Is there an optimal layout for crusaders once all are unlocked ?
I know some crusaders give bonuses to others, in front or behind them.

Has anyone done the math to figure out what the best layout is ?

Cheers :D

There are a few guidelines though, I've found.

The Princess has 4 "All Crusaders +10% DPS" abilities that seem to be unparalleled by any other Crusader. So although she's the weakest in my formation, she'll always be there. I place her in an area with 0 boosts, though.

Nate Dragon and Natalie Dragon's shared skill for each other boosts Nate's power immensely. So although it doesn't do much for Natalie, together they make quite a massive amount of DPS. So I use both of them as well.

Sasha, Khouri, and Jim are my next staples. Sasha stays in the third column to give the most boosts to the four in the back. Khouri stays in the middle for the same reason, boosting the six around him. And Jim stays in the back row, boosting the other three even more.

So with that in mind, my formation by default looks like this

1
----5
2------8
----6-----10
3------9
----7
4

10 is The Princess
6 is Khouri
5 or 7 is Sasha
1 or 4 is Jim

0 DPS Boost positions: 10
1 DPS Boost positions: 5, 7, 8, 9
2 DPS Boost positions: 1, 4 (minus one from one position since Jim doesn't boost himself.)
3 DPS Boost positions: 2, 3

SO. This just leaves me with 6 areas to fill. But since I already know I'll be using Natalie and Nate, I can safely put Nate in position 2 or 3, and my next strongest hero in the other one. My third strongest Crusader will go into the final back row position, and Natalie and a fourth and fifth strongest Crusader will fill 5/7 (not Sasha) 8 and 9.

A couple things to keep in mind, after this:
-I personally don't use the Bushwacker - it became too difficult to keep him highly balanced in strength while keeping a strong formation.
-Because I don't click, my abilities are limited: I don't use any clicking abilities, and stick to Fire Storm (The Princess), King's Command (King Reginald), and Alchemy (Merci), all which fit nicely in my party.
-Equips will help decide who the next best Crusader is, as many equips boost All DPS.
-Khouri will be healing the two people in front of him, which may be beneficial to some. Although for most bosses, you want to be taking no losses instead.
-If you use Fire Phoenix and Thalia, they are pretty good for the positions in front of Khouri, as they both have higher HP, Thalia attracts all the mobs, and Fire Phoenix damages everyone when he dies.

This was all just from my experience. Feel free to add in yours! I'm interested in what people came up with when they did use the Bushwacker instead.

Forgive me if i am wrong but Khouri doesn't have any abilities for behind him or to the side of him, only infront of him and that is only a healing factor it doesn't add to dps??? thats got me confused there.

Khouri's third ability, Koffee Potion, increases the DPS of all Crusaders next to him (on all six sides) by 35%.

ohhhhh found it, i do appologise, how the hell did i miss that! now i need to re-evaluate my formation!, dang nabbit, just when i thought i had it down! lol

http://i.imgur.com/S5h3OfG.png

I've reset two times already and I've passed floor 100 on the second reset. This is a general layout from my second run-through yesterday, centered around two DPS'ers and the other characters supporting them. The layout allows Merci and Nate (in this case) to be buffed by Jim, Khouri, Artaxes, and Sasha. Recall that all these buffs apply multiplicatively, so it's ideal to stack them on the same people.

Some general notes:
- You can replace Gold Panda with Bush Whacker for tough bosses, or when you're attempting to rush to floor 100 at the final push. Otherwise, leave the Panda in.

- Your Main DPS will not remain as Merci and Nate forever. Eventually Jim, Kaine, Natalie, and Sasha will all overtake them.
-- If you have good items/enchants on the Hermit, Werewolf, or on Sarah, they too may end up as a main DPS.
--- When Jim becomes one of your top 2 DPS characters, move him into the range of Khouri's buff in place of your weakest main DPS character.
--- When Kaine overtakes Merci, swap the two. Keep Merci in the party for the 15% DPS and the skill. You'll lose some gold% off Kaine's gold passive, but his extra DPS will push you a zone further than you were before, which is better overall.
--- When Natalie overtakes Nate, swap them. Leave Nate in for the buff to Natalie and his two 10% DPS-all buffs.
--- Never move Sasha into the third row. Leave her in the second for her aura.

- Put Thalia into the party to use his skill whenever it's up. It's a small buff, but it's permanent and any extra damage can make a difference.

omg! sils is spot on!, i've boosted my formation by about 50%! and realised just how good the lower characters can be when leveled higher!
this is vital info!!

@Sils
Awesome formation! I am using something very similar, with the exception of Natalie up front and the Princess in the back row, so that Natalie's currently higher DPS would benefit more from Khouri's Koffee Potion boost than the Princess would.

I'm going to follow your advice for future swaps, thanks for the helpful tips!

1
----5
2------8
----6-----10
3------9
----7
4

1: Princess
2: Detective Kaine
3: Gold Panda
4: Arthaxes, the Lion
5: Jim, the lumberjack
6: Nate Dragon
7: Merci, the wizard
8: Sasha
9: Khouri, the witch doctor
10: Natalie

This is the best set up I've found so far

@Lloyd
You are right, later on replacing Merci with the Gryphon will be a very good choice, I'm going to follow your advice on it.

As for replacing other characters I don't know, after all most of the ones I have in my formation have precious DPS/gold boosts to others, so taking any of them away would require the ones I'm leaving out so far to get to *much* higher levels compared to the ones I have been using. Maybe one between Prince Sal and King Reginald could replace Nate at some point, but their personal DPS + 10% Alls would have to be better than Nate's DPS and (most importantly) the boost he gives Natalie (who's also one of the strongest characters later on).

EDIT: now that I think about it, at some point the level up cost is going to make earlier characters so stronger compared to the rest that their individual strength will eventually outweight the DPS boosts given by later characters. So I guess we'll eventually ignore even "+60% DPS to the whole row" and give priority to individual raw strength, just like Lloyd stated.