[2.6] Crit Shock Nova Inquisitor; nice DPS; Cold-Hybrid [Short Guide](cheap)

Hi there,

I played the Shock Nova Inquisitor for quite a while now and I like to share my latest and "funnest" variant. It's a dual curse, triple charges, two Herald build, that is pretty cheap and very fast, both clearing maps and gameplay (flow) wise.




Video of a twinned Chateau Map:
https://vimeo.com/173045992

Bazaar Map with Inc. AoE
https://vimeo.com/173909750

Video of my Double Divinarius Dagger guy doing Courtyard, Tier 13 (other char from Standard, mostly same gear)
https://vimeo.com/174100633
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvrtdDUrCDQ

Tier 5 Underground Sea Map, using ONLY the utility skills, Orb of Storms and Lightning Warp, to show how the passives work as synergies and how much damage our movement and utility actually does.
https://vimeo.com/174221797
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE27I2sumMc


Pros:

-Cheap, can be run very early on

-Good performance in Dried Lake (barely clothed)

-Good clearspedd in maps up to Tier 13 (what I did with my eq)


Cons:

-Can't do Reflect Maps

-No double dipping and degen, bosses get harder once you reach high tiers. Up to 12-13 no problem.



General Skill Trees:


I fitted the "Lightmanmcnew" guy with CI gear.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/OrmusVinge/characters

Finished, basic CI path:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAUBAAKWBUIHHgdjCaoMUg18DkgPqxEPES0RUBGWFdcWvxbzGGobJRzcHYMgbiL0JIsmPClPKgsqOCycLL8vnTBbMtE1uTwFPV9BlkVHSVFJsUuuTLNQMFJTVmNXlFgHXGtd8l9qZJ1rt2wLbRlwUngvfIN85X_GgpuESIV9hq6J04uMjDaPGo_6km6TJ5Uul5WX9Jo7m6Gce5_foS-nK6i5rJesmK6ztAy4k7xWvorAZsCawzrDbcrTy73Q0ND10nzVptfP2VvZ_Nte5oHpAuq66-7r9ewY7TztYe9874jw1fId99f5N_nd

Pick the crit multi nodes and charges up last and try to figure out at which point of your progress, Vaal Pact is better than regen.

The trees for life and CI are basically the same while life is cheaper, CI is better with more expensive gear, because it has more buffer.

Here's a possible basic Life path:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAUBAAKWBLMFQgceCPQJqgxSDkgOXA-rEQ8RLRGWFr8W8xhqHNwdgyBuIvQkiyY8JpUo-ilPKgsqOCycL50wWzLRNZI6WDrhPAU9X0GHQZZFR0V-SVFJsUyzTeNQMFJTVUtVxleUWAdd8l9qYeJknWpDavprt2wLbRlwUngvfIN85X_GgpuCx4PbhX2J04uMjDaPGo_6km6TJ5Uul5WX9Jo7m6Gce5_foS-iAKZXqLmsl6yYrrO3PriTvFa86r6KwFTAZsCawzrQ0ND10nzVptfP2L3Z_Nte6-7r9e087WHvfO-I8B_w1fId8kX31_k3-d356P4K_o8=











Gearing:


These are the items I use at the moment, Life Build





These are the items I use at the moment, CI Build




The CI version is just generic CI gear. One could use Beast fur Shawl or other uniques to get more dps or safety. I did a test map Tier 11 fully alched and so on, still works like a charm.


Essential to the build is the Call of the Brotherhood ring, which gives us a 50% Light to Cold conversion. You can permanently freeze monsters and even Bosses (Dark Forest Boss, for example can't even move). The shattering AoE of Herald of Ice is a very nice extra damage against larger Packs. Porcupines for example are easy, because they don't explode into spikes after they die.

The most expensive part is the Carcass Jack armor, it can easily be a 5 link and you can leave Concentrated Effect out.

I recommend using a 6 link, though. You don't need Carcass Jack and you can get a nice 6 linked chest armor for around 1 Exalt Orb. Then you would have to leave out Conc Effect for sure, because the radius of Shock Nova would be too small. Conc Effect is a very strong support gem, so you might have to test what kind of setup does more damage and "feels" better to you. You can switch Conc. Effect for Added Lightning or even Inc. AoE, depending on the radius of the Shock Nova you feel comfortable with. A big radius is fun, but you need a certain level of damage to kill fast.

Using Daggers would open your gearing up to a DIVINARIUS, which provides increased radius and the Whirling Blades movement skill (all Daggers). It's not the highest DPS weapon, so I'd recommend using only one, since after the buff of wands and daggers, Divinarius lost a lot of appeal. It still is a nice weapon. Watch the "Courtyard" video.

The Ascendency passive "Instruments of Virtue" provides 30% cast speed, if we use Whirling Blades (attack) often enough (5 seconds timer?). Hitting an enemy is not necessary, just using the skill.
Watch out for the mods "MORE DAMAGE" and "inceased damage". More Damage is a Multiplier and increased just adds damage. The Hypothermia damage doesn't show on screen, but is a great boost, because every monster is chilled by our spells, per se.

The Facebreakers are a huge damage boost, but you lose a lot of Life and some defense. I'd use them later in the game after you've sorted out your defenses.

You can make this build just stomp maps up to Tier 13 with around 3 Ex invested. It is stupid fun and it scales heavily with equipment and gem levels.

Flasks:



We need Vinktar to not kill ourselves to reflect mobs. If you look out, reflect can be countered by not directly hitting the Rare, but the monsters around that then shatter and deal AOE, that can't be reflected. You can use a Worm Flask, but I don't really need it in SC.



The Build mechanics:


You cast Orb of Storms, which is linked to Curse on Hit, Warlord's Mark and Assassin's Mark.

You get Life- and Mana-Leech and you gain Endurance and Power Charges.

After you place your Orb of Storms, you position yourself to cast Shock Nova.


The fun part:


We run Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ice, which do quite the damage themselves, with Innervate and Ice Bite. They shatter and shock enemies even off-screen.

This grants us PERMANENT Onslaught and additional Frenzy Charges, if we kill monsters fast enough.

We have a very high crit chance, so the Inquisitors Ascendancy Skills work great. You can use daggers, too and go with Whirling blades and Fortify. I prefer wands and Teleport, though.

Vaal Haste is a very nice skill, too and we can keep it up in most maps. Totally recommended.

Even if we need to walk back and all the charges expire, we gain every buff back very quickly.



Offense:


Crit Multi: 300%++ recommended. We can hit 5 times per sec, while having a high crit chance, so it scales our damage well and is consistent.

Crit Chance: Should be at least 50% unbuffed

Spell Damage: Take what you can get, not overly important. You can play around with jewels and decide what your build needs.

Cast Speed: I recommend 4 to 5 casts per second for the shock Nova. Faster Casting scales with all our skills and is essential to the builds mechanics.

Defense:

You need around 4.5 to 5k life and 75% resists in Meciless.

The freezing part of our damage does help us to keep most monsters away, yet I would probably not play this build in Hardcore.

We also run Arctic Armor and some flasks.

My stats are level 90 and my gear isn't that expensive, so you could get the same dps with a shield and probably 6k life etc., if you invest more or level higher. The Dagger + Shild Variant would also profit from the Ascendancy, where you get 30% overall faster casting, when you use an attack (Whirling Blades).



If you have any questions please ask!


You can play this build from level 4! on up and it really grows on you. Shock Nova is ready in Normal act 3, so you need to use another skill besides Orb of Storms for the first few levels. If you want to know more about leveling, watch some videos or read on the forums. Fast progress in PoE is something you can learn, but it's not always rational.

Have fun!

Edit:

Canyon Map video added.

Twinned Chateau Map video added.

Bazaar Map added.

Courtyard Map added,

using my other toon in Standard with 2 Divinariuses and a 6 link armor with Life Leech, which is safer, but does a lot less damage. (Some said, it's not "red map" viable) I am a terrible player and since I don't normally use Whirling blades, I messed up the boss fight.

Fun build. Nice switch up from the normal frost nova crit. How are you dealing with the limited mana pool with all of your auras running?

Warlord's Mark and Assasin's Mark give Leech and Life on Kill. Boots with leech help, too.

The two curses are on Hit from Orb of Storms, which enables me to run two Heralds and Arctic Armor.

"

´Crit Multi 300%++ recommended. We have over 5 hits per sec, so it scales crazily.

What do you mean by that? Because in pure dmg terms the number of hits and crit multi have no correlation.

The build gets a lot reliable crit, so it's a very good way to scale dps, when you reach the "end-game".

The more hits at 80% crit the more reliability you get, actually critting.

nice build, im runnning crit ball lightning, your set up inspired me :D

OH, you must try this! I tinkered around with Orb of Storms and Ball Lightning, Storm Call and other Lightning skills but the Shock Nova is quite the thing, especially if you use the gem setups of my build.

In Hardcore, I'd use a Lightning Coil and more life to buffer, but the overall security and clearspeed is quite nice, especially since you don't have to use lightning warp for cast on hit and you can run THREE curses (two in my case), TWO Heralds and have 40% Mana left.

You get Endurance Charges for the IK from Warlord's-, Power Charges from Assassin's Mark and Frenzy charges from Ice Bite.

AND... it's an oldschool build, that doesn't abuse crude game mechanics or needs special items.

basicly runin same kind of build with exception to fact that i started assasin

Would REALY recomend to try next things:
use HoT-CoH combo instead of orb
Saffels so u woulnt care bout reflect that much

and on top of that i REALY reccomend to get boots with this enchant

"

OrmusVinge wrote:

The build gets a lot reliable crit, so it's a very good way to scale dps, when you reach the "end-game".

The more hits at 80% crit the more reliability you get, actually critting.

Good to hear you know it. But I would still somehow change that line because it is somewhat misleading for people that dont have much experience with the game and/or math.