Diablo 4: Sorcerer Thor Lightning Build Changes In Season 1 Patch 1.1 - Nerfs & Buffs

I’m surprised Blizzard nerfed Sorcerer so much in Diablo 4 patch 1.1. Still, I took advantage of some buffs from the patch and updated my favorite Thor build to perform well in Season 1 patch 1.1.

Key Nerfs For Sorcerer

Before diving into the builds, I want to touch on some key nerfs to Sorcerer in patch 1.1. From my testing, overall I feel like it’s down 10-15 levels from what it was before the patch. And farm speed is 5 levels lower than before. Also, its damage, cooldown and survivability have been nerfed by roughly 30%.

Also, Aspect of Control has been nerfed, it now only applies to one stack instead of three. And only works on Stunned, Frozen and Immobilized enemies, not just bosses.

Coupled with Devouring Blaze’s massive damage reduction to Immobilized enemies, from 75% to 30%. For level 6, this ratio is 150% to 60%. Therefore, this results in a 77.9% reduction in Nuke Moment damage. Nuke Moments now only do about 1/5 damage and are no longer viable.

Changes In Thor Build

But they have enhanced my favorite Thor build in patch 1.1. Because of the changes to Destruction Glyph and Elemental Dominance, hybrid builds using Core and Mastery skills to work better.

So, I updated my Thor build and changed some Aspects. After the update, we could even complete T71 Nightmare Dungeon and defeat T54 Boss in 28 seconds. But it still has room for improvement as I haven’t replaced my Conceited Aspect yet. But I’m also going to continue iterating on the upgrade in Season 1 to show the build’s good potential.

Build Keys

For this build, I’ll cover the key points of building it here. The first important thing is to use Aspect of Disobedience on Amulet. Considering that its damage max was significantly nerfed from 50% to 30%. Therefore, it is important to upgrade Diablo 4 Items such as Armor and Amulet.

Also, putting Aspect of Disobedience on Amulet is very important for high survivability in endgame since the armor stats on the gear are nerfed.

It’s now much easier to maintain a max stack since it reduced the stack depreciation rate before patch 1.1. If I’m Crowd Controlled, it’s hard for me to keep a 100 stack against a single enemy. Therefore, I lose the stack quickly so I can get one shot.

But after patch 1.1, I can easily maintain 60 stacks even on a single enemy. And it takes longer for stacks to start depreciating, making it more consistent during and between battles.

Second, you might be wondering does using Aspect of Disobedience on Amulet reduce my damage a lot? Not really, since I can use Exploiter’s Aspect and Aspect of Fortune to further increase my damage.

Also Read: How To Calculate Damage Increases In Diablo 4? - Damage & Defense Mechanics Explained

Since I’m now using Lightning Spear instead of Flame Shield, we have more stun sources and enemies will often become Unstoppable. Therefore, Exploiter’s Aspect provides an additional 40% damage boost to Unstoppable enemies. Combined with a 20% increase in Crowd Control Duration, you can stun bosses faster.

Finally, we just need to run Ball Lightning at Enchantment's location. Since Lucky Hit Chance becomes very important when triggering it. So Aspect of Fortune gave me more Ball Lightning, Crackling Energy and Mana.

Gears & Paragon Board

As for the gear and Paragon Board, they’re all identical to this Chain Lightning Nuke build. So if you follow Chain Lightning Nuke build. Then you don’t need to worry about gears becoming outdated or needing to spend more Diablo 4 Gold to readjust again. Also, I’m still using my +3 Devouring Blaze Amulet and it works great.

Ending

It’s disappointing to see Blizzard make such a nerf move globally. Some say this is the worst patch in recent Diablo 4 history. For those who were in the preseason, it looks bad for the big comeback.

Personally, I’d say this is a new game basically. Now I need to relearn what I’ve learned. I’m working on Caged Hearts and the new unique and Aspects which might save 15 Tiers difference. What do you think? See you next time!