Just got to Fresh Level 70 Crusader? Good job! Welcome to the REAL D3! Your goal is to get your FREE SET ASAP. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly what to do for each step, with builds and protips, ultimately leading to the end-game in our Fresh 70 Crusader Guide.
In S20, the Crusader free set is Seeker of the Light.
It is also the SEASON OF THE FORBIDDEN ARCHIVES
You can freely cube any three items (IE:3 weapons, 2 armors and a ring).
Instead of being forced to use one weapon, armor, and jewelry.
How does Season of the Forbidden Archives affect me?
Fresh 70 Crusader: Free set available! | No free set!
Getting the Free Set | Free Set 70 | Gaining Power | Bridging to the End-game
Crusader Leveling Guide | D3 Guide Directory
Fresh 70 Crusader: Getting the Free Set!
Light’s set is miserable leading up to the 6pc bonus. We need to “cheese” the more difficult seasonal journey entries with either a “Crafted Medley” or a basic Thorns build or trying your luck by getting a great legendary drop (which is pure RNG so we don’t recommend)
Directly below are two methods you can employ to ensure your success.
For the rest of the seasonal journey: Click below for instructions on each step:
Fresh 70 Crusader: 6 piece Free Set Build
Lights is rather poor for both speedfarming and tryharding right now. So don’t be sad if you split your efforts to progressing towards the Crusader speedfarming build!
S20 Crusader Seeker of the Light Free Set Build | |
Skills | Runes |
Blessed Hammer | Limitless |
Falling Sword | Rapid Descent |
Provoke | Hit me! |
Steed Charge | Endurance |
Akarat’s Champion (Open) | Prophet |
Laws of Valor (Laws of Justice) | Unstoppable Force (Immovable Object) |
Passives | |
Insurmountable (Wrathful) | Hold Your Ground (Holy Cause) |
Fervor (if forced, Heavenly Strength) | Finery (Once you socket up) |
A lot of these choices are to help you manage your Wrath. The better you can manage your Wrath with some gear upgrades (*cough, Reaper’s Wraps, cough*) you can remove them for their parentheses-ed counterparts…
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So, now what now!?
Torment V+: Is your new MINIMUM farming level. You can try goin’ higher. Try getting used to the rhythm of the build! There’s a lot of damage and survivability options so the build is easy to adjust!
CRAFT REAPER’S WRAPS NOW. Recipe drop from any Torment Malthael.
It will offer a HUGE increase in quality of life!
A quick review before proceeding…
As you’re proceeding with the next steps, keep these important things in mind!
Gaining Power!
Now we have to gain as much power, as quickly as possible. Legendary Gems is the first place we look – and make sure to keep an eye out for key items.
Legendary Gems
This is the easiest way to gain power simply because acquiring them has little to no RNG. Getting 3 of your best gems will increase your power dramatically in a short time span.
Click on the tabs to see Seeker of the Light’s “Big 3” gems, and “others”.
Get these to L25 ASAP:
Bane of the Powerful: a value gem that you don’t have to invest much into. It also helps us out against elites. Also adds a defense against them! Keeping it at 25 is fine.
Gogok of Swiftness is a great gem for Light’s and is part of many of the endgame builds. CDR, AS and a little dodge do wonders. It’s efficiency drops massively after L25, you do not have to invest heavily into this YET.
Moratorium IS TEMPORARY, OK! Don’t freak out! This gem synergizes extremely well with Life per Wrath spent! Even keeping it at 25 is fine. You can even use it to augment later on! It adds a much needed layer of defense that you need right now. Esoteric Alteration very quickly surpasses this once you get some defensive items.
You can even use both defensive gems (Moratorium + Esoteric) if desperate!
Removing Trapped in the meantime since you don’t really need DPS.
Any other gems worth it?
Bane of the Trapped: good ‘ol basic Trapped! A gem that reliably increases your DPS – nothing much else to say! Dump as many points as you can in here as it’s one of your best options for an endgame gem – it outperforms many other gems once it’s highly leveled.
Bane of the Stricken: is the only other gem you would want to be as high as your Trapped. This is great for the late game and you should invest in this once you 25 the three mentioned before. Mandatory once you go higher up.
Esoteric Alteration: your go-to defensive gem for lategame.
Boon of the Hoarder: You need this for speedfarming – get it up to 50 ASAP!
(See: Speedfarming General, Crusader Speedfarming, Best Crusader Speedfarming Build)
Aside from these 7 gems listed in these tabs, any other gem is considerably worse.
Just get them asap while slowly climbing the GR’s you’re allowed to do. Do neph/GR/neph/GR etc until you get the big 3. Don’t overdo the level, just go for efficient farming and cheap empowering. GR 34 is enough to 25 a gem.
With 3 of your best gems at L25 – try much higher Torment levels. Now it’s time to find some key items!
Playing the Build & Adjustments
Here’s some really basic tips for playing Seeker of the Light to help you as you progress into higher difficulties. It’s by no means comprehensive, but still helpful.
As you progress and get items, your build may have a weak point here and there that you can patch up given the simple skill, rune, and passive changes listed below.
We will discuss Playstyle Notes and build Build Adjustments.
Steed to find > Falling Sword chunks > Hammer > Provoke > Falling as needed
It’s pretty basic – you’ll notice some Wrath problems against thin groups of enemies. “Stutter stepping” by walking + Hammering is actually pretty good to mitigate this at times.
Falling Sword should always be up against elites – so use it as a movement tool sparingly. Thankfully, the Rapid Descent rune gives us a ton of leeway for this.
Mainly, studying and getting used to the RHYTHM will yield you the most progress with the build. Judging when to best use Provoke is a huge difference in Wrath management. Insurmountable helps you out greatly with this early on.
The two OPEN slots give you a LOT of flexibility for random fixes to your build.
More offense or Wrath needed?
Offense is usually categorized in Damage or, indirectly, Resource Gain.
Wrath Gains is managed by many of the entries in the base build above:
- Provoke – made spammable by the Light’s set
- Insurmountable – great vs large packs – but Provoke kinda does already…
- Laws of Valor-Unstoppable Force – a “filler” for early on, but it does work
Ultimately, gaining more Wrath via conventional skill and rune changes isn’t that viable. Core items will help you with this, but for right now, FIGHTING LARGER GROUPS and not wasting time with 1-2 whites is what’s gonna help your clear time.
Damage? Is mainly augmented by passives at this point…
Fervor, Holy Cause, Blunt are the best DPS passives (aside from the all-encompassing Finery). It’s unlikely you’ll fit all three at any given time, keep them in mind.
Akarat’s Champion is the only skill that gives a meaningful DPS increase in your ENTIRE KIT at this point. Using it consistently is a problem without Zodiac. It’s a great tool, no doubt. Wrath generation, damage, utility – you name it!
More defense needed?
Defense is usually self-healing and/or damage reduction.
Life per Wrath Spent is a stat you SHOULD want on Weapon / Shield / Both. While it may not be the best stat for ultra tryhard GR (are you in that state yet?), this can also be obtained via the Wrathful passive. I’ve mentioned it many times above but I need to reiterate how important LpWs is – your build has a chance to just fall apart without it.
I have to mention Holy Cause here, since it provides self-healing and a damage boost.
Laws of Justice-Immovable Object is the ultimate defensive law. Use it when you sorely need defense to advance! It’s great until the end-game. It’s notable that the base aura is pretty sucky compared to Monk. It’s a FLAT INCREASE worth 1 roll of ALLRES.
It sounds a little weird but I feel that with Light’s set, at this point, you can’t really push for too much defense…
While you have a lot of defensive cooldowns in the form of Iron Skin-Steel Skin, or Akarat’s Champion-Prophet – they’re not very consistent. Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac helps with this, of course.
Divine Fortress isn’t that bad… but you need some high Strength, Armor, and block chance for you to see this shine.
More mobility needed?
Steed Charge-Endurance is recommended in the base build since none of the other runes matter at this point. Good for us since you can cover some crazy distance with this.
If you really want more speed, Lord Commander (Passive) helps reduce your CDR for more Steed Charges. Fervor (Passive) also helps with this.
Crusaders have their mobility locked behind item synergies so don’t sweat it if you feel a little slow currently. Norvald’s Set is your friend. Lights is pretty mobile already, so don’t go overboard for now… it’s not worth it yet.
(See: Speedfarming General | Crusader Speedfarming | Best Crusader Speedfarming)
Items to look for
Okay, now that the easy part of powering up is done, it’s time for the farmy bit. Here, I will be listing all the high-impact items you can equip, and how to get them (aside from drops).
Hate to remind you again, but if you don’t have Reaper’s Wraps, trash any torment Malthael for the plans and craft it. It’s very relevant for the Light’s set early game.
Using Blood Shards:
Bracer: This is first up. Gabriel’s Vambraces is what you’re after! It provides a damage boost as well as resource management. You also get Nemesis here. It’s also the easiest to obtain, highest impact, “single” legendary for our build.
Belt: Drops Sacred Harness and it’s a cute boost (by itself) – but it enables Hammer Jammers all on its own. Judgment roots WITHOUT a RUNE so you don’t need to have it on your rune bar. You also get fillers here like Goldwrap.
Legs: Hammer Jammers are obviously strong but useless without Sacred Harness.
Shield: while this is truly an RNG effort, shards and DB’s should be used to get Guard of Johanna. It has a really low chance to pop from here, though.
Other body pieces gives some low level fillers that don’t affect your game play too much to note (Aquila, Leoric’s, Archew’s, etc). Use your shards to bait for ancients from here on out!
Using Death’s Breath – Rare to legendary:
1H Flail for Johanna’s Argument. This is an extreme boost to power, doubling attack speed and damage. Tunnel into finding one! You can also get a bunch of consolation fillers here.
2H swords for Faithful Memory. This is a godlike dps increase. Godlike! If you’re wondering why we chase for Johanna’s first, its due to the high attack speed which gains us Life and CDR.
Crusader Shields while costing only 25 shards to gamble for – we should also be doing a double sided effort with Death’s Breath, too, trying to get Guard of Johanna.
The weapons for Light’s are set in stone. You can look for the all important speedy Norvald’s Set which are a 2H Flail and a Crusader Shield.
The Classics: Good for any type of newer character, and even the most battle-hardened of builds.
Ring of Royal Grandeur: “Break” your 6-piece to make space for a good filler item!
Reaper’s Wraps: Kill Malthael for the plans – and craft it! A legit early boost with no RNG reliance.
Accessory Sets: Focus–Restraint or Traveler’s Pledge. Completing any of these 2-sets is a vast power jump. +100%++ is substantial for only 2 slots.
Convention of Elements: Good ‘ol CoE. Wear it, Kanai it, as a filler or till the end of time. Learning to maximize CoE in any build you choose is a turning point for higher GR’s.
Unity: Straight 50% damage reduction in the cube. Too bad you need two of ’em.
Goldwrap + Avarice + Boon of The Hoarder: I don’t care how many times I have to remind you about this combo. Be on the lookout. Avarice drops from ACT III bounties.
Might as well remind you about the 2 bounty rings here…
Ring of Royal Grandeur: is from ACT I bounties. Great for sneaking in filler items.
Avarice from Act III bounties, for speedfarming.
Bridging to the End-game
So you skipped a whole chunk of the powering up phase with the free set. Now what? Like I always say, “Speedfarming first before pushing GR’s”. So, convert what you have NOW to be as speedfarmy as possible, first.
- Crusader Best Speedfarming Build
- Crusader Speedfarming Builds & Primer
- D3 Speedfarming with any Class!
Other Crusader Guides:
- Thorns of the Invoker | Invoker Set Dungeon
- Armor of Akkhan | Akkhan Set Dungeon
- Roland’s Legacy | Roland’s Set Dungeon
- Seeker of the Light | Light Set Dungeon
- Crusader Support Builds
Check out our D3 Guide Directory for other resources.
Fresh 70 Crusader: Free set available! | No free set!
Getting the Free Set | Free Set 70 | Gaining Power! | Bridging to the End-game
Fantastic guide, I’m a total newbie so really helped me understand all the mechanics and figure things out.
One question though, what is recommended for powers to equip from the legendaries? I’m using the sweep build atm and about to start farming G32 rifts for gem lvling. Finding no difficulty but can be killed if I’m lazy or not paying attention.
Sorry I found it, didn’t see it under the menu. For anyone looking it’s under Roland Woe’s. So I guess I’m farming for items (Golden Flense and Denial) but should I equip them or just use their powers and equip a different weapon/shield?
Why no Iron Skin in the “Season Journey Chapter 4: Getting 6 piece” build? Sweep Attack instead? How does that help with Thorns?
you’re absolutely correct… I’ve replaced the build with the correct one.
I think I might be missing something here. This is my first season and I’m still figuring out how certain things adjust the offense/defense/recovery numbers. I’m just about set to go for Chapter IV completion and I was comparing my stats to where your stats are going in to completing the Level 20 GR and I’m pretty much lined up in each stat except my damage is only at 16000 and you say your damage is at 19000. I’m geared pretty much exactly how you suggest, however I already have the Belt of the Trove. Everything non-invoker has strength and Thorns and I just don’t understand 3000 damage difference.
I’ve got a pretty solid yellow dagger and have slotted everything with a Diamond. Should I be willing to upgrade to a different weapon or slide some Rubies into some slots instead? At what point do I jump out of the suggested setup suggestions and focus on more damage?
Damage numbers don’t matter for the most part – IGNORE SHEET DAMAGE for the purposes of D3 (in 99.99% of builds) – it’s near meaningless. Especially for a thorns build, the “damage” stat is extremely useless as it does not take into account thorns in any way shape or form. You have ZERO chance of failure with Belt of the Trove.
I love these fresh 70 guides!
One technical difficulty – Have tried several reload / clear cache options, and I am still seeing the Season 12 version of this guide.
Is anyone else experiencing this problem too?
there are some experiencing the same thing… purged our site already. maybe you can retry in incog
Is there no other lving build viable for GR20 other than that Thorns build ?
with a few legendaries its doable…
well written and informative, but fyi gr34 is enough to 25 a gem
Thanks! yup! realized the mistake… have yet to change it! 😀
Love your work, thanks
🙂
Amazing build for fresh 70, I couldn’t believe how potent it is with full set of yellow only, I was doing T1 GR, and it felt like a walk in the park, guardian died right away. I was lucky to pick up the Boyarsky’s Chip in that GR, and it’s even more potent now I am sure.
Thank you so much for writing this guide, it truly is amazing.
Can’t kill Belial on T4 with Thorns Build. Suggestions?
can you link your build profile?
Thanks for the comprehensive guide. This will help me with my first season (first season on console).
Really comprehensive guide, thanks for the help as this will be my first season to play.
From 2.4.2 Patch Notes:
Thorns of the Invoker
(6) Set Bonus
The 800% Thorns damage dealt to the first enemy hit can now benefit from +% Physical Damage
This should make Doombringer a viable alternative to Pig Sticker.
Im not sure what items to cube except of Johannas Flail.
And Thank you for this amazing guides on your website.
Just yesterday this link led to a season 8 fresh 70 guide, what happened?
we’re fixing our site right now to correct the bugs we got after changing our site’s theme… but apparently some pages were reverted to older guides. will fix this in a couple of days. really sorry about this. for now, you can see our build in Dfans/TeamBRG.
Used this guide and leveled to 70 in a matter of hours.
Hit 70 and found a Gyrfalcons Foote to cube, that along with aquila curiass i never spend wrath. Pretty boss right now