Intro & build description
The Poet’s Pen was introduced in the game with 3.1 expansion and ever since it has been very strong and sought after unique wand because of its power. If you miss old days when Cast on Crit was the king or, even better, if you haven’t experienced it – The Poet’s Pen wands imitate gameplay as close as it gets. If running through maps and melting bosses is something you enjoy, give Poet’s Pen Inquisitor a shot.
Build Pros
- Very fast clear speed
- Satisfying gameplay
- Very tanky
- Insane single target damage
- Scales very well with currency invested
Build Cons
- Kaom's Heart is expensive
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Leveling [31p] Leveling [60p] Leveling [87p] Full BuildBandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Help Alira |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Righteous Providence |
Labyrinth 2 | Inevitable Judgement |
Labyrinth 3 | Instruments of Virtue |
Endgame Labyrinth | Augury of Penitence |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Vaal Haste
Increased Duration
Body Armor
Gloves
Anger
Herald of Ice
Enlighten Support
Summon Ice Golem
Boots
Frenzy
Faster Attacks Support
Culling Strike Support
Power Charge on Critical Support
2h Weapon
None
1h Weapon
Volatile Dead
Increased Critical Strikes Support
Concentrated Effect Support
Offhand weapon / shield
Unearth
Greater Multiple Projectiles Support
Cremation
Build uniques / Example rare gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.tradeHelmet
LightpoacherAny rare helmet with life and resistances will do just fine till you can afford Lightpoacher.
Body Armour
Kaom's HeartBest in slot chest piece for the build. Use any rare chest with life and elemental resistances till you find/buy Kaom’s.
Gloves
Rare GlovesPair of gloves with life and elemental resistances. Fingerless Silk Gloves are the best base, ideally you want to craft gloves with Essence of Insanity for more attack speed and smoother gameplay.
Boots
Darkray VectorsDarkray Vectors with extra frenzy charge corruption would be best in slot for boots. Grab a pair of regular ones and work on that corruption later since it won’t affect you that much.
Left Ring
Rare Shaper's RingBuy or craft ring with Shaper’s mod ”Curse enemies with assassin’s mark on hit”. Life and elemental resistances as well,m if possible.
Right Ring
Rare RingFire damage, maximum life, elemental resistances. Opal Ring or Diamond Ring would be the best base to craft on.
Amulet
Rare AmuletMaximum life, global critical strike multiplier, elemental resistances and fire/spell damage.
Belt
Stygian Vise or Leather BeltUse Leather Belt till you get Stygian Vise. Look for 80+ life and at least 70 total elemental resistances.
1Hand Weapon
The Poet's PenJewel
Rare JewelsStats on rare Abyss jewels:
- Fire damage to spells
- Fire damage to spells while dual wielding
- Global critical strike multiplier
- Maximum life
Flask
FlasksFlasks:
- Ample Diamond Flask of Staunching
- Experimenter’s Sulphur Flask of Heat
- Atziri’s Promise
- Experimenter’s Stibnite Flask of Warding
- Alchemist’s Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
No movement skill?(
What ability should i use to lvl?
Firestorm works very well, skill is given as quest reward right before Merveil. If you don’t enjoy firestorm, from level 28 onwards you can level up with Flameblast.
Hi,
what about Pantheon? Which souls should i choose?
Whichever you need for the given situation.
is this a good league starter? poets pen seems to be semi expensive sitting at 20c right now
Well, the tree is generic spellcaster tree, it will work without poet’s pen just fine, as well as it will work just as fine once you equip 2x poet’s pens and socket gems into them. Keep in mind you will use dagger or wand with a shield or dual wands or daggers with generic spell damage, spell critical strike chance and cast speed + your spell of choice socketed into chest till you farm enough currency for poet’s pen and kaoms. Is it doable as league starter? Yes, with some minor gear adjustments before you get all the gear you need for this build to work as intended.
playing this build atm, and i love it, but i changed 1 gem with body swap for faster clears, but how do we sustain life? Do we have some kind of leech or what do u recommend?
Love the build so far, but going into mapping I feel very squishy, I don’t see where all the tankiness is coming from. I appreciate if you could enlighten me more, really interrested! love the build nevertheless
Hey, do you have at least 60 life on each rare item you are using? Build is indeed tanky given the fact that we use Kaom’s and with jewels slots, we can easily go past 200% increased maximum life on the passive skill tree. If you cannot afford Kaom’s yet, get body armour with at least 100-120 maximum life, they shouldn’t be very expensive. Here are few examples – http://poe.trade/search/yanyugihookuga
Take Culling Strike off Frenzy setup and use Life Gain on Hit, then switch out Cremation on 2nd Pen for either Culling Strike or Power Charge on Critical Hit (I recommend PCoC + Diamond Flask)
🙂
so I’m confused how exctly this works ? its telling me my volatile cant be used?
What gems can i use on chest before i got kaom’s?
You could have Curse on Hit setup or Cast When Damage Taken setup in the chest.
i got no problem playing almost every map.. but if something hits me from “hydra” f.e iam almost instantly dead 😡
Did you have Kaom’s Heart?
Did you since fix this problem?
Is not herald of ash better now since 3.2 with the added spell damage ?
What Pantheon do you use for this build?
And thanks for the build guide
Pantheon powers are used depending on the situation you are facing. There is no 100% right choice of pantheons to use at all times. 🙂
Wait, can someone explain to me about the lightpoacher? Does he not have any support sockets connected to the spell it casts? And is it a 1 or 2 abyss socket helm? I am going to assume 2 socket?
Thanks for the help, build looks great!
Build struggles with gem sockets, if you are willing to sacrifice vaal haste for Spirit Burst support gems, that works too. Yes, 2 abyss socket Lightpoacher, if you are on the budget, 1 abyss jewel lightpoacher will work just fine.
Pantheon?
nvm read above ty
isnt it possible to swap enlighten support? i dont see the sense 😀
What better would you swap it with? It’s reducing the mana reservation from anger and HoI 6% at lvl3 and 9% at lvl 4. so You would reserve 69%, or 66% instead of 75% mana. It’s just quality of life really, or if you wanted to pick up MoM and drop anger.
how i get more attack speed in frenzy? i have 0,34 per second
Hello, I feel like I’m not totally tank, I’m level 83 and I have 5.4k of life, and I have kaom heart too, is there something missing in my build for me to really tank?
Hello, I am a noob and am curious as to why there are 8 unused skill points used in the “Full Build” link. Thanks!
can i use zerphi’s flask in this build?
Hi, why my build doesn´t works, i followed your guide, but it doesn´t work, i have same link gems and same gear…
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