Best Diablo 4 Sorcerer build: Best skills for the Sorcerer
Learn how to make our Lightning Sorcerer build in Diablo 4
Looking for the best Diablo 4 Sorcerer build? The Lightning Sorcerer has been revered from the very first Diablo 4 betas, and despite balancing patches and nerfs since, it still reigns supreme. If you want to watch demons melt in mere moments, the Lightning Sorcerer is for you.
If you're excited to see what all the fuss is about and try the Lightning Sorcerer at launch, then you're in the right place! In this guide, we'll break down the best skills, Aspects, Attributes, Gems, and Enchantments for this build.
This Lightning Sorcerer build guide is fully prepared for launch, covering how to use all 58 available skill points and helping you on the journey to level 50 and beyond. As we progress further post-launch, we'll be back to update you on how to spend those precious Paragon Points, so that you can make the ultimate level 100 build.
Best Sorcerer build in Diablo 4
Our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build focuses on using Shock spells to do huge damage, inflict enemies with debuffs, guarantee Critical Strikes, and keep yourself alive with recharging Barriers.
Of course, the main damage dealer in this Lightning Sorcerer build is Chain Lightning, a spell that needs no introduction. Chain Lightning bounces between you and your enemies, and with the Greater Chain Lightning upgrade, it'll deal 10% extra damage each time it bounces off of you. Whether you're battling a big group of enemies or facing off against a big boss, this'll absolutely destroy anything in your path.
You can get a clear picture of the goal for our Lightning Sorcerer build by looking at Vyr's Mastery, the Key Passive that we'd recommend taking towards the end of the build. This makes you deal more damage with Shock spells to nearby enemies, while also reducing the damage they deal to you. That buffs Chain Lightning even more, and keeps you on your feet when in the middle of combat.
The bonuses from Vyr's Mastery increase by 25% when you get a Critical Strike, and they'll be guaranteed thanks to Coursing Currents, a passive on the Ultimate node that adds +3% to your Crit Chance each time you use a Shock skill, resetting when you finally get that Crit.
Add recharging Barriers for near-endless protection and the ability to inflict Stun and Vulnerable on your enemies, letting you deal even more damage while interrupting them in combat, and you can hopefully see why this build is so strong.
Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build skills
Below, you'll find a full list of the skills that you should acquire for our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build, in order:
- Arc Lash (Basic)
- Enhanced Arc Lash
- Glinting Arc Lash
- Chain Lightning lvl 1-2(Core)
- Enhanced Chain Lightning
- Greater Chain Lightning
- Teleport (Defensive)
- Enhanced Teleport
- Shimmering Teleport
- Ice Armor (Defensive)
- Enhanced Ice Armor
- Mystical Ice Armor
- Fireball lvl 1 (to use as Enchantment)
- Frost Nova (Defensive)
- Enhanced Frost Nova
- Mystical Frost Nova
- Static Discharge lvl 1
- Shocking Impact lvl 1-3
- Glass Cannon lvl 1-3
- Unstable Currents (Ultimate)
- Prime Unstable Currents
- Devastation lvl 1
- Elemental Dominance lvl 1-3
- Flame Shield lvl 1
- Chain Lightning lvl 3-5
- Vyr's Mastery (Key Passive)
- Align the Elements lvl 1-3
- Protection lvl 1-3
- Coursing Currents lvl 1-3
- Conduction lvl 1-3
- Electrocution lvl 1-3
- Convulsions lvl 1-3
- Elemental Attunement lvl 1-3
- Arc Lash lvl 2-3
The list above includes every skill you should get with all 58 skill points available in the full game, so this is a clear picture of the power you can expect when you reach level 50 and get those Renown skill points in each region.
We've already broken down some of the important passives in the section above, but others on this list grant effects such as increased Chain Lightning damage, reduced Cooldown times, Damage Reduction from enemies, and a Barrier each time you use a Cooldown spell.
Below, we'll break down the active skills for this build, and then provide a quick attack pattern so that you can see how to use them effectively in combat.
Arc Lash
Arc Lash is a basic attack that you can use when out of mana, and it's incredibly powerful as a quick melee attack. Even better, the base ability allows you to Stun enemies, and the Glinting Arc Lash upgrade then reduces your Cooldowns by 0.25 seconds when you hit a Stunned enemy with Arc Lash. We've got a lot of cooldowns in this build, making Arc Lash essential if you want to get frequent access to your more powerful abilities.
Chain Lightning
Chain Lightning is your core spell for our Lightning Sorcerer build, sending out a bolt of lightning that deals 42% damage and chains between up to 6 nearby enemies and your character. That's incredibly powerful at even the base level, giving you an effective method of clearing enemy mobs, but the real strength comes from Greater Chain Lightning.
Greater Chain Lightning raises the damage of the next hit by 10% each time it bounces off of your character. This can buff Chain Lightning significantly, and when paired with passives such as Elemental Dominance, Glass Cannon, and Vyr's Mastery, you'll find this skill absolutely melts any enemies in your path, including bosses.
Teleport
Teleport does exactly what you'd expect, allowing you to teleport a short distance so you can quickly reposition in a fight. It also provides Unstoppable, allowing you to break any crowd control effects that are currently inflicted on your character.
That's a useful skill for survivability, of course, but Shimmering Teleport really helps it synergise with this Lightning Sorcerer build by granting 30% Damage Reduction for 5 seconds. Since you'll often Teleport towards crowds of enemies so that you can Chain Lightning at close-range, that Damage Reduction will be important for surviving those incoming hits.
Ice Armor
Ice Armor is your main protection Cooldown ability, granting you a Barrier for 30% of your base Life. However, while it's active, 5% of your damage dealt is added to the Barrier, helping you keep it up by blasting Chain Lightning at those baddies. Paired with the Protection passive, which grants up to 30% of your max Life as a Barrier for 2 seconds each time you use a Cooldown, you should find that you're untouchable for a short while after initiating combat.
Enhanced Ice Armor is a must-have ability, as it also increases your Mana Regeneration by 25% while Ice Armor is active. However, it's Mystical Ice Armor that'll really come in handy for keeping yourself alive, as it makes any damage against Vulnerable enemies add 50% more to Ice Armor's Barrier. If you're wondering how to apply Vulnerable, check out the next skill!
Frost Nova
Frost Nova is another major Cooldown ability in this build, unleashing a torrent of frost that freezes nearby enemies for 3 seconds. That'll prove crucial for staying alive in the thick of combat, but it also has some handy upgrades that synergise with other abilities.
Enhanced Frost Nova is a simple one, reducing your Cooldown by 1 second for each Frozen enemy you kill up to a max of four seconds per cast. Paired with abilities such as Arc Lash and Elemental Attunement, both of which reduce your Cooldowns, you should find that you have access to this spell frequently.
However, it's Mystical Frost Nova that really shines here, as it makes enemies hit by Frost Nova Vulnerable for 4 seconds (or 6 seconds for bosses). Using Frost Nova and then Ice Armor will help you buff up your protection, as damage dealt against Vulnerable enemies will contribute even more to your Barrier.
Unstable Currents
Unstable Currents is the ultimate ability for our Lightning Sorcerer, and it's incredibly powerful. When activated, you will cast a random core, conjuration, or mastery Shock skill whenever you cast any Shock skill for the next ten seconds.
That essentially doubles up your firepower, delivering an extra spell each time you cast any of the shock skills in this build. As mentioned above, it's an incredibly powerful skill, but that means it also has a long cooldown of 70 seconds. It's not a skill you can pop constantly, then, but hopefully the other ways to reduce your Cooldowns mentioned above should help you use it more often.
If you're not sure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:
- Approach a crowd of enemies and use Frost Nova to Freeze them.
- Activate Ice Armor after Freezing your enemies.
- Cast Chain Lightning until all of the enemies are dead, or switch to Arc Lash to finish them off when you run out of Mana.
- Teleport away from the crowd if you are almost dead.
- Heal up and repeat.
Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer best Enchantments
The Sorcerer class also has access to a unique Enchantment system that allows you to place spells into Enchantment slots on your hotbar. When spells are equipped as an Enchantment, rather than an active skill, they will grant a passive bonus. However, this means that they can no longer be cast as an active skill.
You will get access to a total of two Enchantment slots as a Sorcerer in Diablo 4. Below, we'll list the two best Enchantments that we'd recommend using in our Lightning Sorcerer build:
- Fireball: When you kill an enemy, they explode in a Fireball for 50% of its damage.
- Flame Shield: Flame Shield automatically activates when you take fatal damage. Can only happen once every 120 seconds.
Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer best Aspects
As you find Legendary Gear or complete Side Dungeons, you will unlock Aspects in your Codex of Power. These are Legendary effects that you can apply onto Gear, granting it the Legendary effect so that you can tweak things to fit your build.
Below, we'll break down the best Aspects for our Lightning Sorcerer build:
- Aspect of Overwhelming Currents (random Legendary drop): Unstable Currents has a 10-20% chance to cast an additional Shock skill.
- Conceited Aspect (random Legendary drop): Deal 15-25% increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
- Aspect of the Unbroken Tether (random Legendary drop): Chain Lightning has a 25-35% chance to chain 2 additional times.
- Stable Aspect (random Legendary drop): While Unstable Currents is not active, your Shock skills have a 5-10% chance to trigger a free cast from it.
- Prodigy's Aspect (Witchwater - Hawezar): Using a Cooldown restores 15-25 Mana.
- Recharging Aspect (Zenith - Fractured Peaks): Each time Chain Lightning bounces off you, gain 4-6 Mana.
Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build Attributes
We aren't quite in a position to break down the best pieces of Unique Gear for the Sorcerer just yet, but targeting specific Attributes should help you know which pieces of Gear to prioritise throughout your journey from level 1 to level 50 and beyond.
When playing as the Sorcerer, you should look for gear with high Intelligence and Willpower.
Intelligence affects your damage as a Sorcerer, with each Intelligence point offering an extra 0.1% damage. That might seem tiny, but it adds up and can have a significant impact in the late game.
Willpower ties into Mana Generation, with each point giving you an extra 0.1%. Again, it's a meagre amount in the early game, but even slight boosts to your Mana Generation will help you cast Chain Lightning more often.
Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build Gems
Gear in Diablo 4 has Gem sockets. These allow you to insert Gems into your Gear, offering extra bonuses, similar to those offered by Attributes. Gems will have different effects depending on whether they're placed into a weapon or armor.
For the Sorcerer, we'd recommend using Rubies in any Gem sockets. When placed in Weapons, Rubies offer up to +6% resource generation. That's a large buff to your Mana Generation, which'll prove important when you need to quickly refill your Mana during a fight.
When placed in armor, Rubies offer up to +5% extra Life. We've mentioned that the Sorcerer is a glass cannon class, and of course we use the aptly-named Glass Cannon skill to increase damage dealt and received, making this particular build even more susceptible. Fortunately, the extra Life that you can gain from Rubies will add some much-needed survivability, ensuring that you don't drop in every fight.
That wraps up our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build guide. If you want to try out other classes, make sure to check out our powerful Diablo 4 Barbarian build, Rogue build, Necromancer build, and Druid build.
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