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Quantum Warriors <WQW> managed to clear GR 120 on the European server, with non-seasonal characters. Chewingnom shared some details on how they did it - the differences between their 4 man party and other, as well as the healing support Crusader spec that was used.

The 4 man setup used by them was an Energy Twister Wizard along with 3 support characters. Read below for all the details.

Hello, this is Chewingnom from the clan <WQW> Quantum Warriors on EU.

I'm writing this post because I wanted to share our GR120 4P clear on EU NS (EU #1) (Just done tonight!) with you. You will think that we are just some high paragon guys fishing for a good rift... but I share this clear with you because this is not the case. We actually replaced the Support Monk by a whole new build that I'm thinking about since 2.4.1 PTR (And even back in 2.4) : The Heal Crusader.

You will say "Nothing new, a lot of people have theorycrafted Support Crusader builds since 2.4". Indeed, since 2.4, there is alot of Support Crusader builds here and there, but none of these builds had the potential to be part of the metagame, mostly because the monks spot is the only viable spot to be replaced by the. Thus, I came up with a Crusader build able to replace the Monk and capable of GR120+.

After alot of brainstorming I finally found a build that was actually worth to try a few weeks ago. So we made a few tries and cleared GR115 pretty easily (You can see it here). After some more tests in GR119/120 and some builds adjustements with my mates LouLou, Hustle and S0RRY, we felt it was clearly viable and we decided to just do it. Our sweet mate S0RRY who was playing Monk switched to Crusader and he actually learned the gameplay really fast !

Setup Used :

ET Wizard : LouLou

Support Barb : Chewingnom

Support WD : Hustle

Support Crusader : S0RRY

Clear/Leaderboards screenshots :

Clear Screenshot

Leaderboards

Some hints :

The Consecration + Inviolable Faith healing has alot of potential so you can compensate some of the toughness loss quite easily (Blur Passive + Ghost Trance BBV).

The Sweep Attack packing is insane for Pain Enhancer and Area Damage in high density maps, especially with a static DPS like Twister Wizard.

The Critical Law is a great DPS buff along with Resolved Judgment. Though, the problem with Judgment is that the Crit Buff doesnt work on CC-immune mobs, so the uptime is not that good sadly.

The potential :

We think it can compete with Support Monk in high end pushing (Likely 122+). I can see Support Crusader and Support Monk being equally viable in the 4 players metagame, Support Monk is in my opinion the safe way with no surprise while Support Crusader is the risky way with opportunities to really shine, more potential. Risky, indeed. Toughness is not a real issue in most cases but some bad elites combos can be hard to survive with a Crusader. Monk is still more consistent for toughness.

Why can it be worth it to play Crusader? Alongside the Critical Law, the main advantage for the Heal Crusader is Gathering Sweep. The more density you have, the more the Crusader will buff your DPS by sweeping mobs. More mobs into PE and ET range, more ET breakpoints, more AD, AD more efficient...

Still, it is very hard to quantify the DPS gain from the Sweep Attack, but playing Crusader is allways a ~5% DPS buff even without Sweep Attack and with Judgment poor uptime taken into account. But, the DPS potential due to Sweep Attack can theoretically be so insane in « dream maps » that it can justify to drop the Monk if you are at your DPS ceiling. In the end, my opinion is that you will have to decide what's best for your group and what you prefer to play.

Note that I'm only talking about the 4 players metagame here. The toughness buffs from Monk are likely mandatory in 2 players and 3 players (With the current Twister build at least, but the concept of Tal Rasha 6P is mostly locking the Wizard build anyway). But maybe we just didn't think enough about it!

The build :

Hero Details

DiabloFans Build

How it works :

I gave up the Roland 6P (250% Attack Speed Bonus) that I tried back in 2.4 to get the Roland 2P (Cooldowns Reset with Sweep Attack) along with the Akkhan 4P (50% RCR while in Akarat and 50% CDR on Akarat) instead.

One of the keys of the build is to use the Akkhan's Addendum in the Cube Weapon Slot which gives you Prophet Rune (150% Armor & Cheat Death Proc) and Embodiment of Power Rune (+5 Wrath Regen) of Akarat Champion and allows you to take Rally Rune.

The Rally Rune is basically resetting all your cooldowns when you use it. One of the other keys to the build is Akarat's Awakening that will reset your cooldowns everytime you block, as with both Justice Lantern and Hold Your Ground Passive, you can be block-capped. Thus, all of this will allow you to put down alot of Consecration very fast and will also allow you to handle your cooldowns and Zodiac ring procs easily, giving you enough freedom to focus on sweeping mobs.

The gameplay is quite obvious and simple : You have to stack Consecration on the floor to get healing, while Sweeping mobs wisely (No mindless spam) into the Twister range. Always use Consecration and Law just before using Rally Akarat (which will reset them) in order to enhance your Consecration Stacking and Zodiac Ring Procs.

You have to use Judgment wisely too, because it roots enemies, you have to figure out the best way to use it : Only on the mobs already stacked with Gathering Sweep into Twister Range, right before an Arcane CoE... Condemn is still very useful to pack density and sometimes keeping it together but Shield Glare may likely be a viable option to get 20% damage buff.

It seems to me that the build is pretty strong in its current state and may likely be the best group setup while fishing for a dream map in high endgame. The coordination of the group and the teamplay is likely way more difficult to master than with a Monk though.

Remember that the metagame is never settled in stone and copy/paste builds from Rank 1 guys doesn't mean you are playing the best setup (Or the only viable setup). There are so many build-possibilities, so many group synergies that maybe nobody thought about yet, that you can't just say "If Rank 1 is playing this, it is the best build/setup, no matter what". No.

Thus I wanted to thank my mates LouLou, Hustle and S0RRY who are very smart/good players and always want to try out new builds and group setups. Thanks guys, keep up the good work

<WQW> Chewingnom

PS : A video of the GR120 clear will be uploaded soon !