The Human Paladin (Soldier + Crusader) Build

I keep hearing people moaning about how the Soldier class and how the Crusader isn't so great either. I decided to mix the two to form a Gold viable build. It will be a long chunk of text to describe how to use it to its fullest, so bear with it.

Here is a link to the build if you want to try it out fast.

The focus here is to tank and be a jack of all trades, so you can take this to your Unknown/Unknown/Gold matches and not worry about feeling you made a huge mistake.

Weapons

Bring the Crusader to chew through armor and deal head-shot damage if need be. It basically functions as a scope-less Black Widow with its innate armor penetration (starts as 50, same as regular Widow).

You may wish to bring another weapon to deal with shields/barriers and for close range shots if you are not a head-shot machine. I bring along a Tempest to burn through SMG amps, tear down shields, and as a lightweight close range backup.

Powers

Adrenaline Rush- Use it to boost the Crusader's anti-armor ability (6 shots before the cool-down begins), bring down shields faster, and to tank so that you can revive fallen comrades and last under fire during HUG IT CHUG IT FOOTBALL (also called Pizza Delivery) without dropping it.

Concussive Shot- With the AoE evolution, it is designed for crowd control, bringing down barriers, reload cancelling, and staggering enemies that get too close for comfort. Both rank 6 evolutions are underwhelming for their cost, so I chose not to put points into them.

Frag Grenades- Had extra points, put them into grenades to supplement Concussive Shot's ability to control a crowd and gives a reason to use those thermal clip packs.

Alliance Training- In all honesty, you can choose any evolution path that suits your fancy here. I chose the weight reduction and power damage evolutions so that I get the most out of Concussive Shot and grenades.

Fitness- Maxed out to enhance tanking ability. Stack it with Adrenaline Rush and it can last under fire.

Enemies

Cerberus- Extremely effective build. The Crusader can shoot through Guardian Shields for easy head-shots and most enemies can be staggered for great effect. The majority of enemies are fairly straight forward to deal with. The only two enemies you should worry about are Engineers, which you just need to keep an eye on so they don't kill you with Turrets and repair Atlases, and Phantoms.

Phantoms, when attacked by Concussive Shot, do two things.

1. They get hit and fall to the ground- This makes them not be able to use their Hand of Tanking. Exploit this by killing them fast, as Phantoms have a surprisingly low amount of health without that Hand of Tanking.

2. They use their Hand of Tanking- Exploit by head-shotting them, as they conveniently stand still for you. How nice of them.

Geth- Like Cerberus, most enemies are straight forward to deal with. You can obviously exploit the AP ability of the Crusader to deal with Pyros, while tanking ability deals with all except Hunters. Hunters are somewhat of a bane because of their ability to stagger. The most reliable way is to stagger them first while cloaked, by grenade or Concussive Shot, then bringing down their shields to rapidly kill them, although it is risky to say the least. Preferably, coordinate with a teammate better suited for Hunters to take them down.

Reapers- This enemy will test your ability to aim. If you can aim from the hip well, you will do fine. Innate AP from the Crusader will deal with buffer Husks and Cannibals. As long as you don't get too close, most enemies will be a piece of cake.

Ravagers, with their powerful ranged attack, may be frustrating, but don't forget to shoot their sacks to do a fixed amount of damage and the innate AP shots of the Crusader can deal both tough armor damage and then the fixed sack damage if you angle it right (Bullet -> Plate Armor -> Sack). Top it off with a grenade to weaken the Ravager so it may be finished shortly thereafter.

Conclusion

This a generalist tank build designed to use and abuse the Crusader's accuracy and damage. Feel free to modify evolutions for your own needs, and post in the comments if you like this or have concerns about it. As always, good luck and have fun.