Diablo 4: Best Incinerate Sorcerer Build

Sorcerers are masters of elemental magic in Diablo 4, and they have plenty of ways to deal with the demonic hordes plaguing Sanctuary. Pyromancy is one of the schools of magic available to Sorcerers, and it’s the perfect choice for players who want to watch the world burn under their magical flamethrower.

The third season of Diablo 4 saw a major buff to the Incinerate skill, granting it a whopping 40% damage increase, a trend which has only continued into the Season of Witchcraft. Then, the addition of the Flamethrower’s Aspect greatly improves the AoE of the ability – making an Incinerate sorcerer one of the best builds in the late game.

Updated by Abigail Angell on the 24th of February 2025: Continued buffs to Incinerate in Season 7 have increased the Incinerate Sorcerer’s meta standing, and new Aspects introduced to the game since Diablo 4’s release have greatly impacted the Incinerator Sorcerer’s build path.

How The Incinerate Sorcerer Compares To Other Builds

The Incinerate Sorcerer is placed comfortably in Tier A by most Diablo 4 fans, although the Firebolt and Fireball Sorcerer are very similar in power. Recently, Diablo 4 Fire Sorcerer builds have dominated the meta. What makes the Incinerate playstyle more attractive is its’ simplicity – players will rarely need to think about a set skill rotation. Instead, simply use Ice Nova and Inferno on Cooldown, and hold down Incinerate the rest of the time.

However, unlike other common Sorcerer builds, Incinerate deals primarily Burning Damage, and thus scales with Damage over time. This means the skill cannot Critically Strike, and investing in Critical Strike Chance or Critical Strike Damage is a waste of time. This changes the common BiS pretty dramatically and makes it difficult to instantly clear bosses.

Ability Points & Skills For The Incinerate Sorcerer

This build puts points into several abilities, but only some go onto the action bar. These are:

1. Incinerate
2. Frost Nova
3. Inferno
4. Teleport
5. Ice Armor
6. Fire Shield

Like most meta Sorcerer builds, the Defensive skills are an important part of the build’s survivability in the late game and should be used to mitigate as much damage as possible. They also provide the player with Unstoppable and activate the damage bonus from Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop. The main method of dealing damage with this build is Incinerate, which is maximized for damage and uptime. Frost Nova’s purpose is to freeze targets, increasing the damage they take via Icefall and Hoarfrost. Finally, Inferno increases the damage dealt by burning while active, inflicts Vulnerable, and reduces the mana Incinerate consumes – players should cast this on cooldown.

Enchantment Slots For The Incinerate Sorcerer

The Enchantments used in this build are Teleport and Firewall. Teleport is a useful defensive tool and increases mobility. Firewall is a damage increase to Incinerate whenever it spawns, which should be happening often due to the constant burning damage this build deals.

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Best In-Slot Aspects & Gear For The Incinerate Sorcerer

This is the most ideal gear and Legendary Aspects setup for this build. While the build will still work when this setup is not fully being used, getting as close as possible to it will ensure maximum power. Players will likely spend most of their time with the Exploiter and Ever-living Aspects equipped, Mythic Uniques are better in the Chest and Helm slot. Eventually, the goal is to replace each with the Heir of Perdition and Shroud of False Death Respectively.

Tempering

Temper slots for the Incinerate Sorcerer are somewhat flexible. Aim to reach these critical breakpoints:

• +100% Frost Nova Size
• +85% Chance for Incinerate to deal Double Damage
• +60% Inferno Cooldown Reduction

The most ideal Tempering setup is as follows:

Masterworking

When Masterworking, Crits are typically most preferred on the Greater Affix of the gear (see table above). However, it is most important to reach Masterworking level 12 on gear, as all affixes get a 5% increase per level. This will grant the player the most power-up for the least resources, allowing them to push Torment 4 Nightmare dungeons or Infernal Hordes. Here, they can farm much larger quantities of Obducite, which can then be used to reroll Masterworking as desired.

Paragon Boards & Glyphs For The Incinerate Sorcerer

There’s plenty of leeway when it comes to building Paragon Boards, and players are free to progress through them however they’d like. This means that rearranging the order in which the boards appear is entirely up to the player, although it is generally best to pair the glyph and board shown together due to which nodes surround the glyph socket on each board.

Two of the boards shown here are particularly helpful for the Incinerate Sorcerer.

1. Burning Instinct is great if you have Critical Strike stats. It increases Burning Damage based on Critical Strike Damage, effectively allowing players to use the Critical Strike Damage bucket when they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. If you decide to unlock the Legendary Nodes for this board, then consider switching your Keystone skill from Combustion to Esu’s Ferocity. Incinerate will not scale with crit stats until you get this legendary node.
2. Frigid Fate improves your damage versus Vulnerable enemies. This is an especially build-agnostic board, as Vulnerable damage benefits nearly all Diablo 4 Sorcerer builds. It’s extremely common in high-tier builds.

When leveling glyphs, focus on the following order:

Runewords & Socketables For The Incinerate Sorcerer

The Incinerate Sorcerer focuses on stationary gameplay and Damage over Time, this means that they benefit greatly from a specific set of Runewords and Gems.

Runewords

1. LithWat – A great Runeword for DoT builds, as it provides them with an execute to increase clear speed. It also generates offering for the second Runeword.
2. XolKry – This uses the castings of Decrepify from the previous Runeword to cast Vortex additionally. Vortex is great for grouping enemies, which is important to maximize the efficiency of Incinerate.

Gems

The Gems that most suit this build are:

• Jewelry: Skulls or Gems to reach Armor and Resistance Caps
• Weapon: Amethyst for DoT
• Armor: Topaz to increase Intelligence

Mercenaries & Reinforcement For The Incinerate Sorcerer

Mercenaries are only available to players with the Vessel of Hatred DLC and offer convenient bonuses. Each player can hire two total characters, one Mercenary who follows them around and a Reinforcement who occasionally appears.

Best Hired Mercenary

Because the Incinerate Sorcerer doesn’t massively benefit from any of the Mercenary abilities, taking Subo is clearly the best choice. His passive map vision gives the player the ability to seek out the largest enemy packs and increases farming efficiency. His exact skills aren’t crucial, but this suggested loadout is quite good:

Best Reinforcement

Raheir is by far the best Reinforcement for squishy characters like the Sorcerer because he tanks damage with nearly all abilities. When selecting him, choose the ability Bastion, and have it cast whenever the player uses Incinerate. This encourages the Reinforcement to cast as often as possible.

Seasonal Content Choices For The Incinerate Sorcerer

In Season 7, players have access to Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems. These items add interesting and varied new abilities, which greatly impact character builds. The Incinerator Sorcerer takes some of the easiest powers to get in the game, so those who aren’t looking for another grind can rejoice.

Witchcraft Powers

This build relies on Eldritch, Growth, and Decay powers. It also uses a gem to grant bonuses from these powers to casts of Incinerate.

• Soulharvest – Increases stats when enemies are around
• Decay Augmentation – Damage Increase for Witchcraft Powers (and later Incinerate).
• Purging Touch – Another damage increase, which will later affect Incinerate.
• Hex of Whispers – Clears Crowd Control and grants Fortify.
• Shaken Soul – An additional source of Vulnerable to ensure Frigid Fate is always active.
• Doom Orb – adds the third Eldritch Power needed to activate Witching Hour.

Occult Gems

The Incinerate Sorcerer needs to craft multiple Legendary Gems, so buckle in.

• Witching Hour – Grants damage bonuses from Decay Augmentation and Purging Touch to Incinerate.
• Friend of the Bog – Grants additional Core Stats, Max Life, and the Unhindered Condition.
• Wicked Pact – Increases the Potency of Purging Touch

Action RPG

Hack and Slash

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Released

June 6, 2023

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Metascore

88

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