Alchemist Inquisitor Questions

[ThomasHunter]

Hello fellow adventurers!

I am hoping to build a pure alchemist that uses a healthy dose of Inquisitive.

What ranged feats are needed? Can I take any metamagic feats? Shoot, what Race works well??? Seems like tossing some AOE would be worthwhile. My toon has 2 PL's of Druid and PL of Bard so no real casting help. Here's what I am thinking initially:

1- Point Blank Shot
3- Rapid Reload
6- Rapid Shot
9- Precise Shot
12- IC: Ranged
15 ???
18 ??? I suppose this should be IPS, but I was never great at lining up monsters, so maybe sticking with the new Archer's Focus is better?

Thanks!
Taleisin

[HungarianRhapsody]

Do you want to kill one enemy at a time or do you want to kill multiple enemies simultaneously at nearly the same speed that you would have killed one? Even with the nerfs, IPS is a must have unless you are only pulling and killing one enemy at a time. Which none of us are doing outside of VERY specialized circumstances.

Also, the one feat you forgot was Precision. Must have for both the To Hit and for the Fortification bypass

[djebarn]

Hello fellow adventurers!

I am hoping to build a pure alchemist that uses a healthy dose of Inquisitive.

What ranged feats are needed? Can I take any metamagic feats? Shoot, what Race works well??? Seems like tossing some AOE would be worthwhile. My toon has 2 PL's of Druid and PL of Bard so no real casting help. Here's what I am thinking initially:

1- Point Blank Shot
3- Rapid Reload
6- Rapid Shot
9- Precise Shot
12- IC: Ranged
15 ???
18 ??? I suppose this should be IPS, but I was never great at lining up monsters, so maybe sticking with the new Archer's Focus is better?

Thanks!
Taleisin

Currently I am running a halfling and use pbs, precise shot, quick draw, rapid reload, rapid shot. Quick shot because you are switching weapons still. Level 18 and can solo most stuff right now. Key is dexterity and picking the evasion you get. Tier 5 is inquisition and am debating on any more alchemist or put into halfling or what at this point. I am sure there are better combos out there but this works well. Panacea is broke right now so no healing there. Be sure to max out sp as much as possible. Observation gives fortification bypass as well so not really a big deal. Just need a great crossbow, I use the diplomancer level 15 from the anniversary party underway yet.

[Kulothar]

A thought on IPS which helped me was to hotkey a key for target furthest target. It keeps retargeting the one in the back when they change places.

[unbongwah]

The ranged feats you will want on any crossbow build: Rapid Reload, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot (optional), Precise Shot, Precision, Improved Critical, Improved Precise Shot, Overwhelming Critical, Combat Archery. If you splashed Artificer 2 you'd get Rapid Reload free plus open up trap skills and be able to equip a Runearm.

Alchemist / Inquisitives are currently in vogue because light and heavy crossbows are simple weapons, so they benefit from Vile Chemist bonuses and work with Battalion Brew (INT to hit and damage with simple weapons). Which lets you run e.g. 41 Inquisitive / 31 Vile Chemist / 8 Harper. Or for something more balanced, shift APs from VC into Apothecary for SLAs like Curative Admixtures and Panacea.

As for race: drow or gnome seem the obvious choices. Drow get +DEX/INT and Arcane Fluidity (Alchemists have ASF); gnome can add Color Spray SLA or light crossbow bonuses.

[SocratesBastardSon]

Plus gnomes are short. Tall is bad if you're using IPS.

[Torkzed]

Plus gnomes are short. Tall is bad if you're using IPS.

At one time (shortly after gnome came out, I believe), I was told that gnomes don't benefit from being short in the same way that halflings do. There was something about bolts originating from the gnome's forehead. I could be misremembering the details, or maybe it got fixed and I didnt notice the fix.

Can anyone confirm that gnomes work the same as halflings with ranged weapons?

[SocratesBastardSon]

At one time (shortly after gnome came out, I believe), I was told that gnomes don't benefit from being short in the same way that halflings do. There was something about bolts originating from the gnome's forehead. I could be misremembering the details, or maybe it got fixed and I didnt notice the fix.

Can anyone confirm that gnomes work the same as halflings with ranged weapons?

Sorry, can't confirm or deny. But I did a quick search of the forum and came up with two views:

• Deep Gnome Bugs (4/17) - Is this quote the one you're looking for?
• Complaint About Gnomes (1/20) - Reports of the problem are still being repeated
• Human or Deep Gnome for Mech Rogue? (4/16) - experienced player who liked their height

Without going deeper into the topic these fall into the "anecdote" category for me, although I don't know how you would test it.

Still, I think we can agree that Dragonborn and Aasimar are probably not good choices for IPS.

[Zarkarion]

A thought on IPS which helped me was to hotkey a key for target furthest target. It keeps retargeting the one in the back when they change places.

I am 100% sure that IPS in fact shoots though the targetted mob and hits ones behind - provided that the trajectory passes through them.

The only reason it may seem not to is if your character is significantly taller than the enemy mobs, in which case the trajectory will hit the ground before it goes through the mobs at the back.

If you are playing a short race like gnome or halfling it isn't really necessary to target the unit at the back because the trajectory will be more horizontal and hence hit the mobs at the back anyway rather than hitting the ground. I am aware of the issue of bolts coming from the level of the gnome forehead, but in my experience of playing lots of gnomes (and no halflings as yet) gnomes work very well for IPS without bothering to attempt to target the rearmost mob. It might well be that if they shot from any lower, some of the trajectories would sometimes go over the heads of the rear mobs.

Taller races will shoot though multiple mobs without targetting the rearmost if shooting at a bunch of mobs that are far away, as, once again, the trajectory is more horizontal. You can confirm this in Lords of Dust if you shoot at the bunch of mobs that start at the far end of the corridor after the door that is locked until you have cleared the entrance area. With my (female) shadar-kai inquisitive, they all go down together with IPS when using autotargetting. (I spend a lot of time in Lords of Dust farming crafting ingredients).

As you say, the situation gets worse with very tall races like Dragonborn or Aasimar.

Question: Are female toons shorter than male toons of the same race? If so, then that would be another way to optimise IPS.