Diablo Immortal Crusader: overview and best builds

The Diablo Immortal Crusader is a formidable warrior, adding swift melee-focused combat to the roster of classes currently available in-game. The Crusader was last seen in a Diablo 3 expansion, and is notable for having the fastest movement speed of all classes in Diablo Immortal.

Those who love a classic sword and board setup will see their skills shine with The Crusader in Diablo Immortal. There’s no greater satisfaction than their darting around the battlefield as a chorus of divine bells herald your presence, all whilst delivering swift justice to a swarm of demonic entities. What’s more, you’ll look cool doing it.

Once you've taken the reins as a Crusader, you'll find them an excellent melee fighter that offers impressive area-of-effect skills to boot. They’re easily one of the best options for newbies looking to learn the ropes, or even for veterans that want a bit more punch in their attacks. 

Looking for a breakdown of each of their skills, as well as some top-tier builds for optimal success on your holy crusade? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything you need to know before taking up the mantle of The Crusader.

Diablo Immortal Crusader

Diablo Immortal Crusader: All Skills

Here's a complete list of all of the Crusader’s best skills.

Punish (Primary Fire)

•  Unlocks at Level 1

This is one of the two options for Crusaders as their primary. Punish strikes an enemy for damage, and then gives you a two-second buff that increases your Block chance by 30%.

The perfect choice for staying alive in crowds and against bosses, Punish boosts your ability to stay in the thick of it. Don't underestimate its impact in PvE scenarios, especially against tough bosses.

Sacred Fire (Primary Fire)

• Unlocks at Level 34

The other option for the Crusader's primary attack, Sacred Fire sweeps the area in front of you, turning your normal attack into an area-of-effect attack. 

With higher damage hits and area-of-effect, Sacred Fire is a strong option for higher burst damage but sacrifices the survivability of Punish. Keep it in mind for PvP situations, or if you've decided to use less area-of-effect skills and need some more ways of controlling crowds of enemies.

Condemn

• Unlocks at level 47

Condemn builds up slowly over three seconds before unleashing an explosion to damage all nearby enemies. You can also reactivate the ability before it's fully recharged at the cost of a smaller area-of-effect and less damage.

One of the powerful area-of-effect choices for the Crusader, Condemn isn't the easiest to land on opponents in PvP since it takes time to charge up, so it's more of a PvE option for crowds.

Conjuration of Light

• Unlocks at level 50

Conjuration of Light calls down a beam of light that gives you and your nearby allies damage immunity for three seconds. While Conjuration of Light does have a long cooldown at around 26 seconds, the impact that it can have is huge.

Whether dodging a big burst of damage from a crowd or boss is useful, Conjuration of Light really shines in PvP, where you can save yourself or an ally or bait out a long cooldown of your enemies. Don't underestimate it.

Consecration

• Unlocks at level 20

The bread and butter of the Crusader, Consecration is an area-of-effect power that creates a large zone on the ground that deals damage over six seconds. With high damage numbers and a large area, Consecration lets the Crusader absolutely delete entire oceans of the worst hell can throw at you.

Any build that wants area damage is going to be hanging its helm on Consecration.

Draw and Quarter

• Unlocks at level 15

Draw and Quarter sees the Crusader hop onto a warhorse, dispelling any movement impairing effects and gaining a big speed boost for six seconds. Your primary attack gets replaced with a simple strike, and up to eight nearby enemies (which you'll automatically pick up as you move) will be dragged along with mystical chains.

Draw and Quarter is perfect for setting up you and your party's area-of-effect attacks. Just be careful when using it, since stuns and interrupts can end it right away.

Falling Sword

• Unlocks at level 8

With Falling Sword you drop a sword from above on a location, dealing damage over six seconds in a small area-of-effect. At any time during, you can recast the ability to blink over to the sword, doing a burst of damage to nearby enemies and ending the effect.

Some fights will really call for mobility, and Falling Sword is your choice for them since it lets you reposition instantly and effectively on just a ten-second cooldown.

Holy Banner

• Unlocks at level 38

Drops a banner with health equal to your own, which grants an area-of-effect buff to nearby allies. It grants 100% critical chance, but reduces critical damage in return, though any extra critical chance above 100% will turn back into critical damage.

A huge boon for elite and boss enemies, your entire party will reap benefits from 11 seconds worth of buff time.

Judgement

• Unlocks level 38

Judgement calls down a burst of damage that slows enemies in a large area for three seconds, leaving behind a smaller circle at the center. After a short time, the center explodes for an additional burst of damage, stunning enemies for three seconds.

Serving as a solid choice for PvP with its slows and stuns, Judgement is also a good pick to pair with other great area-of-effect skills, like Consecration.

Sacred Chain

• Unlocks at level 44

With Sacred Chain, you toss out a fast-moving chain of holy energy, which bounces between enemies, hitting up to six of them for damage. The chains also stun for a staggering eight seconds (reduced to three, with players), though this stun breaks early if they take any damage.

Sacred Chain is a great tool for PvP, allowing you to stun entire groups if you land it correctly, allowing you or your allies to set up big area-of-effect attacks, or simply keep some people out of the fight.

Shield Charge

• Unlocks at level 41

Rushing forward and damaging/pushing any enemies you hit, Shield Charge does exactly what it says on the box. As a bonus, if you push enemies into terrain, they're stunned for three seconds.

As with most crowd control offerings, Shield Charge shines brightest in PvP, where you can push enemies off vulnerable allies, or set up stuns against nearby walls. It also adds to the formidable suite of movement powers the Crusader has.

Shield Glare

• Unlocks at level 3

Shield Glare unleashes a blast of light in front of you, damaging enemies and blinding them for three seconds. Players fare a bit better, only being blinded if they're actually facing you.

Not as strong a choice as other pieces of the Crusader's skill kit, Shield Glare is mostly a PvP pick that can be yet another piece of crowd control, and one that could potentially hit nearly everyone.

Spinning Shield

• Unlocks at level 1

With Spinning Shield, you have up to three charges you can store to cast. Using them up tosses a shield out like a boomerang, dealing damage on the way out and the return. In addition, enemies struck on the way back are pulled in towards the Crusader, though players can only be affected by this once every three seconds.

A valuable tool in the arsenal for grabbing slippery enemies and pulling them back in, Spinning Shield is also a standout in PvP for that very same reason. If you hate getting kited by enemies, Spinning Shield is your lifeline.

Sweep Attack

• Unlocks at level 1

A charged skill, Spinning Sweep does damage in an area in front of you. Charging the skill up increases the range and damage, and fully charging it will also knock back enemies struck by it.

With Spinning Sweep, you'll find better options pretty quickly, but you may want to keep an eye open for the legendary that turns it into a constant area-of-effect damage helicopter. That version brings Spinning Sweep back around to being a great pick.

Diablo Immortal Crusader: Best Builds

Crush-sader

• Punish (Primary)
• Condemn
• Consecration
• Draw and Quarter
• Judgement

With this build, the Crusader brings powerful area-of-effect damage with some safety in Punish as the primary attack. Use Draw and Quarter to drag enemies and group them up, then unleash the full fury of your area-of-effect skills to melt even the strongest enemies down into loot.

With Judgement as a good option for a getaway, if you bite off more demon than you can chew, you should be relatively safe in most circumstances. Just don't forget to swing regularly to keep up the Block bonus from Punish.

Untouchable

• Punish (Primary)
• Conjuration of Light
• Draw and Quarter
• Judgement
• Shield Charge

More PVP-focused, the Crusader can really shine at locking up key enemies and getting them grouped together for big bursts of damage from your allies. Being constantly on the move with Shield Charge and Draw and Quarter will let you reposition easily, and Conjuration of Light can save your party if they get caught by crowd control like stuns, or are just stuck in enemy damage.

Grouping enemies together with Draw and Quarter before dropping Judgement on them is your go-to way to set up your team. Don't be afraid to use Shield Charge to close in if you have to, even if you won't get a stun out of it.

• Take a look at what you need to know about the Diablo Immortal release