My Crusader's Blessed Shield build for Diablo 3

Zanfire, the Crimson Crusader

    The standard Blessed Shield build is much different from the one I use. I love both the Cooldown Reduction mechanics and the Blessed Shield skill, so I decided to make my own build, more focused on these two aspects than the classic one, which completely abuse Blessed Shield. Additionally,

    What I like very much about my build is that it's heavily based on craftable stuff. You still need one or two very random item(s) (weapon and shield), but all other parts can be crafted or gained with focused farming.

    The build allows for a fast farming up to T5 (full tested on rifts and the famous Alkayzer Run 2.0). I gave some tries on T6, but I actually miss survivability. It's doable, but death is pretty common. I'm sure that more paragon levels and the Unity "trick" (see "Ring 2", below) will surely fix this!.

    So, here is my Captain America build!

    Equipment

    The equip is aimed to heavily boost "classic" damage output (atkSpd, crit% and critDmg), because the build deals a mix of holy and physical damage. Additionally, this equipment setup focus on building an high amount of cooldown reduction, in order to abuse the various CD-based skill you'll emply.

    General tips: Aim for a life amount over 450k+ as soon as possible, and keep all of your resistances over 850. Armor is very important too, but a high amount of this stat should came naturally to you, as a Strength based character: resist all is better than armor bonus, on items, at least until you're under 900 on resistances. Try to keep a 1:10 aspect ratio between crit% and critDmg (40% crit and 400% crit dmg, for example). AtkSpd is very useful for this build, as you're not going to depend on resources, so every point of atkSpd is just sheer dps gain. As always, in all stats, the highest the better ;) .


    Weapon: Gyrfalcon's Foote: this weapon is mandatory for the build. Without it you can't abuse Blessed Shield. You should aim for Str, dmg% and socket (with Emerald). If you're able to put atkSpd into it that's good.

    Off-Hand: Jekangbord: This shield is not mandatory, but it makes the build much more effective, so you should get one. Str, and crit% are mandatory. A high parry% is quite useful (and increases damage), and Vit, resAll, and 6 ricochets all helps.

    Helm: Aughild's Spike; On this, you want at least Str, crit% and socket. It always come with resAll, which is good if you need survivability. If you don't need it, just throw in Blessed Shield dmg% increase!

    Shoulders: Born's Privilege; Str, Vit, resAll and cdReduction.

    Chest: Born's Frozen Soul; Str, Vit, resAll and 3 sockets.

    Necklace: Any heavy dps necklace is fine. Your best choice is Str, critDmg, atkSpd and crit%. CdReduction and holyDmg are also good choices.

    Gloves: Cain's Scriviner; Str, atkSpd, critDmg and crit% (in this order).

    Bracers: Aughild's Search; Str, crit%, holyDmg% are mandatory. Vit or resAll based on what you need more as additional stat. You can go Str, Vit, crit% and resAll if you prefer more survivability.

    Belt: Captain Crimson's Brace; Str, Vit, Armor, resAll.

    Legs: Captain Crimson's Codpiece; Str, Vit, resAll, 2 sockets.

    Ring 1: Ring of Royal Grandeur; The best you can get here is Str, atkSpd, critDmg and crit% (in this order of importance). Take the best you can. The item usually comes with atkSpd and Str, and you need it for it's special quality.

    Ring 2: Any good ring will be fine. Try to use this slot to balance what you're missing most. The build gives high survivability for it's game style (ranged with very high mobility), so you should probably focus on damage. As always Str, atkSpd, critDmg, cdReduction and crit% (in this order) are among the best choices. Stone of Jordan is always a solid option, even if this build can live without an high amount oh holyDmg% (but the eliteDmg% is good). Unity is the best choice for high Torment, one for you and one for your follower equipped with the Immortality Focus/Token/Relic: this will make you almost undying.

    Boots: Cain's Travelers; Str, Vit, resAll and Blessed Shield dmg% increase.

    Gems: socket everything with Rubies, unless you need more life or resistance, but put your best Diamond on Helm.

    Paragon Levels

    Core: Cap Movement Speed, all other in Strength.

    Offense: Cap atkSpd, critDmg and cdReduction in this order. Perhaps you need crit% more than other stats, but this depends on your equip. http://www.bannedofgamers.com/index.php?cdr/ is a good tool to find out your true Cooldown Reduction and decide the way to go.

    Defense: cap Resist All, then Life% and Armor, based on your needs.

    Utility: Area Damage must be capped first, then Life on Hit. You can reverse this, if you see you need healing power.

    Skills

    Build link: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#SPVYfQ!ZRSW!YaYabY .

    Blessed Shield - Shattering Throw: This is your main damage dealing skill. With high attack speed and Gyrfalcon's Foote + Jekangbord, this ability can easily cover the screen with lethal, flying, shields

    Phalanx - Bowmen: I always felt my build suffered from low single-target damage. This skill completely balance the issue. Thanks to the high Cooldown Reduction, you can throw out the four archers quite often, and they kick ass hard. At my equip level, they attack very fast, with a typical critical hit around 2M damage.

    Steed Charge - Endurance: Life saver and farm speeder. As for Phalanx, this ability benefits like hell from Cooldown Reduction, allowing you to summon the horse almost every time you need it. This often save you from dire situations and speed up the farming process a lot, especially while doing bounties.

A simple demonstrative video

Shield Glare - Divine Verdict: With the high cooldown reduction of this build, you can almost spam this skill whenever you want. This means great degree of crowd control (versus common thrash, you can keep them blinded almost forever, if you want!) and a good bost in damage, especially to the Phalanx's one, as you don't use Lord Commander.     Laws of Valor - Critical: Increase atkSpd is quite good for this build, and the ungly boost in critDmg given by activation can literally melt enemies. Throw out the Law, Phalanx and Champion and you'll have 5 seconds of pure power. Cooldown reduction boost the benefiets of using this skill alot.

    Akarat's Champion - Prophet: Kaio-ken button. You became almost invicible for enough time to destroy everything on your path or just put yourself in a safer position. Cooldown reduction make it very viable even without the Akkhan set.

    Passive Skills: Fervor and Finery are a must, as they better the overall build'd performances alot. Additionally, Towering Shield is a must as it boost both Blessed Shield and Shield Glare. Finally, Holy Cause is just the perfect completion, adding both dps and survivability to the build.

    Additional Considerations

    I often change things and try other stuff, out of boredom or because I'm not completely satisfied buy the build. Heaven's Fury is a skill  like alot, even if it never satisfy me, as this build lacks the amount of holyDamage needed to use it with efficiency. Sometimes I switch Shield Glare - Divine Verdict with Bombardment - Annihilate or Bombardment - Targeted, a skill I really like, even if I always feel like it has a way too long cooldown for what it does, even with Lord Commander replacing Towering Shield (or Holy Cause) and high cooldown reduction.

    As an additional note, as this build isn't completely focused on Holy damage (especially when you use Bombardment over Heaven's Fury), we can assume it can benefits from the +min/max damage affix. Still, I'm not that much into maths to be able to say how much, when and if it's best than +holyDmg, but having it on necklace, and rings can give a nice overall damage boost, increasing Phalanx damage alot, especially if your cooldown reduction is high enough to spam it often!

    Anyway, as you can image, this can be considered an entry build, until you can put your hands on the stuff you miss to reach what is considered the "optimal" Blessed Shield build. Still I think the cooldown reduction focus can offer an interesting, different and fun approach, without losing much effectiveness. As always, just try to find the way to play you like must, as the most important thing is to have fun while clearing Sanctuary from the sh*i!