Learn how to make our Chain Lightning Sorcerer build in Diablo 4
Want the best Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build?If you’ve heard about those Sorcerer nerfs inDiablo 4Season 1, you might be unsure whether it’s worth running right now. Thankfully, there are Sorcerer buffs due in the coming weeks that should right any wrongs ofPatch 1.1.0, and even now it is performing very well in the race to reach level 100 in Season 1.
If you want to Chain Lightning packs of enemies and turn them to ash, then you’re in the right place! In this guide, we break down how to make the best Lightning Sorcerer build inDiablo 4, covering the Skills, Paragon Boards and Glyphs, Enchantments, Aspects, Stats, Gems, and Malignant Hearts that you’ll need. It’s fully updated to reflect the changes from Season 1, but we’ll continue to add any changes from future patches and hotfixes.
For moreDiablo 4 Sorcerer builds, take a look at ourDiablo 4 Ice Sorcerer buildandDiablo 4 Fire Sorcerer buildguides.
Best Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build
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.
Below, you’ll find a full list of the skills that you should acquire for our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build, in order:
Arc Lashis 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 0.15 seconds when you hit a Stunned enemy with Arc Lash.
Chain Lightningsends 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.
Teleportdoes 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 Sorcerer build by granting 30% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds. Since you’ll often Teleport towards crowds of enemies so that you can Chain Lightning at closer-range, that Damage Reduction will be important for surviving those incoming hits.
Ice Armoris 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.
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.
Frost Novaunleashes 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.
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) and allows it to synergise with Ice Armor for more defense.
Unstable Currentsis 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. Hopefully the various 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:
Diablo 4’s Paragon systemunlocks at level 50, allowing you to spend Paragon Points to earn passive bonuses and effects that can substantially improve your build. Boards grant both a Glyph slot, into which you can insert a Glyph that’ll usually buff a certain stat or damage type, and a Legendary node with a more unique effect. For this build, we really want to take advantage of those Glyph slots.
Below, we break down the best Paragon Boards and Glyphs that you should take for this build, mapping out your journey from level 50-100. For a clearer view of how we’ve spent each and every Paragon Point, check out ourDiablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer page on the Lothrik build calculator.
On the starting board, take the right path up to the Glyph socket, heading through the rare Elementalist node. Then, insert the Destruction Glyph, scoop up any surrounding Dexterity nodes, and then get both the rare nodes nearby. Finally, path up to the Board Attachment Gate at the top.
In total, the Starting Board should use 30 Paragon Points.
Rotate theEnchantment Masterboard so that the Glyph socket is in the lower left and the Legendary node is at the top-right corner. Take the path up to the left and insert the Elementalist Glyph. Then, scoop up at least 40 points of Intelligence, and also grab the rare Elemental Balance node and the surrounding non-physical damage nodes.
Then, dart right from the Glyph socket and grab the rare Ruinous node and any surrounding magic nodes. Then, head back to the Glyph socket and move up to get the rare Elementalist node and any surrounding magic nodes. Continue up, head right to get the rare Suffused Resilience node, and then continue to grab the Legendary node from the corner.
Head through the Board Attachment Gate at the top and attach the Static Surge board.
In total, the Enchantment Master board should use 64 Paragon Points.
Rotate theStatic Surgeboard so that the Legendary node is near the entrance. Then, head up to the left, through the rare Overwhelming node, and grab the Legendary node. Continue up to the Glyph socket and insert the Exploit Glyph, scooping up as many Dexterity nodes that are nearby as possible. Make sure to also grab the damage to Stunned enemies nodes.
Head right from the Glyph socket and through the rare Paralyzing node to reach the Board Attachment Gate, where you should connect the Ceaseless Conduit board.
In total, the Static Surge board should use 51 Paragon Points.
Rotate theCeaseless Conduitboard so that the Glyph socket is just above the Board Attachment Gate. Then, start by using a few points to move down and grab the rare Hunter Killer node and any surrounding magic nodes.
Then, head up to the Glyph socket and insert Imbiber. Then, grab as many Willpower nodes as possible from nearby, and then path up to the Board Attachment Gate. You should also use a few points to move down and grab the rare Conduit node and any Lightning damage nodes nearby. Finally, attach the Frigid Fate board.
In total, the Ceaseless Conduit board should use 46 Paragon Points.
Rotate theFrigid Fateboard so that the Glyph socket is in the center. Then, move directly up, grab the rare Weakness node and any surrounding damage to Vulnerable enemies nodes, and then insert the Enchanter Glyph. Then, move up and get the rare Chilling node, while also scooping up any other Intelligence nodes that are within range.
Finally, use your last few points to move down from the Glyph and head over to get the rare Oppressive node, along with any surrounding magic nodes.
In total, the Frigid Fate board should use 34 Paragon Points.
The Sorcerer class also has access to a uniqueEnchantmentsystem 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:
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 thebest Aspectsfor our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build:
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 Lightning Sorcerer, you should look for gear with high Intelligence and Willpower.
Intelligenceaffects 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.
Willpowerties 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.
Gear in Diablo 4 has Gem sockets. These allow you to insertGemsinto 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 Lightning Sorcerer, we’d recommend usingEmeraldsin Weapon Gem sockets. When placed in Weapons, Emeralds offer increased Critical Strike damage against Vulnerable enemies. Since we can guarantee Critical Strikes with this build, and easily make enemies Vulnerable using Frost Nova, this gives you an easy way to increase your damage output.
In Armor Gem Sockets, we’d useRubiesto get 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.
Malignant Heartsare the new Seasonal mechanic for the Season of the Malignant. These items offer powerful bonuses when inserted into Infested Sockets on your Rings and Amulets, and some of the more defensive options are essential if you want to push through higher-level content as the Lightning Sorcerer build in Season 1.
Below, we’ll list the best Malignant Hearts for the Lightning Sorcerer:
That wraps up our Diablo 4 Lightning Sorcerer build guide. If you want to try out other classes, make sure to check out our powerfulDiablo 4 Barbarian builds,Rogue builds,Necromancer builds, andDruid builds.
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