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Crusader PvE Build Guide

Last Updated:June 21, 2025|Changelog

Welcome to the Crusader PvE Build Guide! This is the big brawler Tank in Throne and Liberty. The build leverages the strengths of both weapons for a ton of extra Health and Heavy Attack Chance.

Crusder has some of the best AoE farming potential in the game due to passives like Spectrum of Agony and active skills that can cleave off each other such as Frost Cleaving and Ice Tornado.

For bossing, Greatsword provides one of the strongest buffs in the game Devoted Sanctuary. As a tank, you not only redirect 70% of your group's damage taken to yourself, but you can also significantly increase your party's damage all in one skill.

Due to the high cooldowns in this weapon combo, you make use of Morale Boost and Collison skills such as Strategic Rush to be able to lower your cooldowns.

T2 End Game Crusader PvE Build

PvP Guide
Pros
  • High HP
  • High AoE Damage
  • High Burst Damage
Cons
  • Long CDS
  • Heavy Attack Reliant

PvE Gear Progression

Important
  • There is no "Best Build", Talandre Gear allows for a wide variety of builds allowing you to choose your preference.
  • Use the builds as a base, and swap different pieces around to fit your needs.
  • If you plan on PvPing in the future, just use the PvP gear shown in our Crusader PvP Build Guide for PvE. Unless you're going for record clears, you can use the PvP gear to clear all content.
  • With the introduction of earrings to the game, use whichever provides you the most Dexterity or Wisdom to increase your overall DPS in PvE. If given an option, prioritize earrings with Wisdom.
Transition Build
T2 End Game
2-Pc Imperial/Oblivion

Level 55 Crusader Transition Build

Obtain your gear through Adventure Coin: Fighting Spirit, 2-star and 3-star Dungeons and Material Transmutation.

T2 Crusader PvE Build

T2 Crusader Arch Boss/Nebula PvE Build

Stats and Gearing Logic

  • This build is a triple Endurance with high Attack Speed, Critical Hit and Heavy Attack.
  • This build is running ~50% Attack Speed which will help sustain aggro and provide great sustain damage.
  • You will have ~1000 Critical Hit which synergizes with the Imperial Seeker Set for the increased Critical Damage.
  • You reach 1200+ Heavy Attack Chance for 50%+ proc rate.

Non-Field Boss Alternative

  • Oblivion's Wrath Gauntlets and Oblivion's Wrath Stompers.
  • Shadow Harvester Grips and Shadow Harvester Boots.

Skill Builds and Rotation

Bossing
PvE Mobbing

Blood Devotion Alternative

Active Skills

Damage Skills

  • Always use Gaia Crash before Guillotine Blade to make use of the additional Attack Speed.
    • Guillotine Blade is your big single target burst skill.
  • Piercing Attack is your spammable single target Sword and Shield damage skill.
    • This lets you easily hold Aggro/Threat and use it on cooldown.
  • Weave in Cruel Smite when Piercing Attack is on cooldown to ensure you keep your threat high on the boss.

Utility Skills

  • Devoted Sanctuary offers 50 more Base Damage to your party while you adsorb 70% of their damage taken.
  • DaVinci's Courage buffs your party.
    • The Max Health given by DaVinci's Courage acts as a heal for all your party members.
  • Chain Hook groups mobs together and can be used as a gap closer against bosses.

Passive Skills

  • Resilient Mind and Victor's Morale are phenomenal Passive skills that allow you to sustain your Mana during long boss encounters.
  • Vital Force and Robust Constitution offer free stat boosts.
  • Indomitable Armor and Aegis Shield provide you with a ton of defense rating with zero additional effort.

Alternatives

  • If you want to provide a damage buff for your DPS, you can run Devoted Sanctuary over Death Blow.

Opening Rotation

  1. DaVinci's Courage
  2. Piercing Attack
  3. Cruel Smite
  4. Willbreaker
  5. Death Blow
  6. Gaia Crash
  7. Guillotine Blade
  8. Piercing Attack
  • Pre-buffing with DaVinci's Courage gives you and your party increased Attack Speed at the start of the fight.
  • It's important to weave in Piercing Attack and Cruel Smite where you can maintain boss Aggro.

Single Target Burst

  1. Gaia Crash
  2. Guillotine Blade
  3. Piercing Attack (Optional)
  4. Cruel Smite (Optional)
  • Always use Gaia Crash before Guillotine Blade the additional Attack Speed buff.

Defense Shred

  1. Willbreaker
  • Be sure to use Willbreaker last to gain the most value from the uptime of the debuff.

Active Skills

Damage Skills

  • Frost Cleaving and Ice Tornado are your two big AoE skills.
  • Annihilating Slash is another AoE skill you use on higher health mobs.
  • Weave Cruel Smite into your rotation while your hard hitters are on cooldown.
  • Piercing Attack is your spammable frontal AoE cleave.

Utility Skills

  • When Specialized Willbreaker becomes a full AoE skill that lowers the defense of all the mobs around you. This will happen normally as you group and AoE mobs down.
  • Use Strategic Rush to reset your cooldowns alongside the Morale Boost passive.

Passive Skills

  • Morale Boost is one of your most important passives. This is used to reduce the cooldowns of your skills when using Collision Skills
  • Raging Frenzy provides a significant Skill Damage Boost depending on the amount of mobs that are around you.

AoE Combo

  1. DaVinci's Courage
  2. Willbreaker
  3. Frost Cleaving
  4. Annihilating Slash (Optional)
  5. Ice Tornado
  • This is your basic AoE Combo.
  • Use Annihilating Slash when mobs have higher HP.
  • This rotation gives you the buff from DaVinci's Courage for the added Damage Reduction and Attack Speed for the entirety of your combo.

Tips

  • Save Strategic Rush to help reset your cooldowns with the Morale Boost passive.
  • Use Chain Hook to round up any ranged mobs you were unable to group.
  • Stalwart Bastion is used for additional Damage Reduction if some pulls get spicy.

Guardians

Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. These are the recommended Guardians for this class.

  • Shade Revenant Stheno is THE DPS Guardian in PvE. No other explanation is required.
  • True Defender Pluton provides an AoE pull ability to players surrounding you while granting you a strong Endurance buff.

Summary

  • Both Sword and Shield and Greatsword have passives that complement each other perfectly making for a highly effective PvE tank build.
  • The bossing build revolves around buffing your team with Devoted Sanctuary while also dealing punishing single target damage.
  • The AoE farming capabilities of this combo are extremely high. With a very large health pool and a great ability kit, open world farming will be a breeze.

Credits

Written by Tweekz and EliEli
Reviewed by Tenkiei, Yaen

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