New Battlemage Possibilities!?

Checking out the trailer, GGG showed a Battlemage potential with Inquisitor. I think that's an awesome idea. Anyone have any ideas regarding this?

Not sure what attacks and non-instant spells would work together. (What does it even mean by non-instant spell?)

Let me know some ideas that anyone else has thought of for this!

I would assume you'd want a fast weapon, but also one with lots of damage to gain more spell damage with it. So it's kind of like a tradeoff.

A weapon like this one I think would be great for certain fire spell skills as you can massively double dip

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Martyr_of_Innocence

I have not quite figured out how to constantly be attacking and still use a main spell though. Is there anything that Triggers attacks constantly so that we can use the new Instrument of Zeal?

Here is a list of spells that are instant. All others are considered non instant: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Instant

EDIT: Nevermind, I just tested the current Instruments of Virtue with Static Strike, Bladestorm, and Cyclone. Though it doesn't say "used" in the tooltip, it definitely is what it actually needs, whether a plain autoattack or an attack skill. Instruments of Zeal is basically the same thing just with in the past second instead of Recently's past 4 seconds. That means if you don't want it to feel like crap you need decent attack speed to hit every second and be able to move in-between if needed to build charges, and potentially to weave in attacks while you have Fanaticism so that you can get it back quickly after it ends (nothing in the tooltip says you can't gain Fanatic charges while you have Fanaticism). Given that, maybe Rebuke of the Vaal in the main-hand and use Spectral Shield Throw? That skill has its own attack timer that scales with level, at gem level 20 it's the equivalent of 1.66 base attacks per second. Plus it leaves you ranged which is safer and matches up better with what spells generally want. Other options could be to dual wield for the attack speed bonus and use Blade Flurry with its 160% attack speed and just 1 stage tap it for fanatics.

Martyr of Innocence (and big brother Disintegrator) are huge damage but their lack of attack speed would probably just suck to play with in practice. Basically everyone you see using these are doing some sort of CoC with Cyclone and/or Static Strike to bypass that slowness, which aren't options here. If going for a two-hander battlemage Inquisitor, I think a bow would be better. Safer to use, influence/quiver can get you pierces/extra projectiles which work for a great many spells, and can still roll good damage. You could then use Frenzy much more easily instead as your attack of choice which would be very speedy indeed, and all the stats of Frenzy charges benefit both the attack and caster parts of the build. Or one stage tap Scourge Arrow like the Blade Flurry idea, it has 190% attack speed multiplier (but I think the Frenzy charge buffs will be worth more).

That damn 1 second only timer on Instruments of Zeal to gain charges is the real killer. You could self-curse yourself with Temporal Chains to make Fanaticism itself last longer but then you're cancelling out most of the huge cast speed buff so that's a wash.

i am theorizing a inquisitor that would use general's cry
the problem is: does the mirage's attacks trigger the instruments of zeal ascendancy?
the skill counts as triggered and exerted but in the new ascendancy it says "you've attacked..." so my theory becomes shaky here
i hope it works because it would open a new meta in the game, which ggg desperately needs

also Bex on reddit already said that they will remove the flat spell mod on disintegrator and martyr and added the battlemage mod on them
so double dipping on them is DOA

So Imho:

I really like the Solarine bow idea, it is average atm because despite doing great wed, it copiously sucks in other areas, however the wed raw potential is there

- When done right, 30% more damage with attacks and 75% more cast speed/AoE/reduced cost for spells(but you will have less spell damage% as well on your tree)
- Keep in mind that you are supposed to be hitting for 4s before casting, any caster related stuff on gear is wasted half the time.
- Shaper influenced solarine bow looks insane but for crafting, as we are getting new high end affixes and new uniques it's only an asumption, basically either a weapon that does big spell/attack damage or a big wed roll.
- dex stacking seems good
- imho you want to AoE with projectiles chains forks etc on your attack because the AoE is covered for your spells, you don't want to commit too much on it.
- in spell form, imho flame surge or flameblast(the extra stage one). Reason is that flame surge has a very good damage convertion ratio and you will be likely to apply burn anyway, flameblast is because the mana issues are gone with 75% cost reduction, it opens the path instead for big burns or things like that but it should also hit more than a screen with big damage, probably freezing stuff as well if you have enough dex.
- I don't know how it works with crown of eyes, however I'm pretty sure that wed is stronger than raw on weapon damage rolls.
- Heralds of cold and lighting seem pretty good both of them

For stats, it's hard going int and str if you dex stack, but you can choose stacking less dex and going for something more uniformous, so it handles crit chances as well.

No mirages won't count, they use your attack but they are not you.
Given the two staff nerfs it's almost certainly better to use a bow or dual wield Rebuke of the Vaal + spell off-hand/shield is almost certainly the way to go now. Only other idea is that Orb of Storms has different wording from brands, only mentioning modifiers to cast speed instead of Increases and Reductions specifically, so maybe Fanaticism would let it zap faster while you keep attacking? Think I'm going to pass on the build for now, maybe later in the league when it's more figured out and I have currency I'll try, but as a league-starter I think it'll just make me end up wanting to quit the league.

my theory was to use a bow with ensnaring arrow linked with General's cry, could start even with nuro's harp, and using them to keep fanaticism up while i keep casting Winter orb for damage and hydro orb to complement it
but if the mirage's attack don't count as myself to gain the fanatic charge then it is pretty much useless
i think i will make a petition for GGG to implement a threshold jewel that could make the mirage's gain any charges and share with nearby allies, just like an already existent and similar mechanic when you use General's Cry + Vigilante strike + Vigil jewel: The mirages hit the enemy and you gain fortify

What about anomalous kinetic bolt with the new instruments of zeal? The 75% more cast speed should be converted in permanent % attack speed, area and reduced mana cost, also battlemage gives spell damage from weapon wich is again converted to attack damage, mabye rotate support spell to gain 30% more attack?

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crazyjake wrote:

What about anomalous kinetic bolt with the new instruments of zeal? The 75% more cast speed should be converted in permanent % attack speed

It won't, Anomalous Kinetic Bolt (and Brands for that matter) only work with Increases and Reductions, Mores and Lesses do nothing.

If you can build fanaticism stacks while you have the buff you could run frenzy with spellslinger on frostbolt to maintain stacks, then selfcast icenova to take advantage of the buff. Wands aren't exactly an exciting battlemage item but the uptime on fanaticism seems like it would be pretty high with minimal changes to "how" you play.

If you can't build fanaticism stacks while the buff is active then something involving weapon swapping might be an interesting way to play it.