Just started! Some Advanced and Noob Questions for Inquisitor

[Cassial 0]

Hey all, first post ever, I just got this game about a week ago for the PS3, and I've already pumped probably 60 hours into it.

TLDR version: blah blah blah, I want to run just 2 defensive skills (armor lore/high constitution and hope melee reflect via RP will carry me defensively), try a hybrid spec, but am worried my melee will suck.

Oh, and just 2 buffs.

 

It's killing me that I've read so much and digested so much general game knowledge, but have yet to get past the dragon islands in silver. In short, I got a Seraphim to 50, realized I made some bad choices on skills, (went balls out offense, so no defensive skills will ever make it through Niob from what I'm reading) started up another, get to 37, *accidentally* picked another wrong skill (went afk to read up on what to pick, get back and left the skill screen up and hit a wrong button upon getting back, FML), get another to 30, and then realized it was going to be nothing but pelting strikes spam for another 170 levels =P

 

I could stick with her and make her a shopper from what I understand, that's a very solid choice I see players recommending for Niobium - which would free my Inquisitor to not require bargaining.

Onto my concerns, being a very min/max player, and I'd like to think I have a pretty good understanding of game mechanics wherever I go; in this case I've spent probably a day researching the various build guides here and educating myself on the general stuff, yet I'm still unclear on a few things.

 

Heres a few very specific questions to those who have tried the "Eye of the Storm" build or "Darth Sion" guides - These builds emphasize specializing heavily in Astute Supremacy and Gruesome Inquisition, and lightly in Nefarious Netherworld Aspects, basically, it's a hybrid build that still packs serious melee power. I'm drawn to the appeal of having such devastating Area of Effect capabilities while having more to do than just spam a one button melee strike CA. Anyway, for those who have tried these hybrid Inquisitor builds, these guides recommend EITHER Gruesome Inquisition Focus OR Tactics Lore, but not both. I've checked the Sacred 2 wiki even, and dug through tons of posts but nowhere does it really clarify this glaringly obvious question for me - If I'm understanding MTCityHunter's guide correctly, I'm reading that Tactics Lore ONLY effects normal attack damage, and not Combat Arts like Callous Execution at all. Here is the quote itself in question:

 

"The great thing about the melee arts is how well they scale with weapon damage, etc. They require very little in terms of specific optimization to retain very good damage long term, so they'll always be there to fall back on when you need them. Bear in mind the one thing that tactics lore has over GIF for melee damage scaling though: normal attacks. GIF doesn't help those at all, while tactics certainly does, so if you don't keep regens to the point where you can spam melee CAs, you could well do more melee damage with tactics. IMO that's trivially easy to do though, especially considering you would after all have the focus to keep the regens down. Coupled with regen on hit, you can spam melee CAs pretty early on in a character's life and never use a normal attack."

 

Okay, so, get Ilgard's gloves, and abuse the hell out of regen-on-hit gear, keep the regen times low for nonstop melee spam CA, I get that. But, how can this build claim to do great melee damage with just one or the other I guess is what I'm getting at, unless Tactics Lore *only* effects normal attacks?

I can't imagine that Tactics Lore doesn't effect CA damage, it seems like a passive straight up increase to any attack made with a weapon, or at least how it's worded. Anyway, it's such a noob question and I'm perfectly aware of that, but it bothers me that this build is *one or the other* - I just want some feedback from those who have tried this hybrid spec, have they found their melee damage terribly lacking without Tactics Lore? Before I get another 50 levels into it and wish I had done something differently.

 

Ideal skills at the end should look like this:

Dual Wield

Tactics Lore

GI Focus

AS Lore

AS Focus

Combat Discipline -I really really like chaining CM + LA + RA- Please tell me Combat Discipline is a pro choice, I'm seeing a lot of builds not take it- (Does this compensate damagewise for a tradeoff between Tactics Lore or GI Focus?)

Concentration- 1 point, screw soul reaver, it seems so crutch to me =\ 2 buff build instead of 3! Not to mention it completely contradicts Reverse Polarity

Armor Lore

Constitution

NN Focus - torn here, I don't really think I will need the modded soul reaver, but that's my inexperience at higher levels speaking

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who sifts through this and gets back to me, I'd really appreciate just any insight from some experience. It's awsome having such freedom to customize, and this game has such complexity for advancing a character. But such complexity is a double edged sword,not at all noob friendly, and I've seriously spent a day or two just reading up here, this has been quite a gold mine of information. So many subjective questions, and no real experience yet, but I'm getting pretty into it as I go along.

[Zonc1 0]

Tactics Lore does increase damage for both primary atack and Combat Arts.

The build looks solid, though I find AS Lore totally unnecessary. I don't have it, the only thing that raises AS aspect damage is combat discipline and CM + RM combo works well (trash mobs die in one cast). I have Toughness over AS Lore and find it very useful. Skip LA since it requires too much attention for very little return.

As for Soul Reaver - it's too good to skip. Even at CA level 1, fully modded, will provide great att & def bonus = less healing pots. I do think Inquisitor needs every defence he can get, I had level 93 singleplayer Inquisitor who didn't use SR and when went to Niob at this level got his butt kicked badly. So yes, you will need Concetration mastery, and even keep it at your char level until 75 (together with Constitution).

[MTCityHunter 0]

Sorry if I implied that Tactics Lore doesn't affect melee CA damage; it most certainly does. GIF does indirectly as well because it'll allow higher CA ranks with the same regen. I was only trying to say that tactics lore ALSO boosts normal melee attacks, while GIF doesn't. The discussion on regen on hit was simply meant to provide a way around using many normal melee attacks at all, even early on. Basically, I still think the 2 skills are interchangeable, but it depends on other variables in your build: namely how you decide to mod PC.

 

With hallow and eradicate, you've basically got the effects of Tactics in place already, so going for GIF becomes more optimal IMO so you can keep PC ranks as high as possible and also boost attack CA levels. My original EOTS build couldn't fit in toughness (he was a shopper), so I had to pick Inure instead. As such, Tactics became a better option for boosting melee damage for me. In a revised build I'm now working on, bargaining is replaced with toughness, so I'm freed up to choose hallow over Inure, which leads me to GIF over tactics as well. You build has both though, so I wouldn't worry about it; your melee damage will be outstanding and will remain so.

 

Combat Discipline is definitely a "pro choice" as you put it. Its a good skill for any class, but if you want Inquisitor spell damage to remain as high as you can get it, CD is a must. 3-CA combos are also really nice for this class. AS Lore isn't totally unnecessary if you want your AS CAs to kill things by themselves. If you combo CM with RM as Zonc1 does, then its not so important (especially if you have both GIF and TL, your RM will do outstanding damage), but in my build the GI combo is kept on a separate cooldown from the AS combo, and as such I want the AS arts to do ALL the work themselves; for this, AS Lore is invaluable. Plus, if you're making AS a main tree, having focus and lore lets you have everything modded much sooner.

 

I do agree that SR is too good to pass up, but if you really want to, you could do without it (the way I play involves RP+PC prior to 75). You've already got the skill, though so IMO, you may as well boost it to 75. If you're worried about SR interfering with reflect damage from RP, don't. The game checks reflect FIRST, so RP should always work at full capacity even when your defense goes through the roof. In other words, RP will reflect the same % of damage (as shown in its tool tip) with or without SR active. SR just helps you stay alive better while grinding; it shouldn't hinder RP (if you rely on PC's enraged damage bonus, it will interfere with that, but I wouldn't recommend relying on PC for WIDD anyway).

 

Anyways, its a solid build. The way you've got it set up, I think you should go with Inure on PC though. Having both TL and GIF means your melee will always be your best option; AS is there to set up melee is that build. As such, Zonc1 is right that you could replace AS Lore. However, if you want AS to be the main tree, I'd replace TL with Toughness instead and choose Hallow over Inure on PC. That will keep your spell damage competitive enough to get the job done itself. Your melee damage will still be more than good enough (and it will still be higher than your spell damage btw), but it won't be clearly better to use melee in all situations.

 

This second suggestion is actually what I'm playing now, and its working beautifully (through Gold so far). Once I get the build tested a bit more and get his supporting shopper into niob as well (I'm currently leveling them roughly together) I'll post the build as an EOTS variant. EOTS v2.0 if you will...

[Cassial 0]

Sorry if I implied that Tactics Lore doesn't affect melee CA damage; it most certainly does. GIF does indirectly as well because it'll allow higher CA ranks with the same regen. I was only trying to say that tactics lore ALSO boosts normal melee attacks, while GIF doesn't. The discussion on regen on hit was simply meant to provide a way around using many normal melee attacks at all, even early on. Basically, I still think the 2 skills are interchangeable, but it depends on other variables in your build: namely how you decide to mod PC.

 

With hallow and eradicate, you've basically got the effects of Tactics in place already, so going for GIF becomes more optimal IMO so you can keep PC ranks as high as possible and also boost attack CA levels. My original EOTS build couldn't fit in toughness (he was a shopper), so I had to pick Inure instead. As such, Tactics became a better option for boosting melee damage for me. In a revised build I'm now working on, bargaining is replaced with toughness, so I'm freed up to choose hallow over Inure, which leads me to GIF over tactics as well. You build has both though, so I wouldn't worry about it; your melee damage will be outstanding and will remain so.

 

Combat Discipline is definitely a "pro choice" as you put it. Its a good skill for any class, but if you want Inquisitor spell damage to remain as high as you can get it, CD is a must. 3-CA combos are also really nice for this class. AS Lore isn't totally unnecessary if you want your AS CAs to kill things by themselves. If you combo CM with RM as Zonc1 does, then its not so important (especially if you have both GIF and TL, your RM will do outstanding damage), but in my build the GI combo is kept on a separate cooldown from the AS combo, and as such I want the AS arts to do ALL the work themselves; for this, AS Lore is invaluable. Plus, if you're making AS a main tree, having focus and lore lets you have everything modded much sooner.

 

I do agree that SR is too good to pass up, but if you really want to, you could do without it (the way I play involves RP+PC prior to 75). You've already got the skill, though so IMO, you may as well boost it to 75. If you're worried about SR interfering with reflect damage from RP, don't. The game checks reflect FIRST, so RP should always work at full capacity even when your defense goes through the roof. In other words, RP will reflect the same % of damage (as shown in its tool tip) with or without SR active. SR just helps you stay alive better while grinding; it shouldn't hinder RP (if you rely on PC's enraged damage bonus, it will interfere with that, but I wouldn't recommend relying on PC for WIDD anyway).

 

Anyways, its a solid build. The way you've got it set up, I think you should go with Inure on PC though. Having both TL and GIF means your melee will always be your best option; AS is there to set up melee is that build. As such, Zonc1 is right that you could replace AS Lore. However, if you want AS to be the main tree, I'd replace TL with Toughness instead and choose Hallow over Inure on PC. That will keep your spell damage competitive enough to get the job done itself. Your melee damage will still be more than good enough (and it will still be higher than your spell damage btw), but it won't be clearly better to use melee in all situations.

 

This second suggestion is actually what I'm playing now, and its working beautifully (through Gold so far). Once I get the build tested a bit more and get his supporting shopper into niob as well (I'm currently leveling them roughly together) I'll post the build as an EOTS variant. EOTS v2.0 if you will...

 

Thanks so much for the timely replies, this clarifies exactly what I want to do now - I've fallen in love with the triple combo of CM + LA + RT, so combat discipline is a must, but beyond just that it will be the option that keeps my spell damage as high as possible. Basically exactly what you're doing MT, keeping the melee CA on a seperate timer, I'll go with this build now for sure. Hallow seems far more versatile to me now looking at it, than just straight up Tactics Lore, since it'll increase the spell damage as well, but yeah, it's making sense now. I also had no idea Soul Reaver would still work at full capacity with RP, it's such a subjective situation with the two skills, and looking at it completely on the surface one thinks, hey, they're contradicting each other, it must be bad.

 

I'm currently starting over for like the 5th time now, but I'll keep my Seraphim as my shopper, she found my Inquisitor the Catharsis' robes last night to boot. Hope you don't mind me copying your spec, thanks again for setting me on the right path, splatting tons of mobs together with maelstrom sure is fun :>

[MTCityHunter 0]

Thanks so much for the timely replies, this clarifies exactly what I want to do now - I've fallen in love with the triple combo of CM + LA + RT, so combat discipline is a must, but beyond just that it will be the option that keeps my spell damage as high as possible. Basically exactly what you're doing MT, keeping the melee CA on a seperate timer, I'll go with this build now for sure. Hallow seems far more versatile to me now looking at it, than just straight up Tactics Lore, since it'll increase the spell damage as well, but yeah, it's making sense now. I also had no idea Soul Reaver would still work at full capacity with RP, it's such a subjective situation with the two skills, and looking at it completely on the surface one thinks, hey, they're contradicting each other, it must be bad.

 

I'm currently starting over for like the 5th time now, but I'll keep my Seraphim as my shopper, she found my Inquisitor the Catharsis' robes last night to boot. Hope you don't mind me copying your spec, thanks again for setting me on the right path, splatting tons of mobs together with maelstrom sure is fun :>

 

No worries. And by all means, copy away! If I wanted to keep it a secret, I wouldn't have posted build ideas here The more people we've got working on similar builds the more perspectives we can offer to the next guy.

 

There seem to be plenty of counter intuitive mechanics in this game, which is what makes putting something like the wiki together so difficult. Anyway, I've never personally tracked reflect damage to make sure it stays the same with SR active, but based on how the game mechanics work, it should work that way. I can say that I still notice RP reflect damage doing its thing with SR active. Considering the impact of SR on the frequency you actually take damage, I think I'd notice if it was reducing reflected damage frequency in a similar fashion, and I don't notice a change. For what its worth

 

EDIT: Also, keep an eye out for the EOTS v2.0 thread. I'll probably put it up within a couple weeks (home computer is kaput atm, so whenever they get me a new motherboard/power source is probably when I'll get to it), and your in game experiences and feedback would be most welcome!

Edited September 8, 2009 by MTCityHunter

[Cassial 0]

Thanks so much for the timely replies, this clarifies exactly what I want to do now - I've fallen in love with the triple combo of CM + LA + RT, so combat discipline is a must, but beyond just that it will be the option that keeps my spell damage as high as possible. Basically exactly what you're doing MT, keeping the melee CA on a seperate timer, I'll go with this build now for sure. Hallow seems far more versatile to me now looking at it, than just straight up Tactics Lore, since it'll increase the spell damage as well, but yeah, it's making sense now. I also had no idea Soul Reaver would still work at full capacity with RP, it's such a subjective situation with the two skills, and looking at it completely on the surface one thinks, hey, they're contradicting each other, it must be bad.

 

I'm currently starting over for like the 5th time now, but I'll keep my Seraphim as my shopper, she found my Inquisitor the Catharsis' robes last night to boot. Hope you don't mind me copying your spec, thanks again for setting me on the right path, splatting tons of mobs together with maelstrom sure is fun :>

 

No worries. And by all means, copy away! If I wanted to keep it a secret, I wouldn't have posted build ideas here The more people we've got working on similar builds the more perspectives we can offer to the next guy.

 

There seem to be plenty of counter intuitive mechanics in this game, which is what makes putting something like the wiki together so difficult. Anyway, I've never personally tracked reflect damage to make sure it stays the same with SR active, but based on how the game mechanics work, it should work that way. I can say that I still notice RP reflect damage doing its thing with SR active. Considering the impact of SR on the frequency you actually take damage, I think I'd notice if it was reducing reflected damage frequency in a similar fashion, and I don't notice a change. For what its worth

 

EDIT: Also, keep an eye out for the EOTS v2.0 thread. I'll probably put it up within a couple weeks (home computer is kaput atm, so whenever they get me a new motherboard/power source is probably when I'll get to it), and your in game experiences and feedback would be most welcome!

 

Just a quick update, burned through from starting over to level 35'ish, although I don't think it matters too much, I just got the GI spider. Do you guys rock the generic one or AS? I'm thinking that keeping my maelstrom combo at 10 seconds is perfectly fine, it's at 7 when not on the GI spider - it takes every bit of 10-20 seconds to find good sized groups to crush anyway (and the whole point is to take them out in one cast, I'm maximizing AS lore and keeping my spell damage up) although if I took the AS spider I suppose I could eat runes. :>

 

This build is insanely fun. About how many runes do you guys try to eat or what's *your* general rule of thumb? My GI melee combo is at 2 seconds, my Maelstrom combo is at 7, and I really think it could use some more runes but I'm just paranoid about eating them. The single target debuff DS+IS+MP combo is roughly 10 seconds as well for me, since it's used maybe once per boss fight, it should be way more leveled than that, probably. Playing a seraphim without concentration or tactics lore severely limits regeneration and has me in the mindset of just leaving stuff at level 1 and letting +skills compensate, but that's the beauty of this game - managing your own timers and figuring out how much is excessive. Anyway, just curious on what the regen timers are and what levels your combos are at~

 

You suggested in your guide to leave LA, Maelstrom, and RT all at just 1 rune, yet putting so many points into the focus, so that's why I'm wondering :< I'm thinking the points could go into Combat Discipline past 75 anyway without 4 combo chains for added CA damage if we're leaving the Combat Arts at just 1 rune?

[MTCityHunter 0]

Just a quick update, burned through from starting over to level 35'ish, although I don't think it matters too much, I just got the GI spider. Do you guys rock the generic one or AS? I'm thinking that keeping my maelstrom combo at 10 seconds is perfectly fine, it's at 7 when not on the GI spider - it takes every bit of 10-20 seconds to find good sized groups to crush anyway (and the whole point is to take them out in one cast, I'm maximizing AS lore and keeping my spell damage up) although if I took the AS spider I suppose I could eat runes. :>

 

This build is insanely fun. About how many runes do you guys try to eat or what's *your* general rule of thumb? My GI melee combo is at 2 seconds, my Maelstrom combo is at 7, and I really think it could use some more runes but I'm just paranoid about eating them. The single target debuff DS+IS+MP combo is roughly 10 seconds as well for me, since it's used maybe once per boss fight, it should be way more leveled than that, probably. Playing a seraphim without concentration or tactics lore severely limits regeneration and has me in the mindset of just leaving stuff at level 1 and letting +skills compensate, but that's the beauty of this game - managing your own timers and figuring out how much is excessive. Anyway, just curious on what the regen timers are and what levels your combos are at~

 

You suggested in your guide to leave LA, Maelstrom, and RT all at just 1 rune, yet putting so many points into the focus, so that's why I'm wondering :< I'm thinking the points could go into Combat Discipline past 75 anyway without 4 combo chains for added CA damage if we're leaving the Combat Arts at just 1 rune?

 

I use the AS spider because when I'm using the mount it generally means I'm grinding or overland traveling. For those circumstances, I want better performance from my Area of Effect, which of course is AS based. I don't need fast regen on debuffs or melee while grinding, and I pretty much always dismount for bosses.

 

As for regens, its a complicated issue. I'll try to explain how I make those decisions, but ultimately its something that everyone just needs to get a feel for to match regens to your personal playstyle. I use a sliding scale, and a fair bit of subjectivity, but my general rules are to keep buffs levels to focus penalty level first. Second, I try to keep enough 'regen on hit' such that 2 hits (1 CE, if both hit) will fully recharge my melee CAs (and my debuff combo: I picked the exploit gold mod on RP this second time around and as such sometimes like to quickly raise minions with the IS combo, though leveling this one higher would be fine as well, which is what I did the first time around). I usually try to keep the AS combo regen down to where around 3-5 melee hits will fully recharge it (depending on how its been performing and my mood, sometimes I'll go higher). So for me, its not a matter of keeping everything to X number of seconds; that value is all relative to the amount of regen on hit I'm toting around.

 

For example, say I'm using gear that gives me 1.0s regen on hit: I want RM and CE to have a regen of 2.0 seconds (you could keep RM a bit higher if you want to and just use CE alone on bosses), and the CM/RT/LA combo to have a regen of about 4.0 seconds. The IS/DS/MP(CE) combo I'd want at around 3.0s as well (to be capable of quickly raising minions if/when I care to), although it could also be kept at very high regen to maximize CA levels, if you only use it on bosses. For the AS combo you can definitely get away with a much higher regen time if you need to; I've had success with it up to around 8.0s, but after that, RM vs. a small group won't reliably recharge it anymore (unless you're going a bit overboard with regen on hit). Finding the right balance of regen on hit and actual regens, while keeping buffs leveled up is pretty subjective business; more RoH is great, but you don't want to devote many gear slots to it. I devote a single slot, either a socket, or a gear piece like those Ilgaard's gloves, and it seems like more than enough to me.

 

When I wrote to keep things at 1 rune, I just mean "for a while". Basically, you'll want to get a feel for how everything performs together before reading runes, but reading some later on is definitely good as long as it doesn't negatively impact how you're playing. I don't usually start reading runes on attack CAs until around level 75 or so, but you certainly could if you had a good idea of what you want everything to do long term. Just to give an idea, on my previous Inquisitor, I ultimately read runes for all the AS attack CAs up to focus penalty level and still had regen where I needed it to be. On that character though, I had to leave GI CAs at 1 rune (but boosted via gear) because I didn't have GIF. This time around, I expect I'll be able to pump the GI CAs quite high as well.

 

Anyway, glad to hear you're having fun! This class, and especially the hybrid builds I've run for it are so much fun, every other class is pretty much ruined for me in comparison...

[Cassial 0]

Just a quick update, burned through from starting over to level 35'ish, although I don't think it matters too much, I just got the GI spider. Do you guys rock the generic one or AS? I'm thinking that keeping my maelstrom combo at 10 seconds is perfectly fine, it's at 7 when not on the GI spider - it takes every bit of 10-20 seconds to find good sized groups to crush anyway (and the whole point is to take them out in one cast, I'm maximizing AS lore and keeping my spell damage up) although if I took the AS spider I suppose I could eat runes. :>

 

This build is insanely fun. About how many runes do you guys try to eat or what's *your* general rule of thumb? My GI melee combo is at 2 seconds, my Maelstrom combo is at 7, and I really think it could use some more runes but I'm just paranoid about eating them. The single target debuff DS+IS+MP combo is roughly 10 seconds as well for me, since it's used maybe once per boss fight, it should be way more leveled than that, probably. Playing a seraphim without concentration or tactics lore severely limits regeneration and has me in the mindset of just leaving stuff at level 1 and letting +skills compensate, but that's the beauty of this game - managing your own timers and figuring out how much is excessive. Anyway, just curious on what the regen timers are and what levels your combos are at~

 

You suggested in your guide to leave LA, Maelstrom, and RT all at just 1 rune, yet putting so many points into the focus, so that's why I'm wondering :< I'm thinking the points could go into Combat Discipline past 75 anyway without 4 combo chains for added CA damage if we're leaving the Combat Arts at just 1 rune?

 

I use the AS spider because when I'm using the mount it generally means I'm grinding or overland traveling. For those circumstances, I want better performance from my Area of Effect, which of course is AS based. I don't need fast regen on debuffs or melee while grinding, and I pretty much always dismount for bosses.

 

As for regens, its a complicated issue. I'll try to explain how I make those decisions, but ultimately its something that everyone just needs to get a feel for to match regens to your personal playstyle. I use a sliding scale, and a fair bit of subjectivity, but my general rules are to keep buffs levels to focus penalty level first. Second, I try to keep enough 'regen on hit' such that 2 hits (1 CE, if both hit) will fully recharge my melee CAs (and my debuff combo: I picked the exploit gold mod on RP this second time around and as such sometimes like to quickly raise minions with the IS combo, though leveling this one higher would be fine as well, which is what I did the first time around). I usually try to keep the AS combo regen down to where around 3-5 melee hits will fully recharge it (depending on how its been performing and my mood, sometimes I'll go higher). So for me, its not a matter of keeping everything to X number of seconds; that value is all relative to the amount of regen on hit I'm toting around.

 

For example, say I'm using gear that gives me 1.0s regen on hit: I want RM and CE to have a regen of 2.0 seconds (you could keep RM a bit higher if you want to and just use CE alone on bosses), and the CM/RT/LA combo to have a regen of about 4.0 seconds. The IS/DS/MP(CE) combo I'd want at around 3.0s as well (to be capable of quickly raising minions if/when I care to), although it could also be kept at very high regen to maximize CA levels, if you only use it on bosses. For the AS combo you can definitely get away with a much higher regen time if you need to; I've had success with it up to around 8.0s, but after that, RM vs. a small group won't reliably recharge it anymore (unless you're going a bit overboard with regen on hit). Finding the right balance of regen on hit and actual regens, while keeping buffs leveled up is pretty subjective business; more RoH is great, but you don't want to devote many gear slots to it. I devote a single slot, either a socket, or a gear piece like those Ilgaard's gloves, and it seems like more than enough to me.

 

When I wrote to keep things at 1 rune, I just mean "for a while". Basically, you'll want to get a feel for how everything performs together before reading runes, but reading some later on is definitely good as long as it doesn't negatively impact how you're playing. I don't usually start reading runes on attack CAs until around level 75 or so, but you certainly could if you had a good idea of what you want everything to do long term. Just to give an idea, on my previous Inquisitor, I ultimately read runes for all the AS attack CAs up to focus penalty level and still had regen where I needed it to be. On that character though, I had to leave GI CAs at 1 rune (but boosted via gear) because I didn't have GIF. This time around, I expect I'll be able to pump the GI CAs quite high as well.

 

Anyway, glad to hear you're having fun! This class, and especially the hybrid builds I've run for it are so much fun, every other class is pretty much ruined for me in comparison...

 

Thanks again man, yeah, that clears things up, I'm using your build except bargaining for toughness, and TL for GIF, so my GI Combat Arts are wicked low sitting at like 1.4 seconds. It's definitely time to read some runes. I think I'd rather do 150+ Combat Discipline though as opposed to just 75, and letting AS Focus be a little weaker, what do you think on that specifically? I saw your comment on r00ster's video by the way, saw his profile and his build is basically same as ours with the exclusion of Toughness for Tactics lore, going balls out offense (I'm betting he took Inure though, I'm starting to see how this all fits together now =P) he's going to have insane melee with that but will probably be quite squishy. Anyway, on that note, I dumped a ton of points into Toughness immediately upon hitting 35, I've felt very squishy in the Orc lands, but it's great, zero deaths and keeping it that way :>

[MTCityHunter 0]

Thanks again man, yeah, that clears things up, I'm using your build except bargaining for toughness, and TL for GIF, so my GI Combat Arts are wicked low sitting at like 1.4 seconds. It's definitely time to read some runes. I think I'd rather do 150+ Combat Discipline though as opposed to just 75, and letting AS Focus be a little weaker, what do you think on that specifically? I saw your comment on r00ster's video by the way, saw his profile and his build is basically same as ours with the exclusion of Toughness for Tactics lore, going balls out offense (I'm betting he took Inure though, I'm starting to see how this all fits together now =P) he's going to have insane melee with that but will probably be quite squishy. Anyway, on that note, I dumped a ton of points into Toughness immediately upon hitting 35, I've felt very squishy in the Orc lands, but it's great, zero deaths and keeping it that way :>

 

I don't really see a problem with boosting CD over ASF after both are mastered, so long as its the extra damage you're after. Its just a choice of regen (and perhaps also higher level CAs) or straight damage, so if you're fine with regens and CA levels (and the corresponding secondary effects), boosting CD is fine. Just make sure to keep an eye on RP and ZD levels to make sure you're happy with where they're at; obviously boosting ASF can let you have a very powerful RP and Dopp, but more damage on attack CAs is never a bad thing. I reckon keeping GIF high enough to keep PC (with hallow) boosted up will provide all the damage I'll need, so I'll probably boost ASF and leave CD at 75 or so when I run this version of the build in higher levels. Maybe we can compare notes later on

 

Also yeah, r00ster is a big fan of Inure (as am I in a build w/o toughness). I'm fairly sure he's got that in his build. Its just a trade off/domino effect thing though...

[Ryanrocker 200]

Hey MT, I know you posted in my build about the toughness skill pick and the inure mod choice. I did some tests and found out that including toughness in the build increases the survival factor along with inure helping more than the original picks I had made. So bottom line is that I would always go with the inure mod pick if it were me.

[MTCityHunter 0]

Hey MT, I know you posted in my build about the toughness skill pick and the inure mod choice. I did some tests and found out that including toughness in the build increases the survival factor along with inure helping more than the original picks I had made. So bottom line is that I would always go with the inure mod pick if it were me.

 

Nothing wrong with that if you wanna maximize survivability. They stack and together with gear can make you very sturdy defensively.

 

The way I prefer to play (especially hybrids) is to make a build where I will survive reliably without going overboard on defense (like why in hell do most melee SW players choose to use GR, RE, AL, Con, Toughness, AND CR:) Overkill much?). At any rate, I've already made it into Niob using a build with AL, Con, and Inure with very few problems, so I don't anticipate I'll have trouble doing the same or better using a build with AL, Con, and Toughness.

 

That ought to be enough for me, especially considering that in the newer version of the build, I've also got exploit from RP for some scaling mitigation linked to the Dopp and any IS minions I bring along to boss fights, so I'll ultimately have MORE mitigation than the previous version (at least as long as the Dopp and minions are standing...which so far has been plenty long enough to get the boss dead), all while including hallow for more damage than my first build was capable of.

 

The tradeoff of course, was that I've had to level a BFG seraphim to be a magic finder/bargainer to support the build, which has been mind numbing. I effing hate that class (though she looks very very cool, especially in her bargaining suit, somthing I can't always say for my poor fashion-challenged Inquisitor ).

 

Anyways, part of this is due to my increased experience playing the class, but the newer build hasn't even gotten threatened once through Gold (no heartbeats), and kills bosses faster at earlier levels (it took off faster due to hallow). My original build had its most difficult times in silver and a bit in gold. I expect that when the new build gets to 75+ and gets into platinum it'll effectively be all downhill. Obviously, mobs in Niob still hit hard, but by then, the build will be ready. My point is that if I made it there with the 1st build, the 2nd should do it no problem.

 

Inure is never a wrong choice though, regardless of build. Its very powerful, and if you don't trust your defenses then by all means, stack it with toughness.

[Zonc1 0]

The way I prefer to play (especially hybrids) is to make a build where I will survive reliably without going overboard on defense (like why in hell do most melee SW players choose to use GR, RE, AL, Con, Toughness, AND CR:) Overkill much?).

Me personally like when I'm able to play without pots at all. It's my 'thing'

Even with both Inure and toughness, 70% phys and 40% rest types DM, const mastery and 30k armor, the fire nameless guardian takes away half of my hp in 2-3 hits.

I find it funny actually when people socket only +all skills rings and then wonder why they have to bash spacebar all the time.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Zonc1

[MTCityHunter 0]

The way I prefer to play (especially hybrids) is to make a build where I will survive reliably without going overboard on defense (like why in hell do most melee SW players choose to use GR, RE, AL, Con, Toughness, AND CR:) Overkill much?).

Me personally like when I'm able to play without pots at all. It's my 'thing'

Even with both Inure and toughness, 70% phys and 40% rest types DM, const mastery and 30k armor, the fire nameless guardian takes away half of my hp in 2-3 hits.

I find it funny actually when people socket only +all skills rings and then wonder why they have to bash spacebar all the time.

 

 

Lol, yeah. Balance is key

 

I drink pots occasionally if I need to, but if I ever find myself needing to spam them, I lose pretty much any faith I previously had in the build, especially if that's happening prior to Niob. If one needs to spam pots in silver or gold, the build will get steamrolled in plat/niob considering how much harder everything hits coupled with how much less you get healed by pots. No doubt about it pots are a crutch if you need to use a ton of them to survive, not so different from relying on SR bonuses IMO: its fine I guess, but don't always expect it to work

 

Getting the trophy related to potion use (forget what its called atm...alchemist maybe?) by the end of silver is NOT an accomplishment (though I have done it lol).

[Cassial 0]

The way I prefer to play (especially hybrids) is to make a build where I will survive reliably without going overboard on defense (like why in hell do most melee SW players choose to use GR, RE, AL, Con, Toughness, AND CR:) Overkill much?).

Me personally like when I'm able to play without pots at all. It's my 'thing'

Even with both Inure and toughness, 70% phys and 40% rest types DM, const mastery and 30k armor, the fire nameless guardian takes away half of my hp in 2-3 hits.

I find it funny actually when people socket only +all skills rings and then wonder why they have to bash spacebar all the time.

 

Now you guys have got me kind of concerned, but we'll see when we get to Niob. I'm playing the same hybrid idea with just toughness/armor lore/constitution, I'll make an invincible character later when I get the stacked damage mitigation gear to pull it off, as mentioned in the demi-god guide. I don't expect it to be a cakewalk either, challenge is a good thing. My Inquisitor happened to find a Vlandhar's Revenge unique hammer, level 48 today in a chest after talking to Giles at Seraphim Isle, heh, nice little surprise. Do you guys just run General Terus every 10 levels for Boneslicers when you outgrow your weapons? Or is that considered cheesing? =P

[SolomonGrundy 1]

Maybe you guys could get more specific as to your gear then. I have to be honest. Every character I have made (even the ice elf), as had high potion moments. I don't have a character in gold, let alone platinum, so why is this game beting the crap out of me? I feel like I am missing something major.

[Zonc1 0]

As I said in my previous post. Don't socket only +all rings, until several deffensive skills are mastered (const, toughness, AL lore) and RP gives >50% reflection at least 6 +armor sockets is required (niobium preferably ).

This should be gear setup for every Inquisitor, until rare items with +GI aspect are found:

Head: Insignia of Power (2 sockets, nice armor, phys mitigation)

Arms: Ilgards or some rare piece with +deathblow, +skills, +all CAs etc.

Shoulders: before AL mastery Ilgard's, after rare piece with all channel mitigation (sockets and other boni are nice)

Belt: Sarakis, 2 sockets, phys mitigation, there is no better belt

Torso: Cowl of Catharsis (3 sockets, all types of armor included)

Legs: in earlier lvls (<100) use Pantaloons of Catharsis. Later on switch to Bloodrobe of Determined Justice, with +chance to block close combat

Gloves, Boots: Ilgards

 

Do some Griffon (ice dmg) & Boar (100% phys) runs, best item per minute ratio

Edited September 11, 2009 by Zonc1

[MTCityHunter 0]

As I said in my previous post. Don't socket only +all rings, until several deffensive skills are mastered (const, toughness, AL lore) and RP gives >50% reflection at least 6 +armor sockets is required (niobium preferably ).

This should be gear setup for every Inquisitor, until rare items with +GI aspect are found:

Head: Insignia of Power (2 sockets, nice armor, phys mitigation)

Arms: Ilgards or some rare piece with +deathblow, +skills, +all CAs etc.

Shoulders: before AL mastery Ilgard's, after rare piece with all channel mitigation (sockets and other boni are nice)

Belt: Sarakis, 2 sockets, phys mitigation, there is no better belt

Torso: Cowl of Catharsis (3 sockets, all types of armor included)

Legs: in earlier lvls (<100) use Pantaloons of Catharsis. Later on switch to Bloodrobe of Determined Justice, with +chance to block close combat

Gloves, Boots: Ilgards

 

Do some Griffon (ice dmg) & Boar (100% phys) runs, best item per minute ratio

 

All very good gear advice. Deylen's belt is just as good though. If you can find a Cowl of Catharsis, everything else is gravy.

 

Socketing +All Skills is fine in moderation, just make sure defenses are in place first. I like to make sure I've got at least some of all defense types. If its not natively on my gear, I'll socket items that have evade, block, spell resist, reflect whatever (more not usually needed due to RP, but I won't avoid it either). Once I've got at least some of all of those, I'll socket a few +armor/defense BS arts until I'm satisfied with those values. Once that's done you can start socketing everything else, including all skills.

 

Obviously socketing all skills prior to level 50-65 would be rather wasteful since you don't even have all or most of your skills in place yet.

 

Also, staying stationary can get you killed. Boss fights are inherently pretty stationary, but there are fights you should still be mobile in. The Nameless Guardians for one: not only do they hit hard, their temple guardian friends lay down fire traps that will kill you quickly if you stand in them. Mist of Miasma for another: it makes a tornado that can insta-kill you if you stand still in it too long.

Edited September 11, 2009 by MTCityHunter

[gogoblender 3,070]

Moved to Inquisitor Discusssions

 

 

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