Finally a max level Crusader? What to do now? FARM AND GAIN POWER! Our Fresh Level 70 Crusader guide shows you what build and skills to use, and items to chase after to get from “Fresh 70” to “End-game”. This page discusses Crusaders WITHOUT the free set.
Fresh 70 Crusader: Free set available! | No free set!
Build | Play-style | Setting up | Gaining Power! | Bridging to the End-game
Crusader Leveling Guide | D3 Guide Directory
Fresh 70 Crusader: No free set
Basic skill setup for bounties, nephalem rifts and low-level greater rifts to get you going!
| Crusader Fresh 70 Build | |||
| Skill | Rune | ||
| Punish | Retaliate | ||
| Blessed Shield | Shattering Throw | ||
| (Open) | (Open) | ||
| Steed Charge | Rejuvenation | ||
| Laws of Valor (Any) | Unstoppable Force (Any) | ||
| Provoke | Hit Me! | ||
| Passives | |||
| Heavenly Strength | Holy Cause | ||
| Hold your Ground | Insurmountable | ||
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Playing the Build & Adjustments
As you progress, you may find aspects of your build lacking depending on what items you get – the below tabs will assist you in the necessary adjustments to push higher.
xxx
More defense needed?
It is extremely unlikely that you’ll have defense as your primary issue to push higher.
xxx
More mobility needed?
xxxx
Any other changes to mobility at this point is too greedy, and I can’t recommend it.
(See: D3 Speedfarming General, Crusader Speedfarming, Crus Fastest Speedfarm)
Setting up!
Level 70 Gear, with STR on everything! Craft yellows! Pick them up! Re-roll! I don’t care! STR (+VIT ideally) ON EVERY PIECE! You’ll be surprised how many of them DO NOT have primary stat!
Holy%: On bracer and/or Amulet will affect your output by a HUGE AMOUNT for a mere minutes spent re-rolling. On Bracer and/ore Amulet will increase your DPS by a SIGNIFICANT chunk for only TWO rerolls.
Skill%: Usually on Boots (and Helm is ok this early on) is another way to increase your power with again, only TWO rerolls.
Other re-rolls: Basic stuff like CRIT CHANCE on Helm, Gloves, Rings, Amulet. Try to get a socket in those too. Don’t bother too much with Crit Damage just yet.
Crit: Can appear on Gloves, Helm, Bracer and Accessories. Try to get a bit of it! Crit Damage isn’t so important right now, but welcome anyway.
Gems: aggressively combine your red gems to slot into your armor. +STR gives you both damage and armor and it’s better than blank slots, right!?
Followers: They exist! Templar is the basic follower everyone uses. Healing, resource gain and CC are always welcome especially early on.
I can’t tell you enough times how important this step is. Crafting/fixing your yellows to make “decent ones” far FAAAAAAAAAAAR improves your power rather than just wearing whatever and calling it a day. Taking a small amount of time and materials to make strong yellows will potentially save you hours down the line.
Gaining Power!
From here you want to do a mix of Bounties, Nephs and GR’s.
Unlocking Kanai’s Cube
Unlocking and using Kanai’s Cube gets us 3 extra legendary powers. This is a reminder, and should be the first place you look to increase power at little effort.
Getting your legendary gems
Have ’em? Good. Don’t? Get ’em! It’s the surest way to power up without relying on RNG. We recommend using any of the following for your Fresh 70 Crusader.
3 Basic Gems for NOW: Wreath, Bane of the Powerful, Bane of the Trapped
Bane of the Powerful is an amazing early game gem that scales very well into the late game, too. A flat DMG+, and a hefty boost to combat stats versus elites is solid – this gem only loses to other gems that are extremely high leveled.
Bane of the Trapped is a generic DPS gem that fits most if not all builds.
Any gem with base damage is a good early filler and in some cases for end-game!
- Wreath of Lightning: the most popular of the bunch given its uses for speedfarming. Don’t upgrade too far past 25 if it’s not part of your core build.
- Efficacious Toxin: Another brainless gem that helps out with damage and survivability.
- Mirinae and Pain Enhancer are both powerful, but are a little more niche.
Boon of the Hoarder is a great gem to invest in especially with Goldwrap + Avarice.
(See: Speedfarming for any class, Crusader Speedfarming).
Items to look for
Use your resources wisely! Some legendaries are more value than others for your fresh 70 Crusader.
Using Blood Shards:
Your main goal with blood shards is to find a 6 set! It gives a mega boost in power. You might not be sure what set you want, but it sure beats runnin’ around in yellows.
Chest: The only two decent non-set pieces here are Heart of Iron and Aquila Cuirass.
Bracer: Wow, lots of build warping legendaries can be obtained here.
- Akkhan’s Manacles is relevant to our build.
- Drakon’s Lesson – just change Blessed Hammer to Shield Bash!
- Gabriel’s Vambraces for hammers.
- Good ‘ol Nemesis.
- Bracer of Fury is a little meh since it takes a lot of work.
Head: Aside from set pieces, nothing “too” notable here aside from the two crowns.
Legs: Aside from set pieces, nothing is notable here.
Boots: Aside from set pieces, nothing is notable here.
Shield: Ohhhh boy. There’s a bunch of really great shields out there, but for the purposes of Fresh 70, we can’t list em all! Jekangbord is the best for our current build. Maybe I should put up a legendary list for each class… The crafted Piro Marella is great too, again just change skills to Shield Bash.
Belt: Belt of the Trove is the ultimate find here! You can squeeze this into any build for some profit. Lots of decent belts, Blessed of Haull is OK and, of course, Goldwrap.
Using Death’s Breath – Rare to legendary:
When looking for weapons using DB’s to upgrade yellows to Legendaries is the most efficient way since they’re quite expensive with blood shards. Now the question is “What weapon type yields the most value”?
This is hard to answer with Crusader. 2H Flail might be best for now
- Akkhan’s Leniency is the most related to our Fresh 70 build.
- Golden Flense is good enough to change our build to Sweep Attack.
- Mortal Drama with Belt of the Trove is some great free DPS.
- Flail of the Charge for our speedy builds.
Next up might be 1H Flails
- Gyrfalcon’s Foote is the most related to our Fresh 70 build.
- Swiftmount for speed builds.
Any other uses of Death’s Breath might be best for build-specific legendaries!
The Classics: Good for any type of newer character, and even the most battle-hardened of builds.
Ring of Royal Grandeur: Makes your path to obtain 6 piece 1 item shorter. Useful for many builds that want to make space for an extra item. Drops in ACT I bounties.
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac: “100% CDR”, a great filler item to improve overall power for a single slot. Never sad to use an ORotZ.
Reaper’s Wraps: Sickeningly good on a fresh Crusader – Wrath is a premium early on.
Accessory Sets: Focus–Restraint or Traveler’s Pledge. Any of the 2 piece accessory sets are extremely powerful and provide a decent boost at any stage of the game.
Convention of Elements: A timeless classic that’s good for any DPS build, wear it, kanai it, use it as a filler, or use it forever… CoE is nuts.
Unity: Equipped on yourself and on follower is a brainless 50% damage reduction.
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.
Bridging to the End-game
D3 end-game basically consists of 2 main objectives: Clearing high-level Greater Rifts and Speedfarming. I recommended building up your speed-farming set first. Let’s be realistic though, speed-farming is more about tweaking what you have RIGHT NOW!
- Crusader Speed-farming Builds & FAQ
- D3: Speedfarming with any class!
- Fastest Crusader Speed-farming Build
- Crusader Support Builds
Learn more about the other Crusader sets! To help you decide what to aim for.
- Armor of Akkhan | Set Dungeon
- Roland’s Legacy | Set Dungeon
- Seeker of the Light | Set Dungeon
- Thorns of the Invoker | Set Dungeon
Check out our D3 Guide Directory for other resources.
Fresh 70 Crusader: Free set available! | No free set!
Build | Play-style | Setting up | Gaining Power! | Bridging to the End-game
Crusader Leveling Guide
So, your Fresh 70 Crusader is as good as it’s going to get right now! Good luck! Remember, “speed-farming before GR progression”! For more D3 (and other games) updates, check out our D3 Guide Directory.
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