Personally, for levels before 50, I had been using an admittedly unresearched, master-of-none build with:
- Frost Nova
- Hydra
- Inferno
- Arc Lash
- Chain Lightning
- Teleport
Enchantments:
- Fireball
- Blizzard, cuz why not
It was a ton of fun vacuuming up mobs, freezing them, and then using chain lightning to make them explode like little grenades right on top of each other, but it was admittedly VERY weak against single bosses.
After I finished the campaign, I switched to a much more min-maxed Ice Shards lucky hit build that’s just been melting enemies like crazy:
- Teleport
- Frost Nova
- Flame Shield
- Deep Freeze
- Frost Bolt
- Ice Shards
Enchantments:
- Fireball
- Ice Shards
I don’t have all the gear yet to avoid mana depletion and my barriers need work but its getting there.
Anyways, I just wanted to ask what you guys were doing with your Sorc builds to see what others have been enjoying :)
I’ve been enjoying a Ice Shard build while completing the campaign. I find it fun to train them into a big group freeze them then teleport out. Then come the Damage haha
Ice shards is pretty OP once you get enough lucky hit and ice shard piercing. I’ve been melting level 72 guys no problem. I am pretty squishy tho, so I am working towards some barriers and also mana regen in the hopes that I can take out guys faster than they can take out me.
I’m currently running with… Frost Armour, Teleport, Frost Nova, Hydra, Frost Bolt, Ice Shards. And using Firebolt and frostbolt enchantments.
Enemies die really quickly. Mana isn’t much of a problem at level 65 with all the aspects I’m wearing.
I’m feeling like Hydra’s probably run its course. I mostly use it for some passive damage against bosses but it really doesn’t do much overall. So I’m considering switching it out for Blizzard or something else.
Yeah hydra was okay for me early game but even then it still felt like they were just whittling down enemies rather than dealing substantial damage. I think during endgame it’s only useful in applying Burning so you can get that extra critical strike damage from your passives but it’s too unpredictable and there are probably more efficient ways at applying Burning.
Interesting! I’m new to Diablo, but I enjoyed exploring and trying out different builds while doing the campaign. I don’t think that anything was remotely “efficient”, but it was good fun. Currently, I’ve been swapping over to an arc lash build from some website, and it’s also been enjoyable. All of a sudden I can dish out so much damage! While tinkering with my own builds I had completely missed out on enchantments, and that was a real eye-opener. So much damage just from those extra enchantments.
Yeah there’s a lot of synergies that can be done to dish out massive damage. My issue is that I feel like I can never figure out these things on my own. I always have to rely on a guide. Makes me feel like I am copying someone else’s homework. My first build that I listed was done without a guide and just based on what I thought would be fun. Second build was using a guide and it completely outclasses my first, but I also don’t think I would have ever discovered it on my own, especially because it relies on Lucky Hit, which is a mechanic that’s not really well explained in the game.
Yeah, I feel the same, but I’ve simply accepted the fact that my builds will never compare very well to someone else’s (who knows what they’re doing). Lucky hit is still a mystery to me, when I create a build I always “ignore” critical and lucky hits. The names make them sound unreliable.
Bookmarking this since I wanna try some new builds myself. I’ve mostly been running a tanky kinda build. I’m running HC-mode so gotta be careful.
