I didn't come into Season 11 expecting to fall back in love with Sorc. I figured the new Spiritborn hybrid hype would drown everything else out, so I just kept my old habits and started living in the Tower of Penance. A few runs in, you notice the difference right away: the higher you climb, the more the Tower's crowding starts working for you instead of against you. I even peeked at a Diablo 4 item store listing while planning upgrades, because once you're pushing deep, a missing roll isn't "meh," it's a dead run.

Why Crackling Energy Wins in the Tower

I tried Frozen Orb first, because it's comfy and it clears fine early. Then floor 120-ish hit and it felt like punching a wall. Swapping to a Crackling Energy setup with the reworked Axial Conduit pants was the first time this season felt unfair in a good way. The loop's simple but kind of frantic: Teleport in, clump the pack, let the lightning do the talking. The Tower's density is the fuel. More bodies means more procs, and those procs keep the whole engine spinning.

The Pull, The Pop, The Chain

If you're not wearing Raiment of the Infinite, you're basically opting out of the best part. You Teleport, everything snaps into you, and the screen turns into one big target. That seasonal power that leans into Shock damage is the glue here. It turns what used to be "nice extra damage" into constant Crackling Energy uptime, which then feeds into more casts. You'll feel it when it's working: mana stops being a thought, and your AoE stops having a ceiling as long as mobs keep walking in.

Survival and the Annoying Gear Wall

The rough part is getting sturdy enough to stay in the fight. I was getting deleted until I fixed my barrier uptime and stopped pretending I could tank like it was last season. Esu's Heirloom feels mandatory now, because movement speed isn't just comfort, it's protection. Paragon is mostly what you'd expect, but rushing Elemental Summoner for pickup radius is a sneaky time-saver. You're not jogging around for orbs, you're just clearing. The only real misery is the crafting chase—finding the right staff base, then praying Masterworking doesn't brick it.

Right Now Feels Like Borrowed Time

Once it all clicks, the Tower stops being a slog and starts feeling like a highlight reel, even past 150 where builds usually fall apart. The damage ticks get silly, the pulls get cleaner, and runs get faster because you're not waiting on cooldowns the same way. Still, it's hard to ignore that patches exist, and this kind of scaling never stays untouched for long. If you're short on time or sick of rolling dead items, I get why people use u4gm to buy currency or gear and get back to pushing instead of living at the blacksmith.