Hi, I just registered today, so I thought I might as well say something useful in my first post here. Hope you think so too.

In my time playing Diablo 2 (LoD), I have created and played about 4 Inferno sorceress' and 1 Blaze sorc (Blaze was brought to my attention when reading these forums some days ago in a post by Brista I think ). I believe I have some tips wich could prove useful to others who want to play the Inferno sorc, and it's always nice to see other people provide tips too, so if you have anything you think needs to be said on the topic, don't hesitate!

On to the main part of this post:

The Inferno sorceress is really powerful in normal mode and nightmare mode, more so if she focuses on leveling her Inferno and Fire Mastery to max before anything else. Only exceptions here are Frost Nova and Static Field, both which are really usefull skills.

Skill selection and layout:

Inferno - 20 points (pretty obvious I should think)
Fire Mastery - 20 points (again, without Fire Mastery, Inferno cant really kill that fast )
Frost Nova - 20 points (This one might sound a bit strange to some, but I find the cold duration really handy. And it's high enough even in hell!)
Static Field - 10 points (this is enough, since you will have some skills, and lvl 12 extends to nearly the whole screen.)
Warmth - 5 points (That nice Leaf staff wil give you 6-9 anyway, so why spend more points here?)
Teleport - 1 point (nice escape route, and overall useful to move fast.)

(Maybe a single point in cold mastery, if resistance has any effect on the duration of Frost Nova.)

(This is how my skill layout for my current sorceress will look at lvl 70 or so. At that point I'll choose a support spell for Inferno to get past those nasty fire immunes in hell.)

I'll explain why I chose to put so many points (or points at all) into Frost Nova:
It's mainly because I don't like mercenaries, they draw the attention of unwanted monsters, they die all the time and so on (at least thats my experience with them). And without a Holy Freeze mercenarie, is there any better way to get this long freeze duration in a single casting? No, I don't think so.
Anyway, if you like mercenaries, go with the Holy Freeze mercenarie from act 2 NM and put the 20 skillpoints spent here on another skill of you choice (Thunderstorm and Blizzard come to mind).

On to statpoint allocation:

Strength: Enough to wear the equipment you have chosen. I chose 60 strength, just enough to wear Frostburn.
Dexterity: Base. Unless of course you like the look of shields and are willing to trade some skills for a better looks.
Vitality: All the points not spent elsewhere. Health is always handy, and one can never have enough.
Energy: 100 points will be enough. At high levels even 50 points here would be enough, so you could rely on energy items and mana items to give you sufficient energy.

Facts about equipment:

For low levels it's useful to have equipment which gives mana regeneration and mana/energy. The Stealth bodyarmor is one of the most useful low level runewords for this type of char, since it helps regenerate mana and makes you run faster.
And remember; skills is your best friend! The more the better, and try to get you Inferno lvl up around lvl 30. Your Mastery just has to be lvl 25 or so, but more is better.

The equipment of choice for the experienced monster roaster:

Head: Peasant Crown, Circlet with 2 skills (Anything with skills and mana/mana regeneration. There are better choices than Peasant Crown, but I'm not rich.)
Body: Que-Haegan's Wisdom (It has skills, energy, mana/kill and decent defence. Overall nice for the not too rich of us )
Weapon: Leaf runeword with 9 Inferno (This should be the most obvious part of my equipment selection.)
Boots: Faster run/walk boots are always handy. Choose a pair you like.
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Gloomstrap (A good belt with mana regeneration, 15% mana and 15 vitality. Not to be underestimated. )
Amulet: Any amulet with skills (I'm using a 1 fire skills right now. Sadly I haven't found that 3 fire skills yet.)
Rings: Dual Stone of Jordan (Has both skills and % mana)

Mercenaries, your personal assistant in keeping the meat from moving:

Act 1 Rogue Mercs: I don't really think these would be udeful, since they can't tank, and thereby can't keep the enemies of your back.

Act 2 Desert Warriors: There are to of these I would consider; the Defiance merc (the one which adds to defence) and the Holy Freeze. Of these two, the Holy Freeze would definately be the most useful to keep the monsters in your fire.

Act 3 Iron Wolves: Maybe a cold Iron Wolf would be a little useful while still in normal mode, but once you are moving on to nightmare, be sure to hire a Holy Freeze or Defiance merc from act 2.

Act 5 Barbarians: These are good tanks and mainly for drawing the attention of monsters and drawing a crowd around him. That is pretty useful, if you manage to get him to draw a crowd and he survives it, since your Inferno will then have no trouble at all hiting the more than one monster at a time.

Strategies for fighting:

Up until lvl 7 where you have both Inferno and Frost Nova, just hack away at the monsters with your staff. It's faster than Firebolt.

The main thing to consider when playing a inferno sorceress is position; you want to keep the enemy in the flame for as long as possible.
Always try to align yourself with the target along one of the map axis, and have the enemy walk toward you in a straight line.
Use doorways to channel monsters into a line whenever possible, and don't hesitate to use teleport to realign yourself.

When swarmed by monsters (this means not playing in a party), cast Frost Nova and then roast them. In nightmare and hell difficulty, throw in 5 times Static Field before roasting them, and check if they're fire immune.
If they are, well, use you backup spell and pray that they aren't immune to that one too.

(That pretty much sums up what strategies I use for my Inferno sorcs. Input from you would be nice.)

That was my mini guide to the Inferno Sorceress. Hope you like it and will give some nice tips on what to include.
If it gets big enough, maybe I'll send it in to DiabloII.net to make it a cookie cutter build. MWuhahahahahaaaaaa.
Then again, maybe not.

There are quite a few players in here that have played an Inferno Sorc, actually. Elric and I had a huge discussion on them a while back, but its location eludes me (one of the archivists in here might have a link).

In any case, good start on the guide. But one of the first things I noticed is that you only suggest putting 5 points into Warmth. Now, I've played an Inferno Sorc, but I ONLY used Inferno to attack. My other skills were Warmth and Fire Mastery (yes, it was a rough time parking enemies in the Throneroom). I found that Warmth was essential to keeping the mana flowing. Otherwise, you run out in no time. Inferno is definiteyl one of the more mana-hungry skills in the game.

Aside from that, definitely a good start on your guide. Might want to add in that Circlets can have +2 skills, as I've come by more of those than I have Peasant Crowns.

Why not go for a A3 fire merc that also has inferno, and see who can start a BBQ the fastest, kinda like they did at Purdue, but they tried lighting it with LOX. Plus it would look pretty cool to have two infernos going that went across the screen.

I had one in softcore a long while back, and it was a blast to play.

Having CB as my alternate spell, I recieved some very interesting reactions in public games.

The main thing to consider when playing a inferno sorceress is position; you want to keep the enemy in the flame for as long as possible.
Always try to align yourself with the target along one of the map axis, and have the enemy walk toward you in a straight line.
Use doorways to channel monsters into a line whenever possible, and don't hesitate to use teleport to realign yourself.

A holy freeze merc is very useful in this kind of build, since the aura will slow the enemy down to keep them frying longer, and is a decent tank.

No matter what your choice of strategy, however, it all basically comes down to keeping your target inside the flame as long as possible, either by making them stationary (tank, freeze) or by having them move towards you while inside the flame.

As for my own Inferno/CB sorceress, I had to retire her at Act1 Hell. Having two primary skills that were both below lvl6 in the skill tree, I just couldn't dish out enough damage to kill.
Although Blood Moor and Cold Plain was no problem, Stony field was simply impossible since half the monster was Fire immune, and the other half Lightning Immune.

Magefist is way superior to Frostburn. The +1 to fireskills adds not only to inferno, but also to firemastery. 40% added mana is nice, but I've found that with a little warmth, you can grill anything till it's way beyond well done. Magefist will add 25% to regeneration (last time I checked anyway) which is nice. If you dual SoJ, then frostburn is completely unneeded, because then with a base mana and some regen, you'll have more you can ever fire.

You certainly don't need static field, if you simply use some good tactics like Widespread Inferno, Move-Shoot-Move, Chokepoints, the works, you will grill most things before they come close. Whatever comes close, will have to pack a big punch to interrupt your spell, unless you haven't pumped vitality. Pumping Vit is important, because a foe needs to hit with a damage equal to a twelfth of your max vit to be able to interrupt your attack. If he isn't able to do that, you can keep roasting him.

The Holy Freeze mercenary is by way the most usefull mercenary indeed, this will prevent you from having to spend much points in FrostNova on later difficulties. Points better put in ChargedBolt as a backupskill. (for those pesky Phys/Fire Immunes) With those three elements (Phys/Fire/Light), a tank, holyfreeze, you will never EVER have to use a cheesy skill like StaticField. If you play your cards right that is.

Good luck with your guide.

The thread Zarathustra mentions...I used to keep a link to it, but I accidentally nuked all my bookmarks the other week - forgot to copy them across when I formatted! Well, if you search THIS forum for 'Inferno' you'll likely find a dozen instances where I have linked people to it, as well as much strategy discussion. Indeed, there has been so much in the past, I do not believe I have anything new to add.

Personally I disagree with the slvl20 Frost Nova - slvl5 is as much as I'd recommend anyone - but if that is what you prefer, who am I to say it's wrong?

PS Make this a cookie cutter, and I'll cook you

May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
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Also, I'm feeling the urge to play some new strange type of character. Don't know which yet, but I'm probalby just gonna look at Chippydips skillguide for ideas.

I kinda liked the guide, but I agree with critics that it needs better explanation of alternatives. That's what distinguishes a mere "report" ("this is what I did") from a full blown "guide" ("these are 4 ways to do this, here are the benefits and drawbacks of each") in my opinion. You've got a good start here. Keep up the good work!

-goldfish

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"one person's holy cow is another's quarter pounder with cheese"
-Pete