LLD101

[Dao Jones]

Been looking around the site, and trying to figure out how dueling with (not against) a Smiter works. It would seem to me that they don't do much damage, and like it seems implied the real test is to outlast your opponent as you nickle-and-dime them to death (with doses of CB and OW thrown in for good measure). However, in some places I see people posting pretty healthy amounts of Smite damage - amounts that seem, if not equal, fairly approximate to other modes of attack. So which is the case? Is the Smiter a slow but steady killer? Or can he step up and dish it out with the best (non-jeweled Zealot) build?


(The underlying motivation to this question is that I'm giving thought to a level 30-35 dueler, since 90% of the pub duels I come across are against level 25-45 characters. However, I have no appreciable life charms to speak of, and most of my damage charms and jewels are currently oriented toward my level 18 duelers. So I'm pondering non-jewel and charm intensive builds I can make at that level, which seem currently to be Smiters and Kickers; since neither need damage charms or jewels as far as I can see, I can load their sockets up with rubies to fill out my lack of life charms. However, a lack of a huge life pool on a slow killer would probably not be very viable, hence my "slow smite kill" question.)

[Chewie]

A smiter would be your best bet IMO. For a lvl 29 kicker, you're gonna need tons of strength to wear war boots, which means very little life. I tried a 29 kicker and scrapped it when I remembered I had no charms. Her life was around 300-400 if I remmeber. A smiter on the other hand can probably get away with about...50ish strength I'm guessing. Also, +skills will help up the damage on your smite more than your kicker would get. The only problem, is you'll need to shop/trade for some pretty good items, unless you go above the lld101 level restriction for smiters which is 28.

[Mr.Snuggles]

well he said hes gonna go 30-35 so im guesing he isnt follow 101 rules.. just a guess though

a 35 smiter would be your best bet....all u need to do is shop a monks spike shield and make a Black flail (runeword)....and i beleive most use Rattlecage for cb...and Gulliums helm....for rings id say sojs and a +2 to combat skillz ammy....gloves id say b-fist and belt id say deaths....and for boots use Goblin Toes......i dont beleive ne of this is hard to get and its a VERY deadly build....as for a 35 kicker id say do the same general thing except for a shield use Grim rhyme shield and for boots/gloves/belt use Ik

[Dao Jones]

[VoicesLLD]

it is all in the shield. if you can get yourself a decent rare +2 combat 30/20 barbed shield, youll have a good smiter. if you want to make him even better, get a +3 holy shield scepter.

other then that, it is almost the same gear as a zealot. and a well built smiter will beat a well built zealot any day, as smiter is the antimelee character. if you want to know a build for a level 30-35, look up a build for a level 28, and just add your extra skills to holy shield.

[Dao Jones]

[Inexorable]

Dao, if you're going for big cb/ow nastiness with a bit of smite damage thrown in for fun, I'd suggest the following few items:

Guillaume's Face.
Goblin Toe
Black runeword Flail

That's for 100% crushing blow.

Now, if you're going to go to 35, pack an upgraded Swordback Hold. Barbed shields are the highest smite damage shields available at that level still, if I remember correctly.. and it's got open wounds. Rawk. 50%, I think.

Lay on all the +2 combat skills stuff ya can find for pre-buffing purposes (Or, you're ladder if I recall, so Spirit's not out of the question), and smift-smite your poor bastard melee opponents into the ground.

[Dao Jones]

[Mr.Snuggles]

im suprised bela hasnt said sumthing...he used to use MethMike's acc all the time (sry if this is some 1 on forums whos name i have no idea of...=\)had a VERY deadly smiter on it....but it was a cheap yet very deadly build....i beleive the hardest thing to find was the Monks barbed shield.....

[Jerkazoid]

Deadly strike (DS) does nothing for smite
items that give Chance to crush per strike, stack. (30+40%+10% =80%)
100% chance to crush means every strike will crush, there is no cap.


lvl 35?? i think id go like this.

upped swordgaurd* saves a ton of dex and 50% OW!
spirit shroud for +1 ,cbf , etc
orphans hat for crushing
string of ears for dr% and mdr
sojs
+2 combat ammy
"black" flail
bloodfists
goblins (crush!) or cow kings, or sanders

[try real hard to get +2 combat (or spirit) or +3hs scepter item along with +2combat shield on switch to get HS up 4 or 5 more ]

ull need ias jewels in your sockets (*one in the upped swordbaurd will turn the shield 36).. im not gonna check the breaks but go for fanata as main aura for the speed it will let u hit.. (be mind full of your breaks) and use the pre req of concentration incase u want uniteruptible vs certain players,, but stay with speed., speed is GOOD for decent dmg smiters.

your dmg should be alright.. and even if a player tries to negate it u have butt loads of OW and crushing..just make sure your smite reaches about 600 max... if your smite avg dmg is under 450, get more!.,, either with more HS prebuff +smite skill points

dont bother with def,, i doubt it will work on decent players unless u built with lots of def gear and skills and totaly crapped your dmg for it. (bad idea!) let the dmg along with its speed do its thang,, thats what lvl 25+ smiters are good at.

[Dao Jones]

Thanks Jerkazoid and others. Sounds like a pretty easy build to put together. (I don't have SoJs; too bad my BK ring isn't useful until level 50+...) I have most of the gear listed, and shopping a Holy Shield scepter is only a matter of a little patience (since it's only a pre-buff anyway, it doesn't need any other useful mods, I'd guess). So skills then, if I'm hearing right, would look like this (given 38 skills points @ level 35):

06 Pre-reqs (Might, BA, Conc, HB, BH, Charge)
06 Fanaticism
12 Holy Shield
14 Smite

Basic plan is to Charge to close the distance, then smite like a demon until one of us is dead. Gear will look as follows:

Helm: Guillaumes (probably Hel'd to reduce Str reqs)
Armor: Spirit Shroud
Weapon: "Black" in something light and fast
Shield: Upped Swordguard
Weap2: Prebuff HS scepter
Shield2: Something with +skills
Gloves: Upped Bloodfists
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Goblin Toe (maybe upped)
Ammy: Something with +skills
Rings: useful rares, or maybe a Manald Heal if mana is an issue.

With that build I'd have:

100% Crushing Blow
60% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Open Wounds
15% Deadly Strike
25% IAS (with approx 28% from Fanat, for 53% total)

The second-highest bp for Smite (7 frame attack) with a Flail is 60%, which can easily be achieved with an IAS jewel somewhere. Which leaves the one open socket (shield or armor) for... something. I won't need FBR with Holy Shield, and my FHR is about as high as I'd need it. The heaviest item I'll have is the Guillaumes - even with the -15% I'll need about 97 Strength to use it. Unfortunately, the only source of +Strength I have (other than whatever I get on jewelry or charms) is the helm itself, so it looks like I'll be pumping points into Strength. Stats will look like this:

Strength: 97 (72 spent)
Dexterity: 72 (52 spent)
Vitality: 76 (51 points left over)

This will leave me with a horrible life total: 346 Life (including items). This won't last me more than a hit or two, so that's a problem. Now, if I ditch Guillaumes for, say, a Peasant Crown, I'll lose the Guillaume's mods , but gain 60 Life (from helm), and save maybe 30 Strength points to put into Vitality (another 90 Life, to boot). Of course, Guillaume's was one of the reasons to take this build up to level 35 (along with Black), so if I lose Guillaumes, it kinda defeat the purpose of taking myself to level 35 in the first place...

[xZephyrX]

Put more in holy shield and less in smite..... you'll have better damage that route.

[Jerkazoid]

ias from fanata is EIAS.. (effecitive ias)
regular ias gets thrown into a dimishing return formula

so adding the too is not accurate plz us this link:
http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english

figure what your fanata will be after any +skills like soj or +1ammy.. looks like your gonna need to try to hit 50-55% gear ias to hit 6 frames. (i would say try for 6 frames too)

get +15 life sc's for your life so its closer to 800.

damn i never noticed how heavy ghlimes face is... u could save the 17 stats (using -15%jewel) or go for the 15ias jewel to allow u to hit 6 frames... shroud + face jeweled thats 30%ias there... +25% from gear and your set to hit 6 frames with slvl 6 fanata

12 is the most u can put into HS at lvl 35... so u did fine. just remebr to figure how much +ull get to it and add your dex AFTER that blocking increase to hit 75%.. so your not wasteing dex.

[Belarathon]

I will give you a 100% cb/6 frame smiter lvl 35 build you can try out. I don't use it anymore, so you can have the items. It did pretty well for me, I didn't seem to lose to very much at all. the build is monk's barbed shield of deflecting with 2 socket (+1 pala deflecting mods) 1 pala blah blah other mod ammy, guillaumes helm with 18ed/-15%req, rattlecage armor with 18ed/15ias , black flail, deaths glove belt, 2 sojs, and 40x 15 life sc, waterwalk boots.

i will give you all of the items i have left. the shield, the amulet, the armor, the helm. the rest i have given away i'm afraid. It's a really strong build, it will beat these lvl 45 chars you face fo sure. and i think i still have an up'd perfect max dmg/-15 req bonesnap you can put on for vs casters, with lvl 1 charge it does decent dmg, and you can maintain your 100% crushing blow with it. what;s your account? I'll message you and get you the gear soon enough if you want to try it, it's strong.

[VoicesLLD]

dao is ladder west.