Smiteadin?

[Feryar]

Hi,

I never got around to making one in D2 classic, so I figured I'd do it now.
I have found some guides that gives pointers as to what auras and secondary
skills are useful, but most of it seems to be from older versions.

Anyone got some tips and/or a guide that deals with 1.09 LoD?
I've got the basics planned out, and are already well on the way,
but it would be fun to see how other ppl has built their smiters as well.

[BlackLightning]

Hey Feryar,

I started building a smite-adin in LoD, but haven't played him in quite a while. If you want a few suggestions, here are some from my friend:

with max smite, max hs and max fanatism, no charms you'll be doing over 1000 smite damage with herald of zakarum. make youre if you're pvp to have 70%-max DR or else you will die :D also you should have over 1100 life at lvl 73 or so and you should also aim for an elite paladin shield (not sacred rondache) with rose branded prefix of deflection. 2 sockets ber ber for 16% Dr, 09 shako is 10 more, shaft is 30 and string is 15 that adds up to is 71% dr which is 4% from max and you can ber your shako or shaft if you think you need max dr. also ber your shaft and were x2 bk rings and a silence phase, the rest of the gear is up to you

[Brista]

There's quite a lot of analysis here:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/in...php?act=SF&f=52

including an important post on things that work with Smite

The Lounge archives are searchable - follow the instructions in the FAQ. If it doesn't work it's because it needs to be manually rebuilt at times, PM Bolty and I'm sure he'll do it for you

[Bun-Bun]

Fast weapons and Crushing Blow are your friends. You can hit the 6 frame smite speed cap with a "Black" runeword flail, maxed Fanaticism, and a little additional IAS, getting a good chunk of CB along the way. Elemental charms and +min/max gear has no effect on smite, but %ED will help. The traditional Vindicator used no points in DEX, but these days it's more conventional to allocate enough DEX to get decent blocking. Vindicators get more benefit than usual from plus-to-Combat Skills gear, as it boosts both Holy Shield and Smite.

My current Smiter is a no-dex atavism, maxing the usual Smite/HS/Fanaticism trio. His solution for Phys Immunes is a lowly Raven Claw (for the autohit) with lightning damage charms and Holy Shock. His solution for PI/LI monsters is to run away. :)

[Feryar]

Ah, thanks for input guys. Just spent an hour reading stuff over at
the basin, and with what you guys said I have a pretty good idea
what my Smiter will look like.
I can't be picky about equipment yet, since I'm quite fresh on the
realms atm (Blizz deleted my old account due to me being away
a measly couple of years <_< ) and I usually play pure, but hey,
that just adds to the fun/challenge factor :)

[Mikedok]

I planned out a smite character, but I never got around to finishing him. I think I got a little tired of Diablo in general when he was about 30th level. I'll tell you my plan, but I never actually tested it.

skills:
20 smite
20 concentration
20 holy shield
20 hammers

I know that fanat will give better damage then concentration, but concentration works with hammers. The hammers are for phys immunes and for a little bit of crowd control. I was worried that the hammers wouldn't do enough damage to really kill things in hell, but as I said I never tested to find out. Maybe someone here has made a similar build, and can let us know.

Items:
I used the chipped gem + sword cube formula to make a 3 socket phase blade of quickness. It only took 2 tries bofore I got it. :) I planned on putting shael runes in the sockets. This weapon will give you max smite speed. (actually I think it's more IAS then you need.)

For the all important shield, I decided to use a sacred targe. This is the lowest elite paladin shield. I think that this shield is the best because it has the best blocking percentage, the lowest reqs, and the same average smite damage as all of the rest of the elite paladin shields. One of my other characters found a 4 socket sacred targe with +42 resist all on it. I planned on putting diamonds in all of the sockets for a total of +118 to all resists. With all that resistance on one item, this leaves you open to use most of your other equipment for other abilities. This shield shouldn't be too expensive to trade for.

I have heard that life tap works with smite, but I have never tried it. I planned on buying/finding a wand with life tap charges and using it in my weapon switch. I would cast this before smiting. Usually there are a lot of charges on a life tap wand. I have found one before with 64 charges, so you wouldn't have to repair it often. Maybe the repairs would cost too much, but I don't know.

For the rest of the equipment you can do whatever you like. It would be nice (as previously mentioned) to use all percentage damage reduction equipment, but not all of us are rich in items. I planned on using some mana regen items, such as a 4 perf skull armor, so that I could throw hammers more often. I *think* that crushing blow works with smite, so I was going to use either goblin toe or gore rider. Having extra mana would be nice, so maybe use frostburns. Some +hp items would also be very nice. Paladins generally don't have enough hp for hell difficulty. Plus to skill items are very useful for this build because all the skills link to give more damage output. If you up all three with a single +1 to skills item, it gives a lot of damage.

For stats:

str: only what is needed to use equipment
dex: enough to have max block
energy: none
vit: all other points

[Olon97]

Werebear + high WIAS weapon + knockback from item (usually gloves - I used to use an .08 jalal's mane I found) + maul skill = smiter with manafe leach and minions.

I had a CD2 might/smite palladin in his 70s. When LOD came around and it became impossible to achieve the beloved 4 frame smite, not to mention his abysmal blocking due to not having pumped dex, I kind of gave up on the variant. A superfast werebear plays extremely similar to a CD2 smite palladin, although obviously you miss out on the "look" of a guy walking around and smacking everything in sight with his glowing shield.

[Feryar]

Thanks :)

I never really plan my characters that specificly, since I rarely twink and never trade. My smiter will have to go with what he finds along the way, and if one of my other characters finds something nice I might give it to him. So far I've found the Skewer of Krinitz and atm I'm pretty much cleaning the house in Act 3 with a level 1 zeal.

Anyway, my plan so far is to try and get Smite/Holy Shield up. I'm not sure if I'll be going with Concentration or Fanaticism yet, but I will most likely do Fanaticism. I'm also thinking of adding 1 point each into Redemption, Sanctuary and maybe Meditation. I never played much as a paladin before, so I want to try out as many of his auras as possible.

I have not given too much thought about physical immunes yet, but the hammer-idea sounds good. Dunno how viable it would be without Concentration, but I guess I'll discover that sooner or later :)
I don't really care if I he can't make it through Hell difficulty on his own. He might never get so far, and if he does get crippled I'll just start a new one.

The mana regeneration is something I've been planning as well. Cubing a phase sword sounded like I good idea so I might give that a go as well. Never seen a shael rune before though.

I'll see how it goes. I don't expect this to be a character that wades through monsters in Hell diff, I have a barbarian and an amazon for that. I just want to see a 6 frame smite and try something new in the process :)

[Roland]

...Crushing Blow, along with just about everything else, does NOT work with Smite. The only things that DO work with Smite are as follows:

Enchant
Combat Shrine
Might
Concentration
Fanaticism

That's it, as far as I have been able to garner. This is from my own personal viewing of what DOES work, but word is that Smite doesn't work with anything else. I believe it, from my own experiences.

Smiters need a few things:
1) Weapon speed.
2) An Elite Paladin Shield.
3) slvl 20 Smite, and slvl 20 Holy Shield

That's it. Everything else is icing on the cake. Fanaticism boosts your attack speed (VERY good) AND your damage, so that's a great choice. However, Smite leaves you strapped when it comes to Physical Immunes. Your options? An elemental damage weapon (may be tough if you build a typical Smiter with low Dex / AR, since you won't be able to hit anything, unless you use Fanaticism), Holy Shock (see above), Fist of the Heavens (poor damage without heavy investment, combined with a timer and a heavy mana cost make this a poor choice, at best, without significant mana), Vengeance (in addition to AR problems, you have mana cost issues), or a Hireling.

Personally, I like to play a Cleric. Not as big on the damage, but a TREMENDOUS cooper.

Cleric:
*****
Defensive Auras:
---------------------
1 Prayer
1 Defiance
5 Cleansing
1 Vigor
9 Meditation
2 Redemption
5 Salvation

Offensive Auras:
--------------------
none

Combat Skills:
-----------------
1 Sacrifice
20 Smite
20 Holy Bolt
1 Zeal
1 Charge
1 Vengeance
1 Blessed Hammer
1 Conversion
20 Holy Shield
20 Fist of the Heavens

Good enough Strength / Dexterity to wear a Baranar's Star (very high IAS, and massive elemental damage make this a fine choice; however, certainly not a necessary one), a little bit into Energy, and the rest into Vitality. You can tank, heal, and kill from afar with this build. Not to mention you'll be the backbone to ANY party. High levels of Meditation, Salvation, and Cleansing allow you AND your party to handle anything that's thrown at you.

My typical stat goals:
153 Strength
56 Dexterity
X Vitality
45 - 105 Energy

It gives me enough Strength and Dexterity for a wide variety of items (including Griswold's Legacy set), enough Energy to have a sufficient Mana pool (Meditation gives you rapid regen, so you only need a small amount of mana; 150 is doable, but I recommend shooting for 300. Anything over that is overkill, but won't be a "waste" unless you gained a lot of it from Energy ;)), and the rest into Vitality, making you a solid tank. Smite has a 4.4 second stun at slvl 20, and combined with Holy Shield and a fast weapon, you can take down baddies with ease. Fist of the Heavens gives you elemental damage combined with healing, while Holy Bolt makes you a LIFESAVER for your party members, and a God against Undead. :D

The other style of Cleric is a more mage-like build. The above build is built around Smite + Holy Shield, a hybrid Warrior / Mage character designed to tank, heal, and occasionally sling spells. The following is a much heavier Mage build, but with enough tanking ability to be able to survive a few hits and take the heat off someone for a short period.

Priest:
*****
Defensive Auras:
---------------------
1 Prayer
1 Defiance
13 Cleansing
1 Vigor
15 Meditation
2 Redemption
12 Salvation

Offensive Auras:
--------------------
none

Combat Skills:
-----------------
1 Sacrifice
20 Smite
20 Holy Bolt
1 Zeal
1 Vengeance
1 Blessed Hammer
1 Conversion
20 Fist of the Heavens

This time, focus on getting Fist of the Heavens maxed out first (instead of Smite and Holt Shield like above), with 3 points in Smite. Afterwards, pump Smite and your auras as you see fit. Play like a Mage, but learn the tactics of a Warrior.

Oh, and one ground rule for both: always, always, ALWAYS max out Holy Bolt as soon as possible. It should be maxed before you hit 40, and more preferably by the time you hit 30. This skill will save your companions lives more often than I can count, and they will thank you for it tremendously.

[Az3ar]

Hmmm, first figure out what you really need for a smitadin:

Smite: 20.
Holy Shield: 15-20 (I prefer 20 for the best of it).
Vengeance: at least 1 point for physical immunes.
Zeal: to your liking, you need this for leeching purposes, invest as you see fit.

Thats all I had for Combat Skills, my auras were the following:

Fanaticism: main aura, I maxed that one, faster attack, bigger damage, more attack rating, but unless you are using Zeal it wont matter, Smite is only blocked by shields....
Convinction: I liked that one for vengeance support, against physical immunes.
Salvation: 2 points, for resistances.
Redemption: a few points there could save your butt, a very handy aura.

These are what I used best and what I consider a smitadin should have.

Good items would be Herald of Zakarum, Baranar's star, and the whole Griswald's set......

As for stats:

Dex: I made this one 150, just to be safe if I needed to use Vengeance or Zeal, both of these also add to your attack rating......

Str: aimed just to get the requierments of what I wanted to use...

Vit: all the points that didnt go to str and dex went for vitality, the most precious stat as I see it, save for 20 points in energy......

[Sporky Smurf]

...Crushing Blow, along with just about everything else, does NOT work with Smite. The only things that DO work with Smite are as follows:

Enchant
Combat Shrine
Might
Concentration
Fanaticism

That's it, as far as I have been able to garner. This is from my own personal viewing of what DOES work, but word is that Smite doesn't work with anything else. I believe it, from my own experiences.

http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/in...=ST&f=99&t=9172