Make the character
Two clicks, then you're playing.
- Pick Sorcerer.
- Tick Seasonal Realm — that's where Season 15 content, the seasonal questline and the good loot are.
- Difficulty: start on Normal, or Hard if you've played before. Either way the rule is the same: go up when packs die quickly, and come back down if fights get noticeably longer.
The plan in one line
You're building toward a Sorcerer who kills with burning ground rather than big hits. Levelling is about reaching Firewall at level 13, pouring every point into it, and letting the Fireball Enchantment at level 15 blow up the small enemies for you.
Your first skill bar
The cards show the finished bar from level 40. Before level 13, Fireball sits where Firewall is; before 40, Hydra sits where Familiar is. You get 83 skill points in total: 69 from levels and 14 from Season Rank.
Your basic attack, from level 1. It hits an area and is the best Mana generator. Press it only when you're out of Mana.
Mana refillYour damage, from level 13. Cast it by hand whenever you have Mana and lure enemies through it. Fireball holds this slot until then.
Main damageYour Ultimate. It's here to keep enemies inside your Firewalls, not for its own damage.
Hold them in the fireFrom level 4. Movement and repositioning. The Wormhole variation at 16 lets you teleport twice.
MovementFrom level 6. A large Barrier and a lot of Armour, and its Resource Regeneration upgrade refills your Mana.
DefenceFrom level 40, replacing Hydra. It acts as a turret — put it on top of an elite or boss for extra Burning damage.
Elites and bossesHow you actually play
Before level 13: drop one Hydra at the start of the fight and forget it, spam Fireball while you have Mana, and Arc Lash when you don't. From 13 the rule is simple: cast Firewall if you have Mana, and Arc Lash if you don't. Lure enemies through the fire and keep moving — everything should be left burning behind you. Use Inferno to hold a pack inside the Firewalls. From 40, put Familiar on top of an elite or boss first, then cast everything else. One Conjuration out is enough for most fights. Teleport to reposition, and treat Ice Armor as your emergency button.
Where your skill points go
Spend them top to bottom — finish one line before starting the next. Don't spread them around.
| Order | Skill | Why | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Starter skills | Arc Lash, Fireball (level 3), Teleport (4), Ice Armor (6) and Hydra (8), one point each, plus Ice Armor's Resource Regeneration upgrade at 7 and Arc Lash's Resource Generation upgrade at 9. That's 11 points. | Rank 1 each |
| 2nd | Firewall | At level 13, refund everything. Keep only Arc Lash with its Resource Generation upgrade, Teleport, and Ice Armor with its Resource Regeneration upgrade. Every other point goes into Firewall, then the next 12 as well. Upgrades: Wildfire, Cost Reduction, Damage Bonus. | Rank 15 |
| 3rd | Fireball | The one exception while you max Firewall: a single point at level 15, so you can put Fireball in your Enchantment slot. It stays off the bar. | Rank 1 |
| 4th | Hydra, Wormhole, Inferno | Once Firewall is 15: Hydra back with its Healing and Cooldown Reduction upgrades, Teleport's Wormhole, then Inferno with its upgrades. | Rank 1 each |
| 5th | Missing upgrades | Fill in the upgrades you skipped on Teleport, Fireball (for the Enchantment), Ice Armor and Arc Lash. This takes you to 42 points spent. | Upgrades only |
| 6th | Familiar | At level 40 Inferno gets Lifecoil and you no longer need Hydra. Refund it and take Familiar with Prismatic Familiar, then rank it up first. | Rank 15 |
| 7th | Ice Armor, then Fireball | The remaining points go here, in this order. Fireball's ranks and its Size Bonus and Instantaneous Destruction picks carry into the Enchantment. | Rank 15, then 14 |
Made a mess of it?
Respeccing is cheap at low level. Open the skill tree, refund the lot, and spend again in this order. It costs a few gold, not a new character.
Level 15: Enchantment slots
An Enchantment slot takes a skill and gives you a passive effect from it, unique to that skill. Any skill except an Ultimate can go in. The skill's ranks and upgrade picks carry into the slot, and you can swap slots at any time. The first slot opens at level 15 and the second at level 30. The priority quest Legacy of the Magi starts automatically at 15. Finish it to open the slot — you only need to do it once per class on your account. If your slot is already open at 15, carry on without it.
Slot one — Fireball. There is no real alternative.
Spend one point on Fireball at level 15 and put it in the slot. It does not need to be on your bar. With it slotted, enemies explode when they die, and the explosions chain through the pack. The damage against hordes of small enemies is absurd, and because the build is already based on Burning you don't have to do anything special to trigger it. One point is enough for now. Later there are two ways to treat it. You can rank Fireball up with your last points, which is what this page does, or leave it at one point, since the effect matters less from around level 40.
From 15 on, packs of small enemies chain-explode with no extra button presses. At level 30 the second slot opens, and you have a choice. Teleport lets you cast Teleport far more often, in the sequence Teleport, Evade, Teleport, Teleport. Firewall gives damage instead of mobility. Hydra gives you a second Hydra that doesn't count toward the limit. Take Teleport, because faster movement is faster levelling.
The road to 70
What changes, and when. Some steps are tied to points spent rather than to a level.
You can only invest in a Basic skill until level 3, so start with Arc Lash. Fireball arrives at 3, Teleport at 4, Ice Armor at 6 and Hydra at 8. Start on Normal or Hard. Hard gives extra experience and is the better choice as long as you still kill quickly. Normal is the better choice if you're new.
Firewall unlocks. Strip the tree to Arc Lash, Teleport and Ice Armor, and put every other point into Firewall. Fireball and Hydra leave the bar. The next 12 points go into Firewall too.
At 14, Arc Lash's Inescapable Reach variation means it is no longer a melee attack. At 15, one point in Fireball and the first Enchantment slot. At 16, Teleport's Wormhole lets you teleport twice.
Hydra comes back with Healing and Cooldown Reduction, then Inferno, then the upgrades you skipped. These steps go by points spent rather than level: 28, 32 and 42.
Slot Teleport for mobility, or Firewall if you want damage instead. The cue for trying a higher difficulty is a jump in power, such as a key skill unlock or a legendary drop. If it slows you down noticeably, go back.
Inferno's Lifecoil upgrade unlocks and you no longer need Hydra. Swap it for Familiar with Prismatic Familiar. Your bar is now final. Remaining points go to Familiar, then Ice Armor, then Fireball.
After about level 60, clear every Stronghold — a lot of experience for little time. Close to 70, higher item power gear starts to drop, which is a good moment to redo your tempers and imprints.
Paragon opens. Complete Pit Tier 10 to enter Torment 1, then move across to Ring of Fire. You keep casting Firewall by hand at first, and the Ring of Fire upgrade only comes in once you own its five-piece charm set. Swap the Teleport Enchantment for Firewall once you reach the Enchantment Master node on your Paragon board.
Gear rules for beginners
You don't need to understand affixes yet. This build needs no particular aspect or unique, so these rules cover it.
- Upgrade your weapon first. Its damage is the base for every other damage calculation. A two-handed staff is the best choice while levelling.
- Look for: Damage Over Time and Fire Damage, then Resource Regeneration (your Mana), Intelligence and Maximum Life. Fill gaps with Resistances, Life and Armour. On boots, Ranks to Firewall and Movement Speed.
- Ignore Critical Strike Chance. Your damage is damage over time, and that can't crit. Crit matters for a pure Fireball build, not this one.
- Resource Regeneration is what retires Arc Lash. With enough of it on your gear, or a Mana aspect on a ring, drop Arc Lash and bring Hydra back.
- Aspects come from drops now. Salvaging a legendary unlocks its aspect, and the Occultist imprints it. You can no longer get aspects from world map dungeons. The ones to keep: Armageddon, Untarnished Blaze, Lingering, Writhing and Arcane Ward. For Mana: Elemental Acuity is the best, then Prodigy's or Vulpine's.
- Put your best offensive aspect on the amulet — you replace it least often. Spend Obols on gloves for offence, chest and pants for defence, boots for mobility and rings for Mana.
- Splinters: these Season 15 sockets go in jewellery, and each has a bonus and a drawback. Use Hellfire, because its drawback costs you nothing when you can't crit anyway, and the Black Soulstone. Avoid Pain, which takes movement speed, and Anguish, which raises your Mana costs.
- Runes: Nagu + Ceh summons wolves that apply Vulnerable and Freeze, triggered by any Conjuration. Cir + Qua gives movement speed. Runes are better than gems in armour.
- Uniques: none are required. Vision of the Firestorm, Drognan's Anguish and Raiment of the Infinite are great finds, and all three stay with you into the endgame build. Spend your gold and materials as you go — tempering low-level gear is cheap and makes a real difference.
Mercenary
Hire Subo. His Seeker passive reveals enemies and objects on your map and restores Mana. Take Molotov and Scorched Earth to add damage over time, then Snipe and Incendiary Bolt to trigger Scorched Earth. There are two choices for the reinforcement. Raheir's Bastion triggers when you become Injured and protects you, while Aldkin slows enemies. Take Raheir. Mercenaries unlock at the Den, during the Vessel of Hatred campaign.
Words the game doesn't explain
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Mana | The blue bar your skills spend. Skills consume it, and it regenerates over time — faster with the right gear and skill upgrades. It is easy to run dry. |
| Enchantment slot | The Sorcerer's class mechanic. Put a skill in a slot and you get a passive effect unique to that skill. The first slot opens at level 15, the second at 30. The skill can sit on your bar at the same time. |
| Basic / Core | Basic skills are spammable, usually cost no Mana and aren't very powerful. Arc Lash is one, and it's your Mana refill. Core skills have no cooldown but a significant Mana cost. Fireball is a Core skill. |
| Mastery skill | The group of area skills that contains Blizzard, Meteor, Firewall and Ball Lightning. Firewall unlocks at level 13. |
| Conjuration | The Sorcerer's summons — Ice Blades, Hydra, Lightning Spear and Familiar. They deal damage by themselves or give you a beneficial effect. |
| Ultimate | A powerful skill with a long cooldown. You can only have one, and it can't go in an Enchantment slot. Here it's Inferno. |
| Damage over time | Damage that ticks rather than landing in one hit. Burning is this build's version and its main damage. It cannot critically strike. |
| Barrier | An elemental shield from a Defensive skill such as Ice Armor or Flame Shield. Ice Armor gives a large one, plus a lot of Armour. |
| Vulnerable | A debuff that makes an enemy take more damage from everything that hits it. Here it comes from the Nagu + Ceh wolves or the Aspect of Shredding Blades. |
| Codex of Power | Your collection of legendary aspects. Salvaging a legendary unlocks its aspect, and the Occultist imprints it onto other gear. |
Mistakes new Sorcerers make
- Keeping points spread around once Firewall unlocks. At 13 the best thing you can do is pump ranks into Firewall. Refund down to the bare minimum.
- Over-ranking Fireball at 15. One point for the Enchantment, then back to Firewall until it's maxed.
- Thinking Fireball has to be on the bar. The Enchantment works without it.
- Taking Firewall's Ring of Fire variation while levelling. Its cooldown is too long. Take Wildfire and cast Firewall by hand.
- Valuing Critical Strike Chance, or socketing the Splinter of Anguish. Damage over time can't crit, and Anguish also raises your Mana costs.
- Pushing difficulty too high. If a higher difficulty slows you down noticeably, a lower one is faster overall.
- Casting Conjurations over and over. One out is enough for most fights, and you don't want to spend much time casting them.
At 70 you're done levelling — move across to an endgame build: Ring of Fire · Ball Lightning · Blizzard.