Diablo 4 has recently buffed all five classes in the game, but Sorcerers still feel left out as their characters exhibit major shortcomings compared to a Barbarian or Druid. When dealing with complex attribute systems such as Vulnerable or Lucky Hit, coupled with features such as the Paragon Board, as well as a myriad of Uniques and Legendary items, class balance can easily become a cumbersome task. The developers in Diablo 4 have been listening to player feedback since the Open Beta, and this has ironically caused the current problem with Sorcerers who continue to lag behind other Diablo 4 classes.
The nerf to Sorcerers during the Server Slam exposed the underlying issues which plague the class today, as stripping the third Passive Enchantment has severely hampered the Sorcerer's build variety. The benefits provided by the Fireball Enchantment make it a must-have for any Sorcerer in Diablo 4, with the last remaining slot usually dependent on the main element of choice (such as Ball Lightning for Arc Lash builds). However, the problems run deeper than that, as Sorcerers are often forced to rely on using three or four Defensive Skills simply to stay alive in endgame content.
The major issues that Sorcerers face was outlined in a superb way by khrucible on the Diablo 4 subreddit. Feedback like this is extremely valuable to developers, as they have certainly shown willingness to address the parts of Diablo 4 that don't quite work. Despite the class buffs in Diablo 4's latest update, the Sorcerer received benefits that fail to address the root of the problem. The issues are broken down to address a Sorcerer's lack of survivability, meaningful damage being locked behind conditionals, paying for power with significant trade-offs, and Core Skills being mostly unviable.
Paragon Boards in Diablo 4 provide Rogues with up to 4400 potential Armor. Barbarians get 2750 Armor, Druids get 2250 Armor, and even Necromancers receive 1350 Armor. The itemization in Diablo 4 vastly prefers Armor as the main source of Damage Reduction, while Sorcerers are forced to increase their survivability through its interior cousin, Resistance. Barriers scaling off of Base Health also hamper a Sorcerer's defense, as there are no means of increasing it through gear.
While Sorcerers in Diablo 4 don't struggle with killing foes, it mostly comes in a feast-or-famine scenario, where a Teleport and Frost Nova dictate the flow of damage. The main culprit is the Aspect of Control, which increases the damage against immobilized, stunned, or frozen enemies by 70% on a two-handed weapon. Paragon traits follow the same trend, effectively shoehorning Sorcerers into playing the same way (Teleport, Frost Nova, Flame Shield) across all builds.
Core Skills and Mastery Skills for Sorcerer in Diablo 4 are largely the same, in that they spend a large quantity of Mana and are mechanically challenged. To that end, some Diablo 4 players are asking for Blizzard to strip back the overdesigned aspects of the class in favor of more freedom.
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