Spell Feedback
Distress - It does not feel great to constantly cast a 1.5-second threat ability just to maintain aggro. I would prefer this to be an instant cast, potentially with a 2-3 second cooldown. This would allow the Inquisitor to continue melee attacks while actively generating threat. I would also recommend changing the casting animation/graphic, as it currently looks too similar to the mez animation and can be confusing for the group.
Censuring Strike - This ability could use one of the following improvements: increased damage, a partial mana refund, or some form of MP5/mana regeneration effect. Mana management is a significant issue with the class right now, and giving Censuring Strike some mana utility would help.
Aura of Resistance - This does not feel particularly impactful at lower levels. I am sure it will feel better once it is maxed and providing 30 to each resistance, but the flat 5% bonus currently feels underwhelming. Consider increasing it to 10% or allowing the percentage to scale as the ability progresses.
Reflecting Bash - I recommend making this ability function differently depending on the equipped weapon:
Shield Equipped: 100% mana as damage.
Two-Hander Equipped: 50% mana as damage.
It could also potentially refund a small amount of mana when used against non-caster mobs. Currently, being locked out of the ability unless the target is casting makes it extremely situational. Another option would be to add a small flat weapon/armor-based damage component when used against non-casters.
Arcane Aegis - I used this ability once during testing. In most situations, it seemed better to simply interrupt the incoming spell rather than use Arcane Aegis. One possibility would be to convert a percentage of the damage absorbed into mana for either the Inquisitor or the group. With a 300-second cooldown, the ability should feel significantly more impactful.
Spellward - Reducing magic damage by 25 for 20 mana on an instant cast did not feel worthwhile. I tested it for a while, but the mana cost eventually caused me to remove it from my bar.
Arcane Tyrant - Feels fine as-is.
Interdiction - Our mez currently has both a 1.5-second cast time and a 3.5-second cooldown. I recommend lowering the cast time to around 0.5 seconds so we can quickly CC a target and return to generating threat on the primary target. If the cast time is lowered, keeping the cooldown makes sense. If the cast time remains at 1.5 seconds, I would consider removing or significantly reducing the cooldown.
Silence - The 40-second cooldown feels very long for what the spell provides, so I did not use it very often. I would also recommend improving the visual and audio feedback. Something more noticeable, similar in concept to Silencer's abilities in Dota 2, would make the spell feel much more impactful.
Ward of Suspicion - I used this for a while specifically to determine whether it justified the mana cost, and I did not feel that it did. I would rather see the slow component removed and the damage absorption doubled. The cast time also makes it awkward to use while tanking. Consider making it instant cast, increasing the shield amount, and adding a 5-10 second cooldown.
Fire Protection - Nothing significant to add here.
Censuring Strike II - Same feedback as Censuring Strike.
Dominate the Mind - This seemed to be resisted very frequently, and the long cooldown makes those resists particularly punishing. Overall, the ability does not feel good to use in its current state.
Pillage Mana - A 60-second cooldown feels excessive considering how little the ability currently contributes to the group or removes from the mob. I continued testing it to see if I was missing something, but most of the time it felt like I was sacrificing time that could have been spent generating threat.
Sense Magic - Nothing necessarily needs to change. Another option would be to create a new group buff that combines Sense Magic and See Invis. This would help reduce the amount of time spent buffing the group.
Dispel Magic - Nothing necessarily needs to change. Alternatively, an additional spell could be introduced that "devours" a dispelled effect and converts it into mana. This could be an instant-cast ability with roughly a 15-second cooldown.
Purifying Blow - The ability works well. I would consider lowering the cooldown to around 15 seconds to help with the current threat and mana-management issues. I also think the Inquisitor needs access to this earlier than level 10, potentially around level 5.
Scintillating Shock - Outside of mez, this was probably my most frequently cast spell. It is currently one of the Inquisitor's best tools for interrupting spells and avoiding incoming melee damage for four seconds.
Invisibility - Nothing necessarily needs to change. However, giving the Inquisitor a single invisibility cantrip or an innate invisibility ability for corpse-run purposes could be useful.
Aura of Rapidity - I used this over Aura of Resistance most of the time because of the 5% haste. It works, but the effect feels fairly bland overall.
Mana Ward - The mana cost felt too high to justify regular use, and I eventually stopped using it. I recommend reducing the mana cost.
Memory Fog - Nothing needed.
See Invis - See the Sense Magic suggestion above regarding combining the two effects into a single group buff.
Lesser Spellshield - I would consider giving this to the Inquisitor earlier, potentially around level 6 or 7. The Inquisitor seems to take considerably more damage than the other tanks, regardless of whether the incoming damage is physical or magical.
Psychic Choke - Currently does not appear to work. I will revisit this once it is functioning properly.
Purge - Nothing needed.
Electric Protection - Functions as expected as a protection buff.
Mana Burn - This falls under Evocation, but by the time the Inquisitor receives it, there has been little reason to invest points into Evocation. Combined with the high mana cost, this results in frequent fizzles and potentially burning through a significant portion of the mana bar without accomplishing much.
In its current state, I probably would not use Mana Burn because there are cheaper and more reliable ways to stop enemy casting. Moving it to Alteration and/or adding a meaningful threat component could make it more attractive, but right now the mana investment feels too high.
Ward of Accusation - Same general feedback as the previous Ward ability.
Group Play / Tanking Feedback
Holding threat in group play currently feels very difficult. The Inquisitor burns through mana quickly and can still fall behind on threat because so many important abilities have cast times. The amount of incoming damage also feels very high. There were multiple situations where the Spellblade pulled threat and was actually better off continuing to tank the mob with a shield rather than having me spend the resources necessary to regain aggro.
Regaining threat often requires a combination of Taunt → Purifying Blow → Censuring Strike → Distress, and even then it can feel like a coin flip depending on what is available and what is currently on cooldown.
Crowd control creates another issue. Because so much time is spent casting CC and other abilities, the Inquisitor loses melee swings that would otherwise contribute to threat. This creates a constant catch-up cycle: stop attacking to cast, lose threat, then spend additional mana and abilities trying to regain that threat.
I also attempted to rely more heavily on the Ward line, but the combination of cast times and mana costs made it difficult to maintain both threat and mana. During some groups, I had one or two Necromancers consistently feeding me mana just to maintain the pace of pulls.
For most of my testing, my bar essentially came down to:
Distress / Purifying Blow / Censuring Strike / Scintillating Shock / Interdiction
I rarely used abilities outside of these because mana was already such a limiting factor.
I plan to continue testing the class into the 40s to see how the scaling changes. At the moment, the Inquisitor feels like a very high-APM tank, which I actually enjoy. The issue is that the frequent 1.5-2 second cast times work against that playstyle and make maintaining threat unnecessarily difficult.
I think reducing some cast times, converting a few core abilities to instant casts with short cooldowns, and improving mana sustain would make the class flow considerably better without removing the active playstyle.
The other major concern is survivability. The Inquisitor currently feels very limited in its ability to mitigate or avoid physical damage outside of specific spell interactions. For a tank that already spends a significant amount of time casting instead of attacking or reacting, the lack of additional defensive options makes incoming damage feel especially punishing.
