Crusader Class Overview in Diablo Immortal

Choose the Crusader class if you imagine yourself clad in the heaviest of armors, destroying your enemies with equal parts holy power and raw martial prowess. Descending into battle on a ghostly steed, consecrating the fighting grounds and enfeebling the enemy with resolute judgments, the Crusader proceeds to annihilate the demonic hordes with celestial energy and bombardment volleys. Strengthening your entire party with mighty blessings and rallying banners, the Crusader is the ultimate tactician in Diablo Immortal.

• Crusaders are peerless controllers of the battlefield when facing other players, sporting a plethora of interrupt and crowd control skills that can quickly turn the brawl in their favor.
• Crusaders are incredibly potent additions to party play, as their group-wide damage buff, Holy Banner, guarantees critical hits when planted. While on the move, Crusaders are unparalleled scouts, as they are able to withstand first contact with the enemy and commence in-game events — all while pulling monsters together, readying them for the combined effectiveness of the party members in tow.
• Few other classes can even compare to the farming prowess of a Crusader, as the class charges around on the celestial war horse from Draw and Quarter and tramples the enemy with their very mobility skill. This is a utility package that only grows in strength with legendaries added on top that enhance the power of Draw and Quarter, such as Cavalier's Courtwear, Bladed Jambeau, and Besieger.

• While they excel at pulling monsters together and applying massive, decimating AoE attacks to them, Crusaders lack when lone, important targets are left standing on the battlefield — making Challenge Rifts a particularly vexing war of attrition. Crusaders' prolonged cooldown droughts and lackluster primary attacks are to blame.
• Crusaders are entrusted with charging ahead of their party, but their outrider duties lead to smaller payoffs — loot will inevitably get left behind, falling victim to the increased effectiveness of the party. While this won't starve Crusaders of important gear, it is proven to diminish their overall resources from salvage — an important factor in the game.
• Crusaders are heavily reliant on Draw and Quarter during farming, making the skill a focal point of their rotation of many builds. Combined with the fact that Draw and Quarter is the only mobility tool available to the class, that means any crowd control or interruption applied to the skill makes the Crusader suffer greatly in both DPS and repositioning potential.

Below, you will find a list of all Crusader builds we currently have on the site:

• Crusader Leveling Guide
• Crusader Draw and Quarter Bounties Build
• Crusader Draw and Quarter Dungeon Build
• Crusader Spinning Shield Challenge Rift Build
• Crusader Conjuration of Light Boss Killer Build for Raids
• Crusader Condemn PvP Build

You can also see an overview briefly explaining all of these builds on the guide below.

Early on, you should focus on trying out the skills that get added to your arsenal, and equipping better gear as it drops (the in-game cue comes from the flashing bag, indicating an upgrade piece). Your gear can be improved at the Blacksmith at a material cost — and while it starts out small, it quickly scales to a hefty amount. Make sure you pick up all items you come across (the auto-pickup option in Settings helps), and salvage them in town.

Upgrading your equipment is a central part of power acquisition in Diablo Immortal; never hesitate to upgrade a piece, regardless of its stats, since its upgrades will carry over to its eventual replacement for free. Upgrading all Primary gear pieces to level 6 before moving forward to level 7 on any of them is advised, since you gain an additional attribute at that level.

During leveling, you will occasionally hit experience walls (accompanied by the message "You must reach level X before continuing.") as you do the Main Story. To quickly get over the Experience hurdle, your most efficient route is to complete Battle Pass activities — namely, repeatedly grinding out Dungeons, with Bestiary turn-ins and Tasks mixed in. To mitigate the amount of time spent grinding, as well as to (likely) enjoy the game more, you can purposefully seek out Hidden Lairs and complete Tasks as they open up during the storyline completion. While this will slow down your questing, it will pay off later down the line as it diminishes some of the grind walls.

Pay extra heed to the Battle Pass tracker, as it unlocks consumable bonuses along the way, as well as a Legendary Item early on in the leveling process. Legendary items are potential gamechangers for every character, so you ensure you pick the one that will benefit you the most.

Legendary items are exceedingly rare gear pieces that provide unique bonuses — enhancing or altering an ability's powers altogether. When you come across one, especially for a slot where you still have Rare or lower tier items equipped, replace it immediately. Legendaries innately roll superior stats to lower tier items. Feel free to experiment with your newfound Legendary and the skill it enhances; once you no longer need it, extract its power at the Essence Transfer NPC in Westmarch. This allows you to overwrite subsequent Legendary items (likely with better stats) in the same slot with the extracted power, retaining the legendary bonus. Extract as many Legendary powers as you can, so you can easily adapt from one build to another whenever you need. Of course, feel free to salvage duplicate Legendary items that you have already extracted.

Similarly to all Diablo games, gems will make a huge difference to your character in Diablo Immortal — so make a point to hunt down Normal Gems in Hidden Lairs, and Legendary Gems in Elder Riftss (they get a chance to drop if you use a Crest consumable). Additionally, you should follow the quest line to unlock the Helliquary activity as soon as it becomes available at level 41. This is done in order to receive the Scoria currency while doing Bounties.

When you turn in Bestiary pages, you will receive a class-specific consumable. For Crusaders, this item is the Battle Hymnal, which increases all damage done by yourself and your nearby allies by 10% for 20 minutes. Be generous with its use, especially in party content; buffs like these are what make the Crusader an invaluable member of the group.

Skills are your primary means to defeating enemies, and their interaction with skill-enhancing or skill-altering Legendary Items are what forms the synergies that define the success of your character. The power of Skills is enhanced by Charmss, and the power of Legendary Items can be increased when they are Awakened. The game limits you to the use of five Skills — a Primary Attack and four Active Abilities that have some form of limitation to their use (charges, cooldowns). Primary Attacks are not limited in their use, and charge up an Ultimate bar as they are used. When it is fully charged, you are able to use the Ultimate version of that Primary Attack. Below, you will find a breakdown of all Crusader skills (divided by categories), as well as some advice for their general use.

Punish — Available at lvl 1. Strike an enemy for damage and gain Hardened Senses, increasing your Block Chance by 30% for 2 seconds. Its Ultimate is Counterattack Storm — Enhance Punish for 12 seconds, striking all enemies in front of you, increasing its damage per hit and increasing its Block Chance bonus. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds. Charmss increase Punish damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Punish is a single target-oriented Primary Attack whose notable aspect is the increased Block Chance, as blocking attacks mitigates 20% of the damage dealt — a noticeable impact when facing hard-hitting bosses in Challenge Rifts and the Helliquary.

Sacred Fire — Available at lvl 34. Ignite the air with holy flames from your weapon, dealing damage to an enemy and 25% as much to all other enemies in front of you. Its Ultimate is Burning Heart — Enhance Sacred Fire for 12 seconds, increasing damage done. Each enemy killed grants 1% increased Sacred Fire damage for 240 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds. Charmss increase Sacred Fire damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Sacred Fire is the multi-target option for Crusader Primary Attacks, and can be your go-to option whenever survivability is not the primary concern.

Condemn — Available at lvl 47. 9 second base cooldown. Build up a massive explosion, dealing damage to all nearby enemies after 3 seconds. Activate again to detonate early, but for less damage in a smaller radius. Charmss increase Condemn damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Condemn deals decent damage on its own, and its controllable detonation aspect adds a good deal of mastery to its use. This mostly shines through when you add a crowd control facet to the skill with the use of Iron Suzerain, making Condemn a convenient pull for PvP.

Legendary Items:

• Iron Suzerain (Chest) — Vacuum Inscription: Condemn now continuously drags enemies toward you. Awakened effect: Condemn damage increased by 10%.
• Permanent Reproach (Legs) — Condemn radius increased by 20%.

Consecration — Available at lvl 20. 15 second base cooldown. Consecrate the ground around you, dealing damage to all nearby enemies over 6 seconds. Charmss increase Consecration damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Consecration is among the most threatening of the Crusader area-of-effect cooldowns, and is a staple inclusion in farming builds for the class. One of its most valuable augmentations is the ability to follow you around, courtesy of the Many-eyed Aegis helm.

Legendary Items:

• Zaynula's Last Hymn (Off-hand) — Consecration also slows enemy movement by 30%. Awakened effect: Consecration cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Many-eyed Aegis (Head) — Guardian Inscription: Your Consecration now moves with you. Awakened effect: Consecration damage increased by 10%.
• Fortress Hermetic (Chest) — Consecration radius increased by 20%. Awakened effect: Consecration cooldown decreased by 10%.

Draw and Quarter — Available at lvl 15. 16 second base cooldown. Mount a celestial war horse for 6 seconds, dispelling all movement impairing effects, increasing your movement speed by 65%, and replacing your Primary Attack with a strike. Holy chains will bind up to 8 nearby monsters, dragging them as you ride and repeatedly dealing damage. Charmss increase Draw and Quarter damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Draw and Quarter is the focal point of Crusader builds and an integral part of mastering the class. Timing your cooldown use, particularly of skills that buff you up passively or whose effect follows you around, is essential — you will otherwise interrupt your mounted duration and lose valuable time. It is equally — if not more! — important to pay heed to crowd control effects, dodging any potential hampering of the Draw and Quarter uptime. While it is active, your Primary Attack is replaced by a skill-specific "Strike" — for all statistical purposes, this counts as a Primary Attack and should be factored in when choosing gear.

Legendary Items:

• Sivket's Advantage (Shoulders) — Draw and Quarter duration increased by 30%. Awakened effect: Draw and Quarter cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Besieger (Chest) — Draw and Quarter periodically calls down a bombardment for X damage to nearby enemies. Awakened effect: Draw and Quarter cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Bladed Jambeau (Legs) — Fiery Steed Inscription: Draw and Quarter's mount becomes a fiery steed that Burns the ground and enemies, but no longer drags enemies. Awakened effect: Draw and Quarter damage increased by 10%.
• Cavalier's Courtwear (Legs) — Trample Inscription: Draw and Quarter now damages enemies when you run over them and knocks them away, but it no longer drags enemies. Awakened effect: Draw and Quarter damage increased by 10%.
• Squire's Trews (Legs) — Rescue Racer Inscription: You can now carry a passenger during Draw and Quarter. Awakened effect: Draw and Quarter cooldown decreased by 10%.

Spinning Shield — Available at lvl 1. 12 second base cooldown. Hurl a spinning shield, inflicting damage to all enemies in its path. The shield will return to you, pulling enemies in its path to you and dealing additional damage. Maximum 3 charges. Players can only be affected by Spinning Shield once every 3 seconds. Charmss increase Spinning Shield damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Spinning Shield is one of the hardest-hitting single target skills in the Crusader arsenal, with additional AoE utility provided by supporting legendary items. It is among the most modifiable abilities in your toolset, ranging from a spiraling trajectory (useful for farming), to an exploding effect (enhancing AoE), to zone control (crucial in PvP).

Legendary Items:

• Bowyer's Remorse (Off-hand) — Explosive Shield Inscription: Spinning Shield now explodes when it strikes an enemy instead of returning, damaging all nearby enemies and knocking them back. Awakened effect: Spinning Shield damage increased by 10%.
• Pavise of Ten Wings (Off-hand) — Spiraling Shield Inscription: Spinning Shield now spirals around you and does not return. Awakened effect: Spinning Shield damage increased by 10%.
• Pouncing Shield (Off-hand) — Avenger's Shield Inscription: Spinning Shield now bounces between several enemies instead of returning to you. Awakened effect: Spinning Shield damage increased by 10%.
• Sinkhole Cross (Off-hand) — Hovering Shield Inscription: Spinning Shield hovers at a location, damaging enemies and reducing their movement speed. Awakened effect: Spinning Shield cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Springback Chain (Chest) — Spinning Shield damage now increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Spinning Shield cooldown decreased by 10%.

Sweep Attack — Available at lvl 1. 9 second base cooldown. Sweep a mystical flail through enemies in front of you, dealing damage. Charging longer increases range and damage. When fully charged, Sweep Attack will also knock enemies away. Charmss increase Sweep Attack damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Sweep Attack .

Legendary Items:

• Closing-Jaws (Main-hand) — Gathering Sweep Inscription: Sweep Attack now pulls all enemies it strikes to you.
• Karawan's Catch (Main-hand) — Spinning Flail Inscription: Sweep Attack now consumes energy to continually damage all nearby enemies while you move. Awakened effect: Sweep Attack damage increased by 10%.
• Longpalm (Main-hand) — Thunderbolt Inscription: Sweep Attack now strikes all nearby enemies. Awakened effect: Sweep Attack damage increased by 10%.
• Glower of the Recluse (Head) — When an enemy is Blinded, Immobilized, or Stunned, your Sweep Attack deals 15% more damage. Awakened effect: Sweep Attack damage increased by 10%.

Sacred Chain — Available at lvl 44. 14 second base cooldown. Throw holy chains that bounce between enemies, striking up to 6 targets and dealing damage to each. The chains Stun enemies for 8 seconds, but are dispelled by damage. Duration reduced to 3 seconds on players. Charmss increase Sacred Chain damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Sacred Chain is largely applicable to PvP content, since its crowd control effects can be too limiting in the chain-pulling, hyper-mobile reality of PvE farming content. Regardless, the skill can be tailored slightly to your needs; denying the chains' breakability through legendary powers can be particularly deadly to enemy teams.

Legendary Items:

• Spine of the Adversary (Shoulders) — Chains of Fate Inscription: Sacred Chain now also causes chained enemies to take a percentage of all damage taken by any other chained enemy, but no longer Stuns.
• Public Penance (Shoulders) — Frozen Chains Inscription: Sacred Chain now throws frozen chains that deal more damage and do not break from damage, but have a shorter duration.

Shield Glare — Available at lvl 3. 0.5 second base cooldown (channeled skill). Light erupts from your shield, dealing damage and Blinding all enemies in front of you for 3 seconds. Players will only be Blinded if they are facing you. Charmss increase Shield Glare damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Shield Glare affects a broad conal shape in front of the Crusader for decent damage by default, but its channeled nature makes it harder to fit with the interruption-averse mobility options for the class. The conditional nature of its Blinding effect in PvP also makes it somewhat less desirable than other crowd control options.

Legendary Items:

• Bonebearer (Off-hand) — Beam of Light Inscription: Shield Glare now consumes energy to reflect a beam of light that continually damages enemies in a direction, but no longer Blinds enemies. Awakened effect: Shield Glare damage increased by 10%.
• Constant Scrutiny (Off-hand) — Starshine Inscription: Shield Glare now Blinds and damages all enemies around you. Awakened effect: Shield Glare damage increased by 10%.
• Redeemer's Mettle (Head) — Shield Glare radius increased by 20%. Awakened effect: Shield Glare damage increased by 10%.
• Tactics and Secrets (Legs) — Shield Glare damage increased by 10%.

Falling Sword — Available at lvl 8. 10 second base cooldown. Impale your holy sword at a location where it deals damage over 5 seconds to all nearby enemies. Activate again to launch yourself into the heavens and come crashing down at the swords's location, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and retrieving the sword. Charmss increase Falling Sword damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Falling Sword falls into the category of Dashing skills, but its delayed nature and multi-stage effect make the skill more nuanced and interesting — at the cost of pure mobility effectiveness. Falling Sword is most effective as an opener or closer in battle, allowing you to reposition and lock down the enemy forces according to your needs.

Legendary Items:

• Proof From On High (Main-hand) — Leash Inscription: Falling Sword now chains enemies to a location, and pulls them to you when activated again.
• Tumult (Main-hand) — Blade Storm Inscription: Falling Sword now summons a storm of blades around it, continually damaging all nearby enemies, but can no longer be activated again for movement. Awakened effect: Falling Sword cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Little Lance (Main-hand) — Surging Sword Inscription: Falling Sword instead causes you to surge forward with your sword up to three times, damaging all enemies in your path. Awakened effect: Falling Sword damage increased by 10%.
• Air Splitter (Main-hand) — Empowered Sword Inscription: Falling Sword instead unleashes a shock wave that can be charged up to increase range and damage.
• Faith Ascendant (Shoulders) — Deal 10% increased damage for a few seconds after using either stage of Falling Sword.

Shield Charge — Available at lvl 41. 12 second base cooldown. Charge forward with your shield, pushing all enemies in your path and inflicting damage. Enemies colliding with terrain will be Stunned for 3 seconds. Charmss increase Shield Charge damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Shield Charge is a decent mobility skill that affects enemies with a prolonged stun when properly positioned, making it much more attractive in PvP combat than the utility-first PvE content.

Legendary Items:

• Questor's Mien (Head) — Shield Charge maximum charges increased by 1. Awakened effect: Shield Charge damage increased by 10%.
• Hungerfire Chiton (Chest) — Shield Charge also unleashes a shock wave at its destination, dealing X damage to all nearby enemies. Awakened effect: Shield Charge damage increased by 10%.
• Pillager's Greaves (Legs) — Empowered Bash Inscription: Shield Charge damage increased, and Shield Charge can be charged up to further increase damage. Awakened effect: Shield Charge damage further increased by 10%.
• Shieldswathe (Legs) — Shield Circle Inscription: Shield Charge now charges to a location where it forms a shielded circle that enemies and their projectiles cannot cross. Awakened effect: Shield Charge cooldown decreased by 10%.

Conjuration of Light — Available at lvl 50. 25.8 second base cooldown. Call down a beam of holy light from the heavens, protecting you and all nearby allies with damage immunity for 3 seconds. Charmss increase Conjuration of Light damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Conjuration of Light offers a tremendous group boon in the form of temporary invulnerability, which — when timed correctly with the most threatening mechanics and affix effects — can turn the tide of battle like few other party buffs can. For more general farming purposes, this default protective power can be flipped into a passive damage source through the highest value legendary for the skill, Justice Without Favor. Co-ordinate Conjuration of Light's use and you will become an invaluable member of the team, either greatly reducing the need for sustain and individual toughness across the group with its default protective properties, or as a passive enhancement to the DPS output of the whole group.

Legendary Items:

• Wind-blessed Pauldrons (Shoulders) — Conjuration of Light duration increased by 30%. Awakened effect: Conjuration of Light cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Justice Without Favor (Chest) — Holy Fire Inscription: Conjuration of Light surrounds you and your allies with holy fire that continually damages all nearby enemies, but no longer prevents damage. Awakened effect: Conjuration of Light damage increased by 10%.

Holy Banner — Available at lvl 38. 24 second base cooldown. Plant a holy banner that inspires nearby allies for 11.2 seconds, increasing Critical Hit Chance by 100%, but decreasing Critical Hit Damage to 135% instead of double. Critical Hit Chance over 100% will grant up to 65% additional Critical Hit Damage. The banner's Life is equal to your Life. Charmss increase Holy Banner damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Holy Banner is one of the most valuable buffs a Crusader can provide for his group, as its Crit Damage trade-offs should be easily mitigated by proper gearing by the party members. Initially, it will be the Crusader's concern to get the banner AoE to cover everyone, while minimizing the damage it will receive through proper positioning. This can be removed with the legendary effect of Arrowkeeper however, turning your own positioning into the decisive factor.

Legendary Items:

• Arrowkeeper (Head) — Commander Inscription: The inspiration from Holy Banner now moves with you. Awakened effect: Holy Banner Life is increased by 10%.
• Retribution Ornament (Head) — Holy Statue Inscription: Holy Banner is replaced with a holy statue that forces all nearby enemies to attack it. Awakened effect: Holy Banner Life is increased by 10%.
• Sudden Vallation (Head) — Holy Beacon Inscription: Holy Banner instead plants a holy beacon that continually damages enemies with holy light. Awakened effect: Holy Banner Life is increased by 10%.

Judgment — Available at lvl 28. 12 second base cooldown. Pass judgment on all enemies within an area, dealing damage and Slowing them by 50% for 3 seconds. The center of the area will explode after a short time, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and Stunning them for 3 seconds. Charmss increase Judgment damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Judgment offers a lackluster combo of middling area of effect and a soft crowd control (Slow) upon casting. Its delayed detonation and application of hard CC (Stun) make it clunky to use. The skill's saving grace is the summoner legendary, Cradle of Pebbles, which can be used to some effectiveness for Boss tanking and distraction in Challenge Rift progression.

Legendary Items:

• Barbed Council (Shoulders) — Mass Verdict Inscription: Judgment now implodes after a short delay, drawing all nearby enemies to its center, but it no longer Slows movement or Stuns. Awakened effect: Judgment damage increased by 10%.
• Cradle of Pebbles (Shoulders) — Guardian of Justice Inscription: Judgment instead summons a Guardian of Justice to fight for you. Awakened effect: Judgment summons Life increased by 10%.
• Feathermail Coat (Chest) — Judgment damage increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Judgment cooldown decreased by 10%.

Improving your attributes in Diablo Immortal generally revolves around increasing the total amount of Combat Rating, or CR. Every primary attribute point (Strength, Fortitude, Vitality, Willpower, and Intelligence) grants you 1 point of CR.

The priority attribute for Crusaders is Strength, which gives +0.3 Damage per point; given otherwise identical options, use the one with higher Strength to increase your DPS. Second in the priority order is Fortitude, which adds to your Armor Penetration — indirectly increasing damage dealt by also improving your crit chance. This attribute suffers from diminishing returns due to crit caps, but is still quite valuable. Third in the priority order is Vitality, which simply increases your Life total; the longer you can stave off death, the better.

Stat priority order and stat benefits for Crusaders are as follows:

• 1. Strength — Grants +0.3 Damage to Crusaders, and +1 to your total CR.
• 2. Fortitude — Grants +0.1 Armor Penetration, which affects your crit chance. It also grants +0.1 Armor; Armor increases your Block chance, and blocking attacks mitigates 20% of the damage dealt. More mitigation is never amiss, and even more so when dealing with riskier content like the Helliquary. It also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 3. Vitality — Grants +3 Life; the more you can add to your total health pool, the better. This is especially true for melee classes like the Crusader, as they are frequently in the thick of the fight and endure hits head on. This attribute also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 4. Willpower — Grants +0.1 Potency and 0.1 Resistance. Potency increases the duration of harmful effects that you inflict on your foes. Resistance lowers the duration of harmful effects inflicted by your enemies on you. This attribute also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 5. Intelligence — Grants +1 CR. This attribute does nothing else for Crusaders, and should be avoided as much as possible.

You should not put an emphasis on Special Attributes when considering between gear pieces. This is due to the overpowering importance of Primary Attributes and your CR total. That being said, the better Special Attributes are the two Crit Stats (Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage), Cooldown Reduction, Beneficiary Effect Duration, and Movement Speed. You can also consider Increased Damage to Players for PvP gear.

Pieces of Primary Gear that you upgrade at the Blacksmith attain up to three additional Bonus Attributes for Reforging at Ranks 6, 11, and 16. These Bonus Attributes belong to "families" (outlined and ranked below); a Family Bonus can be unlocked if all three Bonus Attributes are from the same family. Multiple Primary Gear pieces can have the same Family Bonus to improve your proc chance. The process of Reforging is done with the Reforge Stone consumable. Note that only Primary Gear pieces can be reforged; Secondary Gear pieces cannot. For Crusaders, priority Bonus Attributes are:

• 1. Tremor Stone is the most valuable bonus for general content, as its Family Bonus adds a crowd control proc and extra damage to your Primary Attacks.
• 2. Vengeance Stone brings a single target-oriented Family Bonus that becomes increasingly important as you push the difficulty of the content you are doing, i.e. Challenge Rifts. Enhance your progression-oriented Primary Skill, Punish, to have a chance at finishing off Challenge Rift Boss fights within the timer.
• 3. Wildfire Stone is mostly valuable due to its innate attributes, as it brings valuable Critical Hit Chance to the table. The Hydra summon from the Family Bonus is mostly an extra minion to soak up damage.
• 4. Barrier Stone has a Family Bonus that brings some much needed mitigation to Crusaders, a class that face-tanks all of its damage. The absorption shield is paired with some excellent innate attributes like Damage Taken Decreased and Block Chance, which further reduce incoming hurt.
• 5. Jolt Stone offers situationally valuable bonuses; it has Beneficial Effect Duration Increased as an innate attribute, which is decent for groups, and a Cheat Death proc which is never amiss when soloing content. Its Family Bonus brings soft CC to attackers, which is decent mostly for PvP.
• 6. Ravager Stone offers summoner-oriented innate attributes that are quite useless to Crusaders, as their only minion comes from the legendary proc of Cradle of Pebbles. Its Family Bonus requires enemies to be slain to proc, significantly diminishing its usefulness when doing progression content like Challenge Rift bosses and Helliquary.

The Awakening mechanic further increases the power of a Legendary Item and is done by socketing a Rank 10 Legendary Gem inside the item and using the Dawning Echo consumable at the Master Jeweler. Awaken with 1-Star Gems early on, sacrificing higher ones as necessary later. Prioritize Awakening legendary items that provide straight bonuses (increased damage) to your most frequently used skills, and ones that enhance the strengths of those build-defining skills (such as cooldown- or energy cost- reduction). For Crusaders, priority Awakenings are:

• 1. Legs: Cavalier's Courtwear, Bladed Jambeau, Shieldswathe
• 2. Shoulders: Faith Ascendant, Sivket's Advantage, Wind-blessed Pauldrons
• 3. Off-hand: Sinkhole Cross, Pavise of Ten Wings, Bonebearer
• 4. Chest: Springback Chain, Besieger, Justice Without Favor
• 5. Head: Many-eyed Aegis, Arrowkeeper, Redeemer's Mettle
• 6. Main-hand: Little Lance, Tumult, Proof From On High

As per tradition for Diablo games, socketed gear allows you to insert beneficial gems according to your needs. In Diablo Immortal, gems are divided between Normal Gems (socketable in Secondary Gear) and Legendary Gems (socketable in Primary Gear).

Normal Gems can only be socketed in Secondary Gear. Normal gems are divided into Red, Blue and Yellow sockets, and their priority is listed below. Priority-wise, gems are decent power increases to your character, but should never come at the cost of Primary Attributes and your CR score. Go for Red and Blue gems over Yellow if possible, as they provide a stronger bonus overall.

• Red Sockets: Prioritize Tourmaline as it provides a straight Damage increase. Ruby is also decent for the Life increase, but only if you lack Tourmalines.
• Blue Sockets: Prioritize Sapphire, which increases your Armor Penetration, and your Critical Hit Chance stat as a result. Note that Crit Chance provided from Sapphires has diminishing returns, capping out at 33%; when benefits from ArPen get too insignificant, swap to Aquamarine. Aquamarine provides Armor, which is a decent source of damage mitigation.
• Yellow Sockets: Prioritize Citrine for the Potency gains, increasing the duration of harmful effects you inflict on enemies; however small its benefits, they trump the Resistance effects provided from Topaz.

Legendary Gems can only be socketed in Primary Gear. They provide unique and very powerful bonuses on top of a robust stack of stat increases. Legendary Gems are found in Elder Riftss enhanced by the Crest consumables, as well as through crafting at the Jeweler in Westmarch.

Early on in Crusader character progression, you should use common, 1- and 2-Star Legendary Gems like:

• Fervent Fang — Can be obtained from the Battle Pass, saving you some Crests. Provides a stacking damage increase against a target with successive attacks; great for single target damage.
• Seled's Weakening — With an increase to all damage dealt as well as extra damage dealt to Elites once it reaches Rank 3, this legendary gem provides a solid starter bonus for the paltry requirement of killing an Elite monster once every 60 seconds — trivial during farming PvE content.
• Everlasting Torment — For the mere cost of a critical hit, this gem inflicts a considerable DoT and an Attack Speed increase to boot. Even at a low quality, this gem starts off with incredible stats and fits nicely from the get-go.
• Chained Death — This is a great early game gem, especially during farming where you usually pull hordes of enemies to maximize your AoE skills. It amplifies your damage the more enemies you fight, encouraging chaining fights together.
• Lightning Core — Despite its low proc chance, this damage-dealing gem can wipe out entire packs when activated, or focus down a larger foe, making it a decent addition to you legendary gem lineup.
• Berserker's Eye — This gem increases damage dealt at the cost of an increase in damage taken. For most of the farming PvE content, this is a reasonable trade-off that you can feasibly mitigate with the Crusaders's strong sources of shielding.

When perfecting your character for endgame content, the 5-Star Best-in-Slot Legendary Gems for Crusaders include:

• Blood-Soaked Jade — With its Damage and Movement Speed increases, it is largely considered to be the best legendary gem in the game for pretty much all forms of content.
• Seeping Bile — The value of this gem scales with the number of attacks you inflict, fitting well into Crusader setups that spam Spinning Shield and Consecration. With a considerable damage proc and a spreading effect, it is one of the best additions to your legendary gem lineup.
• Frozen Hearth — With percentage-based mitigation against ranged damage, this is one of the strongest defensive legendary gems you can support your character with.
• Blessing of the Worthy — Crusaders thrive at melee ranges and sustain a lot of attacks, making the retaliation proc of this gem quite valuable. Note its scaling off maximum Life, which turns the Sader's considerable health pool into a makeshift nuke.
• Chip of Stone Flesh — This is a PvP powerhouse of a gem, inflicting hard CC and increasing damage dealt on affected targets. It also provides decent value for progression content.
• Howler's Call — Triggered off Primary Attacks (including the Strike from Draw and Quarter), this legendary gem supplements the lacking reach of most Crusader builds with a hard-hitting ranged proc.

Paragon Points are character-specific progression system that allows you to advance in power after you reach maximum level. Each level gives you a Paragon point to spend into currently available nodes on the five Paragon Trees. While Paragon Trees are specialized for certain tasks, you should always keep in mind the tenets of character building — increasing damage and mitigation as much as you can. With that in mind, focus down the Vanquisher tree first, pick up the experience bonus from the Treasure Hunter tree, pick up whatever is useful from the Gladiator tree, and finish off with the group powerhouse of the Soldier tree. Always keep in mind that the (circular) Persistent Attributes are always active once leveled, but the (square) Specialization Skills are only applied when their respective Paragon Tree is active.

• Vanquisher Tree: The offense focus of this tree makes it the best starting point for all characters. It is recommended that you start with the middle row, maxing out Damage and picking up Zeal. Go down the bottom row, maxing out Damage and picking up Wrath. Finally, go along the top row, maxing out Potency, putting the point in Exorcism, and finishing off with Deeper Pockets and Heart of Wrath. This puts you at Paragon level 49.
• Treasure Hunter Tree: This tree unlocks at Paragon 50 and focuses on rewarding you more for your grinding efforts, making it an attractive mid-progression pickup. Go through the middle row, maxing Armor to attain Swift Learner. Then go on straight by maxing out the Damage node. This puts you at Paragon 70.
• Go back to the Vanquisher Tree. Max out the Life nodes in the mid row that follow Zeal, and put one point in Judgment to finish off that row. Then, go to the bottom row and put 3 points into Armor Penetration, which puts you exactly at Paragon 99.
• Right around this point, you have a decision to make. If you focus on PvE content, you should divert your attention back to the Survivor Tree — the other tree unlocked by default. Start out by maxing Life, picking up a point in Unyielding and progressing downwards. Max out Armor, then through the middle row — taking Escape Artist, additional Life, and Precognition along the way. Finish off with the coveted Damage increase. If you focus on PvP content, you should focus on the Gladiator Tree instead; this tree unlocks at Paragon 100, and offers brawling-oriented bonuses. Start off with maxing Armor Penetration, picking Uncontrollable right after it and continuing upwards. Max out Life, attain Quick Witted, and go into maxing Resistance and the second Life node. Get the Cheat Death right above the Life node. Finish with the consistently desirable Damage.
• At this point, you are hovering around the Paragon 180-185 point. One thing to consider is going back to the Vanquisher Tree to finish off the bottom right Armor Penetration node. You can also divert to the Treasure Hunter Tree to grab Gold Find and its subsequent Armor Penetration node. Alternatively, if you group up a lot, you can tab over to the Soldier Tree. This tree unlocks at Paragon 150 and is focused on grouping bonuses and provides tremendous utility for most modes of play. Take Hold Formation and head down to Resistance, then even further down into Damage. Attain the full bottom row — Battle Morale into Armor Penetration into Sacrifice. Then, finish off the middle row with Combat Veteran and Potency. Finally, go through the top row of Life and First Aid.

It is important to reiterate that your utmost priority is picking up all the damage nodes you can, deviating into one tree or another only to further that goal. Secondary valuable pickups are found in Armor Penetration and Life nodes. Once you are done with leveling all the Damage nodes, you are free to fill out Paragon trees as you see fit, as well as to activate specific Trees for the needs of the content you are doing.

In summation, the Crusader provides supreme control over the state of the battlefield, ending combat in satisfying, screen-annihilating volleys of power. Crusaders offer massive value to any group by serving as their vanguard and sweeping enemies into a helpless, obliteration-ready mass. Crusaders are able to lock down entire areas in PvP combat, eliminating the strategic options of their foes. Enjoy the Crusader, and Akarat's favor will lead you to triumph!