In this Fourth edition we will be unraveling the mystery behind the SIth Inquisitor. The best way to describe this class is as an anti-palidin or reverse of the Jedi Consular. Not every skill is mirrored with this class yet many of the original ideas with this class being one of the Sith's Main Healers or Off Tanks is consistent with that of the Jedi Consular. As before Alacrity is still an important trait if your going to Tank yet you will be switching out Willpower for Endurance gear. Keep in mind that although you will have off heals as an off tank your main role is to help the Main Tank stay alive by grabbing adds or wrangling the boss while they recuperate, in this, you save your healing for yourself and rarely support the healers if your near wipe.

Now lets gather the core set of abilities that will make up the base of our Theory Crafting discussion here today:

• Saber Strike (Instant; basic melee attack.)
• Shock (Instant; Standard/Weak targets are stunned 3 seconds.)
• Thrash (Instant; Secondary attack hits 3 times.)
• Mark of Power (Instant; Party buff lasts 60 minutes.)
• Force Lightning (Channeled; 3 second DoT.)
• Overload (Instant; AoE knock-back; Standard/Weak targets are Knocked Down for 3 seconds.)
• Whirlwind (Instant; Main 8 second CC; Heals non Player/Standard/Weak targets until finished.)
• Electrocute (Instant; Damaging Stun for 4 seconds.)
• Recklessness (Instant; Increases force critical rate chance for 3 charges.)
• Unbreakable Will (Instant; Free you from incapacitate and CC.)
• Crushing Darkness (Charged 2 seconds; Damage with DoT for 6 seconds.)
• Jolt (Instant; Interrupt with skill block for 4 seconds.)
• Force Slow (Instant; Damage with speed reduction of 50% for 6 seconds.)
• Tumult (Instant; Requires Incapacitated target.)
• Sacrifice (Instant; Sacrifice Ally to near death to heal self 40% your total health.)

Madness

The Sith Inquisitor shares a tree called Madness, which in most cases it is pure madness! After having played this tree for the major portion of my beta testing I found this tree to be an excellent leveling PvP/PvE hybrid. I could easily enter the queue for PvP and quest to my hearts content. A bare Madness tree would look something like this. In considering the tree it is heavy with DoT and periodic damage. The best process to this build is to DoT up the target with your skills then Force Lightning it to death refreshing your DoT's as you go. Force Lightning is also considered a periodic damage so your healing from all the skills in the set.

Assassin

• Lightning Charge (Instant; Weapon Buff; Energy damage.)
• Maul (Instant; Requires behind target.)
• Discharge (Instant; unleashes charge on target: Damage/Effect based on charge type.)
• Guard (Instant; Guards friendly target as long as it is in 15 meters.)
• Dark Charge (Instant; Weapon Buff; Drain life: Internal Damage to target and heals you.)
• Mind Control (Instant; Forces target to attack you for 6 seconds, or do 30% less damage.)
• Mind Trap (Instant; Incapacitate for 60 seconds; Damage breaks; Requires Stealth; Does not affect Droids.)
• Force Cloak (Instant; Exit combat into stealth; Healing reduction 100%.)
• Blackout (Instant; Boost stealth by 15 for 8 seconds.)
• Deflection (Instant; Increases ranged/melee defense by 50% for 15 seconds.)
• Lacerate (Instant; AoE melee attack.)
• Mass Mind Control (Instant; Forces all enemies in 15 meters to attack you for 6 seconds, or do 30% less damage.)
• Assassinate (Instant; Requires target to be at or under 30% health.)
• Force Shroud (Instant; Removes all negative force/tech abilities and increases your resistance to them to 100% for 4 seconds; Does not break stealth.)
• Spike (Instant; Impale target on light-saber; Requires stealth.)
• Overcharge Saber (Instant; Increases effects of Charges for 15 seconds.)

Madness Assassin

The Assassin skill set is a very interesting add for this class, as with stealth and other aggro mitigation you can really pump out the DpS and not really worry if you pull down aggro. I would simply use the combat stealth if my aggro dump did not work as I had hoped. An Assassin Madness tree would look something like this. I grabbed enough to make it a very viable PvP hybrid with the reduction to Unbreakable Will.

Assassin Deception

Most people looking to get into a really ninja build should strongly consider this tree. A great tip for this build is keep the Surging Charge on at all times, the other charges will be useful in a small handful of encounters. Also if you discharge make sure to re apply the charge! The core of the DPS one can output is dependant on the charge being on. Further, it is habit for some inquisitors to get in the ranged combat mode. This tree is better suited for close combat with ranged skills for tackling and getting on top of your opponent. I preferred to use Shock for the runners and melee them down while they were stunned and Force Lightening as a dramatic finisher. An Assassin Deception tree would look something like this.

Assassin Darkness

The next set of skills is the Sith's off tank and just as good as the Republic's Jedi Consular. In this always remember this is a nice off tank class that has great ability to tank a ot of adds/mobs, yet it lacks the overall endurance to take those huge hits most bosses put out. This can be further mitigated by the right gear. I personally recommend working with a dedicated MT and helping to reduce the overall fight matrix by assisting when needed, swapping boss aggro when needed and helping healers prevent full wipes. An Assassin Darkness tree would look something like this.

Sorcerer

• Dark Heal (Charged 1.5 seconds; Quick single target heal.)
• Lightning Strike (Charged 1.5 seconds; elemental damage.)
• Dark Infusion (Charged 3 seconds; Main major heal.)
• Static Barrier (Instant; absorbs a portion of all incoming damage; 15 second debuff to prevent recasting when finished.)
• Affliction (Instant; DoT with 30 meter range.)
• Consumption (Instant; Sacrifice life for energy.)
• Purge (Instant; Remove 2 negative mind/force effects from target.)
• Cloud Mind (Instant; Threat reduction.)
• Force Storm (Channeled 6 seconds; DoT; Knockdown; Slows movement 30% in AoE; Standard/Weak targets stunned for duration.)
• Extraction (Instant; Lowers targets threat, if they are a party member it pulls them to you.)
• Reanimation (Charged 1.5 seconds; Battle Res with a 5 minute lock out for similar/same skill.)

Madness Sorcerer

Some of the core Madness tree was changed to suit the advanced class... pay close attention Force Lightning addicts because this tree allows you to not only spam Force Lightning like candy, yet it also allows you to regain force power and health doing it! The Sorcerer Madness build is one of the neatest eye candy skill sets I have seen so far. I truly enjoyed playing this tree for my questing and moderate team PvP goals as it allowed me to fully immerse myself in the character and story. A Madness Sorcerer tree would look something like this. As you can see I dove deep into the lighting tree to fully support the idea of being a Force Lightning throwing freak of nature.

Sorcerer Lightning

Piecing the Lightning tree together was a real challenge to stay true to the roots of the core class abilities and still maintain its utility. This tree picks up a lot of CC/Tackling power with its abilities to stun, immobilize and even makes whirlwind a force to be reckoned with by having its GCD reduced by 15 seconds and able to affect 2 additional mobs within 8 meters. The whole idea here is caster DPS, with many elements that allow the casts to cascade (AoE) through the mobs you are taking down. Another great way to build this up is to split the Madness and Lightning trees just enough to gain the spamable Force Lighting and support Chain Lightning along with all the snare and CC skills. The fact that you can toss out support heals is just icing on the cake. A Sorcerer Lighting tree would look something like this.

Also a split tree would look something like this.

Polarity shift is a key skill here for its utility is to accelerate casting so you can get out as much DPS as possible over the 10 seconds it is active. The key is to rotate your skills that activate instant casts, assume instant cast and place the triggered skill immediately following the triggering ability. At higher levels it is nearly guaranteed that over 70% of your rotations trigger the active ability and you spike DPS up.

Sorcerer Corruption

This is the Empires Main Healer tree, much like the Jedi Sages build. The Sorcerer Corruption tree allows for single point high heals and diffuse wide spread healing. Again with Main anything full dedication is required to see the fruits of the class for major Operational raid healing. The Sorcerer Corruption tree would look something like this.

Keep in mind that the build is built for healing over all else with some neat utility powers intermixed. I jumped into Lightning to pick up the Lighting Barrier buff so when you bubble someone under stress they take 90% less damage over its duration with increased speed! The key to making this build work well is using the AoE heals to your advantage, in this, do not drop Revivification on someone dieing at the sidelines from some random add. In a case like this you would drop Revivificaton on the Main Tank so you could switch out to Dark Infusion on the Noob. If you find yourself in a high AoE damage area and your worried about taking moderate damage over time you may not be able to heal right away drop one point out of Lightning Barrier and drop it in Sith Defiance to raise your passive damage resistance to 4%.

Again with regards to the content of information we discussed here, please remember that no one build will suit every one at all times. Feel free to play around and find tweaks to the builds that suit personal play styles. I hope that you enjoy your character building process. Thank you all again for reading and I look forward to tackling more here in the near future. If you have any questions about combinations and rotations for class/advanced tree specific builds feel free to comment below and I will answer all questions to the best of my ability or refer you to a more seasoned subject matter expert ;)