Thought it helpful to share some wisdom. My big 3 spoiler-free tips for newborn crusaders that you won't find online:
Attributes
– Whatever stats you want to build your char around, make sure to some degree it involves Strength (STR)
– STR is the only attribute to have a 1:1 tethered (and actually helpful) substat à la physical DMG mitigation
– I spent ca. 100h as an AGI main, having made the game unknowingly harder for myself; don't be like me
– Best in-game bow by a mile is AGI-scalable and so too for most spears + daggers (these however making for wet toilet paper WPN classes); outside the bow, having low AGI won't be locking you out of any cool must-haves (and there are alt bows, to assuage)
– Some of the cooler, more flexible shields have AGI reqs, too, so take note of my saying low AGI, and not none
Receivable DMG: Elements
– In this there are 3 elements (Holy, Fire, Wither)
– HOLY > PHYSICAL > FIRE is how you should assess your gobs of gear for viability (Holy will catch you off-guard and F you up)
– Holy, however, is really only prevalent in maybe 2 boss fights and then in one area of the game – big picture, not much
– Fire otherwise predominates but is less a pucker factor except for with two late-game enemies, IMO (Ruiner and Infernal Enchantress – these two nasties can have you crit real quick and will surprise you even when robustly levelled)
Receivable DMG: Statuses
– In this there are 6 statuses (frostbitten, aflame, smitten, bleeding, poisoned, and ignited)
– These are all a laugh and can be completely ignored for 99% of the game – heck, all of it; whatever resistances to above new gear provides, ignore it and look only at above DMG ranking for mitigations
Dealt DMG & WPN choices
– You'll (also) amass gobs of fashionable WPNs in this but – bad news – there's no difference between WPNs of one class – no unique weapon arts nor signature moves, effects, which is a big disappointment for the subgenre, e.g., backstep light ATK and running heavy are same for all WPNs in a class whatever their weight or size, and that goes for charged and regular ATKs too
– What sets WPNs apart besides stat reqs and looks, is whether the WPN is imbued with nothing, an element or three, or a status effect
– All three WPN elements are OK but none are great; you can even use elemental salts on enemies that are weak to a certain element (like frost WPN imbuing against something fireborne) and nothing rightly empowers; it's pretty lame
– Status effects on WPNs are worse in that they take too long to proc (even when catalysed later in-game by runes) and then when they do, meh – again, you'll see negligible DMG uptick
– One last piece of advice is any crossbow or bow that comes with inherent status ailment imbuing will not imbue any bolt or arrow for you, sadly; you still have to use the costlier corresponding ammo type; what the status ailment value means is the WPN will boost proccing of that status by whatever value displayed when using the ammo type; this was a choice by devs, I imagine, to keep ammo economy and management in check so range doesn't become OP; from a player perspective, it felt both confusing and disappointing because this isn't ever explained
