Diablo 4 is still making the rounds online after over two weeks since it first came out in early access, and its success is due to many factors combined, among which is the fun gameplay loop. An active part of the experience is to craft one's own build in the game, and most classes end up having to abide by the one Basic Skill and one Core Skill rule when spending points in Diablo 4's skill tree, but there are some workarounds. A great example of this is the Firewall build for Sorcerers, which makes it the main skill and finds a way not to be dependent on resource-generating abilities.
One of the biggest issues with Diablo 4's Barbarian is that it has to rely heavily on its Basic Skills to generate Fury, as it depletes over time, unlike any other class' main resource. The Sorcerer can bypass this problem in a few meaningful ways, and Firewall is one of them - especially when combined with other Pyromancy skills and their associated passives. With the Firewall Protection Sorcerer build in Diablo 4 players can achieve relative safety in all fights and still dish out impressive amounts of damage, scaling ever higher in the endgame.
Diablo 4's Firewall Protection Build Skill Tree
The main issue players may encounter when trying to recreate the build is leveling a new character from scratch with it, as Firewall is only accessible later on, and thus it's often best to just rely on Diablo 4's Chain Lightning build to get started as a Sorcerer. However, players can easily respec at very low costs up until level 35 to 40, which is when it starts to become a tad more expensive to refund all points.
As far as the skill tree is concerned, players should spend 2 mandatory points in the Basic Skills section to advance to the Core section, and here they should pick Fireball for the Sorcerer's Enchantment system in Diablo 4 further down the road. Then, spending 3 points in Devastation will unlock the next tier of abilities, which is where players will start getting all four of them on the actual skillbar. This includes Flame Shield (followed by Enhanced and Mystical Flame Shield), Teleport (followed by Enhanced and Shimmering Teleport), Ice Armor (followed by Enhanced and Shimmering Ice Armor), and finally Frost Nova (followed by Enhanced and Mystical Frost Nova).
Of these, players should assign all 5 points to Frost Nova first and then either all 5 points to Flame Shield or Teleport, depending on personal preference. Here, players should also grab Glass Cannon and max it for more damage dealt at all times. From the Conjuration nodes, players should assign one point to Align the Elements and then max out both Mana Shield and Protection to increase survivability. The Mastery node is where the build starts coming together, with Diablo 4 players finally being able to spend 5 points into Firewall and then also grab Enhanced Firewall and Wzard's Firewall to increase Burning damage and Mana regeneration.
It's also valuable to spend one point in Inner Flames and three in Crippling Flames, which will make Pyromancy abilities Immobilize enemies on Lucky Hits. This can be extremely powerful to keep enemies stuck in Firewalls, eventually defeating them with damage over time. For their Diablo 4 Ultimate, players will want Inferno with its upgrades to make the skill repeatedly pull enemies toward its center, and making Pyromancy skills cost no Mana for its duration. This essentially counts as a DPS phase token, allowing players to spam Firewalls underneath their enemies.
It's also worth assigning one point to Fiery Surge to further increase Mana regeneration, also unlocking and maxing out both Endless Pyre and Warmth to increase damage dealt to Burning enemies and making the Sorcerer heal whenever it's dealing Burning damage to enemies. With these abilities on the skillbar, players will rarely run out of Mana and they will have all sorts of protection tools to stay alive, all while Burning enemies and bosses for incredible damage. Lastly, the Key Passives for this build can vary between Combustion, which further enhances Burning damage, and Shatter, which will only help Diablo 4 players' clear speed whenever they use Frost Nova.
Diablo 4's Firewall Protection Aspects and Uniques
As far as items go, Diablo 4's Uniques can further enhance this Sorcerer build. Players should look for the Raiment of the Infinite Unique chest armor, which essentially turns Teleport into a massive DPS option by making it pull enemies close to the user and stunning them, forcing them to stand in multiple Firewalls at a time. Another great pick is the Iceheart Brais, which makes Frozen enemies likely to unleash a Frost Nova when defeated, which will further increase the damage dealt to them and crowd-control them. Combined with the second Enchantment for this build, which is the one for Firewall, players can perpetually create Firewalls underneath enemies and also Frost Novas.
Then, players have ample choice for their Diablo 4 Legendary Aspects on the remaining gear pieces. A good combination would be the following: Aspect of Control on a staff, Flamewalker's Aspect on boots, Edgemaster's Aspect on gloves, Aspect of the Protector on the helm, Aspect of Binding Embers on the amulet, Aspect of the Umbral on a ring, and Aspect of Engulfing Flames on the other ring. This setup ensures that players deal an incredible amount of damage to all enemies and bosses, also generating Mana via Aspect of the Umbral when hitting crowd-controlled enemies, which becomes easier to achieve thanks to other Aspects.
At that point, the intended Diablo 4 gameplay loop becomes using Ice Armor and Flame Shield to spam Firewalls more consistently, Frost Nova to freeze enemies and make them Vulnerable in order to make them take more damage, and finally using Inferno to cast even more Firewalls when Mana is depleted. This can make quick work of any pack of enemies in Diablo 4 even without Inferno, which is instead a great tool against Elites and bosses.
Diablo 4 launches on June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
