LLD101

[pryzmatix]

Well I'm making a Smiter that can solo Lilith, Uber Duriel, Uber Izual, and the Uber Trist trio, so that I don't have to bug my friends to help me when I need to turn some key sets into torches.

However, It seems all the guides I find are either for the rich, or for the incredibly poor... And I'm somewhere inbetween that.

I read through "The Poorman's take on Uber Trist" and was quite amazed he pulled it off.

Heres the link: http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=63770

His gear is pretty damn crappy, and in the end he was successful. However, he even said that if life tap did not go off correctly, or if he was attacked too much in a short amount of time, he was dead.

Now I'm not so dirt poor where I'd have to use the gear Poorman did, but I can't afford Grief, Up'd Zak, Death, Fortitude, Pally Combat GC's, etc... which, as Poorman pointed out, is unnecessary.

First I'll lay out my skills, which I am unsure on. Someone help me out here, I'm not sure wether to put 20 into Defiance or not. Is it needed?

20 Smite
20 Holy Shield
20 Fanaticism
10 Resist Lightning
10 Resist Fire
1 Prerequisites

Gear; I was aiming for moderately costed items, while obtaining over 50% Crushing Blow, which I thought would only prove useful in the beginning of a fight, but is preached by almost every guide i've read.

Kingslayer Phase Blade or Stormlash - 33% CB, 30% IAS, which gets me to the fastest Smite speed while using Fanaticism. Kinglsayer also has 50% OW which I'm not sure makes a difference or not, against these high-life bosses. However, Stormlash has CTC static field, and tornado. I'm still looking for a Stormlash, which is what I will most likely use. For Kingslayer, i've found most of the runes needed, and acquiring a 4 socket phase blade shouldn't be too expensive.

Life Tap charged wand on switch

Enigma Breast Plate or Chains of Honor - Enigma lets me stay at base strength, which means alot more points into vitality. I also get teleport which can come in handy. However, Chains of Honor gives me lots of resists which may be needed when facing Meph's conviction. Chains also gives me +200% damage to demons... does damage to demons work with smite? Either of these cost somewhere between 1 to 2 SOJ's.

Guillame's Face - Although Shako may be the best choice, Guillame's Face gives me a good amount of Crushing Blow, as well as FHR. This will probably be socketed with an Um. Again, getting one of these isn't hard.

Griswold's Honor Vortex Shield - I know I know, let me explain. Although the Vortex Shield has a high damage range, it comes with 3 sockets for diamonds, as well as perfect base resists. This adds up to 102 resists, and although lower than a 4 socket Vortex, Griswold's shield comes with a 20% higher block rate, which means less points into dexterity for max block, and more into vitality. Apart from this, my only other affordable option is non-upgraded Zak, which has great stats but maybe not enough smite damage? Someone let me know if the damage is worth sacrificing for a non-upgraded Zak.

Dracul's Grasp - 25% OW, 15 strength, the life tap on these is kind of redundant, since I will have a life tap charged wand, but these are the easiest to obtain. I could try crafting some CB gloves, but after a while that gets expensive, if you don't get lucky.

Goblin Toe Light Plated Boots - 25% CB, this puts me over 85% CB. That's really all they are good for. Gore Riders only give 15% CB.

Thundergod's Vigor - Helps absorbing some of Mephisto's lightning attacks, as well as giving some vitality. The strength this gives is kind of useless, as the belt itself requires 110 to equip. The other option I considered was Verdungo's Hearty Cord, but it seems that reducing Mephisto's lightning attack is more important than gaining 100 something life and 15% DR. Thundergod's is cheaper than Verdungo's too, most of the time.

Mara's Kaleidoscope - I understand these can be somewhat expensive to come by, but I recently found one. Two actually.

Raven Frost - This grants Cannot be Frozen, which is essential to maintain the fastest smite speed. 20% Cold Absorb and up to 20 dexterity is nothing to scoff at either, and these are relatively cheap if you don't aim for perfect stat ones.

Dwarf Star - 15% Fire Absorb, so now we've got some absorb in Fire, Cold, and Lightning. Also gives 40 life, and again, these aren't too expensive.

Charms - Miscellaneous life small charms, maybe some FHR charms, but that shouldn't be too important, as Smite can't be interrupted.

At this point I'm not even sure wether I'm writing a half-assed Trist Smiter guide or just requesting advice and guidance on my own Smiter.

Just let me know if I've chosen viable gear, and my skills are correct. Again, I'm aiming for a Smiter that can solo Uber Trist and the other 3 Organ bosses, with not too much difficulty.

Thanks.

[Kody]

all seems pretty viable to me and yea even on my friends uber good smiter if he didnt hit tap fairly quick he would die but you put up good reasons for your choices and id go for chains of honor to get some more res and it adds alot of dmg to demons and other things or something lol

[pryzmatix]

Oh yea, didn't even realize that Chains of Honor gives +200% damage to Demons... Now that I think of it, I may use Laying of Hands instead of Dracul's Grasp... +350% damage to Demons :O

[Kody]

ok well i didnt mention those gloves for reasons unless your useing a eexile or a tap wand you will want draculs if your using a eexile or tap wand id go with the 350 demon dmg gloves

[pryzmatix]

Yea I'll have a life tap wand on switch, so looks like Laying of Hands is a good way to go.

Besides, life tap wand is cheaper than an Eth Exile.

[NightWish]

I would use a Lacerator personaly, or a Ber/Ber heavens light.

[Kody]

lol i know and nightwish he said cheap bers arnt exactly cheap

[ubermoose]

My uber smiter did fine with non upg zaka. i also used a black flail with duress dusk too.

[Hellfireclanx]

I'm pretty sure damage to demons doesn't work with smite.

I think this is the best weapon for you

Stormlash
One-Hand Damage: (10-12) To (272-320) (141-166 Avg)
Required Level: 82
Required Strength: 125
Required Dexterity: 77
Durability: 65
Base Weapon Speed: [-10]
+240-300% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+50% Damage To Undead
Adds 1-473 Lightning Damage
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+33% Chance of Crushing Blow
20% Chance To Cast Level 18 Tornado On Striking
15% Chance To Cast Level 10 Static Field On Striking
+3-9 Lightning Absorb (varies)
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 30


ias, cb, chance of static field, light absorb
lacerator is a bad choice because if amp strikes then your lifetap goes away and you die.

you are missing the most important thing of all, prevent monster heal. I would go with blackhorns helm... its cheap, it has 20% slow, prevent monster heal, light res, and light absorb. Then you can scrap tgods for verdungos/string because you'll need the dr.
go with gris shield with 3 pdiamonds
maras
raven
dstar
verdungos
goblin toes
draculs
If the choice is between enigma/coh I'd go with enigma
I think you could pull this build off with a treachery or shaftstop without a problem though

stacked resistance shouldn't be a problem if you have plenty on your charms

put 1 in zeal, its always handy
1 in redemption, meditation, salvation
don't put points into defiance, it would help you more if you put points into resist lightning and resist fire. for every 2 points you put in either of these skills you get a passive +1 max to that resistance. so with 10 in both you'll have 80 fire and 80 light res and 85 to either when you use the aura.

[NightWish]

[quote="Hellfireclanx"]I'm pretty sure damage to demons doesn't work with smite.

I think this is the best weapon for you

Stormlash
One-Hand Damage: (10-12) To (272-320) (141-166 Avg)
Required Level: 82
Required Strength: 125
Required Dexterity: 77
Durability: 65
Base Weapon Speed: [-10]
+240-300% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+50% Damage To Undead
Adds 1-473 Lightning Damage
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+33% Chance of Crushing Blow
20% Chance To Cast Level 18 Tornado On Striking
15% Chance To Cast Level 10 Static Field On Striking
+3-9 Lightning Absorb (varies)
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 30


ias, cb, chance of static field, light absorb
lacerator is a bad choice because if amp strikes then your lifetap goes away and you die.

[/quote]
the static field wont do shit, the ubers have take almost no effect from Static field. cant leach off meph either, meph has 0 drain effectivness, d has 15, and baal has 20.

[Hellfireclanx]

This is coming from someone who suggested lacerator which will do nothing but get you killed as lifetap goes away... and yes you can leech off of the monsters when they have lifetap, have you even done trist before? Please don't give advice when you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

I did not suggest stormlash only for the static field, it is the combined benefits and the low cost which make it a good choice. Obviously static won't do a lot but it will hurt the monsters. It also gives you a socket which you would not have gotten with a runeword or throwing weapons

[pryzmatix]

Nightwish - I had considered Heaven's Light, but to reach 6 frames, I'd have to socket it with two shaels. I also don't know how expensive these are, but considering they are ladder only i'm guessing they are somewhat costly; for a two socket one anyway.

And yea, I don't know the credability of those numbers you gave on leaching, but lifetap is how Poorman survived, and how most solo trist smiters survive.

Hellfireclanx - It would be an amazing weapon, however when the CTC skills go off, it really sets back my smiting tempo; or atleast that's what I've read. And if constant leaching is what keeps smiters alive, would the casting time kill me?

I've also read that prevent monster heal does not work on these bosses, do you know for sure that it does work?

Are you also sure on +% Damage to Demons not working with smite? Was so excited

And besides a low torch I don't have many charms that give resists; correct me if I'm wrong here but:

Meph's conviction = -100 resists
Hell difficulty = -100 resists

Not sure on those numbers, but I think thats what I heard.

Maras = 22
Griswold's Shield = 102
Anya x3 = 45
Low Torch = 12
Um in helm = 15

Total = 196 Resists

with Chains of Honor = 261

Ubermoose - Black is nice and cheap, but will only reach 6 frames if I get 20 IAS gloves and a 15% IAS jewel somewhere. I'd really rather get all the speed needed from my weapon.

[Hellfireclanx]

[NightWish]

[quote="Hellfireclanx"]This is coming from someone who suggested lacerator which will do nothing but get you killed as lifetap goes away... and yes you can leech off of the monsters when they have lifetap, have you even done trist before? Please don't give advice when you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

I did not suggest stormlash only for the static field, it is the combined benefits and the low cost which make it a good choice. Obviously static won't do a lot but it will hurt the monsters. It also gives you a socket which you would not have gotten with a runeword or throwing weapons[/quote]

have u ever tired lacerator? prevent monster heal, amp, good ias.

so if:
Guillame's Face: 35 CB
Enimga/COH: 0 CB
Lacerator: 0 CB
Shield: 0 CB (I would suggest Up'd Hoz)
Goblin Toes: 25 CB
Tgods: 0CB
Ring: 0cb
10cb gloves or even steelrends (10cb) or Laying of Hands, venom grips have 5% to.
so thats .... 65% cb, or 6/10-7/10 hits will CB, now, the other thing i look at is the Amp, i have used a Greif (393) and a Lacerator, and when amp damage kicks in, lacerator can do about the same damage (and sometimes more) then a greif.

of course a ber/ber/berb/er/ber/shael PB works to. but thats expensive

yes, i have done trist.


also, gloves arent that hard, the only expensive thing is the Prubies


heck, ill give u this pair for a single 15 lifer sc

[pryzmatix]

Hfcx - Looks like I'm picking up a Stormlash then. Shame though, I'll have to shael it if I want 6 frames, or maybe I can get 15% IAS elsewhere. These should be relatively cheap right? Like less than a Soj? (I ask this because If I remember correctly you're on USEast NL...?)

So you're positive PMH works? Cause then I'll Mal my Stormlash and IAS jewel my helm; wether I use Guillame's or Blackthorn's.

I think I'm going to go with Enigma, as teleport speeds up my runs a bit. Not to mention staying at base strength is very desirable.

I'll go on a resist charm hunt when I trade for all my gear, cause I don't like the idea of having to switch armors and wait for Fade to go off. It's effective, I know, but I'm lazy.

Nightwish - As Hfcx said, the Amp will over ride the Life Tap, which is just about necessary to survive.

Can't really afford Up'd Zak, they seem to be somewhat expensive on my realm. (I play NL)

I'll give my hand at crafting some gloves, for kicks, because I've got a bunch of junk jewels laying around; but I'll probably only end up using them if I get 10% CB along with good stats and - hopefully - 20% IAS.

No thanks on the glove offer; besides I don't have any 15 lifers.