Recently, I updated my Chain Lightning build with the new Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop. To give you a better idea of its performance, I’ll show how it compares to Ball Lightning build, and Charged Bolts build in this guide. This way you can decide which one to use to maximize your enjoyment of playing Lightning Sorcerer in Season 2.

With this guide, you’ll learn all the key synergies on how to gain unlimited mana, as well as how to build tanking abilities effectively. Without further ado, let’s get started!

CL, BL & CB Comparison

Before I begin, you need to know that the absolute numbers I show here, like how long it takes to kill an Uber Lilith, are based on my near-perfect quality gear, plus 6 glyphs maxed out at level 21 on Paragon board. Therefore, you may find that your experience differs significantly from the numbers listed here.

The endgame experience in Diablo 4 is highly dependent on the quality of equipment components and glyph level. I did some rough calculations with my current setup and all 6 glyphs at level 21 alone are actually 2.5x my damage. So I definitely recommend spending time running Nightmare Dungeons to farm Diablo 4 Gold and XP to level up glyphs quickly. This can increase our damage.

With the numbers I’ve shown, you can get a visual of the relative performance of the three builds to decide which one you’ll find the most fun with.

Because all Nightmare Dungeons games are similar in length, ranging from 2 minutes to 4 minutes. To defeat the same T100 boss, Ball Lightning build takes 7 seconds, Chain Lightning build takes 12 seconds, and Charged Bolts build takes 16 seconds.

To defeat Uber bosses like Uber Lilith, I wear Raiment of the Infinite and Tibault’s Will to increase my damage. Since I don’t need that much survivability, all three builds can skip all of Uber Lilith’s mechanics, changing her HP from 100 to 0 during the second phase.

Among them, Ball Lightning takes about 3 seconds to build, Chain Lightning takes about 7 seconds to build, and Charged Bolts takes about 11 seconds to build.

Of course, this theory of relativity also applies to other Uber Bosses like Echo of Varshan and Uber Duriel.

Also, I tested the time it took to farm 600 Cinders in Helltides. Ball Lightning build took me about 17 minutes, Chain Lightning build and Charged Bolts build also took me about 15 minutes.

Also Read: How To Optimize Diablo 4 Ball Lightning Sorcerer With The New Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop?

Switch Between CL, BL & CB

Switching between the three builds is very easy.

We used Aspect of the Unbroken Tether on the gloves to build Chain Lightning. We use Gravitational Aspect on the gloves we build with Ball Lightning. And we used Staff of Lam Esen and Aspect of Piercing Static on the gloves when building Charged Bolts. All other gear components are the same.

In terms of skill trees, the differences between the 3 builds are also minimal. The major difference is that in Chain Lightning, we use 5 points to build Chain Lightning. For Ball Lightning build, we use 1 point in Chain Lightning and 1 point in Flame Shield. And we use 5 points in Charged Bolts to build Charged Bolts.

Also, we use Ball Lightning Enchantment for Chain Lightning build and Charged Bolts build. We use Chain Lightning Enchantment to build Ball Lightning.

For Vampiric Powers, we use Accursed Touch for Chain Lightning build and Charged Bolts build. We use Call Familiar to build Ball Lightning. Everything else is the same, with all three builds sharing the same Paragon Board.

Final Thoughts

All that said, personally, I prefer Chain Lightning build, and Charged Bolts build to Ball Lightning build.

If you like the visuals and sound effects, and are willing to spend more time on Nightmare Dungeons boss, I recommend using Charged Bolts build, but I don’t recommend using Charged Bolts build to farm Uber boss.

If you like targeting Uber Bosses to melt everything extremely fast and are okay with a pure melee combat style. Then your gear will need to be more survivable, and it will need more energy to avoid dying in advanced Nightmare Dungeons. I recommend using Ball Lightning build.

If you like the balanced experience between Charged Bolts build and Ball Lightning build, where you can farm Nightmare Dungeons and bosses at a decent rate while enjoying the ranged build, I recommend going with Chain Lightning build.

Tal Rasha Ring Build

I’m glad the developers introduced Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop, which makes it easier for Chain Lightning builds to get enough damage to run Nightmare Dungeons T100 and skip all of Uber Lilith’s mechanics.

While some may lament the lack of more innovative unique items like Omnipower, Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop is a powerful addition to any Lightning Sorcerer’s arsenal. Its potential for permanently multiplied damage increases, coupled with top-tier affixes, cannot be underestimated.

With the synergy of Tal Rasha Ring, whether it’s Chain Lightning or super strong builds like Charged Bolts and Ball Lightning, it creates more opportunities for map farming. What do you think of these three Lightning Sorcerers? Have a great day!