Diablo 4 Season 1 best Caged Hearts for Sorcerer | Ice Shards, Ball Lightning, Firewall, and more

Caged Hearts are a new item in Diablo 4 Season 1 that give build-altering buffs, similar to Aspects. To really make your Sorcerer build shine in Diablo 4 Season 1, you need to have the best Caged Hearts. Here are the best Caged Hearts for the best Sorcerer builds in Diablo 4 Season 1.

Note: If you’re still leveling and want to reach level 50 and beyond fast in Diablo 4 Season 1, I highly recommend you check out the best Sorcerer leveling builds in Diablo 4 Season 1.

What is the best Sorcerer Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1?

The best Caged Hearts for Sorcerer in Diablo 4 Season 1 is a complicated question because it changes based on the build you are going for. The Caged Hearts that are great for every Sorcerer build are Caged Heart of Determination because you’ll use less Mana on skills and gain more Mana in general, Caged Heart of Creeping Death since almost every Sorcerer build uses Crowd Control, and Caged Heart of Lionhearted since all Sorcerer builds suffer from poor survivability.

To get Caged Hearts, you need to find Malignant Monsters in Malignant Tunnels. Defeat them once to get a Malignant Heart, then activate the Malignant Heart and defeat the Malignant Monster again to get a Caged Heart. The Caged Heart you get will be a random version of the same color the Malignant Heart was. This isn’t the best way to get Caged Hearts as it will always be randomized, but it is the only way to get Wrathful Hearts.

You can also craft Caged Hearts, but this too will always be randomized. However, you can craft the specific type or color Caged Heart you want. To do that, you need to farm Ichor by salvaging other Caged Hearts. Plus, you can’t craft Wrathful Hearts and can only craft one of the Caged Hearts by using 35 Ichor from the other two Caged Heart options. In general, you need to farm Malignant Tunnels to either craft Caged Hearts or get lucky and find what you’re looking for.

Note: I recommend using Malignant Invokers to prioritize which Caged Hearts you’re going for.

Best Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ice Shards build in Diablo 4 Season 1 tier list

Screenshot by PC Invasion

1. Caged Heart of Creeping Death
2. Caged Heart of Lionheart
3. Caged Heart of Determination
4. Caged Heart of the Calculated

Though there are several great Caged Heart options for the Sorcerer Ice Shards build, the ones you’ll want to go for first are Caged Heart of Creeping Death, Caged Heart of Lionheart, Caged Heart of Determination, and Caged Heart of Calculated.

Best Vicious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ice Shards build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha – For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.

As is the case with all good Sorcerer builds, the Sorcerer Ice Shards build benefits from using multiple elements for attack and defense. Because of that, Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha is a great Caged Heart to have considering you’ll deal more damage the more you use unique elements.

Best Brutal Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ice Shards build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Spellbreaking – After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.
• Caged Heart of Lionheart – You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier.

Sorcerers are known for having very low survivability. Since you’re easier to kill as a Sorcerer, the Sorcerer Ice Shards build needs the Caged Heart of Spellbreaking to help gain damage resistance to specific elements and the Caged Heart of Lionheart which allows you to gain a barrier and heal once the barrier is up. These are truly essential Caged Hearts to have, especially during Diablo 4 Season 1 where Sorcerers are weaker than ever.

Best Devious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ice Shards build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of the Calculated – After spending 150-200 Mana, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds.
• Caged Heart of Spite – When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 seconds.
• Caged Heart of Determination – Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.

Mana management is a challenge for Sorcerers which is why I recommend getting Caged Heart of Determination on every Sorcerer build. With it, resource draining effects you experience in Nightmare Dungeons are much less effective and you keep a 3.0-8.0% Mana generation buff at all times. More Mana means more spells, you can’t go wrong.

If you want to really maximize the Sorcerer Ice Shards build, then I recommend getting the Caged Heart of the Calculated. This Caged Heart grants you a Stun shot after spending enough Mana which synergizes extremely well with the Ice Shards build because Stunning, Slowing, and Freezing enemies is your main objective.

And finally, the last really great Devious Caged Heart for the Sorcerer Ice Shards build is Caged Heart of Determination. This one isn’t mandatory, but it is great for the Ice Shards build because if you get Crowd Controlled, there’s a chance your enemies get Crowd Controlled too which works well with Ice Shards since you deal more damage to Crowd Controlled enemies.

Best Wrathful Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ice Shards build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Creeping Death – Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.

Every Sorcerer build benefits greatly from the Caged Heart of Creeping Death. Since Sorcerers have a lot of damage over time and Crowd Control skills, Caged Heart of Creeping Death is perfect because you’ll deal 30-40% more damage. This will make you extremely strong in the endgame, almost like those Sorcerer nerfs never happened.

Best Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ball Lightning build in Diablo 4 Season 1 tier list

Screenshot by PC Invasion

1. Caged Heart of Creeping Death
2. Caged Heart of Lionheart
3. Caged Heart of Determination
4. Caged Heart of the Picana

As with any Sorcerer build, the best Caged Hearts are Creeping Death, Lionheart, and Determination. However, if you really want to specialize your Ball Lightning Sorcerer, you need the Caged Heart of Picana because it creates even more opportunity for electric damage.

Best Vicious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ball Lightning build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha – For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.
• Caged Heart of the Picana – Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.

Cages Heart of Tal’Rasha allows you to deal more damage when you use unique elements, which you’ll do often with the Sorcerer Ball Lightning build. Beyond that, Caged Heart of Picana is essential because it causes arcing lightning damage on critical strikes. If you spec into skills that give you critical stikes and allow you to deal more damage to electrified enemies, Caged HEart of Picana really levels up your Sorcerer Ball Lightning build.

Best Brutal Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ball Lightning build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Spellbreaking – After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.
• Caged Heart of Lionheart – You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier.

To help with survivability with the Sorcerer Ball Lightning build, you need Caged Heart of Spellbreaking for element resistance and Caged Heart of Lionheart for the barrier generation and healing. While the Caged Hearts that focus on damage are great, I recommend getting these defensive Caged Hearts first as they really help your Sorcerer survive for longer.

Best Devious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ball Lightning build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Determination – Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.
• Caged Heart of the Calculated – After spending 150-200 Mana, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds.

Like with the Ice Shards Sorcerer, Caged Heart of the Calculated works really well with the Sorcerer Ball Lightning build because it creates even more stuns as you use your skills which allows you to control the battlefield. Caged Heart of Determination is a must to keep your Mana high at all times.

Best Wrathful Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Ball Lightning build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Creeping Death – Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.

As is the same for the Sorcerer Ice Shards build, the Sorcerer Ball Lightning build becomes much better with the Caged Heart of Creeping Death. All your damage over time lightning skills deal 30-40% more damage to Crowd Controlled enemies, which happens often since you’re Shocking and Immobilizing your enemies.

Best Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Firewall build in Diablo 4 Season 1 tier list

Screenshot: PC Invasion

1. Caged Heart of Creeping Death
2. Caged Heart of Determination
3. Caged Heart of the Picana
4. Caged Heart of Revenge
5. Caged Heart of Retaliation

While the Firewall Sorcerer build is arguably the weakest build as the Season 1 nerfs, there are more Caged Hearts that focus solely on making your Sorcerer Firewall build much better. Beyond Creeping Death, Lionheart, and Determination which are all great here, Caged Heart of Revenge and Caged Heart of Retaliation are two exceptional Caged Hearts that synergize well with the best Firewall Sorcerer build because they deal extra fire damage.

Best Vicious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Firewall build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha – For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.

The best Vicious Caged Heart for the Sorcerer Firewall build is Tal’Rasha because you’ll likely combine your fire skills with other elements like ice or lightning. When you do that, you’ll get a substantial damage bonus which helps a lot when fighting hordes of enemies and bosses.

Best Brutal Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Firewall build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Spellbreaking – After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.
• Caged Heart of Revenge – 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.

Instead of Caged Heart of Lionheart, which still is great for this build, the Firewall Sorcerer benefits most from Caged Heart of Revenge. This Caged Heart suppresses incoming damage which helps with survivability, but then, when you use a defensive skill, you’ll amplify the damage you take but cause a high-damage fire explosion to nearby enemies. Caged Heart of Revenge is a high risk, high reward Caged Heart that works really well to deal even more fire damage. Of course, Caged Heart of Spellbreaking is good as well.

Best Devious Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Firewall build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Retaliation – Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you.
• Caged Heart of Determination – Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.

Caged Heart of Determination is truly one of the best Caged Hearts for Sorcerers so they run out of Mana less often, but Caged Heart of Retaliation is the star of the show for the Sorcerer Firewall build. With Caged Heart of Determination, you deal tons of fire damage to nearby enemies whenever you stop getting Crowd Controlled. Since enemies Crowd Control a lot in Diablo 4 Season 1, this Caged Heart is really great since it pairs well with your fire build and adds to survivability by wiping out enemies.

Best Wrathful Caged Hearts for Sorcerer Firewall build in Diablo 4 Season 1

• Caged Heart of Creeping Death – Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.

As you can probably guess, Caged Heart of Creeping Death is also great for the Sorcerer Firewall build. Though it’ll be harder to Crowd Control enemies with the Firewall build, it’s not impossible. The 30-40% increased damage you get to your damage over time fire skills is too good to pass up.

And those are the best Sorcerer Caged Hearts for the best Sorcerer builds in Diablo 4 Season 1. Now, you should learn how to get the Wrathful Invoker to make your hunt for Caged Heart of Creeping Death easier.