Littler made it all the way to the final last time out, where he was beaten by Luke Humphries, and enters this year’s edition as the number four seed.
Littler is one of 32 seeds who will enter the tournament at the second round, with 96 players in total bidding for the Sid Waddell Trophy and the £500,000 top prize.
The remaining 64 players will contest the first round, with the 32 winners to take on the 32 seeds in the second round.
Sherrock has drawn Ryan Meikle in the first round, with the winner facing the prospect of taking on the red-hot Littler in his first outing of the tournament.
The remaining top-five seeds sees defending champions Humphries, 2023 champion Michael Smith and three-time champion Michael van Gerwen joined by 2018 champion Rob Cross.
Humphries is aiming to become the fourth player in history to defend his title, following in the footsteps of Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson.
The World Darts Championship begins on December 15, with the semi-finals and final taking place on January 2 and 3 respectively.
Top 32 seeds
1. Luke Humphries (England)
2. Michael Smith (England)
3. Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
4. Luke Littler (England)
5. Rob Cross (England)
6. Dave Chisnall (England)
7. Jonny Clayton (Wales)
8. Stephen Bunting (England)
9. Damon Heta (Australia)
10. Gerwyn Price (Wales)
11. Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
12. Nathan Aspinall (England)
13. Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
14. Gary Anderson (Scotland)
15. Chris Dobey (England)
16. James Wade (England)
17. Peter Wright (Scotland)
18. Josh Rock (Northern Ireland)
19. Ross Smith (England)
20. Ryan Searle (England)
21. Andrew Gilding (England)
22. Martin Schindler (Germany)
23. Joe Cullen (England)
24. Mike De Decker (Belgium)
25. Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
26. Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
27. Gabriel Clemens (Germany)
28. Gian van Veen (Netherlands)
29. Ritchie Edhouse (England)
30. Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
31. Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland)
32. Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)