Smite/zeal hybrid questions

[HumanSuit]

I'm currently leveling a smiter to do clone/ubertrist, and have a few questions. I just decided to make a smiter, without alot of deliberation or research. I read enough threads and stuff to catch the basic idea. About gear and stuff. The skill build is sort of obvious, although that's where my question comes in.

My pali is only lvl 50. I've only played with him for a couple hours. I have fanat and smite maxxed, and I'm working on holy shield. But lately I've been reading about a zeal/1pt smite build. Thanks to kingdrylands amazing thread. http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=425449

He has some great examples, variations. If you would like to build a smiter. Definately check out his thread.

Back on track. Hah. So I maxxed smite, the 1 point smite build is out of the question now I guess. Not That I am bumed. I built a smiter. But I have 0 croud control. Unless you count the stun of 3+ seconds. Which I find very effectve. So here's my question. Is zeal so wonderful that I should invest some points in it after I'm done with holy shield? And should I max it? Along with it's synergy? Or should I finish HS, and max defiance for the defense boost and disregard zeal altogether. If it helps answering my question I'll list the gear I plan on wearing.

Helm: guilarms
armor: fort
weapon/shield: greif/exile
gloves: dracs
boots: gorerider
belt: not sure
rings: bk/raven???
Ammy:maras???

If anyone could help me that would be amazing. With the stat build and if you see any ideas about my gear setup please let me know and explain why. Thank you for your time.

[Ragnarod]

Points in Zeal past level 4 are useful to increase your AR, I'd max its synergy (Sacrifice) first since it adds damage and then choose either Zeal or Defiance (I prefer Zeal since your defense will be good with HS and Defiance from Exile, but go with the one that you prefer, either is fine).

You're right about the crowd control, but besides the stun from Smite there's not much you can do, perhaps a Holy Freeze merc from act 2 would help by slowing the enemies down but that's about it I'm afraid.

Your equipment looks fine, you'll need to stack resistances for ubers (perhaps substitute Exile for a Griswold's shield with 3xpdiamonds, prebuff with Treachery... that kind of stuff) but for general play you're more or less set... I'd go for a Highlord's for all around play as an amu (the deadly strike won't work with Smite, but you'll probably be Zealing most of the time anyways), Ravens are nice for the added AR (the +skills from BK won't help much, nearly all your Smite damage comes from CB and the +damage from Grief anyways). You could use a String of Ears/Verdungo as a belt for some DR, it's always useful and I can't really think of anything that would help you more right now.

[HumanSuit]

Awesome. Thanks alot for the help.

[Kinky]

I'm a defense junkie, so if I were you, I'd max Holy Shield before putting the rest into Zeal. Zeal is a great crowd controller and all, but in my experience, doesn't make a huge huge difference while using Grief.

I would go with Mr. Ragnarod's advice and toss on a belt for damage reduction. Verdungos is awesome because of the added Vitality, but SoE makes a good replacement if you already feel as if you have enough life.
Highlords would be awesome if resistances isn't an issue for you against Conviction (it really depends on your playing style and what types of prebuffs you have).


-Kinky

[HumanSuit]

Thanks for the reply kinky. I too am a defense junkie =p but maybe 1 point in zeal would help greatly while I finish up with HS

Also, I don't know if I said this yet, but I'm focusing mainly on ubers, clones, and Tristram. Not sure if that changes the game plan or not.

I was thinking stacking some life/resist SCs, being my favorite charms and all. I could get quite a few to make up for whatever losses I might have. I have enough to be sufficient right now, but that would mean bleeding all my other characters of theirs. And I'm not sure im willing to do that yet.

Also, I was thinking about some leech/resist rings. Correct me if I'm wrong, but smite doesn't leech does it? Which isn't a big deal to me. A few swipes of my zeal and I'm sure I'll be right up to par. And the adds to resist are a no brainer. Should I scratch the leech and look for life rings? Or maybe all 3. I bet I could find a decent rare or something.

[Kinky]

All three would obviously be the best choice. Dual leech rings are useful, but definitely not essential. You have quite a bit of life leech with Dracs LL modifier and Life Tap already, but a little extra will never hurt. The only time my Smiter ever runs out of mana is when I get mana burned by Baal, which can easily be fixed with a row of blues on your belt. It is pretty useful to have mana leech if you want to use Charge as your main means of moving about--that way you can just stop and Zeal a couple enemies and your mana will be full again.

To the best of my knowledge, yes, Smite and life leech do not work at the same time, which is precisely the reason for using Dracs.

If you go with Griswold's shield with 3x P. Diamonds (or Um runes) like Ragnarod suggested, then you wouldn't be so pressed for resists. And the lazy-man's method to make sure you have no more resist problems is to just put a point or two into Salvation and have that active until you take out Meph--who is relatively easy to separate from his brothers)

DClone is easy pickin' for any Smiter with Life Tap, so I wouldn't worry so much about him. Even in Uber Trist, if you have nearing ~2000 life after BOs, you'll probably do fine.



-Kinky