Uber Ancients builds (post 3.3)

With patch 3.3 (or was it 3.2? someone please correct me if I'm wrong), most of you are aware the Uber Ancients were buffed. Buffed, arguably, by a non-insignificant margin.

My FoH smiter/zealer hybrid has been able to solo Uber Trist without a ton of difficulty many times, probably since level 83 or so. He also melted pre-patch 3.3 Uber Ancients quite easily, which some likened to fighting 3 DClones all at once (in other words, not too bad).

Post patch 3.3 changed all that. I waltzed in there all cocky and got absolutely melted. Tried a second time after the long slow process of refarming the damn statues again. Second time was not as bad but again, lost and obviously no chance in hell I'm even gonna attempt recovering my corpse (offline SP I should specify).

Third time, was able to get it done. Not without difficulty, and without having the luxury of being able to target which one to kill last. I'd like to do it again and preferably be able to target which one to jewel farm. My build is as follows:

Um'd Gface
Mara's
Fortitude Archon Plate
Um'd and upped HoZ
Grief PB w/ +397 dmg
Dracul's
TGods
Gore Rider
Raven Frost + Dwarf Star

Let me know what kind of builds youve used for Uber Ancients (post 3.3) and how it went.

They were buffed but they still stand no chance against a well-geared smiter. But compared to Uber Tristram, you must make some adjustments, especially in the body armor slot.

With the Uber Ancients, you really have to prioritise defense.

I would advise to get 95% fire, cold and lightning resistances. Guardian Angel is the Key item here. Fortitude is,doing no good here. Exile and/or Dracul's Grasp are great, too, like in Uber Tristram. Get 295 fire, cold and lightning resistances in total because each Uber Ancient has a " Conviction" aura of -100% to his element. And hell difficulty also has a -100 "debuff". Poison res does not matter at all.

The paladin's Salvation aura is great and much better here than Fanaticism.

Charms with all res help a lot.


Flat elemental damage reduction or absorb is also a good idea (fire: Dwarf Star, cold: Raven Frost, lightning: Thundergod's Vigor or Wisp Projector).

Call To Arms, ofc.

To deal damage, a smiter with Grief and Crushing Blow items ( Guillaume's Face and Goblin Toe) is still king.

As amu I use The Cat's Eye to hit the fastest attack speed breakpoint (40 it's Grief in PB, Cat's Eye, 15 it's jewel in Guillaume's)

Fire Sorc using Fireball and hydras with Battle Orders from Call To Arms, lower res Wand, Flame Rift, and a LOT of rejuves can take out the ancients individually. I like to single out one of them near the portal then go back to town and fill my inventory with resistance charms against that specific ancient.

Full Tal Rasha set socketed with fire facets with exception to the chest having a Defender's Fire. Spirt Sheild Magefist and sandstrom trek along with 2 dawrf stars. Merc has Duress and Guillaume's Face.

That said this is not a fully optimized build. A Phoenix shield would do wonders but I don't have that yet. Additionally, not a safe build either I still died 8 or so times and is best to stand directly in the ancient's face so they stop summoning minions. Which you can now see why you would need a lot of rejuves for. (estimating 150 ish). Would not recommend this for HC.
Tolic (The fire ancient) Is the most difficult to take out as he moves when he uses the fire tornados which WILL kill your merc even if you are face tanking. This will likely cause him to summon some more minions as well.

2 Dwarf stars and lower res Wand are vital against him due to your merc being unlikely to proc open wounds on him. but you can just barely do enough damage to kill him. The other two aren't so bad individually. One final note. This build defeated the uber ancients before I ever had a Defender's Fire. All four sockets were fire facets until I got the Defender's Fire. So it should be slightly easier to kill them now.