Assume your HoZ already has good roll
Is the smite damage gained worth upgrading and have the stat rerolled? Considering you are wearing CoH and grief
Use exile runeword.
exile is better if you have CoH, just get yourself a metalgrid ammy if you still lack res
To answer the question…
I think most of your dmg (Assuming you are smiting bosses) should come from Crushing Blow anyways and then your smite dmg will matter a bit near the end when the bosses are about to die.
I personally feel that grief alone already provides significant dmg increase that up’ing HoZ isn’t really necessary for the sake of ‘extra’ smite dmg.
Use Exile, preferably on an Ethereal Vortex Shield (although this will either take you forever to find or a hefty price to buy off of someone).
An eth Kurast Shield can also do, just make sure it has high all res. Granted it does less damage, but at least you’ll be able to find one within the next 3 months.
I have an eth protector shield, currently used as spirit for weapon switch together with CtA
It has 40 all res
Good enough?
Also up’ing an item should not reroll the stats on the item, only the base changes.
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If you are going to use Exile runeword, which requires some high runes, do not use it on a base that isn’t nearly perfect.
Not only will you regret this later for wasting valuable runes, but the trade value, if you decide to sell it later, will drop significantly (Over time, value of items naturally drop already).
I don’t know what you are building smiter for, but it’s worth the wait for eth elite paladin shield with 40+ resistance.
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Smiter is obviously to farm ubers 
So you suggest that I leave that eth protector shield with 40 all res alone and find an eth vortex shield with 40+ all res right?
Yes and just use HoZ for the time being.
People have farmed ubers with worse gear.
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On a side note, should I punch a socket in the HoZ and put a perfect diamond in there? Or better use socket quest for something else? What about the guillaume helm?
my budget smiter is using black flail with HoZ base without upgrade and doing real fine soloing ubers. It’s up to you essentially, do take note of the extra str required to wear it once you upgrade it. It’s quite a substantial amount.
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From what I read, all elite paladin shields have average smite damage of around 46, so it means eth sacred targe is actually the best, not vortex, because the extra stat points can go into vit, right?
P.S. Guillaume has str req of 115, so both sacred targe and sacred rondage seem BiS
Unique/Set items with open socket is always good as long as you can afford the Larzuk. That HoZ can always be reused on a different build (Maybe hammerdin?) after you get a better smiter shield.
As for what you put in the socket, it depends on your need but stacking resistance is good in general against ubers mephisto.
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Depends on what you value in terms of defense and block because as you said the avg smite damage is pretty much same.
Vortex has the highest defense but also the highest requirement as well as worst block, which means you need a lot of Dex for max block. If you value the extra defense so much that you want to sacrifice stat points, it’s vortex. I think Vortex is good in pvp, but not really for ubers. Other lower req and better block shield is more suited for ubers.
I personally like sacred targe but again, this is your preference.