It wouldn’t be a Diablo game without lots of theorycrafting into what the best builds are for each of the Classes. Diablo IV is no different, and in this page, you’ll find out what the best Skills are for the Sorcerer/Sorceress in the early part of the game.

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A Hydra build is the most powerful early build in Diablo 4.

Sorceress Build¶

At the time of writing, the Beta weekends have a level cap of 25, and as such, it’s not possible to write a full build on for the Sorcerer. Equipment will add to making your Lv 25 Build stronger, but it’s not needed for Veteran (the max World Tier for the beta) or Act I in general.

Instead, this page will focus on the most important skills for the Sorcerer up to Level 25, and how you can use them to give yourself the easiest time during that period (especially if you intend to take on the World Boss). As you can glean from the title of this page, this is focused around the Hydra skill.

• Read More - Best Diablo 4 Sorcerer Builds, Diablo 4 Class Tier List

Hydra¶

This should be the cornerstone of any Sorcerer’s build at the time of writing, it’s power is such that you can often cast and forget while it deals with most enemies without much hassle. Once you add the Skills below to your build, you’ll only make life even easier for yourself.

To learn the Hydra Skill, you’ll need to put enough points in the tree until you unlock the Conjuration Skills, where Hydra belongs. You can then put points into two of three possible upgrades, with Enhanced Hydra being mandatory. This will grant the Hydra one extra head if you cast it while you have more than 80% of your health.

You can then choose between either Summoned Hydra or Invoked Hydra, as only one upgrade is permitted here. For the limited level of 25, we recommend Summoned Hydra as allowing the Hydra heads the ability to Burn your foes for damage-over-time is very useful, especially against bosses. Invoked Hydra, instead, focuses on giving them a Critical Strike chance when you inflict a Critical Strike yourself.

Using the Hydra is a simple matter, wade into a group of enemies, use the assigned button and let them work their magic. You can then sit back and use other spells and Basic attacks to defeat them.

Frost Nova¶

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Frost Nova works great as a defensive tool.

When it comes to your defensive skill, you can’t go wrong with Frost Nova. This skill will release an icy blast all around you that will freeze any enemy in place, giving you the chance to follow-up with AoEs or get away from them to heal up.

The first, mandatory upgrade for it will allow you to reduce the Cooldown of Frost Nova if you kill enemies while they’re frozen, up to a max of 6 seconds. As you can easily set up enemies for AoE kills, this triggers often.

You then need to make a choice between Mystical Frost Nova and Shimmering Frost Nova. Mystical Frost Nova is the clear winner here as it will inflict any enemies struck with Frost Nova with Vulnerable, increasing the damage they take by 20% and this also extends to bosses, making it a must have.

When using Frost Nova, look to use it whenever you find yourself swarmed by enemy groups to get some breathing space. In boss battles, keep it used at all times on the boss to make the full use of Vulnerable.

Incinerate¶

To keep with the fire theme of the Hydras, we like to go with Incinerate as the constant stream of fire when used against foes either frozen from Frost Nova or getting pelted with the Hydra makes it great for AoE. This allows you to hang back and swipe around the battlefield like a pyromaniac!

The mandatory upgrade Enhanced Incinerate, will make it so that your burn any enemies around you for 15% of the damage, offering more protection on top of Frost Nova.

You’ll then need to make a choice between Destructive Incinerate and Greater Incinerate, both of which are good upgrades. Destructive will cause enemies to deal 20% less damage when burning from Incinerate, good against bosses. Greater, on the other hand, immobilizes an enemy every 4 seconds they’re burning from Incinerate.

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Incinerate is a great offensive skill when paired with the Hydra.

Inferno¶

Staying with the theme of fire spells where possible, Inferno is a great Ultimate for this build. When used, it summons a massive fiery serpent that will constrict its targets while dealing heavy damage. When you pair this with both of the available upgrades, it will pull in any enemies close to it while also making it so your Pyromancy spells cost zero Mana.

This will allow you to cast Frost Nova on a group, followed by Inferno and then blast the enemies with Incinerate all at no Mana cost, a potent combo!

Basic Skills¶

There’s no right or wrong answer here, all of the options are viable and will only likely be used for gaining your Mana to use your more powerful skills. For the sake of this build and the fire-themed nature of it, Fire Bolt is what we stuck with.

Meteor/Blazing Wall¶

When it comes to Mastery Skills, it’s a good idea to think about the fire-themed ones for a Hydra build so you can make use of the Fire-based passives in the skill-tree. This leaves your choices at Meteor and Blazing Wall, and they both fill different needs.

Meteor is great against bosses and dealing heavy damage in general, although it comes at the cost of increased Mana. Firewall is all about damage from survivability, allowing you to close off lanes and should you choose the Wizard’s Firewall upgrade, will even help restore your Mana.

Fireball Enchantment¶

For your Enchantment Slot, it’s hard to look past Fireball as the extra Fireballs it generates in combat makes short work of enemy hordes. Of course, when you’re up against bosses, you may wish to try some other Enchantments but it’s hard to look beyond the Fireball.