[3.21] [SSF] Crackling Lance Low Life RF Petrified Blood Inquisitor - tanky, 7m+ dps, decent clear

//3.21 update:
Molten Shell has been nerfed, Determination mastery is no more. We have to put 3 points into the new reservation Mana mastery or get the helmet reservation enchant. Gained +1% to all max res from the new Armour mastery. Arcane Surge slightly nerfed. Other than that, no changes, except the build will most probably get stronger and tankier with the new weapon and shield masteries.


What is this?
A Crackling Lance Inquisitor build, utilizing Petrified Blood as well as Righteous Fire. Perfect for SSF, good from start of the league to finish. Viable for most content - I say most, because I haven't done Ubers, but cleared all other game content with it. Build easily reaches 5-6m boss DPS, but we reach 50% shock (tested on Sirus), so actual dps is closer to 7-8m. With endgame gear 11m shocked is possible - that's what I ended up with on my SSF character in 3.19.

The good and the bad
Spoiler

Good:
+ perfect for SSF
+ good single target damage (5-6m+ on mid-range SSF gear, not counting in 50% increased damage taken from shock)
+ great boss killer,
+ very tanky,
+ clears at an okay speed
+ doesn't really require any uniques, but some of them are really good for it
+ insane regen + overleech from Petrified Blood
Bad:
- socket starved (although doesn't have to be if you prefer it that way)
- can't do elemental reflect and no regen map mods
- clearing requires lots of movement in order to keep intensity stacks at 0 or 1 to maintain big AoE


PoB:
Spoiler
SSF - with Ashes of the Stars:
https://pastebin.com/9ZkiMyCL

SSF - without Ashes of the Stars:
https://pastebin.com/wJGh4jvg

Endgame optimised TRADE LEAGUE PoB
(by 39kk9t: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/39kk9t):
Spoiler
https://pobb.in/IZjLTFDzM-7l



Good uniques to have:
Spoiler


Best unique amulet for this build. It's quite slow to farm in SSF these days, but it's completely worth it. If you can't get it, a rare amulet with life and +1 to lightning gems is a perfectly fine replacement.


One of the reworked uniques in 3.19, in my opinion it's absolutely amazing. Gives us 25/30 block, which in maps turns into 75/75 most of the time. It's literally free max block for a shield slot. It's completely optional though - I personally love this item, but with a +1 to lightning gems and spell damage rare shield you can easily add 1m+ dps to this build.


Another unique reworked in 3.19 league, very good for this build, boosts DPS significantly, removes the need for Power Charge on Crit setup. I don't personally use it, because I prefer chill immunity and life regeneration rate from rare boots.


Map mods:
Spoiler

Can do everything except:
- ele reflect,
- no regen
The build can do -x% to life and ES recovery, but I would advise against it.


General tips
Spoiler

Put Molten Shell in your left click hotkey, so it's automatically cast whenever it's off cooldown.

You can start using RF during leveling as soon as you get Pious Path and max fire resistance.

You should Flame Dash often in order to keep your Arcane Surge up. It gives you more spell damage, as well as all the mana regen that you will ever need.

You could drop Orb of Storms and Power Charge on Crit and rely on your Assassin's Mark quality to get Power Charges, but I like having them all up instantly during a boss.

Use Vaal Clarity -> Wrath whenever you have enough souls for it. It's a huge dps boost, and it's pretty much 100% uptime during mapping.

Your ideal max damage combo is this:
Assassin's Mark -> Orb of Storms -> Flame Dash -> Vaal Clarity -> Wrath -> blast away with Crackling Lance

You can build up your Inspiration and Intensity stacks before a bossfight by just casting Crackling Lance 5 times. For example while Shaper is busy doing his initial speech, you can build up your stacks so you can have your full dps once the fight starts.

If you don't have Ashes of the Stars yet, use a Mana Reservation Cluster Jewel to have all your auras up. If you don't have the cluster jewel yet, drop Zealotry and use Herald of Thunder or any other 25% aura you like. Another option to include Zealotry would be to get an amulet with Charisma or Champion of the Cause annointment, although those annointments can be expensive. Another option is a Shaper or Hunter shield with "Socketed gems have 30% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency".


Gem links:
Spoiler

Chest - Main skill - Crackling Lance (in order of importance):
Crackling Lance - Intensify Support - Spell Echo Support - Inspiration Support - Inc. Crit Damage Support - Inc. Crit Strikes Support

4 link Arcange Surge and Power Charge setup:
Orb of Storms - Power Charge on Crit Support - Flame Dash - Arcane Surge Support(level 7)

Divine Blessing setup:
Wrath - Divine Blessing Support - Increased Duration Support - Molten Shell

4 link Life Reservation setup:
Arrogance Support - Defiance Banner - Vitality - Clarity

2 link setup for Vaal Clarity:
Vaal Clarity - Less Duration Support
Vaal Clarity is used only for Divine Blessing Wrath aura. Aside from that one skill we don't really want no mana cost - we want to keep our Inspiration charges as well as Arcane Surge up - therefore we reduce the duration of Vaal Clarity as much as possible.


Petrified Blood
Assassin's Mark
Righteous Fire
Determination
Zealotry

You will need one Unset Ring to equip everything mentioned here.


Example Gear:
Spoiler




Once you get a some jewellery with +1 to Minimum Frenzy Charges mods, you can replace your quicksilver flask with a Rotgut, which combines the effects of quicksilver and silver flasks, freeing up one flask slot:


Cast speed is very important with this build, so try to get it on both rings. Also, Profane Wand base is the best here, because it has Cast Speed implicit.

Jewels:

In the endgame we want multiple Cobalt Jewels for this build - we're looking for as much Critical Strike Multiplier and Cast Speed as possible. Otherwise, Lightning Damage, Area Damage, Elemental Damage, Spell Damage and Maximum Life are your best mods.
Cluster Jewel:
if Ashes of the Stars is not available, we need a Reservation Efficiency small cluster jewel with Righteous Path passive.

Influences and potential endgame item upgrades:
Shaper chest with +1 to socketed gems is our BiS. It's not needed by any means, but it's a huge DPS upgrade.
Gloves should have these eldritch mods: Lightning damage leeched as life and chance to unnerve on hit. First one gives us leech (which works as overleech with Petrified Blood), the other improves the damage significantly.
We could go for Tailwind Hunter influenced boots, but in my opinion with the Action Speed eldritch mod there is no point.

Chest armour crafting advice by user 39kk9t:
Crafting the +1 gem level chest

You will need an ilvl 80+ chest with either Shaper or Warlord incluence(Warlord is guaranteed to roll the +1 with this method, but doesn't have caster-oriented suffixes), a Prime Resonator, as well as Metallic, Pristine, Dense and Shuddering fossils. Simply slam the resonator with the fossils on the rare chest.
Since we've excluded everything except the +1 and 100% reduced ele reflect, there's quite a high chance of one(or both on the Shaper chest!) to roll. You might also get some lightning resistance and whatnot. Use crafting for life and(if you have another free prefix) something else to your liking.
It's relatively cheap in trade, but I'm not sure how frequently prime resonators pop up in delve. The final item will look a bit like this:




Ascendancy, bandits, anointment and Pantheon:
Spoiler

Ascendancy order:
Sanctuary - Pious Path - Righteous Providence - Inevitable Judgment

Bandits: 2 passives.

Amulet anointment:
Start with High Voltage. Once you have enough crit, switch to Disciple of the Slaughter or Mark the Prey

Pantheon:
Upgraded Soul of the Brine King for freeze immunity and reduced chill effect, if you don't have chill immunity boots.


Videos:
Spoiler

3.19 General T16 mapping, featuring Abyssal Lich fight:
https://youtu.be/OyGzm1aCzbg

3.19 Sirus:
https://youtu.be/lpzaSmIia-c

3.19 Maven:
https://youtu.be/GvKHb8MbyOQ
One death due to the no-regen laser spawning on top of me.

Last edited by 100purified on Jun 5, 2023, 3:39:36 AM
Last bumped on Jun 5, 2023, 3:31:11 AM
Hello,
I'm a new beginning player from Taiwan. First, I'm sorry that my English is not good and hope you can understand what I say.

I have a question about why this build should use Righteous Fire. I think that the main damage is from Crackling Lance. Except adding some damage, if there is other reasons to use RF?

In addition, I want to play this build in general mode(not SSF). Will this build be difficult to reach the ideal state? Just like the item is hard to get or very expensive. Because I'm a beginner, I don't know much about this game.

Thank you for the trouble. Finally, I appreciate you of that this great guide to let me know how to play this game!
Last edited by pgohalol on Aug 31, 2022, 9:06:55 PM
"
pgohalol wrote:
Hello,
I'm a new beginning player from Taiwan. First, I'm sorry that my English is not good and hope you can understand what I say.

I have a question about why this build should use Righteous Fire. I think that the main damage is from Crackling Lance. Except adding some damage, if there is other reasons to use RF?

In addition, I want to play this build in general mode(not SSF). Will this build be difficult to reach the ideal state? Just like the item is hard to get or very expensive. Because I'm a beginner, I don't know much about this game.

Thank you for the trouble. Finally, I appreciate you of that this great guide to let me know how to play this game!


We use RF only to boost our Crackling Lance damage, not for the damage it deals by itself. It gives 39% more spell damage, so it's a huge boost. There is no reason why we shouldn't be using it, because we have more than enough regen to sustain it and still be super tanky.

This build will work just fine in trade league, none of the items except Ashes of the Stars should be expensive. Instead of Ashes you can use the cheaper Mana Reservation Efficiency Cluster Jewel. This build is easily achievable in SSF, so that means it should be even easier to get it running in the regular league.
Last edited by 100purified on Sep 1, 2022, 4:12:03 AM
"
We use RF only to boost our Crackling Lance damage, not for the damage it deals by itself. It gives 39% more spell damage, so it's a huge boost. There is no reason why we shouldn't be using it, because we have more than enough regen to sustain it and still be super tanky.

This build will work just fine in trade league, none of the items except Ashes of the Stars should be expensive. Instead of Ashes you can use the cheaper Mana Reservation Efficiency Cluster Jewel. This build is easily achievable in SSF, so that means it should be even easier to get it running in the regular league.


Thanks for replying! I got it.

I'm following this great guide to play this build and have a good game experience so far. I am lv70 now and start to T3~T5 maps.

I have another question. There is just 35% chaos resistance in your POB. Is this build unnecessary to have a full chaos resistance(75%)?
"
pgohalol wrote:
"
We use RF only to boost our Crackling Lance damage, not for the damage it deals by itself. It gives 39% more spell damage, so it's a huge boost. There is no reason why we shouldn't be using it, because we have more than enough regen to sustain it and still be super tanky.

This build will work just fine in trade league, none of the items except Ashes of the Stars should be expensive. Instead of Ashes you can use the cheaper Mana Reservation Efficiency Cluster Jewel. This build is easily achievable in SSF, so that means it should be even easier to get it running in the regular league.


Thanks for replying! I got it.

I'm following this great guide to play this build and have a good game experience so far. I am lv70 now and start to T3~T5 maps.

I have another question. There is just 35% chaos resistance in your POB. Is this build unnecessary to have a full chaos resistance(75%)?


Chaos resistance is up to you really. Some people like to max it out, some people don't. I'm usually comfortable with chaos res anywhere above 0%. If you want to max it out, go for it, you should be easily able to do this, as this build uses mostly rare items. I personally don't feel the need for it, I very rarely die on this build.
Last edited by 100purified on Sep 2, 2022, 3:55:27 AM
Hello,

I'm mapping T14~T16 and have some difficulties.

1. I sometimes die suddenly from full ES to zero when clearing the map. I don't even know what happened to die. Is there anything I can be improved on my defenses?

2. My damage dps is ten times worse than yours. How can I improve it further?

Here is my POB. Please give me some advice. Thanks a lot!

https://pastebin.com/0R7u7Ud8
Last edited by pgohalol on Sep 3, 2022, 12:59:13 PM
"
pgohalol wrote:
Hello,

I'm mapping T14~T16 and have some difficulties.

1. I sometimes die suddenly from full ES to zero when clearing the map. I don't even know what happened to die. Is there anything I can be improved on my defenses?

2. My damage dps is ten times worse than yours. How can I improve it further?

Here is my POB. Please give me some advice. Thanks a lot!

https://pastebin.com/0R7u7Ud8


Okay, so:
- don't level your Arcane Surge Support so high. Leave it at level 7 so you can trigger it every time you use Flame Dash
- get a flask with %increased armour, it's great for survivability during maps
- get an amulet annointment, I recommend Storm Weaver
- if you can get enough resists to cap them somewhere else, try changing your rings to Opal Ring base
- try getting Ashes of the Stars, this will free up a lot of skill points so you can get cobalt jewels with good mods, which will improve your DPS a lot
- try getting a Profane Wand base with a cast speed mod. At the moment you're lacking a lot of cast speed from your gear. Your ideal mods for your wand are: +1 to level of lightning gems, spell damage(or lightning damage), cast speed, added lightning damage to spells
- get an enchantment for your boots with Added lightning damage if you haven't killed recently, those improve boss DPS a lot.

Other than that, make sure the maps you run are not some crazy 2x or 3x damage mods. This build is tanky, but running maps with dangerous mods is always, well, dangerous.

This is your current DPS on bosses:
https://pastebin.com/vA4QBC6Z
Sitting at 4.2m damage currently. If you make the changes I mentioned it should be improved significantly.
Last edited by 100purified on Sep 3, 2022, 3:27:54 PM
Thank you for this guide! Using the information here about low life petrified blood, I was able to fix the dps on my Spark Inquisitor that I'd been about to give up on. And now I know that if I do get tired of spark, I can swap to another skill. Thank you so much!
Softcore, solo self-found.
-----Currently: -----
Storm Call Occultist in Affliction
Do you have any leveling tips? Skill trees at level 28 compared to 70 compared to final form? Is there a break point for when you go from regular CL to crit (or do you go crit from the get go)? I know not all guides are SSF for dummies I just find those bits helpful. Sounds like a fun build though, thank you!
"
Do you have any leveling tips? Skill trees at level 28 compared to 70 compared to final form? Is there a break point for when you go from regular CL to crit (or do you go crit from the get go)? I know not all guides are SSF for dummies I just find those bits helpful. Sounds like a fun build though, thank you!


You leave crit and jewel slots for your last passive points, you start with generic damage and cast speed as well as life. Be sure to make your way to Pain Attunement keystone by the time you get your second Ascendancy, because then you can start using RF/low life/petrified blood right away.

You can start with something like this:
http://poeurl.com/dNQQ

Then progress around 60 to:
http://poeurl.com/dNQT

Level 80:
http://poeurl.com/dNQS

Then just grab the rest of the crit and life nodes, but this now depends if you have a cluster jewel or Ashes of the Stars, you'll need to adjust to your situation.

You can use any spell to level up to 28, I used Freezing Pulse. At 28 you can get your Crackling Lance, which I've found quite comfortable to progress through campain with.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info