Crusader Thorns Bombardment Build (Patch 2.7.7 / Season 31) (2024)

After the introduction of a 7th set piece, the already versatile Akkhan set expands its utility furtherwith the ability to add more sets into the mix — in this case, thecraftable Captain Crimson's Trimmings and Aughild's Authority sets. The buildis designed with Greater Rift soloprogression in mind. For more information about how this build performs on theladder, please refer to our Solo pushrankings.

This build also comes with its own speed farming variation, whichfeatures a build similar to the present one, but with alterations to fit aspeedfarming playstyle.

The basic skill setup of the Akkhan Bombardment Crusader is displayedbelow. Read the dedicated Skills page fordetailed information on choices, alternatives and build customization.

Active Skills
Punish CelerityBombardment Barrels of Spikes1Phalanx Bowmen2Steed Charge Draw and Quarter3Iron Skin Reflective Skin4Akarat's Champion Prophet
Passive Skills
Heavenly StrengthIron MaidenLord CommanderFinery

The required gear setup for the Akkhan Bombardment Crusader is listedbelow. Check the Gear page for detailedinformation on choices, alternatives, gemming, Kanai's Cube and Paragondistribution.

• Helm: Helm of Akkhan
• Shoulders: Aughild's Power
• Gloves: Gauntlets of Akkhan
• Chest: Breastplate of Akkhan
• Belt: Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle
• Pants: Cuisses of Akkhan
• Boots: Captain Crimson's Waders
• Bracers: Aughild's Search
• Amulet: Talisman of Akkhan
• Ring 1: Convention of Elements
• Ring 2: Unity
• Weapon: Flail of the Charge
• Offhand: Shield of the Steed

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised andre-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — Forvirtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual toadvanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the pathoutlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of lifefirst, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive andedge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary PotionPowers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separateresource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Setitems of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, andin the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powersin our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

• Legendary Gem 1: Bane of the Trapped
• Legendary Gem 2: Boyarsky's Chip
• Legendary Gem 3: Bane of the Stricken

The seasonal theme for Season 31 will be completely flexible slots forKanai's Cube, which means you can use anypiece of gear in any slot of the Cube.

This is one of the builds where we don't recommend making any changes, sincethe options presented in the default build already make up the strongestKanai's Cube composition possible for the setup.

• Weapon Slot: The Mortal Drama
• Armor Slot: Belt of the Trove
• Jewelry Slot: Ring of Royal Grandeur

In this section, we will briefly go over how to kickstart this build intoreality; which items you should aim for with priority when farming and gambling,and what is their relative priority for the functioning of this spec. Note thatthese suggestions are exclusively aimed at getting you up and running intoendgame farming, and might not reflect the gear you need to wear for high-endGreater Rift solo or group pushing. This section also assumes a fresh Season'sstart, which usually is the point where most players work on assembling theirfirst build with a particular set.

If the Akkhan set is part of the Haedrig's Gift for the Season,your simplest and most straightforward path to assembling the build is to completethe Seasonal Journey chapters up to Chapter IV. The Seasonal Journey chapterswill gradually give you a complete class-specific set, giving 2-3 pieces forChapters II, III and IV.

From the pre-game menu, choose and do this week's Challenge Rift. Whensuccessfully completed, this weekly event will grant you 5,1 million Gold, 475Blood Shards, 370 Reusable Parts, 350 Arcane Dust, 125 Veiled Crystals, 35 Death's Breaths, and 15 of each Bounty cachematerial: Khanduran Rune, Caldeum Nightshade, Arreat War Tapestry, Corrupted Angel Flesh, and Westmarch Holy Water. This will allow you some early Seasonal leeway toextract and reforge items in Kanai's Cube, speeding up the assembly of thisbuild with the items recommended below.

Having some materials at your disposal, either from farming or the ChallengeRift, is particularly important when you get duplicate pieces of your desiredset. When you do, you can use Kanai's Cube Skill of Nilfur recipe (10x Forgotten Souls, 10x Death's Breaths, 1x Set item) to convert intoanother item from the same set. You should never salvage duplicate piecesof a desired set before you have it assembled.

In order to assemble an Akkhan Thorns Crusader, you should do thefollowing.

• Gather the full 6-piece Armor of Akkhan set using the advice above, or byspending Blood Shards at Kadala. In order of gamble chance, you shouldspend for: Shoulders, Boots, Gloves, Pants, Gloves, Helm, and Chest. Don'tgamble on the Amulet; it is prohibitively expensive to gamble on jewelry earlyon. A trick you can also use is to gamble for duplicate pieces with an easiergamble chance (i.e., Shoulders) and convert them into another piece from thesame set using the Skill of Nilfur recipe in Kanai's Cube.
• Upgrade rare (Hope of Cain recipe in Kanai's Cube) Two-Handed Flails to get The Mortal Drama and Flail of the Charge; these are build-definingweapons that increase the output of your main source of damage, Bombardment.
• Note that Flail of the Charge is part of the Norvald's Fervor set,along with Shield of the Steed. Gammble for the shield after getting thefull Akkhan set.
• Craft yourself two pieces of the Aughild's Authority set and two pieces ofthe Captain Crimson's Trimming set. They are crafted at the Blacksmith, andtheir recipes can be found via completing Bounties, or slaying TreasureGoblins. The suggested split is Aughild's Power and Aughild's Search for the former, and Captain Crimson's Silk Girdleand Captain Crimson's Waders for the latter, but other combos are alsoviable — as long as you maintain the necessary 5 Akkhan - 2 Aughild - 2Cpt. Crimson worn pieces split. You will complete the three sets' full powersby using a Ring of Royal Grandeur (see below).
• Upgrade rare One-handed Swords to get In-geom; doing this on a level1 Demon Hunter alt will improve your chances due to their lowest loot pool oflegendary swords. In-geom greatly benefits Thorns Crusaders, since theyare an entirely cooldown-based build.
• Do Act I bounties to attain the act-specific Ring of Royal Grandeurfrom Bounty caches. This will be helpful either in completing the basic setbonus, or mixing other helpful legendaries in the build as described in thededicated endgame Akkhan Bombardment guide. Bounties will net you craftableset recipes as well, so you will be killing two birds with one stone.Bounties will also net you Avarice Band (Act III), anotherfarming-oriented staple for most builds and classes, this one included.
• While largely undesirable due to high costs, gambling or upgrading rareJewelry is also possible; Convention of Elements and Unitywill drastically improve this and other builds, with other standout pieces thatcan be helpful like Oculus Ring and The Flavor of Time for yourFollower.