Diablo IV: Best Sorceror Ice Build for leveling
The sorcerer in Diablo IV is the most wide-ranging class in the game. Being able to choose from fire, ice and lightning-based attacks opens up a lot of different gameplay options. The build makeup can drastically change from the beginning levels to when you finish the campaign, so here we are going to focus on the best ice build for sorcerors for leveling in World Tier I and II.
Frost Bolt
The first basic ice skill you’ll come across is Frost Bolt. This costs no mana and is your essential attack to get started. You’ll want to max this to level 5 as quickly as you can as it can explode on impact and damage nearby enemies. After, go for Glimmering Frost Bolt as it gives you 4 mana everytime you hit an enemy that is frozen OR chilled. Since Frost Bolt inflicts chill on enemies, it’s an auto-generator for mana.
Frost Nova
Now, Frost Nova has a basic cool down of 24 seconds, but upgrading it can get it to 18 seconds. After going with the Enhanced for the cool down, you’ll want to go with the Mystical Nova upgrade. Now, Frost Nova instantly freezes enemies and can insta-kill less powerful ones. This works on elites as well, just not bosses. The Mystical Nova adds vulnerability to anyone who survives and makes them take at least 20% MORE damage. While Shimmering Nova aids you with mana, the extra damage is worth the trade off to the mana as you’ll be able to defeat the enemies sooner. The freeze effect allows you to build up your mana with basic Frost Bolt attacks for no mana and then unleash Ice Shards with mana for an extra 20% hit.
Ice Shards
Next up is the Ice Shards attack. You’ll want to max this out as quickly as possible. Upgrading to Enhanced allows the attack to bounce off of enemies that are frozen to other enemies and cause those to become frozen. Then Greater Ice Shards allows you to deal damage to non-frozen enemies as if they were frozen as long as you have a barrier active. You can make sure this is the case with your Ice Armor active. You can also help stave off the use of the Ice Armor if you have the Aspect of the Protector passive buff. This lets you generate a barrier when you damage an elite level enemy once every 30 seconds and saves you mana from the Ice Armor for another attack. Get this early on as soon as you can from the Lost Archives dungeon. It is directly south-west of the Nevesk fast travel point.
Blizzard
Blizzard is a stationary attack that generates a storm where you are aiming. It inflicts chill constantly on enemies, eventually freezing them. Upgrade to Enhanced Blizzard for more damage to the frozen enemies and then Wizard’s Blizzard as it will let your Ice Shards cost 10% less mana while there is a Blizzard on screen.
I use Blizzard mostly AFTER Frost Nova. Any enemies the Nova does not insta-kill are automatically frozen and take the extra damage. In addition, once they are unfrozen, they are vulnerable and take 20% more damage so your Enhanced Blizzard deals extra damage on top of that vulnerability, not the base, so it’s a double banger for increased attack.
Ice Armor
This is a huge defensive skill and necessary for this build for the combination of defense and buffs you get from it. You’ll get a barrier of ice around you that absorbs 30% of your base life for up to 6 seconds. It can go away sooner if you get blasted, but you can help it by dealing damage as 5% of damage dealt gets added to the barrier’s life span. The Enhanced Ice Armor gives you a 25% increase in mana regeneration, and this is huge for this build.