Guide for Crusader Build

I know there are a lot of crusader guides already out there, but people still believe they are confusing. In an attempt to reduce the confusion, I am going to pool together everything I have learned over the course of playing as a crusader in hopes that it will alleviate some of the confusion out there. This guide will really be a collection of builds that a crusader can have and it will investigate all of the positive and negative points of each. This is not chucks guide, it uses concepts and elements from his guide and he will be credited at the end. Everyone wants a road map, so here you go.

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Spoiler:

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Build 1: Chuck’s Traditional Slasher


This has become the standard build on TOP for crusaders and has become one of the reasons why they are disputed as being overpowered.

Days as a Noob/Swordsman:


This time will function as your time to setup your slasher build. You don’t just BECOME a slasher when you pass the Crusader promotion quest, it starts here with proper stat and skill distribution. Poor stat and skill distribution at the lower classes are the major downfall and cause of broken crusader builds.

Stat Distribution:


As a slasher you will concentrate on attack speed (ASPD) and use this to drive you in your stat distribution. You have 2 targets 140 ASPD (first multiplier) and 210 ASPD (second multiplier). At these “multipliers” your Illusion Slash damage is basically doubled making you an efficient killing machine. How high you actually pump agi will be determined by what equipment you expect to get at higher levels. Stat distribution will be simple, pump your base agi to 55 or 60. 60 will make it pretty easy to hit 210 ASPD later with less expensive equips. But your base agi that you shoot for will be determined by the equipment you believe you will have. Equipment and 210 ASPD requirements will be covered in the Archetypes section.

Lvl 1 – 35: 50 total stat points

Agi = 55

Lvl 36 – 40: 9 stat points

Agi = 60
Str = 9

This is for an easy early 210 ASPD. To get a little more Str, you could go for:

Agi = 55
Str = 14

This becomes your call. I went for 60 base Agi, but I may get some resets later. Check the Equipments and Archetypes section to determine the Agi you are shooting for based on your equipment setup.

Skill distribution:

You will want to do the minimum till you get all of your basic skills and then go back and pump Illusion Slash. From lvl 31-40 you will need to save your skill points for crusader skills. Simply follow this skill tree and you will be on the right path:

Lvls 10-23:



Concentration ---> lvl 2
Sword Mastery --> lvl 3
Illusion Slash -----> lvl 4
Berserk ------------> lvl 5

Total Points Allocated: 14

Lvl 24 – 29:

Illusion Slash --> lvl 10

At lvl 29 you have successfully maxed Illusion Slash and have covered all of the necessary setup for becoming a crusader. At this point you can make a choice, use your extra point you gain when reaching lvl 30 and put it in Sword Mastery (increases your dmg) or hold it to place in shiny new skill when you become a crusader. Its up to you, but I recommend you save it. Just make sure you follow a few simple guidelines:

1.) NEVER put more than 2 points in concentration. This may increase your hit rate and allow you to land more blows on a monster, but you miss out on putting that point somewhere more important which will help you. Plus, your going to be primarily relying on Illusion Slash for damage, you will be fast so you will attack faster and have more chances to hit, and later on you will be forging lustrious gems which will increase your hit rate for you.

2.) Do Not put more than 5 points in Berserk. It does increase your ASPD for a given time and helps you hit your 210 aspd multiplier, but at later lvls you will have 210 ASPD without using berserk. At that point every extra skill point you allocated are wasted points on a skill your don’t rely on anymore.

3.) Don’t jump the gun and pump Sword Mastery too high. I know the increased damage is tempting but crusader skills are more important.

4.) Forget about the other skills like Will of Steel, Break Armor, blah blah blah. Those are tempting and COULD be useful but you delay more important crusader skills and you can always get them at later lvls.

Equipment Note:

This is a special note for the equipment setup for swordsman. As soon as you hit the new levels don’t buy new boots and gloves every time you can. Money can be hard to come by at lower lvls so stick to the noob box armor and maybe add some lvl 30 gloves and boots. Also, to help you survive I suggest picking up a shield at lower lvls to help you survive and abandon the shield when the noob box gives you a free warrior sword. When you get the warrior sword, USE IT. I know people think using two swords looks cool, but face facts. Without dual sword mastery the second sword does nothing. I actually checked out the damage output and you do more damage with the warrior sword than you do with any 2 low lvl swords. Plus, if you use what’s free you save money to buy a full set of lvl 40 crusader equips. So lets follow the check list:

[ ] Use Noob Box Equips
[ ] Use 1 Sword + Shield (I WANNA LIVE)
[ ] Use Warrior Sword (Its Free)

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Stat Distribution:

By now you have reached your target agi and are pumping str full to 100. After 100 base str, you will just pump con. This helps you with survivability. Con is not a priority for a slahser since they are all about killing fast and moving on before taking too much damage. If you want to add a little con, add maybe an extra 5-10 but really no more than that. Try to stick with str to increase IS damage.

Skill Distribution:

There are many different roads you can take but all primarily lead you back to the same place eventually. I will give my recommendation then justify it at the end.

Lvl 40: 11 Skill Points

Dual Sword Mastery --> lvl 10
Blood Frenzy --> lvl 1

Don’t argue just do it. I know you all want stealth because it seems cool but without dual sword mastery you might as well be holding a piece of poop in your second hand since that sword sure isn’t doing anything right now.

Lvl 41- 50

Blood Frenzy ----> lvl 5
Shadow Slash --> lvl 1
Deftness ---------> lvl 3
Stealth -----------> lvl 1
Blood Frenzy ---> lvl 10

I recommend this setup for the following reasons:

1.) Blood Frenzy to lvl 5 first since it adds ASPD which contributes to your dmg output from attacking faster and IS dmg. But I chose not to max blood frenzy up front since your additional crusader skills can help you survive and train better than the extra ASPD (in my opinion). Face it, at lvl 45 you are probably not going to reach 210 aspd anyway so who cares how close you can get since you get no bonuses UNTIL 210.

2.) Shadow slash next since its only 1 skill point away and helps you survive by stunning the opponent so you can kill it or run away before it kills you.

3.) Stealth lvl 1 is helpful and is the ultimate “OH NO, I’M ABOUT TO DIE! RUN AWAY!!!!” skill.

4.) Max Blood frenzy next since, well you need it to help with 210 ASPD.

Here is where the road diverges. If you are a maze/pvp crusader maxing shadow slash may be your next move, or you might add a few points in stealth. To me, adding points to stealth is really the last thing you should worry about. At lvl 1, you can already stealth long enough to wait out the cool down period. So in effect, when you come out of stealth you can just re-stealth right after. If you do add to stealth, I would not place more than 3 pts in it since there is no real benefit to max stealth. You can throw maxing sword mastery in there at some point if you want some extra damage, but where you put it is up to you. I would increase Shadow Slash to 5, alternate deftness and shadow slash until stun is maxed, then alternate sword mastery and deftness. I leave this part open since this is part of customizing your character and after the initial setup at lvl 50, you can’t break your build too terribly.

Equipment Discussion:

I recommend that at every 5 lvl increment you buy a full set of new equips (2 aspd swords, armor, gauntlets, and greaves). These are very important and help A LOT with training. If you can get ahold of it, buy lvl 45 unsealed swords and armor. If not, buy evanescence chests at lvl 50 and enigma at lvl 60. Just don’t use the Kylin Blades (from enigma chest) since they don’t add ASPD.

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Stat Distribution:


This is pretty simple. Just keep pumping agi until you reach 100 base agi and then switch. You can go to str or you can go to con. Most likely you will want to go to str. Given your insane dodge from all the agi most mobs probably won't hit you and because you will want to work on maxing your damage output.

Skill Distribution


Skill point allocation will go exactly as described above. The only difference is that you will have less priority on maxing deftness. You agi will be adding tons of natural dodge for you so this can be one of your last to worry about maxing. Although, more can never hurt.

Pros/Cons

1.) This build will be extremely fast. It will basically be a blur on the screen as it attacks with decent IS damage. Its IS damage will suffer above the 210 aspd mark since you do not gain any extra bonuses for ASPD above 210. Slashers will have a higher IS damage because they will be adding str before you and it increases IS dmg with every point.

2.) Damage per attack will be lower than the slasher BUT this build will attack much more frequently so the melee damage output may even out.

3.) Low defense with no chance to add to base con even at higher lvls.

I personally do not endorse this build since extra agi does nothing to help with damage and if you need extra dodge, just add some gems of wind or shadow gems to your boots. Higher lvl mobs have extremely high defense (lizards on summer for example) and you need more str to be able to break that defense and damage them. With pure agi you will have a lot of trouble doing that and will rely mostly on BD Eyes, Rage Gems, and Fiery Gems to get your damage to where it should be.

Equipment Note: This is the one build that I will endorse to use the Blades of Kylin from enigma chests. Since you already have massive amounts of agi, you don’t necessarily need to have ASPD bonuses to reach the 210 multiplier. They will be your best weapons if you cannot find unsealed DoE’s or BoE’s.



You may wonder why I call this the “GOD”, but it is true. A con slasher crusader CAN be the most powerful character in the game. This character will NOT be a shining star early on, FAR from it actually. But at high lvls, when you have unsealed equips and the proper gems, this crusader will flourish like no other. My recommendation is that this is NOT your first crusader. This would be a second crusader that you make after you have made a traditional slasher and used him to acquire great equipment and gem them. Then create this guy and use your slasher to plvl him until he can wear the top shelf equips.

Stat Distribution

lvl 1-2 (5 stat points)

Agi --> 10

Lvl 3 – 66 (95 stat points)

Con --> 100

Lvl 67+

ALL STR

The initial agi is to get you to 10 which is about what you'll need later (with bonuses from armor/gems) to reach 210 ASPD. It is possible to throw in another 1-5 points into agi, but no more. And if you want a little more damage, you could alternate str after you have reached between 70 and 75 con. At that point you will be tanking pretty decently anyway.

Skill Distribution:

Requires the same normal setup as a slasher type crusader. After lvl 50 you’re priorities will be a bit different from a normal crusader. Your goals are to tank and deal damage with Illusion slash, so your goal may be to max deftness before anything else. After that increasing stun may help others survive, but you could add will of steel (for more def), or go to break armor then tiger roar to try to slow down monsters and draw some additional agro.

Pros/Cons


1.) Very high defense and amazing survivability.
2.) Damage may be lacking until later lvls since str is not the top priority of stats to increase.
3.) He will be very slow until you forge Gems of Wind into his boots to give him the extra agi he will so sorely need. High lvl unsealed equips will remedy this as well.
4.) With proper unsealed equips and gems, his ASPD will be able to reach 210 and his str will be boosted to normal lvls. You will enjoy 2K+ IS damage as well ridiculously high HP. So basically you will dish out more damage than other characters can take and absorb it yourself. See why he is a god?

Remember, he is only great IF you can get him the best equips, plenty of gems to drives his aspd to 210, and bring his str up to acceptable lvls. He will also need a high lvl str pet to help him along. If you can pull this off, he has the POTENTAIL to be the best build.




DISCLAIMER:
I am starting this build with a disclaimer. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUILD THIS GUY AND EXPECT TO BE A FUNTCIONAL CRUSADER There I said it. This is a broken build that WILL cause you a lot of grief and will take until your 60’s to repair its skills. Because of the stat distribution it will never work as a slasher since it is not geared to achieving 210 ASPD and never have the melee damage output of a slasher. The only reason I add it is because it has gained popularity in the forums. The only function of this build is to solo the maze Forsaken City and I in no way endorse using this crusader for any other function. If you make him, his lvl maxes at 45, you farm FC, and when your tired of that this guy goes away forever. AGAIN, do not create this build and expect to be a proficient crusader later on.

OK, I am going to keep this short and sweet since I don't care about this build. If you want a more detailed description then check out Enderprodigy's guide in the guide index. So here it goes. Your goal will be to hit 140 aspd. If you try for 210, then you won't be effective as you will not have great str for melee dmg and not enough con to solo. I am going to assume for the purposes of this guide you will be using 2 blades of incantation, with unslealed platemail of the cursed soul, and stock lvl 45 gauntlets/greaves. At the 14% archetype (2 BoI's) you will need an operating AGI of 31 and 25 base agi if you have unsealed platemail of the crused soul (with maxed blood frenzy). The way I see it you have 2 options:

1.) Max Blood Frenzy and lose 5 stat points.
2.) Leave Blood Frenzy at 5 but require more AGI to reach the 140 ASPD breakpoint.

Option 1:

Stat Distribution:


Basically pump your agi to 25 at the start then Distribute the rest between STR and CON. Given your lack of AGI your dodge will be lacking so you will still need a little bit more CON than the usualy crusader to tank effectively. You may want to go with a 2:1 or 5:3 ratio of STR:CON. Just keep it as a heavier concentration on STR. If you were more worried about DMG then go with 3:1 STR:CON.

Skill Distribution:


Lvls 10-23:

Concentration ---> lvl 2
Sword Mastery --> lvl 3
Illusion Slash -----> lvl 4
Berserk ------------> lvl 5

Lvl 24 – 29:

Illusion Slash --> lvl 10

Lvl 40 - 45

Dual Sword Mastery --> lvl 2
Blood Frenzy ------------> lvl 10
Shadow Slash -----------> lvl 3
Deftness ------------------> lvl 3
Stealth --------------------> lvl 2

Now, if you still want more stat points for stun then you could hold a few points off of Illusion slash. Maxing Illusion Slash is a good idea but if you want to hold your enemies or the boss for longer then you may want more points in Shadow Slash.

Option 2:

Stat Distribution:

Without the extra 5 points in Blood Frenzy you will need an extra 5 AGI. Basically pump your agi to 30 at the start then Distribute the rest between STR and CON. Given your lack of AGI your dodge will be lacking so you will still need a little bit more CON than the usualy crusader to tank effectively. You may want to go with a 2:1 or 5:3 ratio of STR:CON. Just keep it as a heavier concentration on STR. If you were more worried about DMG then go with 3:1 STR:CON. You can counteract the loss of ASPD from Blood Frenzy by equipping the Fish Ring and save yourself about 4 AGI. With the fish ring pump your AGI to 25 to start then continue as previously discussed.

Skill Distribution:


Lvls 10-23:

Concentration ---> lvl 2
Sword Mastery --> lvl 3
Illusion Slash -----> lvl 4
Berserk ------------> lvl 5

Lvl 24 – 29:

Illusion Slash --> lvl 10

Lvl 40 - 45

Dual Sword Mastery --> lvl 2
Blood Frenzy ------------> lvl 5
Shadow Slash -----------> lvl 7
Deftness ------------------> lvl 3
Stealth --------------------> lvl 3

With this you can Stun and Stealth longer. Again, if you want to gain more in Stun and Stealth you could limit your avoid maxing Illusion Slash. Its your choice how you want to break your crusader. Who knows, you could even use the points from Blood Frenzy to put them into DSM instead of Stealth and Stun to increase your damage.

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to be continued..

tnx capitan.,,,

swordsman kasi,

heheheh

hirap din pla build ng crusader???

hehehehehhe