[3.10] Bashtart's SPARK INQUISITOR * farming like a god! :)

I to was thinking on playing this build in new league.

I started this build for this league, but im having trouble with the new tower defense mechanic.
Especially when theres more than 2 lane going to the core.

Any tips? or would better gear fix this issue?

"

Tzzidar wrote:

I started this build for this league, but im having trouble with the new tower defense mechanic.
Especially when theres more than 2 lane going to the core.

Any tips? or would better gear fix this issue?

A few things should help make the game feel smoother for you here. I'm going to say everything assuming you are at maps right now, but at your level it's possible you aren't yet. Also forgive the length, I'm a bit long-winded but it should encompass a lot of your problems.

First something I noticed was that the tower defense mechanic is very frequently resistant to elemental damage, if not always. This problem goes away once we finish all of the labyrinths because we just penetrate 100% of resists on a critical strike and it makes the league mechanic feel significantly better. Second is that you are already using the "hazardous research" jewel for spark. This jewel is fairly decent for making clearing a slight bit faster, but it is a straight decrease in dps most of the time, especially when you are standing still such as during a blight encounter. I would consider taking it out, this will let you aim down the lanes where there are most monsters and focus your damage better where it needs to be. Something I also like is aiming to upgrade the green "improvement" tower to tier 4 for the buff to ourselves as it makes you attack much faster, then using towers to slow the enemy mostly.

Next is your gear for sure. The only pieces of equipment you should look to keep here are your call of the brotherhood and your weapon which are basically ideal for your level. Especially your gloves, boots and ring which gives basically no life or resistances combined. Which reminds me you need to cap your resistances, when you are even just close at 68% like you are you take about 33% more damage than at 75%. You need to aim for some really decent gear as this build tries to squeeze in 4-6 unique items that give a combined 0% resistances. Start with what you can and slowly upgrade using stuff you find, try identifying every single ring you drop I usually find a very nice one after a little while, and when you can drop another piece for one of the listed unique items. Flasks as well, you are using a level 36 flask as your primary heal. Get that divine flask instant healing/ remove bleeding ASAP it will help you feel more tanky. Lastly if you can change the headgear out, not being able to shock is just -damage for this build, it's only there for the resistances and you already freeze things with call of the brotherhood.

Lastly your gem links. You should try leveling your other gems in your offhand slots (the I / II tab above the weapons or by pressing "X") because I can't actually tell what you are trying to use right now. For auras do herald of ice/wrath probably as those 2 together will feel the best until enlighten becomes available, and it's probably low on your priorities. Next if you stick with a 4 link it should be spark - spell echo - pierce - added lightning or controlled destruction. Pierce especially will make the blight mechanic more doable because your spark will hit more than just the first enemy in the line. Consider buying a 5link until you can afford a 6-link or a tabula, 5-link body armours are going for 1fusing to 1 chaos which im sure you can afford and gives you the ability to throw in either energy shield leech or added lightning/controlled destruction whichever you didn't use above. Lightning spire trap is fine, throw it in a piece of gear that isn't your body so you can use the 5-link. Get 3 blue sockets in your weapon and use flame dash - faster casting - arcane surge (remember the added lightning there will either go into your spark links or your offhand weapons to level up). Consider your shield being 2 blue 1 green for storm brand - power charge on critical - onslaught, you can then just drop a storm brand every so often to get a nice dps buff. Move your unused auras into offhand and that extra spark link you have should go there as well. Finally try and get a cast while damage taken setup as shown in the build going (only use 1 for now) so you take less savage hits in a row.

Thanks for reading and good luck.

@Raiito

Thanks for the help! I'm actually not even done story yet haha.
But what you said help. I was in need of some guidance for sure. I'm going to Finish the story and start going through your advice.

In terms of unique priority. any tip on that?

Thanks again

Update:

So I took your advice and now I'm definitely feeling a lot stronger. My damage is great now. The only time i have issue is when the blight boss have elemental resistance and I'm just tickling him. Outside of that my damage seem to be great.

"

Tzzidar wrote:

@Raiito

Thanks for the help! I'm actually not even done story yet haha.
But what you said help. I was in need of some guidance for sure. I'm going to Finish the story and start going through your advice.

In terms of unique priority. any tip on that?

Thanks again

Update:

So I took your advice and now I'm definitely feeling a lot stronger. My damage is great now. The only time i have issue is when the blight boss have elemental resistance and I'm just tickling him. Outside of that my damage seem to be great.

Sorry for the response delay here. Glad to hear it's feeling better!

No real priority for uniques atm for you it seems. Focus on getting a few better rare items! If you can, put as much effort into getting a ring and amulet with as many resists and life as possible. If you find one of those pieces with 30%+ in each type of resists then you will be able to start swapping in some big power items without worrying about your resistances. Things to work on after that are probably voidwalker boots which give you 5 addition pierce which makes your clear feel 100 times better and gives much needed dexterity, and then you can save some currency and buy a helmet with "spark fires 3 additional projectiles" enchantment. Since so few people are playing spark right now they are very cheap with some decent ones going for only 10c.

Also some of the unique blight bosses are crazy tanky and I also have to sit there and unload on them for quite a while to bring them down. Best bet is to hope they spawn as far from the pump as possible xD

Good luck!

"

Tzzidar wrote:

I started this build for this league, but im having trouble with the new tower defense mechanic.
Especially when theres more than 2 lane going to the core.

Any tips? or would better gear fix this issue?

Just on this, I played this build a couple of leagues ago and wanted to give it another run however this time, due to the TD mechanic went with Storm Call instead of Spark. I am still levelling up (83 atm) but being able to target choke points etc with storm call (and use Vaal Storm Call as an 'oh shit' button when things get rough) works really well this league.

Obviously a few tweaks are required to the tree (mainly just swap out the projectile nodes for AoE) and links to SC (eg. slot in Reduced Duration) but generally I am loving it. General clear speed isn't too bad either, it's just a different type of gameplay to get used to.

If you are interested I can share the (slightly) modified tree etc.

Is this build going to be viable in 3.9 still ? Looking for a great starter

"

maskyro wrote:

Is this build going to be viable in 3.9 still ? Looking for a great starter

The build should be still viable and strong... Even got a little buff because the chill and freeze mechanics got changed but I am not sure if you want to go with this in a boss league :)

Hi.
thanks for the guide. I am trying it out in the 3.9 league.

On the leveling guide:

a.) I can´t seem to find pierce from any of the vendors or am I missing something? I assume I must get it via trade?

b.) Do you have any tips for level 21 - 40 ?


And overall thank you.
Btw. my character is just at level 6 and I am using raise zombies as a meat shield for the moment, which seems to work quite well. I understand it takes a while before getting to the freezing sparks.

Hey man, I'm MrGodma on YouTube. Sorry about that, I didn't mean to put you in a time crunch. I just saw that the last update by your name was 3.7. I know spells haven't changed much per say however, projectiles have received a buff of sorts in the recent patches. My first attempt at a spark build was when I started playing on 3.6 because I'm on a ps4 :P so I wanted to give this clear speed and skill another try and yours was the most intriguing! Thank you again for your content and influence, appreciate it and look forward to the new monster you create here!