User:Aquadrizzt/Inquisitor

This is meant to be an fun theorycraft of how an Inquisitor rework might look. Suggestions welcome.

Explanation

Inquisitor is an Ascendancy that has struggled to have relevance in the metagame for many leagues (less than 3% pick rate in every league since Abyss, excluding Synthesis and, to a lesser extent, Bestiary). Furthermore, more than 80% of Inquisitors in recent leagues have selected the same four notables. The other two are both hard to make use of, requiring either the active use of both spells and attacks (Instruments of Virtue), or proximity to enemies (Augury of Penitence) for abilities with rather mediocre effects.

The goal of this rework is to redefine Inquisitor's niche amongst the other Ascendancies. The primary themes of the reworked Inquisitor are critical hit-based spell builds, Consecrated Ground, and synergy with the "holy" spells (Divine Ire, Wave of Conviction, Purifying Flame).

Design

Pious Path: It makes more sense for Pious Path to be the node that passively generates Consecrated Ground around you. I've moved the Energy Shield regeneration to Sanctuary (again, to reinforce the "theme" of each notable), but added a movement speed bonus on Consecrated Ground, which should make it a very competitive first choice notable for the Inquisitor.

Sanctuary: This notable is now behind Pious Path (rather than the other way around), for theme and tree design purposes. Giving characters access to Proximity Shield (outside of spectres) seems like an interesting design space to explore and this effect, combined with the massive amount of energy shield and mana regeneration, should make this a top-tier defense/sustain notable. Note that Proximity Shield is only active while stationary, not while on Consecrated Ground, so it cannot be kept up permanently.

Augury of Penitence: Exposure is a neat mechanic thus far reserved for a few skills, one niche unique item, and from Raider's Avatar of the Veil. I'm not sure how I feel about the Inquisitor (a templar who is themed around "holy" spells) having access to Cold Exposure, but I've kept the cold damage bonus for now to stay true to the icon and theme of the ability. In general, this is a buff over the original version in terms of numerical effect and convenience, but a slight nerf in terms of effect stacking with other resistance reduction.

Inevitable Judgment: I like the original idea behind this notable a lot, but I take issue with the implementation. Penetration and resistance reduction are both important aspects of scaling elemental damage, and to have a "reward" that becomes worse with more optimization (e.g. as a character can reduce enemy resistances by large amounts) seems unsatisfying. What I'm trying to do with this node is that the enemy's "base" elemental resistance (e.g. before other sources of penetration) is 0 for critical strikes, but I'm unsure of how to phrase that mechanically.

Notables

Skill	Modifiers	Preceding Passive
Pious Path	You have Consecrated Ground around you while stationary 20% increased Attack, Cast, and Movement speed while on Consecrated Ground Consecrated Ground you create grants Immunity to Elemental Ailments to you and Allies Effects of Consecrated Ground you create Linger for 4 seconds (Allies standing on Consecrated Ground regenerate 6% of their maximum Life each second. Hits against Enemies standing on Consecrated Ground have 100% increased Critical Strike Chance.)	10% increased Elemental Damage Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second
→ Sanctuary	Regenerate 15 Mana per second while on Consecrated Ground Regnerate 200 Energy Shield per second while on Consecrated Ground (Allies standing on Consecrated Ground regenerate 6% of their maximum Life each second. Hits against Enemies standing on Consecrated Ground have 100% increased Critical Strike Chance.) You have Proximity Shield while stationary (Allies standing in a Proximity Shield take no Damage from Projectiles originating outside the Proximity Shield.)	10% increased Elemental Damage Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second
→ Consecrated Ground 2	<offensive buffs here>	10% increased Elemental Damage Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second
Instruments of Virtue	Gain a Power Charge...
Augury of Penitence	Your Fire Damage applies Fire Exposure Your Cold Damage applies Cold Exposure Your Lightning Damage applies Lightning Exposure (Exposure reduces the corresponding Elemental Resistance by 15%.) Nearby Exposed Enemies deal 10% less Damage
Righteous Providence
→ Inevitable Judgement	Non-Critical Strikes Penetrate 20% of Enemy's current Elemental Resistances Critical Strikes Penetrate 100% of Enemy's current Elemental Resistances