Clueless - spare points with my Ubersmiter

[Jack Carael]

Hello everyone,

I've been running Uber Tristram with my Smiter for a while now, and he's doing fine. I followed the build that maxes Smite, Holy Shield, Defiance and Fanaticism. I use the Grief,Duress,HoZ setup as opposed to the Wizzy, CoH/Enigma, Exile setup.

Should I bother with Zeal? I will not be able to even get close to maxing, because I don't plan on levelling 'till I'm 99 (for obvious reasons). Are 4 or 5 points in Zeal useful? Is the damage from Fanaticism and Grief enough to allow me to dispose of those pesky Uber minions quickly?

Or should I go for Salvation? I've heard it gives passive resists, or passive +Max resists, not sure. Should I dump some points in it?

Most builds I've checked opt for Charge. But more points in Charge are useful nor synergistic for an Uber/DC runner - I won't be doing any PvP, and 1 point in Charge is enough to allow me to move faster.

Is there some other 1-point wonder I'm missing?
Most pala's I build include 1 point in skills like Conviction (for flashing it on) and/or Meditation, but I don't see those skills working on an Ubersmiter.

I'm at a complete loss here. Any help is much, much appreciated.

cheers,
-Jack

[madrettorrR]

Hey Jack!

Let's do this in English... I guess a lot of people don't understand dutch. ;)

There are a few options.

If you want your ubersmiter to help with uberleveling (alongside a Hammerdin), Prayer & Redemption are an option to regain party health and mana. I'm not a big expert in uberleveling, so you might want to study on this.

Putting a point in Salvation is always nice as it couters Uber Meph's Conviction.

If you like to use Zeal, you have to make sure you have at least 5 points in it (as this gives you the max amount of 5 hits per zeal, maxed Fanatism wil give you max zeal speed with a Grief PB). If you have an Anni and a Paladin torch 1 point should be sufficient to have a 5 point zeal. Adding extra points would increase zealdamage. EDIT: I see you already have a HoZ. So you won't even need an Anni and Paladin Torch to get to the desired 5 point zeal.

You can also put points in Conviction. A high amount of this skill can brake enemy immunities so you can throw away that Gimmershred I gave you (or at least only use it on IM's). ;)

A point in Vigor might also be nice if you really have points left. This makes you run a bit faster, even in towns. Personally I hate to run from one side of the Kurast docks to the other side, this takes me waaaay too long. That's why I like the act 4 town and hate the act 2 and 3 towns. ;)
Again, study this on the Arreat Summit before spending points.

btw, what is your complete gear setup?

cheers,
madrettorrR

[Jack Carael]

Hey mate!

I already have Redemption (and thus also Prayer).
Vigor might be a good idea, though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 4 points (rather than 5) in Zeal gives you 5 hits: 1 point = 2 hits, 2 points = 3 hits, and so on until 4 points.

I have HoZ, Anni and a Torch (self-found 19/19!) so 1 point should be fine.
Is the damage bonus for more points in Zeal any good, or should I just stick with the 5-hits BP and let Fanaticism do its job?

Ah, Gimmers.. This gives me another question. How the **** do I use it? I've tried throwing it, Smiting with it, but nothing seems to do much. I've resorted to having a friend cast Amplify Damage on PI's instead..

If Conviction only breaks immunities at high levels it isn't really an option - I don't have many spare points.

So, how exactly does Salvation work? Why does it counter Meph's Conviction? Is it purely passive, or do I activate it? I'm confused now. Should I Smite Meph without Fanaticism on?

On to the gear:
Guillaume's Face, Um'd
Herald of Zakarum, 196% ED, Upped and Um'd
'Duress' runeword in a Dusk Shroud, 1200ish defense
Goreriders, mid-high ED, Upped - have a set of high ED unupped Gores that I will up as soon as I get the runes
Dracul's Grasp, mid-high
Verdungo's Hearty Cord, mid-high
Mara's Kaleidoscope, 26
Raven Frost, +187 to AR, +20 to Dexterity
Dwarf Star, 15 MDR

'Call to Arms' 5/3/2 on the switch
'Ancient's Pledge' Akaran Targe on the switch (because I don't want to be Resistless when buffing)

Annihilus, 18/16 I think
Pala Torch, 19/19
Grand Charm, 14% Resist All
Lots of Small Charms with +18/+19/+20 Life
Some Large Charms with big Poison Damage

Thanks for bringing it up, any advice on my gear is appreciated as well.
I'll be upgrading my gear when I have the resources and feel like it, but it's okay the way it is now, I believe. Maybe I'll get a higher Duress, or another armor completely?

I'm going to get rid of the Poison Damage charms in favour of more Vita SC's, by the way.

Thanks for the help!
-Jack

[madrettorrR]

Hi!

Finally got some time to respond (the migraine isn't that heavy anymore ;) ).

Zeal
Yep, you where right, you only need 4 points in this skill to get 5 hits out of zeal (just checked the AS). Looking at your gear you only need to put 1 skill point in Zeal and Sacrifice as your gear gives you +9 (with 1 from Battle Command from your CtA). So in total you have 10 in Zeal and 10 in Sacrifice (fuels Zeal's damage). More points into Zeal will increase damage.

Gimmershred
It's a throwing weapon, so it should be throwed. Personally I rather use an Azurewrath for Pi's. And for IM's? O well... I tend to be really careful when countering those. I try to Attack IM-monsters first before they cast IM. Indeed, now and then I die, but that really doesn't matter as I only play softcore PvM. So who cares. ;)

Conviction
You need to have the skill at level 25 to brake most immunities. You can get 9 points from your gear, so you need another 16.
I also found this topic (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621957&highlight=break+immunity). This might come in handy. Someone mentions Vengeance, this might be one to look into.

Salvation
Try to kill Uber Meph first... or at least lure him away from the two other Ubers. Uber meph has a high level of Conviction that diminishes your resistances. You can counter this by putting 1 point into Salvation (this becomes 10 points with your gear) and activating it when you take on Mephi. When you're done with Uber Meph, turn Fanatiscm / Defiance back on.

Gear
Looks fine to me... Although I would do some changes.

I would replace the on switch Akaran Targe with an Spiritshield made in a Paladinshield with resistances. This would give your CtA (and BO!) 2 extra skillpoints and you would still have a nice amount of resistance. Ideal would be a 4 socket Sacred Targe with 45@. Although that might be a little bit too expensive for a shield you're only going to use for prebuffing. ;)

Duress is one of the most underestimated armors in the game, so ignore the 'you need gozu enigma armor-responds'. In some build I would even desire Duress more than some of the well known high-end armors.

I'm not a fan of dwarfstars, If you have problems with resistances, it might be better to get a rare ring with resistance mods on it. If you want to make a parttime zealer, try getting a second raven (you can even keep a metalgrid in stash for those situations when you need to have more Attack Rating).

By the way, I noticed you didn't mentioned a weapon. I guess this is a Grief Phaseblade? (as it also gives damage bonus to your Smitedamage?). Grief is not only a great Smiteweapon, but also a great Zealweapon.

[Jack Carael]

But only hard points in Sacrifice fuel Zeal's damage.. But oh well.

Gimmershred just takes waaay too long. I'm going to try to get my hands on an Azurewrath.

So, I battle Mephi without Fanaticism on. Understood.

I'll get a Spirit in a not-that-expensive shield. Really no need to.

Dwarf Star's worked fine for me so far.

I mentioned in my first post that I use Grief, yes.

But now I still don't know what to do with my extra points =(

[BAMFSpecialOps]

Salvation itself does not give any passive bonus, people put points into it so that when you face mephi and his conviction you can use that to negate it. Resist lighting however does give a passive bonus, for ever 2 points your max lighting resistance goes up 1 point(75 to 76, etc) and it is very useful for mephi/souls/etc.

[Jack Carael]

I see, thank you very much for enlightening that!

cheers,
-Jack