Chain lightning is great. It FHR locks the mobs pretty good and you dont have to aim it pretty much. Just tele into a corner and spam it. I use it for key farming over lightning tbh. Costs a little more mana but 300+ mana and 17 med insight covers it.

insight? not infinity?

Ladder start key farming = insight merc not infinity yet
if youre rich enough for infinity, mana is already not an issue.

This post was edited by ahyp on May 27 2026 11:41am

I had my chain sorc at 95 from early d2r one ladder. My first latent sunder was a light so I though I'd dust her off. My God did I forget how much I hate her.
I'm not sure how to explain it using the games math, but my blizz sorc with the same life (within 100) feels WAY tanker.
Chain light is the glass cannon of all glass cannons. Very frustrating and risky to play. Thinking I'll convert that 95 to any other build soon because now that I have fire and blizz build as well I don't think I'll ever use her again.

rarely makes sense to use CL over L. costs shittons of mana and deals awful damage

You dont need to ever cast CL. Lightning is better DPS if you aim even a little bit. You can't control how the CL projectile jumps around

Maybe worth it if you really need a one button autopilot for your bot

isn't it just a lightning sorc?

Lightning is a pre req for chain. Use both together, light for bosses/single target dmg and chain for crowds.
Edit. It IS a pretty req but I meant that its a synergy, it gets maxed anyway

This post was edited by Rottentrash on May 27 2026 12:22pm

I just don't really get the problem, been playing on a sp save just to trial it and it seems no squishier than other non-es sorc builds

Did nova change at some point?

iirc back in the day, it wasn't really a thing and lightning was the go-to. It's entirely possible im misremembering. I just started playing 8 months ago off and on, after not really playing for over 10 years.