Spark Inquisitor Build Guide ~ Path of Exile 3.17

Build Summary: This build is designed around Aegis Aurora + Melding of Flesh to stack Armour + Max Res for a tanky feels good experience in most fights, it achieves fairly strong tank levels and should be able to facetank the majority of content except for the most rippy of fights or extremely deadly combination of mods. We then supplement that defence by building into a self cast spell of our choosing in this case spark and then optimize around it. The build will function with other skills but you will need to make appropriate changes suggested in the alternate skill changes recommendation section of PoB Notes. Playstyle: ~ Mapping -> Lightning Warp/Flame Dash + Casting spark, pretty much just constant cast move + Vaal Spark regularly when its charged ~ Bossing -> Sigil of Power -> Frost Shield -> Wrath aura -> Assassins Mark -> DPS (only move in ultra dangerous fights where its actually possible to die, because moving removes intensity stacks) I wanted to write this out because its extremely important for the damage to utilize these utility skills, its the difference in doing something like double the damage, assassins mark only needs to be cast once while the other utility skills last 10=20seconds and need to be reprocced occassionally but they are worth the time to recast with the dps they add to the build. Skill Setups: ~ Utility: Wrath - Blessing Support - Life Tap Inc Duration - Sigil of Power - Frost Shield - Molten Shell Assassin's Mark ~ Movement Lightning Warp - Swift Affliction - Less Duration - Cast speed / Flame Dash(this is necessary in The Feared because lightning warp is bricked with slow effects) ~ Auras Determination Defiance Banner Tempest Shield Purity of Fire/Ice(dependent on aegis or no aegis) Vitality ~ DPS Spark - Inc Crit - Inspiration - Pinpoint/Pierce(use pierce until you get pierce elsewhere in build) - Spell Echo - Inc Duration Ascendancy Order: ~ DPS Route -> Righteous Providence -> Inevitable Judgement -> Sanctuary -> Pious Path ~ Tank Route -> Sanctuary -> Pious Path -> Righteous Providence -> Inevitable Judgement Crafting: ~ Nothing too complex here, for getting min-maxed / strong Jewellry I recommend going with fractured items with 1 Good affix you want like %cast speed then spamming essence of scorn for crit multi and other good mods ~ Essences are cheaper and more farmable than ever, take advantage of this as a powerful tool for crafting Don't Make the Same Mistake I did: ~ GET A 20 qual Vaal Spark early so you can play with it as you level. Its a fun button to press while mapping as well as dps boost in boss fight Gear Stat Priorities: ~ Rings: Cast Speed / Life / RES ~ Amulet: Cast Speed / Crit Multi / Life / Proj Speed(open prefix to bench craft) ~ Belt: Life / Res ~ Gloves: Life Regen Rate / Life / Res ~ Boots: Movespeed / Life / Life Regen Rate / Res ~ Helmet: Mana Efficiency(Defeaning Essence of Loathing) / Life / Res / Life Regen Rate ~ Body Armour: Life / Res / Phys Reduction / Regen / ALWAYS Gain Life as ES benchcraft Prefix(found by unveiling body armour dropped by gravicius in betrayal) ~ Strength / Int = CRIT chance Depending on which attribute is lower, so if one is significantly lower, think about that as a GOOD suffix to get, should have atleast 300 of both stat in this build to cap crit Where to Spend Currency / Progression Recommendation: 1: Basic 3 stat Rare gear, prioritize replacing each gear piece that doesn't provide many good stats with cheap rare pieces from trade that have recommended stats like res/life/crit multi/cast speed/life regen rate ect. ~ The Gull Helmet / Deaths Rush, cheap uniques that will carry you to red maps and enable faster mapping ~ 5L Ambus Charge ~ Rare Gear in every other Slot ~ 2-3 stat jewels with life / crit multi /res 2: Setup Flasks / Pantheon ~ buy ilvl 63+ Flasks ~ Quality Normal Flasks with Baubles ~ Roll Flasks with alterations for gain charge when hit mod ~ Benchcraft %Regen during Flask and %Reduced mana cost on open suffix flasks(use reduced cost on ruby(easiest uptime flask) ~ Augment for other suffixes like %armour / % move speed / % Crit / % cast speed ~ Complete Brine King Pantheon for Freeze immunity and Tukohama for %Regen 3: Save Currency for Aegis + Melding + Nebulis , this will be a massive POWER spike in Survivability and damage 4: Begin Min-maxing rares better one by one aiming closer for 4 stats rares with 1 benchcraft balancing RES and other stats ~ Swap out of uniques like Gull / Deaths Rush for Rares 5: Acquire Clusters similar to what I have in the build 6: Min-max gear implicits with lesser eldritch currencies to get implicits similar to mine or other decent mods you roll into example: Action speed/Move speed/ Cast Speed ect. 7: You will be surpassing my current characters setup at this point, check out Taking Build Beyond Section for things to optimize further Solving RF Degen/Sustain: ~ Tukohama Divine Vessel for 2% regen while stationary ~ 3% regen per second during flask suffix on gain charge when hit flask -> can be found by unveiling Cinderswallow flask ~ Pious Path(MANDATORY) do not try to run RF before this Lab Ascendancy ~ %Regen when hit Boot Enchant ~ %Life Regen Rate Suffix can be on Boots/Gloves/Helmet. ~ Flat Life Regen Suffixes can be descent if high tier ~ %Life Regen Rate Lesser Ichor Currency on Boot Slot ~ Max RES -> initially use Purity of Fire UNTIL Aegis Aurora + Melding of Flesh ~ Melding of Flesh + Aegis Aurora + Purity of ICE (lvl 20 for +4% max res / 23 for +5%) ~ Max cold res on Gloves/Body Armour Exarch Currency only use less for just +1 max cold res on each, (t3 necessary for +2 cold res on body armour) T5 +3 max cold on body and +2 max res on gloves. T5 mods acquired via Orb of Conflict / max cold res small cluster also doable ~ Vitality (level/delevel this depending on how much mana you have, this is necessary to keep mana available to cast spells) Early on, ES won't be sustained but as you begin to check off points on this list sustain will get better and better until ES is fully Sustained with RF on Solving Mana: ~ Tireless Life/Cost Reduction Cluster ~ Mana Mastery on Mystic Bulwark(10% mana cost reduction, this is pretty mandatory until Divergent Inspiration Support) -> this craft can be found by unveiling Cinderswallow flask ~ Suffix with reduced Mana Cost on Ruby Flask with Gain Charges when hit mod ~ Mystic Bulkwark + Glancing Blows(mana regen per block chance) ~ Enduring Mana Flask with Remove Corrupted Blood(this or Bismuth flask is necessary to protect against bleed/corrupted blood) ~ Mental Rapidity + Heart Soul (Notables with mana / mana regen rate) ~ -Mana cost of non channeling skills ring prefix or reduced mana cost ring prefix can work decently if necessary ~ Divergent Inspiration support(bonus 10% reduced mana cost) Ways to Improve Spark Damage: ~ Projectile Speed, this can be found in medium proj clusters/Anoint/Amulet Prefix ~ Spark +3 enchant helps spark more reliable tic extra times and improves clear ~ Spark Gem Level and Spark quality(both are important, this character only has level 20 so level 21 would be a 10% dps improvment over this setup I have here ~ Cast Speed and Crit Multi on Jewellry, these stats are BIG damage increases and should be priority stats to some degree(I recommend thrift shopping around till you can find something reasonable OR buy a cheap fracture Item with fractured cast speeed/crit multi/life then use Essences of scorn which are quite cheap) until you can hit atleast 3 good mods and craft a 4th on jewellry pieces. (proj speed can also be crafted on amulet which is helpful) ~ 6L rare uncorrupted str/int or int base body armour and spam with some greed/res essences till you hit decent res with life and the ability to craft on gain life as ES, getting the 6L is a big DPS increase ~ One medium cluster with pressure points allows for a much better shock as occassional the build hits with double damage thus enabling better shock and better dps, I recommend precise retaliation as second node to the cluster ~ Assassins Mark/Frost Shield These are MASSIVELY important for damage as they provide 3+ base crit which results in something like 20-30% crit chance if you aren't using these on bosses the crit will be well below capped ~Sigil of Power Provides amazing flat damage if you stack up stages by casting on it ~ Divine Blessing Support Linked to Lifetap and Wrath, use this on boss fights for an extra 25% more damage buff. ~ 6L setup I am using here with duration/spell echo instead of pierce/crit multi can be swapped to once you have something like 2 pierce from aerodynamics clusters OR you can anoint 2 pierce notable and thus only need one set of clusters and invest passives elsewhere on the tree. ~ Uber Lab (all labs are extremely important for damage/sustain) so if you are missing any one you will either lack sustain or lack damage as the build has no penetration without undeniable judgement passive. Alternative Skills - What to CHANGE: ~ Proj Speed Clusters should be dropped ~ Anoint should be changed Written in Blood(tank) Or StormWeaver(DPS) There are of course other good options besides these, just suggestionsd ~ Go for only 1 large cluster with 2 mediums(probably another crit medium) then invest extra passives into closeby good life nodes ~ Change LINKS on main damage skill dropping Increased duration for Crit Damage/Arcane Surge ~ Channel skill means change Spell echo for Infused Channeling Taking the build BEYOND what I have here: ~ Amulet With GG Suffixes(triple t1) -> Suffix can't be changed -> Veild Chaos till Flat life or Proj Speed -> Benchcraft flat lightning -> Aug Lightning for +1 lightning spell, benchcraft Proj speed or Life ~ Alt Quality Spark Additional Pierce can free up the ability to do better cluster notables than AeroDynamics ~ Gem Temple Corrupt Room 20/20 Sparks to Try and make 21/20 Vaal Spark ~ Use Orbs of Conflict and High Tier Eldritch currencies to get t4/t6 versions of preferred implicits ~ Meta Craft Rare Gear after starting with good prefix rare gear using veiled chaos/reforge harvests/aisling ~ Temple Guatzelitzi life mod Rare Chest Using Eldritch Chaos to roll suffixes, then benchcraft gain life as ES ~ Enlighten enables an additional 50% aura in place of vitality ~ Watchers EYE with GG mods based on current aura setup (phys reduction/crit reduction/armour/Regen/Damage/Crit/ect) ~ Good nebulis(go for spell double damage or other GG implicits) ~ Double Corrupted Aegis Aurora ~ Alt Quality / Awakened Gems where possible ~ GG clusters/ 4 mod Rare Jewels(triple crit multi + life ect) ~ New Ascendancy Jewels to get Fantacism/Guardian Charge node/ect ~ Level to 100, this char is only lvl 92 so 8 more passives can be acquired Misc: ~6% aura node is only worth it if you are able to get a +2 aoe gems on gloves/boots for 23 purity of ice as it is a breakpoint to get +1 max cold res, otherwise use that passive elsewhere ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************