Ranged Lightning (Crackling Energy) Sorcerer kinda bad?

Sorcerer
1

Hey,

I am currently playing a Lightning Sorcerer (lvl 45)

Spark (Crit Chance)
Chain Lightning (Crackling Energy)
Teleport (30% Damage reduction)
Ball Lightning (Crackling Energy on 4 hits)
Lightning Spear (Stun)
Unstable Currents (With Legendary with 32% chance of an additional spell cast)
Capstone with CD Reduction on Crackling Energy hit
Enchantments Ball Lightning/Lightning Spear

And I feel weak as hell, both in AoE and Single Target.

I need to constantly run around collecting Crackling Energy, so I can effectively use my Capstone, but I wanna be ranged and by the nature of how Energy is created all of it is created in melee.
I use Crit/Lucky Hit Stun and Damage on Stun, but whatever I do Damage is so demonstrably low.
Chain lightning Crits for 380 damage. Meanwhile my (lvl 38) Necro deals ~600 Damage per Tick with his Shadow Dots, without Legendaries.
Spark is just there to boost crit so all the Lucky Hit effects that only trigger on crits trigger more often.

But no matter what I do, my TTK is too low.
I am hardstuck on Nilcar because by the time I get to his last phase with all 3 minions I am out of potions and cant keep up with killing them before he machine-guns me down with his blood projectiles while his minions chain me to this totem pole.

I have seen most Lightning Sorcs play Close Range mostly with stun, but that’s kind not the class flavor I want, even though it is clear how much better the capstone for that playstyle is (20% reduced close range damage increased by 25% on crit. Cool)

Is there anything I am missing? Should I spec out of glass canon?
I dont know. Just everything feels wrong. I see a lot of Sorcs use Frost Nova as CC, but I dont think I need that when against trash the trash is stunned 80% of the time anyway.

I think this all boils down to my biggest problem with D4, which seems to be it’s balance around specific Legendary effects, that you cant guarantee to get dropped. Especially with the drop rate for legendaries we currently have, it feels like I am waiting for something significant to come up, that finally makes my build viable, but all I get is like 30% more damage on Chain Lightning if I shoot Sparks, or 30% more damage if I stand still, which is unreasonable in my build.

1 Like
2

Buddy, don´t know how to tell you this but all sorc builds are bad. they all suck

3 Likes
3

yes, do not bother with cracking energy. There are a few nodes of it, that you take, but its not a meaningful part you play around to get up.
I have stuffed everything into just upping my chain lightning usage and its damage, ball lightning has one point in and the next node for additional atk speed on it because i have it as my second enchantment (and unstable currents :slight_smile: )
The most important legendary effect for not wanting to end yourself is the mana gain if chain lightning bounces off of you. There is a dungeon that drops it in fractured peaks.

In essence the entire thing revolves around being fairly lackluster on groups without unstable current. Once every minute i just completly escalate then, which is when i fight most elites.
In return however for being fairly weak in aoe, my single target is kinda nuts with chainlightning just jumping between the boss and me and refunding most of its cost every time. With my stats and bonus damages currently every single instance of it crits for up to 3k (lvl 52)

4

So,… no Keystone utilization, because you are not fighting close and dont use crackling energy, no AoE (which is 90 of the content) and relying entirely on 1 legendary effect for mana maintenance.

Sounds about as balanced as it gets to me.
I mean, why have more than 2 viable builds for each element, why balance the game around KEystones.

It’s nice that it works for you, but it’s still abhorrent balancing.

5

I mean, you do know that you can play chain lightning in still stand close to enemies? The worst case about not constantly staying in melee, is losing 10% dmg. You still get the 20% dmg reduction every time an enemy actually does melee swing at you.

I have not actually tried the other keystone with my build, it might actually be better in fact, because i highly rely on unstable currents for group clearing, so the cd reduction in massive situations of aoe might actually grant me a significant boost in uptime.

The legendary is an absolut non-issue, because, well, you can get the effect guaranteed, thats a miniscule amount of effort. Duno where youz got “no Aoe” from, when i clearly stated, that its only lackluster outside of Unstable currents, which only has a 1minute cooldown .

6

Sure whatever the game is perfectly well balanced.

Why even bother trying to play around the Lightning Sorcs main unique element?

Also Even with the capstone to get 1 second CD reduction you need to hit 10 enemies.
Each Charge can hit 2, if there are 2 in range, if there aren’t 2 in range you lose charges with reduced effect. Against bosses you need to hit 4 hits.

So in AoE you get a 1 second CD reduction for 5 charges, in SIngle Target for 4 Charges.
To utilize this outside of Unstable you still need to collect them.

Also if you play Close Range, just play Lash+Bolts, why focus on Chain Lightning?
You simply confirmed that ranged Lightning Sorc doesnt work, despite providing explicite ranged spells, that then for some reason scale with a mechanic only utilized in melee.

7

The big cons of crackling energy start in WT4, with minions protecting others with an aura. It basically nullify the entire build.

8

I like how you think crackling energy would make you a ranged sorc in the first place. You still literally have to stand in the middle of the shit to get its full effect.
Also i am not saying, that the game is perfectly balanced.

Addiionally, you dont seem to get what i was getting at. Unstable currents has a talent point that makes it fire off crackling energies for no charges. I am testing it right now and in massive pulls that alone actually drops my cooldown significantly. taking a ton more dmg, so i dont think i will go on with it.

Why focus on cl? Because i bloody want to! Because its the build i am having fun with and made work.

9

You made it work in the same ways as making a microwave work by lightning a campfire inside of it.

You just took a ranged skill crammed into into a melee build and “made it work” by absconding with the benefits of being melee which is already covered with better spells.

I wont sit and pretend that replacing Charged Bolts with Chain Lightning in a build that works 100% better by just using melee spells is “a new build”

And the disconnect between crackling energy and ranged spell is exlicitely what I am calling out.
as in: Why do CL and Spark exist as ranged spells if all the viable builds and the unique Lightning Spell mechanic all require melee engagement?

Edit: This is especially stupid when you consider, that for some reason the melee spells are the only ones incapable of creating Crackling Energy, instead clearly focusing on Stun. WIth Lash reducing Cooldowns when you hit stunned enemies, and Charged bolts dealing more damage against stunned enemies.

What I dont get, is why you came here to preach your built, when all I said is that ranged Lightning Sorcerer sucks ass because it’s main mechanic requires constant melee movement.

Edit:

Just started playing a Storm Druid and it already feels like he’s 100% better at everything I hoped Sorcerer would be good at. I mean, Druid gets to make enemies Vulnerable, so that’s already better.

10

Not going to take sides, here just going to write a few points.

If crackling lightning was not ment to be a viable playstyle then A; why did they add it to the game, and B; why did they add an entire paragon board dedicated to crackling lightning, and C; why do they add aspect(atleast one that i have seen) that gives bonus to crackling lightning??

Op, dont give up, but allso its going to be a rough road.

11

Why anything?
The problem isnt about if it’s “supposed to be viable” it’s “why is it so contradictory to the sorcerers kit”

Even if it’s viable, it just forces Lightning Sorcs into Melee/Close, where obviously the skills that are meant for melee are stronger. So at best what you can do, and what I’m doing now, is thread the needle between being in close combat and dying when I dont trigger enough lucky hits and being at the range where I get CD reduction effectively while not being in the danger zone.

Edit:
Why is anything that isn’t viable in the game? Because they needed filler and bait.
Why did they nerf all the good stuff, instead of buffing the underutilized skills?

12

Funnily enough. I actually think i made crackling energy work with my build as of today. Not for its dmg, but actually as a cooldown reduction method. Very much reduced my unstable currents Cd down to ~20 seconds when i get enough enemies to shred through. € got it down to virtually no cooldown :slight_smile:

Dying is also very much not an issue atm, even without the 20% close reduction. Will just get better, once i get the second legendary paragon node for lightning builds (crackling energy based)

13

i went lightning spec with zero crackling talents, spent those talents in buffing damage

i am lvl 50 paragon 4 and on tier 1 world you can easily just use chain lightning then run away and basic attack then chain again. i use ice armour with talent to regen mana

it works ok and the only time i died was when i was level 50 and the butcher killed me chasing me around, so when i met him later i pre-emptively farmed potions and brought him to the potions heheh to kill him

14

I dont wanna be rude, but did you people read all posts?

My Problem isnt with the viability of the playstyle, but with lack of ranged options.

Both Keystones are close to mid range, and in close to mid range you probably use Lash and Bolts, but of course Chain Lightning works in Melee too.

I just tried to make pure range work and couldnt, because you cant, you need to either spec into Crackling (I use it to spawn Lightning Spears and boost damage with Conjuration master) or play Completely melee.

There are even exactly 3 legendary effects I want/need:
Chance to double cast Lightning Spear whenever it is cast
Chance to trigger Shock Spells when Unstable Current isnt active
Chance for double Shock Spell casts when Unstable Current is active.

My Problem is that this doesnt completely fit my class fantasy of of standing at range.
I think the only “Subclass” for Sorcs that can be kinda at range is frost. But even there you have Blizzard and your Ultimate be melee.

The entire Game seems to discourage or disallow Ranged gameplay. Most enemies have charges, or knockdown mechanics, you only have Evade or like 1 Movement ability in Kit, Elites get CC immune after you stun them like twice, Bosses only have stagger meters so you cant completely utilize hard cc, it just feels like they wanted to force all classes into close to mid range, even Rogue with Bow or Sorc.

Even Caster Necros are kinda bound to Melee Range, because they either utilize “Shotgun” Spells or AoEs around them, the best you could argue is Darkness Builds and Bone/Blood Spear Builds could go Range.

I dunno. I am currently actually kinda enjoying my Sorc and Barb (WT2/Veteran) but it feels awkward to play at some points.

Not to speak that on World Tier 2 it feels like the Butcher is impossible unless you are fully decked out in Legendaries.

I had the dude spawn in a level 7 Cellar on my Barb, where he just dashed, stunned and one-shot me.

15

No? I don’t know about Fire and ye Lightning seems weak (leveling) but Frost is busted.

16

Yes, as it currently stands the only viable lightning build past level 50 (WT3+) is Arc Lash and even that stops working at some point. There is a reason why 95% of all sorcs in Wt3/4 play Ice Shards.

17

i found the lightning build pretty cool from start, chain light enemies then using all the crackling energies to zap them more… this was also the build i played in the beta.

But now i am at a point where i feel ike the normal mobs take ages… and that i hit a wall.
Especially when my ultimate is not up i don’t want to kill normal groups…

I now also had to switch to frost… which feels somewhat viable now… currently i try to use frost orbs / blizz but after i sent this post i will also respec to ice-shards like everyone else.

I actually planned to not look up any builds and find my own builds for as long as possible… but now at lvl 43 i feel like i have reached the point where my own builds are all kind of bad…

18

Even if the game was balanced (it’s not), there isn’t a huge incentive to go Lightning for end-game unless the build eventually killed everything without any risk of taking a hit, which we know Blizzard will not balance it that way because that would feel like Diablo 3.

In order to get some of the damage you’re missing, the class is designed around maximizing dps on gear.

For example, on Chest Armor, you’d want to get:

  • Damage
  • Lightning Damage
  • Shock Skill Damage
  • Damage Reduction

On Gloves, you’re forced to go for:

  • Critical Strike Chance
  • Lightning Critical Strike Damage
  • Ranks of Chain Lightning
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Restore [X]% Primary Resource

Ring:

  • Critical Strike Chance
  • Critical Strike Damage
  • Lightning Critical Strike Damage
  • Resource Generation or * Lucky Hit Chance

And Weapon:

  • Critical Strike Damage
  • Lightning Critical Strike Damage
  • Core Skill Damage
  • Damage to Stunned Enemies or * Vulnerable Damage

You’ll notice that by taking a lot of the Sorc-specific Lightning damage mods, you’re basically opting out of Damage Reduction. You only have 4 mods on each piece of gear, so the more you invest in making your damage pop, your basically becoming a true, genuine glass cannon, which doesn’t really work in this game - at least for pushing content or even keeping up with the level scaling in some cases.

For this reason, Fire and Blizzard appear more attractive because it’s easier to get damage while having more reasonable survivability. It’s not an accident that Ice Shards and Firewall are working better than other builds. Even Frozen Orb - a skill that also needs buffs - works better for a variety of reasons (perma-freeze, barriers, cooldown reduction on defensive skills, can easily deal with Damage Reduction Aura packs, etc.)

Ranged Lightning does need a serious buff. It’s probably the worst spec the Sorc has, especially after you consider Arc Lash for free is significantly better in many situations.

19

It’s nice to see that I’m not alone thinking this.

About the person saying they think “all their builds suck”

I think that’s not a “you problem” it’s a balancing/scaling problem.

I decidedly, and exclusively, play my characters on World Tier 2 when I create them.
Because I am not a coward, and for a game specifically supposed to be “going back to their roots” and that should be all about “being hard” I should be excited and encouraged to play at harder World Tiers.

But 99% of people online go “just play WT1, because WT2 scales like shit” and it does.
In my experience, all builds are fun until you reach like the 25-30 range of levels, at which point it declines until like 40-43 where you should have naturally found legendaries (instead of lowest roll Imprinted ones) with more exciting effect, which then scales back up to being fun until like level 50, where it slows down again, especially if you go completing areas instead of rushing the campaign.

That was my experience with all but 1 of my builds.

I have a Lightning Sorc (and no, I wont switch just because Blizz is bad at balancing, I’d rather die 1000 times with a class fantasy I like, than switch to whatever they have decided to be viable)

a Bleed Barb (Rend + Charge exploiting vulnerable windows so I can Rupture Elites at half health for instant kills)

a ranged Storm Druid (Spirit regen sucks ass, but again, I dont wanna be forced to melee, just because melee gets all the goodies (like 15% damage reduction for basically free))

a Darkness Necromancer (who i want to play without Minions, but I cant find the legendary that turns Blood Wave/Bonestorm into Darkness, so MInions it is until then)

and the only character that feels like it’s actually working for some reason, that is fun and has sustained a good clear:

A Vulnerability Rogue - who at 30+ still full clears the screen within like 2 seconds
(Make Vulnerable with Puncture, trigger Darkness Imbue, Shadowblade for stun, go stealth, Darkness trap with guaranteed crit, flurry to spread vulnerability to everything and clear the leftovers)

I think what Sorc needs is more sources of Vulnerability, all classes can apply this with just minimal effort, sorc needs to either go full frost, or at least spec into Frost Nova, which, again, is melee.
I think it would be cool to put this on Lightning Spear, or on the Chain Lightning Enchant, literally anywhere, just make it possible to trigger Vulnerability as a Lightning Sorc.

20

Hello,
If you are looking for ranged playstyle, have you tried fire yet? Fireball has a perk that makes it stronger the longer it travels. Casting Hydras way in front, I let them light stuff up along with Fireball, Firebolt and Meteor Ultimate proc then Combustion increases the damage when more that 3 sources of fire. With Inferno going, it’s all free mana for a while.
Hope this helps you or someone else.
Have fun.