I'm considering making a hybrid with fighter and mage skills. I plan to focus most of the mage skills on shadow magic (Shadow lightning, etc) and use fighter skills that improve 2H weapon attacks and general melee. I just want a few suggestions on...

1. Should I start as a fighter or a mage?

2.What attributes should i spec for?

3. Are there any skills that are good for this kind of build?

4. Is this hybrid a good idea? If not, how should I change it?

I'm not actually the right guy to answer this kind of questions but I have some ideas.

- Use armor to get endurance so you can tank.
- Specialice on the mage skills and use some of the fighter skills.
- Get strenght from rings and lockets so you can melee as well and use dual wield so your miss rate won't be so notable.

That's all the info I can offer dude, I hope the experts answer your question better ^^.

Get:
-good Tank armour with good def., str., and endur.
-Mage helm,gloves,boots,and fighter spualders. (if you can find any with shadow dmg that would be great)
-use ur points on str., agil , endur, intell in ur choice.
-get a 1hand fighter wep, a 1hand staff with shadow dmg.
-an ammy with good itell, 2 rings also with intell (if you can find any with shadow dmg that would be great)
-skills,shadow light in left click in skill tray along with shadow bolt in right click.
-passives, Gym freak , Book worm , mental prowess , improved shadow lightning, way of the roo
-buffs,dark wizardy , 1hand swivle.
-curses, acidic blight

that should be good, yes it is an odd combination but it worked for me

You can always try mage/range hybrid combination also
Idk about range/melee lol.

Iv got a nice Mage/Fighter build cant rember the skills and such but im mostly all Tank equipment, with as much intelligence as i can get, and nice 2 handded staff with Shadow dmg %, couple of good mage rings (ones a a rainbow Wring), and a good mageish amulet, i normaly carry a fighter and a mage one hander if i want to change it up a bit ( they give me more mana atm).

I just recently switched my pure mage over to a fighter/mage. I put on ranger armor for agility boost, mage helm for +int, mage shoulders for +int and +end, fighter gloves for +str and +end. I dual wield swords with agility and endurance on them. At level 41 my base stats are 10,30,90,100. Before the patch I was running Shadow lightning, ring of fire, gaseous blast, acidic blight, soul rend, cleave, improved shadow lightning, and bookworm. Bookworm kills your HP but for me it was worth it for the huge boost in mana.

This build works great in the lower levels of embercore because its pretty open. Just stand way out of aggro and spam fireballs to pull the group to you. Typically you can drop 2 guys before the group even gets to you. Then wait for all the melee mobs to surround you, acidic blight, ring of fire, gas blast, cleave. That should drop all but 1 or 2 of them. I keep soul rend mainly for named mobs and bosses.

I have mage/fifhter hybrid and I'm using fighter armor and mage weapon and skills.

MagOgnia that really isn't a hybrid. Basically you have a slow moving mage that gets a little defense bonus but get hit alot more I'm sure. Most of the hybrids use a combination of skills and weapons from different classes.

The trick is to figure out what function you want to perform, and focus on it.

My hybrid focuses on high skill damage and tries to be a little bit sturdier than the mage. Here's how I've got it set up for the moment.

Left: Shadow Lightning
Right: Soul Rend
1:Righteous Stomp
2:Ring of Fire
3:Gaseous Blast
4:Retribution
5:Bookworm
6:Gym Freak
7:Mental Prowess
8:Monster Bait

Gear: I go almost exclusively with Mage Gear because I want to raise my skill damage, But some bits of good paladin-style fighter gear with bonuses to divine damage are always welcome. I'm currently pretty fond of a drago-fin-style two-handed sword I found, with stats split between int and endurance.

I put 5% of my points into Strength, 10% into agility, 10% into endurance, and everything else goes into intelligence.

The end result is a fantastically high damage combo, I can pull everything to my monster bait while I stand next to it and fire off gaseous blast, ring of fire, and shadow lightning, then use rightous stomp to get some breathing room and hit the biggest, ugliest thing I can find with a devastating soul rend. If the fight is hard enough that my monster bait actually gets killed, I can pop retribution to make the mobs pay for attacking me, while potions keep me going easily until all lay dead. It works well enough in small groups and I can beat Sissirat and Al'gor solo, but I'm only lvl22, so I can't speak for high level effectiveness.

my character is like that. I use a one handed weapon and a great shield. Armor with lots of endurance, and shadow lightning. This is the best that I have found and works on most levels to kill the monsters.

again, been there done that.. check out my link in my signature

There is no range/melee that works. its either you melee or you range.. I've tried, & range won out for me, curently im all in range gear with range weapon, Im planing on adding more Int to boost Mana & magical damage out put, though I rather keep the mobs from ever getting close to me. Thus speed & Damage output are a must.

Im testing out a full mage to see how fast I can cast spells compared to using a range weapon + elemental enhanced damage.

Im using Trigger finger frency, toxic talnet, light in the loafers, gym freak, trgger happy, BMI, chill touch, spirit of the hare, Pyro, & Nox.

the elemental damage add is swtiched out for different mobs. Light in the loafers & Spirit of the hare are to gather mobs, then get some distance from them & pop the elemental adds & light them up with trigger finger frency & use Nox to for light aoe & weaking them.

I know this isnt a fiter/mage but once I get some more mage gear it'll be a caster/ranger.