Cheap & Efficient~ An Uber Smiter Guide

Cheap & Efficient~ An Uber Smiter Guide
By Jstylish

Hey guys, here's another guide by me. Unfortunately it won't be as detailed as my unfinished Orballer Guide, but I think it will be worth sharing to show that you don't need top efficient gear or expensive, powerful Runewords to take on Ubers by yourself.

Small Disclaimer by the way,

This guide will not list above optimal gear, it will only contain gear setup based off of dirt cheap equipment and efficiency. Anywho, let's begin.


The Poor Man's Uber Smiter - What is it about?

Many times over and over again, I cannot count the amount of times that people have flashed a Perfect or Near Perfect Runeword Grief on a Zerker Axe or Phase Blade and told me "That is the only way to do it". Much worse with people who show me Chains of Honor and then some more. Then you have those who claim that they can tear apart this Uber Smiter build, which is true actually. Let's be honest though, it's a PvM build and as the title says... it's meant for Ubers and only Ubers.

This guide is meant for those who want Torches and want to get into Ubers ASAP, with no time wasting what so ever. It also means that you have a farming character already such as a Sorceress to grab yourself keys and some gear that are fairly easy to find. So those are the pre-requisites for this guide.

Skill Distribution

Simple, and easy. I'll explain some stuffs along the way if necessary:

• Smite - 20 Points
• Defiance - 20 Points
• Fanaticism - 20 Points
• Holy Shield - 20 Points
• Zeal - 1 Point

*Remaining points can go into whatever pleases you~ Salvation, Redemption, Resist Auras, etc

Smite -
This is your main source of damage, or more specifically, your primary. Even with god knows how many points you have into it, it'll still have the mana cost of 2. Pretty cheap, pretty easy to use.

Defiance -
This is a synergy to Holy Shield, max this for the best Defense Rating result. Adds 15% Defense bonus to it, soo... Can't argue with that! It's also good for emergencies too if you need the extra Defense Aura boost to get out.

Fanaticism -
Your secondary source of damage, this will be the main synergy to your Smite. Have this Aura on at almost all times for all of the damages in the world.

Holy Shield -
Gives Bonus Defense and boosts Smite Damage, nuff' said.

Zeal -
Other PvM purposes. Nothing more~


Stat Distribution

Short and simple:

• Strength - Enough to wear gear.
• Dexterity - Enough for 75% Chance to Block. The most you'll ever need is 136 Dexterity~ probably.
• Vitality - Rest of your points go here.
• Energy - No.

Gear Setup (No Mercenary)

Gear setup is naturally pretty important. Though, for a Smiter, their needs aren't that great and can be managed with really dirt cheap gear which can be found with ease on this server. Mainly, they focus on items with 4 things: Crushing Blow, Damage, Resist and Defense.

• Head Piece - Harlequin Crest Shako & Um Rune / Kira's Guardian Tiara & Um Rune - Pretty standard setup, Shako for +Skills or Kira's Tiara for extra resist.
• Chest Piece - Duress 4 OS Archon Plate - Cheap and effective Runeword. Can easily get to over 1,200 Defense. It also comes with 15% Crushing Blow.
• Belt - Verdungo's Hearty Cord / String of Ears Upped - Life Steal Items, Enhanced Defense and FHR.
• Shield - Herald of Zakarum Gilded Shield & Um Rune - Standard Shield for a Smiter. +Skills and Resistances. +20 Strength to equip other things too if needed.
• Weapon - Black 3 OS Flail - Underrated Weapon, this flimsy weapon will carry you through Ubers with ease. Arreat Summit will show you why~
• Rings - Raven Frost & Carrion Wind - Raven Frost for CBF. Carrion Wind for Life Steal, Poison Resist and more.
• Amulet - Highlord's or Mara's Kaleidoscope - Personal Preference, more Life Steal or more Resist.
• Gloves - Dracul's Grasp - Life Steal + Life Tap.
• Boots - Gore Rider's - Crushing Blow, nuff' said.

*Small note,

You'll probably use Kira's Tiara for the massive amounts of resist to counter Uber Mephisto's Conviction Aura if you don't plan on using Salvation till Life Tap procs from your Dracul's Grasp. Also, you might not even have enough resist then if you choose Shako amongst other items. From that point on, just slap some Resist Charms on you and call it a time to start Ubers.

Conclusion

So to conclude this guide, I just want to say that I've done this plenty of times before both here (as of recent) and BNet Ladder 2008+ and it works~ including parties too. Yeah, a few of you might be saying "I can tear this build up", or "1v1 me 360 noscope Blops II MLG Pro". Though, by the end of the day, I still got profit using this method with CHEAP and efficient gear. Anywho, feedback is always nice, hit me up on US-Realm if you have any questions or post here.

~ Jstylish, Effective Orballer and Cheap **** Smiter Master

 

in case you didnt know, life steal does not apply on smite, hense the life tap from draculs is ever needed.... so you might wanna rethink using string and carrion ring. A better choice would be thundergod belt for that extra light rez for Uber Mefi(you get 85 max with it, not 75),life, str. And a good ring with raven frost would be a rare resist/dex/str ring, or just a bulkatos for fun(1 all and life).

Goblin Toe
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 33-34
Durability: 18
Req Strength: 50
Req Level: 22
+50-60% Enhanced Defense
25% chance of Crushing Blow
-1 to Light Radius
Damage Reduced by 1
Magic damage reduced by 1
+15 to Defense
found in v1.09 or later

there boots have more crushing blow than gore and are easier to find.
And upped Gilded Shield -> Zakarum Shield is A MUST !!! The damage difference beetwen them is considerable on smite, so its worth wasting a few low runes and a perf gem for it.(but be carefull, it asks for 142 str after beeing upgraded)

Congrats on posting build.

p.s. A very good alternative for helm is Orphan's Set Helm = Guillame, it rocks on pvm smiter.. best choice to make.

 

I don't think anyone read the disclaimer where I mentioned something about Anti-Luxurious.

Also, Upped HoZ isn't necessary. If it was necessary, then I would've died over and over. Like I said, this is a minimum wealth (like the 100th time) guide. BK ring is out of the question. Carrion helps with Poison Resist, sometimes Wisp Projector. Hell, a Dwarf Star ring would work. It's a matter of personal preference. Also, do you remember my 1 Point in Zeal? Yeeeaah... it's for THOSE purposes. I never said Life Steal would help with Smite specifically. Sometimes your Drac's may never proc in time against Uber Meph and maybe in some stupid worse case scenario you need to life steal off of something to keep up till it DOES proc~ shit happens and it's merely a safety precaution. As for String of Ears, it's a MUCH cheaper alternative if you don't have TGods or Verdungo's (Implying you have the worst of luck.)

Besides, if you've actually paid any attention to what I said about Uber Meph's Conviction aura, then you'd know that you would use Salvation Aura till Life Tap procs or use Kira's Guardian Tiara to counter-act that.

I also forgot to mention in the build that you can also use a 4os Sacred Rondache shield with 4P.Diamonds, that would work too.

 

Yea JStylish it is amazing how people think you need the really expensive stuff to be able to Uber. Your guide will obviously work, but I have as usual a few notes that you may or may not have considered. Like you I've been doing this for a long time and Uber often and die seldom.

My first observation is your skill placement. The damage gain from an upgraded "Smite" is so small that I will most often only put 1 point into it. The priorities being:

• Holy Shield = 20
• Defiance = 20
• Fanatasism = 20
• Zeal = All thats left - Very often in Ubers you are mobbed - this helps you to get yourself out - It also helps you to reach that damn Torch that the mobs have surrounded.
• Vigor = 1

Second is the gear. Most of which makes sense. I however will 95% of the time opt for "Treachery" The increased attack speed just makes your "Life tap" and obviously "Smite" that much more effective. Many people will use "Treachery" as a secondary plate - Equip it then go stand in the fire until "Fade" activates, then re-equip their main armour. Been there done that and discarded the tip. Fade with the attack speed = Survivability.

@Sabrossa - thanks for the heads-up on the Goblin Toe - I can't believe I missed that. AND I do believe I somehow had forgotten about upgrading my HoZ - although the reason for that could be the cost in Str v HP and on the point of HP.........

I like to build a BoBarb specifically for these Uber occasions. He only needs to be level 50 to max his "War Cries" and he doesn't even need any gear at all. He also keeps your game active for those odd occasions where your smiter may have died and you need to recover your body.

Also agree on Guillames Winged Helm for the headpiece. Often hard to find though and is not a prerequisite to have a successful ubers.

Rings - Ravenfrost is a MUST - the other for real cheap would probably be Dwarf star whatever.

Amulet - Highlords wins hands down - Attack speed + HP

Final note: I never equip my Smiter with a Torch or Annie - He needs to be able to pick up your spoils of war.

 

@Jstylish : if you always reply so offensively , don't bother asking for replies on your posts.
All i tried to do is help out. About the zeal using... if you get ambushed by 20 creeps zeal takes forever to get you out of there, a few points into concentration and hammer would do wonders to get you out.... i haven't done an uber run on this realm and i didnt know ubers spam minions, so thats why i said life steal is useless... but again, a small damage on hammers would do a lot better than killing creeps with zeal, my personal opinion ....

p.s. and a good alternative for black flail runeword would be 2 sock heaven’s light, it's easy to find, anyone has found one while rushing or just farming at least once. put 2 shael or 1 shael +1 mal in it and it rocks.

 

No one's replying offensively, but there is a lack of reading because some people are too lazy to read the important details. This is an anti-luxurious guide and nothing more. The reason I picked Runeword "Black" 3os Flail is simply because of the Crushing Blow and the Very Fast Attack Speed. It's a 3 os Flail, using the runes Thul, Io and Nef~ the most easiest runes you can come across to. Also, you're not using Zeal to kill~ you're using it to Life Steal off of minions incase Dracul's Life Tap isn't cutting it out for you fast enough.

With that being said, it's unnecessary to waste a Mal rune just to make something overly optimal. Just use it to upgrade to Ist and continue on~

I also won't doubt Treachery, but there shouldn't be a need to gear switch. There are better, simpler options and that is what this guide is promoting.

As for the play style of a 1 Point Wonder Smite vs. an All Point Smite, it solely depends on the person's playstyle and gear setup.

 

Very good guide! I have never done ubers before, i tried this build and...bah! I find uber tristram very easy to do, even for a noob like me, my problems are for collecting organs... i use zeal to reach each boss but sometimes i die because i am sorrounded and cannot move, or mobs are phys immu... do you have any advice?
Tnx very much

 

My solution here is to have a second character like a Barb in the game, when surrounded just leave the game and rejoin if you really going to take tooo long to fight yourself clear. Or, if you use "stings map hack" just hit the backspace key.