After spending 200 hours on Diablo 4 Sorcerer, I summarized the following tips to get a fun and efficient progression experience in Diablo 4. It includes sections on Level 1-50 progression and after Level 50.
Tips For A Great Start
First, we choose World Tier 2 because monsters die fast as long as we have the 10 (Correction 5) initial Skill Points.
If you have yet unlocked them, I strongly recommend you doing so that you can experience this too good to be true start.
Progression Build Summary
For the progression build, I have made this optimized one for Level 1 to 50. I enjoy its Effortless Aim because of the auto aim from Chain Lightning, big DPS and infinite Mana from optimized synergy, and decent Survivability.
Build Progressions
We start with Arc Lash for movement and Chain Lightning for DPS. Then, we unlock Teleport, Frost Nova and Flame Shield. And then, we unlock Lightning Spear for extra DPS and Crowd Control. Then, we further improve Frost Nova for Vulnerable state and Teleport for shorter Cooldown and better Survivability.
At this point, the 1st Enchantment Slot is available soon. So, let’s add points to Fireball and use it as the 1st Enchantment for fast group clears.
Then, we are ready for Ult and let’s replace Flame Shield with Elemental Attunement before Picking Ult.
Then, pick further synergies with Shock Skills, like Coursing Currents, Ult and Electrocution. Get two Static Discharge Ranks since we have crit chance from Coursing Currents.
Now, we come to the Key Passive where we will do a few changes. First, replace Arc Lash with Spark to get 8% Crit Chance.
Second, replace Chain Lightning Passive to generate Crackling Energy.
Then, further improve Crackling Energy Synergy through Static Discharge, Invigorating Conduit and Precision Magic.
And then, it is time to unlock the 2nd Enchantment and pick Firebolt and Devouring Blaze for further Crit Synergy
Extra note: although 1.1 patch greatly nerfed Devouring Blaze, but my build doesn’t use immobilize synergy. So, it is still good.
Then, unlock defensive skills, like Protection and Mana Shield.
Now, monsters should have much more health and don’t die so easily. So, replace Fireball with Ice Blades as the 1st Enchantment and become the new conjuration master.
Finally, there should be lots of Crackling Energy and Mana now that we are getting Elemental Dominance for further Chain Lightning Damage.
And Congrats, you’ve just completed the progression to the Chain Lightning Conjuration build that can be used until around Level 75.
Also Read: Diablo 4 Season 1 Patch 1.1.0a Update Notes! - All Fixes & Nerfs
Level 1-50 Exp Farm Tips
For level progression, farming the Temple of Rot repetitively is considered the fastest method right now by not completing and resetting through leaving and restarting the game. You will also gain a lot of Diablo 4 Gold and XP.
But I want to optimize the fun of playing the game. So, my rule of thumb is to explore the world to do Tree of Whisper and complete Events and Strongholds when you meet them.
This way is not the most optimized, but is fun, easy and fast enough.
Curiosity Shop Tips
One last tip is to buy weapons at the curiosity shop to greatly improve your DPS and change World Tier to 1 if you find progressing becomes much harder when good weapons haven’t dropped for a while.
Helltide Tools And Tips
So, once you are strong enough to pass the Capstone Dungeon and enter World Tier 3, there is challenging content, like Helltide and Nightmare Dungeons to do.
For Helltide, use the interactive map to get the event locations and the 250 chest locations, where the chest was just updated from 175 to 250 in the Patch 1.1.
One extra note is that always open the Chest Armor Chest for Raiment of the Infinite target farming since Helltide chest can drop unique Diablo 4 Items now. And the Raiment is essential for any end game Sorcerer build.
Nightmare Dungeon Tips
For Nightmare Dungeon, I have this list that I used to farm.
Nightmare Dungeon Exp Tier S/A
- Blind Burrows
- Sunken Ruins
- Aldurwood
- Raethwind Wilds
- Witchwater
- Champion’s Demise
- Guulrahn Canals (Not Slums)
- Kor Dragan Barracks
- Maulwood
- Earthen Wound
- Serpent’s Lair
- Renegade’s Retreat
Don’t worry about Tier S or A, they are all good ones that no time is wasted.
So, if you see the name matches, then keep it and salvage otherwise. And, there are a few affixes to avoid, too. These 4 will make the dungeon much longer to complete or extremely dangerous, that I recommend always salvaging:
- Melee Defenders
- Lightning Resist
- Monster Critical Resist
- Armor Breakers
And these 3 are nice to avoid if you have spare Nightmare Sigils:
- Lightning Strom
- Resource Burn
- Backstabbers
They break the smoothness of running through the dungeon, which is annoying.
Level 50 + Build
For Level 50 build, there are big Sorcerer nerfs in 1.1 patch. That basically all Sorcerer builds take a hard hit, including my Chain Lightning Nuke build. This is pretty sad.
But the good news is that the major synergies I used in the Chain Lightning Conjuration build remain untouched, so it should be good for now.
Level 50+ Survivability Tips
After Level 50, survivability becomes more important.
So, get all 4 Defensive Stats on Chest and Pants. The Stats are:
- Maximum Life
- Damage Reduction to Close/Distant/Burning Enemy
- % Total Armor & % Damage Reduction
Also, get Maximum Life on Helmet.
