Ball Lightning Sorcerer Endgame Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 3)

Build Introduction

The Ball Lightning Sorcerer build summons orbiting balls of shockingly powerful electricity that zap all nearby enemies. Stack multiple casts of Ball Lightning to ramp up damage before flying through the battlefield.

A Basic Attack is not needed, as Mana is managed through Invigorating Conduit, Prodigy’s Aspect and Gear Affixes. Storm through endgame activities with an entire galaxy of orbiting Ball Lightning!

After getting started with the original version of the build, be sure to check the list below for more advanced endgame variants.

• Telestomp: This speed farming setup with Raiment of the Infinite allows Sorcerers to zoom through dungeons for quick experience and loot.
• Gauntlet: This extremely fast setup maximizes damage and mobility to obtain the highest leaderboard scores.

This endgame build guide assumes your character is at least Level 50, and you should already have the Build Requirements listed in the section below. Follow the Chain Lightning Leveling Guide to progress a Sorcerer character from Level 1-50.

Mid Season 3 Update (Patch 1.3.3): Ball Lightning damage is increased by 10%. This buff further reinforces the Ball Lightning Sorcerer as a S-Tier build for all activities, including the newly added Gauntlet.

Season 3 Update (Patch 1.3.0): Ball Lightning receives a fix to a bug introduced in Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0) that caused the skill to deal more damage than intended. Ball Lightning Sorcerer is no longer overpowered, but still remains a high tier build. Watch the video below for the full details.

Video Guide and Gameplay Footage

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Build Requirements

Required Aspects

Prodigy’s Aspect

Gravitational Aspect

Ball Lightning has a high resource cost at 50 Mana and requires specific gear to perform well. We recommend starting with our Chain Lightning Leveling Guide to begin a new Sorcerer character, then transitioning to the Chain Lightning Endgame Guide to collect the required items listed below.

• Rings with Maximum Mana and Resource Generation.
• A Helm with Maximum Mana and Cooldown Reduction
• A Focus and Gloves with Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource
• Boots with Mana Cost Reduction
• An Amulet with Mana Cost Reduction and Cooldown Reduction
• A highly rolled Prodigy’s Aspect, preferably above 20 Mana
• Gravitational Aspect

While these items are minimum requirements, being prepared with all the aspects and the priority affix gear listed in this build will make the switch easier.

Season of the Construct

Season 3 Patch Updates

The following list details the changes in the Season 3 Update (Patch 1.3.0) that may pertain to Ball Lightning Sorcerers. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.

• Ball Lightning: Enhanced Ball Lightning changed to have its attack rate increase with attack speed, up to 25%.
• Lightning Spear: Critical Strikes now apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Fixed an issue where Ball Lightning was dealing far more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where the Protection passive did not take into account any bonuses to Barrier generation.
• Melted Heart of Selig
  • All Stats increased to 2x normal value.
  • Core Skill Damage changed to Movement Speed.
  • Damage While Healthy increased to 3x normal value.
  • Unique Power Changed
    • Previous: Gain 30 Maximum Resource. In addition, when you take damage, drain 3 resources for every 1% of life you would have lost instead.
    • New: Gain 60 maximum Resource. 75% of incoming damage drains 2 Resource for every 1% of Life you would have lost instead.

Best Seneschal Construct Companion Powers

The Season 3 theme introduces a Seneschal Construct Companion that can deal damage or provide support to complement your character. Equip the Seneschal with two Governing Stones to activate their abilities, and then link them to three Tuning Stones each to augment the abilities. There are 12 different Governing Stones and 27 different Tuning Stones that can be found in Vaults scattered across Sanctuary. Fuse together duplicate stones to level them up, increasing the potency of Governing Stones or adding augments to Tuning Stones.

Listed below is the best Seneschal Construct Companion setup for Ball Lightning Sorcerers. The first 2 Governing Stone setups are equipped for the construct to support the player. The 3rd setup is equipped for the construct to deal high damage on its own. Although only 3 Tuning Stones can be linked to each Governing Stone, alternative options are provided and sorted in order of importance.

1. Flash of Adrenaline: Administers a quick flash of adrenaline into the player, granting bonus damage for a duration.
   • Genesis: Increase the effectiveness of the supported Skill.
   • Tactical Support: Decrease the cooldown of the supported Skill.
   • Duration Support: Supported Skills have their durations increased.
   • Fortify Support: When the Seneschal Construct uses the supported Skill, you gain Fortify. Skills with slower attack speeds or skills with cooldowns will increase the amount of Fortify granted.
2. Impale: Perform a line attack to all enemies in front of the Seneschal Construct dealing damage. — This attack setup is used for a supportive construct, buffing the player to deal more damage.
   • Evernight: The supported Skill grants you +4 to all Skills when used.
   • Burning Support (Optional): A portion of he supported Skill’s damage is applied as Burning damage over time. Burning enemies take bonus Critical Strike Damage from the Seneschal Construct. — This Tuning Stone can be used to apply Burning instead of Firebolt Enchantment.
   • Resource Support: Player gains an amount of Primary Resource when the supporting Skill first deals damage.
   • Efficiency Support: When the supporting skill deals damage, you gain Critical Strike Chance to the same targets hit.
   • Safeguard Support: When used, the supported Skill grants Damage Reduction to you.
3. Firefly: Deploy a small construct that lands on the target and explodes 3 times, dealing damage. — Replace the Impale setup to enable more damage output from the construct.
   • Multishot Support: Supported Projectile skills launch additional projectiles.
   • Piercing Support: The supported Projectile Skill will pierce multiple enemies.
   • Seeking Support: The supported Projectile Skill will auto-seek enemies for a limited duration.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Skill Bar Setup for Ball Lightning Sorcerer (order does not matter)

Ball Lightning Frost Nova Teleport Lightning Spear Flame Shield Unstable Currents

The following tables show the full allocation of Skill Points for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer build. The first table has the most important 51 points to start the build. The second table has the remaining 7 points that are allocated once you obtain all Skill Points from Renown.

Priority Skills	Cluster
Fire Bolt Level 2 for Enchantment Slot (not on Skill Bar)	Basic Skill
Devastation Level 1, Elemental Dominance Level 3	Core Skill
Teleport Level 1, Enhanced Teleport, Shimmering Teleport Frost Nova Level 1, Enhanced Frost Nova, Mystical Frost Nova Flame Shield Level 1, Enhanced Flame Shield, Mystical Flame Shield Elemental Attunement Level 1 Glass Cannon Level 2	Defensive Skill
Lightning Spear Level 1, Enhanced Lightning Spear, Invoked Lightning Spear Align the Elements Level 1, Protection Level 3, Mana Shield Level 3	Conjuration Skill
Ball Lightning Level 5, Enhanced Ball Lightning, Wizard’s Ball Lightning Inner Flames Level 1, Devouring Blaze Level 3 Static Discharge Level 1, Invigorating Conduit Level 3	Mastery Skill
Unstable Currents, Prime Unstable Currents, Supreme Unstable Currents Permafrost Level 1, Hoarfrost Level 3	Ultimate Skill
Overflowing Energy	Key Passives

Remaining Renown Points	Cluster
Coursing Currents Level 1, Electrocution Level 3, Conduction Level 3	Ultimate Skill

Alternative Skills

If you are using Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop, replace Lightning Spear with Ice Blades on the Skill Bar to activate an additional damage buff stack from dealing Cold damage. Remove all Skill Points from Lightning Spear, Enhanced Lightning Spear and Invoked Lightning Spear. Allocating a Skill Point into Ice Blades is not necessary if Harlequin Crest is equipped. Put remaining points into Glass Cannon and Precision Magic.

Enchantment Slots

Non-Ultimate Skills can be equipped in two available Enchantment Slots. However, a skill must have at least one skill point allocated to it in order to be used in the Enchantment Slot. Skill points that have been granted through gear work as well.

Slot Fire Bolt in the first Enchantment Slot. This applies Burning to enemies for Devouring Blaze and Burning Effects from Paragon. Do not equip Fire Bolt on the Skill Bar.

Slot Ball Lightning in the second Enchantment Slot to maximize Damage Per Second (DPS). Teleport Enchantment is equipped instead in the Telestomp build variant.

Paragon

The Paragon progression system unlocks after reaching Level 50, and offers a considerable boost to character power. Within the Paragon Board, there are many different bonuses, ranging from minor stat enhancements on Magic Nodes to more significant gains with Rare Glyphs and Legendary Nodes.

Important Notes:

• Additional Bonus requirements on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain increased radius range at Level 15.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the correct order. Bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the correct orientation before attachment.

The list below contains the most beneficial Rare Glyphs and Legendary Nodes for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer build, sorted in the order obtained in the final Level 100 Paragon Tree. The images that follow provide a visual of each Paragon Board setup.

Name	Effect
Flamefeeder	• For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [9.6%] increased damage to Burning targets. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): You deal x10% increased direct damage to Burning enemies.
Elemental Summoner	Your Conjuration Skills have 10% reduced Cooldown or Mana cost. They also deal bonus Damage equal to x5% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage with Cold, Fire, and Lightning. (Legendary Node not used)
Control	• For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [14.4%] increased damage to Crowd Controlled targets. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): You deal x10% increased damage to Slowed or Chilled enemies or, instead, x20% increased damage to Stunned or Frozen enemies.
Burning Instinct	Your Burning damage deals bonus damage equal to x10% of the total amount of your Critical Strike Damage bonus, plus x1% for every 25 Intelligence you have. (Legendary Node not used)
Reinforced	• Grants + [120%] bonus to all Rare nodes within range. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Willpower purchased in radius range): You gain 15% Damage Reduction while you have an active Barrier.
Enchantment Master	Your Enchantments are 20% stronger. (Legendary Node not used)
Territorial	• For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [9.6%] increased damage to Close targets. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): You gain 15% Damage Reduction against Close enemies.
Ceaseless Conduit	Crackling Energy has a 25% chance to not consume a Charge when triggered. Crackling Energy’s damage is increased by x3% per 20 total Intelligence you have. (Legendary Node not used)
Destruction	• For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [19.2%] increased Critical Strike Damage. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): Critical Strikes increase all damage the enemy takes from you by x2% for 10 seconds, up to x12%.
Static Surge	After spending 100 Mana, your next cast of Chain Lightning or Charged Bolts makes enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds and grants you 10% of your maximum Mana. This Mana cost requirement is reduced by Mana Cost Reduction bonuses.
Adept	• For every 5 Intelligence within range, Mastery Skills gain + [9.6%] increased damage. • Additional Bonus (requires 40 Intelligence purchased in radius range): Mastery Skills have 20% increased area.

1. Starting Board (Flamefeeder)

2. Elemental Summoner (Control)

3. Burning Instinct (Reinforced)

4. Enchantment Master (Territorial)

5. Ceaseless Conduit (Destruction)

6. Static Surge (Adept)

Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg. Click this link for the Paragon planner.

Mechanics and Playstyle

The Ball Lightning Sorcerer requires management of resource with multiple cooldowns. Wizard’s Ball Lightning forms Crackling Energy to absorb for Mana gains with Invigorating Conduit. Crackling Energy also reduces the Cooldown of Unstable Currents with Overflowing Energy.

Mystical Flame Shield provides Mana Cost Reduction. Additional Mana is generated with Prodigy’s Aspect.

Cast Frost Nova to freeze an entire pack of enemies and apply Vulnerable with Mystical Frost Nova.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage.

1. If you have Raiment of the Infinite, use Teleport to Stun and group up enemies.
2. Cast Frost Nova to Freeze enemies and apply Vulnerable with Mystical Frost Nova.
3. (Optional) Activate Unstable Currents against tough Elites and Bosses. This Ultimate Skill can be used often due to Overflowing Energy, but make sure it is available for Bosses at the end of dungeons.
4. Activate Flame Shield for 25% Mana Cost Reduction, or reserve the skill for emergencies in dangerous battles.
5. Spam Ball Lightning, making sure to collect Crackling Energy in order to stay above 100 Mana.
6. Activate Lightning Spear for more Stuns.
7. Repeat the rotation, making sure to allow Mana to fill completely before using Frost Nova.

Gear Choice and Stats

While farming with your Ball Lightning Sorceress, make sure to pick up all Rare Item drops that may be upgrades. Additionally, save Legendary Items that have useful aspects in your stash to be used later, or for extracting and imprinting onto well rolled Rare Items.

A Wand and Focus are preferred over a Staff for the extra Cooldown Reduction rolls. A Focus has a Cooldown Reduction implicit, as well as a possible affix mod. A Wand is preferred for the Lucky Hit Chance implicit while using Ball Lightning Enchantment.

Mana Cost Reduction is an important stat to spam more Ball Lightning. Maximum Mana allows for more casts above 100 Mana for Elementalist’s Aspect. Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource is helpful for Mana generation.

Higher Item Level gear provides higher stat values. Replace outdated gear often, and upgrade new gear at the Blacksmith to increase Item Levels further.

Stat Priority List

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Ball Lightning Sorcerers. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending how much is stacked or other character stats. Bolded stats are the most important and sometimes vital for the build to function properly.

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow. Maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary Items that are important for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer build. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used if you cannot find the proper Legendary drops, but they have weaker effects. Extract Aspects from lower level Legendary Items and imprint them onto better Rare Items with preferred stats.

Prodigy’s Aspect generates Mana from casting Teleport, Frost Nova, Lightning Spear, Flame Shield and Unstable Currents. Complete Witchwater Dungeon in Hawezar to unlock this Aspect in the Codex of Power.

Frostblitz Aspect seems like it has a bad tradeoff of increasing the Cooldown on Frost Nova, but it has an unexpected interaction (possible bug) with Enhanced Frost Nova. The Cooldown effect double dips when you have 2 maximum charges, reducing Cooldown by 2 seconds for every kill, up to 8 seconds total. This interaction makes Frostblitz Aspect worth using when it normally would not be used.

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Legendary Aspect Power
Amulet (optional replacement with Melted Heart of Selig)	Elementalist’s Aspect	Core or Mastery Skills cast at or above 100 Mana gain a [20.0 – 40.0%] increased Critical Strike Chance.
Ring Slot #1	Prodigy’s Aspect	Using a Cooldown restores [15 – 25] Mana.
Ring Slot #2 (optional replacement with Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop)	Edgemaster’s Aspect	Skills deal up to [10 – 20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
Wand or Focus	Gravitational Aspect	Ball Lightning orbits around you and deals [15 – 25%] increased damage.
Wand or Focus	Conceited Aspect	Deal [15 – 25%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Gloves (optional replacement with Fists of Fate)	Storm Swell Aspect	You deal x [21 – 30%] increased damage to Vulnerable enemies while you have a Barrier.
Chest (replaced by Raiment of the Infinite)	Exploiter’s Aspect	You have 20% increased Crowd Control Duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal [20 – 40%] increased damage to them.
Helm (replaced by Harlequin Crest)	Frostblitz Aspect	Frost Nova gains an additional Charge but the Cooldown per Charge is increased by [40 – 30%].
Pants	Aspect of Disobedience	You gain [0.6 – 1.1%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [36 – 66%].
Boots (optional replacement withPenitent Greaves or Flickerstep)	Aspect of the Bounding Conduit	Gain [25 – 30%] Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.

Unique Items

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build.

• Raiment of the Infinite (Highly Recommended): This Unique Chest Armor synergizes well with this build to group and Stun enemies. Check the Telestomp Variant section for more details.
• Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop (Recommended for Maximum DPS): This Malignant Unique Ring can provide a 45% multiplier with 3 elemental damage stacks for a maximum DPS setup.
• Harlequin Crest (Recommended Uber Unique): This powerful Uber Unique provides the best of offensive and defense, if you are lucky enough for it to drop from Uber Duriel.
• Melted Heart of Selig (Recommended Build Variant): This Uber Unique is used in the Immortal Build Variant to survive difficult content.
• Flickerstep (Optional): The unique effect from these boots has been fixed to work with Teleport Enchantment in Patch 1.3.0, and it can be useful for more Unstable Currents uptime.
• Penitent Greaves (Optional): These Unique Boots provide a damage increasing effect in a gear slot that does not allow for Offensive Aspects. The Chill effect also provides an alternative activation of Hoarfrost for more damage outside of Frost Nova. Unfortunately, they do not have the preferred implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown, for the Telestomp variant build.
• Fists of Fate (Optional): These Unique Gloves increase overall damage by 50%, if they roll a perfect 300% value. Although, they are still a minor loss in total DPS compared to well-rolled Legendary Gloves with Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, Lightning Critical Strike Damage and an Offensive Aspect.

Not Recommended Unique items

Listed below are the Unique Items not recommended for this build and the reasons they are not worthwhile.

• Tibault’s Will: The unique effect provides a huge separate damage multiplier if rolled at 40%, but you lose 2 Damage Reduction affixes and +4 Ranks of Ball Lightning.
• The Oculus – The random Teleport location is a major downside. The unique affix, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown, can be obtained as an implicit affix on Legendary Boots instead. The Telestomp Variant is a better setup that already allows for permanent stun-locking and non-random Teleport locations. In addition, a Legendary Weapon provides much more DPS with damage affixes and an Offensive Aspect.
• Frostburn – These Unique Gloves are a major DPS loss compared to well-rolled Legendary Gloves or Fists of Fate.
• Iceheart Brais – The occasional Frost Nova on enemy death should not be needed, and it does not help while moving from pack to pack. Legendary Pants provide more important Damage Reduction affixes and a Defensive Aspect.

Gems

Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each slot type.

• Weapon: Royal Emerald for Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
• Armor: Royal Ruby for Maximum Life or Royal Topaz to prevent deaths from chain Crowd Controls.
• Jewelry: Royal Skull for Armor or Individual Resistance Gems for Resistances that are not already capped at 70%. The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow.

Elixirs and Health Potions

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world.

Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume, ranked by importance. Elixirs that are not available at the Alchemist can only be found as drops. Open Splitting Steel and Mystery Chests in Helltides to farm non-craftable Elixirs.

1. Iron Skin Elixir (non-craftable): Essential to cap Armor against high level enemies, especially in Tier 100 Nightmare Dungeons. Alternatively, Heady Iron Barb Elixir can be crafted at the Alchemist.
2. Elixir of Resourcefulness (non-craftable): Maximum Mana provides more buffer for casts above 100 Mana for Elementalist’s Aspect and Life protection with Melted Heart of Selig.
3. Elixir of Fortitude (non-craftable): Maximum Life increases Barrier amount and reduces Mana drain from Melted Heart of Selig.
4. Elixir of Combatant Fortune (non-craftable): Lucky Hit Chance provides more Ball Lightning Enchantment procs.
5. Heady Assault Elixir (craftable): Attack Speed allows for more potential active Ball Lightnings. Although, the tick rate of Ball Lightning should already be capped at 25% Attack Speed Bonus.
6. Elixir of Cruelty (non-craftable): Provides the highest source of Critical Strike Chance from an Elixir, if not already capped at 100%. Alternatively, Heady Precision Elixir can be crafted at the Alchemist.

Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.

Telestomp Ball Lightning Sorcerer Build Variant

Telestomp Ball Lightning Sorcerer is a Stun variant build created by Lexyu. This setup is designed to speed farm Normal or Nightmare Dungeons even faster for more experience and loot.

Raiment of the Infinite allows this build to use 2 sources of Teleport offensively. Teleporting on top of enemies to Stun and group them up is called “Telestomping”. This playstyle can quickly clear groups of enemies and keep them Crowd Controlled (CC) for safety, perfect for speed farming Nightmare Dungeons!

This version of the build requires the Unique Chest Armor, Raiment of the Infinite. Target farm Raiment of the Infinite from the uber version of Varshan and Lord Zir for the best chances of it dropping. Once the required item is obtained, continue with the following changes to the original version of the Ball Lightning Sorcerer.

• Equip Raiment of the Infinite to enable Telestomps.
• Replace Arc Lash with Teleport in the Enchantment Slots to make use of the Stun on Raiment of the Infinite. The extra Teleport that replaces Evade also benefits from additional Ranks to Teleport, Cooldown Reduction and Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown implicit effect on Boots. Fire Bolt stays in the other Enchantment Slot, due to the strong benefits of Devouring Blaze and Burning Effects from Paragon.
• Prioritize Boots with the implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by 1.2 Seconds. Make sure to upgrade the Boots 5 times to get the highest effect possible. Use the Evade Teleport foremost and often, as the Cooldown is quickly reduced. Get into a rhythm of Telestomping a group of enemies from a distance to engage, spamming Ball Lightning and then moving on to the next pack to repeat.
• Prioritize Boots with +4 Ranks of Teleport. Leftover Skill Points can also be used to increase Teleport Level.

Gauntlet Ball Lightning Sorcerer Build Variant

The Gauntlet variant build for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer is a late endgame setup, focused on speed to obtain the highest leaderboard score. This is one of the best Gauntlet builds for Sorcerers in Season 3 of Diablo 4. For more information on this endgame activity, check out our Gauntlet Guide.

Climbing up leaderboard ranks of the Gauntlet requires quick mobility and high damage to clear enemies before the timer runs out. Therefore, the Gauntlet setup for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer trades defense for offense whenever possible. A Telestomp playstyle is also utilized, modified to achieve the fastest mobility in the game.

Make the following changes to the original Telestomp Ball Lightning Endgame Build for the Gauntlet setup.

• Equip Legendary Boots with Shrine Buff Duration and Ranks of Teleport Skill affixes, along with the Attack’s Reduce Evade’s Cooldown implicit effect. Hectic Aspect is imprinted to reduce the Cooldown of Unstable Currents for 100% uptime.
• Allocate Esu’s Ferocity and imprint Aspect of Ancient Flame on your Amulet to gain up to 75% Attack Speed bonus.
• Slot Fireball as the second Enchantment, in addition to Teleport. The explosions on enemy death count as an Attack for the implicit effect on your Boots, further reducing the Cooldown of your Evade Teleport.
• Make additional changes in the following Gauntlet sections.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar for Gauntlet

Skill Bar Setup for Gauntlet Ball Lightning Sorcerer (order does not matter)

Ball Lightning Arc Lash Teleport Unstable Currents Flame Shield Frost Bolt

Replace Lightning Spear and Frost Nova with Arc Lash and Frost Bolt on the Skill Bar. Cast the Basic Skill constantly instead of Ball Lightning to activate Hectic Aspect. Ball Lightning is mainly auto-casted through Unstable Currents.

Remove all Crackling Energy synergies. Arc Lash does not need Mana Generation from Invigorating Conduit, and Hectic Aspect reduces Unstable Currents instead of Overflowing Energy.

Cast Frost Bolt once to deal Cold damage for a damage increase stack from Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop. You do not need to keep casting Frost Bolt as long as you continue to refresh the buff stacks with other Skills. Fire explosions from Fireball also provide another buff stack.

WARNING: This Skill Tree setup is designed for maximum damage output to obtain the highest score possible in the Gauntlet. Defense is traded for Offense at nearly every possible opportunity. This glass cannon playstyle can take some practice to master.

Skills	Cluster
Arc Lash Rank 5, Enhanced Arc Lash, Glinting Arc Lash Frost Bolt Rank 1	Basic Skill
Fireball Rank 1, Enhanced Fireball, Destructive Fireball (for Enchantment Slot, not on the Skill Bar) Charged Bolts Rank 5, Enhanced Charged Bolts, Destructive Charged Bolts (not on the Skill Bar) Chain Lightning Rank 5 (not on the Skill Bar)	Core Skill
Teleport Rank 5, Enhanced Teleport, Shimmering Teleport Flame Shield Rank 1 Elemental Attunement Rank 1 Glass Cannon Rank 3	Defensive Skill
Lightning Spear Rank 1, Enhanced Lightning Spear, Invoked Lightning Spear (not on the Skill Bar) Align the Elements Rank 1, Protection Rank 3 Conjuration Mastery Rank 3	Conjuration Skill
Ball Lightning Rank 5, Enhanced Ball Lightning Inner Flames Level 1, Devouring Blaze Level 3	Mastery Skill
Unstable Currents, Prime Unstable Currents	Ultimate Skill
Esu’s Ferocity	Key Passives

Paragon Setup for Gauntlet

The Gauntlet setup makes the following slight adjustments to Paragon from the original Ball Lightning Endgame Build, so you do not have to completely refund all Paragon points.

1. Remove Control, Reinforced and Territorial.
2. Move Flamefeeder to the second board (Elemental Summoner).
3. Insert Elementalist, Tactician and Exploit.
4. Reallocate points in radius range of Elementalist in the starting board.
5. Reallocate points from the second board (Elemental Summoner) and third board (Burning Instinct) to obtain the Enchantment Master node. This Legendary Node lowers the base Cooldown of the Evade Teleport.

WARNING: Multiple sources of Damage Reduction are traded for Damage Multipliers in this Glyph setup for the Gauntlet. Survivability is extremely low. Hardcore players should follow the original Ball Lightning Paragon setup.

Starting Board (Elementalist)

Elemental Summoner (Flamefeeder)

Burning Instinct (Tactician)

Enchantment Master (Exploit)

Ceaseless Conduit (Destruction)

Static Surge (Adept)

Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg. Click this link for the Gauntlet Paragon planner.

Changelog

• March 14th, 2024: Gauntlet Build Variant section added.
• March 5th, 2024: Guide updated for the Mid Season 3 Update (Patch 1.3.3).
• February 5th, 2024: Seneschal Construct Companion Powers section updated with an optional setup for construct damage.
• January 28th, 2024: Seneschal Construct Companion Powers section updated.
• January 22nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0).
  • Seneschal Construct Companion Powers section added.
  • Barrier Generation updated in the Stat Priority List due to the Protection passive bug fix.
• December 10th, 2023: Abattoir of Zir Push Ball Lightning Sorcerer Build Variant section added. UPDATE: AoZ Build Variant moved to a separate page.
• December 6th, 2023: Tears of Blood Unique Glyph added to Paragon section.
• December 4th, 2023:
  • Harlequin Crest and Melted Heart of Selig added to Unique Item section.
  • Immortal Build Variant section added.
• November 15th, 2023: Paragon Board images added.
• November 11th, 2023: Barrier Bug mentioned and Barrier Generation affix lowered in Stat Priority List.
• November 9th, 2023: Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop added to Unique Item section.
• November 1st, 2023: Resistances added to Stat Priority List and Gem sections.
• October 29th, 2023: Paragon video added.
• October 27th, 2023: Tactician switched to Reinforced in the Paragon setup for more survivability.
• October 26th, 2023:
  • Minor adjustment to Aspect priority.
  • New items, Flickerstep and Tibault’s Will, added to Unique Item section.
• October 23th, 2023:
  • Ball Lightning Bug section added.
  • Vampiric Power setup reevaluated.
  • Stat Affixes for Rings reevaluated.
• October 17th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0).
• September 11th, 2023: New Tier 100 Endgame video added.
• September 9th, 2023: Build Requirements section added.
• August 20th, 2023: Not Recommended Unique Items section redone. Added The Oculus to the list.
• August 15th, 2023: Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha fixed in Patch 1.1.2 to be correctly calculated as multiplicative instead of additive. Malignant Heart Tier List adjusted accordingly.
• August 9th, 2023: Malignant Heart rankings reevaluated for Patch 1.1.1 changes.
  • Caged Heart of The Barber no longer prevents “on hit” effects and Lucky Hit chance from working.
  • Caged Heart of Spellbreaking now reduces all damage taken, instead of providing resistances to individual elements.
  • Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha bonus was found to be additive with other damage increases, instead of separate multiplier.
• August 4th, 2023: Guide released for Patch 1.1.1.