Crusader - Best Party composition ?

[Belgium]

Hello,

I would like to play the game as my first playthrough in the crusader difficulty.

For now my choice is

Tank Protector (with the paladin skill remove 75% aggro)
The protector with defensive stats and some stamina
Off Tank Paladin (with the paladin skill remove 75% aggro)
With offensive stats + stamina. He can take a part of the damage received from the protector and self heal. He can taunt 1 ennemy easily too to take the aggro when needed.
Maa (with the paladin skill remove 75% aggro)
Offensive stats
Druide
classical

The objective of this composition is to play a lot with the aggro (it's what I like the most in this game). The 3 warriors can remove 75% of the aggro if they are low hp. I think in crusader difficulty, you need the most sustain you can. Playing with the aggro is fun for me. The 3 warriors can AOE. Having 3 warriors make the game loot massive plate armors which is important to build correctly your characters (the 3 warriors with different stats).
The assassin or archer could replace the maa but you lose the 30% dmg buff for the party. And they can remove the aggro later in the game too.

Before that, I tried duelist + maa + druid + priest. The 2 healers are really good for the sustain. So it worked for me.
Duelist can keep the aggro (and I like the -60% crit chance). I stopped this party because I really want the 40% dmg reduction from the protector. And 2 healbots are dps lacking (and big lack of AOE in this composition). I had a big problem of loots to equip the characters how I wanted. I stopped at level 3.


Any idea from experienced players in the crusader mode please ?

[ManuTOO]

Hello,

I didn't play in Crusader mode, but this seems like a sound party ! :)

Here a few ideas, to help you mature your decision :
- having a mage with Arcane Lock makes the normal fights much easier
- having a mage with Ice Shield can really help during incoming damage spikes
- having a mage might mean less mana potions for your healer (except if you go with a Warlock)
- Paladin is a mandatory choice to rotate aggro and off-tanking
- Celestial Blindness may not be needed for your Protector (having it for your Paladin might be enough)

[Belgium]

- I'm a big fan of celestial blindness. It's maybe not needed for my protector but when I receive a huge critical hit on him, I need him to lose aggro quickly so he can be healed with the HOTs from the druid. I will maybe respec him later but for 1 skill point, I think celestial blindness is a good security for now.
- I see you want me to play a mage :). Instead of the Maa I guess. I like the MAA because he can remove his aggro easily AND for the 30% dmg buff for all the party => more damage for everyone with shared aggro.
For the mages, I don't really want them to take the aggro without an aggro removal. The mage shields are nice for sure but I think and hope the paladin will be decent to help my protector to sustain.

I don't really see the point to have a squishy-dps who can't cancel the aggro in the crusader difficulty. (+ I will loot less plate armor with a mage or a rogue).

[ManuTOO]

Yup, if I were to try Crusader mode, I'd likely try with a mage, although it may not be the most optimal choice.
You surely lose plate choices, but on the other hand, you get more loot choice for your healer ; for the 1st levels, it's a big help (but less later on).

Whatever you do, let me know how it goes !

[Belgium]

I'm at the middle of level 4 (crusader difficulty still).

I made the composition I said above :
Protector tank (I didn't take Celestial Blindness yet)
Paladin off-tank 2 handed for now
MAA dps 2 handed
druide

This team is funnier to play for me that my previous composition with 2 healers.

Having 3 guys with plates gives me the possibility to make really good builds for my 3 warriors (protector with many defensive stats, paladin with offensive + stamina, Maa full dps).

I like the paladin for now. I read many complaints about him so maybe he will become bad later.
For now, his AOE attack he can spam (every 6 secs) is effective. Even with 2 ennemies.
I compared with the AOE attack from the MAA which can be used only every 12 seconds, so it can't be spammed. (Since the MAA is a stronger dps for solo target, he has to stop to use his AOE if the ennemies are less that 3).
I even hesitated to reskill my MAA, to start him as a paladin too. So he get the instant attack with big threat, + celestial blindess (+ some mana) + the good aoe attack. To go as a MAA after since the MAA aoe attack he will lose is not important.
Since my MAA get celestial blindess anyway. If I do what I said just above, it's 1 skill point to lose 3% dmg with 2 handed and to earn a spammable aoe attack and 1 instant-skill to "taunt" 1 target.



I have some questions :)

- If I have Warcry on 2 or 3 warriors. Does it stack or does it just refresh ?
- I took the skill to increase the critical damages of my MAA, but I still see 2.0 in my character description (critical multiplier). Is it normal, is that passive skill working ?


Tu as vu comme j'adore ton jeu. Avec tout ce que je raconte :p.

[ManuTOO]

0) I buffed a lot the Paladin after people complained about him, so you shouldn't have issue with him now ;-)

1) Warcry will stack

2) It's normal because Impale increases the Critical Damage of only the Abilities, not the auto-attacks, so it doesn't change the base multiplier

3) Merci, ça me fait plaisir ! :-p

[Belgium]

1) Hehe I keep this party. The late game will have a good dps even without mage and rogue I think.
2) Ok, yes in english I read that too but in french it's written => empaler : "augmente le bonnus de dégats pour les coups critique de 10-20%". It's not said it's for the abilities.

[ManuTOO]

2) oops, I just fixed that for the next update !

[Maximusdu83]

i love this game

[Ichthyic]

based on the discussion threads on party comp I have read here, I went with prot/paly/druid/acanist and have not regretted it once, even having ramped up the difficulty by modding it to about where crusader is damage-wise. so flexible that party is. stayed primary trees for the most part, but gave the aracanist fireball, since it only takes 2 points in elemental.
Helps clear the trash mobs faster, plus casting times decreased significantly so for 2 points, well worth it. will probably have paly go into maa eventually (bonus crit damage), and prot into paly a tad for the blindness talent.

i love how this game has endless possibilities.

[Belgium]

I'm at level 7
Still with protector, paladin, Maa and druid

1) protector :
I improved 1 level the protector skill thunder clap to increase the dmg by 50%. The aggro generated is now a lot stronger which is what I wanted when I took it. (I saved before testing it to be sure:)). More aggro on the protector is so important to heal and dps with our squishies.
Now the paladin is weaker to steal an aggro from the protector which is not that good.
The protector overall is enjoyable since the begining. His interupt and aggro management (taunts) are very fun and important (it's the core gameplay right ? :p).
Items : shield + 1 handed, Mostly stamina + a defensive stat (parry, dodge, armor). I don't need much dps on him, he can keep aggro easily already if he spams thunderclap.

2) Paladin : Paladin is harder to build and I will have to respect him later with more points available..
I thought I would use these holy spells but at level 7 these are poor choices, optimisation speaking. "Hammer of justice and seal of contrition". These spells bypass armors and these 2 abilities can be improved with some passive skills. But I prefered to put 2 points in "god are with us" to self heal for 150% the damage done with (crit from abilities). I use a lot "divine punishement" because I like when my paladin is not full hp. Because the self heal is really strong. I self heal with "crusader assault" when the ennemies are packed. It's like a secondary heal. It's what I wanted when I chose the paladin instead of a second healer to play in the crusader mode.
Now I'm putting 2 or 5 points in the MAA tree to have some single target abilities. Because the 2 solo target holy spells are so bad for now. A thunderclap could be usefull too.
Items : 2 handed (I will give him shield later when I will increase the skills with 1 handed %dmg bonnus). Stamina + dps (CRIT is lovely now because of "god are with us"). I like str and agi on him too since the dps is important on the paladin because he's 2 handed and self heal depending of his damages. And you increase your dps + defensive stats too with str/agi


3) MAA : I took him to have an early warcry and for the dps. His dps is already kinda good. Gameplay speaking, at this level, he's not really fun. He can't speam his aoe attack, his 2 single target abilities are kinda similar (gameplay speaking).
My MAA finally got WARCRY, I don't know if I would change the class if I could but it's a lot weaker that I thought. + 30% AP for everyone in the party looks op. But in reality, it's a +11% dps with normal attack. And +11% too with "hard strike" and "swipe". It's a + 22% damage for "deadly assault".
Items : 2 handed. Dps items. He doesn't need stamina since he can remove the aggro easily with 1 point in celestial blindess (and prot/pal can taunt too).

4) Druid : oh yes he does his job. Since this composition can split the aggro, the HOT (Heal Over time) are effectives.
items : awareness, some crit for the HOT and few stamina, I don't like willpower for now. I had to use 3 mana potions in total until now.


Overall I like this composition. I think the paladin as an offtank is an interesting gameplay but needs some thinking about the choices of the skills because he can become gimped. I don't think you need it for lower difficulties. He's there to give more sustain to the party.
Having 3 characters who needs plate armor and all 3 with different stats requirements is VERY LOVELY and remove the little frustration I had with my previous composition who had terrible/useless loots.

[ManuTOO]

@Belgium,
thanks for your detailed report !
And yup, tank / healing / aggro is the main beef of the gameplay (for technical dps lovers, there's the assassin though, and probably a couple of other stuff ;-) )

[Ichthyic]

paladin pairs nicely with arcanist, because the arcanist has the twin crit buff skill, and the pally has that divine ranged attack that you can boost the critical chance on with skill points.

so I always cast twin crit on the paly, have him attack first with that, since it almost always crits at higher levels, and you get a free crit boost to start the fight off for your two dps chars right off the bat.

then you have a high crit chance crusader assault and fireball. very nice combo to quickly clear out mobs.