Keep in mind, I wrote that before I ever really used my crusader, and this was my first crusader. All I said was a matter of opinion since I hadn't tried any of it for myself.
Now that I've leveled a bit I can say a few things though. First of all, I was wrong abut the peco thing. It's definitely worth the point. You just can't run around a mob with a bloody axe and then expect to switch weapons at the last second before each and every gc. It just isn't practical and you may as well have used a peco.
Secondly, your ideas of vit are correct, but the way you portrayed them kind of skewed the information in your direction. For example, while I am going full vit, that doesn't nessisarily mean all of my equipment is hp based. In fact, none of it is. I have a +7 Thara frog shield and Loli ruri chain mail, (lvl 3 auto heal).
As an aside, it is unreasonable, even with max Vit and Faith for a crusader to have 20k hps, (even with full hp gear and vit clips). Surprisingly though, a Knight can. Knights actually have better HP growth all the way down the line.
Back to the point. There is a big difference between using GC on nothing and using GC on a mob. First of all, a mob is actually attacking you, so when you do cast GC the kickback is constantly being reduced as you lose hps. In reality, neither of your example crusaders would be walking away from a mob having used 1 or 2 heals. Both players will have had their hps widdled down to dangerous levels, especially if you cant 1 shot your mob yet.
Also, if by chance both of those players were to run into a mob that was 1 or 2 monsters more than they were used to, it would be #2 that was more likely to die because he had less hps and vit defence, (not a huge difference, but it does have an effect). Since you stand sill while casting, the high vit crusader also has higher HP regen as a bonus. Even though #2 has a better cast time than #1, the first crusader can afford to take the extra damage since he has the hp to spare. Thus, both come out about even.
Also consider that you don't really need to fully heal yourself after every fight when you have enough hps, so either way, both crusaders are healing about the same amount of times. The higher vit is both a safety so that you don't die in harsh situations, and allows you to take bigger mobs, meaning more xp for you.
My build is NOT meant in any way shape or form for pvp, so occult doesn't matter. All I care about is killing raydrics until the cows come home. Even with 99/99 vit/int I'll eventually be able to one shot them and have high hp and sp regen. Honestly, I hate total PvM builds, so I'm trying to get through this crusader phase as fast as humanly possible.
I'm not saying my build is superior. Actually, I believe they would both perform almost identically in practice, I just prefer my way as a personal preference.
With that aside, I find that often when I cast GC, depending on how the monters are positioned, GC will only hit like twice or even once. I just cant figure out what I'm doing wrong. What exactly is the best way to position the monsters around you and how do you go about doing it?
Edit: I really have no clue how my post ended up being this frikken long!
