slash damage on your belt and pants aren't helping and would be better replaced with anything else that you actually can benefit from.

Hope this helps a little- good luck!

[Sajakain 104]

30 minutes ago, Gunthur said:

You can probably make some adjustments to your gear that will help a bit; . . .

Yeah I've been working on rerolling pieces as I can. Unfortunately I keep running out of mats lol. It's a process of "Bounties -> Rifts -> GR -> Reroll stats / upgrade items / etc -> run out of mats -> repeat".

Ty for the information, though. It is appreciated.

[Sajakain 104]

2 hours ago, Gunthur said:

Take heart in the fact that when played well, this build can decimate huge groups with enough speed to make the occasional death  tolerable.

I forgot to mention; my aggravation with this build is not from an "occasional death". It's from dying so many times in a 59/60GR that I reach the 30 second timer. Granted; I still finish it but the instant deaths (sometimes consecutive) is extremely frustrating.

I just don't understand how I can jump in with Falling Sword, Akarat's Champion, and Iron Skin and get 1 shot by a white trash mob.

[Gunthur 1]

23 hours ago, Sajakain said:

I forgot to mention; my aggravation with this build is not from an "occasional death". It's from dying so many times in a 59/60GR that I reach the 30 second timer. Granted; I still finish it but the instant deaths (sometimes consecutive) is extremely frustrating.

I just don't understand how I can jump in with Falling Sword, Akarat's Champion, and Iron Skin and get 1 shot by a white trash mob.

Maybe if you could record a video of a GR run it would be possible to evaluate any possibilities for tactical improvements.  I am not a great expert on this build, but I did successfully run it into the low GR70s in Season 9, and usually managed to finish GRs with 0-2 deaths.  Here's the gear I was running.

[Sajakain 104]

12 hours ago, Gunthur said:

Maybe if you could record a video of a GR run it would be possible to evaluate any possibilities for tactical improvements.  I am not a great expert on this build, but I did successfully run it into the low GR70s in Season 9, and usually managed to finish GRs with 0-2 deaths.  Here's the gear I was running.

I'd be more than happy to!

With the video I made, a couple points for reference:

• After I completed the Greater Rift (60), I went back and noticed that my Paragon points were still adjusted to my Death's Breath farming build. =\
• The monitor I play on is a 21:9 aspect ratio monitor: 2560x1080 resolution. When I rendered the video it seems kind of shrunk. I apologize for that and may just switch to my other 16:9 resolution video for recording purposes, lol.

If you note anything, by all means, point it out.

=======================================

You can find the build here: Sajakain's Crusader
You can find the video here: Greater Rift 60

[Gunthur 1]

7 hours ago, Sajakain said:

If you note anything, by all means, point it out.

So, I watched the video, and I took a possibly embarrassing amount of notes.  The first thing to point out is, hey, you finished GR 60!  You took a few deaths, but even so you cleared in just over 6 minutes, which is pretty quick.  I think those deaths can be avoided, and I think you can crank out even more damage to make things go even faster next time.  I'm going to be somewhat thorough, so please forgive me if I seem nitpicky.  To preemptively summarize, I could condense my suggestions to the following:

1. Try to get better use out of the Faithful Memory damage multiplier.  In many cases, you were at x4 or below when there was the possibility to be at x6 or better.  You doing more DPS=more life/hit, less incoming damage (because mobs are taking a dirt nap), and quicker clears.
2. Avoid walking into a pack of enemies when you can jump in with Falling Sword, especially if you have a low Faithful Memory multiplier and/or your damage reduction from Falling Sword has run out.  The 4 piece bonus from the Seeker of the Light set gives you 50% damage reduction for 8 seconds after you use Falling Sword, and you're getting Judgment Debilitate from your Sacred Harness, immobilizing enemies and getting another 40% damage reduction.  If you're taking a beating and are low on health, jump without reservation, and onto a big pack of baddies if possible.
3. Make greater use of Provoke Too Scared to Run to reduce incoming attacks, proc Bane of the Trapped, and make tighter groups of enemies to jump on and squish.
4. Don't neglect the DPS boost provided by your follower's Oculus Ring.  The 70-85% damage increase really makes a difference.

Here's the ultra TL;DR version: use Falling Sword more and better.

Here's some specific time-referenced observations:

1:28 Entered room with no buffs running except Endless Walk.  No damage reduction from Falling Sword, no Blessed Hammer DPS bonus, died.

2:06 Entered group without use of Falling Sword.

2:16 Entered group with Falling Sword, example of what to do instead.

2:23 With a low Faithful Memory multiplier of x4, walked into a group of enemies.  Jump in instead with Falling Sword, and utilize your follower's Oculus Ring circle for higher DPS.

2:30 Jumped near a big pack, but only got an x4 Faithful Memory multiplier.  Behavior is correct, just need to target your jump more accurately.

3:14 With Faithful Memory x1, walked into a group instead of jumping, killed by range attack with Iron Skin available.

3:44 Good example of use of Falling Sword, got x8 Faithful Memory bonus.

4:02 Stood in a pile of bad stuff, Faithful Memory bonus only x1, jump out of ouchy stuff to improve multiplier, increase damage reduction, and save your feet.

4:23 Jumped into a small pack when a larger one was available, netted only an x2 Faithful Memory bonus.  Also, from 4:23-4:46, maximum Faithful Memory bonus was x2, and that was only for the first 10 seconds.  You were without any damage reduction from Falling Sword from 4:32-4:46 when you used Falling Sword again.  Utilize Provoke Too Scared to Run more often to build tighter packs, proc your Bane of the Trapped, and reduce enemy DPS.

4:27 Oculus Ring circle unused.

4:29 Walked into group with x2, should jump instead.

5:00 Example of where Provoke can be used to build a better pack, Falling Sword used but only x2.

5:06 Good decision to use FS, but only netted x4.  Try to hit more mobs.

5:36 With FM bonus of x6, carried out a quick and painless (for you, not the baddies) elite pack kill.

5:56 Good use of Falling Sword, netted an x9 FM bonus, but abandoned a large pack.  Instead, take the 6-8 seconds of damage reduction to move into the Oculus circle, spam Provoke to maintain Wrath and bring in mobs, and spam Blessed Hammer to smash some fools.

[Guest Cheve]

I want to thank Deadset for his cool guide. I play on Xbox One and yesterday achieved GR86, now on top36 for crusader. Yesterday was a good day as finally I got an ancient weapon increasing my dos from 1200m to 1800m. Need to improve my rose ring, get ancient shoulders and put some extra gems and I think I'll get 90s soon

[Valks 2,373]

On 4/27/2017 at 9:52 AM, Guest Cheve said:

I want to thank Deadset for his cool guide. I play on Xbox One and yesterday achieved GR86, now on top36 for crusader. Yesterday was a good day as finally I got an ancient weapon increasing my dos from 1200m to 1800m. Need to improve my rose ring, get ancient shoulders and put some extra gems and I think I'll get 90s soon

Congrats on your progress with the build! Hopefully you've hit the 90s since your post :)

[Haelia 0]

Okay, noob question, but I never really played Crusader -

Is the Sacred Harness belt a seasonal only drop? I've used so many shards now (like over 10k) on trying to get it, and it hasn't dropped yet. 

Or is my RNG just that bad? 

[Guest Truth]

Any suggestions for using this build for HC? Some of the comments seem to indicate dying a lot which scares me. My crusader is only around t5 right now and still missing a lot of stuff, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to continue gearing if the build is too squishy for HC. 

Thanks!

[Guest Cheve]

On ‎08‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 5:51 PM, Blainie said:

Congrats on your progress with the build! Hopefully you've hit the 90s since your post :)

Hehe yes, I achieved 94, levelling up some gems to get 95

[Guest Cheve]

On ‎11‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 8:41 PM, Guest Cheve said:

Hehe yes, I achieved 94, levelling up some gems to get 95

and... 96. Got into top 10 of Xbox!