Season 5 Chain Lightning Sorcerer Endgame Build

This is a Chain Lightning Sorcerer endgame build for Season 5 of Diablo 4 (D4). Read on to learn the Skill Tree, as well as all the Best Gear, Aspects, Affixes, Paragon Board, and how to play the build for Season 5.

Chain Lightning Sorcerer Build Overview

Build Summary

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

Build Summary
Chain Lightning Endgame Build
	Focus: Pit 100, Tormented Uber Bosses, Tier 8 Infernal Horde
High Poison Damage Fast Mob Clearing Excellent Damage Reduction for Survivability Requires Multiple Mythic Uniques Mana Hungry

This Sorcerer Endgame Build utilizes the Axial Conduit to modify your Chain Lightning, causing it to explode on enemies and easily clear large groups. Paired with Andariel's Visage, you'll apply a Poison DoT while maintaining high health due to the Life on Hit effects, all while dealing massive damage.

With this build, you will stack multiple Damage Reduction effects and max out Elemental Resistance for survivability. Combined with the Barriers from your defensive skills, this setup makes you extremely durable, even as a Sorcerer.

Skills and Enchantment

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

More skills can be seen by scrolling horizontally and vertically.

Active Skills
Basic Skill Tree ┗ Fire Bolt (2/5)
Core Skill Tree ┗ Chain Lightning (5/5) 　┗ Enhanced Chain Lightning 　　┗ Greater Chain Lightning ┗ Devastation (3/3) 　┗ Elemental Dominance (3/3) ┗ Potent Warding (3/3)
Defensive Skill Tree ┗ Teleport (5/5) 　┗ Enhanced Teleport 　　┗ Shimmering Teleport ┗ Flame Shield (1/5) ┗ Ice Armor (1/5) 　┗ Enhanced Ice Armor 　　┗ Shimmering Ice Armor ┗ Elemental Attunement (1/3) ┗ Glass Cannon (3/3)
Conjuration Skill Tree ┗ Ice Blades (1/5) 　┗ Enhanced Ice Blades ┗ Align the Elements (1/3) 　┗ Mana Shield (3/3) 　┗ Protection (3/3)
Mastery Skill Tree ┗ Static Discharge (3/3) 　┗ Invigorating Conduit (3/3) ┗ Inner Flames (1/3) 　┗ Devouring Blaze (3/3)
Ultimate Skill Tree ┗ Unstable Currents (1/1) ┗ Coursing Currents (1/3) 　┗ Electrocution (3/3)
Key Passives Skill Tree ┗ Vyr's Mastery (1/1)

Enchantment Slots

Chain Lightning Enchantment Slots
Fire Bolt (Level 15)	Teleport (Level 30)

For your Enchantments, pick up the Fire Bolt Enchantment to apply the Burning status effect to all enemies. While it will not deal significant damage even with the Devouring Blaze passive, applying Burning is crucial, since you will be using it with the Burning Instinct Paragon Board and the Flamefeeder Glyph. Both of these boosts your damage against Burning enemies and provide additional Damage Reduction.

On the second Enchantment slot, select Teleport to take advantage of the +3 Evade Charges implicit effect on your Boots. This greatly enhances your mobility, allowing you to dodge incoming attacks and speed through dungeons with ease.

Enchantment Slots Explained

Best Aspects and Affixes

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

Masterwork Priority	Affixes marked with ★ are the ones you should aim to upgrade when masterworking.

More gear Aspects can be seen by scrolling vertically.

Gear	Aspect and Affixes
Head	Snowveiled Aspect ・Maximum Resource ★★★ ・Maximum Life ・Armor Temper: ・Barrier Generation ・Total Armor
Chest	Mage-Lord's Aspect ・Maximum Life ★★★ ・Armor ・Intelligence Temper: ・Barrier Generation ・Maximum Life
Gloves	Fists of Fate ・Attack Speed ・Critical Strike Chance ★★ ・Lucky Hit Chance ★ ・Lucky Hit: Up to a [X]% Chance to Apply a Random Crowd Control Effect for 2 Seconds
Pants	Axial Conduit ・+ 13.5 - 22.5% Chance for Chain Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice ・10.5 - 15.0% Damage Reduction ★★★ ・23.5 - 32.5% Resource Generation ・+ 2 - 3 to Chain Lightning
Boots	Aspect Of the Orange Herald ・Intelligence ・Armor ・Maximum Life ★★★ Temper: ・Barrier Generation ・Teleport Cooldown Reduction
Amulet	Recharging Aspect ・Maximum Life ・Critical Strike Damage ・Maximum Resource ★★★ Temper: ・ Vulnerable Damage ・Unstable Currents Cooldown Reduction
Ring	Lightning Rod Aspect ・Critical Strike Damage ・Maximum Life ・Vulnerable Damage ★★★ Temper: ・ Vulnerable Damage ・Unstable Currents Cooldown Reduction
Ring	Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop ・+ 6 - 8% Lucky Hit Chance ・+ 57 - 75% Non-Physical Damage ★★★ ・6 - 8% Cooldown Reduction ・+ 2 - 3 to Potent Warding
Focus	Conceited Aspect ・Chance to Restore Primary Resource ・Damage ・Maximum Resource ★★★ Temper: ・Vulnerable Damage ・Chance for Chain Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice
Dagger	Storm Swell Aspect ・Vulnerable Damage ★★★ ・Damage ・Maximum Life Temper: ・Vulnerable Damage ・Chance for Chain Lightning Projectiles to Cast Twice

With this build, you will primarily focus on stacking Damage Reduction for increased survivability, Maximum Resource for additional Chain Lightning spamming, and Vulnerable Damage to boost the effectiveness of your Chain Lightning. Your main goal is to tank any incoming damage while consistently spamming your Barriers and Chain Lightning to kill enemies.

Use the Fist of Fate to increase your Lucky Hit Chance along with the Chance to Restore Primary Resource on your weapon, to address the mana issues of this build. The resource gained from this and the Recharging Aspect supported by the Resource Generation affix from the Axial Conduit will be sufficient to maintain at least 3 Chain Lightnings active.

Finally, since you will have a barrier 100% of the time, the benefits of the Storm Swell Aspect and the Conceited Aspect will be consistently active throughout the fight.

Uber Unique Alternatives

Gear Change
Snowveiled Aspect (Head)	>	Andariel's Visage
Mage-Lord's Aspect (Chest)	>	Tyrael’s Might
Lightning Rod Aspect (Ring)	>	Ring of Starless Skies

Once you are able to obtain the Mythic Uniques for this build, you can use these best in slot items to replace the some of the Aspects that you won't be needing. Replace Snowveiled Aspect with the Andariel's Visage. Using the Life on Hit benefit from Andariel's Visage, you will not be needing the Damage Reduction from this aspect since you will have enough survivability.

Andariel's Visage provides a Life on Hit effect, allowing you to recover HP quickly. Just by surviving the initial damage from enemies, you will be able to lifesteal back to full HP through the persistent Chain Lightning. Additionally, Chain Lightning will hit all enemies in the area, enabling you to apply the Poison DoT effectively with this Mythic Unique.

To further improve your survivability, equip Tyrael's Might for its additional Damage Reduction and to max out your Elemental Resistances. Additionally, your damage may feel lacking when fighting against high-level enemies without Andariel's Visage due to the absence of Poison. However, once you obtain the item, you can replace the Lightning Rod Aspect with the Ring of Starless Skies. This adjustment, along with the Axial Conduit unique, will resolve the mana issue.

Paragon Board Setup

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

1. Starting Board - Territorial Glyph

For your Starting Board, you should pick up Territorial since you'll be close to enemies most of the time. This will increase your damage and allow you to benefit from the damage reduction it provides. Additionally, you should pick up the Non-Physical Damage rare nodes along the way to boost your overall damage

2. Frigid Fate - Exploit Glyph

Your second board, pick up the Frigid Fate legendary node and pair it with Exploit to enhance your Vulnerable damage. This combination will significantly increase your damage, especially if you can consistently apply Vulnerable to enemies.

3. Static Surge - Destruction Glyph

For your third Paragon Board, grab the Static Surge legendary Node and slot in Destruction. This setup will allow you to consistently apply Vulnerable to enemies with your Chain Lightning while also recovering mana.

4. Burning Instinct - Flamefeeder Glyph

For the Burning Instinct Paragon Board, skip the legendary node and go straight for the glyph slot to add Flamefeeder. Since you’ll be using Fire Bolt in your Enchantment Slot, you will consistently apply Burning to all enemies you attack. You’ll benefit from the Damage Reduction and Damage Increase provided by the rare nodes on this board.

Since your main sources of damage will be the Poison from Andariel's Visage and the explosion from your Chain Lightning, you should avoid picking up the legendary node on this Paragon Board.

5. Enchantment Master - Tactician Glyph

Next up is the Enchantment Master Paragon Board. Here, slot in Tactician to gain Increased Damage for casting a Defensive Skill. Since you will be using multiple Defensive Skills for this build, you will maintain a 100% uptime on this passive.

As most of your Enchantments serve as utility rather than dealing damage, you can skip the legendary node on this board.

6. Ceaseless Conduit - Unleash Glyph

For the Ceaseless Conduit Paragon Board, skip the legendary node and go straight for the glyph slot to socket Unleash. Although the mana regeneration benefit may be minimal, it will still support your build by increasing your Lightning Damage.

7. Elemental Summoner - Charged Glyph

Lastly, pick up the Elemental Summoner Paragon Board. Skip the legendary node here, as it is not necessary for the build. Instead, grab the Reservoir rare node to increase your Maximum Mana and Life, and use the glyph slot to socket in Charged.

Best Gems

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

Armor	Jewelry	Weapons
Royal Ruby	Royal Skull	Royal Sapphire

Equip Ruby gems to increase your Maximum HP, improving your survivability. With Tyrael's Might maxing out your resistances, prioritize using Skull gems in your jewelry slots to increase your Armor.

Lastly, use Sapphire gems in your weapon slots to increase your Vulnerable Damage. Since the poison from Andariel's Visage cannot crit, Sapphire gems will maximize your damage output more effectively than Emerald gems.

Build Playstyle and Tips

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Summary		Skills and Enchantment		Aspects and Affixes
Paragon Board		Gems		Playstyle

How to Play the Chain Lightning Endgame Build
Spread the Poison from Andariel's Visage
Manage Your Mana with Chain Lightning
Spam Your Ice Armor

Spread the Poison from Andariel's Visage

Andariel's Visage provides a massive damage boost due to its ability to apply Poison DoT to all enemies you hit. Since Chain Lightning can bounce and hit multiple targets, you can easily spread the poison with this ability alone, affecting all enemies within the area. This will drastically improve your clear speed and overall DPS, even against bosses.

Manage Your Mana with Chain Lightning

Due to the effects of Axial Conduit, your Chain Lightning will drain your mana whenever it returns to you. Make sure to manage your mana carefully and avoid overusing Chain Lightning, as all of your Chain Lightning will disappear if your mana reaches 0.

Spam Your Ice Armor

The main goal of this build is to maximize durability by stacking multiple Damage Reduction buffs and increasing Maximum Life to fully benefit from the Life on Hit effect of Andariel's Visage. However, you should still spam your barriers for additional survivability and utilize the effects of the Shimmering Ice Armor passive, which reduces its cooldown by simply spending mana.

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