S20 Theme-Buff Choices for LoD/LoN Blessed Shield

Crusader
1

Hey everyone, or… the other couple people playing LoD BS… :grin:

So the season theme for S20, patch 2.6.8 will allow us to mix and match our cube selections however we want, and I’d like to hear your opinions on what you think will be the most effective use of Kanai’s cube in S20!

Through Season 19, I’ve been coming back to the frustration of being stuck cubing Akkhan’s Leniency (by necessity), and wishing badly that they’d move the legendary power of Akkhan’s Leniency to a new pair of legendary pants, and get rid of the 2H flail so that we can cube something … more custom fit (options between weapons and shields make for some fun builds and for better adjustments to really fine tune your build where it needs it the most).

I’m playing around with really one core strategy for the new theme, which is to cube all 3 crusader ‘weapons’ (Gyrfalcon’s Foote, Akkhan’s Leniency, and Jekangbord).

Cubing all 3 BS-specific weapons will insure that you get max BS damage % from those unique items, leaving only Akkhan’s Manacles to be hunted for max BS damage %.

This will leave you with the option to pick any weapon/shield combo to equip.

The items I’m considering now are (some combination of):

Weapons: Pigsticker, Exarian, and In-Geom

Shields: Akarat’s Awakening, Lidless Wall, and Stormshield

I really like the idea of Pigsticker and either Akarat’s awakening or Lidless Wall, but I think that Akarat’s Awakening will prove to be better than Lidless Wall in the shield slot.

Summary:

For Season 20, I think that cubing 3 weapons, and equipping a Pigsticker/Akarat’s Awakening will be the best option for LoD/LoN BS (in general, but primarily for pushing GRs).

What do you think about it?

Edit I nearly forgot to mention Echoing Fury! That will surely be a contender for either cubing (equip Gyrfalcon’s Foote in that case), or equipping!

Edit Here’s the build I’m working on (@DiabloFans):
Search: Season 20 LoD Blessed Shield Crusader cube options
(Sorry, I can’t post links for some reason :frowning:)

Edit Update: Navigating work, family-time, and PTR queues! I’ll update once I’m doing T16 rifts and lv 70+ GRs!

1 Like
2

I was thinking the classic setup, except with EF and Messerschmitts. That should bump it up by a decent amount. You’d have to drop unity and cindercoat, but it will be worth it.

3

Yeah, I can see that working great too!

Cube Messerschmitt’s and EF, and that’s a pretty damn good start for a speed build!

I’m imagining Akarat’s Awakening overtaking Messerschmitt’s, for CD effectiveness, when mobs begin to take more time to kill.

I’m also playing around with the idea of doing the classic (weapons) setup (Gyrfalcon’s Foote and Jekangbord equipped, Akkhan’s Leniency cubed), and throwing 2 lightning-based weapons into the cube and trying out a lightning build.

(That would probably be fun on lower GR levels, but not too effective for pushing GRs… :thinking:)

1 Like
4

Echoing Fury + Akarat’s Awakening sounds pretty good – you’re going to be running with high block % anyway.

5

Yeah, I’m liking the sound of that:

Equipped: Echoing Fury + Akarat’s Awakening

Cubed: Akkhan’s Leniency - Gyrfalcon’s Foote - Jekangbord

…Imagine the stacks of Akkhan’s Leniency with Echoing Fury + Pain Enhancer especially skyrocketing your attack speed in large groups! I guess the classic problem of single-target damage will still be an issue; we’ll have to hope for getting an RG that spawns adds; business as usual.

(Sometimes I equip nems and trigger the RG to spawn near an unused pylon so that I can spawn elites with the RG, the extra (tough) mobs help take down the RG much quicker than without, and one pack of elites isn’t a big deal (whereas even 1 extra enemy hanging around the RG seems to dramatically increase RG kill speed, for LoD BS specifically)).

6

I think I would cube the blessed shield items to get the max % value (unless I lucked on some primals) then go with akarats and echoing fury equipped. Just depends on RNG.

7

After some thought, I’m considering 2 main builds:

  1. Cube Akkhan’s Leniency, Gyrfalcon’s Foote, and Jekangbord
    Equip Echoing Fury (1h Mace) and Akarat’s Awakening (shield)

    • This option will probably do well for speed runs, but additionally swapping things around so that Jekangbord is equipped, and in its place in the cube you use either In-Geom or Messerschmitt’s Reaver (mobs will eventually die so fast that either of those two options will easily outweigh Akarat’s Awakening for CD utility).

  2. Cube Akkhan’s Leniency, Gyrfalcon’s Foote, and Furnace
    Equip Echoing Fury and Jekangbord (prioritizing Str, Shield Block %, and either CHC or % BS damage (take both if you can without sacrificing Str or Shield block %))

    • This option will hopefully address the issues with single-target damage in the LoD BS build; it won’t totally fix things, but I imagine that this build is going to shred elites, especially any that spawn adds.

I’m looking forward to trying these out on Thursday. Option 2 has me pumped!

8

Cube Echoing Fury, and wield Gyrfalcon’s, it’s faster and no fear proc.

9

I’m hoping that the higher damage of Echoing Fury will offset its base, slow speed, given it’s proc on kill which will lead to ridiculous attack speed that will make it superior to Gyrfalcon’s Foote’s damage roll and faster speed.

I do like your idea though dmkt, and I really hate fearing mobs when playing this build!

10

I’m not saying you are wrong, but a decent Gyrfalcon’s is by far the hardest item to get.

11

equip pigsticker and jeckanboard

cube gryphalcons, echoing fury and leniency ?

2 Likes
12

I like that Idea Callamity!

I think replacing EF, in cube, for Furnace will actually be stronger for pushing, due to rng of getting an RG that spawns killable adds, granted if you get an RG that does spawn killable adds, your setup would do very nicely too!