Diablo 4: Best AOE Class & Build

Playing AOE builds is one of the most fun ways to play; having high single-target damage is good for bosses. Still, whenever I faced massive hordes of enemies, which you are most of the time, AOE damage always came through for me. 

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Key Takeaways

The best AOE class in Diablo 4, in our opinion, is the Sorcerer. Here is the overview of the best AOE build:

• Best AOE Class: The Sorcerer excels as the best AOE class in Diablo 4, specializing in dealing with large groups of enemies.
• Active Skills: Utilize essential active skills for AOE damage, including Arc Lash, Chain Lightning, Flame Shield, Frost Nova, Meteor, and Inferno.
• Strategic Combos: Create strategic combos with skills like Flame Shield for survival, Frost Nova for crowd control, and Meteor for intense boss battles.
• Passive Skills: Allocate points to crucial passive skills enhancing mana, damage, and healing, such as Devastation, Elemental Dominance, Warmth, and Shatter.
• Versatile Ultimate: Inferno, the ultimate skill, summons a fiery serpent, dealing massive AOE damage and synergizing well with other pyromancy skills.
• Combat Tactics: Play tactically, maintaining distance as a sorcerer, unleashing devastating AOE attacks, and using defensive skills when cornered.

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Active Skills For Sorcerer

Arc Lash

Skill Type	Basic, Shock
Description	Unleash arcing lightning that deals [59%] damage to enemies before you. Every ten times Arc Lash swipes, it Stuns all enemies hit for 2 seconds. When you use a Cooldown, enemies around you are Stunned for [0.7] seconds.
Upgrades	Enhanced Arc Lash Flickering Arc Lash

Arc Lash is our primary cast in this Sorcerer build. It is perfect for AOE damage as, although not ranged, it deals lightning damage to enemies in front of you, making it suitable for when you are cornered in a dungeon.

The Flickering Arc Lash upgrade grants you an additional movement speed of up to +18%, which is great for running away from being cornered.

However, your game plan should not be to play around the Arc Lash as it is close range and does not deal enough damage to clear any enemy in front of you instantly.

Chain Lightning

Skill Type	Core, Shock
Description	Unleash a stream of lightning that deals [50%] damage and chains between Nearby enemies and you up to 5 times, prioritizing enemies. Chain Lightning forms automatically after spending 100 Mana.
Upgrades	Enhanced Chain Lightning Greater Chain Lightning

The Core skill Chain Lightning is the cherry on top for our Sorcerer AOE build. This skill was handy for clearing large mobs of enemies in dungeons or when you are out and about.

I discovered that one cast of Chain Lightning makes the lightning bounce off enemies and your character, dealing high amounts of damage to them and clearing out the waves of enemies instantly. This is enough to let anyone know how powerful the skill can be for your build. 

Flame Shield

Skill Type	Defensive, Pyromancy
Description	Engulf yourself in flames for [2.4] seconds, Burning surrounding enemies for [56%] damage per second. While Flame Shield is active, you are Immune. Flame Shield automatically activates when you take fatal damage. It can only happen once every 120 seconds.
Upgrades	Enhanced Flame Shield Shimmering Flame Shield

Flame Shield was my official “get me out of here” card. I found sorcerers to be a little sensitive to enemy attacks, so getting stuck in the corner meant the end for most times. Therefore, my Flame Shield was always a hotkey away.

Flame Shield does fire damage around you and makes you immune so you can breathe in between the chaos.

In addition, the Enhanced Flame Shield provides you with a lot of movement speed and, combined with the Flickering Arc Lash, makes you very agile, which is required when playing a squishy character like the Sorcerer.

To help with this squishy-ness, Shimmering Flame Shield heals you for 50% of your max health, which is a nice bonus considering how good this skill already is.

Frost Nova

Skill Type	Defensive, Frost
Description	Unleash a torrent of frost, Freezing enemies around you for 3 seconds. Lucky Hit: Your Conjuration Skills have up to a 30% chance to unleash a Frost Nova when hitting enemies.
Upgrades	Enhanced Frost Nova Shimmering Frost Nova

Frost Nova allows you to freeze enemies around you in a radius, preventing them from doing damage to you for some time. This was a godsend skill for me, especially whenever I needed a few seconds for a skill cooldown or Mana.

The Shimmering Frost Nova upgrade generates Mana per enemy hit, enabling you to cast more skills without worrying about your Mana running out.

Furthermore, the Enhanced Frost Nova upgrade improves this skill, which reduces the cooldown of the Frost Nova by 1 second for killing 1 Frozen enemy, which can be increased up to 4 seconds.

When combined with the Shatter passive skill, Frost Nova suddenly becomes potent. When the Freeze of Frost Nova ends, Shatter explodes the enemies for 25% of the damage you dealt to them when they are Frozen.

Meteor

Skill Type	Mastery, Pyromancy
Description	Summon a meteor that strikes the target location, dealing [112%] damage and Burning the ground for [49%] damage over 3 seconds. Lucky Hit: Up to an 8% chance for a Meteor to fall on enemies.
Upgrades	Enhanced Meteor Wizard’s Meteor

The skill does precisely what it says; it strikes a meteor wherever you target it, dealing significant damage and burning the area. Moreover, this is the perfect skill for fighting a boss as not only will it do a considerable amount of damage to the boss, it will instantly incinerate its minions.

The Enhanced Meteor upgrade has a 30% chance to strike another Meteor if the original Meteor hits three enemies.

The Wizard’s Meteor upgrade Immobilizes the enemy for 2 seconds, giving you space to reposition better for fighting the enemies, and can be a great crowd control skill if the Meteor hits again.

Inferno

Skill Type	Ultimate, Pyromancy
Description	Summon a fiery serpent that continually constricts the target area, Burning enemies for 295% damage over 8 seconds.
Upgrades	Prime Inferno Supreme Inferno

It summons a serpent and burns the enemies for insane damage. Combined with the Meteor skill dealing excessive amounts of AOE damage, I consider this a very overpowered skill.

Moreover, the Prime Inferno upgrade pulls the enemies into the center, ensuring the Meteor hits the enemies wreaking havoc on them. The Supreme Inferno skill makes all the pyromancy skills use no mana, so you can spam the Flame Shield skill without worrying that your Mana will run out.

Also, check out the Diablo 4 Sorcerer builds.

Passive Skills For Sorcerer

Skills	Description	Points Allocated
Devastation	Your Maximum Mana is increased by [9].	3
Elemental Dominance	Your Core Skills deal x [9%] increased damage when cast above 50 Mana.	3
Inner Flames	Your Pyromancy Skills deal x [6%] increased damage while you are Healthy.	2
Crippling Flames	Lucky Hit: Your Pyromancy Skills have up to a [10%] chance to Immobilize enemies for 2 seconds. This chance is doubled while you are Healthy.	2
Fiery Surge	Killing a Burning enemy increases your Mana Regeneration by [30%] for 3 seconds.	3
Endless Pyre	You deal increased Burning damage to enemies for each second they remain Burning, up to [15%] after 5 seconds.	3
Warmth	Every 1 second, you Heal for [0.9%] of your Maximum Life for each Nearby Burning enemy. Healing increased to [1.8%] from Bosses.	3
Shatter	After Freeze expires, enemies explode for 25% of the damage you dealt them during Frozen.	1

The Passive Skills should be pretty self-explanatory from the description. They are a mix of Mana regeneration and damage skills with a sprinkle of a healing skill with the Warmth skill, which heals you for 0.9% of your maximum health while the enemies around you burn.

Pros and Cons of This Build:

My Opinion

During my playthrough, the Sorcerer class was among the most fun and best AOE classes. The best part of this class was to take control of a battlefield from a distance.

The ability to do insane AOE damage and incinerate countless enemies within seconds was always satisfying. Seeing the numbers change colors and increase in value was probably my highlight.

However, I remind you that Sorcerers are not built like your everyday Barbarian or Druid. Therefore, if you feel like getting stuck in a corner, immediately bring out the Freeze or Shield and get the hell out quickly. 

Check out similar guides:

• Diablo 4 Best Tank Class & Builds.
• Diablo 4 Best Endgame Class.
• Diablo 4 Best Ashava Class.