Flame of Annihilation - An Inquisitor Guide by Cruro

	Disclaimer
	This guide is still a work in progress and is very much incomplete. I plan to add more infos over the upcoming days and weeks. Always double-check any info you find here with others from the community. Especially #acolyte in muhro-discord

Prologue

ToDo:

more basic description/explanations
generally more images/gifs/showcases

Strengths	Weaknesses
Fastest movement in the game with Snap Active and engaging gameplay that can feel satisfying to use Very fast and decently strong farmer with self-targeted AOE (Explosion Blaster) Very strong, AP-dependant, melee, big damage number nuke (Third Flame Bomb) Hybrid build can cover weaknesses of respective other build Third Flame Bomb build has very high sustain in endgame maps due to scaling with health	Very expensive to gear if you want to utilize both builds Far from a one-button class -> can be tiring in long farming sessions Third Flame Bomb gets countered by reflect, NPC_AGIUP, or simply dying (loss of AP) Third Flame Bomb can be mechanically tricky to use consistently Getting dispelled stops any momentum - regardless of your build - until you rebuff

Beginner Chapter: Basic Techniques

ToDo:

stats/traits
describe general utility skills

Sphere Management

While other classes may have consumables like arrows or gemstones, Monk class uses a sphere-system that needs to be managed like a resource in order to be able to use certain skills or at least to use them at their full strength.

This used to be a limiting factor during Monk-era with skills like Investigate, Finger Offensive and most notoriously Asura Strike, but it also carried on into Sura-era with skills like Tiger Cannon and Gate of Hell.

Those skills could only be used as long as you still have the needed amount of spheres (varies by skill). With insufficient spheres, they can be re-called using either Call Spirits, or more likely its successor Dangerous Soul Collect (Zen) which will refill the maximum amount of spheres instantly.

Another important skill to mention here is the bread and butter Body Relocation which normally also consumes spheres, unless you're in "Explosion Spirits"-state (usually by using Rising Dragon, or if it's currently in cooldown, alternatively Explosion Spirits).

For that reason alone, the "Explosion Spirit"-state should be kept up at all times.

The original maximum spheres used to be 5 spheres, at least until you're Sura and have access to Lv10 Rising Dragon which will bump the limit to 15 Spheres.

One very useful trick to maintain your SP is by occasionally using Power Absorb to consume all 15 spheres, and in return grant an immediate 15% SP back.

With these things out of the way, sphere-management has been simplified a lot as Inquisitor. Neither of the main damage skill consume spheres at all, however Third Flame Bomb will scale its damage based on the amount of spheres currently active. So it's highly recommended to use Dangerous Soul Collect (Zen) or Rising Dragon whenever spheres might have been consumed (as Inquisitor that's usually just by Gentle-Touch buffs or Power Absorb).

On top of that, the Inquisitor-specific AP-consuming buffs even remove sphere consumption on most Sura skills (that we tend to not use anymore at this point though).

Intermediate Chapter: Explosion Blaster

Explosion Blaster is a 9x9 AOE based on ranged dmg and crit.

It is highly recommended to build for Aftercastdelay-reduction (ACDR), even far beyond the point needed to reduce the 1s ACD to match its 0.7s CD.

While the former would only require 30% ACDR, getting 50% and higher will allow you to snap away to the next target noticably faster.

ToDo:

Relevant self-buffs
Crit-shield and aftercastdelay reduction
Shadow gears/costume stones
stats/traits

Regular Gears

Slot	Items	Cards	Notes
Headgear (Top)	+12 Temporal Circlet (Sura) [1] (19481) Acute Lv5 (29085) Temporal Jewel (LUK) Lv 3 (29689)	Limacina Card (300363)	It's important to get the luk jewel lv3 correctly first as it cannot be rerolled or receive an determined enchant
Headgear (Mid)	Gambler's Seal [1] (410233) Range%, Crit%, or ACDR enchants Sealed Chain [1] (410094) New Wave Sunglasses (18813)	Isaac Wigner Card (27396) Sealed Kiel Card (4480) [MVP] Kiel Card (4403)	Any other mid headgear with ACDR-enchant can also be useful here
Headgear (Low)	Ace of Diamonds in Mouth (Ranged Physical) (420220) Blood Sucker (18754)	-	Blood sucker helps a lot with sustain, and would be the prefered choice for farming when a minor damage-loss is usually acceptable
Armor	+11/12 [A] Engraved Ice Storm Rune Suit [1] (450283) +11/12 [A] Engraved Corruption Poison Rune Cloth [1] (450285)	Observation Card (4392) Heart Hunter AT Card (300381)	-
Weapon	+12 [A] Dim Glacier Knuckle [1] (560037) Glacier Flower Spell (Explosion Blaster) (311306) Glacier Flower Spell (Explosion Blaster) (311306) Glacier Flower Spell (Physical Grade) Lv5 (311453)	White Knight Card (4608)	-
Shield	+12 [A] Mad Bunny-LT [1] (460020) After Cast Delay Lv.3 (310853) +11 Illusion Silver Guard [1] (460018) Rune of Strength Lv2 (4995) Rune of Strength Lv2 (4995)	Khalitzburg Knight Card (4609)	-
Garment	+12 [A] Pirate Captain's Coat [1] (480174)	Empathize Card (300270) Crux Findel Card (300426)	Empathize Card is mandatory when using Observation Card in Armor
Shoes	+12 [A] Ice Rune Boots [1] (470175)	Entangled Intermediate Rgan Card (300380)	-
Accessories	Soul Magic Ring [1] (490305) Soul Rune Ring [1] (490302) Gray Wolf Ring [1] (490107)	Void Mimic Card (300278)	At least 1xGW Ring with +30 Cri can help a lot when using hybrid TFB/EB build which lacks natural cri.

Shadow Gears and Costume Stones

Slot	Item	Notes
Headgear (Top)	Assassin Cross Stone II (Top) (1000222)	-
Headgear (Mid)	Critical Stone (25060)	-
Headgear (Low)	Guillotine Cross Stone (Low) (1000976)	-
Armor	+10 Maximum Mammoth Shadow Armor (24679)	-
Weapon	+10 Infinity Shadow Weapon (24386)	-
Shield	+9/10 Separate Reload Shadow Shield (24746)	-
Garment	Guillotine Cross Stone II (Garment) (1000221) and Critical Stone (Dual) (1000855)	-
Shoes	+10 Maximum Mammoth Shadow Shoes (24680)	-
Accessories	+9/10 Full Penetration Shadow Earring (24661) and +9/10 Full Penetration Shadow Pendant (24662)	-

Buffs and Consumables

Gentle Touch-Change (Sura): Minor attack (flat and percentage) boost
Powerful Faith (Inquisitor): Nice +15 P.Atk for free

Awakening Potion (656) / Infinite Awakening Potion (12885)
Red Herb Activator (100232)
Abrasive (14536)

The Final Chapter: Third Flame Bomb

Third Flame Bomb is a three-step combo that ends in a 9x9 AOE finisher based on melee dmg and your total health.

With the recent rebalance update, ACDR is not a lost stat anymore and I would recommend going for roughly 40%+ ACDR to be able to still perform the full combo within 1s.

Additionally getting 190~193 aspd will be also necessary for a fluid combo.

ToDo:

Relevant self-buffs
Brand mechanic
Shadow gears/costume stones
stats/traits

Regular Gears

Slot	Items	Cards	Notes
Headgear (Top)	+11/12 [A] Crown of Beelzebub [1] (400110)	Melted Poring Card (300174)	-
Headgear (Mid)	Gambler's Seal [1] (410233) Melee% or HP% enchants	Melted Poring Card (300174)	Alternatively any mid-headgear with hp% enchants
Headgear (Low)	Ace of Hearts in Mouth (Melee Physical) (420210) Blood Sucker (18754)	-	Blood Sucker is especially strong on TFB build - extremely high sustain
Armor	+12 [A] Engraved Flame Earth Rune Armor [1] (450282) +12 [A] Nebula Armor of Power [1] (450169) Star Cluster of Power Lv.3 (310676) Nebula of Health Lv.3 (310744) VIT+5 (4744)	Two Eyes Dollocaris Card (300376) Shelter Card (4393) Sealed Tao Gunka Card (4493) [MVP] Tao Gunka Card (4302)	Use Two Eyes Dollocaris Card only if armor is +12, otherwise Shelter Card unless you have these MVP cards
Weapon	+12 [A] Dim Glacier Knuckle [1] (560037) Glacier Flower Spell (Extermination) (311305) Glacier Flower Spell (Extermination) (311305) Glacier Flower Spell (Physical Grade) Lv5 (311453)	Polluted Wander Man Card (27361) Punch Bug Card (300446)	With my current setup I found Wanderer Card to be about 0.5% stronger, but Punch Bug also works against small monsters
Shield	+11 Illusion Guard [1] (460017) Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010) Rune of Vitality Lv2 (29010)	Mushy Ant Egg Card (300235)	-
Garment	+11 [A] Glade Rune Manteau [1] (480231)	Catherine Gaebolg Card (300422) Happy Card (300271) [MVP] Sura Chen Card (4672)	Happy Card is required when using Shelter Card in Armor
Shoes	+11 [C] Boots of Unknown Life [1] (470073)	Green Ferus Card (4381) [MVP] Venom Chimera Card (27150)	The boots proc often (especially when mobbing) and roughly double the damage of TFB
Accessories	Venom Rune Ring [1] (490303) Venom Magic Ring [1] (490306)	Broken Beta Guards Card (300076)	-

Shadow Gears and Costume Stones

Slot	Item	Notes
Headgear (Top)	Melee Stone (Top) (1000377)	-
Headgear (Mid)	Melee Stone (1000378)	-
Headgear (Low)	Melee Stone (Low) (1000379)	-
Armor	+10 Maximum Mammoth Shadow Armor (24679)	-
Weapon	+10 Infinity Shadow Weapon (24386)	-
Shield	+9/10 Separate Reload Shadow Shield (24746) +10 Durable Shadow Shield (24735)	Durable Shadow Shield is stronger, but Reload helps with the recently added 0.7s ACD in TFB
Garment	Melee Physical Attack Stone (Garment) (1001053) and Melee Stone (Dual) (1000524)	-
Shoes	+10 Maximum Mammoth Shadow Shoes (24680)	-
Accessories	+9/10 Full Penetration Shadow Earring (24661) and +9/10 Full Penetration Shadow Pendant (24662)	-

Note: I believe Infinity Shadow Weapon is necessary since we use Knuckles (100/100/75 size-mods), but was told that the partial RES-pierce of fully enchanted Master Shadow Set does outperform blue shadow gears in most endgame-places.

However, since I don't have a concrete number-comparison I'm partial to blue shadow gears for its flexibility to swap pieces as needed.

Buffs and Consumables

Gentle Touch-Revitalize (Sura): Another +10% maxhp.
Firm Faith or Powerful Faith (Inquisitor): Firm Faith will win in the end when you have high hp% amounts from gear, but Powerful Faith is usually better during early/mid game.