Is Exile worth having?

I play the game mostly with my dad or solo. He only plays Frenzy barb, but I play a little of everything. I made a smiter so we could do ubers. We crush them even if he gets 1 shot by Mephisto occasionally (and I get a good laugh). I'm using a 32@res Rondache with 4 p diamonds. Should I make an Exile? If not for a smiter, is it bis for another build?

it is a nice upgrade for paladin and ubers. if you can get it in a ethereal vortex base with +45 all res then it will be a big def upgrade. However you can save runes if you are doing ubers just fine without it.

Exile is hands down the single best thing to ever happen to a smiter and quite probably a zealot as well.

At least in my opinion.

Disclaimer: Haven't played around with alternatives for zealots in like 18 years but I definitely stand behind the smiter claim.

follow up question. with Exile... what gloves? still dracs?

I dropped dracs. Exile procs more than often enough, that's kind of the whole point of it (replaces both, dracs + Life Tap Wand at the same time).

Alternatives include things like Steelrend for more dmg/CB.

If you have Exile, you don't need draculs. I was making a smiter this "season" and was afraid a bit, that it won't be enough and guess what... it's killer Beast. My gear is:

Stormlash with +15 ias jewel
Rockstopper helmet
Exile in Zakarum Shield (non Eth)
Metalgrid as amulet
Duress rune word in Scarab Husk
Credendum for Belt
Goblin Toe
Raven Frost and bul-kathos wedding band
Laying of Hands

Plenty of SC's with resists and Treachery for Fade. I wear Treachery while acquiring organs to trigger Fade, but afterwards I switch to Duress while in UT.

I have CTA with only +1 to BO.

And to be honest? This gear is in my opinion overkill. It's maybe not the fastest? I need to walk everywhere, but I'm able to finish the whole UT in 30 minutes maybe less, as I have to kill everything. The CTA is not that necessary, but 2k life grants you will survive a lot.

Worst location in my opinion is the ?? Matron's Den?? ( Lilith) due to these firebolt spitting "Hell Temptresses".

What you need is Life Tap. Use a Wand or draculs. As a shield, you can use even Spirit, which with a 4sox pala shield with 45@ is great or use Herald Of Zakarum, which is also great and much cheaper compared to Exile. Maybe instead of Exile, I would invest into Grief... but as said, Stormlash is much cheaper and does great job as well.

I don't want to go with a new topic so ask here: Should Exile be made in a high defence Vortex Shiled or Sacred Targe (with low AR) or is it convenient to make it, for example, in an Akaran Targe with a high AR? I have a Sacred Targe with only 11 AR ( Eth) but 35 AR Akaran Targe. Which is better? If I go to Akaran Targe, will it be a waste of runes?

It depends on what your build is.

Most commonly, Exile is used by smiters, more so than zealots. Because of that, you want to try your best to get an elite base for it to maximize Smite damage. Your def is bound to be high AF either way, thanks to the combination of Holy Shield and free Defiance.

If you're looking for more res (the usual approach for an uber smiter), you want a 45 res base or at least 40+ (low 40s are typically relatively cheap). If you're looking for more damage and don't need more res, go for max dmg/ar as a bonus which is always fairly cheap as most folks want res (shield ED does affect Smite like any off-weapon ED, even though it doesn't show on your char screen - it counts as off-weapon ED though and does not improve the base Smite dmg of the shield itself).

Do note that you can use an ethereal shield due to the Exile auto-repair but Eth. on a shield only affects the defense, not the Smite damage. So it isn't quite as big of a deal.

Damage wise, the elite shields are all essentially the same (one is a fraction of a dmg point higher..negligible). Vortex shifts to max def, Targe to max block. Matter of preference. Personally, I prefer Zakarum as they have the most stable dmg output (no base range).

Schnorki wrote: 4 years ago

It depends on what your build is.

Most commonly, Exile is used by smiters, more so than zealots. Because of that, you want to try your best to get an elite base for it to maximize Smite damage. Your def is bound to be high AF either way, thanks to the combination of Holy Shield and free Defiance.

If you're looking for more res (the usual approach for an uber smiter), you want a 45 res base or at least 40+ (low 40s are typically relatively cheap). If you're looking for more damage and don't need more res, go for max dmg/ar as a bonus which is always fairly cheap as most folks want res (shield ED does affect Smite like any off-weapon ED, even though it doesn't show on your char screen - it counts as off-weapon ED though and does not improve the base Smite dmg of the shield itself).

Do note that you can use an ethereal shield due to the Exile auto-repair but Eth. on a shield only affects the defense, not the Smite damage. So it isn't quite as big of a deal.

Damage wise, the elite shields are all essentially the same (one is a fraction of a dmg point higher..negligible). Vortex shifts to max def, Targe to max block. Matter of preference. Personally, I prefer Zakarum as they have the most stable dmg output (no base range).

Thanks. I'd prefer to go with max damage so it should be one of those elite bases then, right? Akaran Targe would be a waste. Thanks man, as always.

basicnecromancy wrote: 4 years ago

Schnorki wrote: 4 years ago

It depends on what your build is.

Most commonly, Exile is used by smiters, more so than zealots. Because of that, you want to try your best to get an elite base for it to maximize Smite damage. Your def is bound to be high AF either way, thanks to the combination of Holy Shield and free Defiance.

If you're looking for more res (the usual approach for an uber smiter), you want a 45 res base or at least 40+ (low 40s are typically relatively cheap). If you're looking for more damage and don't need more res, go for max dmg/ar as a bonus which is always fairly cheap as most folks want res (shield ED does affect Smite like any off-weapon ED, even though it doesn't show on your char screen - it counts as off-weapon ED though and does not improve the base Smite dmg of the shield itself).

Do note that you can use an ethereal shield due to the Exile auto-repair but Eth. on a shield only affects the defense, not the Smite damage. So it isn't quite as big of a deal.

Damage wise, the elite shields are all essentially the same (one is a fraction of a dmg point higher..negligible). Vortex shifts to max def, Targe to max block. Matter of preference. Personally, I prefer Zakarum as they have the most stable dmg output (no base range).

Thanks. I'd prefer to go with max damage so it should be one of those elite bases then, right? Akaran Targe would be a waste. Thanks man, as always.

Aye. Personally, I'd never build an Exile outside of an elite base. Feels like a complete waste.
Given, the damage isn't nearly as noticeable as it is when comparing for example an elite weapon to a normal one, simply because a lot of your Smite damage comes from Holy Shield and not the shield itself but even so, it is still there and generally noticeable.

Thanks again. My Eth Sacred Targe with 11 AR is not enough it seems. So I should find one with more AR. I don't think I'd go to pure damage as I plan to go Ubers, too. Need as much AR as possible for it after all.

I'm in a similar boat. I personally love Spirit on my Zealot/Smiter. Found a real nice 224 Def / 45 All Res Vortex Shield and figured I'd get some good use out of it. Was able to roll perfect 35% FCR on 3rd try. Able to handle Ubers no problem using it (draculs + Guardian Angel). But finally found a decent Exile base the other day (7% ED Eth Sup Sacred Rondache w/ 41 Resist All), and not sure if I want to use a socket quest on it and spend the runes..

Zero187 wrote: 4 years ago

...But finally found a decent Exile base the other day (7% ED Eth Sup Sacred Rondache w/ 41 Resist All), and not sure if I want to use a socket quest on it and spend the runes..

Congrats, so good it seems. And let me know if you don't want to spend socket quest or runes on it