Super simple.
- Reduce the range which Chain Lightning(CL) can chain to another mob by 50%.
- Seriously watching a chain lightning go halfway across the map is ridiculous.
- Reduce/Eliminate the likelihood that CL will target things like walls when mobs are alive.
-Some of these wall spawning bosses completely kill the “chain through yourself” build because its near impossible to kill all their walls before more spawn.
- Lower the mana cost by half.
-Casting two chains lightnings from a full mana bar just “feels bad”.
- Have it automatically “return home” every other chain.
Its sad when the current sorc Meta is a basic attack.
9 Likes
These would be solid changes. I rolled chain lightning to start, as well, because I wanted a good farming build. Not a build that performed worse with lots of trash on the screen. It’s actually unbelievable that it turned out to be a better single target build somehow.
Now I’m stuck with flame wall and I hate the playstyle.
Hmm i can cast chain 4 times before mana is empty.
1 Like
I’m mad I have to type out 20 characters just to call you a lie. Its 35 mana. You have 100. At best you’ll get three if you get some type of mana regen between 1 and 2. But you won’t get 4.
1 Like
Couldn’t agree more here. I too started chain lightning and have had to spec out because of how bad it felt even levelling to 25. Those changes are very solid.
get the aspect that gives you mana every time Chain bounces back off you, works wonders against single target bosses.
The biggest problem with Chain Lightning, honestly, is that it’s the only AoE in the game with a fixed number of targets for some of the highest mana cost. Waller mobs and barricades are the bane of your existence as well because the game treats them as enemies and they soak up all of the charges instead of actual targets. It’s a fun build and I ran with it all the way through T3 up until I got to the last boss in the Lv.70 capstone dungeon and the lack of being Arc Lash destroyed any fun I was having with Sorc.
4 Likes
Yeah except half the bosses spawn adds or walls…
Agreed, the wall thing is just crap. Even the other enemies, ok, I might be able to see that, but walls should be no-priority for CL
2 Likes
Yeah its really frustrating because it’s a fun spec to play, it just doesn’t do anything, and your mana is terrible.
I use a crackling energy build so mana isn’t really an issue for the most part, plenty of CE for mob packs and then the aspect for mana back on single targets. If just a single target I can literally spam cast CL (max roll 6, no walls obviously)
1 Like
how far have you pushed NM Dungeons with that?
I’ve managed to push tier 70 NM (playing very carefully) with chain lightning. I’m level 100. I can comfortably do a tier 60. I don’t think I’ll get much higher. I could spec for a bit more damage reduction with the right gear.
Would love it if they made it just like D2 chain lightning against multi targets. Just cast one and it hits everything within bounce range once. Then say if it hits like 4 or less enemies it can bounce off you like it currently does so that it’s usable in single target since we don’t have “lightning” as well.
Agreed it should cost less mana, too, but I’m also of the opinion pretty much every sorc spell is too expensive except ice shards. Having to devote like your entire build just to make mana usable sucks.
2 Likes
Sad because lightning Sorc felt so good in the beta.
I also have an easy Fix. Unlimited bounces and 200% more base damage and faster animation 
. Enchant: every 3rd cast of a none basic attack procs a Chain Lightning.
Easy fix is to first revert the changes made after first Open Beta weekend. Then add some way to get AoE baked in as it really lacks in the end game because lack of AoE.
3 Likes
Either that or maybe add a lucky hit vulnerable proc to it. I don’t find the lack of aoe that much of a problem. It’s more the amount of CC I have to proc to deal some real dmg
1 Like
This wont help. As CL sorc you have only one chance to put VULN is to apply Nova.
FROST nova…
Thats all folks. Sorc need massive overhaul, there is no build without nova (except blizzard/ice shard guys maybe), and without VUL the sorc damage is crap.
I feel good only when mobs is frozen, only then i can do same amount of damage (joke, of course still far away from bone necro, hota barb and druid) as other classes… for 4 seconds.
Its a joke, not a wizard class.
3 Likes
Try putting Frozen Orb into the build, as you still need something to Chill for Frostbite.
Other than that I feel you, It’s also really stupid to use a 2 Frost Skills for supporting a Lightning build, just because Vuln and Chill are 500% damage multipliers.
2 Likes