Meph In Uber Trist

[oldtimer]

Hey all, I have a strategy question here. I have a lvl 94 zealer that I use to do uber tristram with.

my item list is as follows:
Mal Shaeffers, HOZ, 15% string, bul-kathos, 244 raven, highlords, gore riders, shaft and guiliaums helm (with deadly strike and crush blow) and Dracs. My resistances are maxed.

Sometimes I swap the shaft/guliaums for a gladiators bane and ber'd gaze, but I kill baal with the shaft guiliaums combo (glad/gaze is way slow and takes forever)

My problem is that the damn poison eats my lunch when I attack meph. Even with life tap on the dracs, im dead to quickly...I see others have no problem, so Im wondering what works for you all with uber meph?

thanks for any insight in advance.

[AnimeCraze]

I think it's not the poison. It's the conviction and lightning enchanted. Stack lightning resist and use salvation.

[ImMaClone]

Try Treachery and wait for the fade to kick in before doing Meph.

[Merick]

A very cheap way is to carry a stack or two of antidote pots in your belt. I don't know how often you are getting poisoned, but 85 poison res can't hurt.
I carry thaw pots for izzy and duriel so I can smite at a decent speed.

[theredpredator]

Poison pots dont work for lilith tough. Her posion is just wicked. Shes wearing 12200 poison dmg per 8 seconds sc's

[krischan]

Hmm, my L86 zealot already made successful solo Tristram runs with this:

Kira's
Stormlash
Duriel's Shell with Um
Stormshield with PD
Dracul's
String of Ears
Goreriders
Highlord's
Ravenfrost
Dual leech ring
Lifetap wand+HoZ on the switch

When comparing the most important things - res, DR and CB - your setup isn't that different from mine. Perhaps Schaefer's Hammer is too slow...

How do you attack Meph ? You have to lure him away from the others, ignore the minions, cast the initial lifetap with the wand and use smite until he is dead. Don't switch to zeal when he is down to a sliver because it will distribute on his minions and even worse, it won't hit Meph all the time.

[stkrause]

my item list is as follows:
Mal Shaeffers, HOZ, 15% string, bul-kathos, 244 raven, highlords, gore riders, shaft and guiliaums helm (with deadly strike and crush blow) and Dracs. My resistances are maxed.
[...]
My problem is that the damn poison eats my lunch when I attack meph. Even with life tap on the dracs, im dead to quickly...I see others have no problem, so Im wondering what works for you all with uber meph?

thanks for any insight in advance.

Wenn I look at your equipment I get the feeling that you have a way to slow attack speed. The game is: Everytime you hit, you gain full life through life tap. If mephi manages to bring your life down between two hits, you are dead. If you hit more often, mephi has less time to kill you:rolleyes:

*stkrause

[oldtimer]

This char doesnt have smite, or at least very much of it. My build is strictly zealer/fan combo. hit speed is fairly fast with it. I have another pally thats L84 and its a zealer too, but I have saved up 11 skill pts.

The 94 was created pre 1.10, but I saved all the extra points so its using synergies with sac/zeal. I made an error in leaving off sanctuary for resists, but its minor. Other than that the speed of zeal works with steal/tap pretty well. However, next attempt at meph im going to try some of the stuff here.

-lure meph away from minions
-get tap going
-stack the resistance charms (perhaps get a templars coat workin for the 90%)

I dont have a smiter and never tried one. how much dmg can you get from that? I hear many mention it but never built one.

[k/t]

The problem with Zeal is that you need a good weapon and lots of AR. With Smite you can get by with base dex and a Black flail. In Tristram you have to focus on the three bosses, who are high level and have high defense. You have no time to waste on the minions. Your char is not an ideal build for Tristram.

The point of the Smiter is not huge damage, but the always-hits skill that carries CB and keeps you alive.

And by Sanctuary I think you mean Salvation.

How do you have max resists with that gear? Only Herald gives resists.

krischan, do you use Stormshield as your primary, smiting shield? Wouldn't Herald be better?

[stkrause]

This char doesnt have smite, or at least very much of it. My build is strictly zealer/fan combo. hit speed is fairly fast with it. I have another pally thats L84 and its a zealer too, but I have saved up 11 skill pts.

One point in smite should be enough, CB is your only relevant source of damage anyways
The problem with zeal is, it misses. And as Mephi has huge defense, it misses fairly often. And if it is a slow zeal (say 6 frames) and 2 swings miss (which is not unlikely), Mephi has 18 frames for killing you (which is enough unless you have *really* much life).
Smite, on the other hand, allways hits. Fast smite = 7 frames, which is factor 2.5 less time for mephi to kill you...

*stkrause