PoE2's builds variety could be improved via Ascendancies

Tl;dr Allow characters to branch out of their "preferred" weapons/style by making the ascendancies a bit less rigid.

For a good example, we have the mercenary. Granted, that character actually has no crossbow-exclusive ascendancy at all. Wether you pick Legionnaire or Witch Hunter, you can pick any weapon whatsoever (and it makes sense, given the base profession).

But then, I seem to run into trouble. Making a Blood Mage with slam attacks felt possible, taking advantage of some of the ascendancy specs, only... it's not. 'Cause life leech nodes are few and far between and the Ascendancy uses leech from spells instead of hits. But the life cost is not spells-exclusive. So I'd like to see those two paired (either both cost and benefit be tied to skills or spells.
Mind you, trying to reach bleed nodes from the witch's starting location is already a challenge.

Moving on with that idea, it would be nice if at least one ascendancy would focus on the character's favored weapon and expected playstyle, while also having at least one ascendancy that's just, let's say tied to the character's theme, without locking in the weapon or the fight style.
For example, the monk could have an ascenancy that buffs the bell (nerfing the skill overall for all the other classes) and the unarmed attacks. The Chayula ascendancy could be less about collecting flames and more about the actual chaos specialization. And the invoker could be more than just a slightly buffed collection of passives that are trumped by the sorceress's innate capabilities anyway (making her a better quarterstaff wielder).

The build diversity so far seems to be focused more on what particular skill you want to use with the character's weapon, instead of what type of combat. Of course, there are jingling exceptions to this.

Random thoughts, here, based on the more unorthodox builds I tried to make.