Guide written by Stargaze on the DiabloII.Net Single Player Forums.
The Melee Sorceress may seem as a weird variant, but she is in fact pretty viable even in Hell. You should always remember though that the Sorceress is not made for melee. She is fragile and needs better than average equipment to make for the lack of melee skills other classes have.
Being a Melee Sorceress, you can choose one of two paths: The Purist’s Way and The Sorcerous Way.
The Purist will not allow any of the Sorceress’ skills to be used that does directly damage an opponent. Only pure melee skills are allowed, that makes the skill selection part pretty easy. You have forsaken your order, and you stand to it.
The Sorceress will still use melee as primary killing method, but lets her inate skills back up her power. Still, you will not use direct killing spells to dispose off your opponents. You are a Sorceress after all.
Since you have only one offensive melee spell and a choice of one out of three for defensive spells, the first choices for Skills are easily done:
Enchant A must-have. This is your only offensive melee skill you have at your disposal, so this should be the first skill to max. It's not so bad either (well, you can't call 200 fire damage each hit for a net 43 skill points good).
Fire Mastery For obvious reasons. Call it a package purchase with Enchant. In addition, Fire Mastery affects all Fire Damage from outside sources (weapons, charms ...), too. (Thanks to Black_Shadow for pointing this out)
Cold Armor Select one out of Frozen Armor, Shiver Armor or Chilling Armor. Shiver Armor has the best defense bonus, does some minor damage and chills upon attack. I prefer the freezing effect of the Frozen Armor, even though it only affects monsters that hit you, plus that one is cheap and early to get. Chilling Armor in my eyes is out of question as it doesn't slow or freeze melee opponents.
Always remember that the damage and cold length is 1/4th in Hell.
Teleport This is your most versatile tactical weapon, so get one point here.
Energy Shield For some extra protection. If you use this, you'll have to distribute more points to Mana. Use it with extra Mana from items and +XX% Damage goes to Mana, and this one may work out.
Warmth to support the above.
Lightning Mastery As Lightning Mastery affects outside sources of Lightning Damage, if you use such equipment, you may choose to max this for maximum effect.
Static Field Very useful, especially for Bosses. As the range is pretty close to melee if you don't put many points here, you may even think about this as a melee spell. When you put in many points, you can get even monsters outside your view to lose life. I'd aim for around 10 points here.
Remember though that damaged monsters get activated, so don't call me something when you get swarmed after casting a sLvl 25 Static Field in the Cow Level.
Frost Nova Instead of Static you can always go for Frost Nova. This time not (mainly) for the damage but for the cold. If you do so, max this skill for maximum effect.
Thunderstorm Excellent support fire. If you don't mind this to kill half of your opponents, max it and put some points into Lightning Mastery. When you stand against the Hell's Ancients you will know why.
Lightning Mastery With the above. In addition, Lightning Mastery affects outside sources of Lightning Damage, so if you use such equipment, you may choose to max this for maximum effect.
Energy Shield Even though you will probably not have the Mana, this one can help in some situations. Think about this if you have +XX% Damage goes to Mana and extra Mana on your Equipment.
Max Enchant and Fire Mastery as soon as possible, with preference of Enchant over Fire Mastery.
Get some points (~5) in your chosen Cold Armor early on and if you are going to use Static Field and/or Frost Nova get a point there, too. Apart from one point in Teleport at level 18 you should not put any skill points outside your main skills until you maxed them. After that, distribute points evenly between your support skills. You'll need those not until somewhere in mid Nightmare.
As opposed to the standard Sorceress, you will need anything but Energy. Only if you want to use many Mana raising and recovering methods (Mana Leech, Damage goes to mana) with Energy Shield, you should transfer points from Vitality to Energy.
You need to hit you opponents, so you need Attack Rating. As you don't have an AR raising skill, your only source for Attack Rating is Dexterity and some equipment. Even if you use a Blessed Aim Mercenary, you'll need some base AR. If you are going to use a shield, you will have at least a reasonable chance to block.
In order to survive, you'll need relatively heavy armour, which means you'll need a good amount of strength to carry that armour. Apart from that, you need the Strength to carry a weapon and even if not the strength gets you extra damage.
Since even the best armour will not let you get by anscathed, you need a good amount of life, which translates directly into a healthy body, so Vitality is your third leg to stand on.
As you do not have any skill that allows you to raise any of the above - damage, AR, life - you should have approximately equal values in each of the three attributes, at least in the later game.
Try to get enough strength to hold your equipment as fast as possible, as you are more dependant on your equipment's quality than most other builds. A good mark is 100.
After that, raise Dexterity and Vitality to roughly equal parts up to 100, too.
Depending on your later equipment, raise Strength and/or Dexterity up to ~150, then get Vitality up , too. Then, if there are no obvious reasons like equipment's requirements, distribute skill points equally between the three attributes.
If built properly, you can soak more damage using Energy Shield than just depending upon life. If you do so, distribute about as much Stat poins to Energy as Vitality and go for a High Level Energy Shield. Add some +X% Mana and Damage goes to Mana items to keep it going.
The drawback is, that instead of the Energy Shield you can have more damaging skills, and the Damage goes to Mana or Additional Mana you could have Resistance, Damage Reduction or Extra Damage on your items. Mana-sucking Monsters are doubly evil if you rely on Energy Shield.
Personally, I didn't like Energy Shield, and I really had no problem without. But if you think this Spell to be essential for a Melee Sorceress, go for it.
What's good for any melee fighter is good for the Melee Sorceress, too: Life Leech, Damage Reduction, Resistances, Extra Damage, Elemental Damage, Increased Attack Speed.
Faster Run/Walk is nice to have, but due to Teleport not quite as needed as by other meleers. Also of no need is Mana Leech (taken you are not going to use Energy Shield much) as you don't cast spells other than long-lasting ones.
More than other melee classes you'll need Attack Rating, so look out for this. Your best friend though is Ignore Target's Defense. ITD lets you hit the standard monster with 95% accuracy, only for boss monsters you still need AR.
Try to get hold of equipment with Crushing Blow and/or Deadly Blow, as this gives you the extra damage much needed.
Sorceresses are surprisingly good with big weapons. So this actually is an issue.
Pro Polearm Weapons: Very high damage output at relatively (compared to other characters) high speed, plus the long range.
Pro Staff Weapons: High speed and usually +skills. Sadly, there are (apart from some unique staffs) usually no melee mods on a staff.
Pro Sword/Shield Combo: Extra protection (Resistances, DR) and possibly other benefits from the shield. The parry rate of the shield is most often neglegible for a sorceress.
Personally, I prefer the Sword/Shield combo as it is more flexible and often gives you a better overall damage with added protection.
Lightsabre Well, it had to be mentioned. If you have it, use it when you can.
Tiamat’s Rebuke If you do not want to go Two-Handed, this shield is a weapon by itself, especially when playing 1.09b.
Hexfire This is one of your best weapon choices deep into Hell. Good damage, ITD and +3 to both Enchant and Fire Mastery.
Baranar's Star For those who can't get enough elemental damage.
Ribcracker Fast and hard-hitting. If you don’t need a shield, go for it.
Husoldal Evo Some people like Big Hurty Things On-a-Stick. Here you have one.
Raven Frost Cold Damage, Cannot Be Frozen and Attack Rating. All the Melee Fighter needs.
Highlord's Wrath Attack Speed and Deadly Strike together with +Skills. Exquisite jewellery for the later game.
Gore Riders Some more Extra damage, disguised as Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike.
War Travellers Any quality will do as we don’t look on the Magic Find. Vitality, Strength and Extra Damage are enough for us (not that we don’t like Faster Run/Walk …)
Vampire Gaze, Shaftstop and String of Ears The usual suspects.
Naj’s Ancient Vestige Not really powerful, but powerfull enough to have some fun. The staff is pretty good.
Hwanin's Justice A very good set of equipment for those who like big weapons. Very good overall mods (damage, life, IAS and AR) and relatively easily accessible.
Tal Rasha's Fine Spun Cloth The Belt from Tal Rasha's Set is for those who use Energy Shield: 37% Damage goes to mana covers a lot.
Face it: You are alone. It’s only you and your mercenary against the Minions of Hell. You have no other friends: no Barbarian raising you spirits with his War Cries; no Paladin lending you the strength of his god-given Auras; no Amazon backing you up with cover fire. But you have one being stanging at your side, never letting you alone: your mercenary. So you’d better make a good choice.
Rogues are best when you tank for them. As you are anything but a tank, this mercenary will do you not much good. You are too much running around (or even worse: Teleporting around) for the Rogue to get a good shot in.
Big, sturdy men with big hurty sticks, and all that bundled with an Aura: this seems pretty much like what we were looking for. These Warriors don’t die too easily and can dish out enough damage to stand their man alone for a while. They have a long enough range to be of use even when Teleporting around. And you can choose from six nice Auras.
The Holy Freeze Mercenary is nice to have, but not too useful for you. At least not as useful as others.
The Blessed Aim Mercenary can give you the AR you need, especially in the early game. When you can get enough AR from other sources or use a ITD weapon you can drop him for another companion. Use this one if you have trouble to hit something.
The Might Mercenary is a very good source of extra damage for both you and your mercenary. This one is my definite favorite. Use this if you don’t have a good excuse to do otherwise.
The Defiance Mercenary gives you a nice boost to defense. If you get hit too often you might consider this one. But with your cold armour you defense should be good enough.
Forget about the rest.
The Cold Sorcerer could be useful. But being mainly a ranged attacker he is not as good in helping you as the Desert Warriors are. All this running and hopping around only confuses them. Go get a real man.
If only they had a War Cry. These tough guys are good, but better suited as a tank than real support. And we don’t need a tank. This one is for your more Sorcerous Sisters.
Soon, you will learn that you are not made to stand in the midst of your opponents and beat down on them. This is the way of the Barbarian, and we are not Barbarians.
Always clear a path Don’t rush in to dicover that there are more opponents than you can handle at once. Be patient and secure the way back to freedom.
Taunt you enemies Show yourself and let your opponents come to you. Hopefully they don’t tell their friends because they want to get the trophy for themselves. Then hit them. Hit them hard.
Use Teleport as a weapon Hop in, hit hard and get away before you opponents even know you were here.
If you use Static Field Do so once or twice before using your sword, especially in the later game and with Bosses. Otherwise you’ll need all day to slay your enemies.
Separate your enemies One against one seems to be fair. Two maybe. But don’t try to kill the whole Council at once.
Duriel He’s not that big a problem for you. Teleport away from the entrance immediately. Then just be brave and stand before him, and your fiery blade cuts him down.
Mephisto Don’t let yourself be hit by his Iceball. Once you stand before him, he’s no match for you.
The Chaos Sanctuary This is – especially in Hell – one of the toughest areas for you. Try to take out the easy monsters first so you have place to kill the Oblivion Knights. This includes a lot of running and Teleporting. After the Entrance Hall is clear you should proceed wing by wing. As the Balrogs and Wraiths are faster than the Oblivion Knights, you should be able to separate them for an easy kill. Then try to separate single Oblivion Knights from their group. Edges, the Pentagramm and Teleport help to accomplish this. Wait until the Knight shoots, then Teleport directly beside him and kill so one by one.
Diablo Takes time and maybe a purple pot or two. No big problem if you are prepared with Lightning and Fire Resists.
Baal Always stay close so he doesn’t get time to cast nasty spells. Other than that, see Diablo.
The Ancients Pray. If you use Thunderstorm run around and let the Lightning take care of the non-Lightning Immunes. If you don’t, try to separate them, which is not easy. And don’t hesitate to use a Town Portal to respawn them.
Imps Leave them alone. Imps are for Amazons.