The classic VIT tank / Grand Cross Crusader. Grand Cross deals Holy AoE that scales with both ATK and MATK, so you invest in STR, INT, and VIT together. It ignores hard DEF and the weapon-size penalty, but recoils onto you — bring Holy resist and watch the recoil readout.
Open this build in the calculator →Opens the calculator with the Crusader — Grand Cross (GC) build preloaded — then tune stats and gear.
Grand Cross is the rare skill that adds ATK and MATK together before its multiplier, so STR and INT both feed one number instead of competing. It is Holy, which most undead and demon targets are weak to, and it hits three times per cast.
| STR | 50 |
| AGI | 1 |
| VIT | 60 |
| INT | 90 |
| DEX | 60 |
| LUK | 1 |
Grand Cross costs you HP as well as SP: the hit is re-run against your own defences and halved, plus a flat 20% of your current HP. That is what makes VIT and Faith mandatory rather than optional — you are paying for every cast. Pull a pack, cast into it, and watch the recoil panel as carefully as the damage one.
A one-handed sword or spear plus a shield, and INT gear that does not cost you too much VIT. Holy resistance directly increases how long you can keep casting, so Faith and Holy-resist gear are damage upgrades in disguise. Weapon masteries and Demon Bane's flat bonus do apply to Grand Cross, so keep them ranked.
No, not on Payon Stories. The physical half takes hard and soft DEF while the magic half takes soft MDEF only, so Provoke and other DEF reductions do increase the damage.
Rank Faith and stack Max HP and Holy resistance. The recoil is the hit recalculated against your own defences and halved, plus twenty percent of your current HP, so Holy resistance cuts the first part and Max HP softens the second.
Yes for most content. The skill does not scale with the shield, but the recoil and the melee range you cast from make survivability the limiting factor, and it enables Shield Boomerang for single targets.
Every figure this build produces is broken down step by step in the calculator — base damage, skill ratio, the target's DEF, masteries, element and cards, each with its running total. The mechanics behind this build: Grand Cross damage and recoil on Payon Stories · Hit, flee and accuracy on Payon Stories · Reflect Shield on Payon Stories · How damage is calculated on Payon Stories.
Calculate this build's damage →
Knight — Hybrid · Priest — Magnus Exorcismus · All build guides · How the mechanics work · Crusader on the Payon Stories wiki ↗