[On Hold] Storm Brand Inquisitor - Beginner Friendly - SSF/League Start Viable - All Content

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steidlc wrote:

I don't see people using Ele Foc with Storm Brand in this build, and I wasn't initially until I tested it. The trade-off is that you lose shock, but shock works best with big hits against small health (i.e. non boss) mobs while brands do damage with a lot of small hits, so replacing one of the bottom 3 with Ele Focus appears to be a good move.

Anyway, would be curious to know what other folks are seeing with your builds. Not only do the numbers work out better for me, replacing the bottom tier gems with Conc Eff and Ele Focus has taken the build to where I can evaporate a lot of T11-13 bosses in a few seconds - much faster than before.

A lot of people are using Ele Focus but only switching it in for guardiands/bosses, that's what I am doing, Faster Casting for content where I can reliably shock, Ele Focus otherwise.

Just keep in mind that a raw number POB gives you isn't what always happens in a fight. For example on Uber Elder you would want to use Ele Focus for max damage but if you have a low casting speed you can't safely hand cast brands into the boss you want to burn down and Brand Recall, while being great for portal adds etc, isn't exactly reliable in attaching to only the target you want to focus down.

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Voeid wrote:

Just keep in mind that a raw number POB gives you isn't what always happens in a fight. For example on Uber Elder you would want to use Ele Focus for max damage but if you have a low casting speed you can't safely hand cast brands into the boss you want to burn down ...

Thanks for this. I wondered about it when I replaced Faster Casting, but so far have not found a boss where the difference (.47 vs .37 sec for me) left me feeling exposed. When I die to a boss, almost always, it's either a fat finger or not knowing a mechanic the first time. But my experience is limited - only yellow elder and t13-14 map bosses so far. If there are specific fights (some Shaper guardians?) where you felt it made a bigger difference, I would love to know what they are so I can swap in faster casting. (I should really find a 6L, but so far haven't found it necessary.)

Again, thanks for taking the time to provide the advice!

Personally I use Ele Focus for every major boss because I have enough CS stacked from talent tree & gear and Faster Casting is just too big of a damage loss for me. On the other hand if someone would struggle keeping all 5 brands on the target they want to dps down then with even 1 less brand attached FC becomes better.

As for Shaper Guardians they are mostly single target fights so you wouldn't have to manually cast brands into them, you precast 5 brands before engaging and then just use recall to refresh & provided you deal enough damage they will die before you need to recast brands.

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Voeid wrote:

Personally I use Ele Focus for every major boss because I have enough CS stacked from talent tree & gear and Faster Casting is just too big of a damage loss for me. On the other hand if someone would struggle keeping all 5 brands on the target they want to dps down then with even 1 less brand attached FC becomes better.

This is an interesting question. Since the max number of brands attached to one enemy is two, with RuneBinder, keeping the other three on your target is going to depend a lot on how much and how fast they move.

Is there any source of info on the hit range of an unattached brand? (Or the attachment range for that matter, since I'm sure that's different.)

Also, how are you finding the energy leech support? That looks nice - especially corrupted.

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I haven't tried HC, but I know there are three things I would want in a hardcore character, assuming it was not a classic face tank build:
1. Ability to do the vast majority of my damage from range;
2. Short cast times;
3. Either:
a. Massive burst damage with cooldown, or
b. Damage over time

This build has all of that, since Storm Brand and LST both act like DoTs (even though they aren't, technically).

You don't have to get close, and you don't have to stop moving to DPS. Storm Brand is especially nice in that it has a short cast, and is recastable instantly with Brand Recall.

You also have the flexibility to balance your effective health somewhat between life, ES and mana.

On the other hand, you can certainly die if you don't move fast enough or don't understand a particular boss mechanic, so I wouldn't call it an ultra safe HC build.

I'm not a hardcore league player but nodded along with most of what you said. It would be interesting to hear feedback from people who have tried this build in Hardcore.

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Thank you very much for the build. I cleared Uber Elder and pretty much all content. So easy and powerful!
I will follow your next builds.
HF

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Hey , Just updated my gear and did deathless uber elder

Awesome guys, congrats.

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Hey, just wanted to thank you so much for this build.

I've been playing PoE pretty much off-and-on (more off than on) since launch. When it came out for PS4 I told my friends it was the game I had played the most while enjoying the least. This build absolutely transformed my understanding of the game, but moreso, your explanation of leveling and gem linking while leveling is the single best text-based explanation I've read in the last 6 or so years. You've completely invigorated my love of this game, and I really really appreciate it.

Beyond that, the build is extremely fun to play and everything else I've tried in the few weeks pales in comparison. Thank you so much for your effort!

Great to hear!

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Just curious whether anyone has tried ES leech with this build. That would likely involve going with a Vaal Regalia and Ethereal Feast.

I currently have a Regalia with 600+ ES, which was the best option for a 5L at the time, and I get over 1k total ES. Can get an 800+ 6L for about the same price as a Loreweave, depending on the day, so I've been debating which way to go.

Ethereal Feast is an easy experiment, so I will try it with the 5L when I hit 90, but was just wondering whether anyone had already been that route.

Cheers

ES versions of this build are more than viable. I'd love to see people innovating with this build as there are so many ways to take it.

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going to try this build as i am not much experienced in POE, wish me luck.

Good luck!

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I don't see people using Ele Foc with Storm Brand in this build, and I wasn't initially until I tested it. The trade-off is that you lose shock, but shock works best with big hits against small health (i.e. non boss) mobs while brands do damage with a lot of small hits, so replacing one of the bottom 3 with Ele Focus appears to be a good move.

Anyway, would be curious to know what other folks are seeing with your builds. Not only do the numbers work out better for me, replacing the bottom tier gems with Conc Eff and Ele Focus has taken the build to where I can evaporate a lot of T11-13 bosses in a few seconds - much faster than before.

I talk a little about Elemental Focus in the Tips and Tricks section under "Flat Fire Damage?" As an inquisitor you actually want to apply ailments to your target. As we are not Elementalist, applying shocks and chills are nearly impossible with frequent smaller hits.

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thi3n wrote:

I talk a little about Elemental Focus in the Tips and Tricks section under "Flat Fire Damage?" As an inquisitor you actually want to apply ailments to your target. As we are not Elementalist, applying shocks and chills are nearly impossible with frequent smaller hits.

I didn't really follow your comments in flat tire damage. My interpretation of Righteous Providence has been that it's a win for any build that takes it. Sure, it's hard to get the multi bonus with a brands build, but instead you get the chance bonus for NOT having any ailments applied.

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steidlc wrote:

Also, how are you finding the energy leech support? That looks nice - especially corrupted.

I took Energy Leech because overall I changed the build into hybrid life/es with 40% MoM and I find it a lot more enjoyable now that I don't randomly die with some insane Nexus memory rolls.

It does require dumping a lot of currency though to get the Clarity Watcher's Eye and then Aul's neck for 0 mana reserve on Wrath and also multimodded Elder ring to work with MotS.

If you have 30ex to spend give it a try. :) >11k eHP, good phys reduction, decent leech on life/mana/es and not that much dps lost. For starting out though I recommend the original build with Acro.

The basic idea is built around Arcane Guarding & Arcane Swiftness passives which are quite easy to reach for us and this shield:
Shield itself gives a nice amount of ES but to boost it more we pick up Arcane Will and additional +mana/regen nodes and that combined with WM on ring enables us to drop the mana flask completely for:
Which increases both defense and offense substantially.

Here is where it gets expensive. To boost ES even more and get more eHP we want a Watcher's Eye similar to this:
This will change Mind over Matter to a 39/61 ratio and allow us to drop some hp nodes for mana nodes that are better in value and also give a huge ES boost for very little mana reserved.

To get the damage up there are 2 quite expensive options that I went for which are:
and
This allows us to use Wrath without losing any eHP and MotS gives addtional 80% spell dmg because the multimodded ring is an Elder item. It is completely fine to use Choir of Storms for neck and Essence Worm to have Wrath reserve no mana if these items are too expensive though.

I also went for Energy Leech instead of Added Lightning Damage in my 6L because even when not leeching it is pretty close damage wise on full ES but when you start leeching damage increases substantially and you do get ES leech as well. Another nice to have is Vaal Discipline just to have an ohshit button to get ES back to full quickly, I keep the aura disabled.

That's it, min/max from here. All credit to thi3n for a great build, this is just my take on it.

Thanks for the overview. Looks like I will need to spend some time digging into it!

EDIT: This is really well thought out and looks like a great hybrid.

Biggest variable in the cost is the Watcher's Eye. Price varies heavily depending on which of the mods you go for. (There are 3 Clarity mods and 2 Wrath that I found so far, and you can randomly find 2-3 of them together.) There is also huge variability across the same mods with almost identical rolls. Worth keeping an eye out for a deal on it.

The other items seem to have much more stable pricing right now.

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I didn't really follow your comments in flat tire damage. My interpretation of Righteous Providence has been that it's a win for any build that takes it. Sure, it's hard to get the multi bonus with a brands build, but instead you get the chance bonus for NOT having any ailments applied.

Righteous Providence
Ascendancy Notable Passive Skill

100% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies that are affected
by no Elemental Ailments
+45% to Critical Strike Multiplier against Enemies that are affected
by Elemental Ailments
20% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies

If the enemy does not have ailments you get increased crit chance. If they do have ailments you get crit multi. At some point (and it's different for everyone) multi becomes a much harder stat to get and is more valuable in general than crit chance. At endgame levels of gear and being at or around the crit cap you want to get multi. This node wants to apply ailments in order to get 45 multi. With elemental focus you lose the chance to apply ailments and thus do not benefit from the node.

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This allows us to use Wrath without losing any eHP and MotS gives addtional 80% spell dmg because the multimodded ring is an Elder item. It is completely fine to use Choir of Storms for neck and Essence Worm to have Wrath reserve no mana if these items are too expensive though.

I also went for Energy Leech instead of Added Lightning Damage in my 6L because even when not leeching it is pretty close damage wise on full ES but when you start leeching damage increases substantially and you do get ES leech as well. Another nice to have is Vaal Discipline just to have an ohshit button to get ES back to full quickly, I keep the aura disabled.

That's it, min/max from here. All credit to thi3n for a great build, this is just my take on it.

Super interesting take! I like seeing the high budget endgame versions of this build. Glad you're enjoying the guide.

In general this guide was made with budget and league start in mind. I would love to see others take this build to new heights. Maybe my investing in penetration and grabbing the consecrated path nodes. Maybe by going low-life or CI with energy leech. This guide is simply a template and launching point for others to experiment with.