Melee Classes DESERVE 10% more movement speed and 20% damage reduction—Here’s Why!

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SelkieTheSeal#5934 wrote:

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HolmesinJussi#1854 wrote:

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SelkieTheSeal#5934 wrote:

"there are no melee classes in PoE (Path of Exile)" overlooks the distinction between class identity and playstyle specialization. While it's true that every class in PoE can theoretically use any weapon or skill, the game inherently encourages specialization through ascendancy choices, gear optimization, and skill synergy. Many players gravitate toward specific archetypes—such as melee-oriented builds—that focus on close-range combat despite the flexibility of the system.

Currently both of the monk ascendancies lend themselves quite well for either a bow or a spellcasting build, while also having some of the strongest defensive ascendancy nodes in the game and easy access to the best defensive nodes in the tree. Giving them inherent damage reduction would just make them the best ranged class.

But to get those monk ascendancies, you’ve got to sacrifice so much damage by skipping other key nodes. Like, yeah, they have solid defensive options, but points are limited—there are a ton of choices, but you can’t take them all. If you go heavy on defense, your damage output tanks, and if you lean into offense, you lose the durability that makes melee even playable.

Meanwhile, ranged builds don’t have to make those same sacrifices. They stay at a distance and avoid a lot of damage naturally just by positioning. Giving monks inherent damage reduction wouldn’t suddenly make them the best ranged class—it would just help balance things out for melee, which has to take hits constantly while still trying to do enough damage to clear content. And let’s be honest, it’s especially needed for warriors.

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HolmesinJussi#1854 wrote:

I'm not saying nothing needs to be done, I'm saying it's not as simple as you think.

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LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

Only way to do it would likely be baking it into the Ascendancy trees.

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AceNightfire#0980 wrote:

No, that wouldn't work. There are so many interactions between gems, skills, passives, uniques, that you can't fathom the creativity of some players.

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Snorkle_uk#0761 wrote:

but they did it with gems in poe1 and what happened is that every caster used a dagger and a melee move skill to trigger fortify. they dont care that it means getting into melee range theyre always getting into melee range anyway because the game is swarmy and the % damage reduction is just too good to trade up.


people can just use weapon swaps etc now so much easier too. im already seeing shield charge casters in this game purely for the mobility. let them somehow proc a DR off that ability cause its melee and now this will be the meta for every caster and casters will be the meta. thats exactly what happened with fortify in poe1.

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LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

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AceNightfire#0980 wrote:

No, that wouldn't work. There are so many interactions between gems, skills, passives, uniques, that you can't fathom the creativity of some players.

I'm curious, how does limiting it to only melee ascendancies make it not work only for melee classes?

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fouquet#0993 wrote:

Because there is nothing preventing those 'melee ascendancies' from picking up ranged weapons or spells and making use of the 'melee' benefits as a ranged character.

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So, your actual argument is that there is no such thing as a melee class?