for the Uber smiter, Hoz/Exile × duress/fortitude which combination is better?

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

Couldn't agree more for the Gore Riders. Having 10% more CB is nowhere close to being as good as everything else

Gore Rider has IMO.

Absolutely, and that Deadly Strike for

Zeal along with what is on a potential

Highlord's Wrath or

Guillaume's Face is tasty. You an Upped man or? I love upping Gores but I can justify the STR Req for other reasons so it's no issue

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

I kinda prefer Hoz cause I feel like Exile is kinda meh apart from the CTC lifetap but thats just my preference.

I'm so with you on the "meh" and as a main Shield for this occasion it can seem a bit lackluster in comparison to other great options. I initially never understood the appeal when players were showing me their Vortex Exiles like they won the game, I thought it was just a safety option and left me wanting - as I like damage-focused items. After using them on swap they're just soo handy for that

Life Tap and Aura of safety until it has cast is deluxe for yourself and the Merc.

I myself only use it on swap, but if someone was needing just one option only to get them through in the safest possible way to grab a Torch then I mean why not. If you have other things you need those Runes for then sure, HoZ is enough, and awesome to use. You ever go

Eth for style points?

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

Hard to go wrong with Fortitude, solid setup for sure, although I prefer

Guardian Angel, especially when paired with Tgods (the 2 combined effectively makes your char immune to lightning).

I'm obsessed with high res caps, and what a classic combo those two. After some time I stopped using TGODS as I never needed it, and once

Life Tap is cast you cannot really die. Love

Guardian Angel! I use an

Eth zodded one on my support Paladin, and

Eth

Um'ed one on my Assassin Merc!

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

A Phoenix shield is BiS for maximum damage output for this reason (but you would usually not opt for one in

Uber Tristram for other reasons).

I use Phoenix religiously on my Smiter, and it's such a fun piece. No doubt unbeatable in damage.. The res caps and fire absorb are just so OP to top it off.

Why are you saying you would not opt for one may I ask?

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

As for gloves, I'd rather opt for crafted

Blood Gloves with 10% CB and 20% IAS (if they have some res or another nice mod as well that's just icing on the cake) over any unique/set item with IAS.

I run mine Hybrid so

Zeal can benefit so much from LoH obviously, but Crafted sound great.

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

Why are you saying you would not opt for one may I ask?

For QoL reasons, I'd rather have Exile's

Life Tap proc vs ubers. For dclone however, Phoenix all the way. A well geared smiter can destroy dclone before you need even think about healing, so

Life Tap is unnecessary when you reach that point.

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

I run mine Hybrid so

Zeal can benefit so much from LoH obviously, but Crafted sound great.

Yes, in a hybrid situation, LoH definitely has its use with the massive ED% vs Demons
My comment was in regards to pure smiters mostly.

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

For QoL reasons, I'd rather have Exile's

Life Tap proc vs ubers.

So I'm assuming you use CTA + Spirit on swap? Do you split up the Ubers to fight individually? If so, have you ever considered just dropping Spirit and using Exile on swap and Phoenix on main? Even +6 BO is 80 seconds and that's plenty of time to drop a Boss.

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

For dclone however, Phoenix all the way. A well geared smiter can destroy dclone before you need even think about healing, so

Life Tap is unnecessary when you reach that point.

Yeah Dclone you do not need

Life Tap whatsoever.

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

Fortitude is the best option among those two with the enhanced damage, life, damage reduction, defense, + max lightning resist, 30 all res and

Chilling Armor! Huge.

For a pure smiter using Grief (with the only purpose of clearing UT):

Rattlecage > Duress > Fortitude

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

My only disagreement from previous posts here is Goblin Toes. I think it's a complete lost opportunity in not having

Boots with Run/Walk, and of course Open Wounds, which exist on

Gore Rider. OW is very helpful in Ubers and as Crushing Blow is only a percentage of CURRENT life - its effectiveness dwindles within seconds - so having over 50% is fine and more is somewhat negligible in my view (meaning gearing for more in place of other useful options isn't worth it).

Again, for a pure smiter using Grief (with only the purpose of clearing UT) goblin offers more (you can get OW/FRW elsewhere, DS doesn't work with

Smite, +10CB wins). My build above does

Uber Baal in 10,48 seconds according to maxroll. This becomes 11,25s if I switch my

Boots to gores.

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

So I'm assuming you use CTA + Spirit on swap? Do you split up the Ubers to fight individually? If so, have you ever considered just dropping Spirit and using Exile on swap and Phoenix on main? Even +6 BO is 80 seconds and that's plenty of time to drop a Boss.

Oh I have done that, and it works great. I generally dislike weapon swapping mid-fight though. If you hit the weapon swap keybind while your character is still mid-animation (from

Smite or whatever attack/skill), then the game just ignores the weapon swap and stays on your current swap. I've had enough bad experiences with this over the years that I prefer to use a single weapon swap (but I'll definitely use stuff like a

Life Tap

Wand early in ladder seasons when I'm still undergeared). And on top of that, you have to resume attacking post-swap and it can be annoying to find the correct target in a huge crowd (which

Uber Tristram tends to become), especially if some mobs are large size, like the Pit Lords that Uber Diablo spawn. This is a bit of a skill issue and I admit that. But it's just smoother to find a target once and hold down attack until it dies.
And I usually separate

Mephisto to deal with him first, but the other two I typically engage at the same time.

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

Oh I have done that, and it works great. I generally dislike weapon swapping mid-fight though. If you hit the weapon swap keybind while your character is still mid-animation (from

Smite or whatever attack/skill), then the game just ignores the weapon swap and stays on your current swap. I've had enough bad experiences with this over the years that I prefer to use a single weapon swap (but I'll definitely use stuff like a

Life Tap

Wand early in ladder seasons when I'm still undergeared). And on top of that, you have to resume attacking post-swap and it can be annoying to find the correct target in a huge crowd (which

Uber Tristram tends to become), especially if some mobs are large size, like the Pit Lords that Uber Diablo spawn. This is a bit of a skill issue and I admit that. But it's just smoother to find a target once and hold down attack until it dies.
And I usually separate

Mephisto to deal with him first, but the other two I typically engage at the same time.

I do it constantly and don't have any trouble with it. The Auras on the Shields make a sound so that can help, but I sometimes will walk away a step to quit the animation and walk back toward the target.

Here's a clip of an older run where I do it no problem. Timestamps for

Tristram in description.

ShadowHeart wrote: 4 months ago

And I usually separate

Mephisto to deal with him first, but the other two I typically engage at the same time.

It's obviously fine to deal with the final two together, but I think that's where it's getting complicated for you to swap and that makes sense. In my experience I have found

Baal much slower to kill with Diablo opposite and this is why I separate them as much as I can (not for safety reasons). In that video actually they're both there and

Baal would have been dropped almost 10 seconds prior.

D369 wrote: 4 months ago

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

Couldn't agree more for the Gore Riders. Having 10% more CB is nowhere close to being as good as everything else

Gore Rider has IMO.

Absolutely, and that Deadly Strike for

Zeal along with what is on a potential

Highlord's Wrath or

Guillaume's Face is tasty. You an Upped man or? I love upping Gores but I can justify the STR Req for other reasons so it's no issue

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

I kinda prefer Hoz cause I feel like Exile is kinda meh apart from the CTC lifetap but thats just my preference.

I'm so with you on the "meh" and as a main Shield for this occasion it can seem a bit lackluster in comparison to other great options. I initially never understood the appeal when players were showing me their Vortex Exiles like they won the game, I thought it was just a safety option and left me wanting - as I like damage-focused items. After using them on swap they're just soo handy for that

Life Tap and Aura of safety until it has cast is deluxe for yourself and the Merc.

I myself only use it on swap, but if someone was needing just one option only to get them through in the safest possible way to grab a Torch then I mean why not. If you have other things you need those Runes for then sure, HoZ is enough, and awesome to use. You ever go

Eth for style points?

BigD wrote: 4 months ago

Hard to go wrong with Fortitude, solid setup for sure, although I prefer

Guardian Angel, especially when paired with Tgods (the 2 combined effectively makes your char immune to lightning).

I'm obsessed with high res caps, and what a classic combo those two. After some time I stopped using TGODS as I never needed it, and once

Life Tap is cast you cannot really die. Love

Guardian Angel! I use an

Eth zodded one on my support Paladin, and

Eth

Um'ed one on my Assassin Merc!

Upped

Gore Rider no, not for a smiter pally. Honestly just can't be bothered to for that build. Maybe if I was playing an assassin (which i usually don't).

Haven't got my hands on

Eth HoZ to date but I'd use it for sure. Currently just use an upped and

Um'd HoZ.

Part of what makes running

Guardian Angel+Tgods fun for me also is doing WSK runs and being able to laugh at mobs of Black Souls, lol. I do lots of WSK runs with my pally, he also has maxed

Zeal+

Sacrifice.

top5g04t wrote: 6 months ago

for mini ubers, you want Enigma to tp past the adds and get to

Lilith +

Izual. If you want to keep a armor swap in the cube, I'd say probably CoH for uber meph's

Conviction aura.
Best shield is Phoenix for kill speed, best defensive shield is Sanctuary, best qol is Exile.

I agree, if I wouldn't do minis with sorc (that i also use to gather keys) then I'd def wear Enigma on my smiter.

Mini ubers with a firesorc:
[media]https://rumble.com/v701cis-fulltal-esfb ... ubers.html[/media]

dahuoche08 wrote: 6 months ago

consider
- a CTA offhand
- already have enough runes
- want to save time and make Uber run smoother


wish some advice on the smiter build

id recommend going for Enigma, if you dont have go for Treachery, activate

Fade and you are gtg,

Cap lighting res with meph aura, get

Life Tap gloves, rej pot until it procs. hoz is fine, you dont need ultra rare gear to run uber smoothly

best pala build.
Grief as weapon
cta off hand
Chains of Honor
dracs

Goblin Toe
zakarum+

Um or ias+ resists

Crown of Ages+ 2

Ber or

Ber+ ias/damage/resists

Call To Arms

Dracul's Grasp

Herald Of Zakarum

I tried CoH last ladder, extra res is nice but Enigma is truly better with

Teleport (unfortunately). Faster ubers and more survivability all around.

Best smiter build that balances budget and kill speed is imo:

Maras
Gface with

Cham
Enigma
Grief+HoZ (with

Um)/CTA+Spirit
2xSoJ/BK
Dracs

Gore Rider
Verdungo's


I've test both on bnet and in offline Last Wish+Exile/Grief+Exile/Gface or CoA and the truth is the cheaper build is better, both in terms of cost but also damage output. I do full uber runs in sub 3 minutes with this build.

HoZ is such a good shield. Spirit obviously has FCR but HoZ+

Um is such an underrated combo, especially when HoZ usually is cheap as hell.

Morgormir wrote: 1 month ago

I tried CoH last ladder, extra res is nice but Enigma is truly better with

Teleport (unfortunately). Faster ubers and more survivability all around.

Best smiter build that balances budget and kill speed is imo:

Maras
Gface with

Cham
Enigma
Grief+HoZ (with

Um)/CTA+Spirit
2xSoJ/BK
Dracs

Gore Rider
Verdungo's


I've test both on bnet and in offline Last Wish+Exile/Grief+Exile/Gface or CoA and the truth is the cheaper build is better, both in terms of cost but also damage output. I do full uber runs in sub 3 minutes with this build.

HoZ is such a good shield. Spirit obviously has FCR but HoZ+

Um is such an underrated combo, especially when HoZ usually is cheap as hell.

I farm organs with my sorc, way faster, and the actual

Uber Tristram with my pally

Fair enough, I do everything with my pally because sorcs always feel like wet paper to me. I just like the survivability of pallys more.

Mara's Kaleidoscope

Guillaume's Face

The Stone of Jordan

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Verdungo's Hearty Cord

I am probably the weird one here, but here it goes:

Kira's Guardian

Guardian Angel

Seraph's Hymn (I know, not BiS, but I like it...)

The Stone of Jordan

Dwarf Star

Heaven's Light with 2x

Shael runes

Herald Of Zakarum with

Perfect Diamond

Gore Rider

Max

Fanaticism and

Holy Shield on, of course.
Keep in mind this char has a second profession which is FoH/

Holy Bolt to farm unholy areas.

Act 2 Merc with

Holy Freeze:

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

The Reaper's Toll
Treachery runeword on

Light Plate

The Stone of Jordan

Herald Of Zakarum

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

The Reaper's Toll

ChristianKiss wrote: 1 month ago

I am probably the weird one here, but here it goes:

Kira's Guardian

Guardian Angel

Seraph's Hymn (I know, not BiS, but I like it...)

The Stone of Jordan

Dwarf Star

Heaven's Light with 2x

Shael runes

Herald Of Zakarum with

Perfect Diamond

Gore Rider

Max

Fanaticism and

Holy Shield on, of course.
Keep in mind this char has a second profession which is FoH/

Holy Bolt to farm unholy areas.

Act 2 Merc with

Holy Freeze:

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

The Reaper's Toll
Treachery runeword on

Light Plate

Looks like a solid budget-safety-build to me. I think stacking that much res on your main gear is not needed if you use

Conviction against meph (which you really should!).

I think it's rather slow compared to some of the other suggested builds. How long do your runs take on average?

vued wrote: 1 month ago

ChristianKiss wrote: 1 month ago

I am probably the weird one here, but here it goes:

Kira's Guardian

Guardian Angel

Seraph's Hymn (I know, not BiS, but I like it...)

The Stone of Jordan

Dwarf Star

Heaven's Light with 2x

Shael runes

Herald Of Zakarum with

Perfect Diamond

Gore Rider

Max

Fanaticism and

Holy Shield on, of course.
Keep in mind this char has a second profession which is FoH/

Holy Bolt to farm unholy areas.

Act 2 Merc with

Holy Freeze:

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

The Reaper's Toll
Treachery runeword on

Light Plate

Looks like a solid budget-safety-build to me. I think stacking that much res on your main gear is not needed if you use

Conviction against meph (which you really should!).

I think it's rather slow compared to some of the other suggested builds. How long do your runs take on average?

Yeah, in Softcore I have a Pally that runs

Conviction and it's really handy to negate Meph's aura.

But this time I wanted to do something different, so I aimed for 240% Lightning Resist and then I pre-buff with

Fade (=300% Lightning Resist, so Meph's aura becomes just xmas lights). The extra resistance also comes handy elsewhere when a necromancer casts

Lower Resist.

It doesn't take long to do a full Uber run, really. Maybe 20–25 minutes? (including the minor ubers) Considering it takes me weeks to farm the keys, I kind of like the fact it doesn't end too quickly.

I will keep an eye on the clock next time I do a run. Bear in mind I play slowly with that hero because I am on HC.