I’m a little confused by what you’re trying to say, but chaplain -> inqui and paladin3 -> inqui are two very different builds. One focuses on full SPR (or DEX) while the other focuses on very high/full STR.
They also differ a lot in gameplay. Paladin3 -> Inqui or Paladin3 -> Zealot 2 will have very strong burst damages through Demoltion, God Smash and/or Immolation while the typical SPR Chaplain -> Inqui has low burst damage but good constant damage (they can achieve a decent burst by auto-attacking Breaking Wheel, though).
I’m not a big fan of auto-attack builds myself because they tend to be super boring, with a minimal amount of active skills, and they tend to be frustrating in regards to dealing AoE damage and taking constant knockbacks / hit locks. Of course you can minimize some of these issues, like for example, using Gazing Golem cards to give you constant Pain Barrier.
As you said it yourself, auto-attack build will probably perform better with Biteregina cards + Velnia Monkey. I would save at least one slot for Gazing Golem, though, as auto-attack builds tend to be in constant melee range with mobs so they’re very vulnerable to hit locks / knockbacks.
For a Paladin3 -> Inqui / Zealot build, I would take a different approach. I would focus on Centaurus card to have more AoE atk ratio, to make sure my God Smash / Demolition skills hit as many targets possible and for purple group I would add Cerberus cards to make sure I don’t run out of SP too fast (this might be specially important for Zealot 2 builds).
EDIT:
Remember players in kToS are geared to the teeth, while that’s not so common in iToS. If you want to compare builds and see what you really want, at least try to fetch videos of similarly geared players with the builds you want.
Active skills, Paladin 3 -> Inqui build:
Auto attack, Chaplain -> Inqui build:
Both are equally very strong. The AA build is at slight advantage here since Inqui’s flames work very good on static gameplay (i.e. challenge mode where mobs come up to you, instead of you walking up to mobs).
400k damage God’s Smash is no joke, tho.
Note: First vid is trans 10 wep, second vid is trans 6.