BeerRunner
23-03-2008, 07:05
INTRODUCTION
I’ve been playing the uber-hunting kicker for some time, and while it’s more fun than a smiter, it ultimately runs into certain problems. The first and foremost major problem is finishing power. While smiters can’t proc as many crushing blows as you can, a Grief wielding smiter can just truck through the lifebar. On the other han, especially with multiple people in the game, the kicker can easily crushing blow 95% of an uber’s life within 30 seconds, but just can’t seem to finish him off. This ultimately comes down to needing more sources of open wounds. Open wounds is an attack modifier that not only adds damage over time, but completely negates healing. This typically lasts for 8 seconds, so during that 8 seconds, you need to reapply it if you want to keep the uber from healing. For Last Wish users that skip Dracul’s Grasp, this can be a problem.
Second, unlike a smiter, you actually need AR to hit. While Dragon Talon does give a massive AR bonus, it may or may not be enough to continually hit an Uber (typically, being able to hit 75% of the time should be fine).
Fortunately, most of these problems are solved with simple equipment switches. This guide will go in depth into optimal setup for a 7/3 kicker with sufficient resists/AR/crushing blow/open wounds to take clear Uber-Tristan at the same speed or faster than a smiter.
WEAPON CHOICE
Before we go into equipment/ias, we have to decide on which weapon to use. There’s 3 viable choices:
Last Wish Phase Blade (Why phase blade over berserker axe? Simple, the phase blade has a weapon speed of -30 while berserker axe has a speed of 0. The only benefit that you have using the berserker axe over a phase blade is +1 range, which ends up being non-consequential since ubers don’t get affected by knockback): Biggest source of crushing blow on any weapon. Period. 10% chance of life tap allows you freedom over equipment, and Might aura is just groovy. The lack of weapon IAS can be problematic though.
Stormlash (Shael-ed for speed, Ber-ed for Crushing blow, Jah for regular pvm): Stormlash is crazy weapon. Not only does it have crazy modifiers (33% crushing blow, 15% cts static), but the Stormlash already comes with a WSM of -40! [-10 base minus -30 weapon IAS]. Add Shael to it, and you’re looking at a WSM of -60. Not many weapons comes close. Note that a Ber-ed Stormlash is almost always a waste if you’re using a Guilliane’s Face/Goreriders.
Fleshripper- The Fleshripper is another one of those weapons that people normally skipped over. Like a Last Wish, it suffers from no innate IAS, but the combination of 25% crushing blow/ 50% open wounds, -50% target defense, and 20% slow really does nasty nasty things against ubers.
Ultimately, if you’re concentrating on just uber killing, then the Last Wish phase blade would be the optimal choice. Crazy high crushing blow (up to 70%) means that you’ll be fine if you use just one other equipment with CB. Not only this, but the 10% of lifetap gives you the freedom to choose some other pair of gloves besides Draculs. Stormlash runs close, but ultimately, static field does not solve the main problem of a uber-killing kicker (killing the last sliver) and you’re basically chained to a pair of Draculs and a Guilliane’s Face. You’d probably run a Stormlash over a Last Wish for general PvM play.
EQUIPMENT
Now that we’ve established the weapon, let’s state what we want:
75%+ Crushing blow (main damage for
40%+ Open wounds (
14000+ Attack rating (more the better!)
7/3 Kicks
24 or 30 in Dragon Talon
75% block
At least 50+ resist for cold/lightning when affected by Uber-Mephisto’s aura (basically, you’ll be suffering from -100 from Hell penalty, and -125 from his conviction)
1500+ HP
The big thing here is the emphasis on open wounds. Many many times, I’ve brought Duriel/Baal down to a sliver, but Duriel’s Holy Freeze and Baal’s fast natural regeneration means that I’m taking the same time to finish them as it is to get to that point. This isn’t much of a concern in a one player game, but if you have more people in the game, you’re going to wish that you had more open-wounds proc to stop their regeneration.
How does this work with Last Wish? Well assuming an average roll on crushing blow (65%), you basically only need 10% more or so to make your kicker viable. Gore Riders by itself gives you 15%, which gives you 80% CB. This is more than enough, but having more crushing blow doesn’t hurt either.
By itself, the Last Wish will give you 10/4 kicks. What this basically means is that your first kick will take 10 frames to come out, and each of the followup kicks will take 4 frames. As a minimum, you need to hit the 3 frame followup kick, which takes a mere 5IAS. The IAS (FROM EQUIPMENT) you need to hit the initial kick breakpoints is the following:
IAS Initial Frame Kick
0 10
1 9
18 8
55 7
*** Note that the IAS you get from equipment is different from the IAS you get from equipment! Take a look at jrichard’s tables if you want more detail.
It’s fairly easy to hit the 8 frame follow-up kick…just slap on a 20IAS equipment anywhere, and poof, you get 8/3. Hitting 7/3 is different and requires a good amount of equipment overhaul. This is what we’re going to focus on.
Let’s go into the equipment analysis:
Gloves choices: Dracul’s Grasp, Trang’s Claws, Crafted Blood Gloves
Dracul’s Grasp: This is pretty much an unconditional piece of equipment if you’re not using a Last Wish. If you don’t have a ctc Life Tap, you’re not going to last long against the Ubers. Period. Luckily, these come with essential and useful mods, such as 25% open wounds, some strength, and a good amount of life leech.
Trang’s Claws: These deserve special mention because of the application bug. The +25% poison damage is applied twice: Once during cast of Venom, and once when hitting. It’s worth it to keep a pair of these in the stash just for a prebuff.
Crafted Blood Gloves: If you’re going for the 7/3 breakpoint, you want these. 20% IAS and high crushing blow is a MUST! If you get a pair with +martial arts, more power for you.
My choice: Crafted Blood Gloves (for the 20IAS)
Helm choices: Guilliane’s face, Kira’s Guardian, Andariel’s Helm
Guilliane’s face: This is THE choice for the non-LW user. 35% Crushing blow! +Strength for equipment! The only problem is that socketing with a 15%IAS jewel will NOT help you reach the 8/3 breakpoint (which requires 18, although you will hit 9/3 which is fine), so you need another source somewhere for 8/3)
Kira’s Guardian: You need this to kill Uber-Mephisto. +70 resists is no joke, and if socked with an Um, your resists should be high enough for you to tank Mephisto’s conviction aura.
Rare Circlet: You can get some really nice mods, such as +skills, +ar, +resists from these. If you can get a good one, more power for you, but I wouldn't count on getting one.
Andariel’s Helm: I’ve actually passed over this a few times before I realized how much this fits. First off: +20IAS. Socket this with a +15IAS jewel with resists, and poof, 35IAS. 35IAS from these and 20IAS from your gloves means you’ll just make the 7/3 breakpoint! Other positive factors is a useful +2Skills, +Strength, and increased poison resist to help against Lilith. The big minus: the negative fire resist, shouldn’t be a problem when killing Ubers. If you have lifetap on your target, you can easily tank Diablo’s fire breath and fire ring.
My choice: Andariel’s Helm socketed with a 15IAS/resist jewel. [Note that a Ias/lightning resist jewel may be better depending on how your resists turn out].
Shield: Stormshield
Stormshield: This is pretty much the only choice that you have. Massive damage reduction, and stacked lightning/cold resists…what more do you actually need? Socket with a PDiamond for more resists.
Belt: IK Belt, Thundergod’s Vigor, Crafted Blood Belt
IK Belt: Yes, it’s the IK Belt. Before you point, laugh, and close the window, consider that not only does it have a massive strength bonus, but +31 lightning resist, which will help you survive against Uber-Mephisto.
Thundergod’s Vigor: This is a MUCH better choice if you have the resists. By itself, it doesn’t give you any lightning resist, but 20% absorb goes a long way in allowing you to tank Mephisto’s charged bolts. +20 Vitality is pretty groovy too.
Crafted Blood Belt: If you need more open wounds, try crafting a bunch of these. Up to 10% open wounds can be gotten from these. Try looking for one with +resists, +str, high open wounds.
Choice: Thundergod’s Vigor
Boots: Shadow Dancers, upped Gore Riders
Shadow Dancers: The unique myrmidon greaves. These have the useful +dex to help you hit max block with the Stormshield as well +2 to Shadow Disciples. Keep in mind though that the Shadow Disciples is of limited value, since your Fade is going to be overwritten by Last Wish anyway, so the boots only benefit your Shadow Master and Venom. Do keep in mind that if you have way over max crushing blow and don’t need the gore riders, the +dex translates to more life which is always a good thing.
Upped Gore Riders: While these boots don’t have the massive Dex bonus that the Shadow Dancers have, they’re probably better overall. +15% CB and +10% open wounds just help with the overall speed of killing the ubers more than the Shadow Dancers will.
Choice: Upped Gore Riders
Armor: Enigma, Fortitude, Duress (you’re going to need strength to use a Stormshield anyway, so you can probably get away with using an Archon Plate)
Enigma: The obvious benefit of Enigma is teleporting. If you don’t have a buddy to help you skip Lilith’s and Uber-Izual’s stages, then having one in your stash will probably save you tons of time. Keep in mind that you need 65FCR to hit 11 frame teleport, and 102 to hit 10 frames. I’d keep a Wizardspike and a pair of FCR rings in my stash if you’re planning to teleport around.
Chains of Honor: +65 resist. With the CoH on, you’ll not only be able to max resists fairly easily, and the 8% DR will max out your damage reduction at 50% (35% from Stormshield, 11% from proc-ed Fade). An overall defensive choice.
Fortitude: Fortitude is what I’ve been using for a while and it’s really an incredible armor. Up to +30 resists, +life, massive amounts of armor with chilling armor, and +damage! Wow! Fortitude also makes your blade fury (if you’re using it) hurt!
Duress: Ultimately though, Fortitude doesn’t actually gives you the mods that allows you to kill Ubers faster. Sure, you have +damage, but the increase is miniscule and they’ll easily be healing faster than you can do damage, especially if you can’t get an Open Wounds to proc. To that end, Duress stands out. +15% CB, +33 OW means that with an optimal setup, you’ll easily hit 100% crushing blow, and 43% Open Wounds (68% if you use Draculs’s over the crafted gloves!). If you weren’t using Duress and hit the 7/3 breakpoint, you’d be stuck with a mere 10% Open Wounds….which is probably going to give you fits when Uber-Baal is healing faster than you can do damage. You do lose some resists and defense switching from a Fortitude to Duress though.
My Choice: Duress
Jewelry:
Ravenfrost: A no brainer. If you’re trying to kill Baal without one of these, you mind as well just save and quit. Both Dex and AR are useful, so try to get one as perfect as possible.
Angelic Amulet+Ring: These gives a huge huge AR bonus! It’s not unheard of to break 25,000 AR with this set on and a pre-buff from a Demon Limb!
Metagrid: Massive AR boost, good resists. Keep one for killing Mephisto.
Mara’s Kaleidoscope: You don’t really need the +2 skills unless you’re trying to hit a Dtalon Breakpoint. Use a Metagrid over this.
Rare Ring: Look for stats/attack rating/resists leech.
I normally wear a Metagrid and 2 Ravenfrost when killing Mephisto and switch to an Angelic Set when killing the other Ubers.
Weapon Switch:
2x +3 Shadow Discipline Claws: +6 to Shadow Discipline is no joke. You’re going to like it when your Shadow Master is tanking all those skeleton mages and barely taking any damage.
Call to arms/Spirit: Use the best CTA you can find. This is probably a better setup since the ~500 life bonus is worth losing 2 to venom/shadow master.
Others
Annihilus/Torch: Use the best you can find. I’d value resists over stats for this build.
MA Grand Charms: You don’t need that many of these, just enough to hit the breakpoint for Dragon Talon. As a reference , Dragon Talon adds an additional kick every 6 levels, so aim for 24 or 30 (or 23/29 with a CTA, but I’d rather not have to deal with it in case it runs out in the middle)
Attack rating/Resist Charms: Add enough that you feel like you’re hitting comfortably. This is probably why a smiter is a lot easier to build than a kicker…you need to make sure your attacks actually hit.
Stash: These aren’t really necessarily, but keeping a Demon Limb for enchant and a pair of Trang’s Gloves for a prebuff can help if you’re having some problems.
OPTIMAL SETUP
To sum it up, here is my optimal setup:
Helm: Andariel’s Visage (socketed with a 15IAS/resist jewel) [Kira’s Guardian versus Mephisto]
Armor: Duress (on best defense light armor you can find)
Belt: Thundergod’s Vigor
Boots: Upped Gore riders
Gloves: +20IAS, +10% Crushing blow crafted blood gloves
Weapon: Last Wish Phase Blade
Shield: Stormshield (socketed with PDiamond/Um)
Jewelry: Combination of Metagrid (for Mephisto), Angelic’s set, Raven frosts.
What does this setup give you?
-100% Crushing blow!
- 43% Open wounds
-7/3 kicks (8/3 vs Mephisto)
- ~60 Lightning resist/75 cold resist with a Kira’s Guardian switch (enough to tank Mephisto with Tgod’s on)
-1500+ Life with CTA
-5 or 6 kick sets depending on charms.
Skill setup
Max Dragon Talon (even if it’s not going to hit a break point, the AR bonus helps)
Max Shadow Master
Max Venom
1 Dragon Flight
1 Fade
1 Blade Fury (Useful against the Oblivion Knights!)
1+ Cloak of Shadows
1+ Mind Blast
Cloak of Shadows can be useful if you’re fighting in an open area with tons of mobs swarming you. It’s also useful to find Duriel when he’s not by the portal. Keep in mind that you cannot recast Cloak of Shadows when it’s still in effect. In general, long duration is useful while tanking the ubers, short duration is useful when trying to find the mini-ubers without an enigma.
Some folks over at Amazon Basin found a correlation between Mind Blast skill levels and the frequency that the Shadow Master uses it. Since stun/conversion is pretty decent crowd control, it’s probably worth it to max mind blast over CoS.
Stat placement:
Str: Enough stats to use a Stormshield/Upped Goreriders
Dex: Enough for max block
Vit: Everything else
Energy: Question mark?
Just as a reference, max block with a Stormshield at level 80 requires 182 dex, level 85 requires 193 dex, level 90 requires 203 dex.
Keep in mind that if you’re uber/dclone hunting, you may not want to keep a torch/annihulus charm on you. If you choose not to, be sure to adjust your stats accordingly.
Credit goes to JanusJones for giving me the idea to make one of these in the first place, and Jrichard's tables for forcing me to do math again.
I’ve been playing the uber-hunting kicker for some time, and while it’s more fun than a smiter, it ultimately runs into certain problems. The first and foremost major problem is finishing power. While smiters can’t proc as many crushing blows as you can, a Grief wielding smiter can just truck through the lifebar. On the other han, especially with multiple people in the game, the kicker can easily crushing blow 95% of an uber’s life within 30 seconds, but just can’t seem to finish him off. This ultimately comes down to needing more sources of open wounds. Open wounds is an attack modifier that not only adds damage over time, but completely negates healing. This typically lasts for 8 seconds, so during that 8 seconds, you need to reapply it if you want to keep the uber from healing. For Last Wish users that skip Dracul’s Grasp, this can be a problem.
Second, unlike a smiter, you actually need AR to hit. While Dragon Talon does give a massive AR bonus, it may or may not be enough to continually hit an Uber (typically, being able to hit 75% of the time should be fine).
Fortunately, most of these problems are solved with simple equipment switches. This guide will go in depth into optimal setup for a 7/3 kicker with sufficient resists/AR/crushing blow/open wounds to take clear Uber-Tristan at the same speed or faster than a smiter.
WEAPON CHOICE
Before we go into equipment/ias, we have to decide on which weapon to use. There’s 3 viable choices:
Last Wish Phase Blade (Why phase blade over berserker axe? Simple, the phase blade has a weapon speed of -30 while berserker axe has a speed of 0. The only benefit that you have using the berserker axe over a phase blade is +1 range, which ends up being non-consequential since ubers don’t get affected by knockback): Biggest source of crushing blow on any weapon. Period. 10% chance of life tap allows you freedom over equipment, and Might aura is just groovy. The lack of weapon IAS can be problematic though.
Stormlash (Shael-ed for speed, Ber-ed for Crushing blow, Jah for regular pvm): Stormlash is crazy weapon. Not only does it have crazy modifiers (33% crushing blow, 15% cts static), but the Stormlash already comes with a WSM of -40! [-10 base minus -30 weapon IAS]. Add Shael to it, and you’re looking at a WSM of -60. Not many weapons comes close. Note that a Ber-ed Stormlash is almost always a waste if you’re using a Guilliane’s Face/Goreriders.
Fleshripper- The Fleshripper is another one of those weapons that people normally skipped over. Like a Last Wish, it suffers from no innate IAS, but the combination of 25% crushing blow/ 50% open wounds, -50% target defense, and 20% slow really does nasty nasty things against ubers.
Ultimately, if you’re concentrating on just uber killing, then the Last Wish phase blade would be the optimal choice. Crazy high crushing blow (up to 70%) means that you’ll be fine if you use just one other equipment with CB. Not only this, but the 10% of lifetap gives you the freedom to choose some other pair of gloves besides Draculs. Stormlash runs close, but ultimately, static field does not solve the main problem of a uber-killing kicker (killing the last sliver) and you’re basically chained to a pair of Draculs and a Guilliane’s Face. You’d probably run a Stormlash over a Last Wish for general PvM play.
EQUIPMENT
Now that we’ve established the weapon, let’s state what we want:
75%+ Crushing blow (main damage for
40%+ Open wounds (
14000+ Attack rating (more the better!)
7/3 Kicks
24 or 30 in Dragon Talon
75% block
At least 50+ resist for cold/lightning when affected by Uber-Mephisto’s aura (basically, you’ll be suffering from -100 from Hell penalty, and -125 from his conviction)
1500+ HP
The big thing here is the emphasis on open wounds. Many many times, I’ve brought Duriel/Baal down to a sliver, but Duriel’s Holy Freeze and Baal’s fast natural regeneration means that I’m taking the same time to finish them as it is to get to that point. This isn’t much of a concern in a one player game, but if you have more people in the game, you’re going to wish that you had more open-wounds proc to stop their regeneration.
How does this work with Last Wish? Well assuming an average roll on crushing blow (65%), you basically only need 10% more or so to make your kicker viable. Gore Riders by itself gives you 15%, which gives you 80% CB. This is more than enough, but having more crushing blow doesn’t hurt either.
By itself, the Last Wish will give you 10/4 kicks. What this basically means is that your first kick will take 10 frames to come out, and each of the followup kicks will take 4 frames. As a minimum, you need to hit the 3 frame followup kick, which takes a mere 5IAS. The IAS (FROM EQUIPMENT) you need to hit the initial kick breakpoints is the following:
IAS Initial Frame Kick
0 10
1 9
18 8
55 7
*** Note that the IAS you get from equipment is different from the IAS you get from equipment! Take a look at jrichard’s tables if you want more detail.
It’s fairly easy to hit the 8 frame follow-up kick…just slap on a 20IAS equipment anywhere, and poof, you get 8/3. Hitting 7/3 is different and requires a good amount of equipment overhaul. This is what we’re going to focus on.
Let’s go into the equipment analysis:
Gloves choices: Dracul’s Grasp, Trang’s Claws, Crafted Blood Gloves
Dracul’s Grasp: This is pretty much an unconditional piece of equipment if you’re not using a Last Wish. If you don’t have a ctc Life Tap, you’re not going to last long against the Ubers. Period. Luckily, these come with essential and useful mods, such as 25% open wounds, some strength, and a good amount of life leech.
Trang’s Claws: These deserve special mention because of the application bug. The +25% poison damage is applied twice: Once during cast of Venom, and once when hitting. It’s worth it to keep a pair of these in the stash just for a prebuff.
Crafted Blood Gloves: If you’re going for the 7/3 breakpoint, you want these. 20% IAS and high crushing blow is a MUST! If you get a pair with +martial arts, more power for you.
My choice: Crafted Blood Gloves (for the 20IAS)
Helm choices: Guilliane’s face, Kira’s Guardian, Andariel’s Helm
Guilliane’s face: This is THE choice for the non-LW user. 35% Crushing blow! +Strength for equipment! The only problem is that socketing with a 15%IAS jewel will NOT help you reach the 8/3 breakpoint (which requires 18, although you will hit 9/3 which is fine), so you need another source somewhere for 8/3)
Kira’s Guardian: You need this to kill Uber-Mephisto. +70 resists is no joke, and if socked with an Um, your resists should be high enough for you to tank Mephisto’s conviction aura.
Rare Circlet: You can get some really nice mods, such as +skills, +ar, +resists from these. If you can get a good one, more power for you, but I wouldn't count on getting one.
Andariel’s Helm: I’ve actually passed over this a few times before I realized how much this fits. First off: +20IAS. Socket this with a +15IAS jewel with resists, and poof, 35IAS. 35IAS from these and 20IAS from your gloves means you’ll just make the 7/3 breakpoint! Other positive factors is a useful +2Skills, +Strength, and increased poison resist to help against Lilith. The big minus: the negative fire resist, shouldn’t be a problem when killing Ubers. If you have lifetap on your target, you can easily tank Diablo’s fire breath and fire ring.
My choice: Andariel’s Helm socketed with a 15IAS/resist jewel. [Note that a Ias/lightning resist jewel may be better depending on how your resists turn out].
Shield: Stormshield
Stormshield: This is pretty much the only choice that you have. Massive damage reduction, and stacked lightning/cold resists…what more do you actually need? Socket with a PDiamond for more resists.
Belt: IK Belt, Thundergod’s Vigor, Crafted Blood Belt
IK Belt: Yes, it’s the IK Belt. Before you point, laugh, and close the window, consider that not only does it have a massive strength bonus, but +31 lightning resist, which will help you survive against Uber-Mephisto.
Thundergod’s Vigor: This is a MUCH better choice if you have the resists. By itself, it doesn’t give you any lightning resist, but 20% absorb goes a long way in allowing you to tank Mephisto’s charged bolts. +20 Vitality is pretty groovy too.
Crafted Blood Belt: If you need more open wounds, try crafting a bunch of these. Up to 10% open wounds can be gotten from these. Try looking for one with +resists, +str, high open wounds.
Choice: Thundergod’s Vigor
Boots: Shadow Dancers, upped Gore Riders
Shadow Dancers: The unique myrmidon greaves. These have the useful +dex to help you hit max block with the Stormshield as well +2 to Shadow Disciples. Keep in mind though that the Shadow Disciples is of limited value, since your Fade is going to be overwritten by Last Wish anyway, so the boots only benefit your Shadow Master and Venom. Do keep in mind that if you have way over max crushing blow and don’t need the gore riders, the +dex translates to more life which is always a good thing.
Upped Gore Riders: While these boots don’t have the massive Dex bonus that the Shadow Dancers have, they’re probably better overall. +15% CB and +10% open wounds just help with the overall speed of killing the ubers more than the Shadow Dancers will.
Choice: Upped Gore Riders
Armor: Enigma, Fortitude, Duress (you’re going to need strength to use a Stormshield anyway, so you can probably get away with using an Archon Plate)
Enigma: The obvious benefit of Enigma is teleporting. If you don’t have a buddy to help you skip Lilith’s and Uber-Izual’s stages, then having one in your stash will probably save you tons of time. Keep in mind that you need 65FCR to hit 11 frame teleport, and 102 to hit 10 frames. I’d keep a Wizardspike and a pair of FCR rings in my stash if you’re planning to teleport around.
Chains of Honor: +65 resist. With the CoH on, you’ll not only be able to max resists fairly easily, and the 8% DR will max out your damage reduction at 50% (35% from Stormshield, 11% from proc-ed Fade). An overall defensive choice.
Fortitude: Fortitude is what I’ve been using for a while and it’s really an incredible armor. Up to +30 resists, +life, massive amounts of armor with chilling armor, and +damage! Wow! Fortitude also makes your blade fury (if you’re using it) hurt!
Duress: Ultimately though, Fortitude doesn’t actually gives you the mods that allows you to kill Ubers faster. Sure, you have +damage, but the increase is miniscule and they’ll easily be healing faster than you can do damage, especially if you can’t get an Open Wounds to proc. To that end, Duress stands out. +15% CB, +33 OW means that with an optimal setup, you’ll easily hit 100% crushing blow, and 43% Open Wounds (68% if you use Draculs’s over the crafted gloves!). If you weren’t using Duress and hit the 7/3 breakpoint, you’d be stuck with a mere 10% Open Wounds….which is probably going to give you fits when Uber-Baal is healing faster than you can do damage. You do lose some resists and defense switching from a Fortitude to Duress though.
My Choice: Duress
Jewelry:
Ravenfrost: A no brainer. If you’re trying to kill Baal without one of these, you mind as well just save and quit. Both Dex and AR are useful, so try to get one as perfect as possible.
Angelic Amulet+Ring: These gives a huge huge AR bonus! It’s not unheard of to break 25,000 AR with this set on and a pre-buff from a Demon Limb!
Metagrid: Massive AR boost, good resists. Keep one for killing Mephisto.
Mara’s Kaleidoscope: You don’t really need the +2 skills unless you’re trying to hit a Dtalon Breakpoint. Use a Metagrid over this.
Rare Ring: Look for stats/attack rating/resists leech.
I normally wear a Metagrid and 2 Ravenfrost when killing Mephisto and switch to an Angelic Set when killing the other Ubers.
Weapon Switch:
2x +3 Shadow Discipline Claws: +6 to Shadow Discipline is no joke. You’re going to like it when your Shadow Master is tanking all those skeleton mages and barely taking any damage.
Call to arms/Spirit: Use the best CTA you can find. This is probably a better setup since the ~500 life bonus is worth losing 2 to venom/shadow master.
Others
Annihilus/Torch: Use the best you can find. I’d value resists over stats for this build.
MA Grand Charms: You don’t need that many of these, just enough to hit the breakpoint for Dragon Talon. As a reference , Dragon Talon adds an additional kick every 6 levels, so aim for 24 or 30 (or 23/29 with a CTA, but I’d rather not have to deal with it in case it runs out in the middle)
Attack rating/Resist Charms: Add enough that you feel like you’re hitting comfortably. This is probably why a smiter is a lot easier to build than a kicker…you need to make sure your attacks actually hit.
Stash: These aren’t really necessarily, but keeping a Demon Limb for enchant and a pair of Trang’s Gloves for a prebuff can help if you’re having some problems.
OPTIMAL SETUP
To sum it up, here is my optimal setup:
Helm: Andariel’s Visage (socketed with a 15IAS/resist jewel) [Kira’s Guardian versus Mephisto]
Armor: Duress (on best defense light armor you can find)
Belt: Thundergod’s Vigor
Boots: Upped Gore riders
Gloves: +20IAS, +10% Crushing blow crafted blood gloves
Weapon: Last Wish Phase Blade
Shield: Stormshield (socketed with PDiamond/Um)
Jewelry: Combination of Metagrid (for Mephisto), Angelic’s set, Raven frosts.
What does this setup give you?
-100% Crushing blow!
- 43% Open wounds
-7/3 kicks (8/3 vs Mephisto)
- ~60 Lightning resist/75 cold resist with a Kira’s Guardian switch (enough to tank Mephisto with Tgod’s on)
-1500+ Life with CTA
-5 or 6 kick sets depending on charms.
Skill setup
Max Dragon Talon (even if it’s not going to hit a break point, the AR bonus helps)
Max Shadow Master
Max Venom
1 Dragon Flight
1 Fade
1 Blade Fury (Useful against the Oblivion Knights!)
1+ Cloak of Shadows
1+ Mind Blast
Cloak of Shadows can be useful if you’re fighting in an open area with tons of mobs swarming you. It’s also useful to find Duriel when he’s not by the portal. Keep in mind that you cannot recast Cloak of Shadows when it’s still in effect. In general, long duration is useful while tanking the ubers, short duration is useful when trying to find the mini-ubers without an enigma.
Some folks over at Amazon Basin found a correlation between Mind Blast skill levels and the frequency that the Shadow Master uses it. Since stun/conversion is pretty decent crowd control, it’s probably worth it to max mind blast over CoS.
Stat placement:
Str: Enough stats to use a Stormshield/Upped Goreriders
Dex: Enough for max block
Vit: Everything else
Energy: Question mark?
Just as a reference, max block with a Stormshield at level 80 requires 182 dex, level 85 requires 193 dex, level 90 requires 203 dex.
Keep in mind that if you’re uber/dclone hunting, you may not want to keep a torch/annihulus charm on you. If you choose not to, be sure to adjust your stats accordingly.
Credit goes to JanusJones for giving me the idea to make one of these in the first place, and Jrichard's tables for forcing me to do math again.