Chain Lightning sorc question

Hi everyone, mostly just use this site for trading (joined a year ago) but figured I would make a topic to ask a question about Chain Lightning sorc.

I understand that Cure + CoH + Insight is usually used with a Nova/ES sorc that either uses Crescent Moon Runeword or self-wield Infinity but would this merc setup work well with a Chain Lightning sorc? I have contemplated going to Nova sorc but I still like to farm act bosses every so often and it seems from what I have read, Nova sorc is a bit slower at that and furthermore, there's the blood mana issue, which I know is mostly taken care of via Cure, but I don't know, would rather just not deal with it at all and ever since Nova was nerfed back in classic D2, I just kind of went with Chain Lightning with 1.10 and beyond. I do like the idea of dropping Infinity and having the merc options I just mentioned and just let sunder charm break lightning immunity. The idea of self-wield Infinity seems interesting too, but I feel like that really only works well with Nova and not so much with Chain Lightning since you're more ranged with Chain Lightning.

I have a while before I make a decision since I haven't found a griffon's yet, but just want to some ideas as to if the above would work or not for CL sorc.

Thank you!

I have played both CL and Nova Sorc builds, and I can say from personal experience that after Patch 2.4, self-wielding Nova Sorc is the way to go. So easy yet so strong and versatile. Its clear speed is not easy for CL to match.

I myself do not go the max mana route. Instead, I chose to balance life and mana, and make sure life is a tad bit higher than mana. Baal's Blood Mana curse worries me not. You still get a very strong mana shield that is supported by merc Insight, meanwhile in the case of getting full mana burn by souls etc, you won't even sweat, just need to calmly drink a potion while zapping all of them out.


Tokens are cheap. Try both and see which one you like better. I have done my own testing and picked the build that suits my play style.

Alright, cool, thank you for the information, I'll have to give this a try!

Alright, thank you!

I did L/CL for a while in D2R without Infinity for either self or merc.

I didn't even reach the highest cast rate and the build did fine. Certainly not as good as a fully kitted Nova/ES sorc, but I preferred the range of L/CL.

At higher player counts you will suffer without the best gear, but it's entirely feasible.

I would use Crescent Moon if Infinity is not available. You're going to have a hard time getting the max cast speed regardless of gear, so I would prioritize damage per cast instead of max cast speed.