Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling Guide

Welcome to the Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling Guide, this build lets you go bowling with orbs of electricity.

You won't need any aspects to get started. Ball Lightning sends an orb of electricity forward and creates Crackling Energy with Wizard's Ball Lightning. Overflowing Energy was buffed this season to give a large bonus to your Lightning Damage in addition to it's Shock Skill Cooldown Reduction from your Crackling Energy. Your Basic Skill Spark is for Mana and Critical Strike Chance with Glinting Spark, you also get a buff thanks to Explosive Combinations, cast this at least once every 5 seconds.

You get plenty of support from your Conjurations Skills. Hydra summons a turret to burn enemies and enable your passive Warmth, you can summon up to two. Familiar summons different elements based on the last skill used and follows you, use it after a Shock Skill once you have Shocking Impact, until then you can use it after Hydra for burning area damage. Overflowing Energy will reset your Familiar faster for more consistent Shocking Impact triggers.

You have great Defensive Skills as well. Teleport gives mobility and acts as an Unstoppable which breaks crowd control. Ice Armor gives a large Barrier and if you spend the time to unlock Snowveiled it also makes you Unstoppable.

This build allows you to cast Ball Lightning to maintain Crackling Energy which also refunds a good portion of the Mana Cost with Invigorating Conduit, use Chain Lightning instead before you reach Ball Lightning. Cast Spark at least every 5 seconds to maintain Explosive Combinations. Maintain two Hydra for damage initially and for Warmth later. Shock Familiar is a large portion of your damage and gets reset faster with Crackling Energy thanks to Overflowing Energy, cast this whenever it's available and try to maintain one. Use your Defensive Skills when needed to stay alive or reposition. Once you have Protection you can gain a Barrier from any Skill with a cooldown. Warmth keeps you healed up without using as many Potions.

Season Theme

The Season 10 theme is Infernal Chaos. Infernal portals have sprung up in Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons and Infernal Hordes. Killing the enemies that spring forth grants Infernal Warp (Seasonal Currency) and progresses the Seasonal Questline, where you unlock Chaos Perks. You can equip any combination of 3 Magic, Rare and Legendary Perks. You can also have one Unique Perk, unlocked by killing Bartuc in the Infernal Hordes starting in Torment 1.

Leveling Chaos Perks

Base Chaos Perks

• Accelerating Chaos provides some burst damage and extra Cooldown Reduction.
  
• Explosive Combinations provides a damage bonus for 5 seconds after casting a Basic Skill, it stacks up to 3 times. Your Glinting Spark also lasts 5 seconds.
  
• Erupting Chaos provides extra damage in an area around you. This isn't very reliable but is a good option for leveling.
  

Unique Chaos Perk

During leveling you most likely don't have a Unique chaos perk unlocked, but if you do then:

• Chaos Unleashed is a great generic option.
  
• A Beast Cornered is an option if you also have Marred Guard, you could replace Erupting Chaos. This works best with upgraded Max Life tempers.

Alternate Chaos Perks

• Advanced Techniques provides a large damage bonus but also increases your Mana costs, making it difficult to maintain while leveling.
  
• Invigorating Attacks restores Mana and can be used early if needed.
  

Skills & Gameplay

Starting Skills

To start off you have to put two points into Basic Skills to unlock the other sections. Spark is your choice for the Mana and Critical Strike Chance provided by Glinting Spark along with the the buff from the Chaos Perk Explosive Combinations, cast it as needed for Mana initially but at least every 5 seconds to maintain the buffs. Next you unlock Chain Lightning to be your main damage and use Destructive Chain Lightning until you unlock Ball Lightning. Move on once you unlock your Defensive Skills.

Defensive Skills

Teleport provides mobility to get into or out of the action faster, it also provides an Unstoppable on cast which allows you to break crowd control. Ice Armor gives us a large Barrier for when taking damage can't be avoided, use this as an emergency button. If you decide to unlock Snowveiled then Ice Armor can provide an extra Unstoppable. You need one point in Fireball for your Fireball Enchantment at level 15. You can put points into Glass Cannon until you unlock your Conjuration Skills.

Conjuration Skills

Hydra provides damage as a turret that has good range, you can summon up to two, it also burns for you with Roaring Hydra and heals you once you have Warmth, maintain two for damage initially and keep them up later for Warmth. Familiar provides a large portion of your damage with Enhanced Familiar, it gives a special effect based on which element was previously cast. Focus on using Familiar after a Shock Skill once you have Shocking Impact, until then you can use it after Hydra for burning area damage. Move on once you unlock Mastery Skills.

Enchantments

At level 15, you unlock the Sorcerer Enchantments class mechanic. Finish this Priority Quest as soon as possible to get Fireball Enchantment. Any enemy that dies creates a Fireball explosion at it's corpse without using the Skill, providing a chain reaction that destroys weaker enemies and sometimes elites if they are surrounded by weaker enemies. If you completed this quest on a previous character then your Enchantments are available already, however you can still complete the quest for a Legendary cache.

Mastery Skills

You can move your points from Chain Lightning upgrades in the Core Skills to Greater Fireball as we replace Chain Lightning with Ball Lightning and take Wizard's Ball Lightning for Crackling Energy. Leave one rank in Chain Lightning to use as your second Enchantment. Make Shocking Impact a priority, this provides a large amount of damage from your Lightning Familiar. Take a point in Glass Cannon near Defensive Skills to unlock Ultimate Skills.

Ultimate Skills

You don't take any ultimate skills for this build but you should prioritize Invigorating Conduit in the Mastery Skills also restores your Mana as you pick up the Crackling Energy from Wizard's Ball Lightning. Afterwards getting the two ranks in the Warmth passive which heals you for each enemy burning around you and allows you to save Healing Potions for important moments. At least one rank ofConvulsions will increase your damage and collect nearby Cracking Energy for you. Pick up Primordial Binding in the Conjuration Skills for Mana and mobility. You can move on once you unlock your Key Passive.

Key Passive

Overflowing Energy is your key passive. This provides you with additional Lightning Damage and makes Crackling Energy hit an additional target. Hitting an enemy with Crackling Energy reduces Shock Skill Cooldowns by .1 second, increased to .35 when hitting an Elite.

Priority Passives

After your Key Passive you pick up passives that have a more direct impact. Take ranks in Protection to give you a Barrier when casting a Skill with a cooldown. Next Invigorating Conduit and ranks to Ball Lightning in the Mastery Skills. Take Permafrost, Convulsions, Evocation, and a final point of Warmth in the Ultimate Skills. Grab Inner Flames from the Mastery Skills. Pick up your final point of Protection in the Conjuration Skills.

Final Journey to 60

Your final passives include Hoarfrost, Icy Touch, and Elemental Synergies from the Ultimate Skills. Mana Shield in the Conjuration Skills. You also take Shimmering Teleport for some extra damage reduction and Shimmering Ice Armor which reduces the cooldown of Ice Armor by spending Mana while it is active. You can change your order of passives if you feel the desire to, focusing on all damage before grabbing extra defense.

Sorcerer Enchantments

Fireball is your first Enchantment, this automatically creates a Fireball explosion whenever an enemy is defeated and is the reason you put a point into Fireball without it being on the Action Bar. This provides addition clear speed, destroying weaker enemies quickly and sometimes shotgunning Elites. It is a very powerful Enchantment for leveling but is rarely used in the Endgame.

Chain Lightning is your second enchantment, this automatically unleashes Chain Lightning after spending 100 Mana. This isn't very impactful but is better than most options.

Teleport is another option. This replaces your evade with a shorter range Teleport that doesn't make you Unstoppable. This has a long cooldown while leveling. Highly recommended for Undercity due to Cooldown Reduction from objectives.

Gear & Stat Priorities

To get started with the Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling build, always use your highest DPS Staff available for more damage. You can use one hand and offhand if they both have higher item power than your current Staff but you are less likely to find consistent upgrades for two items instead of one. Otherwise, follow the priority list below. While you don't have all of the desired temper manuals available, simply try to get anything useful on your gear until you acquire the right ones. For example, % Damage, Damage to Close, Vulnerable Damage, etc. all work as long as you activate their conditions. Likewise, you can temper multiple defensive options such as Resistances, Life, Armor to fill gaps in your defenses. Tempering low level gear is relatively cheap and the results can be very impactful.

Tip: For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you already have the better versions. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.

Legendaries & Uniques

The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.

For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.

First Season Journey Cache

The Season Journey provides caches with Legendary Aspects.

Undercity of Kurast

The Undercity is available to unlock at level 15 if you have access to Kurast. This provides Legendary items for aspects and quick upgrades. You don't need tributes to run the Undercity.
The Undercity provides cooldown reduction for a limited time after completing an objective. This allows you to use Teleport Enchantment to quickly traverse the dungeon while resetting your Skills faster.

Must-have Dungeon unlocks

You don't need any aspects to get started with the Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling build.

Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks

1. Control
   
2. Disobedience
   
3. Snowveiled
   
4. Might
   
5. Other useful Aspects (drop/gamble)

Other useful Aspects (drop/gamble)

1. Elemental Constellation - This is very powerful for any build leveling
   
2. Inevitable Fate - This is very powerful for any build leveling
   
3. Shredding Blades
   
4. Conceited
   
5. Storm Swell
   
6. Orange Herald
   
7. Concentration

Great Unique Items for leveling with this build

1. Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop
   
2. Esu's Heirloom

Jackpot Drops

As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can massively amplify your power and speed up the leveling by switching to another build. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:

Build-defining Aspects

• Serpentine (enables Hydra Endgame)
  
• Glacial / Frozen Tundra (enables Blizzard Endgame)
  
• Flamethrower's / Overheating (enables Incinerate Endgame)
  

Build-defining Unique Items

Ophidian Iris (enables Hydra Endgame)

Runes

You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them in Two-Handed Weapons if your build calls for them, otherwise place them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. The Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling build focuses on the following combos:

Best in Slot

• Cem + Qua for high mobility, increasing your movement speed with each evade and stacking up, this helps you navigate the game much faster.
  
• Cir + Ceh provides additional summons that Freeze enemies and apply Vulnerable. These also activate Primordial Binding for mobility and Mana Regeneration.

Alternative choices

As long as you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top Runes, you can also benefit from these options:

• Gar provides additional Critical Strike Chance and is a great generic option.
  
• Tun triggers Shocking Impact for a large burst of damage. This has high damage potential once you have enough ranks of Shocking Impact and plenty of movement speed to replace Qua.
  
• Tec for extra damage, with this you creates an earthquake and has the highest damage potential for early Invocation Runes.
  
• Yax and Poc are other options for Ritual Runes.
  
• Igni + Jah is a lot of mobility if you have access to Legendary runes. This gives you a Teleport for your evade every 3 seconds after casting a non-basic skill.

Mercenaries

Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one hired (permanent) mercenary during solo play and a reinforcement who assists you from time to time in certain situations.

Hired: Raheir

• Raheir is a great option to make surviving easier, Valiance prevents damage from large hits and makes you Unstoppable for very short duration. Take Ground Slam and grab Raheir's Aegis for extra defense. Next you want Bastion with Iron Wolf's Virtue. Valiance is a very powerful mechanic for pushing more difficult content or playing on Hardcore.
  
• Subo is a good alternative thanks to the passive Seeker that reveals enemies and objects on your map, this is a nice quality of life addition which also restores Mana. Grab Wire Trap along with Ready At Hand for some mobility. Next you pick Cover Fire with the damage increase from Opening Fire.

Reinforcement: Varyana

Varyana provides additional attack speed with Bloodthirst, set this to cast when the player casts any skill in combat.

How To Level

In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.

Seasonal / Alt Leveling

• Complete the Seasonal Questline in order to progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock additional Legendary Aspects and work on your Seasonal Powers.
  
• If your account is below Rank 4 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
  
• Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
  
• From level 1-60 you should focus on earning experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or completing Gathering Legion Events.
  
• Strongholds provide a big boost of experience for little time investment. Make sure to clear all of them after around level 40.
  
• If you're playing an Alt, make sure to use Tempers and Leveling Caches crafted from the Alchemist to speed up your progression.
  
• Find the most efficient way of leveling your character in detail with our Speed Leveling Guide.

Endgame Transition

As you approach level 60 with the Ball Lightning Sorcerer Leveling build, you unlock higher item power gear that represents a massive jump in character power. This is a good time to refresh your setup with new tempers and imprints.

At level 60, Paragon Levels and The Pit unlock. Work towards Tier 20 to enter Torment 1, where the Endgame begins. Focus on overcapping your Armor (1000+) and Resistances (70%+) as you receive some penalties to your character's stats:

-250 Armor per Torment difficulty
-25% All Resistances per Torment difficulty

At this point, your setup should look roughly like this before you dive into min/maxing with Uniques, Mythics & Masterworking. With better gear, more levels and Glyphs, you can push further and eventually unlock higher difficulties for increased rewards.

This step marks the end of the leveling guide. Below is the Paragon setup to get you started in Torment difficulty, but ideally, you should now transition towards the endgame version of this build or choose another of your liking.