Melee/Summoner Hybrid?

Has anyone tried a Melee/Summoner hybrid build? And by that, I mean a build that is effective at both melee damage and damage from summons.

Inspiration for this came from the Hatred aura. I thought: "Hm, if my Zombies use it, why can't I benefit from it too?"

Please note that I do not want to use Dominating Blow. I personally dislike the flavor of the skill and I'd like to stay away from it.

Any insight will be helpful!

I wouldn't try it. You neither have enough passiv points nor enough gear sockets to support both skills.
If you really want to use hatred for yourself at least use Ethereal Knives or a physical wand skill (kinetic blast etc) instead of a melee skill. That way you don't have to stray too far away from the usual summoner pathing.

Ooohh, that's a good option too. Would you consider using Physical to Lightning, Chernobog's Pillar, and Hrimsorrow to convert all of EK's physical damage to elemental? Then support it with all the elemental nodes near the Templar (since they're close to the summoner pathing anyway)? Or is the outcome still a little too stretched?

I think when you go real summoning you want to buff your minions as best as possible which means:
Generosity (auras are stronger but don't affect you)
special Uniques that strengthen your minions but are not really good at supporting yourself
Necromantic Aegis takes away most of your bonuses from shields and give them to your minions, that should give them a lot of survivability while at the same time you lose them, you also lose the advantages of dual wielding when you wear a shield.

They all make your minions stronger or give them more survivability or extra caps to minions you can summon but weaken yourself by actively taking something away from you (or in case of the unique gears: limiting your choices).

That's why minions are meatshield for me but don't tell that those hardcore-summoners. :D

Thanks for the advice! So I've respec'd my Witch to try this idea out. I'm using the following skills:

* Static Strike + Multistrike + Weapon Elemental Damage + Faster Attacks + Fortify
* Raise Zombie + Multistrike + Melee Splash + Minion Damage
* Spell Totem + Summon Skeletons + Multistrike + Blind
* CWDT + Flesh Offering + Increased Duration + Chaos Golem
* Clarity + Blood Magic [working on getting Enlighten]
* Hatred + Purity of Elements [working on getting Enlighten]

Key items include Chernobog's Pillar and Hrimsorrow. I used these two to convert all of my damage to elemental (since Static Strike already converts 60%). This was done because the nodes I've selected in the passive tree bolster both physical and elemental. Other key items include Lightning Coil for defense and Eye of Chayula for stun immunity. I've also picked up Thief's Torment because the Life/Mana Gain on Hit mods work rather well with Static Strike's mechanics. The rest of the items are simply rares that increase resistances or life.

Furthermore on defense, I picked up Mind Over Matter (which is handled rather seamlessly thanks to both Clarity and Thief's Torment) and Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics (since I didn't have much wiggle room to stack evasion, armor, or energy shield).

Static Strike currently stands at ~11,000 sheet DPS - it's not spectacular, but I manage just fine in most of the content I'm doing at the moment (Level 72-ish maps). Besides, the rest of the DPS that cannot be numerically accounted for is from 8 Zombies.

Spell Totem/Summon Skeletons are just for distraction and support. Blind is triggered rather consistently, especially against single targets. CWDT/Flesh Offering happens often because I'm constantly getting hit. CWDT/Chaos Golem also happens often; the golem is only there to add a bit more physical damage reduction.

I love melee combat as well as summons, so the build definitely floats my boat. I'm sure there's so much more I can improve on and I'm sure this will never become an amazing build DPS-wise, but, so far, I'm REALLY enjoying it!

Regardless, any further advice? Any constructive criticisms will be appreciated :)