The 1pt smiter guide to Uber Tristram v 1.0.

[templecrasher]

true, true..for some reason I was thinking about the "4 socket" thing, and forgot about that "pally only" thing. I knew what he was saying to begin with, but my point was - why waste an oppurtunity for more damage by using an inferior shield?

[emar]

true, true..for some reason I was thinking about the "4 socket" thing, and forgot about that "pally only" thing. I knew what he was saying to begin with, but my point was - why waste an oppurtunity for more damage by using an inferior shield?

Indeed and agreed, however...

I'm of the belief that the perfect eth ST or Vortex (if you prefer) is hard to come by and I'm sure many people share that opinion. Additionally, taking the risk of rolling it - well if you ain't a gambler...

Maybe all the poster can get a hold of is a non elite or non eth shield or a lesser quality shield. If you play with dupes Exile is easy to make. Many can't afford the best base but can roll the dupeword. Making it in a lesser exceptional class or even a non-eth elite is definitely more affordable.

Nonetheless, if you ain't PvPing you don't need the best gear out there - hell even then you don't.

[Enwere Score]

You don't need to. Crushing blow does most of the work. You just need a healthy 2k smite (I have even done it with 600 damage) so that you can easily leech enough (which I am sure you have). By the way, your smite shield damage doesn't matter much neither because of grief.

I was wondering about that myself. Thanks for the answer. Instead of exile I am using an upped HoZ. Would I be better off with Sanctuary in a 45 base res crown shield, 35 base res vortex shield or just get exile even if I don't have an eth pally shield to put it in?

I am curious becuase my guy is almost ready to go once I get the life tap issue addressed with either drac's and/or exile.

[WilliamThong]

You don't need to. Crushing blow does most of the work. You just need a healthy 2k smite (I have even done it with 600 damage) so that you can easily leech enough (which I am sure you have). By the way, your smite shield damage doesn't matter much neither because of grief.

What about if it is a LW? I only have little smite gears, which are: LW (68Cb,285ed), gore, CoH, ravenfost, drawfstar and a 20/10 anni... (I know I sucked..) Would I be able to live in UberTrist / even able to kill the Ubers?

[RequiemDeath]

What about if it is a LW? I only have little smite gears, which are: LW (68Cb,285ed), gore, CoH, ravenfost, drawfstar and a 20/10 anni... (I know I sucked..) Would I be able to live in UberTrist / even able to kill the Ubers?

First off, that doesn't suck at all... It sounds like you have a good solid set up in the making... Guillime's Face with a resist all jewel or Um rune will help out a whole lot... What shield are you useing? Whatever it is, just make sure it has butt loads of resist, and your ammy needs good resist too... Other than that, you should do just fine... Also, what gloves?

@ Enwere Score: If you haven't got your life tap supplied, go with the exile... This will allow you to use Laying of Hands rather than Dracs for the damage to demons, and the IAS... However, I would advise against making exile in a non ethereal shield... It just seems like a rip off otherwise... If you can't find one with at least 30 resist all, then go for Sanctuary, use Dracs, and you should be fine...

*Requiem_Death

[Arkardo]

I've noticed I still get a lot of physical damage with 1500+ life, 10k defense and 66% blocking. I know that those numbers aren't great. I don't have a HoZ yet, though, so both my defense and blocking can still go up. Anyway, my question is why you guys apparently don't need PDR to survive; I still die a lot of times by a mere Amplify Damage or a small group of Stygian Dolls. Is it a matter of life, armor and a bit of blocking? Or do you use CtA as well?

I still have leftover points that I haven't decided where to put it yet. Right now I'm tempted to put them in Defiance, but I'll wait a little longer to see how things go.

Thanks for any help!

EDIT: Oh, and do I miss out much when I use a triple P'diamonded Griswold's shield, instead of all those other fancy shields I've been reading about?

EDIT2: Heh, one more question. It's probably best to socket my Guillaume's Face with an Um, right? I use a Grief in a Phaseblade, so I don't need IAS.

[RequiemDeath]

@ Arkardo:

Honestly, I wouldn't put those points into Defiance... Reason being that should you upgrade to HoZ later on, you will have no use for it really... The better choice would be to throw those extra points into Blessed Aim for the passive AR bonus, or into smite for extra damage...

Griswold's Shield rocks... It should be just fine... It's only problem lies in it's high strength requirement... Other than that, it is just fine... There are better shields such as Exile or HoZ, but it holds its own just fine... I used one for a long while before I got to try a HoZ and Exile...

Now, when you talk about "getting physical damage" I assume you mean that you are still taking a good number of hits... I imagine that your having some problems with surviving... Is your block 66% after you cast holy shield? If so, is it maxed? If you answer yes to both, then you need more dex... This will help a lot with the amount of damage you receive... Something else that will help with this is having items with life leech on them... Consider String of Ears, Drac's (obviously), Vampire Gaze, or a BK ring...

But, most likely your biggest problem is getting Life Tap to trigger... After it does, it really doesn't matter how much damage you take on so long as you zeal away to get that life back up... To help with this, add Exile, or simply use a Life Tap Wand on switch... I assume you have Drac's so that will give you some room to wait for Life Tap to trigger from the gloves...

As for Guillaume's Face, Um runes give you more resists than jewels will, BUT, jewels can give you another mod to go with it... I use a 15 resist/29% ED jewel... It's quite nice...

Also, about your equipment, and the suggestions I've made... It is always a good idea to have a normal PvM set up, and then an uber set up... Reason being that it gives you a bit more versatility with this character, giving them something else to do rather than just taking on DClone, mini ubers, and Uber Trist... For example, using Vampire Gaze normally, then switching to Guillaume's Face when fighting any of the ubers... Verdungo's (or String of Ears) normally, and T-God's when taking on Uber Mephisto... I do this to feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck... It works well for me, but then again, developing your own style with this character is quite important too...

*Requiem_Death

[Arkardo]

Thank you very much for your indebt answer. I wasn't really clear in my first post; with physical damage, I meant not only the number of hits, but especially the amount. In Uber Tristram, with Life Tap triggered, I often notice that my health goes up and down erratically, often to below 50% of my total health, then back up to 100%. When I kill a monster (or an Uber, for that matter) and can't find another target quick enough, I'm dead already.

Heck, even in Pindleskin's guarden I often die. But then again, my gear isn't aiming for that place.

I use Dracul's, Fortitude, Credendium, Gores, Ravenfrost, Highlord's. I have 66% blocking after Holy Shield. I didn't mention this earlier.

EDIT: hehe, I've just found a 35% all resist Zakarum Shield on one of my mules. What would you advise to do with it? Or still go with Griswold's?

[RequiemDeath]

You really need to put some points into dex... That will bring you up to 75% block, and you'll notice a big difference in any application... Uber and otherwise...

Life Tap is only good so long as you are hitting something that isn't physical immune... No target, no life... Full Rejuvs will sustain you until you can get to another target... Only carry full rejuvs... 4 should do you just fine... More is always better though...

Your gear looks really solid... The only thing I could tell you to try and aim for is just a bit more life leech... Drac's is a good start... Credendium is a good belt, but I think String of Ears would do you more good for the extra life leech... Life leech will keep you from having to suck back so many full rejuvs...

As for that Zakarum shield, if it is ethereal, have Larzuk socket it, and make an Exile... If it isn't, try to roll 3 sockets and put in Sanctuary... But, don't be in a hurry to bugger off Griswold's shield... 102 resist all is nothing to scoff at... However, Sanctuary might give you 80 resist all, but the other mods make it more worthwhile...

*Requiem_Death

[kingdryland]

In uber trist it is a good idea to carry a few mana pots, to confront Baal's mana burn, full purples can't do that properly. Other than that,I wouldn't pump smite at all. 1pt is enough (that's the idea behind the guide). The rest can go into utility auras if you are strictly pvm and defiance or blessed aim if you plan to use your zealot for melee pvp. Max block is a good thing to have no matter what style you play,especially since it is so easy for paladins to achieve it.