Diablo IV sorcerer is one of the strongest classes when it comes to dealing damage to foes.
Nothing goes better together with a world full of demons than old powerful and destructive magic. The ones who learn the way of magic in Diablo IV can use spells of different elements, from unleashing deadly ice attacks to casting a giant meteor onto enemies.
In this guide, we explain the best sorcerer build, which skills are essential, as well as the gear and gems you should look for in Diablo IV.
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How to play as Sorcerer in Diablo IV
Even though Diablo IV in general is not a mechanically complex game when it comes to efficiently using a class, the sorcerer is not the easiest pick you have among the game’s class roster.
First, this is a very squishy class, which means you can die pretty easily since it doesn’t have a lot of health. Because of that, positioning is extremely important. To stay alive and keep causing damage, kiting is a useful technique. To do so, you must always try to walk between attacks. In addition to these two aspects, sorcerer’s skills use a lot of mana. So managing your mana is also a challenge when you begin playing the class and have no tools to help you regenerate it faster.
Now, when it comes to playing with this build, things are not complicated. The core skills of this build are Chain Lightning and Hydra. Because Chain Lightning jumps from one enemy to another – or from you to a single enemy – and its Enhanced upgrade increases the chance of landing Critical Strike per bounce, you will trigger Invoked Hydra’s effect and buff its damage. This interaction may sound too simple, but it’s extremely effective.
So, when you engage enemies, you want to cast Hydra and then use Chain Lightning. If run low on mana, go for Arc Lash and try to use your Ice Armor as soon as it gets out of cooldown so your mana will restore faster. But, if you have enough mana, you might want to pop your ultimate skill as well. In most situations, the interaction between Chain Lightning and the Hydra is enough for single-target situations or groups of enemies as well. You will cause a lot of damage and probably enemies will die before they reach you.
Diablo IV Sorcerer best skills
Sorcerers have a pretty vast kit, with many different skills for you to pick and get the best experience with the class. But, considering what was explained in the previous section, there are some specific skills you must run for this build to work.
Basic node
- Arc Lash: The only reason we are picking this one as your basic skill is that it has the effect of stunning enemies from time to time. Sorcerers are as powerful as they are squishy, making an early crowd control ability quite useful.
Core node
- Chain Lightning: By using this skill, you will attack an enemy with lightning that can chain between enemies as well as you. Picking and upgrading it to Enhanced Chain Lightning and Greater Chain Lightning will not only turn this skill into one of your main sources of damage but also will increase the chance of Critical Strike happening.
Defensive node
- Ice Armor: Considering sorcerers can’t take too much damage, having a defensive skill is also a good option, even though the class has a lot of potential for crowd control. When you use Ice Armor, you receive a barrier that absorbs a percentage of damage based on your Base Life. When upgraded to Enhanced Ice Amor, you regenerate mana faster while the barrier is up.
- Glass Cannon: This passive skill makes you take more damage in exchange for higher damage output. Now that you have Ice Armor, taking a little bit more damage is worth it since we’re talking about dealing way more damage.
Conjuration Nove
- Hydra: This second most important offensive skill in this build. Using it invokes a hydra with three heads that will attack enemies. You must upgrade it to Enhanced Hydra so you have the chance to get an additional head in case you cast the skill when your life is high. The last upgrade must be Invoked Hydra, since, when you land a Critical Strike, it will buff each head of the hydra increasing their chance of Critical Strike.
Ultimate node
Although none of the ultimate skills available to sorcerers are fundamental to making the build work, there are two good options that synergize well with the others.
- Inferno: With this skill, you invoke a giant fire serpent that restrains your enemies and deals fire damage over time on them.
- Unstable Currents: This ultimate skill has the effect of casting a random core, conjuration, or mastery lightning skill whenever you use a lightning skill.
Diablo IV Sorcerer best gear
When using this build, you want to look for pieces of equipment with any of the following legendary aspects: elementalist’s Aspect, Aspect of Control, Aspect of Efficiency, or Recharging Aspect. This build is completely dependent on skills, so the gear you use will only improve its efficiency. These aspects are going to either help you regenerate mana, deal more damage, or increase Critical Strike chance.
At the same time, in terms of attributes, pick your gear prioritizing first dexterity, willpower, and then intelligence. The first increases Critical Strike Chance, while the second resource generation. Intelligence affects your damage, but is not as important as the other two.
Diablo IV Sorcerer best gems
To help this build be even more efficient, there are a couple of gems you can run. The first option is to use sapphire in your weapon, because this gem increases the Critical Strike Damage you cause in enemies under the effect of a crowd control ability. In other words, enemies you stun with Arc Lash will take more damage from Chain Lightning.
Another good gem for this build is the diamond that can be put in your armor and increase barrier potency.
Now you’re ready to go through hell playing as a sorcerer.
