I recently came back to this ... with a fifth attempt :

Barbarian, level 47
wielding Crainte Vomir (Um),
using different combinations of items among : treachery/Venom Ward, lava gout/Hellmouth, Guillaume's Face/Blackthorn, Gore, Gerke/Moser, Strings, PDR amulet / Angelic, Raven, res ring / Angelic.
Life tap on switch.

75% block, 5frames block recovery, 5/6 frames hit-recovery, ~850/950 life, ~1K-2K ar according to setups, PDR up to 43, %dr up to 40.

Except for Uber-Izual, I failed hard for all maps (other mini-Ubers + UT).

At that level, regular attacks hardly lands (Uber's block, and level difference is huge).

I may investigate with non-skilled smiter. Bye bye ar-check and block !
I had the feeling that +X smite scepter was very hard to find, whereas chances to shop this at Akara are not so bad (~ 1 / 820).

To be continued...

Bump on this awesomeness!

Sixth attempt : level 45 unskilled "Smiter"

Why level 45 ?

I want a source of "Cannot be frozen". On belt (Death belt), on armor (Hawkmail, Spirit shroud, Duriel) or on helm (Darksight helm), I would miss some other important mods.
Level 45 is required for Raven ring.
Besides, I think that it is significantly lower than my last success (level 54 barb), so an honest improvement.

What's the main difference between unskilled smiter and regular smiter ?

In my opinion, the main difference is the use of Holy Shield, as extra source of damage on shield.
Via life tap, leech is based on smite damage only - and not on CB damage.
Holy shield, thus, allows a much larger amount of leech.
The same is also true for each level of Smite and Fanatism - though it's impossible to max all those skills at level 45.
The impact on damage, however, is smaller, even if fanatism also helps attack speed.
Running Salvation against Mephisto allows different items / charms.

The second benefit of Holy shield is on base %block, hence less dexterity required for max block.
A higher life pool in the end.

On a sidenote, scepters cannot carry Smite and Holy shield at the same time.

Shopping +X Smite scepter :

It took me half an hour with a level 5 char at Akara.
I got the worst possible scepter : +1 smite only (I didn't expect +3 at first), no other usefull staffmod (like Might), 1 socket only.
I tried again, and 1 hour later I got a second one.
This was a magic +2 Smite scepter, again with no usefull add (prayer/sacrifice/min damage).
I crossed my fingers at Larzuk... and I got 1 socket
I decided to stop, shopping being so boring.

It should not be so hard to find a 2 sockets non-magic smite scepter (either +40 ias, or "Strength" runeword for +25%CB and some stats).
A magic one can also have +10ias as magic affix, for a total 50%ias if Larzuk is kind.

Reach the mini-Ubers.

After quick tests just to be sure that I was able to defeat every kind of random monster (except in the Forgotten Sands, where it is not required), I used another char to clean the maps, as I did previously.
Fighting mini-Ubers 1 vs 1 is my real challenge.



Setups :

As previously, 1 setup allowed for each mini-Uber, 1 only for UT.

Inventory never changes : res or life-stat or life-stat/res charms.
This time I used better charms, but far from being expensive (fi : 5@ clean, 2str/11cr, 20life clean ...).

Against Duriel / Izual :

20ias +2 Smite Scepter
Swordback hold (uped, 15ias)
Vampire Gaze (Ith)
Treachery (mage plate)
String of ears
20ias rare gloves with additional res
Goblin Toe
Raven frost / Dwarf star
Magic amulet : 24 PDR / 27@res

switch : Life tap wand / Spirit 30+ fcr (akaran rondage 45res, not the best base for blocking)

* Max res (except poison)
* 50% DR
* 45 MDR / 24 PDR
* 75% block (50% on switch)
* 780 hp
* 15% Damage to mana
* 12 frames to recast Life tap
* 7 frames Smite against Izual, 11frames (I think) against Duriel.
* 50% OW - 25% CB
* 44-86 Smite damage

Against Lilith :

switch Armor/Gloves to :
Venom Ward (15ias)
Venomgrip

* 95% poison res
* 35% DR
* 8 frames Smite
* 30% CB

Uber-Tristram :

same Smite weapon
4 p.diamond Royal Shield (total res : 120)
Guardian angel (ith)
Blackthorn face (15ias)
20ias rare gloves with additional res
OW belt (*)
Goblin Toe
Raven / Dwarf / PDR-prisma amulet

(*) I crafted this belt for the occasion, I used the best among 6 crafts only.
It was a 7% OW - 27 life - 17cr - 29lr belt.

* 90% all res with 125% stacked fire/light/cold
* 15% fire absorb, 20% cold absorb, 20 light absorb
* 0% DR
* 15 MDR / 24 PDR
* 75% block (72% on switch)
* 807 hp
* 15% Damage to mana
* 12 frames to recast Life tap
* 8 frames Smite
* 20% slow target
* 7% OW - 25% CB
* 63-84 Smite damage


Quest status :

Izual : easy
Nothing special to say here, I had to recast life tap twice before make him bite the dust.
Life pool never went under ~ 350 hp.
Reward : 1,300,480 xp.

Duriel : medium
His first charge is devastating. Leech is slower due to Holy Freeze. Recasting life tap can be very dangerous.
I dropped 2 ears before I finally succeeded.
Reward : 1,082,368 xp.

Lilith : impossible for now
She has more %dr than her brothers (hence, less leech).
I have the feeling that I miss some PDR to negate her dreadful poison spray.
I thought MDR would stack somehow, but apparently it didn't.
I skipped her to try UT.



This post was edited by feanur on Jul 7 2012 12:25pm

Uber-Tristram :
This time of course, no external help to get rid off minions that spawn here and there.
I had to separate the Three, and lure every minion away to engage each Uber 1 vs 1.
Once Smite is initiated, no more monster spawns around.
Mephisto was my first target.



Mephisto : easy
I fought for maybe 10 minutes against random skeletons, trying to attract Mephisto alone.
This was not necessary in the end.
When I engaged him, he fell down rather quickly.
Reward : 1,394,688 xp.

The second to come was Diablo.
His Pit lords were not really a problem. His bone prison is, on the contrary, always game over.
After trying over and over against Diablo, I decided that I couldn't beat him due to low % damage to mana.
Diablo usually attacks according to sequences : 4 or 5 elemental attacks, followed by 4 or 5 physical attacks.
His higher physical res (50%, vs 20% for Mephisto) and his stronger physical (and magical) attacks make things complicated.
I usually ran out of mana when he was on "elemental-mode" (damage to mana not working) , this in turn allowed him to recover life (7%OW is not huge...). When he switch to "physical-mode", I was in great danger. Only 1 critical hit is enough to take away most of my life pool. If I don't block the next attack, he gets my ear.



I decided to switch some items to finish Diablo and Baal :

helm -> Vampire Gaze (ith)
shield -> Swordback hold (15ias)
belt -> String of ears

So I broke my rule concerning "1 setup in UT" : 1 for Mephisto, a second for the others.

With this new setup, Diablo was still very hard.
30% damage to mana are very helpfull. 50% OW and 35%DR makes the difference.
Still 90% fire res, only 45% light res but his light attack (the red tongue) just pass over my head without hurting.
I was able to kill him this time, after a very funny fight.
Tip : recast life tap when he starts his "tongue" attack, or when your mana drops to zero.
Reward : 2,265,088 xp.



This post was edited by feanur on Jul 7 2012 12:29pm

Baal : medium
His minions are physical immuned. Don't engage them.
Using the same setup as against Diablo, and after luring minions away, Baal was not that hard.
Many of his attacks filled my mana pool.
Reward : 3,431,424 xp... and a Standard of Heroes !!




Stay at level 45 ? Oh no...

After each massive xp boost, I died several times to stay at the bottom of level 45.
Diablo almost gave me level 46.
And Baal did ! I must delete my char a rebuild him for the next tests...