Hello.
I dont normally play sorcerers but im loving my chain lightning guy.
I just wanted to ask if anyone else uses a similar or same build and if you could give me advice?
I have Arc Lash 5/5 hitting like a brick, sometimes that thing does mlre than Chain lightning lol.
I use Chain Lightning as my main spender.
Teleport, Ice Armour and Frost Nova.
Can i get get help in determining what stats i would want to look at? I was thinking of stacking the obvious, lightning damage but then there vuln, attack speed etc that might also need to be considered.
Additonally, how well does this perform in the transition from campaign to WT3?
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Unfortunately not viable.
Go for arcslash and unstable currents build if you want lightning.
Im waiting for chainlightning to get some bump so i can start using it as i also enjoyed it while leveling
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Chain lightning is absolutely terrible. Even among the sorc’s trash tier kit, chain lightning is one of the worse abilities.
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Chainlightning does 0 dmg at mid tier NMD.
Even on tier 4 open world, it does nearly 0 dmg.
How can this pass any tests? 
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Thats a genuine shame because i quite like it.
Would I fare better using Blizzard in end game?
Im running a Arc Lash, Chain Lightning, Unstable currents, burning build that works pretty good. Granted Im only lvl 65 in tier III running lvl 15 NM dungeons right now so I don’t know if it will be tier IV viable yet
Im using chain lighting as my main dmg skill together with crackling energy. Just completed a tier 62 solo yesterday. Focus on stun, Crit chance, crit dmg, vulnerable dmg, cooldown reduction. Use stun, frozen and immobilize to ramp up your dmg.
The unique armor is a must to stun every thing. Use the aspect that applies immobilize to your flameshield. Use the aspect that spreads your crowd control to other mobs with lucky hit and watch everything melt.
The highest crit I managed was 5.7 million on an elite, but as I’m going higher tiers in building more damage reduction to survive.
It’s a shame I’m not allowed to post a link here to show a video of the dmg. Don’t know why that is.
Do you happen to have some execute on your gear? Because that’s most certainly gonna be your “5,7m” elite crit.
Otherwise i really want to know how exactly you manage to deal FIFTY TIMES more dmg than mine, while only clearing 5 tier higher dungeons
No there is no execute involved. I think that one was a high roll on fists of fate unique gloves but I’m not using that anymore. Now I’m doing anywhere between 2 and 3 million and have some more dmg reduction etc.
There’s this aspect that gives me 53% extra dmg on Frozen, Stunned, or Immobilized. This one multiplies if you stack them. So I just stack those CC’s and hit like a truck with basically anything.
It’s heavily reliant on cooldowns though. I can’t blast trough a dungeon with those numbers. But a pack of elites just wipes instantly most of the times.
which means youre wearing a 2h weapon, its 20% more than mine, so lets assume it actually is multiplicative, not additive, dunno how you wanna get the immobilize effect, so we go with 40% more …
THAT STILL DOESNT EXPLAIN THE REMAINING 4960%, or well, going with your current 2-3M …the 2000-3000% …
The highest crit i have seen was a 120k
I am using a two handed staff yea but I got the 40% more dmg based on primary resource aspect on that one. The other ones on my amulet.
I stun with Raiment, then Frost Nova, then flameshield, which applies immobilize with an aspect that lets you move trough enemies as well. Flamewalker I believe it’s called.
I see, i think i know why despite such a huge difference in the numbers, i can can clear about the same as you then
And why dps is the least of my concerns despite of it
Im still working on it. I have to invest some more in sustainability and survivability to get to higher tier. I’m slowly getting there and have a lot to test. I think I can push 70 if I’m really careful now. It’s not the damage but more the getting one shot by mobs. I have some dmg reduction options I’m looking at on the paragon board and some gear options.
But point of the post. If you wanna do big dmg numbers with chain lighting you can. Use Crackling for your resource / cooldown management and stack the right multipliers.
Here is the Chain Lightning Build I played to 100.
https://d4builds.gg/builds/8c3a29ba-b5c5-476f-868e-6cbc9c006702/
1 of the main things I can say about Chain Lightning right now is drop Frost Nova (and thus, Vulnerability) for Lightning Spear. Frost Nova doesn’t benefit from the cooldown reduction from Overflowing Energy, so its just slowing you down. The Stuns from Invoked Lightning Spear + the increased frequency of mana gained from Prodigy’s Aspect lean better into lightning playstyle.
Another thing is that Chain Lightning doesn’t do damage until you have Crit damage + Lightning Crit damage in nearly every spot it can be, as well as a few levels in the Destruction Glyph. After that, an amulet with + to Devouring Blaze will spike your damage.
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These people have no idea what is actual good or bad. I have been chain lightning since the start and having a blast. I am level 80 now. Still not running into these issues people keep talking about. My enchantments are Fire Bolt and Fireball. Stuff getting melted. Stagger a boss then blink my eyes, boss dead. The hardest thing my player faces is triple suppress monsters. Usually takes 2 uses of ultimate and kiting to chew them up. Throw the vampire affix in there and it takes longer.
My skills are Flame Shield, Frost Nova, Lightning Spear, Unstable Currents, M1 is move only (no skill) M2 is Chain Lightning
Unless your current gear can support unlimited chain lightning without using any basic skill (so that you can save one slot for a cooldown skill), I would not recommend you give it a shot rather than the main arc lash build, or just switching to ice shards would even save you a lot of headaches.
I have been playing lightning sor since my first staff of lam esen and tried all different builds, then I decided to stay with chain lightning as its range is much better than arc lash, charged bolts and ball lightning, and it never has mana issue against a single enemy. I’m currently at lv 83 and I can solo tier 50 without any difficulties. My skills are flame shield, ice armor, frost nova, unstable currents, chain lightning and teleport, with fire bolt and arc lash enchantments. (Actually, the ideal build is to use lightning spear instead of frost nova and frost nova enchantment instead of arc lash enchantment, but the frost nova enchantment is bugged and never trigger.) And here are the key points to unlimited chain lightning:
- Aspects: Recharging resource aspect and prodigy’s aspect
- Stats: Mana cost reduction 26%, cooldown reduction 37.9%, lucky hit chance 30%
- Paragon: static surge
- Skill tree: invigorating conduit, convolsions
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You can make a CL build that does okay, but you’re really just using CL to proc other things that do damage. The damage from CL itself is pretty garbage.
I got into t4 using chain lightning at 60. It wasn’t too hard, killed Elias first try but I had experience from trying it at earlier levels.
My build could probably be improved but it does fine doing content at my level in WT4. But man is chain lightning weak… I could see it getting a 50%-100% buff and it still underperforming.
I leveled up using a chain lightning build. Was a lot of fun and wish I could have stuck with it but it falls off hard in WT3. It just can’t keep up with an ice shards build. I almost quit the game because it was just too slow. Sure, I could complete the content but it was a slog. Instead I looked through my stash, found stuff for an ice shards build, changed my build up, and never looked back.