Blizzard Sorcerer Gauntlet Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 4) - Icy Veins (2024)

Gauntlet Build Introduction

The Gauntlet variant build for the Blizzard Sorcerer is a highly min-maxed endgame setup, focused on speed to obtain the highest leaderboard score. This is the best Gauntlet build for Sorcerers in Season 4 of Diablo 4, but the setup also has the most strict Build Requirements. For more information on this endgame activity, check out our Gauntlet Guide.

Compared to the various Lightning Sorcerer builds, the Blizzard Sorcerer has many powerful advantages. Blizzard can be casted from a distance to pull enemies, and its long duration continues to kill any spawning Elites while the Sorcerer teleports through the Gauntlet map. The Artillery Shrine buff also interacts favorably with Blizzard, firing projectiles in a massive radius around the targeted location to further increase ranged reach. The Blizzard Sorcerer does not refresh Evade Teleport as fast as Lightning Sorcerer builds, but more enemies can be killed efficiently for a higher Gauntlet score.

This Gauntlet build guide assumes your character is Level 100. Follow the Chain Lightning Leveling Guide to progress a Sorceress character from Level 1-50, and then the Blizzard Endgame Guide from Level 50-100.

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Gameplay Video and Build Overview

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

The following tables show the full allocation of Skill Points for the Blizzard Sorcerer Gauntlet Build. If you do not have all Skill Points obtained from Renown, take extra points out of Fireball.

WARNING: This Skill Tree setup is designed for maximum damage output to obtain the highest score possible in the Gauntlet. Defense is traded for Offense at nearly every possible opportunity. This glass cannon playstyle can take some practice to master.

Alternative Skills

Arc Lash can be used to conserve Mana and proc Unstable Currents. Alternatively, Arc Lash can be replaced by the following list of Skills.

• Ice Armor can provide some survivability.
• Hydra can be utilized for another source of Burn more consistent than Flame Shield.

Enchantment Slots

Slot Teleport in the first Enchantment Slot to enable the Telestomp playstyle. The Evade Teleport benefits from the unique effect on Raiment of the Infinite and the Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown implicit effect on Boots. Enchantment Master lowers the base Cooldown of the Evade Teleport.

Slot Fireball in the second Enchantment Slot for additional Area of Effect for clearing groups of enemies.

Paragon

The Paragon progression system unlocks after reaching Level 50, and offers a considerable boost to character power. Within the Paragon Board, there are many different bonuses, ranging from minor stat enhancements on Magic Nodes to more significant gains with Rare Glyphs and Legendary Nodes.

Important Notes:

• Additional Bonus requirements on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain increased radius range at Level 15.
• Attach Legendary Boards in the correct order. Bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order.
• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the correct orientation before attachment.
• Winter and Tactician additional bonuses are bugged to grant additive damage instead of multiplicative damage, making them severely weaker than intended.

The Gauntlet setup makes the following slight adjustments to the original Blizzard Endgame Build, so you do not have to completely refund all Paragon points.

1. Remove Flamefeeder, Reinforced and Control.
2. Move Destruction to the second board (Elemental Summoner).
3. Insert Elementalist, Exploit and Winter.
4. Reallocate points in radius range of Elementalist in the starting board and Exploit in the third board (Burning Instinct).
5. Rotate the Icefall board into the correct orientation.
6. Reallocate points from Keeper of Flames, Kindling and Safeguard to obtain the Enchantment Master node. This Legendary Node lowers the base Cooldown of the Evade Teleport.

WARNING: Multiple sources of Damage Reduction are traded for Damage Multipliers in this Glyph setup for the Gauntlet. Survivability is extremely low. Hardcore players should use the Paragon setup in the original Blizzard Endgame Build.

The table below contains the most beneficial Rare Glyphs and Legendary Nodes for the Blizzard Sorcerer in the Gauntlet, sorted in the order obtained in the final Level 100 Paragon Tree. The images that follow provide a visual of each Paragon Board setup.

1. Starting Board (Elementalist)

2 Elemental Summoner (Destruction)

3. Burning Instinct (Exploit)

4. Frigid Fate (Stalagmite)

5. Enchantment Master(Enchanter)

6. Icefall

Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg. Click this link for the Paragon planner.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

Season 4 brings an incredible shift in character progression systems. The major rework to itemization and crafting in Patch 1.4.0 changes the core mechanics of Diablo 4, and the changes will remain in effect beyond Season 4. For further details, read the overview in the Tempering and Masterworking section.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary Items that are important for the Gauntlet Blizzard Sorcerer build. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used if you cannot find the proper Legendary drops, but they have weaker effects. Extract Aspects from lower level Legendary Items and imprint them onto better Rare Items with preferred stats.

Glacial Aspect gains 50% more Ice Spike base damage when imprinted on an Amulet, which also means 50% more overall damage (excluding Shrines).

The damage increase buff from Aspect of Inner Calm is not removed when casting Teleport. This provides the biggest damage multiplier at 40%[x] of all Offensive Aspects, if you can maintain a force stand playstyle. Otherwise, Storm Swell Aspect and Conceited Aspect are the next highest damage multipliers for this build.

Accelerating Aspect can replace Aspect of Inner Calm, Storm Swell Aspect or Conceited Aspect to more quickly reduce the Cooldown of Evade Teleport. The Attack Speed buff is activated by Critical Strikes with Chain Lightning or Charged Bolts auto-casted through Unstable Currents.

Gems

Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each item type.

Elixirs

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. Elixirs can also drop randomly from enemies and chests during many activities in Diablo 4. Listed below are the best Elixirs to consume in the Gauntlet, ranked by importance.

1. Elixir of Precision provides the highest damage output increase, if not already capped at 100% Critical Strike Chance.
2. Elixir of Advantage increases damage output, if not already capped at 100% Attack Speed bonus from gear and Paragon.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Listed below are the affixes to prioritize on gear for Blizzard Sorcerers in the Gauntlet. Each line of affixes are listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending how much is stacked or other character stats. Bolded stats are the most important and sometimes vital for the build to function properly.

A Dagger and Focus are preferred over a Staff for the extra Cooldown Reduction rolls. A Focus has a Cooldown Reduction implicit, as well as a possible affix mod. A Dagger is preferred over a Wand, because the Gauntlet build variant does not rely heavily on any Lucky Hit Chance effects.

If you are using Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop, temper a Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Poison/Shadow Damage affix from the Elemental Surge Manual on a weapon slot to gain the 4th damage stack. Only one Elemental Surge temper is needed on the either the One-handed weapon or the Focus, as the Tal Rasha buff has a maximum stack limit of 4.

Do not use the Blizzard Size affix from the Frost Augments Manual. The effect causes Ice Spikes to appear in a wider range, lowering single-target damage output.

The priority order of Resistances is Lightning > Poison > Fire > Cold > Shadow. Maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Unique Items

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build.

• Raiment of the Infinite (required) enables the Telestomp playstyle.
  • Masterworking Priority: Ranks of the Glass Cannon Passive
• Ring of Starless Skies (highly recommended) provides the resource cost reduction necessary to play without Arc Lash or Channeling Shrines.
  • Masterworking Priority: Critical Strike Chance
• Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop (recommended) can provide a 60% multiplier with 4 elemental damage stacks for a maximum DPS setup.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Harlequin Crest (recommended) provides additional Ranks to Defensive Skills and 20% Damage Reduction, if you are lucky enough to find this Uber Unique Item.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Godslayer Crown (recommended for maximum burst damage) provides up to a 60% damage multiplier that can last long enough to quickly kill bosses.
  • Masterworking Priority: Cooldown Reduction
• Tibault’s Will (recommended) provides a damage multiplier effect and a Damage Reduction from Close Enemies affix that is not usually obtainable in the Pants slot, in addition to Mana generation. Alternate activations of the damage buff with Teleport and Flame Shield.
  • Masterworking Priority: Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
• Flickerstep (optional) can maintain a 100% uptime on Unstable Currents, similar to Hectic Aspect. Although, Flickerstep lacks the Shrine Buff Duration and Ranks of Teleport Skill available on Legendary Boots.
  • Masterworking Priority: Movement Speed

Season 4: Loot Reborn

The following list details the changes in the Season 4 Update (Patch 1.4.0) that may pertain to Blizzard Sorcerers. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.

• Mastery Skills are now also considered Core Skills.
• Tibault’s Will
  • Damage increase while Unstoppable reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
  • Damage increase persists for 1 second longer after being Unstoppable.
• Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop
  • Maximum stacks now capped at four.
  • All Resistance variants increased from 8%/3% to 10%/4%.
• Lightning Spear
  • Damage increased by 8% (.15 to .16).
• Ice Armor
  • Enhanced Ice Armor
    • Mana Regeneration increased from 25% to 30%.
  • Shimmering Ice Armor
    • Previous – Enemies that hit you while Ice Armor is active have a 15% chance to become Frozen for 3.23 seconds.
    • Now – While Ice Armor is active, you reduce its Cooldown by 1 second for every 50 Mana you spend.
  • Mystical Ice Armor
    • Previous – Damage against Vulnerable enemies contributes 50% more to Ice Armor’s Barrier.
    • Now – While Ice Armor is active, you periodically Chill Close enemies for 20% and deal 15% increased damage to Frozen enemies.
• Shimmering Frost Nova
  • Previous – Frost Nova generates 4 Mana per enemy hit.
  • Now – Frost Nova grants 3% Dodge Chance per enemy hit, up to 15%. Hitting a Boss gives the maximum amount. For the next 8 seconds, you keep this effect, and successful Dodges generate 20 Mana.
• Flame Shield
  • Enhanced Flame Shield
    • Previous – Flame Shield grants 25% increased Movement Speed while active.
    • Now – Flame Shield has a 50% larger burn radius.
  • Mystical Flame Shield
    • Previous – You gain 25% Mana Cost Reduction while Flame Shield is active.
    • Now – After Flame Shield ends, surrounding enemies are Stunned for 3 seconds and your next Skill within 10 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike.
• Teleport
  • Enhanced Teleport
    • Previous – Teleport’s Cooldown is decreased by 0.5 seconds per enemy hit, up to 3 seconds.
    • Now – You gain 30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.
  • Mystical Teleport
    • Previous – For 4 seconds after Teleporting, Crackling Energy hits 2 additional enemies.
    • Now – Teleport deals 500% increased damage. It also forms a Crackling Energy for each enemy it hits, up to 3.
• Elemental Attunement
  • Cooldown reset chance increased from 5% to 7%.
• Mana Shield
  • Damage Reduction increased from 7% to 8%.
• Devouring Blaze
  • Crowd Controlled enemies now provide the damage bonus instead of Immobilized.
• Conjuration Mastery
  • Previous – You gain 1% increased damage for each active conjuration.
  • Now – You gain 1% increased damage, 1% Movement Speed, and 2% Mana Generation for each active Conjuration.
• Snowguard’s Aspect
  • Damage reduction increased from 10-25% to 15-30%.
• Aspect of Disobedience
  • Armor stacks no longer fall off independently. They now refresh or reset at the same time.
  • Armor gain changed to 25-40%.
• Aspect of the Bounding Conduit
  • Previous – Gain 15-30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.
  • Now – Teleport’s Cooldown is reduced by 1.0-2.5 seconds. After Teleporting, Crackling Energy hits 2 additional enemies for 5 seconds.
• Tactician
  • New Functionality: Now lasts 4 seconds longer for each Defensive Skill not on your Action Bar.
• Winter
  • Cold damage increase maximum raised from 15% to 18%.

Advanced Information

Additional details are provided in the following sections for a more in-depth explanation of the Blizzard Sorcerer. Read this advanced information after understanding the basic overview of the build in the previous sections.

Build Mechanics

The Gauntlet Blizzard Sorcerer requires high Attack Speed and Mana management. Mana Cost Reduction is necessary to lower the cost of Blizzard. Resource Generation increases the passive Mana Regeneration and the Mana gain from Tibault’s Will. Cast Flame Shield or Teleport on the Skill Bar to activate Tibault’s Will. Unfortunately, the Evade Teleport does not grant Unstoppable.

Arc Lash can be casted instead of Blizzard to reduce Evade Cooldown if you are out of Mana.

Fireball is not equipped on the Skill bar. Instead, it is slotted as an Enchantment for explosions after killing enemies.

Boots with the implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by 1.2 Seconds, are required to rapidly refresh the Evade Teleport enabled from the Enchantment.

Damage Rotation

Use the following rotation to optimize damage.

1. Activate Unstable Currents whenever available.
2. (Optional) Cast Lightning Spear against Bosses to apply Vulnerable.
3. Cast Blizzard repeatedly to deal damage and reduce the Cooldown of Evade Teleport. Utilize the range of Blizzard to pull enemies from the edges of your screen.
4. Spam the Evade Teleport as it refreshes to rapidly travel across the Gauntlet map. The Teleport on the Skill Bar can also be used in-between.
5. Cast Flame Shield or Teleport on the Skill Bar to activate the Mana gain on Tibault’s Will.
6. Cast Arc Lash instead of Blizzard when out of Mana.

Telestomp with Raiment of the Infinite

Raiment of the Infinite allows the Blizzard Sorcerer to use 2 sources of Teleport offensively. Teleporting on top of enemies to Stun and group them up is called “Telestomping”. This playstyle can quickly clear groups of enemies and keep them Crowd Controlled (CC) for safety, perfect for speed-farming Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and The Pit!

Use the following setup for the Telestomp Blizzard Sorcerer.

• Equip Raiment of the Infinite to enable Telestomps. Target-farm Raiment of the Infinite from Varshan or Lord Zir for the best chances of it dropping.
• Equip Teleport in an Enchantment Slot.
• Equip Boots with the implicit effect, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown. Prioritize the Ranks of Teleport affix.

Tempering and Masterworking

The Season 4 update (Patch 1.4.0) introduces a rework for itemization. Tempering and Masterworking brings the biggest change to itemization since the release of Diablo 4, so make sure you understand the new systems explained in this section.

The amount of affixes on items has been changed to reflect its rarity: Normal Items have no affixes, Magic Items have 1 affix, Rare Items have 2 affixes, Legendary Items have 3 affixes, and Unique Items have 4 affixes. Upgrading a Rare Item to a Legendary Item by imprinting a Legendary Aspect from the Codex of Power will not add a third affix. Therefore, Legendary Items are superior to lower rarity items for a min-maxed character.

Greater Affixes are a newly added mechanic that increases the value of an affix by 50%. Ancestral Legendary Items and Unique Items can now drop with up to 4 Greater Affixes! Search for items with your preferred Greater Affixes to upgrade with Tempering and Masterworking.

Tempering and Masterworking is an important system, even mandatory in the endgame, for character progression. You are able to add 2 additional affixes on any Rare Item or Legendary Item, exclusive to the Tempering System. An Ancestral Legendary Item can have up to 5 total affixes! Unfortunately, Unique Items cannot be tempered to add affixes.

Masterworking uses new crafting materials found in The Pit to further enhance the stats of an item. These upgrades can be applied on an Ancestral Legendary Item that has its Tempering Slots filled out. Unique Items can be upgraded with Masterworking right away, as tempering does not apply to them. Each item has 12 upgrade slots. On upgrade Ranks 4, 8, and 12, a random affix is increased in value by 25%. Every other upgrade Rank applies a 5% increase to all affixes on an item. Attempt to apply the bonus 25% upgrade to your preferred affix multiple times by resetting the Masterworking Ranks to repeat the process.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Use Obols on your target equipment for a chance to receive Greater Affixes. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Changelog

• May 14th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0)
• April 3rd, 2024: Gameplay video added.
• March 14th, 2024: Changed the build on this guide to the Blizzard Sorcerer.
• March 8th, 2024: Guide created.