Diablo 4 Season 9: Easiest Sorcerer leveling guide

Diablo 4 Season 9’s Sorcerer is wildly powerful, whether you’re just leveling up, or in the endgame. No matter what, it’s an incredibly strong class, with one of our writers placing Sorcerer in A-Tier for leveling up speed and ease. This class also boasts the most overpowered build, for my money, in Season 9. That makes the transition from simply leveling, to pushing through the endgame pretty easy, in my estimation. You will need some very specific items and legendary affixes, but that’s not what we’re focused on right now.

You have a few great options for Diablo 4 Season 9’s Sorcerer, if you want the easiest leveling build, but I think Chain Lightning Sorcerer barely edges out Hydra Sorcerer. However, we will be using that skill in this build, because let’s face it: Hydra is awesome, and the new legendary, Ophidian Iris makes it even better.

The Chain Lightning Sorcerer is the easiest build for Diablo 4 Season 9

Diablo 4’s Chain Lightning Sorcerer is far and away the easiest Sorc leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 9. The only real hard part is mana management at the beginning, and you can use Spark to build that back up. Chain Lightning’s ricochets are fantastic at clearing a screen, or simply fighting one-on-one; just get up close and let the lightning ricochet off of you!

Chain Lightning is just so satisfying to use (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

There are a few schools of thought on how to build Chain Lightning Sorcerers, though. Some people go with Arc Last until you unlock Enlightenment, and then use Fire Bolt for Familiar. Others just go with Hydra instead. Now, Arc Lash did get buffed, so that’s entirely up to you; I prefer Spark, though. Your hotbar will likely look like this:

Chain Lightning
Spark
Hydra
Familiar
Ice Armor
Teleport

The only real hard part other than mana management is rotating your elemental spells, to get the most out of Enlightenment. You build stacks faster if you rotate between elemental types. This is why we have an Ice, Fire, and Lightning spell on our hotbar.

Talents and Enchantment picks for Chain Lightning Sorcerer in Diablo 4 Season 9

Our talent loadout is pretty simple for Chain Lightning Sorcerer leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 9. You can see the full loadout, level by level below, so you will be on track to hitting everything you need.

When it comes to Familiar, you’re going to be using Hydra with it, to get plenty of extra damage, but when you unlock Shocking Impact (Stunning/Attempting to stun a boss deals 50% [x] LIghtning Damage to them), swap to using a Lightning Skill instead. Here’s everything you need for your talent build:

Skill Order

Spark (Enhanced, Glinting)

Chain Lightning (Enhanced, Greater)

Fireball

Teleport

Ice Armor

Glass Cannon

Hydra (Enhanced, Roaring)

Familiar (Enhanced)

Chain Lightning

Invoked Familiar

Static Discharge

Shocking Impact

Chain Lightning

Align the Elements

Protection

Primordial Binding

Fiery Surge

Warmth

Enlightenment

Enhanced Fireball

Greater Fireball

Chain Lightning

Protection

Inner Flames

Permafrost

Hoarfrost

Icy Touch

Elemental Synergies

Warmth

Potent Warding

Elemental Dominance

Enhanced Teleport

Shimmering Teleport

Enhanced Ice Armor

Shimmering Ice Armor

Mana Shield

Evocation

When you reach level 15, you can select your first Enchantment for your Sorcerer: pick Fireball for your first Enchantment, and Chain Lightning for your second one, when that becomes an option. Fireball makes enemies explode into a fireball when you kill them for free damage, and Chain Lightnings will automatically form when you pick that up, after you spend enough mana.

What are the best Horadric Spell combo pieces to pick for Chain Lightning Sorcerer?

Until the Cosmic Anomaly x Primordial Binding bug is fixed (which may be never), your primary Horadric Spell tool is going to be Disintegrate. I’d probably pair it with Shock or Chain Lightning, to get the Disintegrate beam popping up frequently.

Admittedly it's going to be hard to farm up this stuff while leveling, but if you get lucky, these are what I'd run (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Horadric combo

Catalyst: Disintegrate
Infusion: Smoldering Ember
Arcana: Invigorating Helix, Tranquil Stone, Shifting Powder

We use Smoldering Ember for more fire damage, to make Warmth easier to proc. Invigorating Helix gives Fortify/Healing, Tranquil Stone gives Unstoppable, which is key to survival, and Shifting Powder adds movement speed, which is never a bad thing as a Sorcerer.

Which is the best Mercenary to pick for Chain Lightning Sorcerer in Diablo 4 Season 9

If you’re going to run a Mercenary in Diablo 4 Season 9 in your Chain Lightning Sorcerer leveling build, I’d stick with Raheir (Primary) and Varyana (Reinforcements). The tankiness of Raheir is undeniably great, and Bloodthirst is a fantastic support skill. Varyana will use Bloodthirst when you cast a skill in combat.

Raheir talents

Ground Slam
Raheir’s Aegis
Bastion
Iron Wolf’s Virtue

Ideal Legendary Affixes, Runes and Uniques for Chain Lightning Sorcerer in Diablo 4 Season 9

It might be frustrating to farm some of these, but be diligent, and don't be afraid to break down legendaries you aren't using (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

As you’re leveling, you’ll no doubt come across a ton of gear with useful Legendary Aspects on them. In Diablo 4 Season 9, Chain Lightning Sorcerer leveling builds have plenty of options, which I’ll list below.

In particular though, Recharging (gain mana on Chain Lightning bounces), Disobedience (extra armor when you deal damage), and Snowveiled (Ice Armor grants Unstoppable/Damage Reduction). These are remarkably powerful, and I highly recommend slotting them in when you can.

Below I’ll list my favorite Legendary Aspects, and a few Uniques, in case you should get lucky enough to find them, or be gifted them from another player, between leveling your Chain Lightning Sorcerer in Diablo 4 or transitioning into endgame.

Legendary Aspects

Recharging
Disobedience
Snowveiled
Elemental Constellation
Storm Swell
Conceited
Lightning Rod
Concentration

Ideal Uniques

Axial Conduit
Esu’s Heirloom
Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop

When it comes to Runes, that's the hardest thing of all. It really depends on what you can find, but I like Cem+Qua (Cast Evade to to gain Movement Speed), Cir+Ceh (Cast 5 skills then become Exhausted for 3s to summon Wolves). I use Cir+Ceh on any class that spams skills while leveling, to be honest. It's super satisfying.

Transitioning into the endgame

Transitioning into the endgame shouldn’t be too hard as a Chain Lightning Sorcerer in Diablo 4 Season 9; just have a plan for where you want to go next. You may want to play a Hydra Sorcerer, or Ball Lightning, something like that. I highly recommend figuring that out before you get too deep in, so you can keep an eye out for appropriate Legendary Aspects that you will need.

Check out our other Diablo 4 Season 9 guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker