Diablo 4 will have five classes on release. In this series of articles, we will go over what makes each class unique – their skill trees, talents, and special class mechanic. This particular entry is dedicated to Sorcerer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sorcerer is the magic-casting long-range class, a very traditional mage. If you like building up your character to deal massive damage and have lots of options for dealing with crowds of enemies, Sorc (as the community calls them) should be your pick.
Skills Overview
The allure of the Sorcerer lies in its mastery of arcane elements and ancient knowledge, allowing one to combat demons and beasts alone in the wilderness. Whether you prefer unleashing hell’s flames, summoning bolts of lightning, or wielding the power of ice and blizzards, this class offers a wide range of possibilities.
Despite the varied playstyles, certain aspects remain constant. Expect high damage output but low durability, keeping enemies at bay and optimizing gear and skills to maximize effectiveness. Keep in mind that a legendary item suitable for a Fire Sorcerer might not be useful for one who favors Frost or Shock.
Sorcerers use elemental magic, so they get to choose from 3 different magic schools:
- Frost – the main feature of using ice as your main power is the ability to slow down or even freeze your enemies.
- Pyromancy – allows you to use fire magic which specializes in producing DoT-type damage (Damage over Time).
- Shock – allows using your attacks more rapidly to reduce cooldowns and proc critical damage more often.
Here’s Sorcerer’s basic toolkit:
These basic attacks cost no mana. Therefore, they’ll remain viable at all stages of the progression.
Core Skills
These skills do require mana for activation and cost some skill points to unlock. They’ll be your bread and butter throughout the first levels of the game.
Defensive Skills
Defensive Skills will help you stay alive for longer. They’ll include shields, mobility skills, etc. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Mastery skills
You will unlock these skills as soon as you spend 16 skill points. These are high-damage skills that can clear a room of monsters and save your life. You can call them the “oh-shit” button.
Ultimate Skills
Ultimate skills are the most powerful spells in your arsenal. You’ll unlock them when you spend 23 skill points into your build.
Sorcerer Talents
Talents are your passive abilities that enhance the active skills. They’re used to make your build more unique and powerful. Talents use a tier-system similar to skills:
- Core
- Defensive
- Conjuration
- Mastery
- Ultimate
Core tier talents
Defensive tier talents
Conjuration tier talents
Mastery tier talents
Ultimate tier talents
Key Passives
This a special type of talent and you can only choose one of these when you spend 33 skill points:
- Avalanche – Lucky Hit; Frost skills provide a +10% chance for your next Ice Shards, Frozen Orb, or Blizzard to consume no mana and deal 40% increased damage; this chance is doubled against vulnerable enemies.
- Shatter – After the freeze effect expires, enemies will explode for 25% of the damage you dealt while they were frozen.
- Overflowing Energy – Crackling Energy hits an extra enemy; reduces Shock skill cooldowns by 0.1 seconds when Crackling Energy hits an enemy and 0.25 seconds when hitting elites.
- Vyr’s Mastery – Close enemies take 10% more damage from Shock skills and deal 25% less damage to you; critical hits increase these effects by 25% more for three seconds.
- Esu’s Ferocity – +25% fire spell crit chance versus enemies with 50% or more HP; this is increased by another 5% for those below 50% HP. When you kill an enemy with a critical, this bonus is applied against all hostiles for three seconds.
- Combustion – +2% burning effect damage for each unique source of burning applied to an enemy (i.e., Pyromancy spells that you cast); doubles this effect if a target is burning from three or more sources.
Enchantment Mechanic
Sorcerer’s unique trait is called Enchantment – it gives them two additional skill slots for passive “buffs”. One will be unlocked at level 15 and the other at level 30. We don’t know much about the second time you unlock the Enchantment slot, but for the first one, there’s a class-specific quest tied to it called Sorcerer: Legacy of the Magi. This quest has multiple steps. In a nutshell:
- Return to the southwest of Nevesk to meet Sorcerer Mordarin.
- Mordarin will ask you to retrieve the Forgotten Codex from a nearby dungeon.
- Clear the dungeon and retrieve the Forgotten Codex from a marked chest.
- Return to Mordarin and interact with the four braziers in the hut.
- Mordarin accidentally summons demons, defeat them.
- Unlock the Diablo 4 Sorcerer Enchantment slot for your level 15 character.
After obtaining a Diablo 4 Sorcerer Enchantment slot, you can choose any active spell with at least one rank. This can be from a skill point allocation or an equipped item that adds a rank.
For example, if you have an amulet that grants +1 to Teleport, it unlocks Teleport as an enchanted spell without spending a skill point.
In the Abilities panel, select Skill Assignment and choose a spell to enable its extra effect. These enchantments provide unique benefits different from the usual abilities of active skills, and most will activate regardless of the ability used to defeat enemies.
Control the Arcane
In conclusion, the Diablo 4 Sorcerer class is a powerful and versatile spellcaster, capable of wielding the elements to devastating effect. With a wide range of skills and talents, players have plenty of options to customize their Sorcerer to suit their playstyle. The Enchantment system adds an exciting new layer of depth, allowing players to enhance their spells and unlock new effects through equipment and skill allocation. Whether you prefer to incinerate your foes with fire, freeze them with ice, or shock them with lightning, the Sorcerer is a class that offers endless possibilities for those who seek mastery over the arcane.
As Diablo 4 gets closer to release, we can’t wait to see what new abilities and Enchantments the Sorcerer class will bring to the table. And if you’re just as excited as we are, you might be interested in our services at LFCarry.com, which can help you make the most powerful Sorcerer build possible!
With that being said, I am signing off. I’ll see you in the next one!