I started my sorc from scratch a couple months ago - first D2 character in like two years. I don't play a whole lot, so the going wasn't as fast as it could be, and I wasn't rushed, though I do play with a coworker. I actually had two sorcs. The first one was a miserable failure with no real focus (followed a really bad build guide). The second was much better and actually wound up getting me the items I now have*.
My build (based on one from Tifa's Revenge high level guide on Gamefaqs):
20 Blizzard (max first)
20 Glacial Spike (max second)
20 Ice Blast (max third)
20 Ice Bolt (max fourth)
20 Cold Mastery (max last - I'm at ~11 now, will max at 95 if I play that long)
1 Frost Nova (prereq), Telekinesis, Teleport, Static Field, Warmth
1 Frost Armor (optional, I like it for baal and meph runs)
The 1 warmth *hurt* in the lowest levels (before ~23 and even worse after Blizzard) until I got some better mana regen and +skills things in the 30s-40s. Take lots of mana potions - I used three rows of em. Down to two now
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Yeah, Cold Immunes can be a problem. Minor for me as my buddy plays a conviction paladin. That was on purpose though. We just beat Hell Baal this morning
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Stats -
Str 100 (see below)
Dex base
Vitality everything else
Energy 75
If you have decent gear that gives mana, like Frostburn Gauntlets, energy can stay at base. I boosted mine to make the lower levels bearable but if I started anew, it would be base as I have some good stuff to twink. Depending on what you plan on wearing is what your strength should be. Str 84 is required for Tal Rasha's Gaurdianship, though there's other armors (unique/runeword) you might want instead. If you want the shield everyone talks about you need 156.
At level 86, I have 320 Vitality and about 1120 life. I don't think max block is all that if you have at least 63% faster cast rate and a decent faster hit recovery. Some people swear by block, but I'd rather use my lidless wall with a diamond for resists, FCR and skills though.
*Note that the items I have were obtained either with drops I actually got, or trades I made from the drops I got. Like, I got a skullder's ire and traded it for my tal rashas amulet, etc
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Here's some item ideas. I'll leave it up to you to do the research for stats and all that
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Helm: Lore, various rares with good mods (resists mainly)
Armor: Smoke, Stealth (recommend this for FCR and mana regen)
Gloves: Frostburn, Magefist both drop from NM pindle/shenk/eld runs decently.
Weapon: Until I found Tal Rashas I used +skill orbs.
Shield: Rhyme, Ancients Pledge, 3xsocketed shield with perfect diamonds (tower shields are easy to come by)
Boots: anything with 25%+ faster run/walk and resists. I use Rare boots with 25% run and 20% MF until I can get some war travellers.
Rings: Rare with +faster cast rate and resists, though I use nagelrings for MF.
Amulet: I was lucky to get a +2 sorc skill w/ 13 all resists early on and used that till I traded for Tal Rashas.
Keep any charms with +resists, small charms with +life and +skill tree charms.
This isn't the best build ever for soloing (except maybe MF), but if you play with other people, especially a conviction paladin, you'll get people impressed with how fast monsters drop to the blizzards.
