Firestorm
Blood Magic Inquisitor Build

Updated for Patch 3.24

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

The Infernal Mantle is a Unique Body Armour that's used only in certain builds. It's extremely powerful for a Fire Spell that could benefit from the Critical Strike Chance, but due to the 100% increased Spell Damage Taken while on low Mana, none of the conventional builds use it. Blood Magic gets rid of your Mana completely so this downside will never apply. Blood Magic also forces you to make some atypical choices - it encourages accumulating tons of Maximum Life that can be used to gain damage via Rathpit Globe. Creating a Low-Life Hybrid build seems like the most sound option due to the Inquisitor's Pious Path, and the fact that we still want to use some Skills that Reserve Mana, or Life in this case. Additionally, this maneuver opens up the possibility to include Petrified Blood and Pain Attunement.

Infernal Mantle is a very common Unique that you can buy in bulk and Corrupt for an additional increase to the socketed Fire Skill Gems. It alone can grant you an extra 5 or even 7 levels to selected Skills, one of which is Firestorm. We have used Firestorm of Pelting due to the multiple rapid meteors that can Leech a lot of Life and ES back very quickly, which is an even better source of Recovery if you can gain Life or ES on Hit - though the build should work just fine with other variants of the Gem. Reaching a 100% Critical Strike Chance is rather easy on an Inquisitor. With Righteous Providence and a lot of Strength and Intelligence, it is nearly guaranteed. The Inevitable Judgement makes your Critical Strikes treat enemy Elemental Resistances as they're 0% so there's no need to use Exposure, Flammability, or Scorch.

The build is extremely durable with its Maximum Life and ES. It can reach 10k hit points in total, even after reserving half of the Maximum Life. The rapid Recovery granted by Regeneration and Leech will keep your Life and ES high at all times, even with Righteous Fire and  Rathpit Globe​​​​​​. Your Block Chance against Spells and Attacks should reach close to 75%, but the build still lacks any Armour - the only sources of Physical Damage mitigation are Endurance Charges from Enduring Cry, a portion of Physical Damage taken as Fire, and Immortal Cry with Frost Shield.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Use Firestorm to deal damage. Your RF should be kept on permanently. Upon encountering a tough enemy, apply Storm Brand to Shock, Flame Dash to Ignite, and Assassin's Mark to boost your DPS. Ignited enemies take increased Damage after selecting a certain Fire Mastery. Enduring Cry can be linked with Call to Arms. Spells that are activated automatically after taking Damage are Frost Shield and Immortal Call - these will enhance your survivability. Your other Spells are Zealotry, Vitality, Petrified Blood, and Tempest Shield.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Start as a Lightning Spell Caster, simply follow our leveling guide. You can transition to a Life-stacking Fire Damage build after equipping the mandatory Unique Items. We also recommend completing all four labyrinths, a high character level to equip items with high-tier Life mods, and a lot of increased Maximum Life from the Passive Skill Tree.

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

118 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique Jewels)
121 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
 

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Sanctuary
2. Pious Path
3. Righteous Providence
4. Inevitable Judgement

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Firestorm setup
	Firestorm of Pelting - Summons multiple small meteors dealing Fire Damage every 0.15 seconds for 2 seconds. You can summon up to 10 of these Firestorms. It's a basic Fire, Duration, and AoE Spell, making it the best candidate for a Corrupted Infernal Mantle. Regular Firestorm is better for mapping and against non-stationary bosses.
	Elemental Focus Support - Grants more Fire Damage, but disables Ignite with Firestorm.
	Intensify Support - Increases the initial AoE, but the longer you cast the Spell without moving, the more damage you deal. The area also grows smaller in size.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Your Critical Strikes deal increased Damage.
	Concentrated Effect Support - The Area of Effect is reduced, but the damage is increased. The more concentrated AoE also increases your Damage against stationary enemies.
	Spell Echo Support - Firestorm is repeated with significantly increased Cast Speed, but lower damage.

[UTILITY] Stormbrand setup
	Storm Brand - This Spell is used to apply Shock, and with added Fire damage from Items, it will also Ignite for more damage from Fire Mastery.
	Overcharge Support - The Shock Effect is vastly improved and lasts longer.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Storm Brand grants Power Charge on Critical Strike.
	Unbound Ailments Support - Increases the Effect and Duration of Shock caused by Storm Brand. Replace it with  Combustion Support if you have no Ignite Chance whatsoever.

[UTILITY] CwDT setup
	Immortal Call - Reduces Physical and Elemental Damage Taken for a brief moment.
	Frost Shield - Drains your ES to form a protective bubble, causing you to take less damage, and gain extra Crit Chance.
	Increased Duration Support - Immortal Call and Frost Shield last longer.
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - Linked Spells are triggered after taking a certain amount of damage.

[UTILITY] Zelotry setup
	Zealotry - Use it for more Spell Damage and Critical Strike Chance.
	Eternal Blessing Support - If you have no Mana Reserved you're allowed to host one Blessing Aura for free if it's linked to the Eternal Blessing.

[UTILITY] Flame Dash setup
	Flame Dash - A simple mobility Skill that is used to Ignite enemies and travel with greater haste.
	Faster Casting Support - simply increases the Cast rate of Flame Dash. It's not mandatory

[UTILITY] Life Reserving setup
	Petrified Blood - Shifts a portion of incoming Hit Damage to be taken as Damage over Time instead, which is excellent with a high Life and ES Recovery Rate. It only works for the bottom half of your Life Pool.
	Tempest Shield - Grants Shock Immunity and substantial Spell Block Chance.
	Vitality - Regenerates your Life over time which is very important, especially with the Corrupted Soul. It also has good modifiers to get on a Watcher's Eye.

[UTILITY] Various Gems
	Assassin's Mark - Marked enemy is more likely to be hit with Critical Strike which deals increased Critical Damage.
	Righteous Fire - Grants more Spell Damage. It has also quite high damage on its own due to your high Maximum Life. If you want to improve your clear speed you can link it up with additional support gems, but that would require you to abandon some of the previously-mentioned setups.
	Enduring Cry - Regenerates a lot of Life and ES on use and grants Endurance Charges to mitigate Physical Damage. You can link it with the  Call to Arms if you can spare a socket for it.

5. Gear Setup

It's a Hybrid build with tons of Maximum Life and Energy Shield. Your Primary objective is to gain as much Maximum Life as possible, around 10k. Half of it will be Reserved due to the Blood Magic Keystone, and to benefit from Pain Attunement. You can also gain around 5k of Energy Shield with Corrupted Soul from Glorious Vanity. This Maximum Life results in a lot of Damage after equipping the Rathpit Globe Shield - it grants tons of Crit Chance that should always stay capped at 100%. After that, enemies are treated as their Elemental Resistances are 0%. The remaining damage is sourced from the Gem Level of Firestorm, which can easily be increased with Infernal Mantle Body Armour and Replica Dragonfang's Flight. More Damage is granted by Righteous Fire, but to withstand the Burning Damage, you will need an additional source of Life Leech found on Gloves, ES Leech from Ethereal Feast notable or a Flask modifier, and basic Life Regeneration from Items. It's also possible to gain Life on Hit mod - it's great with the rapid Hits from Firestorm of Pelting.

If you are looking for cheap PoE Currency, we would love to invite you to visit our PoE Market section that can be accessed via the menu bar on top of the page.

The recommended items from our list will:

1. Help you cap your Elemental Resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS and Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Try to get over 100 Maximum Life with some Resistances. For Eldritch mods, seek Physical Damage taken as Fire Damage and increased Cast Speed.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 40% Total Elemental Resistances 20% Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes Adds Elemental Damage to Spells +1 to Maximum Power Charges Energy Shield

(Weapon) Rare Wand or Sceptre - The weapon should provide you with a lot of increased Damage, Critical Strike modifiers, especially Crit Multiplier, +1 to Fire Skills, added Fire Damage to Spells, and increased Cast Speed.

Min. requirements: 80% increased Fire/Elemental/Spell Damage in total +1 to Level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems increased Critical Strike Chance/Multiplier for Spells Optional affixes: increased Cast Speed Adds Fire Damage to Spells

(Shield) Rathpith Globe - It increases your Maximum Life, Crit Chance, and Spell Damage by a lot. You should be able to withstand the Life drain with Consecrated Ground, Life Regeneration, and Life Leech with Life gained on Hit.

(10-15)% Chance to Block Spell Damage (120-160)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life Sacrifice 10% of your Life when you Use or Trigger a Spell Skill 5% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells per 100 Player Maximum Life 5% increased Spell Damage per 100 Player Maximum Life

(Body Armour) Infernal Mantle - Socket your Firestorm setup here. A Corrupted Infernal Mantle with implicits for an increased level of AoE, Duration, or all socketed Gems should be relatively cheap, so definitely look for such a copy. A perfect double Corruption may grant your Firestorm 7 additional Levels, but settling on the inherent +3 is good for a start. It increases your Crit Chance, Energy Shield, and Converts a small portion of Fire Damage to Chaos.

+3 to Level of Socketed Fire Gems 100% increased Global Critical Strike Chance (120-160)% increased Energy Shield 15% of Fire Damage Converted to Chaos Damage 100% increased Spell Damage taken when on Low Mana

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - If you've chosen a Rare Amulet, get as much Maximum Life and Critical Strike Multiplier as you can here. Resistances, Attributes, and Cast Speed are valuable too.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 25% increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes increased Cast Speed Global Critical Strike Chance Resistances +1 to Level of all Fire Skill Gems

(Amulet) Replica Dragonfang's Flight - This Amulet will grant you another 3 Levels to your Firestorm Skill, with some Attributes, Resistances, and Reservation Efficiency on top of that.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +3 to Level of all <Random Skill> Gems +(5-10)% to all Elemental Resistances (5-10)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills Items and Gems have (10-5)% reduced Attribute Requirements

Recommended Anointments: Golem's Blood Ethereal Feast

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings should be used for a lot of Maximum Life, Resistances, especially Chaos Resistance, and Attributes i. e. Strength and Intelligence to boost your Crit Chance with Righteous Providence, Maximum Life, and ES.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 60% Total Resistances Optional affixes: increased Cast Speed increased Fire/Elemental Damage Critical Strike Multiplier Life Recoup Attributes

(Boots) Rare Boots - Rare Boots with Life, Resistances, Movement Speed, and Attributes are enough. Try to get as many of these modifiers as you can afford. For Eldritch Implicits, seek Maximum Fire Resistance, Action Speed, Life Regeneration Rate, or Brittle Ground if you need extra Crit Chance.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life 50% Total Resistances 25% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Attributes

(Belt) Rare Belt - Focus on Maximum Life, Resistances, and Strength. Flat Life Regeneration can be found here in huge quantities too.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Strength Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Life Regeneration increased Maximum Life (Hunter's Suffix)

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves are quite simple as well, just get the usual Maximum Life and Resistances. For the Eldritch mods, try to get Unnerve on Hit and Fire Damage Leeched as Life.

Min. requirements: + 80 to maximum Life 75% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Spell Damage increased Global Critical Strike Chance Attributes

(Gloves) Hands of the High Templar - If you don't need any of the mods present on Rare Gloves, Hands of the High Templar might suit you more. Try to gain extra Crit Chance for Spells, increased Maximum Life, increased Maximum ES, and increased Cast Speed as Corrputed Implicit mods.

Can be modified while Corrupted Can have up to 5 Implicit Modifiers while Item has this Modifier (150-200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield (7-12)% increased maximum Life +(20-30)% to Fire and Lightning Resistances

(Jewel) Glorious Vanity - The Doryani's variant of Glorious Vanity will get you the Corrupted Soul for more Energy Shield. It is somewhat beneficial with Pious Path and a lot of both Maximum Life and ES, but it can be dangerous too with Rathpith Globe - too much of your Life is being drained which may kill you.

Bathed in the blood of (100-8000) sacrificed in the name of Doryani Passives in radius are Conquered by the Vaal Historic

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - On Jewels get the increased Maximum Life with increased Critical Strike Multiplier, Resistances, or Attributes.

Recommended affixes: increased Maximum Life Spell or Fire Damage Attributes Elemental Resistances Cast Speed Critical Strike Multiplier

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Most Zealotry's modifiers are good enough, but the best addition to a build will undoubtedly be instant Life gained on Hit from Vitality's mod pool.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Flask) Progenesis - An expensive Flask that's great on its own, but here, combined with Petrified Blood and rapid Life Recovery, it's even better.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - You may be able to cap your Spell and Attack Block Chance with Rumi's Concoction.

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Effect

(Flask) Bottled Faith - The Consecrated Ground created by this Flask will increase your DPS and Critical Strike Chance.

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

Suggested Rare Flasks: Basalt Flask with increased Armour Silver Flask with increased Cast Speed Ruby Flask with Spell Damage Leech Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.