Inspiration Support

Level 98 inquisitor, using Storm Brand with a small side of Divine Ire. Both are linked with Inspiration.

I quite like this support. It's a 40%+(with a small bonus of crit chance) damage multiplier but with a(n easily fulfilled, in many cases) condition, that encourages characters (especially casters) to spend mana rather than use Eldritch Battery. Charges being shared among skills is quite nice, as it allows movement skills to be linked with inspiration to have an extremely high uptime on Inspiration. Even without movement skills being linked, the uptime for 5 inspiration charges is very high. The values are fair for being so generic and without great downside.

I haven't tried it but I like the idea that it can support heralds like Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder, with charges being maintained by other skills.

Minions who spend mana and are supported by Inspiration don't generate inspiration charges even though the gem description suggests they should.

My current character is a wild strike raider, here is the build guide which I watched the first 15 minutes of and I just want to say that I'm sad because I can't figure out how to get more of those orbs, I feel like any maximum charge should also increase the maximum inspiration charges and that would make the skill gem dynamically more attractive. Or something. I need more of these fantastic orbs.

Build guide is here if you wanted to know as much as possible about the character but its way overkill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf6go-4chHQ&feature=youtu.be

...so w recent patch its been 'clarified' that mines and traps cannot gain inspiration charges. using inspiration linked to a skill should still increase the resulting dmg of the mine,yes? you gain charges that increase ur elemental dmg, just clearer that the mines themselves cannot gain charges?

Mines with inspiration do give the charges but it doesn’t seem to reduce the mana cost of mines. At lower gem levels it just continuously goes 1 through 5 and starts over because of how fast you use mana so it’s pointless to use until you level it up a bit atleast when using a 6link skill. I wish there were items that gave boosts for each inspiration charge, like 2% movement speed per charge or mana/health regen. If there is already I’m sorry, I haven’t found any yet.

I've used the gem on patch 3.8 and patch 3.9 . With the numbers tuned, this gem is a fine addition for every skill that needs a bit more crit at the cost of damage. But the problem lies in the mana reduction part and how charges are sustained.

I've played with a 6 link Arc inquisitor last league with a net mana cost of 50-60 if I recall correctly, and it felt good to not lose your entire mana pool in 4-5 casts. The problem lies in how charges are lost. I'm currently playing a COC-Cyclone VD/DD necromancer and the rate at which you gain charges and for how long it lasts feels like its unfair to skills that have a reasonable mana cost reduction.

With high mana cost skills, this gem reduces mana cost substantially. The problem for those skills is that once you lose inspiration charges, it can be rather inconvenient to build it back up if you don't have sufficient cast speed to expend mana to gain charges. And even then, you are bound to lose after a set number of casts. The lower the mana cost gets(single digits), it feels like you have inspiration charges 24/7 even after losing them because channeling skills inherently have a higher cast rate than single use skills like arc, purifying flame etc.

I do not want the support gem to be useless for channeling skills, but I rather want it to not feel bad for spending mana with higher cost skills.

My suggestion is to tweak the damage/crit numbers and grant inspiration charges upon spending a set amount of mana, increasing with the number of inspiration charges you have.

So, uh, I guess it's in character that Inspiration is limited to 5 charges, but...why, exactly, doesn't it say that anywhere in the gem description?

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Supports any skill. Minions, Totems, Traps and Mines cannot gain Inspiration Charges.

Mentioning of Totems, Traps and Mines should be removed here. It serves no purpose and only confuses players who don't know how proxies work.