Welcome to the Arc Lash Sorcerer Leveling guide. This Sorcerer build focuses on various Lightning spells starting from Arc Lash and Charged Bolts and eventually using all of them at once thanks to awesome power of Unstable Currents.
The build is quite strong damage-wise in almost every situation but your main skill, Arc Lash, has a very short range. To stay alive in melee you have a bunch of defensive skills and lots of Crowd Control but since the latter doesn't work against Bosses you have to pay attention and dodge their attacks.
Another problem this build faces is Unstable Currents, or to be more specific, its 70 second cooldown. You have Glinting Arc Lash to help with that, but it will still have huge downtime during leveling and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't pop Unstable Currents on every encounter and instead save it for big Elite packs and Bosses.
Overall this build feels fairly good while leveling as long as you can stomach the melee range. And in the endgame you can continue playing the same build with almost no changes eventually reaching near 100% uptime on Unstable Currents!
- Great Mobility
- Decently Tanky
- Doesn't Need Mana
- Great Single Target Damage
- Melee
- Small AoE
- Ultimate Dependent
- Inconsistent Damage
Season 3 - Season of the Construct
In Season 3, you obtain the Seneschal Construct through the Season Questline, then collect Governing Stones or Tuning Stones to add attacks and augment them to support your build. Only certain Tuning Stones work with a particular Governing Stone. Look at the bottom of any Tuning Stone tooltip to see if it is compatible with your Construct's currently equipped Stones. Lastly, they can be leveled up by getting duplicates to max out their power. Check out our full Season 3 guide for more information.
Recommended Stones
- Any stone without cooldown
- Resource
- Swift
- Initiative Support
This stone gives us reliable resource generation.
- Flash of Adrenaline, Reconstruct, Autodefense, or Protect
- Tactical
- Duration
- Fortify
This stone provides an occasional offensive or defensive boost.
Skill Showcase
Skill Tree & Gameplay
Getting Started
Being a Basic skill build we get access to our main skill from the very start. At early levels we use Flickering Arc Lash upgrade because Cooldown Reduction doesn't become important until later. We also get Charged Bolts and its Enhancement so that we have something to do with our Mana.
Adding Defensive Skills
After investing 6 skill points we gain access to Defensive skill cluster. Here we instantly pick up Teleport, Ice Armor, and Frost Nova. These are our main utility spells and they will stay with us until the very end. We also fully upgrade Frost Nova to get access to the Vulnerable debuff.
Powering Up and First Enchant
We spend the next few levels pumping ranks into our damaging skills. At level 15 you unlock your first Enchantment slot, so we must put a point into Fireball. The Fireball Enchantment is invaluable when it comes to killing large hordes of small enemies, which is something our build can struggle with.
The Ultimate Skill and Stun Synergies
Finally we get to our Ultimate Skill Unstable Currents. It replaces Fireball on our skill bar. After that we pick up Invoked Lightning Spear and max Shocking Impact passive. At level 30 we unlock the second Enchantment Slot and we enchant Arc Lash. This gives us plenty of Stuns, which our passive turns into damage.
The Key Passive and More Defense
A few levels later you reach the bottom of the Skill Tree and pick up Vyr's Mastery. This passive works perfectly with our build providing both damage and defense. At the same time we bolster our defenses even further by picking up Protection, Electrocution, and Shimmering Teleport.
At this point our build is largely complete so we just pick up useful passives boost our damage and survivability. We also max out Teleport to go faster. Apart from leveling up you can get 10 skill points by completing Renown objectives, so don't forget to do your side quests!
Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional rewards efficiently.
Sorcerer Enchantment Slots
Enchantments are extremely important to any Sorcerer build. In fact, the moment you hit level 15, you should drop whatever you were doing and go unlock your Enchantment Slots! You must have at least one rank in a skill to put it into Enchantment Slot but it doesn't have to be on your skillbar.
Slot 1 - Enchant Fireball. This effect lets you easily destroy large hordes of small enemies while also dealing heavy damage to any Elites that happen to be caught inside.
Slot 2 - Enchant Chain Lightning. This power gives you some free damage and also restores Mana via Recharging Aspect.
Unlocking the Enchantment Slots
Once you hit level 15, you automatically start the "Legacy of the Magi" Priority Quest. Complete it to unlock your first Enchantment Slot. The second Slot unlocks on it's own when you reach level 30.
Learn more details in our full Enchantment Slots Guide.
Gear Progression & Global Stat Priorities
Generally you want to have 1H Weapon + Focus instead of 2H Weapon, mostly because Focus can roll Cooldown Reduction and it's by far the best stat you can have. However, during leveling you won't lose that much CDR, so if you find a high DPS staff feel free to go for it. Always go for higher DPS over weapon's stats during leveling. The useful stats to look out for are:
- Weapon: Close Damage, Basic Skill Damage, Damage vs Crowd Controlled.
- Focus: Cooldown Reduction, Basic Skill Attack Speed, Mana Cost Reduction
Hint: Press SHIFT over an item to compare it to what you're wearing!
Armor
Armor pieces typically grant us Defense and Utility stats, except the Gloves which offer a tidal wave of Offense. Here are the important stats to look for:
- Helm: Cooldown Reduction, Basic Skill Attack Speed
- Armor: Armor, Damage Reduction.
- Gloves: Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance
- Pants: Armor, Ball Lightning ranks.
- Boots: Movement Speed, Mana Cost Reduction.
Jewelry
Jewelry provides powerful Offensive stats that help us on our leveling journey. Pay close attention to the rolls as higher leveled pieces aren't always better:
- Amulet: Cooldown Reduction, Movement Speed, Mana Cost Reduction.
- Rings: Close Damage, Damage vs Crowd Controlled, Vulnerable Damage.
If you have sockets on your items, fill them with the following;
- Weapons: Topaz
- Armor: Ruby
- Jewelry: Skull
Read more about itemization in our Damage Explained, Defense Explained, and Stats Explained articles.
Codex of Power
The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary. For leveling there are a few aspects that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them:
Top Codex Leveling Aspects in Order:
| Aspect | Dungeon |
| 1. Rapid Aspect | Buried Halls Dry Steppes |
| 2. Aspect of Control | Sunken Library Kehjistan |
| 3. Aspect of Might | Dark Ravine Dry Steppes |
Warning: DO NOT imprint your Weapons as they are constantly replaced while leveling. Put Offensive Aspects on your Amulet, Rings, or Gloves instead.
Learn more details in our article covering the Codex of Power.
Helpful Legendary Aspects
There are more helpful Legendary Aspects for the Ball Lightning Sorcerer that can either be found in the Codex of Power or Extracted from an item drop. Note that all Legendary Aspects can be found from item drops, and dropped Aspects can have higher rolls frequently making them significantly better than ones sourced from the Codex of Power.
- Gravitational
- Extremely powerful Aspect that makes Ball Lightning worth using. Move points from Charged Bolts to Ball Lightning and use it as your secondary damage skill.
- The Conceited
- This gives you a nice damage boost when your Ice Armor is active.
- If you find this, drop 1 point in Protection early so that you can activate the buff by using your other skills.
- Accelerating
- The Aspect gives you a bunch of Attack Speed when you crit with Charged Bolts.
- The Stable
- This gives you mini version of Unstable Currents active at all times.
- This doesn't add that much damage but has an additional benefit of letting you proc Accelerating Offensive Aspect without your Ultimate.
Discover every Sorcerer Legendary Aspect in our Sorcerer Overview.
How To Level
You level in Diablo 4 by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, grinding Dungeons, or interacting with Seasonal mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are made equal.
Campaign Leveling
- For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides the best gameplay experience and gives you access to key unlocks like your Mount.
- If you don't have your Mount, you MUST progress the Campaign until you complete the quest Donan's Favor at the start of Act 4.
- After obtaining your Mount you can skip the remainder of the campaign at any time.
- The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
- To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.
Seasonal/Alt Leveling
- Complete the Season questline, progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock Legendary Aspects, and work on your Seasonal powers.
- If your account is below Rank 5 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once.
- Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
- From level 1-50 you should focus on getting experience, by completing dungeons with high monster density like the Domhainne Tunnels, or Sirocco Caverns.
- If you get bored of the dungeon grind, you can farm Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or complete Gathering Legion Events.
- After level 50 you need to balance leveling up, Glyph Experience, and participating in endgame activities like Helltide, and Bosses.
- The fastest experience possible is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters up to 10 levels above your current level.
- Check out our Nightmare Dungeon Tier List for the best layouts!
- Around level 45-50 you should move to World Tier 3.
- Around level 60-70 you should move to World Tier 4.
- The fastest experience possible is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters up to 10 levels above your current level.
- Alternatively: Get boosted by a friend to World Tier 4 then leech experience/loot and Glyph exp (post 50), in Nightmare dungeons.
Leveling Tips and Tricks
Let's look at some tips and tricks to remember when leveling up!
- Level Up Your Potion. You need to farm materials to upgrade your character's potion.
- Make sure you collect all materials as you explore Sanctuary, especially Gallowvine which is used in many Elixir recipes!
- Compare your Items... Literally. Press Shift over an item in your inventory to compare it to what you're wearing.
- This makes it easy to determine what is and isn't an upgrade.
- Don't Imprint Your Best Aspect Onto Your Weapon. The most critical piece of gear while leveling up is your weapon, which gets replaced constantly.
- This makes imprinting a Legendary Aspect that CANNOT be found in the Codex of Power onto your weapon a bad idea in the long run.
- While leveling, only imprint Legendary Aspects from the Codex of Power onto your weapon if any at all.
- It is a better idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which can be used for a long time.
- Sacred is just better. Between level 45 and 50 you're able to beat the Capstone Dungeon and enter World Tier 3, you gain access to powerful Sacred items which have higher item power and better stats. Getting a Sacred weapon significantly improves your farming speed.
- There's little point to entering World Tier 3 before 45 because that's the minimum level where you can equip Sacred items.
- The same happens with World Tier 4 and Ancestral gear at level 60.
Next Steps
Sorcerer Guides
- Complete Sorcerer Overview
- Ball Lightning Sorcerer Endgame Guide
- Ice Shards Sorcerer Endgame Guide
- Firewall Sorcerer Endgame Guide
- Sorcerer PvP Guide (Coming Soon)
Summary
- Whack everything to death with your electric whip.
- Use your Defensive skills to Stun enemies and then swipe with Arc Lash to reduce your Cooldowns.
- Against strong enemies pop Unstable Currents and unleash the Lightning Apocalypse.
- Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge to stay alive in melee range.
- Unlock your Enchantment Slots ASAP.
- Look out for helpful Legendary Aspects in the Codex of Power.
- Read the Next Steps above to continue your journey.
Credits
Written by Northwar
Reviewed by Chewingnom