Are smiters still the best and safest build for ubers in 2.4?

Curious about HC specifically. Looking to minimize chance of dying.

The chance of dying in Ubers has also lots to do with how good your gear is and if you know how to play well

But yea a Smiter with Decent Life and LifeTap pretty much won't die

Smiter is the absolute safest and least expensive uber killer, and I don't think 2.4 is going to change that.

As for minimizing the chance of dying: aside from checking off all the obvious stuff ( Life Tap, CB, open wounds, light resist, Fade...), having a Wisp Projector and/or Tgods will make sure you don't get one shot by charged Bolts.

My budget smiter (Lawbringer + random sheld) no CTA, Treachery, Herald, CoH, LifeTap was killed once when I fought Baal and Mephisto at the same time while surrounded my minions.
I was ran out of potion and could went back home

2.4 makes some builds slightly better at it.

It also allows some builds to do it at all that previously didn't stand a realistic chance (summon druids for example).

However, none of the buffs in 2.4 even come close to letting anyone take the uber Crown from a smiter.

Coincidentally, 2.4 also buffs the hell out of certain hybrid smiter builds so...happy farming!

As long as you get lifetap up early, you shouldn't die. And either Thundergods Belt or Lightsabre (or both) against Uber Meph otherwise he can 1 shot with his lightning.

Yes, Smiters will still be king Uberer. And they will still be stupidly easy to gear-out, you should be able to make one with the gear you find with your sorc by week 2 (or considerably less, depending on how much you play...)

Thanks for all your replies so far. For a hardcore smiter, what gear would you definitely want to have equipped before you attempt the ubers? What are the minimum stats to aim for?

For those of you who are really good players, imagine you were the average D2 player.

I don't hardcore, but I don't think my smiter has ever died on Ubers. He's gotten close maybe once or twice. He's using meh gear, and I have no desire to upgrade him since his use is so niche and he already fulfills his function. He's already received several upgrades more than the bare minimum he needs to survive, for example, Dracul's Grasp, Astreon's Iron Ward, Sanctuary shield- those were all upgrades just to make him a bit beefier. Perhaps a paladin like this, with more emphasis on +life on charms, would be what you'd want to roll in hardcore? I donno. Also, not shown is that I pre-buff Fade with Treachery before Ubers and if you were in hardcore, you'd want to make the extra effort to use CTA and BO yourself.

https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/g40206mb

Here's a budget setup that I've used in the past:

Helm: Guillaume's Face (not necessary, use anything you can get)
Weapon: Wizardspike Shael'd
Shield: 4x Pdiamond Paladin Shield (I aim for at least 24+ resist auto mod)
Armor: Smoke
Gloves: Blood Gloves (I usually don't have Dracul)
Belt: Tgods
Boots: Gore Rider ( Goblin Toe is fine, but no OW means a longer fight)
Amulet: Anything
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Anything
Switch: Life Tap Wand (I shop for lvl 3 charges for ~20 second duration)

Treachery pre-buff is needed. I get 10 points into Resist Lightning for +5% max. Charge + Vigor away from Meph's aura when reapplying Life Tap.

According to D2Planner, Meph's prime bolt spell (29 charged Bolts) can do ~1800 dps. Tgods strips this down to a measly ~180 dps, which is pretty telling of the strength of integer absorb at very high resist. In HC I do everything I can to find that Belt to avoid a potential one shot if many Bolts hit.