[CLASS BUILD] [DEPRECATED] KISS Inquisitor

[Metaturtle]

(Keep It Stupid Simple) KISS Inquisitor

 

Class: Inquisitor ( Soulblade/Paladin )

Difficulty: PotD+ 

Version: 2.0

Solo: Untested

 

PATCH 2.1 NOTE:

The low INT trick that this build was built around has now been fixed and a higher INT is now always better for overall disintegration damage.  So this build's concept is now deprecated unless you just want to play a low INT Soulblade Inquisitor using Soul Annihilation and other shred abilities.

 

DESCRIPTION:

A build around the Mule's Wit ring to dump INT to the lowest value in order to shorten the time needed for disintegrate to do its maximum damage and to raise other stats that would have gone into INT.  Using the paladin's innate defenses and the raw damage skills of the cipher, the KISS Inquisitor is a decent melee that can be a functional tank while still maintaining a decent DPS presence against armored single targets.  The higher the RES or hostile affliction reduction on a target, the nastier disintegrate gets thanks to how fixed damage DoTs work.

 

The build's simplicity allows it to be easily AI scripted to perform its function well enough so you can do other things with the party.  In a higher damage party, you can switch out from disintegration to just Soul Annihilation or even Amplified Wave although disintegration is great for tougher targets.  With its resilient bonuses from the ring and the paladin's passives, it can continue doing its thing unhindered and can be further enhanced thru other items and drugs.

 

While its damage output does not come close to a cipher/rogue who can also benefit from low INT (deep wounds), the paladin choice was to increase disintegrate damage via sworn enemy's blanket +20% damage boost for focus generation and disintegration while being a tanky melee that has lower maintenance.

 

GAMEPLAY: 

Core Style - Use sworn enemy on target. Hit them. Disintegrate. Repeat. Use Soul Annihilation in early game until you can get Disintegration or you need to quickly dump focus for an execute or getting fast focus gain from attack speed buffs.

 

Sworn Enemy/Fire Brand Style (AoE/DoT Mode)- Cast sworn enemy/fire brand on everything.  Scroll and bomb things to take advantage of brand's damage boost on the targets. Amplified Wave might be useful in this way, but its small AoE is limited. Fire Brand can also be useful too to contribute chip damage though PotD armor can reduce it quite a bit without PEN bonuses.

 

OTHER NOTES:

Ascended? The build's low INT only gives you about ~7 seconds of ascended mode.  If you are in a high level party with a priest with salvation of time, you could give the priest the brilliance inspiration, which then makes them to go into a loop of constantly casting salvation of time to extend everyone's buffs.  In this way you can achieve ascended long enough to chaincast disintegrate.  However, you will be stuck being mediocre for majority of the game until you reach that level.

 

DISADVANTAGES:

The build's core abilities aren't exactly exciting since it's supposed to be stupidly (har har har) simple that you could script the AI to do so you will probably want to spice it up with some other micro in the party or skills/weapons.

 

SUBCLASSES: 

Bleak Walker - For damage oriented builds to get more focus from the corrode lash.  The sicken debuff is also awesome for stripping off CON buffs from enemies. 

 

Goldpact Knights - You will be casting sworn enemy a lot, the added AR is great for huge fights.

 

Kind Wayfarer's - Since you are abandoning Lay of Hands thanks to your dismal INT score, the healing from FoD can be a lifesaver for the lazy.

 

Darcozzi Paladin - Low INT reduces the buff, but the fire shield damage is alright.  Lay of Hands is wasted on the build though.

 

Shieldbearer of St. Whatever - The lay of hands boon is dismal on low INT so this subclass is the worst even for a tank paladin.

 

RACES: 

Human - The boost from being bloodied is great for the extra accuracy and damage for disintegrate.  Since the paladin has decent defense stats, you can stay bloodied relatively well.

 

ATTRIBUTES:

MIG - Maxed. Make that disintegrate damage as high as you can.

 

CON - Medium.  Nice to have to keep your comfort level in bloodied state.

 

DEX - Varies. Adjust accordingly if the character will be a dedicated damage dealer or a tank.  Faster hits, more focus.

 

PER - Maxed.  Disintegrate will be your bread and butter so you will want it to land as much as possible especially since it is going against fortitude defense.

 

INT - Dump.  Completely wasted with mule's wit -8INT penalty.

 

RES - Varied.  Adjust accordingly if the character will be a dedicated damage dealer or a tank.  Reduces hostile debuff timers on you.

 

SKILLS: 

Since the build has abandoned lay of hands.  You will want something that can heal you.

 

Arcana - It does not get affected by your low INT and can be used for pinch aoe damage, healing, and stripping off buffs from enemies.  The fire +1PEN passive may be viable if going arcana for meteor showers.

 

Alchemy - Gives good mileage from even the lowest of potions.  The extended self buffs from potions are always great.

 

Athletics - Useful for events and if you are lazy in a party with a dedicated healer.  Good to have if tanking with Cadhu Scath large shield.

 

Explosives - Useful for AoE and stripping off enemy buffs.  Has healing bomb, but it also can heal enemies.

 

 

CULTURE & BACKGROUND:

Avoid Old Vallia for the wasted INT, but anything else should be fine.  Living Lands for the MIG or White that Wends for the extra PER is my recommendation. 

 

I find the idea of being a scientist or scholar amusing for a build with the lowest INT possible, but its skills are decent for the build.  Colonist is the choice I would recommend.

 

WEAPONS & MODALS: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad

There are a few strong recommendations, but you are free to choose whatever happens to be the best focus generation weapon for your encounters.

 

Morning Star:

+Modal - One of the modals I strongly recommend to take since it lowers fortitude, which helps to land disintegrate and it also greatly helps out other party members that have skills that target fortitude as well.  The dual damage type of morningstars is also nice that can make morning stars the only weapon that you would probably need for many fights.

 

+Saru-Sichr - A very good morning star that you can get early into the game in Arkemyr's mansion.  The dot debuff stacks and has a long duration even for a low INT build that does decent damage.

 

+The Willbreaker - Another decent morning star weapon that lowers WIL for your other teammates.

 

Sabres:

+Animancer's blade - Awesome as part of a tanking or dualwield set since it ignores armor and normalizes the amount of focus you can gain on very high armored targets.  

 

+Scordeo's Edge - One of the best single handed weapons for accuracy and the procs that you will be finding yourself using soul annihilation to quickly dump focus.

 

Clubs:

?Modal: You can use modal to help your party if you are using a club.

+Kapana Taga: One of the best tanking weapons with its dual damage type, extra armor, and immunity to flanking.

 

+Shattered Vengeance - One of the earliest uniques you'll find on a vendor in Port Maje.  The stacking curse proc is extremely useful since it boosts your disintegrate damage as well as your party's damage on a target.

 

Flail:

?Modal - You won't make much use of the cipher's abilities that target reflex, but it can help other party members that do.  There are some decent flails so taking this won't hurt.

 

Battle Axe:

+Modal - The modal benefits from low INT allowing for faster damage in half the usual time.

?+Magran's Favor - Decent for tanking or dual wielding. Fire brand does not benefit from the +2 fire power level though.

?+Oathbreaker's End - An even stronger axe for stronger dots.  Crit proc is great since enemies will continue fighting to their eventual deaths.

 

Greatsword:

?Whispers of the Endless Paths - Cleave works with soulblade's soul annihilation.  It's a great early weapon with a retaliation attack that can work with a paladin's decent deflection stats.  Lots of misses on a paladin can quickly rack up a lot of focus from retaliation attacks to dump into a sweeping soul annihilation.

 

Quarterstaff: 

?Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff - If you can find ways to take elemental damage (summons hitting you, sit in firewalls, etc.) the +15% damage boost works with disintegrate.

 

Large Shield:

+Modal - If tanking, this modal is always useful.

 

Medium Shield:

+Modal - Good for tanking if you prefer medium shields.

 

Blunderbuss:

?Kitchen Stove - Thunderous Report, opener skill to quickly generate a decent amount of cipher focus. Small cone because of low INT so needs tight positioning.

 

Rod:

Amira's Wing: Wilting Wind that works like a weapon hit for on demand focus.  Small circle from your low INT.

 

?+Any weapon on-demand abilities that can generate focus is good.

 

 

ABILITIES:  +Good / ?Notable / -Bad

 

Starting-

Soulblade: The starting skill of the cipher can vary depending on preference.

+Mind Wave - As a soulblade, it costs 5 focus and can be a nice interrupt if timed well.

?Antipathetic Field - This skill's base duration does not get affected by your low INT so it can be nice splash damage.  I probably would take it as a level 2 skill so it won't collect dust as a starter skill though.

?Eyestrike - Strip PER buffs from enemies.

?Tenous Grasp - Strip INT and RES buffs from enemies.

?Valorous Echoes - Remove MIG and PER debuffs on an ally.

?Whisper of Treason - Probably not as a level 1 pick, but it can be used in the first island to give some breathing room for a low level party.

 

Paladin: Either sworn enemy or Flames of Devotion if the paladin order didn't already give it to you.

 

Power Level 1:

+Deep Faith

?+Retribution - If super tanky, you may not get hit all the time to reap the full stack, but any damage is nice for focus generation.

?Arms Bearer - Good to have clicky weapons for focus generation or to have more weapons in an encounter.

?Iron Will - A choice to take over retribution if you want to be tankier and to stop WIL targeted afflictions from landing in the first place.

?-Penetrating Visions - If you decide to use antipathetic field, ectopsychic echo, and amplified wave this can be somewhat useful but disintegration does not benefit from it.

-Lingering Echoes - The amount this adds is pitiful with your already low durations.

 

Power Level 2:

+Draining Whip - Increased focus generation.

+Zealous Aura - Paladin aura!

 

+Weapon Style - Choose what you'll use often.  You can sacrifice some defensive passives if you decide to pick more than one.

+Inspired Defense - Nice to be tankier.

 

Power Level 3:

+Hammering Thoughts: Bypass more armor for damage/focus generation.

?+Sworn Rival:  Useful for large trash fights where you quickly dispatch small enemies and can immediately rebrand another.

?+Fire Brand:  Has a niche where you can cast it on many enemies to chip their HP until you can deal with them. Decent for bosses since sworn rival doesn't do much for bosses.

 

FLEX POINT - You can choose any previous talents like another weapon style if you want to.

?Aegis of Loyalty - In a party, you'll be one the most charm resilient character so this is good utility to nullify charm on your party.

?FoD upgrades - Your super Low INT won't get much benefit from these skills, but whatever extra damage you can milk from it is always nice for focus generation.

?Ectopsychic Echo - Just like Antipathetic Field, the base duration is not lowered by your INT.  Decent splash damage in lower levels.

?Combat Focus - Stop enemies from interrupting you if you decide to not use drugs or rekvu helm.

?Other Defense Passives.

 

Power Level 4:

+Greater Focus - More focus to start with

+Exalted Focus - Accuracy

 

+Inspired Path - More Zeal

+Mental Fortress - INT affliction (charm) resistance

?+Clear Head - PER affliction (blind) resistance

?+Iron Gut - CON affliction (heal debuff) resistance

?+Exalted Endurance - If tanking a lot, this is good.

?Scion of Flame - If using fire brand, this helps to somewhat maintain better chip damage against targets.  Fire based scrolls also benefit from this.

?Tumbling + Exalted Charge - Has a niche with WotEP greatsword to bait for engagement attack isses.

 

Power Level 5:

+Righteous Soul - More staying power when you don't have to worry about disease and poisons.

?+Uncanny Luck - Crit and Dodge chance is nice.

 

?+Rapid Casting - Awesome to cast disintegrate and recover from it, but I won't get it right away until you are close to getting disintegrate. Works with scrolls too.

FLEX POINT - Choose past abiltiies if you wish.  I would recommend filling out the affliction resistances.

?+Keen Mind - Nice to have if you are fully damage dedicated, but the tankier passives provide more staying power in the long run to do things before needing to heal.

?+ Tough - Great for tanking and staying in battle longer.

?Practiced Healer - Decent for tanking and getting more out of healing items.

-Far Casting - Disintegrate's range is already good enough.

 

Power Level 6:

+Disintegrate - Finally you can melt enemies.

+Virtuous Triumph - Chance for more zeal!

 

FLEX POINT - Choose past abilities if you wish.

+Improved Critical - More damage is always nice.

?+Spell Resistance - Good for tanking.

?The Empty Soul - Not many abilities that target WILL to really justify a point for it.

 

Power Level 7:

?+The Complete Self - Nice to focus come back to you if it happens.

+Stoic Steel - Great tanking ability.

 

FLEX POINT - Choose past abilities if you wish.

?+Ancestor's Memory - Worth mentioning if you have a priest with salvation of time.  You will need to act quick since the build's low INT will only gives you about 6seconds to cast it on a priest and extend it.

?Echoing Horror - Kind of nice to have enemies become feared.  Not great if you are wearing Laughingstock hat.

-Sacred Immolation - If you want a suicide button, this is it. Even with low INT it still hurts because for some twisted reason, sworn rival/fire brand's damage boost boost applies to it (so emo). Fighting spirit's damage also gets applied when you hit bloodied. D: 

 

 

EQUIPMENT: +Good / ?Conditional / -Bad

Pet: Whatever fits your preference.  I chose either Nalvi or Abraham.

 

Armor: 

?+Any tanky armor fitting your role.

 

+DoC Breastplate - More Zeal and a HoT.

 

?+Harbingers - More flat damage boosts for Disintegration for being squishy.

 

Cloak: 

+Nemnok's Cloak - Less maintenance for the build!

 

+Cloak of Greater Deflection - More deflection is nice for tanking. Doesn't stack with bracers until 2.1 though.

 

?+Three Trolls Stitched - Regen is nice for less health management.

 

Hands:

+Woedica's Strangling Grasp - +2MIG for more disintegrate damage.  The strangle CC is awesome too.

 

+Gauntlets of Reliability - Having attacks land is great against dodgy things.

 

+Aegor's Swift Touch - +1DEX, +5% action speed, and small chance to nullify ranged weapon attack.

 

+Gatecrashers - +1MIG and chance for knockdown on crit.  1/rest skill for stripping MIG buffs.

 

?+Gloves of the Dungeon Warden - +3 Accuracy.  Lockdown ability can be a decent CC.

 

?+Firethrower's GLoves - +2DEX, +1Arcana, +2Explosives.  If it's not being used by a wizard.

 

Rings: 

++Ring of Mule's Wit - Keystone item for the build's low INT and affliction resilience.

 

+Kuaru's Prize - The INT is wasted, but the +1PER and +5% damage to your disintegrate is good.

 

+Chameleon's Touch - Thankfully your classes don't give you INT so it's a good stat ring.

 

?Ring of Overseeing - AoE range if you are using Amplified Wave.

 

-Voidward - lolsacredimmolation

 

Helm: 

+Cap of the Laughinstock - With your low INT, this turns anyone within 0.8m (point blank melee) fear immune, but they also suffer from -10 deflection.  Really great for debuffing enemies if you are not using fear at all with enough space for other melee to not get afflicted by the penalty.  You can also just run and touch your party members if you need to cleanse fear off.  You won't get penaized from the deflection penalty nor get the fear immunity, but you have enough fear resistance from the mule's wit ring and paladin passive. Really fun for the whole RP point too.

 

+Immortal Will - A great helm to have nothing interrupt you when healing or casting disintegrate.

 

?+Helm of the Falcon - With weapons like morning stars and greatswords, this is a decent helm.  The defense against ranged weapons is nice too.

 

?Horns of the bleak mother - +1PER, +10 acc to bests, and RES affliction resistance.

 

?Blackblade's Hood - Not bad if current weapons match the bonuses.

 

Belt: 

+Sash of Judgment - A decent choice for early combat phases and to punch thru full health enemies quickly.

 

+The Maker's Own Power - +1MIG. +1 Crush AR. Reforge the flesh is a decent automatic panic button.

 

?+Gwyn's Garter Belt - The build lacks a DEX affliction resistance from being completely paralyzed.  This is a good option.

 

?+The Amazing and Truly Incredible Instant Potion Belt - Not bad if a healing pot or damage pot shows up.

 

?Upright Captain's Belt - Concentration is good.

 

?Other stat belts.

 

?Trollhide Belt

 

Boots: 

+Rakhan Field Boots - Ability is per encounter and can provide early focus generation.  Also can be used for mobility.

 

+Boots of the Stone - +1DEX, +1RES, and might affliction resistance.

 

+Boots of the White - +1RES, +2 freeze AR, and DEX affliction resistance.

 

+Footprints of Ahu Taka - For the +2DEX.

 

+Bounding boots - Good for mobility.

 

Neck: 

+Claim and Refusal - More melee damage for more focus and can turn into tanking mode if needed.

 

+Cipher's Shackle - DEX affliction resistance since the build lacks resistance against it.

 

+Necklace of the Harvest Moon - Recovery bonus when you crit and a free moonwell (1/rest).

 

+Bone Setter's Torc - Crit chance.

 

+Anything with main stats, but avoid INT.

 

?Baubles of the Fin - If a party member wears this, you can benefit from the damage boost.

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Haplok]

Sadly Shattered Vengeance curse has been nerfed and does not stack, it's always just a meager 5%.

[Metaturtle]

Sadly Shattered Vengeance curse has been nerfed and does not stack, it's always just a meager 5%.

 

In 2.1?  I'll have to update it when the time comes around !

[Haplok]

I think in 1.1... or was it 1.2?

[Metaturtle]

It's been stacking for me in 2.0 and I don't use any mods.

[Haplok]

Hm, maybe I'm mistaken, sorry. I thought I've seen some info about it being nerfed, but seems I was mistaken.

When I've had Eder use it, I  usually just saw 5% more damage, but it might be due to only 33% affliction chance. And few enemies live very long.

[Metaturtle]

Ah that's understandable since most enemies don't usually have the HP to stack the debuff high.

[InsaneCommander]

I'll definitely have to try one low int build some day. This one is cool.

 

Edit: I imagine that it goes without saying that this build forbids you from rejecting the crew members that knock on your door?

Edited September 4, 2018 by InsaneCommander

[Metaturtle]

I'll definitely have to try one low int build some day. This one is cool.

 

Edit: I imagine that it goes without saying that this build forbids you from rejecting the crew members that knock on your door?

Lol, It makes Eder for once the sharper one :D