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LoD Blessed Shield Crusader Guide

Last Updated:July 8, 2024|Change Log

Introduction


LoD Blessed Shield Solo Push
View all variants

After first being introduced in Season 17, LoD Blessed Shield Crusader quickly claimed the top spot on solo Crusader leaderboards. However that didn't last long, because Aegis of Valor set, released just 2 seasons later, immediately pushed all other Crusader builds out of relevance.

Still, Blessed Shield Crusader build offers you a unique playstyle as well as additional gearing challenge imposed by Legacy of Dreams. This build is not well suited for group content due to its reliance on Unity ring and overall poor AoE scaling. In solo however, it can clear Nephalem Rifts and farm XP reasonably well, so if you want to see shields fly and ricochet all over the place, then, by all means, go for it!

On current patch, LoD Blessed Shield Crusader build is completely outclassed by either Heavens's Fury Crusader or LoN Bombardment Crusader in every imaginable scenario. The only reason to play this build right now is if you've always deeply admired Captain America and want to be just like him.





Tanky
Easy to Play ✔
Not Very CDR Dependent ✔

Great Skill Choices Freedom ✔

❌ No True AoE
Hard to Gear
Lacks Mobility
❌ Not Suited for Group Content

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Akkhan's Leniency increases Blessed Shield damage by up to 4,000%, which is one of the biggest in the game multipliers provided by a single item.
  • Gyrfalcon's Foote increases Blessed Shield damage by 350% and also removes its Wrath cost.
  • Jekangbord increases Blessed Shield damage by another 400% and also increases the number of targets it can hit by 150%.
  • Akkhan's Manacles increase Blessed Shield damage against first target hit by 500%, which helps a lot with otherwise abysmal single target damage of this build.
  • Aquila Cuirass provides 50% damage reduction, that is always active thanks to Gyrfalcon's Foote bonus
  • Stone Gauntlets give us acquire 250% extra Armor.
  • Leoric's Crown is used for an extra bit of CDR, which is necessary to reach the 64.5% Breakpoint for the Solo Push variant.


Season 32 Ethereals

Ethereals are powerful rare weapons that can only be found during Season 32. They were initially the Season 24 Theme. They have incredible stats, a random Legendary power, and a free passive for your class. Read our Ethereal Mechanics Guide for full details on how they work and our Ethereal Farming Guide to learn how to acquire them. What you should prioritize on them is the following:

  1. The Legendary Power
    This build requires Gyrfalcon's Foote and Akkhan's Leniency to be functional. We need our Ethereal to roll one of these powers so we can cube the other. We also want a good roll on our Legendary power if it has a range. For speed content it is always helpful to have Ethereals with In-geom or Messerschmidt's Reaver powers, so keep those if you find them.
  2. The Ethereal Itself
    There are 3 different weapons available to us, each with its own benefits:
    • Astreon's Iron Ward - This is the best Ethereal with its high DPS, Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage.
    • The Redeemer - This option is 29% weaker but it comes with +50% Damage to Demons and Undead, against these enemies it deals 5% more damage.
    • Khalim's Will - This Ethereal is about 15% weaker than Astreon's Iron Ward but its high Attack Speed and Life Per Hit roll make it a decent defensive option. It's also the best option for Nephalem Rifts thanks to its special Steed Charge reset affix.
  3. The Ethereal Stat Rolls
    Each Ethereal comes with its own fixed set of powerful affixes. While some have a static value, many have a wide stat range. This means the difference between good and bad rolls is significant and something you should look for.
  4. A Useful Passive
    This is just icing on the cake because a fifth passive is not going to make or break your build. You're better off hunting for the things above. Check out the Passives section down below to see which ones you're looking for.

Global Stat Priorities

Ideally, you want to go for the 64.5% Cooldown Reduction Breakpoint to get 32 seconds Cooldown on Akarat's Champion. However, missing a CDR roll or three will not break the build; you will just lose a bit of damage and toughness with each roll. You need at least one roll of Life per Hit, because you don't have any other recovery. Your DPS stats in order of importance are: Fire Damage, Blessed Shield Damage, Critical Hit Chance & Critical Hit Damage, Area Damage. Don't focus too much on having all of your items in Ancient quality. Each missing Ancient represents roughly 4-5% DPS and toughness so missing 1 or 2 is not the biggest deal.

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 Low Paragon

Ethereals
If you don't have any Ethereal Item, use Gyrfalcon's Foote.

Concept
T16 variant of the build uses the usual trio of 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. Since we no longer have to worry about toughness we can focus on damage and Movement Speed. With Cindercoat, Magefist and Stone of Jordan we can get up to 120% Fire Damage and, thanks to SoJ's legendary power, this bonus applies to Blessed Shield Shattering Throw.

All of our free skills and passives focus on Movement Speed: Laws of Hope Wings of Angels + Long Arm of the Law, and Steed Charge Endurance + Lord Commander. On top of that we have Rechel's Ring of Larceny in combination with Provoke Flee Fool and secondary Fear on Hit rolls on weapon, shield and helmet.

Gameplay
There's nothing special in T16 gameplay: you spam all the buffs, throw shields at mobs, and ride the horse when you don't see any.

Setups
At high Paragon (4,000+), when you can consistently oneshot most mobs, you can drop Akkhan's Leniency for Echoing Fury.

When playing in groups, cube Avarice Band and Nemesis Bracers instead of Krelm's Buff Belt and Convention of Elements.

LoD BS Solo Speeds

Ethereals
If you don't have any Ethereal Item, use Gyrfalcon's Foote.

Concept
Speed GR version of the build utilizes Squirt's Necklace and Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard combo to deal double damage. To get some Movement Speed we use Laws of Hope Wings of Angels and Long Arm of the Law. This also gives us almost 100% uptime on unrestricted movement, so we can drop Illusory Boots for St. Archew's Gage. Finally, we use Bane of the Trapped instead of Pain Enhancer for more consistent damage boost.

Gameplay
The gameplay in speeds is incredibly simple: you just blow through the rift while spamming all the skills at all times. Only thing you have to pay attention to is your shield from Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard. When you see it disappear, try to wait couple of seconds before engaging new mobs to let it regenerate.

Blessed Shield Solo Push

Ethereals
If you don't have any Ethereal Item, use Gyrfalcon's Foote.

Concept
The solo push version stacks a lot of Block Chance to get a bit of Blessed Shield damage and a lot of toughness from Justice Lantern. For that we have Hold Your Ground and Provoke Hit Me. We also use Convention of Elements for DPS boost and Squirt's Necklace for double damage during the Shield Pylon. Finally, in the two free skill slots we have Laws of Valor Critical for damage and Condemn Vacuum to group the mobs.

Gameplay
Here you use the standard for many builds strategy of going through the rift and gathering mobs while Convention of Elements is off, and DPS-ing them down during the Fire part of the cycle.

Generally, you shouldn't go out of your way to create extra big pulls, because Blessed Shield only hits 10 targets. You still want more mobs than that to capitalize on Area Damage but with the single target bonus from Akkhan's Manacles, finishing off lone Elites is not the worst idea.

Setups
If you don't have any Life per Hit rolls on your gear or are otherwise struggling to survive, you should change the rune on your Laws of Valor to Invincible. Another option for extra toughness is switching The Witching Hour for String of Ears.

Mechanics

Blessed Shield

Summary

  • Put together the core items and level up the Legacy of Dreams gem.
  • Stack Cooldown Reduction to help with both toughness and damage.
  • Get Attack Speed on Weapon.
  • Get Life per Hit on Weapon or Bracers.
  • Spam all skills and throw shields!


Defense can be a pretty good offense, apparently...

Credits

Written by Northwar.

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