Diablo 4 best Sorcerer build - Abilities, enchantments and more (Season 1)

Are you looking to sling some spells in Diablo 4? Well, you're in luck! The Sorcerer class is one of the five classes that you can play in the game, and our Diablo 4 Sorcerer class guide will give you the details that you're going to need to rock this class.

The Sorcerer is your typical elemental spell wielding class, and it takes a lot of cues from previous Wizard and Sorceress classes from Diablo 3 and Diablo 2. Diablo 4 has a lot of different ways to build your character, so our guide will break the class down.

Diablo 4 Sorcerer class guide

To kick things off, let's talk about the base line Sorcerer. This character is an intelligence based class that casts elemental spells. There are three different elemental classes of skills you can choose to use: Lightning, Frost, and Fire. You are able to mix and match these skills as you see fit.

You will have the same armour slots as other characters, being Helm, Chest, Gloves, Pants, Boots, two Rings and a Necklace. For your weapons, you can have either a two-handed staff, or a wand and focus.

Best Diablo 4 Sorcerer skills

The next thing that we'll cover is the skills that you'll be able to use with the Sorcerer. As we mentioned, there's three different elemental types of skills that you'll be able to use. Each class in the game has a progressing skill tree that you'll allocate points to, with each major node, unlocking different categories of skills. Here are the different skill categories in the order you'll unlock them.

• Basic - Skills that generate mana. Unlocked at level one.
• Core - More powerful skills that cost mana. Unlocked after spending 2 skill points.
• Defensive - Skills to help protect you and get you out of a dangerous situation. Unlocked after spending six skill points.
• Conjuration - Allows you to spawn elemental creations. Unlocked after spending 11 skill points.
• Mastery - Mastery skills are some of the most powerful skills in your arsenal. Unlocked after spending 16 skill points.
• Ultimate - Ultimate abilities are your big cooldowns, used to dish out some serious hurt. Unlocked after spending 23 skill points.

Each skill will have an enhanced augment, and two additional nodes to change how the skill behaves in some way. There are also various passive nodes throughout the tree that you can also take to enhance your overall power. Let's take a look at what skills you'll have in each category.

Basic

• Spark - Launches a lightning bolt that shocks an enemy four times.
  • Enhanced - Each Spark that hits a target has a 20% chance to hit three additional enemies; +20% damage to the primary target if no other enemies are around.
    • Flickering - Each Spark has a 3% chance to form Crackling Energy (periodic AoE damage when picked up).
    • Glinting - +2% increased crit chance for three seconds, up to 10%.
• Frost Bolt - Throws a bolt of frost that deals damage and chills foes.
  • Enhanced - +15% chance to explode on chilled enemies; 100% chance against frozen enemies.
    • Flickering - Makes frozen enemies vulnerable (i.e., take +20% increased damage) for three seconds.
    • Glinting - +4 mana when hitting chilled or frozen enemies.
• Fire Bolt - Hurl a flaming bolt that deals damage and applies a burning DoT.
  • Enhanced - Pierces through burning enemies.
    • Flickering - +2 mana when hitting a burning enemy.
    • Glinting - Fire Bolt critical strikes cause +20% burning damage.
• Arc Lash - Generate arc lightning in front of you; every 10 swipes stuns enemies for two seconds.
  • Enhanced - A critical causes another swipe.
    • Flickering - +6% movement speed for each enemy hit (up to 18%).
    • Glinting - Hitting a stunned enemy with Arc Lash reduces all cooldowns by 0.25 seconds.

Core

• Incinerate - Channel a beam of fire; damage per second (DPS) increases over time.
  • Enhanced - Burn enemies for 15% of the DPS.
    • Destructive - Enemies deal 20% less damage while burning from Incinerate.
    • Greater - Immobilizes an enemy for one second for every four seconds that they're hit by Incinerate.
• Fireball - Hurl an exploding ball of fire that does AoE damage.
  • Enhanced - Increased AoE radius based on the projectile's distance traveled (up to 50%).
    • Destructive - +10% critical damage; each enemy it hits increases the bonus by 5% (up to 25% total).
    • Greater - 10% of burning damage is dealt as direct damage.
• Frozen Orb - An orb that chills and shoots piercing shards; will then explode and chill enemies once more.
  • Enhanced - +30% explosion damage when cast at 50 mana or more.
    • Destructive - +5 mana when the explosion hits a frozen enemy.
    • Greater - The explosion has a 25% chance to make enemies vulnerable; guaranteed against frozen enemies.
• Ice Shards - Launch five shards; +25% increased damage versus frozen enemies.
  • Enhanced - +15% chance to ricochet off enemies; guaranteed to proc against frozen enemies.
    • Destructive - The target becomes vulnerable if all five shards hit them.
    • Greater - If a barrier-type spell is active, Ice Shard procs will be as though enemies are frozen.
• Chain Lightning - Chains between enemies (up to six times).
  • Enhanced - +3% crit chance per bounce/chain.
    • Destructive - +25% chance to form Crackling Energy when you crit.
    • Greater - +25% damage if Chain Lightning bounces off your character.
• Charged Bolts - Release five bolts of lightning along the ground.
  • Enhanced - Hitting an enemy three times from the same cast unleashes a Lightning Nova that deals AoE damage.
    • Destructive - Reduces the damage dealt by enemies when hit by Charged Bolts.
    • Greater - +25% increased damage versus stunned enemies.

Defensive

• Flame Shield - Activate to become immune (i.e., cannot be damaged and all negative effects are removed) for two seconds; burns surrounding enemies.
  • Enhanced - +25% movement speed while active.
    • Mystical - +25% mana cost reduction while active.
    • Shimmering - Heals you for 50% of your missing HP.
• Teleport - Transform into lightning and surge to the target location to deal damage; become unstoppable when cast (i.e., remove all control impairing effects).
  • Enhanced - 0.5-second Teleport cooldown reduction for each enemy you hit.
    • Mystical - Crackling Energy hits two extra enemies for four seconds after you Teleport.
    • Shimmering - +30% damage reduction for five seconds after Teleporting.
• Ice Armor - This barrier-type effect lasts for six seconds, absorbing 30% of your base HP; 10% of your damage dealt is added to this barrier.
  • Enhanced - +25% mana regeneration while active.
    • Mystical - Damaging vulnerable enemies contributes 100% more to the barrier.
    • Shimmering - Enemies that hit you while this is active have a 15% chance to be frozen for three seconds.
• Frost Nova - Freeze enemies around you for two seconds.
  • Enhanced - Reduces the cooldown of Frost Nova when you kill enemies that were frozen by this spell.
    • Mystical - Makes enemies vulnerable for four seconds; bosses become vulnerable for eight seconds.
    • Shimmering - +4 mana per enemy hit.

Conjuration

• Hydra - Summon a three-headed Hydra that spits fire; maximum of one Hydra active at any given time.
  • Enhanced - The Hydra gains an additional head as long as you're healthy (i.e., 80% HP or more).
    • Invoked - Critical hits cause the Hydra to gain +30% crit chance.
    • Summoned - Burns enemies for an additional 12% of the damage dealt.
• Ice Blades - Conjure blades to slash enemies; 30% chance to make them vulnerable.
  • Enhanced - Reduces the cooldown by one second whenever you hit a vulnerable enemy.
    • Invoked - +10% attack speed for each active Ice Blade.
    • Summoned - 50% of the cooldown reduction is also applied to other Sorcerer skills.
• Lightning Spear - Create a spear of lightning that tracks opponents.
  • Enhanced - A critical hit adds a +5% stacking crit chance to the Lightning Spear's duration.
    • Invoked - Stuns enemies for two seconds if it crits.
    • Summoned - Collecting Crackling Energy adds +20% Lightning Spear damage (up to 100%).

Mastery

• Blizzard - Cause a Blizzard in an area, dealing damage while continuously chilling enemies.
  • Enhanced - +25% damage versus frozen enemies.
    • Mage's - +4 seconds to the duration when cast at 50 mana or more.
    • Wizard's - Core spells cost 10% less mana when Blizzard is active.
• Meteor - Strike a wide area and burn the target location.
  • Enhanced - 30% chance that an additional Meteor falls on the same location if you hit three or more enemies.
    • Mage's - Meteors fall 30% faster.
    • Wizard's - Meteors immobilize enemies for two seconds.
• Firewall - Create a wall of flame that burns enemies for eight seconds.
  • Enhanced - Enemies take +25% burning damage when standing in a Firewall.
    • Mage's - Enemies burn for +3 seconds after leaving a Firewall.
    • Wizard's - +5% mana regeneration for each active Firewall.
• Ball Lightning - This orb slowly moves forward while zapping foes.
  • Enhanced - Damage tick rate is increased by 200% of your attack speed bonus.
    • Mage's - Once Ball Lightning hits close enemies 50 times, its next cast stuns hostiles for one second.
    • Wizard's - If Ball Lightning hits the same enemy four times, a Crackling Energy is formed.

Ultimate

• Deep Freeze - Become immune for four seconds while encased in ice; continually deal damage and chill enemies; deal extra damage when the effect expires.
  • Prime - Gain 10% of your base life as a barrier effect for six seconds for each enemy that you froze.
    • Supreme - Once Deep Freeze ends, all non-Ultimate spells have 50% of their cooldowns reduced.
• Inferno - Spawn a fiery serpent that burns enemies in an area for eight seconds.
  • Prime - Continuously pulls enemies toward its center.
    • Supreme - While active, all Pyromancy/Fire spells cost no mana.
• Unstable Currents - For 10 seconds, any Shock spell you cast will also activate a random Core, Conjuration, or Mastery Shock skill.
  • Prime - +25% attack speed while active.
    • Supreme - While active, Crackling Energy pulses and consumes no charges.

Diablo 4 Sorcerer enchantments

The unique mechanic that the Sorcerer has in Diablo 4 is Enchantments. Enchantments are unlocked at level 15 and level 30 via a short questline and dungeon completion. Enchantments allow you to pick a learned skill and set it up to activate automatically when certain conditions are met.

For example, if you allocate Blizzard into the Enchantment slot, every 15 seconds, a Blizzard will be cast at your character's location and follow your character. These enchantments can be very powerful and will expand the power of your build substantially.

Diablo 4 Sorcerer gearing tips

Diablo 4's gearing system is quite interesting and offers a lot of flexibility. But there's a few tips that you'll want to keep in mind as you progress your character.

• Save your Legendary items that you come across. You're able to extract Legendary Powers from items and put them on Rare pieces of gear.
• Be on the lookout for any +1 Level of skills pieces of gear. If you find the right skills, you'll be able to save points on your tree for additional passives. This also can allow you to also unlock an extra skill to be used in your Enchantment slots. These are prime candidates for applying legendary powers to.
• Bigger Number isn't always better. While you may be tempted to slap on anything that has a green up arrow, it may not be beneficial to your build. Stats such as Strength won't be very useful for you, so it may be worthwhile to use slightly lower level gear with better stats.

And that's all you need to know about the Sorcerer Class in Diablo 4! While you're here, if you're looking for more Diablo 4 content, check out our World Boss timer, as well as whether you can use keyboard and mouse on console in the game.