Really disappointed in how weak I feel compared to Beta. I loved fireball/hydra, but I have been leveling with chain lightning as hydra had been nerfed. Now CL is also feeling like a struggle. I tried ice shards and I found it too ice nova-dependent and much less survivable. Is fire wall the answer?
I think everyone that has found the powerhouse build is keeping silent cause the nerf hammer is swinging wildly in every direction for every class, destroying everything in its path, and they don’t want to draw attention to theirs.
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I’ve switched build several times while leveling, going back and forth between a hydra/firewall burn heavy build and an ice shard build. I’ve tried to experiment with lightning but I just haven’t found enough pieces to put something synergistic together yet.
Right now I’ve been having a blast with ice shards. Come check me out if you want some tips: Diablo IV Day 3 Nightmare Killer - YouTube
I have a deadly survivable Siri build I just ended up with, add me as a friend and I’ll live stream and walk you through it and show you. I regen health and mana while dishing out serious do’s and able to take hits. At work right now or else I would lay out the spec for you now.
I have been dragged through the mud hard, very unlucky with drops (still not a single legendary) and tested lots of combos. Also, I am a baddie.
At the moment, Arc Lash Frost (Ice Shards + Blizzard), have turned things around significantly for the better for me. There’s a lot of detail that needs to be paid attention to with regards to stats, and the smaller nodes that buff abilities.
Best I can say is, less abilities with more modifiers is better than trying to grab all the abilities you wished to have in your rotation. ESPECIALLY pre- lvl 35.
Also, we are not tanks like in Beta. So you gotta work on your mobility 100%
so far, I’ve tested, arc lash, unstable current is still one of the decent ones for leveling. Primarily, you want to get fireball enchantment for more AOE explosive when you are dealing with trash mobs to make it more effective and visually pleasing as well. Frost nova + a barrier of your choice is required as well to tank damage while unleashing your spells in the middle of a huge crowd.
If they nerf the literal one viable build Sorc has then this class will be completely dead. It’s already on life support
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Im use those two spells as well. At lvl 57, its still a strong combo for horde and boss kills. As soon as a boss is stunned i can remove 1/3 or 1/2 of its hp. It depends on the monster type, how much dmg i do.
Thanks for the replies. I didn’t roll this class to be melee, but I guess I will give lash/frost a try. I tried firewall last night and it is ok. Trash kills are ok, but the boss fights take forever.
I’ve tried the trio of Ice Shards, Arc Lash and Firewall 10+ hours each.
Arc Lash has no resource issues, but before you’re geared and juiced, the damage is low, the aoe is small, and it’s melee. It’s tanky… but it just felt underwhelming. The clear just wasn’t there.
Firewall works without any items, which is good, but the damage is even lower than Arc Lash, and the single target is garbage. It’s safe, comfy, you can create a giant pool of fire and run around it, but it’s SLOW.
Ice Shards had the best damage, but is pretty squishy and had the most mana issues. I ended up going with it eventually since it was the only build I tried that actually had acceptable damage at world tier 3.
All are good under level 50ish, and through WT1-2.
In a group they are all fine, as long as you play to their strengths.
AL is better solo grinding. Fire can be almost as good with fireball/meteor with the right items.
ICE/fire burn is good, as well as ice bomb, which is better in a group.
Other lightning is fine, working on a cool crackling build that has some great synergy with my friends bleed barb, as we tag team mob clusters.
My favorite is still the classic ice shards pure ice w/o blizzard. In a group you are a laser beam of death, once you get to high enough health mobs to where the spooling can stack with shatter you see the real potential.
This is something that nobody on youtube/twitch has even showcased yet or realized. I am saying/calling it again, like on reddit/discord though.
As an aside, ignore the streamer’s and their builds, most are not good/skilled gamers, they just pay for followers with bots to game social media companies and advertisement clicks/revenue.
They are nothing more than interactive commercials. Trust me, I have family in advertising, and they spill all the secrets, just look at how rap music got started as a good example, or how most “pop music” people like Taylor Swift are just no talent rich kids using autotune.
They sign NDA’s so they can’t ever tell the truth about where their money comes from. You are the point. They exist to sell you things.
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The answer is crackling.
Spark 5/5 spec to crit increase
CL 5/5 spec to crackling
Lance 5/5 spec to crackling
Tele 1/5 spec to crackling
FN 1/5 spec to vulnerable
Unstable
The not vyrs keystone.
3/3 lucky
1/3 reset defense spell
1/3 elemental protection
3/3 barrier on 100 mana spend
3/3 on all lightning passives except movement
Might be missing one Sp doing this off memory.
Than aspects
Barrier on hit elite
Damage reduction on basic
Chance to spawn lance on orb pick up
Fn chance to proc when killing frozen mobs
Crackling movent speed
Jewelry
Standing still increase damage to 30%
Mana back on CL
Unstable has a chance to double cast
Wand /source
Distant target stun chance and increase damage to stun
Increase crit rate to injured targets
Than its rubies in armour
Skulls in jewelry
Diamonds in weapons
You will have the ultimate up almost 100% of the time.
Enchament on lance and CL
Sorc really has only 1 spec for World Tier 4 and beyond that that is Frost Shards.
This build falls flat the moment you step in World Tier 4. Sorc doesn’t have the survivability to stand still and whack at the mobs.
Thought so too. I tried some stuff and as soon i got to the shards, i knew, thats it. Im lvl 61 only and on WT3, but i could do a nightmage dungeon that was 13 levels above me.
I got some nice uniques. My favorit is a gaunlet with “with each attack, you do 1%-300% dmg”.
You can’t hide from the balance team. They have metrics–and spreadsheets. 
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Dring Levelling I found Arc Lash / Charged Bolts very effective. However if you play for a while, you will notice that it feels a bit clunky, and there are casting animations which lead to awkward pauses between ceertain casts.
The Arc Lash / Charged Bolts spec is not too mana reliant, you have always sth to press and everything dies easily. However, you do not have a lot of single target / boss damage outside Charged Bolts and Unstable Currents. So be aware.
I tried the Ice Shard Build for levelling, forget it, you will be out of mana in an instant. You need the right gear for that. Boring Animations too.
- Teleport to Mobs. (Optional use Unstable Currents) 2. Frost Nova. 3. Charged Bolt until OOM 4. Arc Lash. 5. Frost Nova again. Repeat 3.&4.&5. until pack/boss dead. Use Ice Armor when needed.
I am currently lvl 51 and just completed the WT2->WT3 Dungeon. Overall pretty disappointed with the class. It is so gear hungry, mana is a big issue. and as sorc you are made of paper anyways.