The endgame Ball Lightning build has had many variations and takes on it, but this version right here takes the crown. This Ball Lightning build, in my eyes, is truly immortal and can be used to destroy the Diablo 4 Abattoir of Zir and Tier 100 Nightmare Dungeons with ease in Diablo 4 Season 2. We truly have 100% uptime on our barriers, which means our health bar isn’t touched.

The best thing about this build is that it requires no Uber Uniques at all. That’s why I decided to create this version of the build in the first place. You can use the timestamps below to go through each section of the build in sequence. So let’s go over the crux of the build and how it works. Make sure you have enough Diablo 4 Gold that can help you a lot.

About Build

First, the main idea of this build is to have 100% uptime on our barriers, primarily coming from our Protection skill, which grants 30% of our Max Life as a barrier whenever we use a cooldown. We cycle through our defensive cooldowns: Ice Armor, Flame Shield, and Teleport. This not only provides the survival benefit these cooldowns offer but also generates a barrier constantly on top.

What makes this build different from many other Ball Lightning builds is the use of the Ice Blades Enchantment. The enchantment spawns additional Ice Blades whenever we use our cooldowns. Thanks to one of the Ice Blades modifiers, every time an ice blade hits an enemy, it reduces the cooldown of our other skills. With the constant spamming of cooldowns, including our ultimate ability, we generate multiple Ice Blades on the battlefield, cumulatively reducing our cooldowns significantly. Additionally, our key passive, Overflowing Energy, reduces our shock skill cooldowns when Crackling Energy hits an enemy.

These synergistic effects result in the Teleport cooldown consistently coming back every few seconds. Teleport is ideal to spam because it also provides an additional 30% damage reduction when used. To further enhance damage reduction, we aim to stack as much “damage reduction when injured” as possible. This stat is found on legs, boots, and amulet. Having it on all three items ensures a substantial amount of damage reduction. Additionally, we stack this with Vampiric Power Resilience, providing even more damage reduction when we operate with low health.

With all these damage reduction stats kicking in once we are in the injured health range, coupled with the infinite uptime on barriers, our health bar remains practically unaffected. Regarding Mana regeneration, due to our extensive cooldown usage, we primarily rely on Prodigy's Aspects to address our Mana issues. Crackling Energy also contributes significantly to Mana regeneration throughout our build.

Also Read: Diablo 4: How To Get A Bloodforged Sigil And Complete The Abattoir Of Zir?

Skill Tree

So, let’s go through the skill tree. We start off by putting 2 points into Firebolt, which we use as our second enchantment in this build. This allows us to burn enemies whenever we damage them. This is super important because we can then benefit from damage reduction and damage increase to burning enemies. In our Paragon board, one point goes into Devastation, allowing us to put 3 points into Elemental Dominance. We allocate one point into Potent Warding, one point into Flame Shield, and then 5 points into Teleport, alongside Enhanced and Shimmering Teleport.

We allocate 5 points into Teleport specifically to reduce its cooldown as much as possible, enabling us to spam it and maintain the 30% damage reduction alongside our barriers as much as possible. 3 points go into Glass Cannon, though if you’re struggling to survive, these points can be reallocated elsewhere. One point goes into Ice Armor, 3 points into Elemental Achievement, and one point into Ice Blades, with Enhanced and Summoned Ice Blades for that crucial cooldown reduction. One point goes into Align the Element, allowing us to put 3 points into Protection and 3 points into the Mana Shield.

For this build, Conjuration Mastery is not deemed crucial. Unstable Currents' uptime isn’t high enough for us to benefit significantly from the increased damage, and the focus of this build is survivability. 3 points go into Icy Veil, increasing the duration of our barriers, and one point into Inner Flame, unlocking Devouring Blaze for increased Critical Strike damage against burning enemies. Thanks to the Fireball Enchantment, this should be any enemy hit with Ball Lightning.

5 ranks of Ball Lightning itself, Enhanced and Wizard’s Ball Lightning, one rank of Static Discharge to unlock 3 ranks of Invigorating Conduit for additional Mana regeneration. Unstable Currents serve as our ultimate, along with Prime and Supreme Unstable Currents. One point goes into Coursing Current, enabling 3 points into Electrocution. Finally, Overflowing Energy, our key passive, reduces the Teleport cooldown and the ultimate ability cooldown.

Gear And Aspects

Let’s go over our gear. I’ll start with the amulet because that’s where the most important aspect goes. For the extra 50% benefit, Aspect of Disobedience should be placed here because that extra armor is going to really helps you survive. The amulet should also have damage reduction when injured and Mana cost reduction as mandatory stats. Other desirable stats include damage reduction stats, total armor, movement speed, and ranks to Mastery Skills.

For your helmet, you want total armor, maximum life, and cooldown reduction. I put the Everliving Warlord aspect here so we take less damage from vulnerable enemies, which we make our enemies through our vampiric powers. While no Uber Uniques are required for this build, the Harlequin Crest would be an amazing direct upgrade here if you have one.

For your chest piece, aim for total armor, damage reduction when close, other damage reduction stats, and maximum life. I put the Unwavering aspect here so we get our cooldowns back even faster. Gloves should have attack speed, Critical Strike chance, Critical Strike chance against injured enemies, and a fourth stat that doesn’t matter too much. I put the Gravitational Ball Lightning aspect here.

Pants should have damage reduction when injured, ranks of Ball Lightning, total armor, and another damage reduction stat. I put the Snowveiled aspect here to gain even more armor when we cast Ice Armor. For boots, look for damage reduction when injured, Mana cost reduction, ranks of Teleport, and movement speed. I put the Exploiter's aspect for more damage to Unstoppable enemies.

For rings, you absolutely want the Tal Rasha's ring, which you can obtain quickly from farming Varshan's for up to an additional 60% damage. The other ring should have Critical Strike chance, damage to close enemies, maximum life, and resource generation. I put the Prodigy's aspect here.

Your weapon should be a one-handed dagger with intrinsic damage to close enemies, damage to close enemies, Mastery Skill damage, and other useful stats like intellect and Critical Strike damage. For the focus, aim for Critical Strike chance, Mana cost reduction, resource generation, and cooldown reduction. I put the Conceited aspect here to deal more damage when we have a barrier up.

Vampiric Powers

In terms of our vampiric powers, we use Infection, which gives us another 15% damage boost through Tal Rasha's Ring. Ring resilience is mandatory for the build, providing even more damage reduction because we always have low health when we’re running around. We then run Pray on the Weak, which is how we apply vulnerability to our enemies. Accursed Touch is the vampiric curse we use, through which Pray on the Weak applies vulnerability. Ravenous gives us an attack speed bonus, significantly increasing the DPS of our Ball Lightning.

Paragon Board

Let’s go over our Paragon Board. In our first board, we put the Territorial Glyph. We then unlock the Elemental Summoner board and place the Enchanter Glyph here for both the damage increase and resistances it provides. I’ve also picked up Reservoir here as well.

Enchantment Master is our next board. Here, I put the Elementalist Glyph, which provides a 15% damage boost. Our next board is Burning Instinct, where we place our Tears of Blood (Abattoir of Zir) Glyph. You can see I’ve picked up all the stats around this glyph and the rare nodes that gain a bonus from the Tears of Blood Glyph. If you haven’t unlocked this yet, use the Exploit Glyph until you clear Tier One of Abattoir of Zir.

Next, I’ve got The Frigid Fate board, and we do pick up this legendary node for once. Here, I’ve socketed our Adept Glyph. Then go for the Ceaseless Conduit board, where I’ve used the Charge Glyph for a further 15% damage bonus.

Searing Heat is our next board, and I apply the Control Glyph here. Finally, I use the Static Surge board where I apply the Destruction Glyph.