Uber hammerdin first torch run :)

I could rush you. If you can return the favor for a socket of my own. Doesnt have to be right away

+1 to everything already said, I run with a plain

Phase Blade because it has -30 AS and attack speed is the only thing that matters on the weapon once you have enough Crushing Blow and

Life Tap somewhere else

For the armor slot I use Treachery pre-buff + Smoke for overcapping resistances but I think you can skip Smoke if you use

Wizardspike

For the shield I can't recommend a 4x

Perfect Diamond gemmed

Sacred Targe enough: good

Smite damage and, again, overcapping resistances (I sound like a broken record, lol)

The only other tip I can give is to make a password protected game and log out and back in any time you die: collecting the body is not always an easy task when naked and there is no reason to risk your equipment in the process

Socketed Duress, changed

String of Ears for verdungo, socketed

Wizardspike with

Shael, cheched light resistance after

Fade proc (337%) and bought lifetap

Wand. So im ready, what you think?
The plan is to clear matrons den and furnace with hammerdin and change for

Smite gear when see the boss. Is that proper strategy?
Final test will be tomorrow, so will be looking for emergency help from You guis if something goes wrong (i have sent invites to lovely volunteers )

BloodyRaven2210 wrote: 2 years ago

Socketed Duress, changed

String of Ears for verdungo, socketed

Wizardspike with

Shael, cheched light resistance after

Fade proc (337%) and bought lifetap

Wand. So im ready, what you think?
The plan is to clear matrons den and furnace with hammerdin and change for

Smite gear when see the boss. Is that proper strategy?
Final test will be tomorrow, so will be looking for emergency help from You guis if something goes wrong (i have sent invites to lovely volunteers )

Sounds good.
337 is plenty
(300 = 75

Cap against

Mephisto, anything above that only adds for increased

Cap beyond 75)

Typically, if you have an Enigma (not sure what your standard gear is exactly), you don't have to worry about hammering trash and switching for bosses, you just stick to boss gear/setup, tele to them and take them out. But either should work.

As already noted, I'll be here in case you need a hand tomorrow.

Seems like you're covered every which way But I'd be happy to help as well if needed, either give you BO and bail, or help with my Grief smiter.

Question, I have 1 pt in

Fanaticism but I'm a Hdin so my

Conviction is maxed. I feel like I do more damage with

Conviction than with

Fanaticism. Is this the case or is

Fanaticism always better for smiting? My attack speed is 52% without any buffs.

BloodyRaven2210 wrote: 2 years ago

Hi,

im trying to prepare for my first uber run. But i want to do that as an hybrid hammerdin/smiter (1pt

Smite, 1pt

Fanaticism and rest into

Holy Shield) because I don't want to level up another paladin (want one versatile one). I have gathered so far such gear:

Guillaume's Face

Guardian Angel (with Treachery for

Fade)

Dracul's Grasp

Goblin Toe

String of Ears (

Thundergod's Vigor for Meph)

Highlord's Wrath

Raven Frost

Dwarf Star

Herald Of Zakarum (with

Um)
Black as weapon, cause don't have anything better.

Can I get feedback from experienced uber smiters if that is enough for first ever try of killing ubers. I want to collect my first ever torch, keys collected

I also feel that it would be wise to have someone on "standby" if something go wrong Any volunteers appreciated
Cheers

The best advice I can give you (apart from the good advices from the other guys in thread) is to use d2planner and set it up with every single item and stats you are going to use:
https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/
You have to be specially careful with your Breakpoints, Resistances, item stats, your attributes distribution and so on... but you will be able to check how ready you are for what you will face in uber.
You can also setup and apply enemy effects you will face on Uber tristam (especially useful for setting up

Über Mephisto to calculate your resist penalties).

The most difficult problems you will face are

Lilith and

Mephisto. For

Lilith make sure you have a good life pool (from a basic and cheap CTA you will boost it), good poison resistances (maybe with

Fade with Treachery) and

Life Tap.
As for

Mephisto Lightning resistance is the

Key (small charms, and once again

Fade will make the job). All of this with a budget perspective because if you can afford Infinity or Wisp projectors you will face less troubles.

Apart from the RPG side, exists the second part about in-game strategy by isolating enemies. You can find many guides on Youtube explaining this.

Hope you find it helpful.

BloodyRaven2210 wrote: 2 years ago

The plan is to clear matrons den and furnace with hammerdin and change for

Smite gear when see the boss. Is that proper strategy?

Matron's Den might be awkward with hammers: it has the same tiles as

The Countess' Tower. But if you are good there with hammers you should be good in the

Matron's Den as well.

The other two areas are wide open and you should have no problems whatsoever.

BloodyRaven2210 wrote: 2 years ago

Final test will be tomorrow, so will be looking for emergency help from You guis if something goes wrong (i have sent invites to lovely volunteers )

Nice! One more tip: you can try to spawn the mini ubers (not the portals, the actual monsters) in a solo game and then invite the others. This is to ensure monsters will spawn with 1-player-size life pool instead of whatever size the party is. Or just ignore this tip and go hammer/

Smite them together

Best of luck! And don't forget to post pictures of your first torch ever! (Hopefully better than mine Necro 11/20 )

Unfortunetely im not riche nough to obtain Enigma, so have to clear my way in more traditional way

You have probably seen this in videos, but make sure to carry the cube with you and spawn the portals at different locations in act 5. You do not want them to overlap. Then you can put the cube back in stash.

Therion56 wrote: 2 years ago

Question, I have 1 pt in

Fanaticism but I'm a Hdin so my

Conviction is maxed. I feel like I do more damage with

Conviction than with

Fanaticism. Is this the case or is

Fanaticism always better for smiting? My attack speed is 52% without any buffs.

H as in hammer? Why do you have

Conviction for that?

As for smiting,

Conviction is pointless.

Smite damage is physical so the -res does nothing. And because

Smite always hits, the -def also does nothing. You'll always get more out of

Fanaticism, even if its only lvl 1. Both, due to attack speed (if not capped already) and due to the dmg bonus on it.
Mind you, I'm not only talking about the base damage but all damage. Elemental damage does not work with

Smite, regardless of whether it is from gear or auras.

The only damage a smiter realistically does that would gain from

Conviction (other than your merc) is if you have a Dream or the like equipped. It won't add the normal hit damage to

Smite but you still do get the aoe tick damage at least. Well, that and chance to cast elemental skills.

Other than that,

Conviction is only for if you need it to counter uber meph's

Conviction.

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Therion56 wrote: 2 years ago

Question, I have 1 pt in

Fanaticism but I'm a Hdin so my

Conviction is maxed. I feel like I do more damage with

Conviction than with

Fanaticism. Is this the case or is

Fanaticism always better for smiting? My attack speed is 52% without any buffs.

H as in hammer? Why do you have

Conviction for that?

As for smiting,

Conviction is pointless.

Smite damage is physical so the -res does nothing. And because

Smite always hits, the -def also does nothing. You'll always get more out of

Fanaticism, even if its only lvl 1. Both, due to attack speed (if not capped already) and due to the dmg bonus on it.
Mind you, I'm not only talking about the base damage but all damage. Elemental damage does not work with

Smite, regardless of whether it is from gear or auras.

The only damage a smiter realistically does that would gain from

Conviction (other than your merc) is if you have a Dream or the like equipped. It won't add the normal hit damage to

Smite but you still do get the aoe tick damage at least. Well, that and chance to cast elemental skills.

Other than that,

Conviction is only for if you need it to counter uber meph's

Conviction.

Not

Conviction,

Concentration I meant to say. Doh

You can run that setup easily. Just get your res from

Salvation for Meph fight. In addition stack inventory with all kind of hp and res charms

Therion56 wrote: 2 years ago

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Therion56 wrote: 2 years ago

Question, I have 1 pt in

Fanaticism but I'm a Hdin so my

Conviction is maxed. I feel like I do more damage with

Conviction than with

Fanaticism. Is this the case or is

Fanaticism always better for smiting? My attack speed is 52% without any buffs.

H as in hammer? Why do you have

Conviction for that?

As for smiting,

Conviction is pointless.

Smite damage is physical so the -res does nothing. And because

Smite always hits, the -def also does nothing. You'll always get more out of

Fanaticism, even if its only lvl 1. Both, due to attack speed (if not capped already) and due to the dmg bonus on it.
Mind you, I'm not only talking about the base damage but all damage. Elemental damage does not work with

Smite, regardless of whether it is from gear or auras.

The only damage a smiter realistically does that would gain from

Conviction (other than your merc) is if you have a Dream or the like equipped. It won't add the normal hit damage to

Smite but you still do get the aoe tick damage at least. Well, that and chance to cast elemental skills.

Other than that,

Conviction is only for if you need it to counter uber meph's

Conviction.

Not

Conviction,

Concentration I meant to say. Doh

Ok, that makes more sense.

Then yeah, entirely possible. Lvl 20

Concentration does offer 295% more ed than a lvl 1

Fanaticism after all.

The main point of

Fanaticism in a hybrid case would be to get another frame (or 2 against

Über Duriel) better attack speed. While that extra frame may still not outweigh

Concentration in terms of damage, it may very well save your life at least as you start the fight because it gets you a quicker

Life Tap proc. Unless you carry a

Wand of course, then it doesn't matter as much.

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Therion56 wrote: 2 years ago

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

H as in hammer? Why do you have

Conviction for that?

As for smiting,

Conviction is pointless.

Smite damage is physical so the -res does nothing. And because

Smite always hits, the -def also does nothing. You'll always get more out of

Fanaticism, even if its only lvl 1. Both, due to attack speed (if not capped already) and due to the dmg bonus on it.
Mind you, I'm not only talking about the base damage but all damage. Elemental damage does not work with

Smite, regardless of whether it is from gear or auras.

The only damage a smiter realistically does that would gain from

Conviction (other than your merc) is if you have a Dream or the like equipped. It won't add the normal hit damage to

Smite but you still do get the aoe tick damage at least. Well, that and chance to cast elemental skills.

Other than that,

Conviction is only for if you need it to counter uber meph's

Conviction.

Not

Conviction,

Concentration I meant to say. Doh

Ok, that makes more sense.

Then yeah, entirely possible. Lvl 20

Concentration does offer 295% more ed than a lvl 1

Fanaticism after all.

The main point of

Fanaticism in a hybrid case would be to get another frame (or 2 against

Über Duriel) better attack speed. While that extra frame may still not outweigh

Concentration in terms of damage, it may very well save your life at least as you start the fight because it gets you a quicker

Life Tap proc. Unless you carry a

Wand of course, then it doesn't matter as much.

hmm.

Duriel is a cakewalk for me compared to

Lilith and

Über Mephisto so I may just respec out the extra point in

Fanaticism and use it elsewhere.

Damaging and killing the mobs/ubers is easy (you can optimise clear speed later), the difficult part is staying alive so using

Life Tap, having enough life and resistances are the number one priority. Your life should be above 1000, preferably closer to 1500 (assuming no damage reduction) to avoid being one-shot by some enemies like

Lilith.

I was lazy to constantly switch the armor (Treachery pre-buff) so I used the previously mentioned

Diamond-gemmed paladin shields to get a huge boost to resist-all and used Smoke as the armor.

Fade gives other protective bonuses too but I could live without those. A gemmed pally shield can have up to 45+19x4=121% (pdiamonds) or 45+22*4=133% (

Um runes) resist all. That alone is capable of canceling-out the -125% resist all that you suffer from

Mephisto's

Conviction aura - this gives you more freedom than the nice bonuses of a HoZ when you compile the rest of your gear. If you have a 1-point

Salvation aura (you should) then you get about 80-100% resist all from that too while fighting

Mephisto, against other enemies you can use Fanaticsim or whatever you prefer. I used 1-point

Sanctuary Aura only against the physical-immune undead mobs spawned by

Mephisto (otherwise they are difficult to kill without specialized equipment).

The double-

Shael'd

Heaven's Light was my favorite weapon on low budget. +2-3 skills, good IAS, high crushing blow, high enough damage to kill mobs fairly quickly on my way to the bosses. It's inexpensive yet better than a Black. I tried some other options too like Astreon's

Ward that was quite rare and expensive at the time but it had disappointing performance. (Who knows, maybe Asteron's is capable of shining in a different setup).

The rest of my low-budget gear was Dracul's,

Um'd Gface (+15% resist all), Smoke (a bit later Fortitude),

Dwarf Star,

Raven Frost,

Seraph's Hymn,

Thundergod's Vigor,

Goblin Toe (later

Gore Rider, less crushing blow but nicer bonuses overall),

Life Tap

Wand on switch.

A good alternative for amulet is magic/blue chromatic ammy with massive boost to resist all (up to 30%) if you happen to have one (gambling a lot?) and can't build up enough resists in other ways. Prismatic ammys (15-20% resist) can be created with the cube, if you are lucky a blue ammy can give extra life too. This might seem like a huge downgrade from +skill amulets but I'd like to repeat again that first you have to stay alive and then do damage. Nice +skills and offensive bonuses are useless if you can't stay alive. It's the same in case of gemmed shield VS HoZ (but to be fair, gemmed shields make it possible to use gear that have bonuses you might need more than the bonuses of HoZ - like the crushing blow of

Heaven's Light - and that compensates for not using HoZ).

Narmer wrote: 2 years ago

For the shield I can't recommend a 4x

Perfect Diamond gemmed

Sacred Targe enough: good

Smite damage and, again, overcapping resistances (I sound like a broken record, lol)

Royal Shield is a very good inexpensive alternative. Sacred Targes are very popular and that pushes up the prices. Buying a shield with only 35-39% resist all is another way to reduce the costs.

Royal Shield isn't elite but the block rate/chance are just as good (so max block is easy to reach) and the

Smite damage isn't a problem due to the boost from

Holy Shield. In practice I didn't see a noticeable difference when I upgraded from

Royal Shield to

Sacred Targe.

I did a 1 point

Smite/

Fanaticism respec for my first Uber run. Very similar gear, except I used Smoke after Treachery buff to keep over-res high.

I say just go for it and have fun. Dying is ok, I certainly did a few times with

Lilith and an unlucky unique nearby that kept cursing me with amp and also (or another?) had an aura. Still managed to kite and separate out to 1v1 her and win. Meph was cake with ~1700 hp and

Fade/over resists and tgods. Keep somebody here on standby if you really mess up, but don’t put it off. Your gear is fine. Be ready to repair your

Flail a lot.

Guys, that was epic succes. I was so excited and supprised that it was so satisfying. Have died only once to boss pack in

Matron's Den ^^
My awaited treasure is...... 10/16 necro! xD (how much is it worth?)
but hey, now able to do it myself, so its time to farm keys
I felt well prepared by YOU ALL guys, thanks a lot And of course huge thanks to Schnorki for being my (thankfully not needed)

Guardian Angel
Cheers

My (very passive ) pleasure.

Congrats again!
Sounded like you had things well taken care of.

Hope your next run gets you a torch you actually need.

Only one Death? That’s impressive, GG!

Congrats on your first torch, I’m sure it’s one of many more to come