Johanna the Crusader
Like D2, Diablo III seemed to come into its own with the release of its expansion, Reaper of Souls. The update came with some new systems, a spooky new boss (Malthael) and a new class: the Crusader.
Something between a Paladin and a Sorceress, the Crusader was a hefty, heavily armored character that had access to mid-range abilities – often dealing holy or fire damage. The fit was perfect, with the hot white light of the Crusader's spell effects cutting through the misty gloom of the expansion like a knife (or a flail).
When the Crusader was brought into Heroes of the Storm, it was done so with the "canon" name and character, Johanna. Johanna entered the game instantly viable, the hardest character to take down so far. She had little mobility, and no burst damage to add to the team, but she excelled in her strengths – survivability and lockdown.
Chief among those strengths was one of her ultimate abilities, Blessed Shield. This ability took a cue from Cap himself, as Johanna threw a shield that bounced between foes, stunning them. It was an incredibly impactful ability in teamfights, locking down three enemies in an instant.
However, it wasn't the ultimate I chose. Every game, I went Falling Sword. The ability saw Johanna leap into the sky for an extended period of time, coming down hard in a flurry of fire and gravity some time later.
You might say that it is counterintuitive to have your tank leave the battle for an undetermined amount of time, leaving your squishier allies defenseless. That's true. But I didn't care. It was just too fun and too cool looking.
And so the question is here: how do we make Johanna the Crusader (and her Falling Sword) in Pathfinder?
Keys to the Character
Chairwoman of the Board
Some Crusaders use flails, some use swords. Some use more holy attacks, some are more physical. All of them have huge freaking shields.
Epic Flail
Johanna's weapon of choice is a flail, which she swings around at any nearby enemies, tripping and disarming them. Not too mention hurting them.
A Sword Dropped From Heaven
Blessed Shield may have been the meta choice, but I went Falling Sword every time. Johanna starts every battle by dropping in on her enemies in a burst of fire and shattered earth.
Holy $%!#
As a crusader against the demons of hell, Johanna's damage type of choice is Holy. But, in a pinch, she is willing to fight fire with fire.
Some characters from Pop Culture fight into the base classes of Pathfinder very well except for just one thing.
That's where we find ourselves with Johanna the Crusader, who is a straightforward Shield Ally Paladin in many ways, except for the fact that somehow we need to get access to Blazing Dive.
Blazing Dive, a Rank 3 Primal and Arcane spell, is the perfect Pathfinder 2e stand-in for Falling Star. It lifts the caster 15 ft. in the air, allowing them to fly up to 60 ft. away, causing bludgeoning and fire damage to all nearby creatures upon landing.
Johanna will use it as an opener, smashing down in the middle of the enemy force, fully armored and shielded, ready to keep foes busy while her allies rain down attacks. However, it isn't too straightforward to add a Primal or Arcane spell to a Champion.
My preferred way – is through a Cleric Dedication, with a Deity that has Blazing Dive in their spell repertoire. None of the Pathfinder 2e deities have that... but that hasn't stopped us for a lot of these builds. So Johanna's deity is the Angiris Council of the high heavens.
On the battlefield, Johanna is a tank, tested and true. Her goal above all is to get to the front line (usually in a blaze of glory) and remain there, keeping enemies from getting by to her allies. She is exceptionally hard to take down – covered in heavy armor and adept at the biggest shields.
While her mission is to defend against evil, she is also no slouch and pushing evil back – either with her trusty flail, or some holy fire strikes from mid-range.
Outside of battle, Johanna is a bit of a stick in the mud. Her crusader edicts keep her from cutting loose and having much fun, and she doesn't love when her party does that either. But her legendary religion can come in handy, and she has some healing to help the team as well.
Build OVERVIEW
Ancestry
Versatile Human
Unlike Tyrael, another Champion from the Diablo universe, Johanna is not angelic (or aasimar). She's an ordinary human, with unflinching resolve and unwavering faith in her crusade.
The Versatile Heritage is a big leg up in the early game for Tank characters – they don't necessarily need more General Feats by the end of the build, but the ones they do want are extra helpful early.
Meanwhile, the Multitalented feat comes in clutch with a Cleric Dedication, freeing up an extra feat to spend on more of its later benefits.
Background
Faithful
If a Crusader isn't faithful, what are we doing here? This is a short and sweet background, perfect for Johanna. We'll take the Strength boost happily, and the Intimidation skill is an extra bonus.
Group coercion isn't particularly how Johanna wants things to play out – but it might be nice to have.
Class
Champion - Paladin Cause
The Champion class gets a lot of Johanna the Crusader's flavor right out of the box with the Paladin Cause. The Divine Ally feat, in her case for a Divine Shield, sets her up with a bunch of great shield-use actions down the line. The Crusader can already wear the heaviest armors, so there is no need for additional archetypes for either of those things.
Plus, the extra Paladin mainstays – like Lay on Hands or Retributive Strike – can fairly easily be imagined as fitting the Crusader class in Diablo.
Johanna will expand on the focus spells she gets access to through Lay on Hands with a Diety's Domain – the Angiris Council in this case. This gives access to a few holy or light-based actions straight out of Tristram. Dazzling Flash, for instance, could be Shield Glare straight across.
In order to continue with some holy spells, we pick up a Cleric Dedication at level 9 through Multitalented, again with the Angiris Council Diety.
The big benefit here, and the reason we're using a Reflavored or Homebrew deity, is to pick up our stand in for Falling Sword – Blazing Dive. But since we've started that path, why not go further? We'll also get Expert Cleric Spellcasting and Divine Breadth to expand Johanna's spell slots and capabilities.
One note if you have a dick GM who won't let you use Angiris Council as a deity – it is better then to forgo the Cleric Dedication at all. Instead, take a Sorcerer Dedication with a Primal Tradition, like Elemental, and only grab one of the Spellcasting feats. For the two leftover, take shield feats, like Shield of Grace.
Skills & General Feats
A Crusader needs two things: to be totally convicted in their cause, and to never stop pushing forward.
We'll bring those two things to life with Legendary Religion and Athletics skills, respectively. Other than that, the only real focus skill-wise for Johanna is in society.
Legendary: Athletics, Religion
Master: -
Expert: Society
Attribute Increases
Equipment
Suggested Starting Equipment
Flail - Not just a nifty weapon, also handy for disarming foes and looking cool.
Key Spells
Changelog
Related Builds
