Shatterer Sorcerer Build for Diablo IV [S Tier Grade]

Shatterer Sorcerer BUILD for Diablo IV [S Tier Grade]

(Freeze then Shatter your foes, along with their hopes, into an Elemental Explosion of Fire & Ice)

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Diablo IV launched on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation) and I’ve had my fair share of playing and testing done. I’m now ready to start making full Builds/Theorycrafts that work for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I’ll evolve & keep them updated when we get major rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Sorcerer Class called Shatterer.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for my builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect + unique item + gems & sockets + suggested stat rolls + paragon boards that work well with the build which you can use to tinker. Alternatively, I’ve added build calculator links (mostly needed for the paragons)

This build will be updated when needed.

Video Version:

Skill Trees

Below you’ll see ONLY the Active & Passive skills that were selected for this build. For additional skills that can be taken + alternative skill options, you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Shatterer) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Minor Destruction / Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 )

  • (active) Frost Bolt – Throw a bolt of frost at an enemy, dealing 35.00% (X- ?) damage and Chilling them for 15%.
    Lucky Hit Chance: 30%
    Damage: Cold ; Tags: Basic, Frost
    Enchantment Effect: Direct damage from Skills applies up to 15% Chill.
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Frost Bolt Frost Bolt has a 15% chance to explode on Chilled targets, hitting nearby enemies. Chance increased by 100% against Frozen targets.
    • (2nd upgrade) Glinting Frost Bolt – Frost Bolt generates 4 Mana when hitting Chilled or Frozen.

Major Destruction / Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )

  • (active) Ice Shards – Launch 5 shards that deal 25% (X-?) damage each. Deals 25% (Multiplicative) increased damage to Frozen enemies.
    Lucky Hit Chance: 25%
    Mana Cost: 30 | Damage: Cold ; Tags: Core, Frost
    Enchantment Effect: Ice Shards automatically conjure and fly towards Frozen enemies.
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Frozen Orb When cast above 50 Mana, Frozen Orb’s explosion damage is increased by 30% (multiplicative).
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Destructive Frozen Orb – Frozen Orb’s explosion restores 5 Mana when hitting a Frozen enemy.
  • (passive) did not pick any Core passives to save points

Defensive Skills (Required Points: 6 )

  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Teleport Transform into lightning becoming Unstoppable and surging to the target location dealing 25% (X -?) damage around you upon arrival.
    Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
    Cooldown: 11 | Damage: Lightning ; Tags: Defensive, Shock
    Enchantment Effect: Evade is replaced with a short range Teleport on a 17.0 second Cooldown.
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Teleport Teleport’s cooldown is decreased by 0.5 seconds per enemy hit, up to 3 seconds.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Shimmering Teleport After Teleporting, you gain 30% Damage Reduction for 5 seconds.
  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Frost Nova Unleash a torrent of frost, Freezing enemies around you for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 15 Tags: Defensive, Frost
    Enchantment Effect Lucky Hit: Your Conjuration Skills have a 30% chance to unleash a Frost Nova when hitting enemies.
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Frost Nova Killing enemies Frozen by Frost Nova reduces its Cooldown by 2 seconds, up to 6 seconds per cast.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Mystical Frost Nova Frost Nova makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds, increased to 8 seconds against Bosses.
  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Flame Shield Engulf yourself in flames for 2 seconds, Burning nearby enemies for 23% (X) damage per second. While Flame Shield is active, you are Immune.
    Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
    Cooldown: 20 | Damage: Fire ; Tags: Defensive, Pyromancy
    Enchantment Effect: Flame Shield automatically activates when you take fatal damage. Can only happen once every 120 seconds.
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Flame Shield Flame Shield grants 25% Movement Speed while active.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Shimmering Flame Shield Flame Shield Heals you for 50% of your missing Life.
  • (passive) Elemental Attunement Elemental Critical Strikes have a 5%/10%/15% chance to reset the Cooldown of one of your Defensive Skills. Can only happen once every 10 seconds.
  • (passive) did not pick any other Defensive passives to save points

Conjuration Skills (Required Points: 11 ) Not Taking any Active summons

  • (active)
    • (1st upgrade)
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2)
  • (passive – ONLY 1 point here) Align the Elements You gain 5%/10%/15% Damage reduction against Elites for each second you don’t take damage from any of these sources, up to 50%.  
    • (1st upgrade) Mana Shield did NOT take this one
    • (2nd upgrade – TOP TIER PASSIVE & MUST HAVE) Protection Using a cooldown grants 10%/20%/30% of your maximum Life as a Barrier for 5 seconds.
  • (passive) Precision Magic Your Lucky Hit Effect Chance is increased by up to 5%/10%/15%.
  • (passive) did not pick any more Conjuration passives to save points

Mastery Skills (Required Points: 16 ) Not taking an Active Mastery skill

  • (active)
    • (1st upgrade)
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2)
  • (passive) Ice Veil Your Barriers have a +5%/+10%/+15% increased duration. (Barriers absorb damage from all sources up to a specified amount.)
    • (upgrade) Snap Freeze Lucky Hit: Frost Skills have a 3%/6%/9% chance to instantly Freeze.
    • (upgrade) Cold front While you have a Barrier active, you apply 8%/16%/24% (multiplicative) more Chill.

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

  • (active) Inferno Summon a fiery serpent that continually constricts the target area, Burning enemies for 295% damage over 8 seconds.
    Lucky Hit Chance: 38%
    Cooldown: 45 | Damage: Fire ; Tags: Ultimate, Pyromancy
    • (1st upgrade) Prime Inferno Inferno repeatedly Pulls enemies to its center.
    • (2nd upgrade) NOT TAKING THIS AS IT’S USELESS TO US!!!
  • (passive) Permafrost Frost Skills deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased damage to Elites.
    • (upgrade) Icy Touch You deal 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
    • (upgrade) Hoarfrost You deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage to Chilled enemies, and 6%/12%/18% (multiplicative) increased damage to Frozen enemies.
    • (upgrade) Frigid Breeze Lucky Hit: Cold Damage against Vulnerable enemies has a 20%/40%/60% chance to generate 5 Mana.
  • (passive) did not pick any more Ultimate passives

Key Passive (Required Points: 33 )

  • (passive) Shatter After Freeze expires, enemies explode for 25% of the damage you dealt to them while Frozen.

Enchantment (Class Mechanic):

I’d recommend mix-and matching two of the following Enchantments (you’ll need at least 1 point invested or from gear in the skills):

  • My MUST HAVE Picks
    • Fireball – When you kill an enemy, they explode in a Fireball for 50% of its damage. (my ideal 1st pick @ lvl 15) NOTE that you’ll need to invest 2 points into it and its first Upgrade to get the most out of this. Ideally getting some extra ranks from gear will help too but is not as important. The skill points allocation has accounted for this so no need to worry about downgrading anything.
    • Ice Shards – Ice Shards automatically conjure and fly toward Frozen enemies. (my ideal 2nd pick @ lvl 30)
  • Good to use For Bosses:
    • Flame Shield – Flame Shield automatically activates when you take fatal damage, Can only happen once every 120 Seconds.
    • Frozen Orb – Whenever you cast a non-basic skill, you have a 20% chance to launch a Frozen Orb at a nearby enemy.
    • Frost Bolt – Direct Damage from Skills applies up to an additional 15% Chill.

Unique Items

In Diablo IV apparently (I have multiple sources that confirmed this) we can equip more than one unique item at the same time (not so ‘unique’ if we can get decked out in full uniques I guess). It seems that the one unique per build idea that Unique inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top pick will be the following two but check the notes under the Aspects list for more picks:

Iceheart Brais (Pants)

While Injured, Your Potion Also Restores [30%] Resource Enemies that die while Frozen have a [11 – 20]% chance to unleash a Frost Nova.

[28 – 42] Intelligence
+[7 – 14]% Damage to Frozen Enemies
+[21 – 35]% Damage to Injured Enemies
+[7 – 14]% Freeze Duration


The mad artisan saw his fingers turn black from frostbite as he worked the cloth, but refused to stay the needle and thread for even a moment.

Frostburn (Gloves)

Lucky Hit: Up to a [15 – 25]% chance to Freeze enemies for 2 seconds.

+[3 – 8]% Critical Strike Chance
+[0.07 – 0.14] Cold Damage
+[7 – 14]% Freeze Duration
Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore +[14 – 28]% Primary Resource

A touch so frigid it stops the heart and chills the very soul.

Sockets & Gems

There are various possible good/viable choices for the gem slots. I’ve shortlisted what works by slot. I’d recommend picking one of those:

Weps: Emerald, Saphire, Ruby, Diamond, or Skull.
Armor: Ruby, Diamond, or Skull.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.

XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements

+5%/+5%/+5% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor

+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance

+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage

• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance

+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance

+7.5%/+39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Topaz (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Basic Skill Damage
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Control Impaired
• Jewelry: N% Lightning Resistance

+16.7%/8.2%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

Legendary Aspects / Powers

I will only list the Legendary Aspects that have been selected for the build and the slots in which I advise putting those. For in-depth information you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Shatterer) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

  • Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect / Harlequin Crest (see notes below)
  • Amulet: Unwavering Aspect
  • Chest: Frostblitz Aspect
  • Pants: Aspect of the Protector Until the Iceheart Brais Unique goes here (see notes below)
  • Gloves: Conceited Aspect / Frostburn (see notes below)
  • Boots: Aspect of Fortune
  • Ring 1: Aspect of Control / Ring of Starless Skies (see notes below)
  • Ring 2: Prodigy’s Aspect (not a must have but surely will help with spamming/bursting)
  • 1H Weapon: Aspect of Piercing Cold
  • Off-hand: Shattered Aspect
  • 2-H Weapon (if you decide to use one): I don’t recommend using a 2h weapon as the final setup with all 3 uniques as you’ll have to loose 1 more aspect slot + the CRUCIAL cooldown reduction an off-hand Focus gives and the little bit of extra dps + 100% efficiency of the aspect you put there won’t make up for it.
NOTES: How to re-arrange if using any of the Uniques:

- Aspect of the Protector stays in the Pants slot ONLY until you get the Iceheart Brais Unique Pants.  For after that just discard it from the build. 
- For Frostburn (Gloves): Conceited Aspect gets removed from the Gloves slot to make room for the Unique Gloves
- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Exploiter’s Aspect gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Helm.
- For Ring of Starless Skies (Ring): Aspect of Control gets removed from the Ring 1 slot to make room for the Unique Ring. ALTERNATIVE: Prodigy's Aspect from the Ring 2 slot could be the one getting replaced and you could keep Aspect of Control + Ring of Starless Skies.

Paragon Boards:

Use the links below to check the paragon boards selected and the nodes I’ve taken. One link is for what the boards will look like at lvl 92 with 184 paragon points (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100). The other link is what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points but i did leave the last 12 up to you to spend on MAYBE the Icefall Legendary Node.

Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in order of priority):

I’ve shortlisted 42 different affixes that work well with the build of almost 300 total. I’ll highlight in Orange the ones I think should get higher priority

Bonus to All Damage
Critical Strike Chance / Critical Damage Bonus
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Frost/Cold Skills
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Core/Ultimate/Basic/Defensive Skills
Damage with Core/Ultimate/Basic/Defensive Skills
Lucky Hit Chance
+ Ranks to Core/Ultimate/Basic/Defensive Skills
+ Ranks to Ice Shards/Frost Nova/Flame Shield/Teleport Skills
Lucky Hit Chance with Frost/Cold Damage
Frost/Cold Damage Bonus
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Frost/Cold Damage
Resistance to All Elements
+ % Chill Application
+ % Frost/Cold Damage to Elites
+ % Critical Strike Chance with Frost/Cold Damage Against Elites
+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
Damage Reduction from Elites
Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Chance / Damage Against Close Enemies
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Chance / Damage Against Crowd Controlled Enemies
Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
Critical Chance / Damage Against Vulnerable Enemies
Vulnerable Damage
Damage while Healthy
Barrier Generation
Chance When Struck to Gain N Life as Barrier for X Seconds
Lucky Hit Chance while You Have a Barrier
Damage Reduction while You Have a Barrier
Life as Barrier On Kill
Critical Strike Chance Against Chilled/Frozen Enemies
Damage to Chilled/Frozen Enemies
Higher Priority
+ All Stats
Damage vs Injured Enemies
Damage vs Healthy Enemies
Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls)
Mana Generation / Regeneration/ On Kill
Movement Speed
Attack Speed
Intelligence
Resource Cost Reduction
Lower Priority

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

For all of my Diablo IV RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

For my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet

For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

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This concludes the Shatterer Sorcerer Build for Diablo IV. If you’re interested in the game below are links to the various platforms where one can buy it (you can just click the links to open a new tab):

PC (Battle.Net)

XBOX

PlayStation

Official Website