Spark
Inquisitor Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

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It's a very simple build, it doesn't require Unique Items and it's a good starter. Spark is one of the oldest skills in the game, it fires Projectiles dealing Lightning Damage which moves fast and in an unpredictable and random fashion. With high Cast Speed and Projectile Speed, you can easily cover the entire screen in sparks. The recommended Ascendancy is Inquisitor with Pious Path and Inevitable Judgement. Pious Path regenerates your ES alongside Life when you stay on Consecrated Ground, which you can create by just standing or using a Spell once every four seconds. Righteous Providence and Inevitable Judgements increase your Critical Strike Chance and allow your Critical Strike to completely ignore enemies' Elemental Resistances. It's a Hybrid Lightning Spell Caster with 100% Crit Chance, the Spark Skill can be replaced with any other Lightning Projectile as the build is very general.

Achieving 100% Crit Chance is not a problem as your Skill Tree and Aura will provide almost the entirety of it. Lightning Damage Penetration will not be an issue too, as you will always ignore it. To increase your damage you should focus mostly on Spell Damage, Cast Speed, Skill Effect Duration, Projectile Speed, and Crit. Multiplier. Sparks have a base duration of 2 seconds and will be absorbed by the first enemy encountered, enhance your Projectile with Pierce, it can be easily achieved by linking it with a Support Gem, Anointing the Amulet, or from Items. It's a Hybrid build with Pious Path, so you should certainly allocate Corrupted Soul Keystone via Glorious Vanity Jewel or Replica Soul Tether Belt. Your Life and ES combined should provide you with around 6 to 7k of total life pool, with rapid Life and ES regen and tons of Armour it's a quite tanky build.

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

1. Gameplay

Spark is the only Skill you use to deal damage, use it between Flame Dashing to cover the entire screen in Projectiles. A secondary Spell you can use to get Onslaught and to Kill bosses with Culling Strike is Orb of Storms. Assassin's Mark and Lightning Golem should be cast automatically via Cast when Damage Taken. During Boss Fights it is a good idea to use Sigil of Power, it adds Lightning Damage to your Spells. Have Determination, Wrath, and Zealotry active at all times.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You can start with Spark or Arc. Spark becomes better as your build is more specialized for it, but you can level up with Arc until you reach maps or so. At first, you should prioritize getting more Maximum Life, Spell, and Lightning Damage, then Life with Energy Shield, Cast Speed, and Critical Strike Chance with its Multiplier. You can use some of the Essences or vendor recipes early on to quickly craft a weapon. Leveling is straightforward, you don't need to respec any of the allocated points, and there are no sudden increases in power as you reach a certain threshold, it's a gradual process.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Arc setup
	Arc - a simple Chaining Spell used here for leveling, it's quick and easy to use
	Inspiration Support - the cost of linked Skills is lower while Elemental Damage and Crit. Chance gets increased
	Arcane Surge Support - grants you a Buff to increase the Spell Damage and mana Regeneration Rate
	Added Lightning Damage Support - adds Lightning Damage to your Spell to increase its damage

various Gems
	Molten Shell - a Guard Spell that negates some of the damage you take from Hits
	Conductivity - lowers the Lightning Resistance of cursed enemies
	Flame Dash - used for a better mobility
	Wrath - increases your Lightning Damage and Spell Critical Strike Chance
	Clarity - it regenerates your Mana

Bandits:

KIlling all Bandits for two additional Passive Points is the best option

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Skill Tree
Get the Maximum Life, Lightning, and Spell Damage nodes

73 Points Skill Tree
Allocate even more Maximum Life, Lightning, and Spell Damage with Cast Speed

Recommended leveling items:

Dream Fragments - More Mana, Cold Resistance, and Cold Ailments immunity.

+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 20% increased maximum Mana 50% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(30-40)% to Cold Resistance Cannot be Chilled Cannot be Frozen

Praxis - More Mana and lower Mana cost of Skills.

+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana Regenerate (3-6) Mana per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Atziri's Foible - Even more Mana, Mana Regeneration, and reduced Attribute Requirements.

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements

Axiom Perpetuum - One of the best leveling weapons for a build such as this one.

12% increased Elemental Damage Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Fire Damage to Spells Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Cold Damage to Spells Adds 1 to (10-12) Lightning Damage to Spells (4-6)% increased Cast Speed (100-140)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells

Goldrim - A helmet that's good for leveling most of the builds.

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - Allows you to link any six Gems from the start.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

122 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
122 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 Solaris: 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan: 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you, Cannot be Blinded, You cannot be Maimed

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Spark setup
	Spark - It fires a lot of fast-moving Lightning Projectiles, making it excellent at clearing maps.
	Inspiration Support - Lowered Mana Cost of Skills, increased Critical Strike Chance, and Elemental Damage.
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - Your chance to cause a Critical Strike is higher, if' it's already high enough, use  Hypothermia Support instead.
	Spell Echo Support - You repeat the previous Spell Cast with greater Cast Speed.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Critical Strikes deal more Damage.
	Added Lightning Damage Support - Adds Lightning Damage to your Spells increasing DPS.

[UTILITY] Orb of Storms setup
	Orb of Storms - A static Orb that hits enemies in its range dealing Lightning Damage.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - It will generate Power Charges with each Hit.
	Culling Strike Support - Linked Spell Kills enemies that are below 10% of their Maximum Life.
	Onslaught Support - Spell grants you Onslaught on Hit.

[MOBILITY] Flame Dash setup
	Flame Dash - A mobility Skill that teleports you over a short distance.
	Arcane Surge Support -  Keep it at a low enough level so that a single cast of Flame Dash will activate it, it grants you Spell Damage and Mana Regeneration Rate.
	Second Wind Support - stores an additional charge for your Flame Dash.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Wrath - An additional and increased Lighting Damage for your Spells, you will probably need to replace it with  Purity of Elements if you're using The Annihilating Light.
	Determination - Adds and increases Armour which reduced Physical Damage taken.
	Zealotry - Increased Spell Damage and Critical Strike Chance for Spells.
	Enlighten Support - Lowers the Reservation Cost of all linked Spells.

[UTILITY] Lightning Golem
	Summon Lightning Golem - Lightning Golem gives you more Cast Speed, it can be linked to a  Cast when Damage Taken.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - Guard Spell that scales well with Armour to absorb more Damage.

[UTILITY] Assassin's Mark
	Assassin's Mark - Assassin's Mark increases your Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier against Cursed Targets, grats you Mana and Life on Kill alongside a small chance for a Power Charge.

[UTILITY] Sigil of Power
	Sigil of Power - Creates an area - you have to spend Mana while inside of it to get increasingly more added Lightning Damage to Spells. Enemies inside the area deal less damage to you.

[UTILITY] Lightning Golem
	Vaal Righteous Fire - Use Vaal RF occasionally to get more Spell Damage, but be careful, it will cost you some of your Life and ES.

6. Gear Setup

It's a simple one to assemble, all you need is to increase your Lightning Spell Damage and Critical Strike Multiplier, but to some extent Projectile Speed and additional Piercing will be required for smooth gameplay. Maximum Life is the single most important defensive statistic, ES is sourced from it via Corrupted Soul, but you can still look for some affixes to increase it. You don't need Penetration or Exposure as you ignore all the Elemental Resistances by default, from your Ascendancy Keystone. It's a very general build so you might implement the Melding of the Flesh and Aegis Aurora Combo for high Maximum Elemental Resistances and allocate Searing Purity for Chaos Resistance. Remember that you don't need to apply Exposure or reduce Elemental Resistances - you can easily gain extra Elemental Damage sourced or Converted from another type of Elemental Damage with no repercussions.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Get more Life, Resistances, and Attributes. Not much to look for here.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Chaos Resistance

(Helmet) Crown of the Inward Eye - It's a great boost to all of your defenses, but grants no Elemental Resistances.

333% increased Armour and Energy Shield (9-21)% increased maximum Life, Mana and Global Energy Shield Transfiguration of Soul Transfiguration of Body Transfiguration of Mind

(Helmet) Heatshiver - The best option if you have two Call of the Brotherhood Rings - it massively increases your Elemental Damage.

(80-100)% increased Evasion Rating 60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(20-30)% to Fire Resistance +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance Gain 1% of Cold Damage as Extra Fire Damage per 1% Chill Effect on Enemy Gain 100% of Cold Damage as Extra Fire Damage against Frozen Enemies

Helmet enchantments: Spark Enhancements

(Weapon) Rare Sceptre - The most important are increased Lightning Spell Damage and Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells.

Min. requirements: 100% Increased Lightning Damage +28% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Lightning Skill Gems Elemental Damage increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells Adds Lightning Damage to Spells

(Weapon) The Annihilating Light - Thi is the weapon we'd recommend for the most damage, but be careful, it significantly flowers your Elemental Resistances.

+18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff (70-60)% reduced Elemental Resistances Deal Triple Damage with Elemental Skills

(Body Armour) Inpulsa's Broken Heart - It's a good Body Armour to increase your clear speed, but grants you no Elemental Resistances

+(60-80) to maximum Life (20-50)% increased Damage if you have Shocked an Enemy Recently (15-25)% increased Effect of Shock Shocked Enemies you Kill Explode, dealing 5% of their Life as Lightning Damage which cannot Shock Unaffected by Shock

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Focus on Life, Resistances, and Shaper's extra Critical Strike Chance.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances +1% to Spell Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Attributes Energy Shield increased maximum Life

(Boots) Rare Boots - Once more, Life and Reistnaces will be the most influential stats here.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Armour You have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently Cannot be Frozen (crafted)

(Boots) Voidwalker - These boots make your Sparks Pierce 5 extra enemies, which is advantageous, Phasing on Kill, and 20% chance to Avoid Projectiles while Phasing.

+(30-50) to Dexterity (140-180)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield 30% increased Movement Speed 20% chance to Avoid Projectiles while Phasing You have Phasing if you've Killed Recently Projectiles Pierce 5 additional Targets while you have Phasing Celestial Footprints

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Get some more Life, Resistances, and increased Cast Speed or Spell Damage. We'd recommend focusing mostly on Elemental Resistances here.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Global Critical Strike Chance Dexterity increased Cast Speed

(Gloves) Hands of the High Templar - Increased Cast Speed, extra Spell Critical Strike Chance, increased maximum Life, and increased maximum Energy Shield can make these gloves very good.

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

(Belt) Rare Belt - Life, Strength, and Resistances are the only mods worth looking for on a Belt. Try to get a lot of them here.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Maximum Energy Shield Strength increased Damage increased Maximum Life

(Belt) Replica Soul Tether - That's the belt you can use to get Corrupted Soul, it additionally gives you a lot of Energy Shield from your Life.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-40) to Strength Gain (4-6)% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield Corrupted Soul

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Amulets offer a huge variety of mods, try to get some of the offensive ones such as Critical Strike Multiplier.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Intelligence Skill Gems +1 to Level of all Lightning Skill Gems increased Global Critical Strike Chance Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted)

Recommended Anointments: Piercing Shots Heartseeker

(Ring) Rare Ring - Crusader's-influenced Rings offer some of the best mods for Lightning Damage build, it's worth getting one or two of those.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Global Critical Strike Chance Non-channeling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Added Lightning Damage to Spells increased Spell Damage

(Ring) Call of the Brotherhood - Two of these Rings, Hypothermia Support Gem, and Heatshiver Helmet make a great combination - you convert 90% of Lightning Damage to Cold and then gain extra Damage as Fire if they're Chilled enough.

+(12-16)% to Cold and Lightning Resistances +(15-25) to Intelligence (15-25)% increased Lightning Damage (30-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 40% of Lightning Damage Converted to Cold Damage Your spells have 100% chance to Shock against Frozen Enemies

(Ring) Call of the Void - Use it to Chill and Shatter enemies with Lightning Damage only. It also works well against enemies that are Chilled with an increased Chill effect.

+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance All Damage with Hits can Chill All Damage Taken from Hits can Chill you Enemies Chilled by your Hits can be Shattered as though Frozen Enemies Chilled by your Hits lessen their Damage dealt by half of Chill Effect

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - These should provide extra Life and some other various stats.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Dexterity Increases Lightning Damage Increases Critical Strike Multiplier

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - A copy of this Jewel with a Medium-sized ring can be put next to Instability - it allows you to allocate Heart of Thunder and Breath of Lightning - use if you deal Lightning Damage only.

Only affects Passives in Medium Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Glorious Vanity - You can use it instead of Replica Soul Tether to transform one of your Keystones into Corrupted Soul, it has to be a Doryani's Variant.

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

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Grants you a bonus to Life, Energy Shield, and an Aura modifier for some of your Auras - Determination, Wrath, Purity of Elements, or Zealotry.

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

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Most of the Notables are useful, but Snowstorm is excellent as it's just 10% more Damage. Look for general Elemental Damage and Elemental Resistances.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Snowstorm 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Disorienting Display

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Repeater and Streamlined Projectile Notables will increase Cast Speed and Projectile Speed.

1 Added Passive Skill is Repeater 1 Added Passive Skill is Streamlined

(Flask) Bottled Faith - The Critical Stike Chance and Consecrated Ground effect are good in almost every build, including this one.

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

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask of Staunching for Bleed removal Diamond Flask with Immunity to Poison during Flask Effect Mana/Quicksilver Flask with a Suffix for increased Cast Speed Granite Flask with a Suffix for increased Critical Strike Chance or Armour

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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