A Cautious Look at the Endgame Experience: Challenges for Non-Meta and Melee Builds

The enjoyment starts to fade once you reach the endgame and begin progressing through higher map tiers. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what hit you—one mistake can mean instant defeat. If you’re not playing a meta build, gaining even one level can take an entire week. The increased difficulty doesn’t always come with rewarding loot either; often, the items you receive aren’t very useful for your build. Even if you play a few hours each day, you might only gain a small amount of experience, and unique items are rarely helpful for advancing your character.

For example, I tried a melee build, but found it difficult to progress past level 90. The map monsters become extremely challenging, and sometimes it’s hard to see what caused your character’s defeat. Hazardous ground effects can quickly drain your health, and rare monster mods—like mana drain or extreme movement speed—make it even harder for melee characters to keep up. Despite increasing my build’s defenses, melee playstyles still feel very limited in endgame content.