Board Game Arena

1. Priestess
2. mage
3. rogue



4. crusader far below the others

I have easily won with the others. The crusader is so bad.

It is possible (I've won on Roguelike difficulty) but yeah Crusader definitely is underpowered. I think the designer has said that's intentional though, choosing a weaker character is another way to modify the difficulty.

The best tip I'd say for Crusader is to take advantage of the shield ability by fighting enemies whenever possible, you want to build up experience ASAP and fighting enemies is the easiest way to do that. An armour of 2 means most enemies on the first floor can't hurt you unless they roll a 6.

With stances, crusader has a quite easy life -- always default to defense stance.

In Roguelike Solo, Crusader is for sure second best behind Mage as he can default kill (Shield>attack) all floor 1 enemies at base as well as 3/6 bosses using his +1 shield ability. If you are struggling with Crusader try to put as much focus as possible on getting level 2 by the end of floor 1 by taking as many fights and especially rooms with the chance to fight wraiths as possible. If you stay poison and blind free its a cakewalk to the end after that. therefore focus on getting 1 holy/perception potion and +1 shield by the end of Floor 2 so that you can still default kill wraiths throughout all of Floor 3.

Yeah I have difficulties to see how a 1 shield start can be bad, or far worst than others who start with no shield.