Arc Lash – Sorcerer Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

The Arc Lash Sorcerer build is ideal for players wanting a simple, yet effective, melee playstyle. This is the fastest Sorcerer build in terms of mobility, and the build is extremely effective at speed-farming all endgame activities in Diablo 4.

Compared to similar Lightning Sorcerer endgame builds ranked high on the tier list, like the Chain Lightning Sorcerer, the Arc Lash Sorcerer has lower single-target damage.

If your character has not reached Level 60, follow the Sorcerer Leveling Guide.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Check the build tier lists to see how this build compares to others on Icy Veins.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Skill Bar Setup for Arc Lash Sorcerer (order does not matter)

Arc LashUnstable CurrentsTeleportFlame ShieldIce ArmorLightning Spear

The Skill Tree above shows the full allocation of 71 Skill Points for the Arc Lash Sorceress build. Make sure you obtain the 12 Skill Points available from Renown.

Hoarfrost is always activated against Staggered bosses.

Enchantment Slots

Non-Ultimate Skills can be equipped in two available Enchantment Slots. A skill must have at least one skill point allocated to it in order to be used in the Enchantment Slot. Skill points that have been granted through gear work as well.

Slot Fire Bolt in the first Enchantment Slot to activate Burning bonuses from Devouring Blaze and Paragon.

Slot Teleport in the second Enchantment Slot. Utilize the synergies in the Telestomp build variant for speed-farming.

Paragon

After Character Level 60, experience gains are applied to Paragon up to Level 300. A maximum of 228 Paragon Points can be obtained through Paragon Levels, Renown, and Altars of Lilith. Follow the Paragon setup designed for the Arc Lash Sorcerer to gain a considerable amount of progression for your character.

Glyphs are inserted into sockets on each Paragon board and can be found during various activities in Diablo 4. Level up the Glyphs included in the Paragon setup by completing The Pit. Clearing higher tiers of The Pit allows Glyphs to reach higher levels.

Important Notes:

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the proper orientation.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the order shown, as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Prioritize leveling each of your equipped Glyphs to 15 to gain the increased radius, which can be required to meet additional bonus requirements. Afterward, level each Glyph to 46 to unlock its Legendary Bonus and gain another radius increase.

The Paragon setup displayed above focuses on quickly unlocking the essential Glyph sockets and Legendary Nodes at a moderate Paragon Level. Once the base setup is complete, allocate the remaining Paragon points in the following order.

1. Obtain any remaining nodes providing a damage increase within the radius of Glyph sockets.
2. Path to the remaining Rare and Magic nodes. Prioritize obtaining damage reduction, any needed Resistances/Armor, and damage increases.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

The following sections cover the important systems that are essential to improving the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects for the Arc Lash Sorcerer build. Salvage Legendary Items with higher Aspect values to unlock them in the Codex of Power, and then imprint them onto Legendary Items with the preferred affixes.

Gear Slot	Aspect Name	Legendary Aspect Power
Amulet (+50% bonus effect)	Aspect of the Moonrise	Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining [40 – 80%] Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Dagger (replaced by Shard of Verathiel)	Aspect of Shredding Blades	Ice Blades’ chance to apply Vulnerable is increased by 20% and the Vulnerable duration is increased by 4 seconds. You gain x [15 – 30%] Vulnerable Damage. Note: Ice Blades are not required to gain the Vulnerable Damage.
Ring Slot #1 (replaced by Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop)	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed.
Ring Slot #2 (replaced by Ring of Starless Skies)	Storm Swell Aspect	You deal x [15 – 35%] increased damage while Ice Armor is active. This amount is increased by another 15% against Frozen enemies.
Focus	Aspect of Adaptability	When cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast. When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal [40 – 80%] increased damage.
Gloves (replaced by Paingorger’s Gauntlets)	Conceited Aspect	Deal [15 – 25%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active.
Chest (replaced by Raiment of the Infinite)	Everliving Aspect	You take [20 – 25%] less damage from Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemies.
Helm (replaced by Heir of Perdition)	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds.
Pants	Snowveiled Aspect	Ice armor makes you unstoppable and grants you 25% Damage Reduction for [3.5 – 5.0] seconds.
Boots (replaced byFlickerstep)	Hectic Aspect	After casting 5 Basic Skills, one of your active Cooldowns is reduced by [1 – 2] seconds.

Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each item type.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Topaz for increased Basic Damage.	Grand Topaz for Intelligence or Grand Amethyst for increased Barrier Generation.	Any Resistance Gems needed or Skull for Armor (up to the 1,000 Armor cap).

Runes are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and then start dropping during various activities. A Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation can be combined by inserting them into equipment with two available sockets, creating a Runeword. A limit of two Runewords can be equipped.

Insert each of the following Runewords, consisting of a Rune of Offering and a Rune of Invocation, into any equipped Helm, Chest, or Pants item. Add sockets to your equipment at the Jeweler if necessary.

Runewords	Effects
Xol Ohm	Gain: 150 Offering — Evoke power from another Class. Requires: 600 Offering, Cooldown: 2 Seconds — Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt.
Lith Wat	Gain: 25 Offering — Stand still for 0.3 seconds. Requires: 100 Offering, Cooldown: 1 Second — Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.

If you prefer to stutter-step (move in between attacks), replace Lith with Moni.

Elixirs

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs, or find Elixirs by killing enemies or opening chests during various activities in Diablo 4. Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume for the Arc Lash Sorcerer, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Precision provides the highest damage output increase, if not already capped at 100% Critical Strike Chance.
2. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.
3. Elixir of Fortitude is the best general-purpose option for survivability. Increased Maximum Life grants larger Barriers from Protection and Ice Armor.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Arc Lash Sorcerers. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending how much is stacked or other character stats. Bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades.

A One-handed Weapon and Focus setup is preferred over a Staff for more beneficial utility affixes and a faster Weapon Speed. A Dagger is selected for the fastest weapon speed and the Damage to Close Enemies implicit stat.

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow. Maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Armor is only needed until capped at 1,000.

If you are using a speed setup with Teleport Enchantment, temper the Evade Cooldown Reduction affix from the Natural Motion Manual onto your Boots and Amulet. Otherwise, temper the Movement Speed or Teleport Cooldown Reduction affixes.

Check the Tempering and Masterworking section for more details on Blacksmith upgrading.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Dagger	1. Maximum Life, Intelligence, Vulnerable Damage	Discharge (Weapon): Chance for Arc Lash to Swipe Twice Shock Finesse (Offensive): Shock Critical Strike Damage
Focus	1. Critical Strike Chance, Cooldown Reduction 2. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Discharge (Weapon): Chance for Arc Lash to Swipe Twice Shock Finesse (Offensive): Shock Critical Strike Damage
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Sorcerer Control (Utility): Stun Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Frost Cage: Ice Armor Duration
Chest	1. Ranks to Defensive Skills 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Sorcerer Control (Utility): Stun Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Frost Cage: Ice Armor Duration
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Shock Finesse (Offensive): Shock Critical Strike Damage Natural Schemes (Utility): Crowd Control Duration
Pants	1. Ranks to Arc Lash 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Sorcerer Control (Utility): Stun Duration Worldly Endurance (Defensive): Armor up to 1,000 cap, otherwise Frost Cage: Ice Armor Duration
Boots	Implicit Stat: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown 1. Movement Speed 2. Any uncapped Resistances or Armor 3. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Natural Motion (Mobility): Evade Cooldown Reduction Sorcerer Control (Utility): Stun Duration
Amulet	1. Ranks to Devouring Blaze, Glass Cannon 2. Critical Strike Chance, Cooldown Reduction 3. Attack Speed	Natural Motion (Mobility): Evade Cooldown Reduction Shock Finesse (Offensive): Shock Critical Strike Damage
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 2. Maximum Life, Intelligence	Ultimate Efficiency —  Sorcerer (Resource): Unstable Currents Cooldown Reduction Shock Finesse (Offensive): Shock Critical Strike Damage

Unique and Mythic Items

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for the Arc Lash Sorcerer build. Each item description includes the most important affix to target for Masterworking upgrades.

• Raiment of the Infinite (highly recommended) synergizes well with this build to group and Stun enemies. Check the Telestomp Build Variant section for more details.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks of the Glass Cannon Passive
• Tyrael’s Might (optional) is the best defensive option for a Chest Armor, although this Mythic Unique Item can be difficult to obtain. The divine barrage does not contribute a significant portion of the total damage in this build.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction
• Flickerstep (recommended) synergies well with the Telestomp setup, as the unique effect works with the Evade Teleport to provide more uptime on Unstable Currents. The Evade Cooldown reduction in the implicit effect has a higher 2.5 second value than the 1.5 second value available on Legendary Boots.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
• Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop (recommended) provides up to a 75% damage multiplier with 3 elemental stacks.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Heir of Perdition (highly recommended) grants the highest damage increase for the slot.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance
• Harlequin Crest (optional) is helpful for additional Ranks to Arc Lash, 20% Damage Reduction, and a boosted Cooldown Reduction affix.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Tibault’s Will (optional) can be utilized if additional Mana generation is needed. Alternate activations of the unique effect with Teleport, Flame Shield, and Ice Armor (with Snowveiled Aspect).
  • Masterworking Priority: Maximum Life, Maximum Resource, or Damage Reduction while Unstoppable
• Paingorger’s Gauntlets (recommended) enable Arc Lash to hit any enemies at a distance marked by other Shock skills auto-casted through Unstable Currents.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Basic Skills
• Fists of Fate (optional) increases overall damage by 50% with a perfect 300% value on the unique effect. Unfortunately, they are still a minor damage loss compared to well-rolled Legendary Gloves with +4 Ranks to Arc Lash, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, and an Offensive Aspect.
  • Masterworking Priority: Any affix except Lucky Hit Chance to Restore Primary Resource
• Shard of Verathiel (recommended) provides a 3x multiplier for Fire Bolt, at the cost of 25 Primary Resource per cast. Only use this item in conjunction with Ring of Starless Skies.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks to Basic Skills
• Ring of Starless Skies (recommended) synergizes with Shard of Verathiel to reduce the Mana cost of Fire Bolt, while also providing a damage multiplier.
  • Masterworking Priority: Attack Speed

Mercenaries

Once the Den is unlocked during the main questline in the Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4, complete Mercenary key quests to acquire them. Hire a Mercenary and enlist a Reinforcement in the following setup.

• Hired Mercenary: Varyana
  • Skills: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust
• Reinforcement: Raheir
  • Skill: Bastion
  • Opportunity: Cast when the player becomes Injured

Advanced Information

Additional details are provided in the following sections for a more in-depth explanation of the Arc Lash Sorcerer. Read this advanced information after understanding the basic overview of the build in the previous sections.

Build Mechanics

Playing the Arc Lash Sorcerer is fairly simple, but requires careful management of Cooldowns. Arc Lash deals most of the overall damage output with multiple sources of increased Basic Skill damage, while rapidly activating other Shock Skills with Unstable Currents to supplement additional damage.

Skill Points are allocated into Destructive Charged Bolts, but not actually slotted into the Skill Bar. The 20% reduced enemy damage debuff is applied through auto-casted Charged Bolts through Unstable Currents. Hectic Aspect on Legendary Boots (or Flickerstep) reduces Unstable Currents cooldown, so activate the Ultimate Skill often.

Each cast of Arc Lash has a 25% chance of spawning Lightning Spear while Unstable Currents is active. Lightning Spear counts as a Conjuration Skill to gain increased damage stacks from Conjuration Mastery, and the spear applies Vulnerable on Critical Strike. Lightning Spear can also be casted manually from the Skill Bar to apply Vulnerable when Unstable Currents is not active.

Survivability is achieved through the use of three Defensive Skills, Flame Shield, Ice Armor and Shimmering Teleport. In addition, each Cooldown Skill casted grants a Barrier from Protection. Proper use of these Skills can keep a Sorcerer alive through the toughest battles, despite having a low Life pool.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage.

1. Activate Unstable Currents often, as the Cooldown is reduced frequently.
2. Cast Lightning Spear to apply Vulnerable when Unstable Currents is not active.
3. Spam Arc Lash.
4. Use Ice Armor, Teleport and Flame Shield to activate Barriers from Protection.

Telestomp with Raiment of the Infinite

Raiment of the Infinite allows the Arc Lash Sorcerer to use 2 sources of Teleport offensively. Teleporting on top of enemies to Stun and group them up is called “Telestomping”. This playstyle can quickly clear groups of enemies and keep them Crowd Controlled (CC) for safety, perfect for speed-farming Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and The Pit!

Use the following setup for the Arc Lash Sorcerer.

• Equip Raiment of the Infinite to enable Telestomps. Target-farm Raiment of the Infinite from Varshan or Lord Zir for the best chances of it dropping.
• Replace Ball Lightning with Teleport in the Enchantment Slots.
• Equip Boots with the implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown, which work with the Evade Teleport.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Use Obols on your target equipment for a chance to receive Greater Affixes. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• October 16th, 2024: New Paragon tool added.
• October 4th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2).
• August 6th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0).
• May 14th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0)
• January 22nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0).
• October 17th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0).
• July 18th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.