Introduction

Heya, it’s Jus again, you probably fed up with me updating the guides xd but since this class had so many changes already, I think it’s time to have this updated and bonk some enemies/bosses. Also, huge thanks to zafz for helping merewrite and add useful information in the guide :zekelove:. This guide has some personal touch from him xd

Class Overview

Crusader is a melee-DPS class of Paladin and is one of the “hard” classes in PDN due to its RNG playstyle that most players find scary hence they are avoiding playing this class but don’t worry, its RNG received a promising change and some skill adjustments. (See Patch v860). I am here to give you some enlightenment on why you should consider picking this class and you might have fun trying it. Your DPS is now less reliant on RNG from the changes I mentioned above but it will still fluctuate depending how faithful you are to RNGesus. You’ll understand later on as to why I said it so xd.

Skills

Cleric

[Redemption Aura] – REBUFF! Your class buff that increases you and your party member/s’ Max HP by 20% and increases Incoming Healing effectiveness by 10%.

This can be seen in your Cleric skill tree at the bottom left so please for the love of god, press it when buff wipe mechanic happens or if you and your party members got debuffed by the boss. Also, press it while on field (e.g Void Gate, Frozen Foothills, Twilight Bay etc.) before entering content such as dungeons, nests and raids.

[Struck by Lightning] – filler skill used to trigger [Electric Smite Instant].

[Divine Combo] – important skill used to reduce your main skills[Goddess Relic], [Charitable Zap], [Electric Smite] and [Judgmental Hammer] cooldown by 8 seconds

[Aerial Evasion] – used to recover yourself when you are launched in air by pressing [Spacebar].

[Toughness] – reduced damage received when you got hit by 10%

[Block] – useful survival skill that can block 5 attacks and it lasts 20 seconds. Once you block attacks 5 times already even if the 20 seconds Block buff is not over yet, it will be automatically removed and you’ll get damages once you get hit again.

[Holy Kick] – good for pushing mechanics (e.g DDN’s Hazar Barrel Mech, RuDN 8’s Managarm ball mech etc). Make sure you have this skill at Level 6 for increased attack range.

Paladin

[Goddess Relic] – decent skill with decent damage and one of your main skills used to trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant]. It works as a debuff skill as well which reduces enemy’s attribute resistance by 20%.

[Sacred Hammering] – buff that changes your [Left Mouse Button] attack to summoning of Hammer of Light. A great filler used to reduce your main skills [Goddess Relic], [Charitable Zap], [Electric Smite] and [Judgmental Hammer] cooldown by 0.5s on hit. It lasts 900 seconds. Prebuff it while in field (e.g Port Duckling, Frozen Foothills, The Void, Twilight Bay) before entering content (dungeons/raids/nests).

[Charitable Zap] – one of your main skills used to trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] by chance. It causes guaranteed electrocution to enemies and creates electric explosions.

[Electric Smite] - one of your main skills used to trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] by chance. It has a 30% chance to inflict Electrocute on enemies. Also is an i-frame and airborne skill, effective enough to dodge certain mechanics such as stomp. Has an instant version which can be triggered by using [Struck by Lightning] skill. Instant version does not trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant].

[Shin Breaker] – i-frame skill with very little damage and is used to trigger [Judgmental Hammer Instant]

[Lightning Flank] – great damage skill with long cooldown and has an i-frame for the first second of casting.

[Conviction]– skill used to trigger your priority skills [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] to [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] respectively.

[Dispel] – from the word itself, a dispel skill with no significant damage used to remove [Enraged] buffs from certain bosses (e.g. RuDN 8’s Managarm, BDN’s Punisher and Golem etc). Only use it when your tank missed his dispel skill. Check this Vahr's Guide to Tanking for more info about boss enraging but honestly, this is not your main job xd

[Divine Punishment] – optional skill used to reflect damage received by 50%

[Armor Break] – debuff skill that increases bosses’ damage taken by 20%

[Divine Hammer] – your main dps big bang skill that has 50% damage reduction for the whole animation and has i-frame for the first second of casting.

Crusader

[Crusader’s Zeal] – your great damage and animation buff that increases your Final Damage by 10% and Action Speed by 15%. Use it wisely.

[Judgmental Hammer] – one of your main skills used to trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] by chance. Has an instant version which can be triggered by using [Shin Breaker] skill. Instant version does not trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant].

[Class Mastery I] – Passive Benefit: Gain 50% INT. Use [Struck by Lightning] by using the skill itself or [Jump] to trigger [Electric Smite EX Instant].


[Class Mastery II] – Passive Benefit: Gain 20% MATK. When [Shin Breaker] successfully hits an enemy, [Sliding Step] will be recovered and it will trigger [Judgmental Hammer Instant] regardless of the skill’s cooldown.
[Class Mastery III] – tldr; [Electric Smite EX Instant] gives you a buff that makes your [Divine Combo]’s Left Mouse Button do more damage and increased frontal AOE while [Judgmental Hammer Instant] gives you a buff makes your [Divine Combo]’s Left Mouse Button do more damage and increased circular AOE. You can only have 1 of the buffs at a time.

Main skills cooldown is recovered by 8 seconds when [Divine Combo] hits enemies regardless if you have the [Class Mastery III] buff or not.

[Awakened Passive: Divine Bless] - [Awakened Conviction] causes you to explode with glory and enhances [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] to [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand]. Conviction versions of these skills have different cast animations and deal 75% more damage. When main skills hit enemies, there is a 25% chance to reset the cooldown of and enhance [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] to [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant].


[Awakened Passive: Divine Hammer] - [Divine Hammer] is enhanced as an awakening skill.
[Awakened Divine Hammer] cast time decreases and hitting enemies with [Mighty Blow] or [Hammer Hand] (not including instant) recovers [Awakened Divine Hammer]'s cooldown by 10 seconds.

[Awakened Passive: Shin Breaker] - [Shin Breaker] is awakened to add magic damage by striking the enemy with lightning.

[Awakened Passive: Crusader’s Zeal] - Final Damage effect is applied when the skill is used. Final Damage increases by 10%

[Mighty Blow] – one of your priority skills that deals great damage has a 100% chance to electrocute enemies. Is an airborne skill and has an i-frame while in air.

[Hammer Hand] – your second priority skill that deals great damage. It slams the enemy with a hammer.

[Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] have 2 versions that I’ll be tackling later on.

Skill Build

Unified Skills: Max HP boost, Ultimate Skill Cooldown boost

You’ll probably have extra SP so you can just have [Holy Kick] to Lv.6 for increased attack range as this is pretty much good for pushing mechanics (e.g RuDN 8’s Managarm ball mech, DDN’s Hazar Barrel mech etc). Other skills in Paladin tree are pretty much optional, you can just get Armor Break there for debuff, Dispel for removing bosses’ [Enraged] buff, [Shield Charge] is good as well for pushing mech, Stance of Faith and Divine Vengeance are useless. [Divine Punishment] is not that really impactful (at least for me xd). [Autoblock] is a very good recovery passive skill. [Heart Of Glory] (Guardian’s ult) is only good in prebuff while in field before entering content.

Skill Crests

[Divine Combo] CDR
[Divine Hammer] CDR
[Judgmental Hammer] CDR
[Crusader’s Zeal] Buff Duration Increase
Optional:
[Electric Smite] DMG
[Goddess Relic] DMG
[Block] CDR

Skill Up Crest: Divine Hammer +1

(Can just put the optional crests if you have nothing to put there for now, otherwise just put stat crests with great bonus stats)

Dragon Gems

3 elemental 1 mystical

Rotation

Crusader doesn’t have fixed rotation but there’s a set of skills that you should prioritize (that I’ll be tackling further down in the guide) in order for you to trigger [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] and reset your [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] as your damage or DPS revolves on it. The more you proc, the more times you can use your [Divine Hammer] as this is your very big bonk main dps skill.

Content Videos

For those who are new or don’t know what this is, Typhoon Krag Nest (Berserk) is a PDN's custom optional challenge mode nest that can be located in the Event Nest portal in Frozen Foothills. Getting hit by the boss results in instant death. In short, 1 hit delete. This is just for flex xd

Misc Tips

Iframes

Iframe, also known as "invulnerability frames" or "invincibility frames", allows players to become invincible for a small moment when certain actions or skills are performed. This is very useful in dodging enemies’ attacks.

Here is the list of your i-frames:
[Sliding Step]
[Shin Breaker]
[Electric Smite] (the jump part only, the slam part is not)
[Lightning Flank] (first second of casting)
[Divine Hammer] (first second of casting)
[Mighty Blow] (while in air only, the slam part is not)
[Mighty Blow Instant] (S-cast short i-frame)

Airborne

An "airborne" skill usually refers to abilities or maneuvers that puts your character obviously in the air. This is used to dodge ground mechanics such as stomp or any ground attacks.

Here is the list of your airborne skills:

[Jump] (obviously duh)
[Electric Smite]
[Mighty Blow]

RNG Proc System

If you’re quite new to MMORPGs, these words will be pretty much new to you so let’s define this first.

RNG stands for Random Number Generator. It's a system or algorithm that determines random outcomes within the game. RNG is often used to create unpredictability and variety in games such as determining critical hits or in a loot-based game, determining what items you could get in a chest or enemy drops.

On the other hand, "Proc" is commonly used in RPGs, MMOs, and other games where skills can have random, additional effects. It adds an element of unpredictability and excitement to gameplay.

In Crusader’s case, the RNG-Proc system determines the number of main skills that could trigger your [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] and resets your [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand]. Now, this will test how strong your faith is in RNGesus. It’s maybe casting 1-2 main skills and it will trigger your instants or 3-4 main skills, sometimes you have to hit 5-6 times of your main skills xd but don’t worry, it will guarantee a proc after 7 failed attempts.

And that’s what makes Crusader an interesting class xd

Alright, to determine whether your main skills did “proc” [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant], your Mighty Blow and Hammer Hand skills will glow to yellow.

Also, after casting [Conviction] skill, your [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] skills will have a yellow glow similar to above as well and will be called [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand].

As I’ve mentioned above, [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] have 2 versions. The Conviction version and Instant version.
Conviction version is your big pp skill that can be triggered after casting [Conviction] while Instant version does decent damage that can be triggered after casting main skills and it resets the normal/conviction version. Additionally, only [Mighty Blow Instant] has a S-versionwhere you can hold the S button for instant casting and a short i-frame. Otherwise, you can just cast the skill normally for more airtime if you’re about to dodge ground attacks such as stomps or you can press [Left Mouse Button] to land immediately.

Main Skills

Here are the main skills arranged according to priority that could trigger your[Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] and resets the Conviction versions of it:
1. [Judgmental Hammer] (instant cast and short cooldown)
2. [Electric Smite] (2nd fastest cast and decent damage)
3. [Charitable Zap] (around the same cast as electric smite but low damage)
4. [Goddess Relic] (longest cast)


So the “rotation” will go like this:
[Divine Hammer] - [Conviction] – [Conviction Mighty Blow] – [Conviction Hammer Hand] – [Main Skills] (hunting for procs)/(if main skills are in cooldown, [Sacred Hammering] or [Divine Combo] then [Main Skills] again – (triggered proc) [Mighty Blow Instant] – [Hammer Hand Instant] - [Conviction] – [Conviction Mighty Blow] – [Conviction Hammer Hand] – (repeat the same cycle until [Divine Hammer] is off cooldown again)

Other Tips and Tricks

Some tips and tricks on how to play Crusader effectively

• If you run out of skills, make sure to use [Divine Combo] and [Sacred Hammering] to regain your main skills or fillers such as instant versions of [Electric Smite] and [Judgmental Hammer]. You can actually skip the full animation of [Divine Combo] by pressing either [Left Mouse Button] or [Right Mouse Button] right after you casted it as it is the final hit that recovers main skills cooldown.
• Make sure to use [Conviction] first to [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] immediately (as it only has 3 seconds lingering time otherwise you have to press Conviction again to trigger Conviction versions of MB and HH) before hunting for procs to trigger instant versions to reset the conviction versions.
• Once you trigger the instant versions of [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand], make sure to cast them first before casting [Conviction] or else [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] will not have their cooldowns reset and you will cry.  
• Always cast [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] as these are your priority skills that deal a great amount of damage aside from [Divine Hammer] and again, it helps to reduce your [Divine Hammer] cooldown by 10 seconds each skill so if you successfully landed these 2 skills, it will be 20 seconds cooldown reduced to your ult. NOTE: Instant versions of Mighty Blow and Hammer Hand don’t reduce ult’s cooldown.
• NEVER EVER USE [Mighty Blow] and [Hammer Hand] NORMAL VERSIONS (EVEN THOUGH IT HELPS STILL REDUCING THE COOLDOWN OF YOUR ULTIMATE WHICH IS DIVINE HAMMER) AS YOU’LL LOSE A LOT OF DAMAGE ON IT. NORMAL VERSIONS DON’T DO SHIET AS IT ACTUALLY SHARES COOLDOWN WITH CONVICTION VERSIONS. ALWAYS USE [Mighty Blow Instant] and [Hammer Hand Instant] and [Conviction Mighty Blow] and [Conviction Hammer Hand] ONLY.
• Use [Divine Hammer] off cooldown as this is your big bonk skill that deals a ton of damage and is your main DPS. As much as possible, use it when your [Crusader’s Zeal] is up for more big numbers xd
• [Lightning Flank] is a great damage skill so make sure you use it in between of the skill rotation.
• Make sure to prebuff your [Crusader’s Zeal] while in the field (e.g Port Duckling, Frozen Foothills, The Void, Twilight Bay) before entering content (dungeons/nests/raids). For those who don’t know, a "prebuff" refers to a buff (a positive effect or enhancement) that a player applies to their character or allies before entering a battle or engaging with enemies. This is done to ensure that the character has the buffs active and ready before the fight starts, rather than applying them during combat, which might be too late or risky. It actually helps and it’s a pretty common thing to do in order to do big pp dps. Pre-buffing doesn’t apply only in Crusader. It applies in all classes so remember that. Also, use [Crusader’s Zeal] while in content responsibly so you get to enjoy the full duration of it. That includes nest/raid knowledge in general.
• Use [Block] responsibly. While it can save you from bosses’ attacks, it can interrupt your combo once you get hit while you have [Block] buff. Use it in case of emergency/danger or in mechanics that requires blocking. Be mindful as well as there are some attacks that though you can block it, still inflicts a nasty debuff on you (e.g. anti-heal, poison, freeze, burn, etc.)
• Press buttons as fast as you can.
• Pray to RNGesus.