[3.24] Volatile Dead | CwC | Inquisitor | No Mana Balancing just pure CwC

This build runs like a breeze. After investing 100-200c into gear I am around 100k per ball and things just melt. Most Ultimatum encounters run fine by just circling around and avoid any damage. 4th Lab was a no issue, none of the mobs or traps had any chance against my life and energy shield regeneration.

Currently I'm still running yellow maps only without any problems - bosses die quickly, the first Awakeners did not finish their dialogs etc.

Leveling as a league starter was not as difficult as expected. I tried different skills:

Started with Purifying Flame with was strong in the beginning but lacked AOE later
Switched to Blazing Salvo + Flame Wall later with two elemental damage scepters
Firestorm and Flame Wall was fun as well
At 28 I wanted to switch to Desecrate+VD+Spellslinger but till I found a good wand and the needed Frenzy/Barrage gem I got 38 and Cycloning did the rest with a spellpower staff

Important things: lowlevel Immortal Call+Cwdt is your friend till you got the first three labs to get Sanctuary and Pious Path

-Keep Basalt+Sulfur flask up
-The Stampede is mandatory for the Ultimatum encounters in my option unless you can keep up Onslaught and a Quicksilver flask
-Stack Strength and Intellect
-Marthyr of Innocence: Get it early even without links or low elemental damage
-Atziri + Bottle Faith flasks are endgame and will push your damage and survivability
-Awakended Spell cascade should also be on your shopping list to completely destroy the content

Mid-game levelling suggestion

Hextouch > Power Charge on Crit > Orb of Storms > Flammability

This is a fantastic secondary skill giving instant full power charges, flammability on absolutely everything it touches, and it costs basically nothing (15 Mana with all level 16 gems). Synergizes with any AoE Increasing effects, but even with the Reduced Reach trial, it's still reliable.

Currently breezing through T16's at A5. So far the only issue I've run into is I occasionally get one-shot. The Desecrate+Volatile Dead makes some ground effects a little hard to see.

We'll see how it goes once I push A8. Definitely viable as a league start and amazing with current league mechanics. Only change I have been considering is pathing to unwavering stance and dropping Kiara's flask. If you can't keep the flask up 100% during ultimatums you risk getting stunned multiple times in a row, usually leading to death even with 8k+ life/es pool.

Thank you all for the responses. Especially the idea of "Unwavering Stance" looks promising. I amn testing this now with my Char "UL_VD", I sacirficed the two 30str nodes and the "Doom Cast" Cluster.

At the end we lose only 10% Damage and nothing else as the nodes to Unwavering stance add up to 60Str too.

Yet my first impression is a lot better Ultimatum Encounter Experience.

Hey, guide looks nice! I will try it in hc!
Is there a way to fit in fortify? Or Will we loose to much dps then or a key mechanic?

Anyone can help me with upgrades i should to do next ???

I`m a little confusing with the guide, it dont show us a priority order to upgrades on gear as a league starter, so i`m losting what do next.

My Pastebin : https://pastebin.com/ARBJ9bgg

And Thanks for the build, is amazing.

I cant use all Auras due to mana reservation ,so what i should skip ???

@HavskattenWAOW:
Even 5L should work but its ~40% dmg loss. I am not sure if the build is much HC viable, at least you should put highest priority on Life and ES but I doubt endgange would work deathless.

@Keylors:
I see most of your stuff ist already good to go for the start, just focus on leveling and quality of your Gems and leveling your char itself. The best but most expensive upgrade would be the Awakened Spellcascade but the special Jewels will do fine too.
For Auras, Zealoth and Herald is a must, Vitality is nice, Precision also, you can level both according to your free mana and focus more on vitality. I just switched out precision and use a Enlighten to fit in Discipline, will update the PoB these days, also with Unwavering Stance.

Edith: I am not much into priority, I just take what I find or have the currency for, the rest is farming a lot.

Uh... I just did my first physical reflect map and got killed in 3-4 balls. I don't understand where the physical damage is coming from. I'm nowhere near the mobs for Cyclone to hit them and the VD balls are pure fire? What am I missing?

I followed the advice to allocate Avatar of Fire and suddenly zero reflect damage. A quick glance at PoB shows this as a minor DPS increase for VD, so why don't we run around with it allocated all the time?

Battlemage adds the physical damage from your staff to the VD balls, if you have the point spare you can spec AoF to be immune to phys reflect, that is correct.

The point of not using Avatar is to be able to deal Lightning and Cold Damage for Freeze/Shock, not sure if it is worth much (Lightning comes from WoC for example, cold from a jewel if you have).