I'm looking to make a smiter. Mainly for Ubers I figured Exile is way better for life tap. If the Exile was in a Vortex Shield, how much less damage is it from an Up'ed Hoz? Is that very noticeable in PvP? Because I was planning to just pup duel sometimes and Bm. :p I'm sure if the Lifetap sets in it would definitely cancel out the damage right? Since I will be surviving way longer. What are your insights?

i got into an argument awhile back, last season, with a friend regarding hoz vs. exile on smiters. I can't exactly go into specifics, because that was nearly a year ago... but to settle the score, we dueled our smiters. both smiters were nearly the same, same grief, same equips... and he beat me time and time again with his exile. i think the lying character screen doesnt tell us something. exile> hoz.

Exile -> BM
HoZ -> GM

Is there still someone who doesn't get it?

The thing is. I'm now using Ber'ed Hoz as a staple shield because I can Ber it. I tend to kill most Smiters before its lifetap even hits, I don't have a Coa. However vs good ones, I need to equip my own on.

-well upped hoz has a better average damage, than exile vortex, but exile vortex will do more potential damage per hit, but also can do alot less
-hoz has more res and better blocking but exile has way more def
-exile has lifetap, which will help alot against meph, dracs dont trigger fast enough on him for me. as far as dueling, meh what you want to do is up to you, pub games arnt that picky on bm
-hoz you can socket with ber or w/e you feel like.

its really a personal choice, they are both good shields but i would go for exile for ubers but personally i dont like the idea of the vortex shield and having a min smite damage of 5, and all elite pally shields have the same average damage.