[3.13] Ivory Ice Nova Inquisitor - Stat stacking, Fanaticism, Spellslinger. All content clear



T16 Maven Chimera

T15 Canyon clear

Maven Uber Elder w/o flasks

The Inquisitor was reworked in 3.13. He gained several new, powerful ascendancy nodes that reward him for stacking STR and INT as well as using a hybrid of attacks and spells. This build utilizes all of those buffs to create a well-rounded character with enough offense and defense to take on ALL endgame content.

Furthermore, the character can be made as a league-starter (At the time of writing, Ritual league is 9 days old and I am in the top 20 of inquisitors). Currently the base build costs about 1 exalt and will get you 10k ES and >4 million shaper DPS without flasks up.

Path of Building links
Budget PoB (with leveling gear and leveling skilltrees): https://pastebin.com/3w3vyT7S

Endgame PoB (Unnatural Instinct, for bossing): https://pastebin.com/hncpjGyb

Endgame PoB (Inspired Learning, for map clearing): https://pastebin.com/fwXFuMNP

Build Mechanics
Frostbolt multiplies Ice Nova DPS x4
If there are multiple frostbolt projectiles flying in the air, and Ice Nova is casted, the spell will actually create a nova from 2 separate frostbolt projectiles. These 2 Ice Novas CAN overlap and therefore deal damage twice to an enemy.

Furthermore, Ice Nova with Spell Echo has a unique interaction when casted on Frostbolt. A normal spell with the Spell Echo support will play the animation twice, and the spell will be casted twice. However, for some odd reason, when Ice Nova is casted with spell echo on Frostbolt, the animation is played ONCE, but the spell is still casted twice.

Therefore, for a single cast animation, you get Ice Nova casted TWICE, and it appears on TWO frostbolts which potentially causes 4x the damage.

Fanaticism
Fanaticism is extremely valuable to an Ice Nova build. 75% more cast speed is obviously very strong, and furthermore the 75% increased area of effect means that enemies stay within the damaging region of Ice Nova for a longer period of time. Furthermore, with Fanaticism buff and Inspiration support linked to Ice Nova, the spell has 0 mana cost.

This build activates Fanaticism by using a wand and weaving in Frenzy and Shield Charge between Ice Nova casts. Frenzy triggers Frostbolts via Spellslinger.

STR & INT stacking
3.13 introduces another powerful Inquisitor node, Righteous Providence. By stacking STR and INT on gear while wearing Shaper's Touch and Ivory Tower, you gain Life, Mana, ES and %crit chance all at once. A single +30STR node on the skilltree gives 200 ES and 3-5% more dps!

Ivory Tower & Low Life
The Ivory Tower grants ES based on the amount of Life reserved. Therefore, the build gets ES even if you grab life nodes on the skilltree! The build takes advantage of Prism Guardian shield to reserve 99% of life using 3 different auras. This combination also enables the use of the Pain Attunement keystone for 30% more spell damage.

The Ivory Tower also causes chaos damage to affect Mana. Therefore it is important to have a healthy mana pool - luckily, Shaper's Touch with STR/INT stacking solves this problem pretty well.

Gem Links
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Damage

You can use regular spell echo instead of anomalous spell echo. 6th link is your choice between controlled destruction and awakened added cold damage.


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Trigger


You can use regular frenzy instead of anomalous frenzy.


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Auras (socketed in Prism Guardian)

(3rd aura is your choice between Grace or Hatred)


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Movement


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Support


Optional supporting gems: Flame Dash, Immortal Call, Void Sphere, Frost Shield, Vaal Righteous Fire

Leveling Guide & Skilltrees
This is your leveling skilltree.

For Ascendancy points, grab Instruments of Virtue/Zeal first, then move towards Righteous Providence/Inevitable Judgement.

Act 1 gems

Craft a wand with cold damage added to spells, using the vendor recipe. (Magic wand + normal/magic/rare sapphire ring + alteration orb) In later acts, you can upgrade this wand with an orb of augmentation and regal orb, then craft %spell damage using the crafting bench.


Act 2 gems


Act 3 gems

At the end of act 3, stop using herald of ice. Link Spellslinger to Freezing Pulse and Frostbolt. Then start using Frenzy to trigger spellslinger. You can link Inspiration support to Frenzy AND to Spellslinger for extra damage.

Act 4 gems

You will not have a use for Spell Echo yet, but save it for later because it will be important when you start using Ice Nova.

In act 5, obtain a Frozen Trail or First Snow jewel from the Death to Purity quest. It should boost clearspeed by quite a bit.

In act 8, obtain Instruments of Zeal from the Cruel Labyrinth. Make sure you have a Frozen Trail jewel socketed in your skilltree. Begin using the combination of Frenzy triggering Spellslinger - Frostbolt, and self cast Ice Nova-Spell Echo-Inspiration-Intensify.

In act 10, obtain Righteous Providence from the Merciless Labyrinth. Then, remove the Elemental Overload keystone from your skilltree.

Once you hit maps, buy a 5L or 6L item or Tablua Rasa. Upgrade rings, boots and jewels prioritizing chaos and elemental resistance. Once you hit >60% chaos resistance you can start transitioning to low-life gear (see next section) and consider picking up Pain Attunement.

Gear Buying Guide

Gear buying priority after reaching maps:
1. Tabula Rasa
2. Wand
Mods to search for (imbued wand base)

3. Large cluster jewel
Mods to search for:

4. Rings, boots, and jewels with %chaos resistance (You should aim for >50% chaos resistance. May purchase a Broken Crown helmet to help with resistance)
Example mods to search for:

5. If you have >60% chaos resistance, proceed to buy 5L Ivory Tower, Shaper's Touch, and Prism Guardian (this combo is stronger than Tabula Rasa)
6. Astramentis
7. Crown of the Inward Eye
8. Cyclopean Coil
9. Medium cluster jewel

Endgame gear priority:
1. Level 21 Ice Nova gem
2. Cinderswallow Urn
3. Tailwind boots
4. Lethal Pride jewel with %STR mods on notables
5. Anomalous Spell Echo (cheaper) or Awakened spell echo, replace Controlled Destruction with either Awakened added cold damage or Awakened controlled destruction
6. Helmet enchant for Ice Nova Aoe or Ice nova damage
7. Large cluster jewel with 3 notables (preferably Cold to the Core)
8. Watcher's Eye with Hatred or Zealotry damage mods, or ES gain on hit, or Mana gained as ES
9. Inspired Learning or Unnatural Instinct
10. Onslaught on hit ring

Endgame Gear

Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039
Last edited by dariidar#0631 on Feb 3, 2021, 3:06:18 PM
Last bumped on Apr 23, 2021, 3:27:45 PM
Thanks @dariidar, ever since I read about the Inquisitor changes I've been thinking about a battlemage build. This sounds just like what I wanted. Levelling him up now.

Tabula, x2 berek's pass, x2 frozen trails and frostbolt clears really well during levelling.

Edit: only after getting to maps did it dawn on me that i was not going to be able manage 100% uptime on fanaticism without constantly alternating shield charge and frenzy. Too many buttons to manage for my old hands haha.

Still learned a lot about the battlemage and fanaticism side of the inquisitor ascendancy. And the levelling was fun as well. But sadly just not for me.

Thanks.
Last edited by j3pli#1177 on Jan 26, 2021, 5:50:00 AM
The build will still work if you grab Pious Path instead. Sanctuary is still a 15% more damage bonus. You will be gaining consistent damage in exchange for burst damage. from there, the build is not too different from any other frostbolt/ice nova build.
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039
Added Maven Uber Elder video.
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039
Awesome build man. It looks really interesting and will most likely be my next character!
Could this potentially work with another skill? Say anything with the spell and aoe tags, that also hits super fast, like Ball Lightning?
Last edited by Sebaslc#3091 on Jan 26, 2021, 11:23:15 PM
Cool build!

I have a question, how do you deal with not being res capped for lightning (at least according your pob) ?
What's the advantage of the Spellslinger setup over self-casting Frostbolt?
livejamie
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Koppijn wrote:
Cool build!

I have a question, how do you deal with not being res capped for lightning (at least according your pob) ?


He is res capped. It says (0%) because hes 0% over the cap (hes at exactly the right amount of lightning res he needs)
Last edited by Alcsaar#1714 on Jan 27, 2021, 1:47:20 AM
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Sebaslc wrote:
Could this potentially work with another skill? Say anything with the spell and aoe tags, that also hits super fast, like Ball Lightning?


Yes, it could. I think that EVERY spellcasting inquisitor build should consider the combination of Ivory Tower, Shaper's Touch, and Prism Guardian, because of the ridiculous power of the Righteous Providence ascendancy. It will be a bit harder to proc Fanaticism, though.

"
livejamie wrote:
What's the advantage of the Spellslinger setup over self-casting Frostbolt?


It helps trigger the Fanaticism buff. It also gives you frenzy charges and power charges.
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039

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