The Sorcerer was my main character for both early and open beta for Diablo IV. I’ve always loved playing the Sorceress in Diablo II, and even in Diablo III, I enjoyed playing the Wizard too. It’s fairly obvious that I’m going to lean towards the Sorcerer for Diablo IV. Blizzard have always done an amazing job at making their caster-based characters fun to play, and the Sorcerer is certainly no different.
This character has a lot of great active and passive abilities, but for this guide, I’m going to only choose the active abilities. Yes, only the spells are going to count for this list. There are so many useful spells in the Sorcerer skill tree that I believe everyone can end up having their own personal picks of what the best Sorcerer skills are.
For this list, I’m judging of which spells are most likely going to be useful no matter what build a player will be going for. In the beta, I went for a full out Arc Lash build for my Sorcerer, and it ended up being fairly effective.
I wasn’t sure if it was possible to make the Sorcerer a viable melee-driven class, but I ended up finding the Sorcerer far more effective as a melee character than my Barbarian was. With that mentioned, this list is not going to be a ranking of the spells, but more of a list that these are the spells you should keep your eye on when Diablo IV is released on June 6.
A Sorcerer is wearing some decked out gear.
Ice Armor
This spell definitely reminds me of Diablo II‘s Frozen Armor, and that is because the ability is generally my primary defensive skill to use on the Sorceress. I believe Ice Armor is the spiritual successor to Frozen Armor. I cannot imagine not having this ability in the early game to the endgame stage. It’s mostly designed for damage absorption, but for those who are avid action role playing fanatics, know it’s always good to have some sort of ability to protect you from heavy damage.
I remember during the early game, I was surprised by how hard hitting certain mobs can be, and the Ice Armor is simply a must have skill at all cost. It also absorb 30% damage based on your maximum life at level one. I can totally see in the endgame, some players are going to stack their Sorcerer to have as much health to save up skill points for other abilities. It can end up being an amazing skill whether you put multiple points in it or just make it a one point wonder type of skill.
Absorbing all incoming attacks…
Blizzard
This is a great spell for crowd control and some damage over time against large mobs. Since my Sorcerer is a melee-driven class, I thought it was good to get an ability to slow down group of mobs so I can slash them to death with my Arc Lash ability. Blizzard happens to be that spell, and it’s also nice it can potentially freeze enemies for defensive situations. You can also cast this from range, so it’s not just designed for those that want to be up close and personal. Another great thing about Blizzard is there is no cooldown, so just spam it! Overall, it’s a fairly self explanatory spell. I don’t think it’s going to be as good as Blizzard from Diablo II, but it looks like it’ll still remain as the tried and true ability to rely on.
Let it rain, and let them freeze…
Hydra
One of the most iconic spells in the Diablo series, and it’s nice to see that it’s actually a very good one to use. They hit hard, and they are completely immune from any sort of damage. Also, I found them excellent for boss fights. There were times where I was undergeared and still learning how to develop my build, I found out the Hydras were excellent for cheesing boss fights. There were times I would literally just run around and try to dodge the boss’ attack moves, and the Hydra would simply and surely tick down their health. Another excellent thing about Hydra is you can always cast them because of no cooldowns. If you casted one Hydra in a bad position, you can easily reposition it. They are certainly a lot of fun to use, and I don’t think I’ll be replacing this spell with any other spell even when I get to the endgame stage of Diablo IV because it’s probably the most cheesiest ability you can rely on.
Did you know Hydra was in the Diablo series since the first game?
Teleport
Teleport is certainly not as broken like it once was in Diablo II, but it’s still a great ability to rely on. It’s excellent for mobility purpose, and I found it to be very helpful against elite packs that wall your character from escaping. If you’re playing on Hardcore mode, I think teleport is mandatory to have because if you’re not well geared, you can easily die if you’re forced to fight when you don’t want to. Other than that, the spell is also fairly self explanatory. It’s designed to make your character teleport from one place to another in swift speed, and that modifier which gives you 30% damage reduction is absolutely tempting to get if you want your Sorcerer to have high survivability.
Only the Sorcerer can teleport in Diablo 4 unless there is an Enigma inspired item…
Flame Shield
This is probably my favorite ability to use out of all the Sorcerer skill tree. Not only it’s an amazing offensive spell, but it can be used defensively too because it makes your character completely invulnerable from any sort of damage. What makes Flame Shield so great for offensive force is because you’re burning groups of mobs when they are close to you, and it actually does do good damage. I actually had a level six Flame Shield on my build, and I was surprised by how good the damage can be when it comes to crowd control. It’s also one of the most important abilities for my build too whenever I want to optimize my damage or if I need some sort of safety net to fall back on.
During the my encounters with Ashava, it saved me from so many sticky situations, and I think every Sorcerer player should probably equip this skill when they’re going to do a world boss event. I learned to appreciate Flame Shield very early on, and I honestly can say it’s an ability that is absolutely a must have for the endgame stage. It also works really well with Ice Armor too!
Don’t touch me, I’m hot!
Those are my five picks as far as the best Sorcerer skills that one can use on a variety of builds. I’m sure when Diablo IV launches, I think we will be seeing some of these spells being used from the early game to endgame. Personally, I believe one should probably equip at least two of these spells for their build because these spells are just that good. With that mentioned, I hope you found my guide to be informative, and I hope this list will convince you to play the Sorcerer because they are a lot of fun to play.
