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This Diablo 4 Sorcerer Ice Shards Build is amazing and is one of the most over-powered class builds we've seen yet. If you like diving into huge mob packs and blasting them with Ice instantly, then this build is for you!
You can use this build early on Diablo 4 also; you might run out of Mana occasionally, but as you progress and get more and more power, this build starts to become insanely good to use.
The Diablo 4 Sorcerer has plenty of different build potential, so let us know in the comments how you feel about this Ice Shard build.
Diablo 4 Sorcerer Ice Shards - Build Explanation
The Ice Shard Sorcerer build works on rotating between several different cooldown skills to help generate Mana, whilst blasting away enemies with Ice Shards due to the amount of stacked Frozen, Vulnerable and Chilled damage bonuses you have on items.
Ice Shards is your main attack skill and it does consume a lot of mana when used. At early levels, you'll run out of Mana plenty of times, so it's important to understand what skills are available during tricky moments.
The idea is to run into huge packs of mobs, blast them with Frost Nova and then destroy them with Ice Shards. What really sets Ice Shards off is making it an Enhanced Skill, as this will cause your Ice Shards to automatically seek out frozen enemies. That pretty much means you just run into a pack of mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova and then blast them away.
The build starts to excel when you get the Legendary Aspect Frostblitz Aspect for an additional Frost Nova charge and the Aspect Of Piercing Cold so that Ice Shards pierce enemies multiple times.
Getting plenty of Cooldown Reduction stats, Mana Reducing Stats and increasing the skill level of Frost Nova through items can make this build perfect so that you never run out of Mana.
You get two Barrier skills with this build: Ice Armor and Flame Shield. Flame Shield makes you immune for a very short amount of time, but perfect for when you get surrounded by enemies with zero mana.
Ice Armor gives you a 6 second Barrier that takes 5% of the damage you dealt and adds it to the Barrier's life.
Equipping the Prodigy's Aspect will allow you to generate Mana each time you use a Cooldown.
You use Teleport skill to get out of trouble and generate some Mana.
Your ultimate skill is Deep Freeze, which is an amazing skill to have; not only does it wipe out huge amounts of enemies, it also makes you invincible for its duration and freezes enemies around you once it's over. It does have a long cooldown of 60 seconds, but it's still one of the best parts of this build.
Check out some gameplay of the Ice Shards Build here:
Sorcerer Ice Shards Skill Tree
Follow this skill tree build to create the Sorcerer Frost / Ice Build.
| Icon | Skill | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
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Fire Bolt | 2 | Hurl a flaming bolt, dealing [10]% damage and Burning for [40]% damage over 8 seconds. |
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Ice Shards | 5 | Launch 5 shards that deal [25%] damage each. Deals 25% increased damage to Frozen enemies. |
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Enhanced Ice Shards | 1 | Ice Shards have a 40% chance to ricochet to another enemy. Ice Shards always ricochet off of Frozen enemies. |
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Destructive Ice Shards | 1 | Hitting an enemy with 5 Ice Shards in a single cast makes them Vulnerable for 2 seconds. |
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Devastation | 1 | Your Maximum Mana is increased by 3 |
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Elemental Dominance | 3 | Your Core Skills deal 9% increased damage when cast above 50 Mana. |
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Flame Shield | 1 |
Cooldown: 20 seconds While Flame Shield is active, you are Immune. |
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Enhanced Flame Shield | 1 | Flame Shield grants 25% Movement Speed while active. |
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Shimmering Flame Shield | 1 | Flame Shield Heals you for 50% of your missing Life. |
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Teleport | 1 | Cooldown: 11 seconds Transform into lightning, becoming Unstoppable and surging to the target location, dealing 25% damage around you upon arrival. |
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Enhanced Teleport | 1 | Teleport's Cooldown is decreased by 0.5 seconds per enemy hit, up to 3 seconds. |
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Shimmering Teleport | 1 | After Teleporting, you gain 30% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds. |
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Elemental Attunement | 1 | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 5% chance to reset the Cooldown of one of your Defensive Skills. Can only happen once every 10 seconds. |
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Glass Cannon | 3 | You deal 18% increased damage, but take 9% more damage. |
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Ice Armor | 1 | Cooldown: 20 seconds A Barrier of ice forms around you for 6 seconds, absorbing 30% of your Base Life in damage. While Ice Armor is active, 5% of your damage dealt is added to its Barrier. |
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Enhanced Ice Armor | 1 | While Ice Armor is active, your Mana Regeneration is increased by 25%. |
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Frost Nova | 1 | Cooldown: 24 seconds Unleash a torrent of frost, Freezing enemies around you for 3 seconds. |
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Enhanced Frost Nova | 1 | Killing enemies Frozen by Frost Nova reduces its Cooldown by 1 second, up to 4 seconds per cast. |
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Mystical Frost Nova | 1 | Frost Nova makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds, increased to 6 seconds against Bosses. |
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Align The Elements | 1 | You gain 1% Damage Reduction against Elites for each second you haven't taken damage from one, up to 40%. |
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Mana Shield | 3 | Every time you spend 100 Mana, you gain 15% Damage Reduction for 5 seconds. |
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Protection | 1 | Using a Cooldown grants 10% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 2 seconds. |
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Icy Veil | 3 | Your Barriers have a 15% increased duration. |
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Snap Freeze | 3 | Lucky Hit: Frost Skills have up to a 9% chance to instantly Freeze. |
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Inner Flames | 1 | Your Pyromancy Skills deal 3% increased damage while you are Healthy. |
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Devouring Blaze | 3 | You deal 30% increased Critical Strike Damage against Burning enemies. If they are also Immobilized, this bonus is increased to 75%. |
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Permafrost | 2 | Frost Skills deal 10% increased damage to Elites |
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Icy Touch | 3 | You deal 12% increased Cold Damage to Vulnerable enemies. |
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Frigid Breeze | 3 | Lucky Hit: Cold damage against Vulnerable enemies has up to 20% chance to generate 15 Mana. |
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Hoarfrost | 3 | You deal 9% increased damage to Chilled enemies, and 18% increased damage to Frozen enemies. |
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Deep Freeze | 1 | Cooldown: 60 seconds Encase yourself in ice, becoming Immune for 4 seconds, continually dealing 25% damage, and Chilling enemies for 14%. When Deep Freeze expires, it deals an addtional 100% damage. |
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Prime Deep Freeze | 1 | When Deep Freeze ends, gain 10% of your Base Life as a Barrier for 6 seconds for each enemy you Froze while it was active. |
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Supreme Deep Freeze | 1 | When Deep Freeze ends, your Non-Ultimate Cooldowns are reduced by 50%. |
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Avalanche | 1 | Lucky Hit: Your Frost Skills have up to a 10% chance to make your next cast of Ice Shards, Frozen Orb, or Blizzard consume no Mana and deal 40% increased damage. Chance is doubled against Vulnerable enemies. |
Sorcerer Enchanment Slots
Add these skills to your Enchantment slots for boosting the skill's effects. They become available at Level 30 and Level 50.
| Skill | Bonus |
|---|---|
Fire Bolt |
Direct damage from skills applies up to an additional 26% Burning damage over 8 seconds. |
Ice Shards |
Ice Shards automatically conjure and fly towards Frozen enemies. |
Sorcerer Ice Shards - Legendary Aspects
Once you've got your Skill Build sorted, next up you need to start hunting down these Legendary Aspects to imprint onto your equipment. This is what truly makes the build shine and it can take a little while to find all the right ones.
Some Aspects only come on Unique Items and cannot be imprinted onto other items.
| Aspect | Details | Equipment |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect Of Control | You deal [25-35]% more damage to Immobolized, Stunned or Frozen enemies. | Gloves, 1-Handed Weapon, 2-Handed Weapon [+100%], Amulet [+50%], Ring |
| Aspect of Piercing Cold | Ice Shards pierces [3-4] times, dealing [20-25]% less damage per subsequent enemy hit. | Gloves, 1-Handed Weapon, 2-Handed Weapon [+100%], Amulet [+50%], Ring |
| Unique Item: Iceheart Brais | Enemies that die while Frozen have a chance [11-20%] chance to unleash a Frost Nova | Pants |
| Aspect Of Frozen Memories | The Avalanche Key Passive now applies to 1 additional cast. | Gloves, 1-Handed Weapon, 2-Handed Weapon [+100%], Amulet [+50%], Ring |
| Frostblitz Aspect | Frost Nova gains an additional Charge but the Cooldown per Charge is increased by [30-40]%. | Helmet, Chest, Pants, Amulet [+50%], Shield |
| Encased Aspect | While Deep Freeze is active, you restore [10-20]% of your Maximum Life and Mana per second. | Helmet, Chest, Pants, Amulet |
| Conceited Aspect | Deal [15-25%] increased damage while you have a Barrier active. | Gloves, 1-Handed Weapon, 2-Handed Weapon [+100%], Amulet [+50%], Ring |
| Prodigy's Aspect | Using a Cooldown restores [15-25] Mana. | Ring |
| Aspect Of Disobedience | You gain [0.25-0.50%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [25-50%]. | Helmet, Chest, Pants, Amulet [+50%], Shield |
Sorcerer Ice Shards - Gear Stats - Affixes
The following affixes should be considered for your equipment that you find. You'll find several different combinations on gear.
Whilst finding the perfect equipment is great, you'll most likely come across gear that isn't perfect, so you'll have to settle for one or two important affixes. Check out our Upgrading Guide for details on replacing Affixes.
| Gear | Possible Affixes | Gem |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet |
+% Cooldown Reduction |
Ruby Gem |
| Chest | +% Frost Skill damage + Intelligence |
Ruby Gem x2 |
| Gloves | + Ranks of Ice Shards +% Lucky Hit Chance + Intelligence |
N/A |
| Pants | + Intelligence +% Damage to Frozen Enemies +% Damage to Injured Enemies +% Freeze Duration |
Ruby Gem x2 |
| Boots | + All Stats +% Mana Reduction + Ranks of Frost Nova |
N/A |
| Staff | + Damage to Frozen Enemies + Damage to Chilled Enemies + Intelligence + All Stats |
Emerald Gem x2 |
| Amulet | + Ranks of all Defensive Skills + Ranks of all Mastery Skills +% Cooldown Reduction + Ranks of Glass Cannon |
Skull |
| Ring | +% Damage to Frozen Enemies +% Damage to Stunned Enemies +% Damage to Chilled Enemies +% Cold Damage |
Skull |
| Ring | +% Damage to Frozen Enemies +% Damage to Stunned Enemies +% Damage to Chilled Enemies +% Cold Damage |
Skull |
Want to improve this build?
Diablo 4 is every changing! If you think there is something we're missing to help improve this build, let us know in the comments below and we'll update the guide asap!
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