I dont want to jump to any conclusions, but I am wondering, are all class skill paths viable? For example, I will be playing a sorcerer and I really think the ICE and LIGHTNING builds are fun and appealing to the “way I want to play.” However, what has been shown in previous developer videos, screen captures of verified paragon nodes, and other Diablo released content, are mostly FIRE builds.
I guess what I am really asking are all of the higher level character skill paths somewhat balanced? If I were to choose an ICE sorcerer, would I be doing, on average, 20% less damage than FIRE since that seems to be the desired path that I often see. I hope not. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Concerned ICE Sorcerer
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Balance? Diablo franchise? Welcome!!! New traveler. There is no such thing as balance in diablo. Never has been, never will be.
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So far the beta showed us that Lightning was the way to go, mixed with some ice for CC.
Fire was really lackluster minus the OP hydras, but every other fire skill was just meh in terms of visuals and damage.
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There will of course be a meta, but you don’t have to stick to a cookie cutter meta build if you don’t want to. You can run whatever build and skills you prefer.
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I think it’s just two different styles. A lot of fire revolves around DOTs and a slow burn of everything affected. That is probably preferred at higher levels as you zip through an area. Leveling the mobs don’t have as much health and can be easily one shot and resources are kind of scarce for continuous casting. So things like the lightning build help level quickly but may not take out whole screens of mobs in the endgame like fire could. But I see most builds being viable in endgame if you properly support them with passives and don’t just load a bunch of hard hitters with no depth. At some point the mobs won’t respond to that style of play as they will be too tough.
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I’m sure it will be possible to make a build so bad you may not be able to complete the very hardest content on the highest difficulty.
But I’d imagine you’ll be fine to play whatever you want for 95% of the content, and just be slower to clear it than the meta builds.
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All skills path are viable for every toons ,
Remember your max skills is 50 points + I think 4 or 6 more points from renown
You can try theorycraft your sorceress build using this D4 planner
https://lothrik.github.io/diablo4-build-calc/
The planner will show you every possible skills path and what you want to assign in the 6 skills slots
Spend all 50 points of your skills and try it with Aspects that support your build
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I doubt in the long run everything will be viable. But that’s the beuty of a new game, experimeting with builds.
A strict Ice build is not viable per se. Ice Shards is difficult to aim and that means enemies will get through. Some bosses have CC immunity and that means Frost Nova will not work. Still, as long as you are not worried about endgame, the build works more than fine. Chain Lightning targets nearby enemies and that means, like with Ice Shards, some will get by and that effects viability of a Lightning build. As far as endgame builds, there current popular one for Sorc is Barrier. This is more about not losing health while defeating enemies but it is heavily rotational and gear dependent. So, from that standpoint, this build is all about grind. At least early in the game, follow Vidar and do what you want.
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Too much digging to see everything about everything
But from what I’ve seen not everything is viable.
Even a lot of cases of skills that are just outright better than similar skills
I don’t think you’ll have any problems with lightning or ice though.
Lightning is like the just straight up damage build for sorcerer. It’s looks super flashy but it’s really just shoot stuff and pick up the shiny balls
Ice is more nuanced but should be totally fine.
It absolutely shreds packs and while bosses are pretty much freeze-proof, chill should still work and ice has specific +damage to elites skills to make up for it a bit
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They use the Sorc fire ultimate in media because it looks impressive.
The most busted Sorc builds in the level 25 beta were cooldown abuse builds that used a lot of ice skills, such as ice shards, ice armor, and potentially frost nova. Chain lightning was so powerful, it got nerfed a bit.
Everything should be viable with the right setup. Assuming RNG bless us with the right Legendary plus paragon glyphs. Other build will outperform others, that’s just how games are balanced. But it’s not going to be 10% difference.
My definition of viable is you can pick any 6 skills in the tree and assign it to an action button.
It is viable but it may not be good .
If its good , i called it synergy viable
People are confusing viability with balance or competitiveness. It depends on what you are asking. If you reasonably select skills and passives that synergize together, your build will be viable in that you’ll be able to complete all the content the game can offer.
There will be some skill combinations that drastically outshine others, but that doesn’t make your build unviable.
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and here you are wrong. Frostnova can be tailored to make a Boss vulnerable for 8 seconds, instead of a freeze. Saying pure Frost is not viable is pure guesswork, and simply not true. This interaction is also true for iceshards enchantment, as you can tailor it to autotarget vulnerable Enemies as long as you have a Barrier up.
And the Build you are reffering too is not a barrier build, its a conjuration build. But if most of your points go into your defensives, then i personally consider it trash tier. You can ofcourse try that @endgame. But dont get your hopes up.
One, thanks for the input and I will try to . Still, my comments are not guesswork but they are not totally based upon my experience. There are several people on the forums who have done End Game Closed Beta. I rely upon their comments and opinions as well. Still, note that you state autotarget is dependent upon something else. That is part of my point. You may not consistently, repeatedly target with Ice Shards. The same is true of Arc Lash. I have used either in builds. Similarly, Frost Nova can be tailored. Even without tailoring, Frost Nova will stagger a boss. Next, I have seen the build referred to by either name. I chose Barrier because it is less confusing. Similarly, I prefer not to get hit or damaged as opposed to damaging things. This is a hold over from my days of TTP but you rarely win “healing wars” or “toe to toe”.
I tried a blizzard build, it worked until lower level nm dungeons and fell off (low 30s), then went fire/hyrda.
Lightning also falls off hard once you get into nm dungeons.
They are viable to get you to low level nm dungeons, but not through them
Viable, most likely. Optimal, probably not.
It also depends on the scenario. Some skills are obviously better at performing certain tasks compared to others. Like Landslide for Druids is an incredible skill for killing elites and bosses, but for clearing rooms of dozens of enemies quickly? Lightning storm, pulverize, and even shred are going to be better for that.
Fire gets shown off because it’s always been a stereotype magic skill. It’s what you start with in D1, and D2, it’s one of the most well known D3 builds (Firebirds), and simply put, a fireball exploding on screen is an image ANYONE can instantly conjure in their mind. Makes it more recognizable, and better for marketing.
That said, all builds are viable. There will always be builds and variations that kill mobs faster, or get to bosses easier, but they all can get there. Just play the game and have fun.
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Chain Lightning got nerfed because it was too good and versatile. Too high single target and aoe damage at the same time.