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Akkhan Condemn Crusader Guide

Last Updated:February 1, 2025|Changelog

Introduction

Akkhan Condemn Solo Push
View all variants

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.

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.

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.

Mechanics

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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