The Interesting Inquisitor

Ten Ton Hammer's Guide to the Inquisitor

Inquisitors are the evil clerics of Norrath. As sworn followers to a higher power, they gain their mighty powers from the Gods in which they fight for. This class is the evil equivalent of the Templars, so if you wish to play in Freeport, Neriak or Gorowyn, this is the cleric you will have to choose!

Below we will delve into some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Inquisitor, answered by Savanja of Ten Ton Hammer, and our guest Inquisitor Zenshi of Najena!

Why choose to play an Inquisitor?

Firstly, it takes a particular kind of player that chooses to play a healer. To be good at your class you need to be always aware and always ready to act. Its less button punching, and more watching and waiting to be needed. But there are huge bonuses to be a healer as well. Healers, particularly the clerics, are always desired and needed in groups and on raids, so you'll never have trouble finding a place to play. Along with that, you always get the glory of a job well done when your group manages to make it through with few or no deaths. This is why people become doctors! To save your fellow man.

What race is best for an Inquisitor?

I just cannot say it enough, choose the race you will be happy to look at!! But since I know there are those who don't care so much about race esthetics, you will need to be an evil or neutral race to start. Because wisdom is the main stat for priests, the dark elf, gnome, erudite, iksar, and arasai all exceed average in this particular stat. Take some time to review the race choices, and racial traditions before making your choice.

Zenshi: Most inq seem to be Dark Elves.
But definitely play what toon you find the most fitting.
Stats really will not matter by mid/late/end game and they are a fleeting benefit at best.

Can Inquisitors solo?

All classes can solo once a player knows and understands how their class play. For the novice though, it is true, some classes will solo better than others. If you are looking for a class that does amazing things while solo, with little effort involved, I don't believe the Inquisitor is right for this. Soloing takes knowledge and patience with this class!

I should note that soloing an Inquisitor has gotten a bit easier with good achievement ability choices, but it takes a while into the game to reap those benefits.

Zenshi: Yes, but to be really good at soloing you need the best gear/spells you can afford.

I usually solo 1-20ish on my alts fore even looking for a group.
I then grab a 70 (usually my inq) and mentor down and do the Splitpaw Saga adventure pack until I get the "Return to Splitpaw" shard and the lv25 expansion spell.
When I'm at 30-32 I grab my Inq and do the Bloodline Chronicles adventure pack. You get some nice rewards from the quests.

Don't think that because you're a healer you can't solo. Go in with the mind set that you CAN win. It really helps! Generally to be able to solo heroics at your own level you'll need Master spells and Fabled gear. So try heroics below your level first.
I find it much easier to kill a 69^^^ than a 70^^^. It's amazing how much that 1 level can make in the mob's difficulty.

What sort of equipment will I need?

The clerics have the handy ability to don heavy armor, so the Inquisitors will wear plate. Since healers tend to be thin skinned, this is a very nice thing to have for those times when the mobs decide they don't like your work. Because Inquisitors are priests, you will want to make an effort to seek out plate armor with WIS bonuses. Unless you are a soloer, you should likely always take stats over mitigation because the ability for the healer to throw out spells quickly, without interruption, is important in a group! Aside for the main stat of wisdom, you'll also want to take care with intelligence as a secondary stat. I'd suggest working on that one when you can, but let wisdom be your main focus.

Zenshi: Collection items are great, try the Mystical Orb of the Invoker and Orb of Agility.

Are healers required to add DPS to a group?

I've heard this argued frequently. Some believe that healers are there to just heal, and that is IT! Others feel that between healing, they should toss out a few damage spells to help things along.

My own thoughts on this are a combo of both. There will be times as a healer, in which you will need to be focused on just healing. New or challenging zones or inexperienced tanks are good examples of this. You don't want to be the guy everyone blames for dying, so if your group is struggling a bit, then it is best to forget damage and focus entirely on keeping your comrades alive, and possibly casting off debuffs.

However, if you are working with familiar group in a familiar area and everything is going smoothly, there really isn't any reason why you shouldn't feel okay about throwing out a smite or two. I would always caution to watch your power because if the unexpected happens, additional mobs come flying out of nowhere, then you want enough juice left over to be able to be the hero.

What do I need to know about Achievements for an Inquisitor?

Zenshi: For best Achievement Point gain - Do every quest you can and kill every named you can find. If you're open to game add-ons, there are some good ones out there such as EQ2Maps that help a lot in tracking down quests and named.
If you've got a quest that has turned gray, ask in /ooc if there is someone you can mentor down to turn the quest at least green so that you may get the achievement experience for it.
If gaining achievement experience is a big deal for you, you can always level lock to make sure that the quests you are working on do not gray out, but generally that isn't necessary.
I recently leveled my Illusionist from 20-70 in about 2 Months. I never had to resort to level locking and still had all 100 of my achievement points about 12hrs before dinging level 70.

For achievement lines I recommend the Battle Cleric line for the Inquisitor tree.
Battle Cleric will greatly reduce the Miss! you'll see in combat. Then for the Cleric Tree, go for the Intelligence line.

Which quests should I do?

Zenshi: All the Lore and Legend quests. These give great experience plus give you a ranged attack that can be used on certain mobs.

Strange Black Rock for the neck item. Stiletto's Orders for the manastone. The Journey is Half the Fun for the run speed increase. The Teachings of Yoru for the haste item. By Hook or By.. for the great weapon reward. And The Screaming Mace. Be sure to grab the Lore and Legend Quests of any of the mobs you will be spending time on with these.

Thanks so much to Zenshi for sharing his thoughts on the Inquisitor!!