Chapter 217: The Cannon Crusader
On the bullet comments, the viewers were all spamming the screen.
Chen Mo's set of moves completely baffled them. It could be said that it had utterly exceeded their understanding.
"What is Chen Mo doing? This skill loadout is way too reckless! Where are the damage skills?"
"Look at this mishmash of gear—it's insane. The Eagle's Flight Armor, the Horsetail Flail, Leoric's Crown, the Treasure Belt, Yang's Sorcery Pants... They all look good on paper but are completely useless pieces!"
"Maybe he's going for a 'scattered pieces' build? Using the set ring bonuses to stack his damage high?"
"It might be because A-Xue's gear is so trash that Chen Mo can only salvage it as best he can. But I'm still skeptical. This setup has higher stats, but it feels really impractical. Can it really help A-Xue reach floor 45?"
"And did everyone notice? Chen Mo reforged all the gear stats to Thorns damage. Is that... actually useful?"
"Perfect timing. I have a Crusader myself. Let me check. Oh, I see! These skills can convert their damage to Thorns damage through runes! So Chen Mo is going all-in on a Thorns build!"
"So that's it. That makes more sense now. No wonder he took the Iron Maiden passive. But I still don't get it. This looks good on paper, but can it really work?"
The screen was filled with question marks.
Still, most people knew that Chen Mo wasn't just messing around. He had to have a plan, so they watched patiently.
Chen Mo maneuvered the Crusader to the Nephalem Obelisk and selected the Greater Rift difficulty.
Lin Xue's previous best record was floor 41, and even that was a struggle, relying on luck to get through.
Higher-level rifts weren't unlocked yet, so Chen Mo couldn't jump straight to floor 60. He had to work his way up from Lin Xue's record.
The Crusader was teleported into the Greater Rift. As soon as they entered, a dense horde of monsters charged straight at them!
The number of monsters in a Greater Rift was far greater than in the story mode, making for a visually overwhelming scene.
Without even looking, Chen Mo had the Crusader use the skill Steed Charge. Instantly, the Crusader mounted a warhorse, turning into a shadowy blur as it charged straight into the monster pack!
It felt like a motorcyclist flooring the throttle, instantly accelerating.
The bullet comments were stunned. "Holy crap, what is he doing?"
Among that pack of monsters was a yellow elite and three blue elites, mixed in with a swarm of smaller enemies. Charging straight into that with Steed Charge was practically suicide, wasn't it?
The Crusader, still in Steed Charge mode, plunged directly into the densest part of the monster horde. The elite monsters and countless smaller ones were all drawn to him, clustering together.
The Crusader let out a roar, unleashing Consecration, Akarat's Champion, and Iron Skin all at once. Then, using Bombardment, massive barrels began raining down from the sky, smashing violently into the monsters.
At the same time, a torrent of damage numbers exploded across the screen. The smaller monsters were instantly killed, and the elites' health bars began plummeting rapidly.
Lin Xue was startled. This speed was terrifying!
She had struggled immensely to clear this difficulty before, often dying, and she had to be very careful with her positioning, never pulling too many monsters.
But Chen Mo didn't care at all. He went wherever the monsters were thickest. Once he was in the middle of the pack, as soon as the Convention of Elements ring cycled to the right element, he'd just mash all his skills—1, 2, 3, 4—using whatever was off cooldown. Then barrels would fall from the sky, and the monsters would just die in a cascade?
And Chen Mo never stopped. He stayed in Steed Charge almost the entire time. The dense hordes of monsters couldn't stop him at all. He went wherever he wanted.
The entire Greater Rift was cleared in no time. There was no difficulty, no apparent mechanical challenge. He just rode around, "shooting cannons," strolling through like he was window shopping, and all the monsters died.
Lin Xue was utterly shocked. "This... Boss, are we even playing the same account?"
The bullet comments were flooded with "666." Even they hadn't expected that a pile of seemingly useless scattered gear could be turned into something miraculous in Chen Mo's hands.
Chen Mo was very calm. After clearing the rift, he immediately opened the next floor.
Same horse-riding, same domination. Lin Xue watched the entire time, but she couldn't see any increase in difficulty! He crushed the previous floor, and he was crushing this one too!
Chen Mo just kept clearing floor after floor, from floor 41 all the way to floor 65. He cleared over twenty floors straight before finally stopping!
Lin Xue was completely stunned. Was this really her account?
And throughout the entire run, she didn't feel any increase in difficulty!
When Lin Xue played before, every time she went up a single floor in the Greater Rift, the difficulty felt like it jumped several orders of magnitude. She could barely scrape by on one floor, but the next would be nearly impossible.
But Chen Mo didn't seem to have that problem at all. From floor 40 to floor 60, he faced almost no setbacks.
Chen Mo even farmed a few decent pieces of gear for Lin Xue and equipped them on her character.
After floor 60, he started to encounter some difficulties. By floor 65, he couldn't push any further.
After all, this setup was cobbled together from random pieces, and many of the stats weren't perfect. Several pieces weren't even Ancient, so the set bonus from the rings wasn't fully utilized.
Chen Mo stood up. "Alright, this is as far as I can take it. You'll have to figure out the rest on your own."
Lin Xue quickly grabbed his arm. "Boss, don't go yet! Explain how this build works!"
Chen Mo was a bit speechless. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be a top student? Do your own homework!"
Lin Xue pouted. "Hmph, stingy!"
With that, she plopped down in her chair, pretending to be angry.
But even though she acted mad on the surface, she was actually pretty happy inside. After all, not everyone got personal guidance from Chen Mo.
And the move Chen Mo pulled today was truly impressive. She couldn't figure out why her character, after switching to a bunch of "junk," had become so many times more powerful.
Jumping twenty floors in one go was just insane!
Not wasting time complaining about her socially awkward boss, Lin Xue quickly opened the inventory screen and started studying the skill and gear setup Chen Mo had used.
The bullet comment experts also went into analysis mode. Many of them even copied Chen Mo's setup exactly in the game, experimenting as they played.
"I get it now!" Lin Xue exclaimed after examining the Crusader's stats and skills several times. She finally understood the key to this build.
This build was known in the past life as the "Cannon Crusader." Its most notable feature was maximizing the effects of several scattered legendary pieces, stacking Thorns damage to insane levels, and then using Bombardment and Steed Charge as the core damage skills.
Its strengths were high efficiency, massive burst damage, and fast map traversal. The unique traits of those scattered pieces perfectly complemented the playstyle, making it a popular build for a time, even capable of pushing high rift floors with it.
Of course, the past life's *Diablo 3* had many builds, and after patches, many other setups surpassed this one.
But since Lin Xue didn't have any particularly good sets, Chen Mo tailored his advice to her situation, using those scattered pieces to build a relatively complete setup. It was also a way to show Lin Xue and the bullet comment viewers the game's quirky and unconventional possibilities.