How would you improve melee playstyle

Strike skills are top of my list that need to be redesigned. There needs to be some sort of AOE or autotargeting attached to all strike skills that does not require hitting a monster. Namelocking for melee should not be a thing.

What they did to Molten Strike gutted the skill. It is the perfect example of what not to do to make melee better. They took a skill that had an AOE effect that let you swing in the general direction of monsters and still hit them, and changed it to a strike skill. It is absolutely awful to play now.

Somehow they need to make fighting up close not such a disadvantage. They either need to increase defenses while actively fighting up close, or increase damage. The risk needs some sort of reward as compared to ranged skills. The game is filled with one/two hit kill mechanics. When you are surrounded by things, there is no dodging it. From every point of view (clear speed, survival, etc.) melee is at a disadvantage.

Being so dependent on the weapon for base damage is a huge setback compared to spells. Either easy to get weapons need to be comparable to spell gem scaling, or more damage needs to be put on gems.

Lastly, accuracy needs to be rethought for melee (not for ranged attack skills). Rather than hit/miss, it should scale damage. Better accuracy means a more solid hit. It should be an implicit multiplier for the character that does not decrease damage; only enhances it.


I guess in summary:

-AOE/Splash that does not require a strike OR....
-Auto-targeting if a target is not locked if they insist on keeping strike skills (somewhat akin to Power Siphon)
-Accuracy should be something that enhances your damage, not detrimental to it
-More reward/Less risk for fighting up close.

Targeting to attack and targeting to move need to be separated somehow. Movement is too key in this game for it to be using the same operation as attacking. The reason melee isn't so clunky in other game is that movement isn't as important. It's the dual use of the mouse pointer that's the key problem.

So attack targeting needs to me "smart". You need to auto target the nearest mob in view and only allow that to be overridden if a key is held. Normal targeting needs to be movement only, and you need to be able to attack targets while you move. That's why cyclone is so popular. It attacks while it moves without needed to target mobs to damage them. All melee skills should do this to some degree.

Strike skills still feel horribly clunky and not many give competitive dps on a 5-link (since you NEED ac or melee splash) compared to AoE attacks. Gem swapping is possible, but lame.

Targeting at melee range is just a no-go in a game this rippy and fast.

I would say PoE has no real mele. It has "mele pretending" mechanics but honestly i dont know how to "fix" it.

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HerrImHimmel wrote:

Strike skills still feel horribly clunky and not many give competitive dps on a 5-link (since you NEED ac or melee splash) compared to AoE attacks. Gem swapping is possible, but lame.

Targeting at melee range is just a no-go in a game this rippy and fast.

My almost SSF double strike is at 2.7m shaper on a 5 link (about 4.2m on a 6 link if I can ever get one to drop). Just 1 extra strike from annointment has been enough to run around and clear T16's. Getting a second strike on my hunter gloves is just extra, and now I never need to swap in splash / AC.

When a strike skill is socketed into your 2H six link, Kaoms Heart automatically changes to +1000 to life.

I wouldnt improve it at all.

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Bleu42 wrote:

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HerrImHimmel wrote:

Strike skills still feel horribly clunky and not many give competitive dps on a 5-link (since you NEED ac or melee splash) compared to AoE attacks. Gem swapping is possible, but lame.

Targeting at melee range is just a no-go in a game this rippy and fast.

My almost SSF double strike is at 2.7m shaper on a 5 link (about 4.2m on a 6 link if I can ever get one to drop). Just 1 extra strike from annointment has been enough to run around and clear T16's. Getting a second strike on my hunter gloves is just extra, and now I never need to swap in splash / AC.

And what DPS would you get just playing Cyclone with similar investment (time, crafting in your case)? While moving and having inherent AoE, stun immunity and an additional "infused channeling" buff.

I guess the big question is how do we keep non-melee from getting open access to close-combat damage mitigation, because that seems to be where GGG is hyperfocusing and why we're seeing the sorts of nerfs and adjustments they've given us so far.

Incorporating it into the gem is one option. You can't have extra end charges or fortify with sauce unless you use X skill, which might be double strike, cleave, lacerate, or whatever.

If you roll a champion and then stick a bow in his hands, you'll get whatever ascendancy goodies champs get but you will forgo the broad-based mitigation he might get if he was using cleave.


Small measures to make melee feel smoother and less clunky:
--Strike skills should be able to smack the ground nearest an enemy and "frack" up some area damage. Please restore this functionality
--Channeling stages rework. Blade flurry and other non-cyclone melee skills should have their own characteristic ramping effect, cooldown dynamics, and flexibility.

--Moving while attacking: I can see why it would not be totally fair to let melee skills remain in full swing while our fellow casters must still stop and manually cast whie standing still, periodically. That said, triggering has revolutionized spellcasting, and could also be designed for melee skills or built into them as a consequence of moving. Rather than punishing players for cancelling, positive reinforcement in the form of increased accuracy (better angle!) or add chance to maim/intimidate.

--Stat sticks that are also strong melee weapon types. A hook type sword or a sai might have less attack speed or total damage, less range, etc. but add considerably to dual wielding. For instance, a hook might dramatically increase block chance against enemy attacks close by the player; better than a shield at close range, and deals considerable extra damage. A chain or bullwhip could be a weapon with a long cooldown but which reduces enemy damage by 90% for 4 or so seconds "disarming" them.

It seems like some big themes are target lock, some sort of exclusive benefit to being forced to be close (more than close combat which really is no better or worse than other available supports) probably defensive in nature, movement, and the previous nerf of stat sticks greatly limiting options.

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Johny_Snow wrote:

I don't know how many multiplayer games you've played but something being underrepresented is the norm everywhere. ... making every skill work the same for the sake of artificial balance will be 100% the worse situation.

No, indeed I agree. It was just a prompt for a question not a suggestion that everything should be perfectly equal. That said, the very low representation does seem like a missed opportunity.