i haven't played much smiter in d2r. i quit lod in 1.12. back then upped hoz was the best smiting shield. exile was good because of the life tap and def but couldn't match damage and other benefits with it. phoenix is bis now because ?? ed works now? fire storm was messing it up? anyway, upped hoz isn' best. but it seems to be getting a lot of hate. it is still a solid smiter shield. or am i missing something?

This post was edited by L8knightResurrected on Jul 23 2023 04:30pm

HoZ is always solid. Just there is better options that are cheap as well.

Ed has always work with smite. The issue with Phoenix was that firestorm proc would cause delays in letting you smite again. Now that isn’t a thing on D2r. Therefore, extremely hard to pass up that 465ed vs most opponents. But smiter/Vt will still rely heavily on using spirit shield vs a lot of opponents such as vs sorc or nec

Or one can use viable 75fcr setups with Pheonix as well
Either balanced, or 1v1 setup.

Yes. But no reason to go 75 vs a nec.

It works fine, you’ll just get stunned by the Firestone from Phoenix with anything less than 27 fhr. Would work with a coa and a 40 ed 20 life in shield or whatever. But 10 fhr can’t survive.

Phoenix shield will soon be conquered and they will all be selling them soon, just wait.

This post was edited by Nataraja on Jul 24 2023 09:07pm

I remember the days "Phoenix" Runeword was just crap, I mean;

Phoenix Bowazon is just fun to play with:

https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21680733&f=87#entry124422331

And it was built in 1.09 / 1.10 normal D2.

Hey, D2r is now like 1 year old, but there are some fun aspects between them both (D2 & D2r)