Is a melee sorc viable in hell?

[:1]Been playing d2 for quite some time now and I've tried a lot of different builds. I've never tried a melee sorc though and would love to give that a swing

I will be using a passion sword with max enchant. I know that dual dream is the best option for shield and helm but I will never be that rich. Are there other viable options that I can use that are not too expensive?

Also I play HC. I know how to keep my char alive but I've never played a melee sorc. Will I be able to keep her alive or do I have to S&E every time things get scary?

Just looking for any advise on building a good melee sorc. Thanx!|||Hi

I played a melee sorcie using passion. I didnt use dual dreams but her gear was still semi decent. Shako, Arakine valor, stormshield, maras, tgods.

I liked that set up because a) lots of pluss all skills which boosts her zeal. And b) LOTS of life adders which is VERY important just becasue keeping enough dex for max block means not as much as you'd like in vitality (which sorices dont get a smuch per point as other anyways)

It wasnt harcore though. For hardcore I would probably try things like dbl diamonded mosers, and upped viper magi or other things with much less str req and dex req for max blocking so you could put more in life. Before I was lucky enough to get arkaines for longest time (well past getting her matriach title) She just used a Naj's armor. (Dont laugh low req, reasonably high def, 25 res all, nice bost to life and plus 1 all skills a VERY handy and underated armor imo)

Also I didnt bother with leaf. Average leaf gives like what plus 6 to enchant if u make it in a plus 3 staff? I used a combo of occulus (I guess maybe HotO would be better choice but I wasnt rich enough to waste a vex on a switch weapon) and spirit monach. Not as big a chant as with leaf but still pretty nice with pluss skills from other gear and charms etc. PLUS it also let her use a semi decent orb if too many tuff fire immunes were around. The little low level orb could help thin out herd and make em more managable to tele em one by one so merc can take em out.

Biggest key will be how good/quick you can hotkey. especially in HC. You have to tele around the edges to keep from getting swarmed and to postion your merc (well you dont HAVE to I guess :P but it is highly reccomended). So its like tele/static/zeal repeat.

Kaytie