Is My Smiter Ready for Ubers?

[DoWatThouWilt]

Hi. Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out. I understand that there is a smiter guide to ubers here, and have read it thoroughly. However, I wanted to know how my particular setup would fare against ubers - whether it will be easy or hard, whether I can do it alone, what tactics I should use, etc. I have never done ubers before.

Skills:
20 Fanat
20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice
20 Holy Shield
1 Salvation
1 Vengeance
+ Prereqs


Gear:
Guillame's Face
29 res ammy
Grief Phase Blade
Griswold's Shield w/ 3 P Diamond
Smoke
Draculs
Nos Coil
Gores
Ravenfrost
Cathans Ring (Can't find anything better atm)

My inventory is filled with crappy resist gcs and scs, but hey, they do the job.

So this gives me max resists and max block. I'm only level 78 right now, and my next few points will go into Salvation so that I have max resists against Meph's conviction.


Is there any gear I MUST get before I do ubers? What can I expect? Any advice would be appreciated.

[stfrn]

Don't put points in salvation. 1 is more then enough. If anything, put points in resist lightning for the passive max resist.

Looks like you have all you need for ubers, you might want a wand with lifetap charges to start you off.

[zzzackkk]

Yeah you look pretty well off.
When you go to do ubers they all spawn in the center. Run around towards the top of the buildings and move in and out to try to draw meph out first. Then when he follows run, he follows, put salvation on if its not already on and smite away.
After that the other two are farely simple.
Try to get around 250 all res with salvation aura, if you dont have this make sure you have close to 250 light res.
Good Luck

[DoWatThouWilt]

My smiter did end up killing the ubers, but with difficulty at some spots.

Lilith and Duriel were extremely easy. Izzy was a problem, because I kept dying to Iron Maiden on the way, and had to rejoin several times. I don't have a nigma atm, so I have to walk.

When I got to Tristram, I forgot to put Salvation on and meph killed me. Once I put Salvation on, meph was easy. Diablo was very easy as well. Baal caused some problems because his minions are physical immune, and he made a clone.

My strategy became to ignore minions and just smite the ubers. It works better because life tap triggers more often and ubers die fast.

Anyway, so I got my first Standard of Heroes today. :)

I still don't like how fragile my smiter seems - I don't like seeing his health plummet and fill up so quickly. I guess my smiter has less life than most because I kinda added points as I got his items. He has 1001 life right now.

I did, however, replace Griswold's Shield with Exile. Maybe the Defiance aura will save him from taking a lot of damage. I'll also get Life Tap to trigger faster.

[RequiemDeath]

That will help, but your resists will suffer in comparison to the Griswold shield... You have rather low life right now, so perhaps you could level a bit more to say 85 or so, put all the points into Vita, and try that... My killers have about 1300-1600 life... I don't remember exactly, but that is a ball park guess...

About IM... Turn your sound up, and move very slowly... Learn that sound, and know what it looks like... When you hear it, back off that instant... Most lf the time, you should be okay as long as you are moving slowly, and very carefully...

*Requiem_Death

[Arkardo]

You might want to use Smite instead of Zeal to get through the Furnace of Pain. That way, you'll most likely survive if you attack once, unlike using Zeal.

[DoWatThouWilt]

Ok, my pally has a bit more life now, with some changing of gear and leveling. I'm also going to get him a cheap cta as his next gear upgrade.

I did ubers for a second time today and had some trouble again. This time I tried to lure Meph, but instead got Meph's minions and Baal... Had to rejoin several times before finally killing Baal. Then I flooded the portal and had to have a friend come and clear it. (He used Redemption to make it less laggy and used teleport to lure the monsters away).

The uber who gives me the most trouble is Baal. His mana burn can be lethal, and when he uses tele sometimes you get killed by his minions. (Who are mostly PI) Any good approaches to Baal?


For his gear, I've made some changes. I really like Last Wish. Grief is ok and it works fine, but Last Wish has everything: tons of CB, life tap, might aura, and fade, which is most important. I've heard there is a trick where you stand in the fire to make fade trigger. He now wears Highlords, CoH, and Dungos as well.

I met a smiter who does ubers. He said he has no problems, and that this is the best smiter setup:
Guillames (Ber)
Maras
Last Wish
CoH
EV Exile
LoH
Dungos
Gores
Ravenfrost
BK Ring

Of course, there is no 'best' setup, but I like some things about it. I like the use of pdr. Also, I like how it doesn't need Dracs b/c of Last Wish and Exile, and can use LoH, which are great gloves.

[Arkardo]

The uber who gives me the most trouble is Baal. His mana burn can be lethal, and when he uses tele sometimes you get killed by his minions. (Who are mostly PI) Any good approaches to Baal?

Just drink a mana potion. This works because your mana will be replenished ove a course of time, and not at once.


For his gear, I've made some changes. I really like Last Wish. Grief is ok and it works fine, but Last Wish has everything: tons of CB, life tap, might aura, and fade, which is most important. I've heard there is a trick where you stand in the fire to make fade trigger. He now wears Highlords, CoH, and Dungos as well.

I met a smiter who does ubers. He said he has no problems, and that this is the best smiter setup:
Guillames (Ber)
Maras
Last Wish
CoH
EV Exile
LoH
Dungos
Gores
Ravenfrost
BK Ring

Of course, there is no 'best' setup, but I like some things about it. I like the use of pdr. Also, I like how it doesn't need Dracs b/c of Last Wish and Exile, and can use LoH, which are great gloves.

I guess Last Wish is a great runeword and all, but don't forget there are also minions and that you also might want to use your Paladin for other things then Ubering. Grief is better for this purpose. Besides, I think Grief finishes off the Ubers more quickly when their health is low.

[DoWatThouWilt]

I think what's killing me most is the lag. I mean, I have max resists, max block, Fade, damage reduce, 2 sources of Life Tap, and someone BOing me and giving me Salvation, and I still die. How do you get around lag?

[stfrn]

If it's server lag, or somethign wrong with your internet, there's not much you can do. But those would effect everything you do. If you are having too much lag when monsters spawn you want to preload them, find monsters with the same models so your computer already has them loaded.

[DoWatThouWilt]

Just solo'ed the ubers. : )

A friend of mine did an uber run with me and taught me how to lure meph. I then did a run on my own and had no problems. I did die once - when Baal came out I lagged and when my screen cleared I was dead. But I rejoined and had no problems at all.

I did make some changes that may have helped me. A friend of mine gave me an EV Exile, which allowed me to swap out Dracs for LoH. Maybe LoH made killing the ubers a lot faster - I'm not sure if it works w/ Smite or not. I also got a low Anni, which helps a lot.

Anyway, at this point anything I do is just win-more. I'm gonna Ber my Guillame's and get a BK Ring, then either start getting PCombs or get a better CTA.

Thanks for all the help.

[TarnishedHope]

PCombs are for Hammerdins. You should be stacking 20lf/resist scs and etc.

Grats on your successes with Ubber. :fortuneteller:

[Mythatic]

Pcombs are for PvP players, you will not need them for ANY paladins that plays in PvM only.

I suggest 1 point Smite/20 point Zealer build for pure PvM, with combination of Highlords and Laying of Hands, along with a resists eth exile, your gear is pretty much near perfect for the job. I would use String of Ears for DR/Leech or T-gods for Stack res/Sorb.

Again, Congrats on your Uber run.

[TarnishedHope]

Not true if you intend to Ubber level with a hdin. :laugh:

[shuy]

DoWatThouWilt I had the same problem. Smiter is fragile and CtA do not help you much atm. You have not enough life. I had 1200 life and did my first ubers similar way - 20 times die before get torch. Now I have Smiter 1900 life and after BO he is quite safe. Anyway only barb survive in Tristram without problem, but must fight longer. My advice - rebuild character.

Instead of salvation use fade - LW is expensive and useles source of fade, better take treachery and go to Shenk till you get fade. This way you can have fana active all the time.
For phisic immunes help venom from grief and enchant precasted from demon limb (not much but better then nothing). For minion use zeal, for ubers smite.

[DoWatThouWilt]

I have absolutely no problem with ubers now. It was an error of playstyle, not of gear/skill choice, as well as my unfamiliarity with tristram.

Before I tried to lure meph from the right - which lures baal and meph at once. Also, I was trying to kill the minions rather than just smiting the ubers.


It's very easy. Go in the portal. Cast BO/Holy Shield, whatever you need. Go to the fire and wait til Fade triggers. Then run along the edge counter-clockwise until you get to the middle of the bottom wall. Run up and down until meph comes out, and get him to follow you to the lower right corner. Don't worry about his minions, just smite Meph. Use Salvation for meph, and be ready to drink a potion until life tap triggers. Once life tap triggers you know you've won. After you kill meph, switch to fanat and use zeal to kill his minions if you'd like. Then just run in and tank both Baal and Diablo at once, very easy. I kill Baal first, for his mana drain, but it really doesn't matter. Pick up your torch and leave game.

I also don't use Gores anymore. Between LW and Guillames, I get over 100% CB, and Deadly Strike doesn't work with Smite. I use Waterwalks. The life bonus is great with BO, it has good dex, and the extra 5% max fire res is fantastic.

For anyone struggling with ubers or overthinking it right now - like I was two days ago - relax. This build works. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the routine for the first few games and they may be stressful. It's fine. Rejoin if you die and try different things. Get a friend to help you. Ubers aren't hard.