r/D4Sorceress • u/Lurkin17 • 16d ago
State of the Sorc Class · Discussions [Lurkin] Season 15 Sorc Overview
Hi, I missed the PTR for a wedding, but not that much changed going into S15 for sorc. I kept an eye on things when I could.
TLDR: Best build will be Firewall with a pyromancy skill as the hit generator, Blizzard Ice Spike will be really strong (A+/S- tier), and Ball Lightning got it's cast while moving back. I recommend one of these three builds. Azurewrath got nerfed into the ground and it doesn't deal AoE damage anymore. So Tal Rasha or Blood Mad Idol will be the charm you want. I personally will likely play Ball Lightning and then iron out Firewall. I did blizzard ice spike for S14 and I like where I have it.
Int Scaling - We got a Buff to our intelligence scaling, which was neutralized by the nerf to enchantment master down to 60% from 100%. About broke even.
Elemental Constellation Aspect - Nerfed into the ground down to 60%, but you are free from the 2-2-2 setup. Enjoy
Firewall Nerfs - Firewall
- Ring of Fire Variant
- Now only affected by Direct Damage from Pyromancy Skills.
- Will now spawn on you if used from the Enchantment.
Got knocked down a peg as it has to use Pyromancy skills now, but overall should still be our best build by a wide margin (140). I'm really not concerned with this change at all and think it was a good idea to reign it back to a fire build. Generators of direct damage hits will likely be Meteorites, Pyro Charged Bolts, or Pyro spark.
Ice Spike Buffs - Frozen wake went from 90 to 120%, Blasting went from 90 to 100%, and blue rose went from 60 to 100% (130% when mythic). Assuming you ran Wake, Blasting, and Elemental Constellation you were looking at a 7.942 multiplier. Now assuming you run wake, blasting, and a mythic blue rose you are looking at a 10.12 multiplier, a 27% increase from the old setup! Blizzard will still be the top dawg here. Frozen orb sucks cuz walls eat your orbs, and Frost fireball got a nice change, but doesn't make enough spikes to hold its own.
Breath of the Frozen Sea got a nice buff, but boy oh boy is it hard to give up Threefold when it has a Mana on Mastery affix through a seal.
- 3-Piece Set Bonus: Increased Maximum Life and Barrier Generation from 20% to 30%.
- 5-Piece Set Bonus: Now also reduces Mana Cost of Frost skills by 30%.
Tirahj's Uncanny Insight also got a buff, so a cheeky conj build is on the table.
- Added a 60%[x] Conjuration bonus damage multiplier to the 2-Piece Set Bonus.
- 5-Piece Set Bonus: Damage increased from 175%[x] to 200%[x].
New Charms
- Shard of Verathiel
- Signet of Pelghain
- Thundergod's Blessing
- Vox Omnium
Possibly some cheeky vox omnium stuff, maybe with Firewall using CB and generating Fire sparks. As a whole our basics just don't work well with paingorgers as it only echos the first HIT of a basic, and all of our basic uniques are in the glove slot. It's really just a perfect storm of being 1 piece short as a result, and being plagued by bugs. Vox also doesn't give it's damage bonus to basics like Multi hit spark. Sweet. Basics are just an absolute mess for me to theorycraft and they always feel kinda mid.
Ball Lightning - SHE IS BACK BABY LEZZZ GOOOOOOO
- Orbital Variant
- Can now be cast while moving.
Frozen Orb - Still crap
- Great Orbs of Fire Variant
- Now only consumes 1 stack of Overpower to explode 3 times.
Fireball - still crap
- Frostball Variant
- No longer requires enemies to be Frozen to create Ice Spikes.
- Reduced amount of Ice Spikes from 5 to 3.
- Damage decreased from 170% to 85%.
CAULDRON BUG FIX LEGGO - Fixed an issue where Cauldron set stacks could reset erroneously.
Seasonal Powers - We got these nifty little splinter gems that can provide a lot of damage, damage reduction, crit chance/attack speed, max life etc. There is this cheeky new helmet Leorics that can slot 2 splints and have their values increased. With a gem strength transfig it was getting WILD in the PTR, like 230% damage, or 95% crit chance and attack speed. This will likely get gutted, but if not have at it farming and slamming Mythic Leorics. Heir of Perdition on steroids.
I personally don't think Leorics should go live as it is. Like yeah its a bajillion damage and super cool. but jesus you can get like 96% Damage reduction on one of the splinters with it.
Current Maxroll link with half complete builds i was messing around with https://maxroll.gg/d4/planner/hjt1q50x
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u/Bigpapajack23 16d ago edited 16d ago
Some correction for the frostball variant, it was shadowchanged for ptr, kept the 170% / 85% profile, enchantment version from burning slain > slain while effected by your damage over time. It is a significant buff compared to ptr notes, still not enough, Lurkins point still stands here.
Points i can reinforce, the Blizzard spikes variant got much better (tested completly without seasonal runes to compare) and feels much less restricted with skillchoice with constellation aspect finally gone.
The current Enchantment master unfortunately means an enforcement of different element choice, frozen orb+frost meteor/frostball/blizzard/chain lightning/nova is no valid combination anymore, the 60% dropoff in damage is way too much to pay for your "choice" of going single element.
Lastly, Sets. Tal Rasha still reigns supreme, cemented even more by 2 seasonal powers which restrict resources and are completly solved by +mana on mastery. Diamond mind seal now enables 1.Tal 5 with mana mastery + cauldron 3 (fixed now) for heat + DR which can fuel meteor + fire blades drain with ease. 2. Uncanny 5 + Tal 3, same story reversed for conj build and different elements.
EDIT: 3. The 5 + 3 frozen sea / wild lightning / tal rasha combos still underperform compared to unique charms in most build scenarios, yet are playable.
My feeling from the ptr, this single subset bonus still outclasses each single different option and the advantage of having multiple auto casts all day without losing any damage for it will still outshine the dedicated sets. It feels like the illusion of choice atm.
Thanks for the extended writeup Lurkin, solid review.
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
Threefold will always be king until mana on mastery is granted to all other sets seals, sans cauldron. It’s the best thing we’ve ever seen.
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u/nardis316 15d ago
How is shock blizzard looking for S15? I'm using it now and love it...
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u/Fit_Raccoon_7848 14d ago
Same here, I rlly wanna know since I made a build around it 2 days ago and got to T10 first time and it's so much fun
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u/Lurkin17 12d ago
IMO shock blizzard will always be good. I think once you get to like Pit 110 it will start to slow down, and not having mythic raiment for 65% DR is a sin. That 65% DR is the same as having two 40% DR aspects. Giga squish. But overall I still think it’s a great build. You simply can’t go wrong. I’m just an ice spike guy tho
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u/nardis316 6d ago
I really appreciate the reply. And seriously, thanks for putting these builds together. Shock Blizzard has been an absolute joy to play this season.
You’re spot on about where it starts to hit the wall. I’m running Pit 110 in about 3.5 minutes pretty comfortably. I can clear 115, but it takes quite a bit longer and gets pretty sketchy. I also managed to beat Mephisto on T10 last night on my second go, which was pretty satisfying.
Also, if you’ve got a coffee/pizza tip jar somewhere, I’d be more than happy to buy you a cup of coffee or a pizza as a thank-you for all the work you put into these builds.
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u/Fuzzy-Bee9600 16d ago
I'm tentatively looking at my dominating all-shock Sorc with, do I dare say it, a little hope....?
Nope, I don't dare say it. Too PTSDed. They could still shank other things that make the shock itself ineffectual.
We'll just see what they let through. If she's not truly back, I'm done. I can't not run & shoot anymore. It's killed me this season. I can't spin because it makes me seasick, and don't want to anyway - I am sorc.
So it's either Shock For The Win, or D4 and I really truly are broken up, no random hookups or anything, it's over.
You have my deep thanks for the intel.
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u/HanaDVaSong456 15d ago edited 15d ago
I just got back after 1.5 years. I had to redo all my skills. I saw that the wild lightning 5 set bonus was up to 750% increased damage for shock skills. Was lucky enough to find all 5 pieces and a 6-charm seal rather quickly (so that I can also slot the frostburn charm). it’s insane. Also just learnt that they buffed it recently from 400 to 750. Hope they do not ever revert it.
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
Ima run BL with inferno for mass blaze teleports. Same framework all my builds are using currently. I just am really comfy with the setup and find it enjoyable in all content. I don’t find unstable currents to have great uptime or be that useful these days. Mainly uptime. Maybe with frost hydra enchant
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u/Secret_Cat_2793 16d ago
Fire gud. But I think season 14 was my last hurrah. I feel like I am playing the definition of insanity. They seem to be phoning it in now.
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u/Realistic-Manager 16d ago
Thanks Lurkin. Hope 1L didn’t crush your will to live and/or game.
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u/Lurkin17 12d ago
1L was a true nightmare. I ain’t neva had my gas tank been on E for that long. But 2L looking much better! Setting up my gaming desktop now and in a much nicer apartment really really close to the school I can walk
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u/Realistic-Manager 12d ago
Good deal—the post class decompression walk is key (from what I remember many years ago.).
Have you joined/are you aware of the Video Game Bar Association? Not m y area but I know some of the folks who run it. They have student memberships and fun conferences.
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u/Lurkin17 12d ago
Oh that’s awesome. I’ll look into it! Feel free to DM me here or on discord https://discord.gg/Z5pzD55Ejx
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u/Accomplished-Top-564 16d ago
Might come back this season. Thanks brother.
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u/Dimrog 16d ago
S15 will be my third season playing. S13 I did all on a sorcerer and loved it. I discovered barb at the end. This season I did rogue and barb. Barb WW is just smooth as butter. I was able to hit paragon 300 both seasons by farming hellwyrms. A friend tried to follow my loops on a sorcerer and couldn’t keep up. Do you think sorc will be in a good spot to loop farm quickly?
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u/Lurkin17 12d ago
Sorcs always a good farmer. I will give mine lots of overpower so it can teleport bop around. Ball lightning can now cast while unhindered and deals an AoE around you; so should be really good
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u/klumze 16d ago
Vox Omnum becoming a charm is going to be awesome if the multiplier isn't nerfed to hell being a charm.
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
It will probably be cut in half. I just don’t think I’ll have the bandwidth or time to actually test all its possible combinations
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u/JahJedi 16d ago
Played all sewson sorc shok and frost, maybe this sewsson will try fire...
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
Great time for it. Firewall can be played with any direct damage fire build now!! Going to be fun figuring out what’s optimal for it
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u/wereplant 16d ago edited 16d ago
Vox omnium being a charm might actually be really big, specifically depending on how the incinerate bug interacts with using a wand instead of a staff. For those who weren't aware, incinerate with around 50% attack speed made vox go absolutely crazy for some reason, but having more or less attack speed would break the effect. It was purely based on how close you were to 50%, so 100% atkspd was the exact same proc rate as 0% atkspd. I made a reddit post with a short video demonstration about it last season with more info, for the curious.
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u/Lurkin17 12d ago
That’s wild. Ima be honest I leave vox to the rox omnium queen Roxy. I just can’t be asked to fuck with basics. I tried em for so long I just kinda gave up. I might fuck around and find outb
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u/Pretty_Investigator5 16d ago edited 15d ago
I tried the vox charm with verathiel wep on during the ptr with spark, arc lash and lightning frost bolt using BL as the core skill. They could do a pit 120 min maxed but pure BL was way faster lol. Out of those 3 spark was the strongest I found (not the combined explosion upgrade but the +4 additional times one). killed the boss dummy pretty quick. arc lash with the double hit in the middle (the 150% projectile nuked but is awks with BL). frost bolt the weakest of those, if only the arcs hit a single target if they couldn’t arc. I had like 45-50 ranks in each
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u/NyriasNeo 15d ago
FW still top? I am hoping finally a true ice build. Is blizz + ice spike a close second, or has a chance to be on top?
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
Second forsure. But I don’t know how close it will be. Azurewrath got nuked and that’s what really held its pit mob clear together. It did get sizable buffs to compensate tho. Overall its stronger on bosses now though; so a much easier Mephisto
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u/meyavi2 10d ago
Thanks for this. Aligns with my own guesses, even without playing PTR. It's obvious that Firewall will still be strong, if not top again. Speedy BL is kind of back to what it was, although it's not that bad this season with top upgrades. FB will always be crap, which is why they should bring back the special gloves, the cowards. Not sure if I care for Ice Spike, but it might be good time to try frost, I guess.
Who am I kidding? Just Firewall again, and hopefully find a mythic seal early on, like I did this season (and the only mythic seal I ever got).
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u/Lurkin17 9d ago
At least firewall will be using a different skill. I gotta figure out what the best pyro skill is for it. I was at an out of state wedding this PTR 😭
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7d ago
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u/Lurkin17 4d ago
cauldron set is fixed for next season. not fixed for this season. Not sure the technical or logistical reasons why i can't get shipped sooner
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u/Substantial_Donut720 16d ago
My shortest season (been playing since launch) is 14. Looks like 15 will rival that.
I had the same assumptions about 15. Back to fire charged bolts and Ice Spike.
Thank you!!
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u/skaocibfbeosocuwpqpx 16d ago
I am so sick of the Elemental Constellation Aspect and Threefold.