Care and feeding of a young Smiter?

[librarian]

Heiho,

The inherent knockback is hardly a good thing for a melee fighter who would then need to close that distance to finish the job, and Smite's stun is negligible unless you focus your attacks exclusively on one monster (speaking from experience again). How exactly does that offer any value toward crowd control?

http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite01.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite02.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite03.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite04.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite05.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite06.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite07.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite08.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite09.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite10.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite11.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite12.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite13.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite14.jpg
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/smite15.jpg

Maybe I've to apologize for having the boss pack thinned out before the series to get appropriate time to take prints. Also it took a while to get rid of my Rogue, the poor child. Further I'd have to apologize for running Conviction, but since it's a Cleric, not a Smiter (Smite sLvl8 with adders, made the series in NM diff), there was no reason for using another aura except for circumstances which would lead away from topic.
And finally I'd maybe have to apologize for the complete absence of LT charges (they're for weenies), the usage of a non-damage scepter (it's a HoBL) and, indeed, the lack of any CB gear (he wears none due to being a mage character).

So there was this boss with two of his minions left * and the best thing here ** is giving each of the opponents a whack and take on the next one immediately. In fact after minions had their rest the boss was KB'd away a good deal, so I've found myself confronted with another two baddies. So rinse and repeat with happy feet. Of course I could've focussed on the boss and let the other two guys happily hack away at me. I don't think this would be a good idea with low damage, but YMMV.
That's what I call crowd control here.


Of course, because of being a mage, when I don't give a show for others I either run still Conviction to assist my Rogue or low Holy Freeze, when everything becomes a real mess.
Looks more like this then:
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/cler...F_SmiteLIPI.jpg
(note the guy is PI/LI, so it was a Rogue-only job here)
or
http://www.mannm.org/d2library/cleric/cler...iteInfector.jpg










* BTW here would be the advertising for Conversion, which is still the best crowd control skill the Pal has. But since we're discussing mainly a lowish starter guy it's maybe too early to bring in that one.
** besides using the main attack FoH in this case. Well I've got carried away again ^^