How the engine works
The Orbital upgrade makes each Ball Lightning circle you and damage everything around you every second. Casts stack, so the more you cast, the more balls orbit and the harder the ring hits. In Season 15 Orbital can be cast while moving, so you keep walking and keep casting. Damage comes from Critical Strikes: crit chance raises your damage, makes Critical Strike Damage multipliers worth rolling, and triggers the Ball Lightning Enchantment more often. Raiment of the Infinite's Teleport pulls a pack into the ring, and Unstable Currents is the long-cooldown burst you save for bosses.
Who it's for
Players who want a fast, simple Sorcerer and are happy fighting at melee range. It is good at speed farming and dungeon clearing with solid single-target damage, and it goes from Torment 1 to the top Torment tiers.
- Rating
- A to B-Tier
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key stat
- Critical Strike Chance
- Must have
- Nothing — but solve Mana first
The bar
One attack, one long-cooldown buff, and four utility buttons you can press freely. Meteor, Blizzard and Firewall each take a single point off the bar once you own the Threefold charm set, because the set casts them for you.
Rank 15 with Damage Bonus, Multiple Projectiles and Orbital. Your only attack. Multiple Projectiles gives a 20% chance of a second ball, and Damage Bonus adds x30% when a ball hits 3 or fewer enemies.
Hold — constantlyRank 15 with Cooldown Reduction, Damage Bonus and Ramping Currents. While it is active, every cast also triggers a random Shock skill. It has a very long cooldown.
ElitesRank 15 with Permafrost, Cooldown Reduction, and Duration Bonus and Barrier. The cooldown is short enough that you can simply spam it.
Keep it upRank 1 with Blaze, Ferocity and Movement Speed. Blaze spends an Overpower stack to refund its cooldown, and the set's Meteor supplies the Overpower. Before you have the set, take Wormhole instead.
Press — to group packsRank 1 with Cooldown Reduction, Healing and Frigid Hydra. The Enchantment summons Hydras for you most of the time. Cast it by hand in long fights.
Press — long fightsRank 1 with Duration Bonus and Prismatic Familiar. Another supply of cooldown reduction that works well in a Shock build.
Press — on cooldownPassives
There is no Key Passive in the Season 15 tree. Once you have the Threefold set, put one point each into the off-bar Mastery skills: Meteor with Overpower, Shooting Star and Immobilize for Overpower stacks. Blizzard with Exposure, Seek and Duration Bonus, and Barrier for Vulnerable and a little Barrier. Firewall with Ring of Fire, Healing and Weaken for Weaken and more Overpower. Keep a point in Chain Lightning and Lightning Spear so Unstable Currents has them to cast.
Enchantments
Run Ball Lightning and Hydra. The Ball Lightning Enchantment gives Critical Strikes from cast skills up to a 25% Lucky Hit chance to spawn a static Ball Lightning, so it grows with your crit chance. The Hydra Enchantment gives a lot of cooldown reduction and healing without a button press. There are two other ways to fill the slots. Ice Armor and Teleport lets you drink a potion to trigger Ice Armor with no cooldown, which gives Barrier and Resource Regeneration, and turns Evade into a Teleport. Ball Lightning and Chain Lightning adds a free Chain Lightning after every 100 Mana spent. Take Ball Lightning and Hydra unless Mana is your problem, in which case the Ice Armor Enchantment is the fix.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Ball Lightning | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes from cast skills have up to a 25% chance to spawn a static Ball Lightning. |
| Hydra | Hydras appear as you spend Mana. Cooldown reduction for Ice Armor and Unstable Currents, plus healing. |
| Ice Armor (option) | Drinking a potion activates Ice Armor with no cooldown. A Barrier on demand and extra Resource Regeneration. |
| Teleport (option) | Evade becomes a Teleport. Pairs with the Ice Armor Enchantment for a mobile, Mana-safe setup. |
| Chain Lightning (option) | A Chain Lightning forms by itself after every 100 Mana you spend. |
What to wear
No single item is required, and the starting version wears legendaries only. The standard setup is a one-handed weapon and a focus. Every unique below is more damage or more toughness than the legendary it replaces.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Ring of Starless Skies | Ring. Spending Mana reduces the Resource cost of your skills and raises your damage, stacking five times. It lets you drop every Mana aspect and is worth about 50% damage. The first Mythic to aim for. | Mythic |
| Raiment of the Infinite | Chest. Teleport pulls Close enemies to you and gives Damage Reduction for 8 seconds, 65% at Mythic quality. About 43% toughness, and it groups the pack inside your ring. Drops from Bartuc. | Core |
| Strike of Stormhorn | Focus. Ball Lightning deals up to x78% more damage and explodes for 40% of its total damage when it fades. About 11% as a Mythic upgrade. Drops from Grigoire. | Core |
| Galvanic Azurite | Ring. Shock skill damage leaves enemies Magnetized for 4 seconds. They take more Shock damage from you and give off Crackling Energy that pulls them together. Drops from Duriel. | Core |
| Esu's Heirloom | Boots. Your Critical Strike Chance rises by a share of your Movement Speed bonus. If your pair has no extra Evade Charges, legendary boots can be better for speed farming. Drops from Astaroth, who needs the matching War Plan upgrades to farm. | Recommended |
| Godslayer Crown | Helm. When you try to Incapacitate an enemy you mark it and everything nearby, pull them in and deal increased damage to them. Drops from Andariel. Harlequin Crest is the other helm people wear here. | Recommended |
| Tibault's Will | Pants. x20–26% damage and 25 Primary Resource Regeneration (your Mana) while Unstoppable and for 5 seconds after. About 5% as a Mythic upgrade. | Optional |
| Banished Lord's Talisman | Sixth charm in the finished build. After you spend 275 Mana you gain 4 stacks of Overpower, which keeps Teleport's Blaze upgrade free. | Charm |
Before they drop
The starting version uses no uniques. Bar: Unstable Currents, Ball Lightning at 15 with Crackling Energy, Multiple Projectiles and Orbital, Familiar at rank 6, Teleport with Wormhole, Ice Armor at 15 and Hydra. Wear Concentration on the helm, Arcane Ward on the chest, Conceited on the gloves, Mage-Lord's on the pants, Shredding Blades on the boots, and both Prodigy's and Elemental Acuity on the rings. Storm Splitter's, Duelist's and Lingering fill the weapon, focus and amulet. You need two Mana aspects until Ring of Starless Skies drops. Splinters are the Black Soulstone, Pain and Anguish. Runewords are Poc + Gar and Cir + Mot. Pick charms for Ball Lightning ranks and ignore set bonuses for now.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Storm Splitter's | Weapon. Your non-Channeled Shock skills deal x45% more damage and have a 15% chance to trigger themselves on cast. More casts means more balls in orbit. |
| Duelist's | Gloves. With a one-handed weapon, attacks raise your Weapon Damage by 6.5%, up to 10 times. This is the reason to use a one-hander and focus. |
| Lingering | Amulet. Mastery skills deal more damage every second they are active. It is very good with Strike of Stormhorn, which adds a big explosion right at the end of each ball's life. |
| Shredding Blades | Amulet, second aspect, or boots early on. Conjuration damage makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds and you deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies. Hydra and Familiar apply it. |
| Mage-Lord's | Pants. Dealing Shock damage to Close enemies gives 45% Damage Reduction for 6 seconds. You are always close, so it is always on. |
| Conceited | Gloves or ring early on. More damage while you have a Barrier, which Ice Armor keeps up. |
| Prodigy's | Ring, early on. Using a cooldown gives you 30 Resource Regeneration for 4 seconds. You press cooldowns constantly. |
| Elemental Acuity | Ring, early on. The second Mana aspect. Drop both when Ring of Starless Skies arrives. |
Prismatic Familiar and Elemental Constellation don't mix
Prismatic Familiar is great for the Enchantment Master board but terrible for the Aspect of Elemental Constellation. If you use that aspect on your amulet, change the Familiar upgrade. Prismatic Familiar also behaves oddly in several ways this season, so don't build anything important on it.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Critical Strike Chance | Gloves, rings and amulet. Your first priority early on. It can also be the weapon temper. |
| 2 | Critical Strike Damage multiplier | Weapon, gloves, rings and amulet. The biggest damage gain of any stat once your crit chance is high. Temper it on the gloves. |
| 3 | Ranks to Ball Lightning | Boots first, then Ranks to Shock or All Skills on the amulet and charms. |
| 4 | Attack Speed | Gloves, rings, amulet, or the weapon temper. |
| 5 | Cooldown Reduction | Helm, plus tempers on rings and amulet. It keeps Unstable Currents and Ice Armor available. |
| 6 | Lightning and Vulnerable multipliers, Intelligence | Weapon, focus and jewellery. |
| 7 | Maximum Life, Armour, Resistances | Helm, chest, pants and boots. Maximum Life as the defensive temper. |
| 8 | Life on Hit | One roll on the weapon or the focus. With this many hits it is strong healing. |
Hard targets
Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance tempers both stop at 100%, and Movement Speed stops at 100% too, which matters for Esu's Heirloom. With Duration Bonus and Barrier, Ice Armor at rank 17 gives a Barrier worth 99% of your maximum Life, and the Barrier can't exceed 100%. Aim for enough Cooldown Reduction and Shock ranks to keep Unstable Currents up all the time. Armour and resistances have no cap. They are ratings with diminishing returns, so keep adding them without chasing a number.
Tempering & masterworking
Tempers: Critical Strike Chance or Attack Speed on the weapon, Critical Strike Damage on the gloves, Cooldown Reduction on the amulet and both rings, and Maximum Life on the armour pieces. Masterwork the Critical Strike Damage multiplier on weapon and jewellery, and Ranks to Ball Lightning on the boots. If you can't cast Ball Lightning without long pauses, fix your Mana before you add any more damage.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Talisman set: there are two ways to run this. Five Tal Rasha's Threefold Way charms give you free Meteors, Blizzards and Firewalls, 30% All Resistance per element, easy Overpower and steady Vulnerable. Five Cain's Wild Lightning charms give Shock skills a random damage bonus of up to x750% that rolls twice, which is roughly 30% more damage but no toughness or utility. Take Threefold. If Wild Lightning drops first, wear it until Threefold is complete.
- Before the set: until you have a Legendary Seal and all five pieces, ignore set bonuses completely and pick charms for Ball Lightning ranks. The full set matters more than reaching rank 15.
- Seal: a Legendary Seal with +1 Charm Slot, so a unique charm such as Banished Lord's Talisman or Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop can sit beside the set.
- Soul Splinters: the Black Soulstone for damage per kill, Pain for Damage Reduction, and Anguish for 20% Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance. Anguish raises your Mana costs by 30%, so add it once your Mana is comfortable.
- Gems: Topaz in the weapon for the Lightning damage multiplier and in armour for Intelligence. Diamonds in any jewellery socket that doesn't hold a Splinter.
- Runewords: Igni + Jah turns your Evade into a Teleport, and Tam + Qua gives Movement Speed. Early on, Gar is useful for Critical Strike Chance while your gear is thin.
Paragon
Five boards with every legendary node. Start board with Tactician. Enchantment Master with Reinforced. Static Surge with Exploit. Frigid Fate with Adept. Searing Heat with Destruction. Static Surge gives 30 Resource Regeneration and x50% damage for 2 seconds whenever you hit enemies at least 8 times in a second with Shock skills, which the ring does by itself. Searing Heat turns 10% of your Critical Strike Damage bonus into direct damage, up to x70%. Level every glyph to 100, then to 150.
| Glyph | Where and why |
|---|---|
| Tactician | Start board. |
| Reinforced | Enchantment Master board. Toughness. |
| Exploit | Static Surge board, which also fixes a lot of your Mana. |
| Adept | Frigid Fate board. x60% to Vulnerable enemies on the legendary node. |
| Destruction | Searing Heat board. The crit board. |
Mercenary
Hire Subo for the map reveal and his Opening Fire bonus, with Wire Trap, Piercing Arrows, Cover Fire and Opening Fire. Take Raheir as reinforcement with Bastion set to trigger when you are Injured. He absorbs 90% of incoming damage for 5 seconds. You fight at melee range, so that safety net earns its place.
From fresh 70 to finished
You won't have the gear on day one. This is the order it comes together in.
Play the starting bar with Wormhole Teleport and Familiar at rank 6. Prodigy's and Elemental Acuity go on your rings. Chase Critical Strike Chance before anything else, and pick charms for Ball Lightning ranks.
Strike of Stormhorn from Grigoire and Galvanic Azurite from Duriel are simple damage. Raiment of the Infinite from Bartuc lets you Teleport a pack into your ring and makes you much harder to kill.
This is the biggest upgrade. Once you have a Legendary Seal and all five charms, move the points Unstable Currents' side skills were holding into Meteor, Blizzard and Firewall, and switch Teleport from Wormhole to Blaze.
It replaces both Mana aspects and adds about 50% damage. Put damage aspects back on the rings and add the Splinter of Anguish.
Ring of Starless Skies, Raiment of the Infinite, Strike of Stormhorn, Galvanic Azurite, Esu's Heirloom, Tibault's Will, then Godslayer Crown. Esu's Heirloom needs the Astaroth upgrades in your War Plan trees before you can farm it. Glyphs to 150.
The rotation
Drop a Hydra as you arrive if the Enchantment hasn't already made one.
Teleport into the pack. Raiment of the Infinite pulls Close enemies onto you and starts its 8 seconds of Damage Reduction.
Hold Ball Lightning. Each cast adds to the ring, and Orbital casts while you move, so never stand still to attack. The damage takes a moment to build up.
Spam Ice Armor whenever it is ready and press Familiar on cooldown for the cooldown reduction.
Hydra, then Unstable Currents, then Ball Lightning. Save Unstable Currents for bosses and tough elites.
Turn off damage numbers in the options. The ring produces so many that you can't see the fight.
On bosses
Orbital is the right upgrade for single targets, since every ball keeps hitting the boss. Open with Hydra and Unstable Currents, stand on the boss and keep casting. In a long fight, summon Hydra by hand because the Enchantment won't keep up, and refresh Ice Armor every time it is ready.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- Easy to play. One attack, no aiming, and you cast while moving.
- Good damage with solid single-target, and fast movement between packs.
- Runs on legendaries alone at the start, and every unique is a plain upgrade.
- Teleport with Raiment of the Infinite groups enemies for you.
Where it struggles
- Melee range. You stand in everything to deal damage.
- Mana hungry until Ring of Starless Skies or a Mana Enchantment fixes it.
- Small area of effect compared with the other two builds.
- Full damage takes a few seconds to build up on each new pack, and the best version needs a lot of gear.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Chasing set bonuses too early. Without a Legendary Seal and all five pieces, small set bonuses are worth less than charms with Ball Lightning ranks.
- Stacking damage before Mana is solved. If the ring keeps dropping because you ran dry, more damage stats do nothing. Fix Mana first.
- Putting Charged Bolts or Lightning Spear on the bar. Unstable Currents casts them for you. They only need a point in the tree.
- Pairing Prismatic Familiar with Elemental Constellation. The upgrade suits Enchantment Master and ruins that aspect.
- Using Blaze Teleport before the set. Blaze needs Overpower, and your Overpower comes from the set's Meteors. Until then Wormhole is the right upgrade.
Not for you? The other Sorcerer builds: Ring of Fire · Blizzard.