07-26-2006, 03:48 PM
Greetings and Salutations,
I have been playing D2X for a long time now on and off as well, but only in this week that I have become interested in building a smiter. After searching and reading on dozens of posts regarding smiters, I have never once seen advice on how to level and deal with crowds.
So I have decided to build one using only smite, no zeal for crowd killing (I consider crowd killing to be different from crowd control). So the question is how to deal smite to multiple enemies. After some pondering, I decided to try what I have previously learned about how to use frenzy to target monsters when you are moving very quickly, and the solution is to assign the skill to use the right move button (RMB). I applied the same to smite, lo and behold, smite became an awesome crowd control and crowd killing skill, which I dubbed auto-smite.
Due to the way that the mouse button, key shortcut and skills can be assigned in game, it would be impossible to have an aura active when you auto-smite, which at first glance seems to be a very big negative. In actual play however, this disadvantage isn't so great as it seems.
So, the Auraless was born. From level 1 to 43, all skill points were assigned to smite holy shield and prereqs, until smite and holy shield are maxed. No auras whatsoever.
Pure smiter, no zeal and it worked out amazingly. I used Khalim's will and a spiked shield to level, then switched to a Steel scimatar and Swordback hold. Diablo dropped a General's Tan Do Li Ga, which I use on my weapon switch for use versus bosses.
When auto-smiting, the computer picks the target nearest to you that is within range of your weapon and will virtually never miss, you will miss only if the target is moving away or sometimes sideways from you. The knockback feature of smite is an perfect match for auto-smiting. Smite one enemy, it gets knocked away, then the next closest gets smited and knocks back and so forth. In practice, this works out great, you can smite behind obstructions like walls or buildings, enter a dungeon door or a stair trap ready to auto-smite anything that tries to ambush you, letting them say hello to your shield. Sometimes I even auto-smite with my eyes closed. IMO, no other skill in the game can remotely take advantage of the unique combination of smite and the auto targeting capability of the RMB, I have even tried to do the same with bash, stun w/ KB, maul with KB, but none even comes close, because none of those skills is auto-hit.
I have been playing in SP, purely as an experiment to see its effectiveness and so far it has been a cakewalk, even swarms like dozens of flayers (which is very hard to target one by one due to their size) is easily rendered harmless. Lister and co. which is usually a tough fight for meleers is a walk in the park, with all his minions deactivated, you only need to fight Lister, then take them down one at a time.
With auto-smiting being so effective I am hesitant in building up fanaticism as a primary aura, as it seems to be unnecessary to use a supplementary aura. I am trying to see how far I can go using just auto-smite without any damage boosting aura, as the tradeoff between boosting damage vs. losing the ability to auto-smite is a tough decision now that I have tasted the power of auto-smite.
So, to summarize the pros and cons of auto-smite vs. single-smite:
Pros: auto-hit, auto-knockback, auto-target, crowd control, crowd killing
Cons: no auras
You decide.
I have been playing D2X for a long time now on and off as well, but only in this week that I have become interested in building a smiter. After searching and reading on dozens of posts regarding smiters, I have never once seen advice on how to level and deal with crowds.
So I have decided to build one using only smite, no zeal for crowd killing (I consider crowd killing to be different from crowd control). So the question is how to deal smite to multiple enemies. After some pondering, I decided to try what I have previously learned about how to use frenzy to target monsters when you are moving very quickly, and the solution is to assign the skill to use the right move button (RMB). I applied the same to smite, lo and behold, smite became an awesome crowd control and crowd killing skill, which I dubbed auto-smite.
Due to the way that the mouse button, key shortcut and skills can be assigned in game, it would be impossible to have an aura active when you auto-smite, which at first glance seems to be a very big negative. In actual play however, this disadvantage isn't so great as it seems.
So, the Auraless was born. From level 1 to 43, all skill points were assigned to smite holy shield and prereqs, until smite and holy shield are maxed. No auras whatsoever.
Pure smiter, no zeal and it worked out amazingly. I used Khalim's will and a spiked shield to level, then switched to a Steel scimatar and Swordback hold. Diablo dropped a General's Tan Do Li Ga, which I use on my weapon switch for use versus bosses.
When auto-smiting, the computer picks the target nearest to you that is within range of your weapon and will virtually never miss, you will miss only if the target is moving away or sometimes sideways from you. The knockback feature of smite is an perfect match for auto-smiting. Smite one enemy, it gets knocked away, then the next closest gets smited and knocks back and so forth. In practice, this works out great, you can smite behind obstructions like walls or buildings, enter a dungeon door or a stair trap ready to auto-smite anything that tries to ambush you, letting them say hello to your shield. Sometimes I even auto-smite with my eyes closed. IMO, no other skill in the game can remotely take advantage of the unique combination of smite and the auto targeting capability of the RMB, I have even tried to do the same with bash, stun w/ KB, maul with KB, but none even comes close, because none of those skills is auto-hit.
I have been playing in SP, purely as an experiment to see its effectiveness and so far it has been a cakewalk, even swarms like dozens of flayers (which is very hard to target one by one due to their size) is easily rendered harmless. Lister and co. which is usually a tough fight for meleers is a walk in the park, with all his minions deactivated, you only need to fight Lister, then take them down one at a time.
With auto-smiting being so effective I am hesitant in building up fanaticism as a primary aura, as it seems to be unnecessary to use a supplementary aura. I am trying to see how far I can go using just auto-smite without any damage boosting aura, as the tradeoff between boosting damage vs. losing the ability to auto-smite is a tough decision now that I have tasted the power of auto-smite.
So, to summarize the pros and cons of auto-smite vs. single-smite:
Pros: auto-hit, auto-knockback, auto-target, crowd control, crowd killing
Cons: no auras
You decide.
No matter how skilled someone is today, at some point they were really bad. Even Mozart was a poor musician at age 1. --Steve Pavlina
A word becomes the property of anyone who uses it. --Earl Prevette
A word becomes the property of anyone who uses it. --Earl Prevette