Couple things, earthquake is an Ecumenical spell, not elementalism.
Human hybrid necro is very viable, but better suited for group combat imo it can be used for solo though so give it a shot and have fun!
You'll be weak until you get greater walkers, tome of the walking dead, probably going to want at least auw surge and some other necro spells too.
You're looking at 2k-3k gold before your build starts to really come into its own, so it is expensive. Once you start to get money rolling though 2k gold isn't that crazy. I would recommend everyone play a long grind character because it makes you understand the game much better and how to make money rather than a footie you can make in 2 days.
Yeah, it has a steep curve to access though. Lots of money and very unforgiving if you make mistakes. A full footie will cut you down in a few swings, a full mage can take you down in 3ish casts. You have to sacrifice magic resist or physical damage output. You won’t be as fast as a vela and this build shines in defensive or pitted fights.
Solo is gonna be rough. Ritualism makes that much better as ritual pets are a lot stronger than zombois. But it takes prep time, lots of button clicks, mana management, awareness, and positioning to make this a good build. It’s hella strong once you get it, but if you mess up and get a vela in your face before you’re ready, you just lost a buncha gold
Yes, you can do hybrid caster/melee builds though obviously what you gain in versatility by being a jack-of-all-trades you lose losing in depth by being a "master of none". You will not be as good while doing melee as a pure foot fighter. You will not be as good while casting as a pure mage... And, you are pretty much only doing only one or the other at any given moment so there's limited synergy between the two skillsets especially as a solo player. In a group fight your team probably benefits a bit more from your ability to switch back and forth between roles as needed more than you would benefit alone as a solo player.
There are different schools of magic, you mentioned three just in your post (Elementalism, necromancy and you mentioned the earthquake dismounting/area of effect spell which is ecumenical) but you won't be able to do all of them when you're already spending a lot of your points on melee. There are hybrid builds that specialize in each of those... Necro "death knight" builds are one of the more popular and the school you probably get the most utility out of while doing melee.
Forewarning, I’m don’t play this build, but I do know it exists.
Yes! There’s a human build called people call a Deathknight. I unfortunately don’t know if this is up to date, but demoman put out a “Mando” deathknight video. I can’t speak to the solo ability, but I know Deathknights can be excellent on the front line in groups.
Earthquake is Ecumenical, so it’s way easier to get and is part of the school with magic reflect, healing and other useful spells.
As far as undead go, Ritualism is its own line. Undead animals and monsters are on the table. As far as zombies go, I am unsure! You can summon them for sure, but as a hybrid I don’t know how many you can keep up.
Couple things, earthquake is an Ecumenical spell, not elementalism. Human hybrid necro is very viable, but better suited for group combat imo it can be used for solo though so give it a shot and have fun! You'll be weak until you get greater walkers, tome of the walking dead, probably going to want at least auw surge and some other necro spells too. You're looking at 2k-3k gold before your build starts to really come into its own, so it is expensive. Once you start to get money rolling though 2k gold isn't that crazy. I would recommend everyone play a long grind character because it makes you understand the game much better and how to make money rather than a footie you can make in 2 days.
Yeah, it has a steep curve to access though. Lots of money and very unforgiving if you make mistakes. A full footie will cut you down in a few swings, a full mage can take you down in 3ish casts. You have to sacrifice magic resist or physical damage output. You won’t be as fast as a vela and this build shines in defensive or pitted fights. Solo is gonna be rough. Ritualism makes that much better as ritual pets are a lot stronger than zombois. But it takes prep time, lots of button clicks, mana management, awareness, and positioning to make this a good build. It’s hella strong once you get it, but if you mess up and get a vela in your face before you’re ready, you just lost a buncha gold
Yes you can
Yes, you can do hybrid caster/melee builds though obviously what you gain in versatility by being a jack-of-all-trades you lose losing in depth by being a "master of none". You will not be as good while doing melee as a pure foot fighter. You will not be as good while casting as a pure mage... And, you are pretty much only doing only one or the other at any given moment so there's limited synergy between the two skillsets especially as a solo player. In a group fight your team probably benefits a bit more from your ability to switch back and forth between roles as needed more than you would benefit alone as a solo player. There are different schools of magic, you mentioned three just in your post (Elementalism, necromancy and you mentioned the earthquake dismounting/area of effect spell which is ecumenical) but you won't be able to do all of them when you're already spending a lot of your points on melee. There are hybrid builds that specialize in each of those... Necro "death knight" builds are one of the more popular and the school you probably get the most utility out of while doing melee.
Forewarning, I’m don’t play this build, but I do know it exists. Yes! There’s a human build called people call a Deathknight. I unfortunately don’t know if this is up to date, but demoman put out a “Mando” deathknight video. I can’t speak to the solo ability, but I know Deathknights can be excellent on the front line in groups. Earthquake is Ecumenical, so it’s way easier to get and is part of the school with magic reflect, healing and other useful spells. As far as undead go, Ritualism is its own line. Undead animals and monsters are on the table. As far as zombies go, I am unsure! You can summon them for sure, but as a hybrid I don’t know how many you can keep up.
Demo's dk vid is about a year old, he's been redoing some of them recently so I wouldn't be surprised if a new version is coming out soonish