Chain Lightning Sorcerer Endgame Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 1)

Build Introduction

The Chain Lightning Sorcerer build releases shockingly powerful electricity that bounces through the battlefield. It is designed to inflict substantial damage by hitting a single target repeatedly, or by chaining through enemies in a group. Storm through endgame activities with an endless barrage of Chain Lightning!

If you used our Chain Lightning Sorcerer Leveling Guide, this is the perfect build to transition into the endgame. This article adds the best-in-slot aspects and stats on gear, as well as the Paragon setup.

The major changes from the leveling build to this endgame build are:

Destructive Chain Lightning is switched to instead of Greater Chain Lightning to form Crackling Energy.
Overflowing Energy is used instead of Vyr’s Mastery to Cooldown Unstable Currents with the added Crackling Energy.
Flame Shield is used instead of Arc Lash. A Basic Attack is no longer needed, as Mana is managed through Invigorating Conduit, Recharging Aspect and Gear Affixes.
Fire Bolt Enchantment is utilized for Burning effects from Devouring Blaze and Paragon.

Chain Lightning Sorcerer can be transformed into a speed farming powerhouse with Raiment of the Infinite, allowing the Sorcerer to zoom through dungeons for quick experience and loot. Check the Telestomp Variant Section for all the details. In addition, this build has a variant that excels at defeating Uber Lilith, the final pinnacle boss in the Echo of Hatred.

The only starting requirement for this endgame build guide is a character around Level 50 in World Tier 3. Start a new Sorcerer character with the Chain Lightning Leveling Guide and then switch to this endgame guide when ready.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

High burst damage
Endless Mana generation without a Basic Attack
Fast movement and dungeon clearing
Multiple Defensive Skills for survivability

Weaknesses

Damage partially reliant on Crowd Controlled enemies or Staggered bosses
Requires proper Mana and Cooldown management
Lacks survivability when Defensive Skills or Crowd Controls are inactive

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

Video Overview and Gameplay Footage

Season of the Malignant

Season 1 Patch Updates

The following list details the changes in the Season 1 Patch Update that are specific to this build. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.

Devouring Blaze bonus Critical Strike damage reduced from 10/20/30% to 7/14/21%.
Devouring Blaze bonus Critical Strike damage to Immobilized reduced from 25/50/75% to 10/20/30%.
Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks reduced from 100 to 60, reducing maximum Bonus Armor % from 25%-50% to 15%-30%.
Protection Barrier duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Mana Shield Damage Reduction increased from 5/10/15% to 7/14/21%.
Destruction Glyph now affects all damage instead of just Core Skills.
Fixed an issue where Aspect of Control was applying its damage bonus 3 times for Staggered bosses.

Patch 1.1.1

The second major update for Season 1 brings a few much needed buffs to Sorcerers in Patch 1.1.1, released on August 8th, 2023. The changes directly affecting this build are listed below.

Destructive Chain Lightning
- Chance to form Crackling Energy increased from 25% to 30%.
Greater Chain Lightning
- Each time Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 5% increased damage for its duration.
Aspect of Unbroken Tether
- Additional Chain Lightning bounces increased from 2 to 4.
Recharging Aspect
- Each time Chain Lightning bounces, you gain 1.5-3 Mana.

Managing Mana with the Chain Lightning Sorcerer becomes easier, allowing for more Chain Lightning spamming without the need for a Basic Attack.

Best Malignant Hearts Tier List for Chain Lightning Sorcerer

The Season 1 theme introduces Malignant Hearts that provide build-altering bonuses. The hearts are divided into 4 categories, each with a color that needs to be socketed in the corresponding colored Malignant Socket on equipped jewelry. Wrathful Hearts are a special case due to their rarity, and can be placed in any Socket.

Always socket Malignant Hearts instead of a Skull in Jewelry. Malignant Hearts provide an Armor bonus that scales with its Item Power.

Listed below is the Malignant Heart Tier List for this build, ranked by importance. Stats displayed reflect what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop.

Only 1 Wrathful Heart can be equipped at a time. Caged Heart of The Barber is recommended for all general farming activities. Caged Heart of Omnipower can be switched to for more single target DPS against Bosses.
- Caged Heart of The Barber (Wrathful, Super-World Tier III): Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second. – Fixed in Patch 1.1.1 to work with “on hit” effects and Lucky Hit chance.
- Caged Heart of Omnipower (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): Core Skills that launch a projectile consume all of your Mana. For every 45-35 extra Mana consumed, you launch an additional projectile, and the damage is increased by 3.0-5.0%.
Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha (Vicious, Offensive): For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds. – Fixed in Patch 1.1.2 to be correctly calculated as multiplicative instead of additive.
Caged Heart of Tempting Fate (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
Caged Heart of Revenge (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies.
Caged Heart of Spellbreaking (Brutal, Defensive): Upon taking Elemental Damage, gain 10-20% Damage Reduction for 5 seconds. – Buffed in Patch 1.1.1 to reduce all damage taken, instead of providing resistances to individual elements.
Caged Heart of Determination (Devious, Utility): Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.
Caged Heart of the Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
Caged Heart of the Picana (Vicious, Offensive): Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

The following tables show the full allocation of Skill Points for the Chain Lightning Sorcerer build. The first table has the most important 49 points to start the build. The second table has the remaining 9 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
Chain Lightning Level 5, Enhanced Chain Lightning, Destructive Chain Lightning 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 3	Defensive Skill
Lightning Spear Level 1, Enhanced Lightning Spear, Invoked Lightning Spear Align the Elements Level 1, Protection Level 3	Conjuration Skill
Inner Flames Level 1, Devouring Blaze Level 3 Static Discharge Level 1, Invigorating Conduit Level 3	Mastery Skill
Unstable Currents, Prime Unstable Currents Permafrost Level 1, Hoarfrost Level 3	Ultimate Skill
Overflowing Energy	Key Passives

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

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 Chain Lightning in the second Enchantment Slot for additional casts to increase DPS.

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.

Additional Bonus requirements on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain increased radius range at Level 15.

Below, we have compiled a list of the most beneficial nodes for the Chain Lightning Sorcerer build, sorted in the order obtained in Paragon.

Name	Effect
Elementalist	• Paragon nodes within range gain + [72%] bonus to their Non-physical damage and damage reduction modifiers. • Additional Bonus (requires 40 Intelligence purchased in radius range): Dealing Fire, Cold, or Lightning damage to an enemy increases all damage you deal to them by 5% for 10 seconds, stacking once per element.
Frigid Fate	Dealing Cold damage to Vulnerable enemies increases your Lucky Hit Chance by +1% for 5 seconds, up to 15%. (Legendary Node not used)
Tactician	• Grants + [120%] bonus to all Rare nodes within range. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): You deal x10% increased damage for 4 seconds after casting a Defensive Skill.
Elemental Summoner	Your Conjuration Skills have a 5% reduced Cooldown or Mana cost per Conjuration Skill you have equipped. (Legendary Node not used)
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.
Burning Instinct	Your Burning damage is increased by 40% of your Critical Strike Damage, further increased by 5% for every 20 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	Stunning Close enemies restores 10 Mana.
Exploit	• For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [3.85%] increased damage to Vulnerable targets. • Additional Bonus (requires 25 Dexterity purchased in radius range): Dealing damage to a Vulnerable enemy increases your damage by x1% for 6 seconds, up to x10%.
Searing Heat	Casting Fireball or Meteor increases the Critical Strike Chance of further casts of that Skill by +5% for 5 seconds, up to +15%. Additional stacks do not refresh this timer. (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.

Starting Board

Path right and up to Elementalist. Purchase all 4 surrounding Magic Nodes.
Continue up to the Glyph Socket. Insert Elementalist and purchase 40 Intelligence from nodes in radius range.
Obtain Elemental Balance nearby and 3 Magic Nodes providing Non-Physical Damage.
Continue down to Resilience and purchase 2 Magic Nodes providing Maximum Life.
Continue up the left side to the first Board Attachment Gate. Attach Frigid Fate after rotating the board clockwise 1 time. The Glyph Socket should be located in the bottom left quadrant.

Frigid Fate (2nd Board)

The Legendary Node on this board is not used.

Path left and then up to Oppressive. Purchase all 5 surrounding Magic Nodes.
Continue up and then right to the Glyph Socket. Insert Tactician and purchase 25 Dexterity from nodes in radius range. This Glyph needs the increased radius range at Level 15 to fulfill the additional bonus. Skip this step or use Enchanter until Tactician is at least Level 15.
Obtain Weakness nearby and purchase 3 Magic Nodes providing Vulnerable Damage.
Continue right to Restorative. Purchase 2 Magic Nodes providing Maximum Life.
Take the shortest route to the Board Attachment Gate on the right side. Attach Elemental Summoner without any rotations to the board. The Glyph Socket should be located on the top side.

Elemental Summoner (3rd Board)

The Legendary Node on this board is not used.

Path right and then down to Reservoir and purchase all 5 Magic Nodes.
Continue right and then down to Swift Conjurer. Purchase 3 Magic Nodes providing Attack Speed.
Path back up to the Glyph Socket. Insert Flamefeeder and purchase all Dexterity nodes in radius range. This Glyph needs the increased radius range at Level 15 to fulfill the additional bonus. Skip this step until Flamefeeder is at least Level 15.
Take the shortest route to the Board Attachment Gate on the bottom side. Attach Burning Instinct after rotating the board clockwise 2 times. The Glyph Socket should be located in the top right quadrant.

Burning Instinct (4th Board)

The Legendary Node on this board is not used.

Path down and then right to the Glyph Socket. Insert Destruction and purchase all Dexterity nodes in radius range.
Obtain Smoldering Embers nearby and purchase 3 Magic Nodes providing Damage Reduction from Enemies That Are Burning.
Obtain Cinders nearby and purchase 3 Magic Nodes providing Damage to Burning Enemies.

Static Surge (5th Board)

From the Frigid Fate board, take the shortest route to the Board Attachment Gate of the left side. Attach Static Surge after rotating the board clockwise 2 times. The Glyph Socket should be located on the left side.
Path left and down to Overwhelming. Purchase all 5 surrounding Magic Nodes.
Continue up to Static Surge.
Path back down and left to the Glyph Socket. Insert Exploit and purchase all Dexterity nodes in radius range.
Obtain Incapacitate nearby and purchase 3 Magic Nodes providing Damage to Stunned Enemies.
Take the shortest route to the Board Attachment Gate on the bottom side. Attach Searing Heat without any rotations to the board. The Glyph Socket should be located in the top right quadrant.

Searing Heat (6th Board)

The Legendary Node on this board is not used.

Path right and then down to the Glyph Socket. Insert Control and purchase all Dexterity nodes in radius range.
Continue down and left to Combustion. Purchase 2 Magic Nodes providing Critical Strike Damage.

The remaining 1 Paragon point can be put into Potion Healing and All Resistance. Click this link and check the Paragon page on the planner for a visual of the entire setup.

Mechanics and Playstyle

The Chain Lightning Sorcerer is highly mana efficient due to Recharging Aspect and Crackling Energy utility. Destructive Chain Lightning form Crackling Energy to absorb for Mana gains with Shocking Impact. Crackling Energy also reduces the cooldown of Unstable Currents, Teleport and Lightning Spear with Overflowing Energy.

The Stun from Invoked Lightning Spear activates Static Surge for Mana generation and Aspect of Control for more damage.

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.

Cast Teleport (If you have Raiment of the Infinite) or Lightning Spear to Stun enemies.
Cast Frost Nova to Freeze enemies and apply Vulnerable with Mystical Frost Nova.
(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.
Activate Flame Shield for 25% Mana Cost Reduction. Alternatively, save this Skill to break Crowd Controls.
Spam Chain Lightning.
Repeat the rotation, making sure to allow Mana to fill completely before using Frost Nova.

Gear Choice and Stats

While farming with your Chain 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 Dagger and Focus setup is preferred over a Staff for the extra Cooldown Reduction rolls. A Focus has a Cooldown Reduction implicit, as well as a possible affix mod. This build does not need Lucky Hit Chance from the Wand implicit, so equip a Dagger for the Increased Damage to Close Enemies.

Mana Cost Reduction is an important stat to spam more Chain 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 Chain Lightning Sorcerers. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, since their exact values differ for each character. All stats have an effect that is dependent on how much is already stacked. Bolded stats are the most important and sometimes vital for the build to function properly.

Gear Slot	Important Affixes
Dagger	+ DPS value, Critical Strike Damage, Vulnerable Damage, Lightning Critical Strike Damage + Damage to Close Enemies, Core Skill Damage, Intelligence + Damage to Burning, Stunned or Crowd Controlled Enemies
Focus	+ DPS value, Cooldown Reduction, Mana Cost Reduction, Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource, Critical Strike Chance + Lucky Hit Chance, LHC while You Have a Barrier + Crowd Control Duration + Damage Reduction from Burning Enemies + Intelligence + Resource Generation + Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies
Helm	+ Cooldown Reduction, Maximum Mana, Armor + Maximum Life, Crowd Control Duration + Lucky Hit Chance while you Have a Barrier, Intelligence + Barrier Generation
Chest	+ Armor, Damage Reduction, DR from Close Enemies, DR from Distant Enemies, DR from Burning Enemies + Maximum Life, Intelligence + Barrier Generation + Lightning and Shock Skill Damage
Gloves	+ Ranks of Chain Lightning, Critical Strike Chance, Lightning Critical Strike Damage + Attack Speed, Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource + Lucky Hit Chance, Intelligence + Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies + Damage to Injured Enemies
Pants	+ Armor, Damage Reduction, DR from Close Enemies, DR from Distant Enemies, DR from Burning Enemies + Maximum Life, Intelligence, Ranks of Ball Lightning + Dodge Chance, DC Against Close Enemies
Boots	+ Mana Cost Reduction + Ranks of Frost Nova, Ranks of Teleport (if using Raiment of the Infinite) + Movement Speed, Intelligence + Dodge Chance and DC Against Distant Enemies + Damage Reduction while Injured
Amulet	+ Cooldown Reduction, Mana Cost Reduction, Ranks of the Devouring Blaze Passive + Ranks of All Defensive Skills + Movement Speed + Armor, Damage Reduction, DR from Burning Enemies, DR from Distant Enemies, DR from Close Enemies + Lucky Hit Chance while You Have a Barrier + % Intelligence + Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies + Crowd Control Duration + Shock Skill Damage
Rings	+ Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage, Vulnerable Damage, Lightning Critical Strike Damage + Maximum Life, Lucky Hit Chance, Maximum Mana + Damage to Close Enemies + Damage to Burning, Stunned, Injured or Crowd Controlled Enemies, Lightning Damage + Resource Generation + Barrier Generation

Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary Items that are important for the Chain 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.

Recharging Aspect is a core part of the build, as it enables Chain Lightning to return Mana for sustainability. Unlocked this Aspect in the Codex of Power by completing Zenith Dungeon in Fractured Peaks. Aspect of the Unbroken Tether further increases damage and Mana gains with more bounces.

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.

Prodigy’s Aspect can be used on a Ring instead of Conceited Aspect if you are struggling with Mana sustain. You lose out on a 25% separate damage multiplier with this setup, so it is more ideal to get the necessary Mana Cost Reduction, Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource and Maximum Mana instead.

Aspect of Binding Embers is an optional replacement for Exploiter’s Aspect for Immobilize to activate more damage from Devouring Blaze. In addition, the unhindered movement helps if you get stuck on monsters with the Telestomp Variant.

Accelerating Aspect provides Attack Speed for more DPS, but the increase becomes diminished with other sources of stacking Attack Speed from Gear, Paragon and Elixir. Mana is also drained faster with Attack Speed. Use Offensive Aspects with separate damage multipliers instead, such as Conceited Aspect and Storm Swell Aspect.

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Legendary Aspect Power
Amulet (+50% bonus effect)	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	Recharging Aspect	Each time Chain Lightning bounces off you, gain [1.5 – 3.0] Mana.
Wand, Focus or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of the Unbroken Tether	Chain Lightning has a [30 – 40%] chance to chain 4 additional times.
Wand, Focus or Ring Slot #2	Aspect of Control	You deal [25 – 35%] more damage to Immobilized, Stunned, or Frozen enemies.
Wand, Focus or Ring Slot #2	Conceited Aspect	Deal [15 – 25%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Gloves	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.
Chest (replaced by Raiment of the Infinite)	Aspect of Fortune	Your Lucky Hit Chance is increased by [10 – 20%] while you have a Barrier active.
Helm or Pants	Aspect of Disobedience	You gain [0.25 – 0.50%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [15.00 – 30.00%].
Helm or Pants	Frostblitz Aspect	Frost Nova gains an additional Charge but the Cooldown per Charge is increased by [40 – 30%].
Boots (Optional replacement by Penitent Greaves)	Exploiter’s Aspect	You have 20% increased Crowd Control Duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal [20 – 40%] increased damage to them.

Unique Items

Raiment of the Infinite

Raiment of the Infinite – After using Teleport, Close enemies are Pulled to you and Stunned for [2 – 3] seconds, but Teleport’s cooldown is increased by 20%.

This Unique Chest Armor synergizes well with this build to group and Stun enemies, activating Aspect of Control and Static Surge. Check the Telestomp Variant section for more details.

Penitent Greaves (Optional)

Penitent Greaves – You leave behind a trail of frost that Chills enemies. You deal [7 – 10%] more damage to Chilled enemies.

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.

Not Recommended Unique items

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

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.
Fists of Fate – A perfect 300% value on the unique effect increases overall damage by 50%. Unfortunately, you still lose total DPS compared to well-rolled Legendary Gloves with +4 Ranks to Chain Lightning, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, Lightning Critical Strike Damage and an Offensive Aspect.
Frostburn – Not recommended for the same reason as Fists of Fate, except the DPS loss is even greater.
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: Malignant Hearts if playing Season 1. Otherwise, Royal Skull for Armor.

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. Craft a Precision Elixir for Critical Strike Chance and Damage, or an Assault Elixir for Attack Speed.

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 Chain Lightning Sorcerer Build Variant

Telestomp Chain Lightning Sorcerer is a Stun variant build created by Lexyu. It is designed to speed farm Normal or Nightmare Dungeons even faster for more experience and loot. Telestomping is the act of using Teleport offensively right on top of enemies to vortex and Stun them.

This version of the build requires the Unique Chest Armor, Raiment of the Infinite. It can drop globally in World Tier 3 or 4 with an extremely low chance, so keep farming with the original version of the build until you find it.

Evade is transformed into another Teleport with an Enchantment. Both Teleports Stun enemies with Raiment of the Infinite to gain Mana from Static Surge, allowing you to move quickly through dungeons while unleashing endless Chain Lightning!

The Skill Tree and Paragon setups remain unchanged from the original version of the build. All changes made for the Telestomp Variant are included in the sections below.

Enchantment Slots for Telestomp Chain Lightning Sorcerer

Chain Lightning is replaced by Teleport in the Enchantment Slots to make use of the Stun on Raiment of the Infinite. The additional Chain Lightning procs are no longer necessary when Damage Per Second (DPS) is high enough. 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.

Mechanics and Playstyle for Telestomp Chain Lightning Sorcerer

Stun provides an alternative way to Crowd Control (CC) enemies, reducing the dependency on Frost Nova for Freezing. Reserve Frost Nova for tougher elites and larger groups of enemies.

Use the Evade Teleport foremost and often, as the Cooldown is easily reduced with the Boots implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by 1.2 Seconds. Use the normal Teleport on the Skill Bar as a backup whenever Evade Teleport is unavailable. Get into a rhythm of telestomping a group of enemies from a distance to engage, spamming Chain Lightning, and then moving on to the next pack to repeat.

Gear Choices for Telestomp Chain Lightning Sorcerer

Most of the stat priorities stay the same for the Telestomp version of Chain Lightning Sorcerer. The major differences are listed below.

Equip Boots with the implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by 1.2 Seconds. Upgrade the Boots 5 times at the Blacksmith to get the highest effect possible.
+4 Ranks to Teleport is preferred in addition to +4 Ranks to Frost Nova on Boots.
A Staff with Smiting Aspect can be swapped to in order to stagger Bosses quickly with telestomps.

Uber Lilith Build Variant for Chain Lightning Sorcerer

Chain Lightning Sorcerer excels at defeating Uber Lilith, the final pinnacle boss in the Echo of Hared. Utilize Caged Heart of Omnipower for a massive boost in single target damage, available in Season 1 of Diablo 4. Watch the video above for a demonstration. The following changes are made to the original version of the endgame build.

Drop the Crackling Energy utility entirely in exchange for maximum DPS.
- Remove all Skill Points from Static Discharge and Invigorating Conduit to obtain Convulsions Level 3 and Devastation Level 2.
- Switch Destructive Chain Lightning to Greater Chain Lightning.
- Switch Overflowing Energy to Vyr’s Mastery.
Replace Caged Heart of The Barber with Caged Heart of Omnipower. A Recharging Aspect with a max roll of 3 Mana is required to completely refill the Mana Pool. Reach projectile count breakpoints with Elixir of Resourcefulness, Devastation and any Maximum Mana affixes available on gear. Breakpoints are calculated by adding the Mana cost of your Chain Lightning and the cost of each additional projectile from Caged Heart of Omnipower.
If using Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha, remove 3 Skill Points from Invoked Lightning Spear and put 1 Skill Point into Ice Blades to equip on the Skill Bar for an extra damage buff stack. The 2 remaining Skill Points can be spent on Devastation or Coursing Currents.
Equip Chain Lightning in an Enchantment Slot for an additional projectile to boost DPS further. Fire Bolt remains in the other slot.
Elementalist’s Aspect is no longer used due to it not working with the additional Chain Lightning procs from Caged Heart of Omnipower, Chain Lightning Enchantment and Unstable Currents. Instead, increase Critical Strike Chance with Esu’s Heirloom combined with another Movement Speed affix on the Amulet.
There are 2 options to replace Elementalist’s Aspect on the Amulet, depending on if you want to perform gear swaps during the fight. The gear swap method is useful to skip the more difficult phases while Lilith is low on Life.
1. Equip a Staff with Smiting Aspect to Stagger quickly, and then swap to a Staff with Aspect of Control to deal more damage. Fists of Fate can also be swapped back and forth with your Legendary Gloves for more Stagger. Aspect of the Unbroken Tether is moved to the Amulet in this setup.
2. Alternatively, use an Amulet with Aspect of Ancient Flame combined with Esu’s Ferocity to gain 75% increased Attack Speed.

Changelog

September 6th, 2023: Uber Lilith Build Variant 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 10th, 2023: Ice Armor removed for 2 Skill Points in Conduction. Lightning Spear equipped on Skill Bar instead.
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.