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SotL Blessed Hammer Crusader Guide

Last Updated: January 10th 2024

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Introduction

SotL BH Solo Push
View all variants

Seeker of the Light Blessed Hammer Crusader build is the spiritual successor of famous Hammerdin build from Diablo II. This build does exactly what it says on the box: makes hammers fly. If you've always wanted to see approximately 30 hammers orbiting you while bonking denizens of hell on the head, then you've come to the right place!

Unfortunately, this set has a serious problem - the support skill which you have to use to activate your damage and toughness bonuses is Falling Sword. There's exactly one thing that is good about this skill - it looks cool. Other than that it does nothing. Damage is completely irrelevant, despite 1,000% increase from the Seeker of the Light (6) Bonus. None of the runes provide any meaningful utility. And while it is a teleport skill, the animation is so slow that it is barely faster than walking.

On the current patch Seeker of the Light Blessed Hammer Crusader is completely outclassed by either Bombardment Crusader or Fist of the Heavens Crusader in pushing and in farming. But if you want to conquer Seeker of the Light leaderboards this is (the only) build to do it!

High Attack Speed ✔
Straightforward Mechanics ✔
A LOT of Hammers Everywhere ✔
Can Grab a Tea during Falling Sword ✔

❌ Squishy
Limited Number of Targets
❌ Area Damage Doesn't Work
❌ Falling Sword is Incredibly Slow

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Seeker of the Light set provides 50% damage reduction, 12,000% Blessed Hammer damage increase and also lets us reset cooldowns of Falling Sword and Provoke extremely fast.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings set gives around 60% DPS, 28%-65% damage reduction and 20% Cooldown Reduction.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur allows us to get full bonuses from both sets.
  • Hammer Jammers increase Blessed Hammer damage by 400%.
  • Faithful Memory increases Blessed Hammer damage by up to 800%.
  • Guard of Johanna provides a 250% Blessed Hammer damage increase when fighting lone Elites or Rift Guardians.
  • Johanna's Argument doubles the damage and attack speed of Blessed Hammer allowing us to cast up to 6 hammers every second.

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 Ring of Fire to unleash a devastating AoE blast for big leaderboard pushes!
    • 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 (CDR) as possible, you want literally every single point of it on every single piece including the amulet. For Attack Speed you just need a 7% roll on the Weapon as it is multiplicative with rolls from other pieces. Make sure your defensive slots—Boots, Pants and Belt—have Vitality and All Resistance on them. Life per Hit is a great stat for extra recovery; having at least one roll on Weapon or Bracers is recommended, although not required. Stack DPS stats wherever possible: Holy Damage, Blessed Hammer Damage, Critical Hit Damage and Critical Hit Chance. Ignore Area Damage because it doesn't get buffed by Hammer Jammers.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Push
T16

Concept
In T16 version of the build we drop Hammer Jammers, because applying CC to every new mob takes too much time. We also replace Faithful Memory and Guard of Johanna with Norvald's Fervor set. This lets us get rid of the Falling Sword. We use Squirt's Necklace protected by the shield from Laws of Hope to get back some of the lost damage.

As many other T16 buids, we use the Gold Items: Goldwrap, Avarice Band and Boon of the Hoarder. Together, these three give you a screen-wide pick up radius, 30% Movement Speed, nearly infinite toughness, and a steady supply of gold. We use Blessed Hammer Dominion to deal damage while moving.

Gameplay
The gameplay is very simple: Steed Charge up to mobs, throw some hammers, run to the next group. Spam Provoke for Wrath and all the other skills for Movement Speed.

Setups
If you don't have enough damage switch Blessed Hammer rune to Limitless. Your DPS will double but you will have to stop and attack more often. When playing in groups replace Warzechian Armguards with Nemesis Bracers and Stone of Jordan with Avarice Band.

SotL BH Solo Push

Concept
This is the solo push version, which tries to get as much damage and toughness as possible. To that end we use Endless Walk, Convention of Elements and Strongarm Bracers. Our chosen rune on Blessed Hammer is Limitless because it deals twice as much damage compared to the base skill. And finally our two free skill slots are occupied by Laws of Valor Unstoppable Force and Iron Skin Steel Skin for extra toughness.

Gameplay
The gameplay is incredibly simple: you spam all your buffs and hold down Blessed Hammer. Don't fight less than 10 mobs to get maximum value from Faithful Memory. Before your Holy Convention of Elements cycle, use Falling Sword in the middle of the pull to refresh all the buffs and to apply Hammer Jammers to as many mobs as possible. If Oculus Ring spawns in the first second of Holy, use Falling Sword to get into it, otherwise don't bother.

Setups
If you don't have max Cooldown Reduction, replace Convention of Elements with Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. It will solve your cooldown issues but you will have to use your skills conservatively. Only recast each buff when it's about to expire. If you do that well, you can even switch to Iron Skin Flash.

At very high Paragon (5,000+) you can switch Iron Skin rune to Flash. It will have significant downtime making you squishier, but in return you will gain the ability to take almost every Oculus Ring without losing too much damage.

Video Guide

Mechanics

Faithful Memory

Hammer Jammers

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Seeker of the Light set.
  • Stack Cooldown Reduction before everything to survive.
  • Spam all the buttons!
  • Never let go of Blessed Hammer button.

Haha, the hammers go: "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".

Credits

Written by Northwar.

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