Rift Cleric 61 Inquisitor Guide

Rift Cleric 61 Inquisitor Guide by Ahov

61 Inquisitor/10 Cabalist/5 Defiler is the top ranged dps spec for clerics.

In this thread I may shorten ability names.
BoR = Bolt of Retribution
SH = Sanction Heretic
S = Scourge
V = Vex
NR = Nysyr’s Rebuke
DW = Dark Water
BoJ = Bolt of Judgment
BoD = Bolt of Depravity

Active Buffs

Inquisitor: Armor of Awakening, Spiritual Scrutiny, Shroud of Agony, Perseverance
Defiler: Rage Blight, Blighted Greed (applied on defiler; if no defiler, apply on tank)

Macros

SH/BoR

#show Sanction Heretic
suppressmacrofailures
cast Sanction Heretic
cast bolt of retribution
cast bolt of judgment
cast marrow harvest

Cooldown BoD

#show Fanaticism
suppressmacrofailures
cast fanaticism
cast bolt of depravity

Other skills to have on your bar

Inquisitor: Scourge, Vex, Soul Drain, Bolt of Judgment, Confound, Purge, Radical Coalescence, Judicial Privilege, Bolt of Depravity, Circle of Oblivion, Bolt of Retribution

Cabalist: Dark Water, Bound Fate, Tyranny of Death, Curse of Discord

What’s new with 2.3 Hotfix #13?

The Inquisitor rotation has fundamentally changed. Within the spec itself, Spiritual Scrutiny now changes our GCD to one second, making BoJ our primary bolt. However, using an insta-cast BoD now grants two stacks of Echoing Concord, allowing for fast-cast BoRs, where they will be prioritized over BoJ. Finally, the Cabalist dot Dark Water has been buffed, stacking to three times. It is different from our other dots; you cannot allow it to fall off or you will need to build it back to three stacks.

I have a video demonstration of the new 61 Inquisitor rotation here.

Non-cooldown Priorities

1. Dark Water refresh
2. Scourge
3. Vex
4. Bolt of Depravity (5 stacks Life & Death Concord)
5. Sanction Heretic
6. Bolt of Retribution (Echoing Concord buff active)
7. Bolt of Judgment

Opener + Cooldown Block

My common opener is S>V>DW>SH>DW>BoJ>DW>BoJ>BoJ>BoJ

At this point you will have 5 stacks Life & Death Concord, allowing you to use a BoD. If Flaring Power is active early or will be delayed for a while, continue into this cooldown block: {Fanaticism}BoD>NR>BoR>S>V>BoD>DW>{Radical Coalescence}{Fanaticism}BoD>NR>SH>BoD>BoR>BoR>BoR> DW>BoR>BoR>S>V>BoD.

The cooldown block will change due to movement, target switching, purging and other disruptions in a regular rotation. What’s important is A) making sure DW + other dots don’t fall off mid-channel of Nysyr’s Rebuke, B) using up your Echoing Concord stacks on Bolt of Retribution but still using BoD as priority, and C) Fanaticism only ever used on a BoD directly prior to a Nysyr’s Rebuke. Force-critting a BoD procs Zealotry, allowing your next ability to gain 30% crit chance bonus. This is why Fanaticism is not used directly on Nysyr’s Rebuke.

Other skill explanations

Soul Drain: This is a very efficient aoe skill. It does not subtract much from your ST dps provided there are multiple targets.

Judicial Privilege: This is a very nice runspeed increase which also heals you when you are hit. At your discretion you can reserve it for particular mechanics where runspeed is helpful, or you may reserve it for when multiple healers are dead and the goal is to survive as long as possible.

Harsh Discipline: Damaging channel which also self-heals. If Judicial Privilege is down and your healers are dead, use this to survive a tiny bit longer.

Confound: ranged Interrupt, but not as easy as a melee interrupt since a lot of the time you will be in the middle of a BoR cast.

Bound Fate: spammable, instant aoe ability. This is a drastic ST loss and I don’t recommend using on actual encounters very much.

Tyranny of Death: better aoe damage than Bound Fate, but delayed.

Marrow Harvest: located in your SH/BoR macro, this will fire off when facing away from the target.

Curse of Discord: in an edge case where your BoD + Nysyr’s are ready but Scourge/vex will fall off after 1 GCD, you should use Curse of Discord instead of another BoJ.

Miscellaneous

Make sure you are treating your dots appropriately. Allow Scourge and Vex to completely drop from your target, but make sure Dark Water is maintained at 3x stacks. The ability has a slight travel time, so being in melee means you can technically refresh at 0s, but being 30m away and you must refresh at 1-2s. When Scourge, Vex and Dark Water have similar timers you should opt to refresh DW a bit early. This way you don’t end up needing to Scourge>DW>Vex as the timer on DW creeps dangerously close to your other timers.

Make sure you have BoR on its own key for when SH has already been applied to the target and you’ve used Radical Coalescence. It’s more dps to dump some BoRs than re-apply SH.

If your current encounter is melee-friendly, consider standing in melee. Shroud of Agony + auto attack is some nice passive dps. However, if it’s “too” melee friendly, you should consider learning/running 61 Shaman. The dps gain is noticeable.

In terms of itemization, you should prioritize CP gear over SP gear of the same tier. Crit-rate in this build can be 50%+.

When using crit pots, save it for direcrtly after your cooldown BoD. It’s a force-crit and therefore gains no bonus from a crit potion.

This build is sufficient for most solo needs. Scourge up your targets, Soul Drain, pop Judicial Privilege when you need healing or runspeed.