Ball Lightning Sorcerer Abattoir of Zir Build (Season 2)

This is a Season 2 Ball Lightning endgame build for Sorcerer in Diablo 4 (D4) that spams the Ball Lightning skill to clear large groups of enemies and powerful bosses while utilizing the benefits from bonus attack speed. Read on for the complete list of Vampiric Powers, Skills, and Aspects you need and how to play the build for Season 2 and Abattoir of Zir.

Ball Lightning Strengths and Weaknesses

Ball Lightning Strengths

Excellent Single Target and AOE DPS

Due to the sheer amount of Ball Lightning that surrounds you, this build allows you to burst down bosses and clear large groups of enemies extremely quickly. Additionally, with the Raiment of the Infinite, you will be able to pull and group enemies together for even faster clearing.

High Mobility

With Teleport and Metamorphosis, you can breeze through dungeons by simply passing through walls and enemies, allowing you to focus on objectives without having to walk the entire way due to their short cooldowns.

Has Barriers and Invulnerable

In addition to the Ice Armor and Flame Shield, you can also gain barriers through the Protection passive by using any of your Defensive Skills. This can significantly increase your survivability, especially when paired with the Mana Shield passive. As you constantly spam your Ball Lightning, you'll receive the damage reduction buff for 5 seconds.

Ball Lightning Weaknesses

Prone to One Shot

This build incorporates multiple sources of barriers, significantly enhancing your survivability. However, when the barrier's duration expires and your Fire Wall is on cooldown, there is a high likelihood that you will die if you get hit by enemy attacks.

Mana Hungry

This build requires consistent Ball Lightning spam to instantly burst down nearby and approaching enemies, all while cycling through defensive skills for survivability. To make this build effective, you need to spend a substantial amount of mana to ensure that you have enough Ball Lightning around you. This can be achieved by replenishing your mana during the fight with Crackling Energy, Invigorating Conduit, and Prodigy's Aspect.

Ball Lightning Build Overview

Build Summary

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Skills

Aspects & Uniques

Stats & Gems

Build Overview and Summary
Ball Lightning		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Active Skills
Passive Skills

All Uber Lilith Builds

Build Overview and Summary
Ball Lightning		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Aspects and Uniques
Flickerstep Tibault's Will Raiment of the Infinite Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop Aspect of Disobedience Aspect of the Protector Rapid Aspect Storm Swell Aspect Conceited Aspect Gravitational Aspect Prodigy's Aspect

All Uber Lilith Builds

Build Overview and Summary
Ball Lightning		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Stat Priorities			Recommended Gems
・Cooldown Reduction ・Critical Strike Damage ・Critical Strike Chance ・Lucky Hit Chance ・Movement Speed ・Attack Speed Bonus ・Basic Skill Attack Speed ・Damage to Close Enemies ・Mana Cost Reduction			Ruby (Armor) Topaz (Weapon) Skull (Jewelry)

All Uber Lilith Builds

This build primarily relies on Ball Lightning to efficiently eliminate all nearby and approaching enemies, thanks to the additional damage provided by Devouring Blaze. Along with this, you will make use of the Enchantment effect of Ball Lightning to consistently spawn more of them with Critical Hits achieved with Unstable Currents.

Furthermore, this build is equipped with numerous defensive skills that not only provides survivability, even against uber bosses, but also assist in resource generation through effect of the Prodigy's Aspect to spawn additional Ball Lightning.

Ball Lightning Build Breakdown

Skill Progression

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Active Skills

Skill		Upgrade Path
Fire Bolt (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Fire Bolt
Flame Shield (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Flame Shield	Shimmering Flame Shield
Teleport (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Teleport	Shimmering Teleport
Ice Armor (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Ice Armor	Mystical Ice Armor
Frost Nova (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Frost Nova	Shimmering Frost Nova
Ball Lightning (5 Points)	→	Enhanced Ball Lightning	Wizard's Ball Lightning
Unstable Currents (1 Point)	→	Prime Unstable Currents	Supreme Unstable Currents

Passive Skills

Ball Lightning Passives
Potent Warding (1 Point)	Devastation (3 Points)	Elemental Dominance (3 Points)
Elemental Attunement (1 Point)	Precision Magic (3 Points)	Align the Elements (1 Point)
Mana Shield (3 Points)	Protection (3 Points)	Inner Flames (1 Point)
Devouring Blaze (3 Points)	Static Discharge (1 Point)	Invigorating Conduit (3 Points)
Coursing Currents (1 Point)	Electro cution (3 Points)	Conduction (3 Points)
Overflowing Energy (1 Point)

Skill Progression Breakdown

Recommended Skill Progression
Lv.2	Lv.3	Lv.4	Lv.5
Fire Bolt	Enhanced Fire Bolt	Devastation	Devastation
Lv.6	Lv.7	Lv.8	Lv.9
Devastation	Elemental Dominance	Elemental Dominance	Elemental Dominance
Lv.10	Lv.11	Lv.12	Lv.13
Potent Warding	Flame Shield	Enhanced Flame Shield	Shimmering Flame Shield
Lv.14	Lv.15	Lv.16	Lv.17
Teleport	Enhanced Teleport	Shimmering Teleport	Ice Armor
Lv.18	Lv.19	Lv.20	Lv.21
Enhanced Ice Armor	Mystical Ice Armor	Frost Nova	Enhanced Frost Nova
Lv.22	Lv.23	Lv.24	Lv.25
Shimmering Frost Nova	Elemental Attunement	Precision Magic	Precision Magic
Lv.26	Lv.27	Lv.28	Lv.29
Precision Magic	Align the Elements	Mana Shield	Mana Shield
Lv.30	Lv.31	Lv.32	Lv.33
Mana Shield	Protection	Protection	Protection
Lv.34	Lv.35	Lv.36	Lv.37
Inner Flames	Devouring Blaze	Devouring Blaze	Devouring Blaze
Lv.38	Lv.39	Lv.40	Lv.41
Static Discharge	Invigorating Conduit	Invigorating Conduit	Invigorating Conduit
Lv.42	Lv.43	Lv.44	Lv.45
Ball Lightning	Ball Lightning	Ball Lightning	Ball Lightning
Lv.46	Lv.47	Lv.48	Lv.49
Ball Lightning	Enhanced Ball Lightning	Wizard's Ball Lightning	Unstable Currents
Renown Skill Points (Lv50 Onwards)
R1	R2	R3	R4
Prime Unstable Currents	Supreme Unstable Currents	Coursing Currents	Conduction
R5	R6	R7	R8
Conduction	Conduction	Electro cution	Electro cution
R9		R10
Electro cution		Overflowing Energy

Enchantment Slots

Ball Lightning Enchantment Slots
Ball Lightning (Level 15)	Fire Bolt (Level 30)

With this build, most of your attacks will land as Critical Strikes, triggering the Enchantment effect of Ball Lightning, which allows you to spawn more of them. You only need a few seconds to build up and spam Ball Lightning around you, swiftly killing all nearby and approaching enemies.

Adding the Fire Bolt Enchantment allows your skills to apply burning, which activates the effect of Devouring Blaze to deal more damage with your Critical Strikes.

Enchantment Slots Explained

Best Vampiric Powers

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Vampiric Power Cost	Effect Explanation
Metamorphosis 2 2 2	When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 4 seconds. Enemies along your path take 160% Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. Metamorphosis makes you unstoppable for 4 seconds. This means that you can trigger the unique effect of Tibault's Will every time you evade, giving you a massive damage increase.
Prey on the Weak 2 0 0	You deal 16% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. Enemies are Vulnerable while affected by a Vampiric Curse from your other Vampiric Powers. Since enemies are always inflicted with Vampiric Curse because of your Metamorphosis, they will always be Vulnerable, and you will deal extra damage to them.
Ravenous 3 0 0	Lucky Hit: Up to a 20% chance to increase your Attack Speed by 40% of your Total Movement Speed for 6 seconds. Critical Hits with your Ball Lightning has a chance to spawn more Ball Lightning. Ravenous will allow you to spam your Ball Lightning even faster because of the bonus Attack Speed.
Anticipation 0 1 0	Your Ultimate Skills gain 20% Cooldown Reduction. Your Ultimate Skills gain 12% increased damage for each nearby enemy affected by your Damage Over Time effects. Anticipation reduces the downtime of your Unstable Currents, which increases your overall damage.
Infection 1 0 0	Hitting enemies with direct damage infects them with Pox. Inflicting Pox 8 times on an enemy expunges their infection, dealing 70% Poison damage. Since you will be constantly spamming your Ball Lightning, you will also be able to inflict enemies with Pox (Poison Damage). This activates the effect of your Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop, giving you an additional 15% increased damage.
Total Pacts Required 8 | 3 | 2

Aspects and Affixes

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Best Weapons

Weapon	Aspects and Affixes
Main Hand	Conceited Aspect Deal (15-25)% increased damage while you have a Barrier active. ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance (Inherent) ・+X All Stats ・+X% Damage To Close Enemies ・+X% Mastery Skill Damage ・+X% Critical Strike Damage
Off Hand	Storm Swell Aspect You deal (11-20)% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies while you have Barrier. ・+X% Cooldown Reduction (Inherent) ・+X% Mana Cost Reduction ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X% Lucky Hit: Up To A 5% Chance To Restore [X]% Primary Resource ・+X% Critical Strike Chance

Best Armor

Equipment	Aspects and Affixes
Helmet	Aspect of the Protector Damaging an Elite enemy grants you a Barrier absorbing up to (XX) damage for 10 seconds. This effect can happen once every 30 seconds. ・+X All Stats ・+X% Total Armor ・+X Maximum Life ・+X% Cooldown Reduction
Chest	Raiment of the Infinite After using Teleport, Close enemies are Pulled to you and Stunned for (XX) seconds, but Teleport's cooldown is increased by 20%. ・+X Intelligence ・+X% Damage to Close Enemies ・+X% Damage to Stunned Enemies ・+X Ranks of the Glass Cannon Passive
Gloves	Gravitational Aspect Ball Lightning orbits around you, but its damage is decreased by (10-20)%. ・+X% Critical Strike Chance ・+X% Attack Speed ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance ・+X% Lucky Hit: Up To A 5% Chance To Restore [X]% Primary Resource
Pants	Tibault's Will You deal 20-40% increased damage while Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after. When you become Unstoppable, gain 50 of your Primary Resource. ・While Injured, Your Potion Also Restores 20% Resource (Inherent) ・+X% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies ・+X Potion Capacity ・+X% Damage ・+X Maximum Resource
Boots	Flickerstep Each enemy you Evade through reduces your active Ultimate Cooldown by 2-4 seconds, up to 10 seconds. ・+X Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown by 0.8 seconds. (Inherent) ・+X All Stats ・+X% Movement Speed ・+X% Ultimate Skill Damage ・+X% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies

Best Jewelry

Jewelry	Aspects and Affixes
Amulet	Aspect of Disobedience You gain (0.25-0.50)% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to (66)%. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Mana Cost Reduction ・+X% Damage Reduction ・+X% Cooldown Reduction ・+X% Damage
Ring	Prodigy's Aspect Using a Cooldown restores (XX) Mana. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Element Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% Maximum Life ・+X% Critical Strike Chance ・+X% Critical Strike Damage ・+X% Resource Generation
Ring	Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop For each type of Elemental damage you deal, gain 10.0-15.0% increased damage for 4 seconds. Dealing Elemental damage refreshes all bonuses. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Element Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% Non-Physical Damage ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X% Cooldown Reduction

Best Gems

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Gem Type	Effect Explanation
Royal Sapphire (Weapon)	+12.0% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies Provides additional damage to your Critical Strike Damage against Vulnerable enemies.
Royal Ruby (Armor)	4.0% Maximum Life Increases your maximum Life for additional survivability.
Royal Diamond (Jewelry)	5.0% Resistance to All Elements Provides a Elemental Resistance increase to help reduce the damage received from attacks.

Paragon Board Setup

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Starting Board (Destruction)

The starting board provides a combination of offensive and defensive stats, contributing to the overall performance improvement of the build.

• Destruction (Glyph): Provides an increase in Critical Strike damage which is a must have for the Ball Lightning build.
• Resilience and Erudite: Provides an increase percentage on All Elemental Resistance which increases your survivability.
• Elemental Balance: Provides damage boost on your Non-Physical Damage attacks.

Static Surge (Enchanter)

This board allows you to apply vulnerabile for free and provides additional mana, increasing the effectiveness of your Ball Lightning.

• Enchanter (Glyph): Provides a massive boost on your Non-Phyiscal Damage attacks and additional Elemental Resistance based on the Enchantment Skills equipped.
• Incapacitate and Overwhelming: Raw damage boosts against Elite and Stunned enemies which you can easily apply with the lightning element.
• Electro: Increased Lightning Resistance for extra defense.

Frigid Fate (Tears of Blood)

Using Tears of Blood on the Frigid Fate board allows you to maximize the effect of crucial rare nodes (Weakness and Chilling). Additionally, this area contains numerous stat nodes that can result in a significant boost to your damage when combined with the Tears of Blood Glyph.

• Tears of Blood (Glyph): Provides a massive boost on your Non-Phyiscal Damage attacks and additional Elemental Resistance based on the Enchantment Skills equipped.
• Weakness: Increases your damage against vulnerable enemies.
• Chilling: Increased Cold Resistance for extra defense.

Ceaseless Conduit (Reinforced)

The magic and rare nodes in this board provide bonuses to your Lightning Damage, which is crucial for the Ball Lightning build.

• Reinforced (Glyph): Improves the effect of Rare Nodes within its radius and provides additional damage reduction while using barriers.
• Electro: Increases your overall damage with Lightning Skills, making your Ball Lightning stronger.
• Galvanic Catalyst: Increased Lightning Resistance for extra defense.

Enchantment Master (Adept)

The magic and rare nodes on this board boost your Non-Physical Damage attacks and provide additional resistance to all elements.

• Adept (Glyph): Drastically increases the damage of your Mastery Skills, this includes the Ball Lightning skill.
• Elemental Balance: Provides damage boost on your Non-Physical Damage attacks.
• Erudite: Increased Resistance to All Elements for extra defense and survivability.

Burning Instinct (Territorial)

This board allows you to stack damage reduction, which is a crucial stat for surviving attacks that could otherwise instantly kill you.

• Territorial (Glyph): Provides additional damage reduction against nearby enemies, allowing you to tank attacks with your barrier.
• Smoldering Embers: It provides additional damage reduction against enemies that are burning, and with the Fire Bolt Enchantment, any enemies hit with your skills are considered burning.

Ball Lightning Playstyle

Ball Lightning Build Tips
Recommended Openers and Rotations Spam Your Ball Lightning Use Defensive Skills Can Replenish Mana Use Unstable Currents Aggressively

Recommended Openers and Rotations

Trash Mob Opener and Skill Rotation

Boss Opener

Spam Your Ball Lightning

Constantly spam your Ball Lightning as much as possible. Do not be afraid to spend all your mana while casting Ball Lightning, if you are able to stack enough Ball Lightning, bosses and elites will immediately die if they get close to you.

Defensive Skills Can Replenish Mana

Because of the Prodigy's Aspect and Resource Generation stat, you can replenish your mana using any of your skills. Keep this in mind as you cycle through your abilities while spamming your Ball Lightning.

Additionally, you can also regenerate mana by picking up Crackling Energy from the floor, because of the Invigorating Conduit passive.

Use Unstable Currents Aggressively

Since you can reduce the cooldown of Unstable Currents, it is okay to use it even on small groups. It will have little to no downtime if you can effectively utilize your Overflowing Energy passive and Vampiric Powers. Alternatively, you can replace Flickerstep with Esu's Heirloom for more Critical Strike Damage.

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