Delivering Lightning: A Inquisitor Level 70 PvE Skill Build

Delivering Lightning is a guide to the Inquisitor class that teaches new adherents how to play their character. Ranging from rotations to skill guides to musings on mechanics, this series aims to help you become a better Inquisitor in Dragon Nest.

So, you want to be an Inquisitor? One of the most basic things you should get right is the skill build.

Now, there is no one true skill build out there, what skills you take and what points you put in is largely a matter of personal preference and, if you do PvE content with a fixed group, what your group needs from you. There are a few skills that are must-haves, stuff like Heal, Healing Relic and Chain Lightning are repeatedly max'ed in skill builds you find all over the internet, but there are some skills that are more subjective.

Here is my personal skill build that I use for PvE, with explanations and variations for those interested after the jump.

Explanation
All of the Inquisitor's most commonly used damage skills are added till the damage breakpoints (6, 11, 16 or 21), these skills include Charge Bolt (21), Lightning Bolt (16), Chain Lightning (16), Holy Burst (11) and Consecration (6).

Heal and Healing Relic are max'ed, as are the 3 buffs, these are mandatory support skills all Priests should have. Miracle Relic is also taken, to round off our support skill set.

Cure Relic post-nerf is left at level 1, this is because it now provides a fixed 5% Light Attack, no longer scaling with level. Further levels only serve to reduce cooldown which is redundant seeing level 1 has a relatively short cd of 25 seconds with a 19 second relic uptime. A cooldown plate may be used if you wish to have 100% uptime on Cure Relic.

Detonate is left at level 1, the reason being that its use compromises DPS by removing all electrocution debuffs from the target. This not only means that Electric Bless will no longer trigger but all light resist debuffs are removed as well. As such it is only used for Super Armor Breaking and should not be a regular part of your rotation. (It is at the very bottom of the priority list, you should never ever hit Detonate as all our spells have relatively short cooldowns.) Consequently, Detonate EX is not taken, it is a waste of a valuable SP point (which we are rather tight on).

Variations

• Less points in Charge Bolt in favour of Block (Up to level 5)

A variation that trades a little DPS for a rather powerful defensive cooldown. Taking this is dependent on how good you are at dodging and the party composition. It is also a generally good defensive cooldown to take, seeing it makes you virtually invincible for a number of attacks. I only left this out because the min-maxer mentality I inherited from World of Warcraft makes me cringe at losing DPS for a personal cooldown (Non-party support)

• Taking Bind Relic

Some people consider binding as an essential part of the support tool kit, this is purely personal opinion. For me, trash mobs in dungeons and nest usually die too fast to your party's AoE for binds to be useful, heck, the Inquisitor himself has powerful AoE damage which means that you are often better off just killing things than binding them. The things that you won't kill quickly are bosses, which happen to be immune to binds. The final nail in the coffin for me is that there are no additional benefits to using Bind Relics on immune targets, unlike Saints which has an additional 20% damage taken debuff that is still applied on immune targets. Thus for my skill build, I left it at level 0.

If you find, however, that trash mobs in dungeons are a considerable threat to your party Bind Relic is a good to have. The new abyss dungeons have pretty powerful trash mobs which makes it a perfectly valid option especially if your group is not geared enough to clear them quickly.

• Adding more points to Cure Relic

This is more for those interested in raiding. Level 1 Cure Relic has one fundamental flaw: It relies on the relic staying alive for its duration to provide 100% uptime on dispelling services. In most raids, the boss is likely to one-shot your relic in a matter of seconds, meaning that it might get off only 1 or 2 dispel waves before it is killed. A shorter cooldown would, theoretically, allow you to put down a second Cure Relic faster after the first one is killed.

If you choose either of the above variations to the Priest tree, you should take the points off either Protection Shell or Healing Relic. Some parties can survive well without the extra protection buff, and generally your magic attack is high enough to heal anyone from 0 to full health in a single Healing Relic, even if it is not max'ed.

• Level 15 Lightning Bolt and/or Level 10 Holy Burst

These variations are for those who own a rare costume weapon or a skill accessory that grants +1 skill level to either of those skills. These accessories will allow you to hit the damage breakpoints while adding only 15 points in to Lightning Bolt and 10 points into Holy Burst. This frees up valuable skill points which may be invested elsewhere. Personally I put that points in Chain Lightning (hits one extra mob at level 17) and Holy Burst (seems to provide the biggest boost in terms of board damage).

Ultimately, take my build as a rough guide, and make changes as befitting your play style and your friends'/guild's requirements.