Welcome, nephalem! To our best speedfarming builds guide for Crusaders in Diablo 3. To all the old school saders out there, rejoice as thorns pony is no longer king – Valor 6 Fist of Heavens (or Heavens Fury) is thankfully a “normal” build we can use!
This is the first pass for all classes speedfarming guide updates:
Expect more detailed info soon! Alternate builds!
Crusader Speed Build Template: Valor Fist of Heavens
Here’s the basic setup and rerolls for some the First of Heavens / Valor set speed build. Please note that Heaven’s Fury is also super viable (more suited for higher end GR’s) but a lot worse for “easier content”, due to build quality of life issues.
Build – Items, Skills, Cube & Gems
The legendary gem situation is weird, and there’s lots of build options here and there: keep in mind that this is purely a base template to follow.
| Crusader Valor 6 Fist of Heavens Speed Farming Build Details | |||
| Slot | Item | Skill | Rune |
| Weapon | Flail of the Charge | OPEN! | OPEN! |
| Offhand | Shield of the Steed | Fist of the Heavens | Divine Well (Fissure) |
| Head | Aegis of Valor | Steed Charge | Endurance (Any) |
| Shoulders | Aegis of Valor | Laws of Justice | Immovable Object |
| Chest | Aegis of Valor | Akarat’s Champion | Prophet |
| Hands | Aegis of Valor | Iron Skin (Open) | Steel Skin (Flash) |
| Legs | Captain Crimson’s | Passives | |
| Boots | Aegis of Valor | Heavenly Strength | Finery |
| Bracer | Nemesis Bracer | Holy Cause | Indestructible (Open) |
| Belt | Captain Crimson’s | Kanais Cube | |
| Amulet | The Flavor of Time (Open) | Darklight | |
| Ring | Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac (Open) | Khassett’s Cord of Righteousness | |
| Ring | Unity | Ring of Royal Grandeur | |
| Legendary Gem | |||
| Bane of the Powerful | |||
| Bane of the Trapped (Open) | |||
| Gogok Of Swiftness (Open) | |||
Build – Rerolls and Stat Priority
There are “basic” rerolls. Obviously high paragon or other niche objectives can cause to warp this, but this is a good template.
| Crusader Valor 6 Fist of Heavens Speed Farming Build Rerolls | ||||||
| Weapon | High Damage | STR | DMG% | CDR | VIT | Any |
| Shield | CHC | Fist% | STR | ANY! | VIT | CDR |
| Head | STR | CHC | Fist% | VIT | Res | Any |
| Shoulders | STR | VIT | RES | Life% | CDR | RCR |
| Chest | STR | VIT | RES | Life% | – | – |
| Hands | STR | CHC | CHD | VIT | CDR | RCR |
| Legs | STR | VIT | RES | Armor | Any | – |
| Boots | STR | Fist% | VIT | RES | MS% | Armor |
| Bracer | Ele% | STR | CHC | VIT | Res | LpH |
| Belt | STR | VIT | RES | Life% | Any | – |
| Amulet | Ele% | CHC | CHD | STR | CDR | RCR |
| Ring | CHC | STR | CHD | CDR | RCR | Any |
| Ring (ORotZ) | CHC | CDR | RCR | AS | STR | CHD |
Keep in mind the above build and rerolls (best used as a template) are for a “standard balanced” speedfarming setup without taking it to the “extreme”.
Build General Notes & Options
I’ll be adding more of these notes and evolutions soon – I just want to finish the first pass for all classes first. – BRGMahiko
Fist of the Heavens + Valor feels great for farming, but it isn’t as “prebuilt” as other builds. Be aware of evolutions you MUST take to cover weakpoints in your build “right now”. You need tons of stats to really push to higher torments with this build safely. Don’t be afraid to start from TXIV and go from there. Defense and damage can be an issue but once you hit certain breakpoints it becomes super good.
Equipment Notes
This build has a ton of options here and there, but I’ll try to focus on the big important ones.
Even if you can use any weapon + shield pair. I felt that Flail of the Charge and Shield of the Steed was best. The only CRITICAL item is Darklight – wether cubed or equipped. I chose the crusader weapon set for speed and additional power. Feel free to experiment.
Amulet can be anything, really. Hellfire and Flavor of time are OK. Squirts if you don’t care about the added risk of death for increased speed (Nephs come to mind, but I doubt if this is going to work out well).
Unless you’re geared to the teeth defense is quite important. This is why I chose Unity as a recommended ring. While both the Unity and Zodiac aren’t integral to the build, there’s not much else you can put in there.
Justice Lantern is a solid option, but make sure you run up your block rate as high as you can. This is an overlooked item these days, but it can do work in niche scenarios.
Cube Notes
In this specific setup, the three cubes are locked. If you choose to equip the Darklight instead, then you have a free weapon slot which is likely for The Furnace, or Messerschmidts Reaver.
Sage Set (Deaths Breath Farming)? Cain?
It’s a 1 for 1 trade for Captain Crimsons to Sage (or other similar sets). Just don’t expect to roll over the same content with and without Sage equipped – you’re going to want to lower difficulty (around TXIV is the sweetspot for a non-hyperpowered DB farming build).
Skill Notes
There are many open slots here. In fact I’d say you only NEED two skills – Fist of the Heavens and Steed Charge. Nothing else is mandatory.
Of course every Crusader needs a law. I chose a defensive law, in Laws of Justice – Immovable Object, just to help with survival a bit. I didn’t feel I needed any of the Laws of Valor bonuses but it’s an option if you need more DPS.
Akarat’s Champion doesn’t have 100% uptime unless you reroll A LOT OF CDR. in the typical neph – I simply use it as a burst DPS or survivability cooldown. The weird truth is that in simpler content keeping it up with zodiac simply isn’t consistent since you might spend most of your time walking instead of hitting. You’ll need lots of CDR and tougher enemies to pull off a high uptime – not something you’ll see often in speedfarming scenarios.
Passive Notes
Finery, Heavenly Strength (or Fervor), are locked in. Holy Cause gives both damage and godly self-healing that I would consider it a lock too.
That leaves one open passive slot – get creative! Hold Your Ground is especially spicy with Justice Lantern. There aren’t many other passives aside from this, Indestructible or other minor defensive options here and there. Long Arm of the Law?
Stats and Reroll Notes
Any build running Crimsons can get a little dicey with rerolls (since RCR and CDR actually have more impact), I feel there’s noting too confusing about the gear rolls here. Piling on the CDR is an option so you get to use Akarat’s Champion a lot more. This is the primary “tryhard evolution” of this build.
A single Life per Hit would be nice somewhere (Bracer?). I would hesitate to get Life per Wrath spent as they only appear on crusader weapons and crusader shields – those reroll slots are important and powerful.
Legendary Gem Notes
Here’s where it gets weird. Powerful is your best speedfarming gem, period. Trapped is difficult to trigger but I suppose it works when you need it (Against elites, Rift Guardians… triggered by you being upfront or via your Templar). I would probably never unsocket Powerful or Trapped.
The third gem is a toss-up. Gogok is fine just to help with your cooldowns a bit. You can get cute with things like Zeis, or defensive with Esoteric. Personally it’s this kind of situation where Avarice + Hoarder would shine (as you don’t really NEED all the ring slots).
This is just the first pass on our speedfarming guide updates!
Look forward to more in-depth information soon!
I thank the heavens for the Fist of the Heavens Valor speedfarming build. Its the only “normal” build that performs super well and I would categorize it firmly as the best crusader speedfarming build. Historically saders had to deal with thorns pony – I don’t miss this at all. More recently Akkhan Condemn or Shield Throw wasn’t that bad, I suppose.
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I am so glad I found this build. Since a few seasons ago I try to play classes I don’t play that often and this season (22) it was time for the Crusader. And, well, I don’t like most of his playstyles. Especially the holy shotgun doesn’t give me anything. But THIS build here is just perfect for my preferred laidback playstyle. Thank you for that! I nearly rerolled (or just stopped my season journey early and waited for the next season).
What I’m curious about are the other options to play this in a more GR solo progression style with maintaining the fist as the main damage output. I’ve tried so far with gems like Moratorium and Esoteric to maintain survivability (besides the effect of unity), but that leaves me damagewise on Powerful (me) and Trapped (Templar) for damage boosts.
the fist will always be the weaker choice but more laid back and speedier. If I were to do this for GR, I will try to find a way for 100% uptime on Akarat’s Champion. That’ll be the central point of making Fist Valor tryhard/GR viable. Gogok, perhaps? Endless walk would be ok.
I’ll be updating the set guides soon. But Fist can only get so far compared to Fury. I think I get your point into making Fist GR ready as possible.
Yeah, I figured that. As far as one can trust tierlist statistics it’s clear that fury is the stronger option. Gogok was/is my idea too, especially with the crimson set in mind.
Defensive-wise I would think that it helps if the follower wears also Justice Lantern to further increase the block chance (and maybe a stormshield (still highest blockchance/amount?)), so I would just have to wear sth like Moratorium or Esoteric and have space for Gogok and Powerful (or maybe Stricken for more consistent single target/boss damage?) and maybe change the Fist rune from Divine Well to Fissure to increase single target damage.
Anyway, I look forward to reading your updated guides!
Just wanted to say awesome guide. Started playing D3 again after 8 years about a week ago. I made this build and I’m loving it. Hit a wall just above GR100. But the build is insanely easy to play and fun.
Which follower would you recommend for pushing further in the GRs. Templer or Enchantress?
Thank you! For your next season, try using one of our Fresh 70 guides and see how you like those!
Templar is the default since you can more easily trigger bane of the trapped with him (at range). Sorceress is a little more niche.
Thanks for the guide! I was wondering why you have Leoric’s Crown in the cube and which gem to use. Thanks.
It’s a huge source of CDR which is quite important for our build. You can ditch it if you find other means to get 100% uptime on champion. It may seem strange to see it on a build like this at all, but that’s cause we cant use Fervor with Flail of the Charge. Socket in a Diamond on it.
Little confused as to why recommend zodiac ring when none of the skills use wrath…..
Zodiac is not recommended in the base build tables but it is an option for sub-optimal builds that wish to cheat CDR – it’s a far fetched option.
With Rorg, I can have 3 sets bonus: akkhan (5 pieces) + inovker (3 pieces) + norvald (2 pieces). Wouldn’t that be a good build?
yes there’s many ways to customize it but I dislike 4 Invoker because its only 50% damage reduction. It can be done with something like Aquila or Unity instead.
I’d guess this guide was converted from before akkhan amulet existed.
yes. we’re going to update this soon! 🙂
Now updated for S9!
Can you link the items please?
will get to it once I’m free! 🙂
Interesting guide. Two questions came shortly to my mind. If we can use “any” weapon in the cube, why not double bombardment impact (-> Trove Belt + Skillbar)? Second if the amulet slot is free, why not use Akkhan amulet and free a slot for the chest that converts vit into thorns for dmg boost?
Now updated for s9 🙂