[2.4]Crit Storm Call Inquisitor build for high-tier maps (pre-nerf Core cleared) Life/CI

This is a buildguide for a Crit Storm Call Inquisitor which aims for clearing end game maps.
Changes that has to be done for the CI version can be found in the 2nd post.
I achieved 40/40 challenges completely solo with this build in Prophecy and previously Perandus.
2.4 nerfs the lab enchants so that the uber one now is what the merciless one use to be in 2.2 when uber lab didn't exist.(Thanks Mathil)And the build worked just as fine then and could clear core in 2.2
2.4 Shouldn't change much with the build and it should be stronger in comparison since most, if not all, the meta builds recived much larger nerfs than this!


Pros:

Spoiler

-Able to run every almost every map mod(Some combinations SHOULD be avoided however, will go into detail about this firther down).
-Clears red maps with ease.
-High clear speed with great damage and aoe.
-Freezes and shocks most things, including a lot of bosses.
-Can be done on a budget but scales good with gear and levels.
-Whirling Blades.
-Who cares about enemy resists?

Cons:
Spoiler

-Not chaos.
-Reflect is the main limiting factor.
-Defenses rely a lot on flasks and dodging via Whirling Blades.
-Not chaos.


Offense:

Without conc, with innervate
Spoiler

With conc,
Spoiler


Defense:

Without flasks:
Spoiler

With flasks:
Spoiler



Gems:
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Chest 6/5L:

6th link is Innervate for general clear and Conc for the tricky bosses.

Helm/Gloves/Boots 4L:
Orb of Storms:

For certain bosses Ice Bite can be replaced with:

Cwdt:

CoH Heralds:

Weapon 3L:

Shield:

The purity in the shield can be either cold/lightning depending on your resists, it can also be replaced for clarity if the mana regen is needed.

Gearing:
Spoiler

Check under "My gear" for examples
Chest: Carcass jack is the best option, belly and coil are also alternatives but harder to colour.
Gloves: Rare with life+resists/strength. Acuity is an end game alternative.
Helm: Rare with Reduced storm call duration enchant, this enchant is super important! other than that, life+resists/strength
Boots: Rainbowstride for the spell block, resists and move speed. Attack/Cast speed if you've recently killed is my personal favourite enchant.
Shield: Rathpith Globe.
Weapon: Rare dagger, Kris is best, any will do, for affixes you want: Spell damage+lightning damage to spells+crit chance for spells+crit multi. Divinarius is an excellent budget alternative!
Belt: Rare leather belt preferably, life+resists/strength.
Rings: Call of the brotherhood is a must have. For the other ring I'm currently using Berek's Grip for the convinient leech. If you need resists a ring with high resists and life will do just fine.
Amulet: Rare with: life+spell damage+crit multi+crit chance.
Flasks: Rumi's, Instant life with bleed/freeze removal, Vinktar's with added lightning to spells, Basalt with shock immunity(ALWAYS used together with vinktar), last flask is very much personal preference.
JewelsThis is where you get the crit multiplier!
An Ideal jewel would be 3 Crit Multi rolls and life, however they don't exist ;).
A more realistic jewel would be 2 Crit Multi rolls and life, they can sometimes be pricy.

The crit multi should always be prioritised as it incrases the damage by far more than any other stat a jewel can have.
Budget jewels have a lot of alterntives, here is a list of good rolls on jewels, the ones in parenthesis can be nice bonuses as a 4th stat but should not be searched for:
Multi with lightning skills
Multi with spells
Multi with elemental skills
Global multi
Life
Area damage
Lightning damage
Spell damage
Spell damage while holding a shield
(Forms of cast speed)
(Forms of crit chance)
((Resists))
I show my jewels under "my gear" for reference.

My Gear:
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I used this dagger before I crafted the kris I'm now using:

My gear in Prophecy:
Spoiler




Leveling:
Spoiler
For leveling I'd either use Arc or Storm Call, both work fine. If you have jewels do pick up the 2 point ones while leveling.
25points
51points
76points
Rest can be found under "skill tree".
Bandits:
N:Oak
C:Kill
M:Alira
Ascendancies:
N:Righteous Providence
C:Inevitable Judgement
M:Instruments of Virtue
End Game lab: Augury of Penitence

Skill tree:
Spoiler


Dealing with reflect:
Spoiler

Reflect is a massive issue for this build due to the shot-gunning nature of Storm Call (And being non-chaos ._.) and with high crit multiplier. To combat this I've opted to go for spell block via Rathpith, Rainbowstride as well as Rumi's, in conjunction with a life-pool of 6k and a purity I'm able to leech back way more than I'm losing when attacking a reflect mob. It however still looks(and is) dangerous due to vaal pact mechanics (Leech applied before damage taken from reflect) which results in the last hit on the reflect mob to deal high damage to me (unless the reflect is blocked) that can't be leeched back from the same mob due to it being rather dead. I'll go into more detail on how I handle ele reflect maps in the map mod section.

Map Mods:
Spoiler

-Elemental Reflect: This mod should be avoided as much as possible, but if you get those rare unid'd maps, the risk of it being ele reflect is fine, if it is there are ways to handle it:
This ring alone mitigates a lot of the issues and while using this I've never died in an ele reflect map.
However, there are some other mods that in conjunction with ele reflect makes the map too much of a risk to be worth it, namely -max res.

-Reduced max res(-Max):
Arguably one of the scariest mods for any build, run it with care and don't tank volatiles or bearers. Do not run with ele reflect!

-Elemental Equilibrium and other monster resistance mods:
Inquisitors Inevitable Judgment makes these mods not matter at all, free quantity!

-Blood Magic:
Blood magic can be done, turn off auras and go ham.

-Temp chains:
Just as annoying for this build as it is for every other, it sucks but has to be done a lot of the times.

-No regen:
Can be done, but if you can re-roll it, do so. If you want to use Whirling blades in a no regen map, replace Fortify with Blood Magic. The mod is annoying since you have to rely on warlord's mark/Mana leech from orb of storms which can be too slow on the bosses to allow for constant casting. Avoid if the map boss is dangerous.
Reduced regen can be done safely with use of Orb of Storms.

-Curse Immune:
This mod is in general no danger since I run life leech in main link, however it can be annoying(and potentially dangerous) in conjunction with -max if you run into a reflect mob. Also annoying in combination with no regen since you lose out on the mana leech from warlord's mark.

-Immunity to shock/freeze/ignite:
This is imo arguably the worst mod, i'd always re-roll a high tier map if possible if it rolled this, however it obviously can be done but the defensive mechanic from freezing and damage from shocking is completely gone. The avoidance to these ailments mod is barely noticable though.

-No leech:
The single impossible mod, just don't do it. In my experience this mod is very rare and shouldn't force many wasted chaos'


Videos
Spoiler

Map mods shown in videos
Sadly the Core clear recording bugged and didn't record the game, but the desktop :(
Courtyard
Palace
Gorge

Last edited by Yrex on Sep 2, 2016, 3:18:44 AM
Last bumped on Aug 6, 2017, 6:47:33 PM
CI Version
In prophecy I decided to transition into CI once I aquired enough currency to have a large enough ES pool.

The CI version is imo better but way more expensive version of the build.
Changes that are made in the CI version:
Spoiler

-All gear has to be ES based this means:
-Carcass jack gets replaced with a rare Vaal Regalia
-Getting a Hubris with Storm Call enchant can be hard and expensive, so can crafting it be
-Rathpith gets replaced with a high ES rare shield (With spell crit)
-Rainbowstride doesn't need to be replaced but can be.
-Rings should be call of the brotherhood + rare ring with %Max ES
-Eye of Chayula for stun immunity (If a +curse one can be aquired temp chains/enfeeble can be run in the CoH set-up instead of HoI which can be unlinked.
-Replace Life potion with a utility one
-Run inc aoe instead of Innervate in 6L to compensate for loss of carcass jack
-Innervate instead of Ice Bite in Orb of Storm is an alternative, not convinced which is best
-Change jewels to ES instead of Life
-Kill normal Oak
Map mod changes:
-Blood magic can't be done for obvious reasons

What the CI version accomplishes is essentially mitigating the one-shot danger of reflect by having a large ES pool (11k+ without discipline) while losing no damage what so ever.
Reflect should still be treated carefully in -max maps, and reflect maps is still no option, Sibyl's ring probably can't be used as CI due to resist issues.
Defenses with potions:
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CI skill tree:
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My CI gear:
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Void Battery?
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As seen here is that I'm running Void Battery which is a choice i've played with since I managed to get my hands on one. I think the loss of whirling blades and having to change into Pious Path isn't 100% a better option but since the Whirling Blades nerf it's certainly an option if you prefer Lightning Warp.
If void battery is used as mentioned above the Instruments of Virtue node becomes redundant and Pious Path is better than Augury of Pentience so those 4 ascendancy points should be changed.

Low Life?
Spoiler
A Low Life build as inquisitor is just not an option as Pain Attunement + Wrath would just guarantee getting killed by reflect. I did try to make the build however as Low Life as Elementalist due to the notbrokenatall "50% reduced ele reflect taken" node. The build worked fine but couldn't do the same damage nor run as many map mods as the inquisitor version can without a sweat.
Last edited by Yrex on Jun 23, 2016, 12:51:06 PM
Nice! This is actually the exact build I was going for before the league started, but bc my gf bailed out on me, I never even finished leveling it.

Almost the exact tree (here was mine)

Cool to see that my weird idea was in fact viable for late game mapping :) Gj
Why aren't you using Elemental Overload? Seems perfect for your build minus the fact that reflect will become even more of an issue.
Doing pretty much the same build, its hilarious! Could you link your helmet please?
"
j0zef wrote:
Spoiler
Nice! This is actually the exact build I was going for before the league started, but bc my gf bailed out on me, I never even finished leveling it.

Almost the exact tree (here was mine)

Cool to see that my weird idea was in fact viable for late game mapping :) Gj

Thanks! I think that build you had planned would've worked just fine, as long as you picked up vaal pact, no way you'd survive random reflect mobs otherwise :)

"
Why aren't you using Elemental Overload? Seems perfect for your build minus the fact that reflect will become even more of an issue.

It makes you have no crit multiplier which would be a terrible thing considering I have 535% :D

"
lancie wrote:
Doing pretty much the same build, its hilarious! Could you link your helmet please?
How did I miss adding that ._.

Added to original post as well.
Last edited by Yrex on Apr 4, 2016, 5:07:48 PM
Nice build, just started a new char with spark since it has the highest damage per "ball" :)

I always wanted to make a storm call char, this is my chance :> I'm guessing it can do atziri? Ive never killed her before so it'd be nice to combine both.
"
aitalar wrote:
Nice build, just started a new char with spark since it has the highest damage per "ball" :)

I always wanted to make a storm call char, this is my chance :> I'm guessing it can do atziri? Ive never killed her before so it'd be nice to combine both.

It certainly can kill normal Atziri very easily, it might not be one of the better builds at doing it but it shouldn't impose to much of a problem. I might try to get a video up of it later.
Last edited by Yrex on Apr 6, 2016, 2:14:31 PM
Thought so, thanks for the info. Having alot of fun, though i'll be using spark until i get a reasonable crit rate with storm call :)
So i got to 48 (few time to play) and i gotta say this is probably one of the best, if not THE best scaling build with currency.

With very few investment (4c for my spell dmg dagger) im sitting at 2.4k (x5 casts per sec, 12k dps) dmg per storm call use and 46% crit chance. with 5 casts a second this is easly the heaviest damage build ive ever played in the 40s.

thanks alot =)
Last edited by aitalar on Apr 8, 2016, 2:16:19 PM

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