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Akkhan Condemn Crusader Guide

Last Updated: January 10th 2024

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Introduction

Akkhan Condemn Solo Push
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Akkhan Condemn Crusader is the build that has been around for the longest time, created with the introduction of Frydehr's Wrath in Season 1. Once the strongest in the game build for solo XP farming, for a long time it's been barely useful in T16, and even then, only if you have optimized gear and high Paragon.

Season 27 patch changed that with Akkhan rework, which made it into a set specifically focused on Condemn. The build now also includes Phalanx but the avatars themselves deal no damage, they are only here to proc Condemns and reduce the cooldown on Akarat's Champion. With the new set you can trigger almost a hundred explosions per second! A huge increase compared to the measly 5-6 we could do before.

Of course, there's also some bad news: Condemns triggered this way do not proc area damage, everything you are fighting will very quickly become CC-immune thanks to Judgment with all runes and no cooldown, and finally you are once again at the mercy of Pet AI (this seems to be a pattern with the buffs lately).

Overall, while the build was buffed by quite a few tiers and can now do everything decently well, it's only great for Solo Pushing. In Greater Rifts speedfarming it loses to LoD Bombardment, while in T16 AoV Fist of the Heavens still reigns supreme.

Tanky ✔
Great AoE Damage ✔
Can Include Horses ✔
Can do Everything on the Move ✔

❌ Long Bossfight
Dependent on Pet AI
❌ Very Starved for Skill Slots
❌ Forced to Spam Ludicrous Amounts of CC

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Armor of Akkhan set provides 50% damage reduction, 1,500% damage increase, reduces cooldown of Akarat's Champion to just a few seconds and most importantly, lets our Phalanx avatars cast Condemn when they hit an enemy.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings set gives roughly 60% DPS, 20% Cooldown Reduction and around 65% damage reduction.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur allows us to get full bonuses from both sets.
  • Blade of Prophecy increases Condemn damage by 800% and also doubles the amount of explosions.
  • Frydehr's Wrath increases Condemn damage by another 800% and also turns it into a spammable skill with a Wrath cost.
  • Unrelenting Phalanx doubles the number of avatars we can get out and gives us 60% Phalanx Damage.
  • Warhelm of Kassar provides an additional 1.6x damage multiplier and reduces the cooldown of Bowmen and Shield Bearers.

Season 30 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that initially dropped during Season 25 but they are returning for Season 30! There are 4 available for Weapons based on the Lesser Evils, with another 3 for Helmets based on the Prime Evils. They drop at Rank 0 and be upgraded three times with the brand new Hellforge Embers to unlock additional powers, or be used in the Kanai's Cube as Augments. Here's how they progress:

  • Rank 0: Soul Shards begin with a unique static Legendary Power. Creates a Rank 50 Augment.
  • Rank 1: Gives all powers from the normal gems. Creates a Rank 75 Augment.
  • Rank 2: Grants one additional powerful stat. Creates a Rank 100 Augment.
  • Rank 3: Unlocks 1 of 3 bonus Legendary Powers unique to that Soul Shard. Creates a Rank 125 Augment.

Warning: Leoric's Crown and Broken Crown do not work with Soul Shards!

Read our Soul Shards Guide written by Chewingnom for full details on how they work. What you should prioritize on them for Solo Pushing is the following:

  1. The Correct Soul Shard & Rank 3 Power
    The best shards for Solo Pushing are:
    • Helmets: We want to use Sliver of Terror for the massive damage buff from our abilities on cooldown. For the Rank 3 power take the additional Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance to further boost your character's power.
    • Weapons: We want to use Essence of Anguish for the Movement Speed and Cooldown Reduction. For the Rank 3 power take the 50% increased Poison Damage, which actually applies to all damage done! Hint: Make sure to get a Poison Damage Range on your Weapon so it can proc the shard automatically.
  2. The Rank 2 Stat
    The stats that come from the second upgrade are not equal. Here's what we're looking for on them:
    • Helmets: We want either Main Stat for damage or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction to survive. Avoid Armor and All Resistance as their stat ranges are far too low compared to the others options.
    • Weapons: We want either % Damage or Holy Damage to boost our character's power the furthest. Avoid Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance as their stat ranges are too low compared to the others.
  3. The Stat Ranges on the Rank 1 and 2 Powers
    This is just icing on the cake because the ranges will not make or break your build. Still, look for the Soul Shards with the best stat ranges, especially on the offensive stats.

For the other game modes, other Soul Shards can be used. Check the Variants below to see what's used there.

What about extra Soul Shards? Either salvage them for gems, or upgrade and use them in Kanai's Cube for Augments.

Global Stat Priorities

Stack as much Cooldown Reduction as possible, there's no specific breakpoint to hit, ideally you want a CDR roll on every piece that can have it except amulet. For Attack Speed aim for 18 frames breakpoint in Bowmen builds. For this you need Laws of Valor, 6-7% roll on the weapon and 13%+ or 12%+ on two other pieces. If you can't hit this breakpoint (or use a non-Bowmen build), don't bother with Attack Speed at all and focus on other stats. Make sure your defensive slots—Boots, Pants and Belt—have Vitality and Resistance to All Elements on them. Stack DPS stats wherever possible: Elemental Damage, Condemn Damage, Critical Hit Damage and Critical Hit Chance. Ignore Area Damage as it doesn't work with Condemns triggered by Phalanx avatars.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
T16 Physical Condemn

Concept
In T16 it's best to use the old manual cast build and only include Phalanx for cooldown reduction. Casting Judgment and then waiting for your pets to attack the target is just way too slow when you can simply kill everything by pressing Condemn once or twice.

Gameplay
Playing Condemn Crusader in torments is not exactly rocket science. You spam all 6 of your buttons as much as you can and you run forward. That's literally it.

Setups
If you play in groups, equip Nemesis Bracers and replace Squirt's Necklace with Avarice Band. You can also put Warzechian Armguards into the cube if you want to be faster rather than tankier.

At low level and with unoptimized gear you might struggle to deal enough damage. In that case you can run Phalanx version of the build, similar to GR Speeds variant but with more movement speed and Goldwrap (click on the planner to see details).

Condemn Solo Speeds

Concept
This build Phalanx Bowmen to deal damage without having to stop. We use Laws of Hope Wings of Angels instead of Unstoppable Force to get some movement speed. Condemn rune is switched to Unleashed to avoid overkill.

Still this build has very little mobility so your runs will not be shorter than 3 minutes.

Gameplay
The gameplay is the same as described in the section above. In speeds you should pay extra attention to applying Judgment to every single mob on the screen. If your pets are stuck attacking unjudged enemy you are dealing no damage whatsoever!

Setups
If you want to play lower tier but go faster, drop Focus and Restraint for Stone of Jordan and Convention of Elements. This lets you replace Justice with Steed Charge Endurance.

Solo Push

Concept
Here we use Phalanx Shield Bearers to proc Condemn. Each casts of Phalanx spawns 8 avatars in a ring around and each avatar applies Condemn to all enemies in small AoE 9 times over the next 5 seconds. We also use Bastions of Will and Aughild's Authority sets to get a consistent damage bonus.

Gameplay
Make sure that your Phalanx avatars are always hitting something. It doesn't have to be a huge pull but they shouldn't just stand in empty space. You need them to constantly refresh your Akarat's Champion.

When you make a big enough pull and want to deal damage to it, look at your yellow Bastions of Will buff. You activate it only when you cast Phalanx and it has the same duration as the avatars so you can easily tell when it's time to resummon them. Generally your rotation goes like this: walk in the middle and cast Phalanx + Judgment then go into the Oculus Ring and spam Smite until the yellow Bastions of Will buff is almost gone. Repeat these 2 steps until most of enemies are dead and then switch to pulling more enemies and slowly moving forward instead of standing in the Oculus.

Never fight less than 3 enemies in the rift and try to save a Pylon for the boss fight. If you have to fight the boss alone stand next to a wall (or even better in a small corner) to let your avatars stack in one spot where they all can hit the boss.

Setups
At low Paragon (if your Strength is less than 20,000) use Guardian's Jeopardy instead of Aughild's Authority.

At high Paragon (6,000+) you can drop Laws of Valor in favor of more offensive option such as Steed Charge Draw and Quarter or Condemn Vacuum. This also lets you switch Long Arm of the Law to Indestructible or Holy Cause.

Video Guide

Coming soon.

Mechanics

Blade of Prophecy

Frydehr's Wrath

Condemn Vacuum

Armor of Akkhan

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Armor of Akkhan set.
  • Stack Cooldown Reduction like a madman.
  • Judge everyone and everything.
  • Enjoy the fireworks!

Akkhan Condemn... What year is this!?

Credits

Written by Northwar.

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