Best PoE Melee player(cArn_): The Problem With Melee & How to Fix It

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Climet#7103 a écrit :

> Improve the scaling of one-handed weapons to make them viable alternatives.

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Climet#7103 a écrit :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFWBM5Bmzjo

cArn has made a detailed feedback highlighting the most major gameplay issues regarding melee and given meticulous constructive ways to improve upon on it. He believes melee is almost there, close to ideal (he likes the campaign gameplay), but some issues are massively bringing it down.

Who is cArn?

Among the best melee players from the entire Path of Exile community. And among the first ones to achieve level 100 in SSF with Titan.



Quick summary of all the points and suggestions made by him:


The Core Problem with Melee in PoE2

> Melee feels clunky, slow, and overly penalized compared to other playstyles.

> Every advantage melee has comes with a downside, unlike Dexterity or Intelligence-based builds.

> The skill tree forces trade-offs that don’t exist for spellcasters or ranged classes.

> Melee builds feel unnaturally slow, which contradicts the idea of a strong, powerful warrior.

> The game’s core mechanics discourage aggressive melee play, instead forcing an overly defensive or careful
approach.

Passive Tree Disparity: Strength vs. Dexterity/Intelligence

> Strength-based nodes always come with penalties (attack speed reduction, mana penalties, movement speed
loss, etc.).




> Dexterity and Intelligence nodes, by contrast, only provide buffs with no downsides.





> Falcon Technique and Pure Power (Dex/Int Keystones) give only benefits, while Brute Strength gives a penalty.







> Strength-based builds are the only ones forced into “concessions” for power.

> Heavy investment in Strength feels punishing rather than rewarding, unlike Dexterity-based builds that get
speed and evasion benefits.

Movement and Speed Issues

> Melee feels sluggish and unresponsive, even when fully invested in attack and movement speed.

> Armor reduces movement speed too harshly, making melee builds feel slow for no good reason.

> If warriors have high strength, why does armor slow them down? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?

> Melee characters lack movement skills that feel fluid, unlike ranged classes that can kite easily.

> Animations for some melee abilities feel unnecessarily long, making combat feel stiff.

Forced Clunkiness in Abilities

> Base attack speed of melee skills is too low, and many come with unnecessary delays.

> Leap Slam, Earthshatter, and Supercharged Slam feel too slow, making them frustrating to use.

> Charge-up attacks lock the player in place, leaving them vulnerable to enemies.

> Melee animations feel longer than ranged attack animations, making it difficult to react quickly.

> Two-handed weapon skills feel especially sluggish, forcing players into long wind-up times.

> Cleaving attacks often have poor range, making it hard to hit multiple enemies effectively.

Collision and Enemy Blocking Issues

> Melee characters get stuck on enemies, doorways, and even small objects, ruining the gameplay flow.

> Stampede (charge skill) constantly gets blocked, breaking immersion.

> If a warrior is supposed to be powerful, why do tiny monsters stop their charge?

> Pathing issues make melee movement awkward, especially in narrow areas.

> Hitboxes feel inconsistent, with some melee attacks whiffing at close range.

Resource Management is Inconsistent

> Melee characters suffer from extreme mana costs, while casters don’t need accuracy (a balance
contradiction).

> Hammer of the Gods costs way too much mana, making it difficult to sustain.

> Why do melee warriors have to worry about mana at all?

> Life-based sustain is weaker than energy shield sustain, making melee survival harder.

> Flasks don’t regenerate fast enough for sustained melee combat.

Keystone & Attribute Issues (Giant’s Blood & Triple Attribute Scaling)

> Giant’s Blood is too extreme—you either go all-in on strength or your build is unplayable.

> Triple attribute scaling is too restrictive—it forces warriors to dump everything into strength, leaving no
flexibility.

> Gemling builds (which get to stack one attribute) are far superior.

> Hybrid strength builds lack identity, making them feel weak compared to pure Dexterity or Intelligence builds.

The Broken Promise of Movement While Attacking

> One of the biggest promises from GGG was that melee combat would feel fluid by allowing attack animations
while moving.

> In reality, very few melee skills actually allow movement while attacking, and those that do feel restricted.

> Many melee attacks still force the character to lock in place, leading to frustrating interruptions in combat
flow.

> Skills with built-in movement (such as lunge-type attacks) feel slow and have too many activation frames,
preventing quick engagements.

> Contrast with ranged builds: Many ranged and spellcasting abilities allow movement during casting or
attacking, yet melee remains stuck in place.

> Impact on Combat Fluidity: Instead of feeling like a warrior in motion, melee often feels like a sluggish,
start-stop experience that constantly disrupts momentum.

The Proposed Fixes for Melee in PoE2

> Remove unnecessary penalties from the Strength skill tree (make it like Dex/Int trees).

> Reduce armor’s movement speed penalty, or let strength counteract it.

> Increase melee base attack speed so it feels more fluid.

> Fix collision issues so warriors don’t get stuck on enemies and objects.

> Reduce mana costs of melee skills, making them more intuitive to use.

> Allow some melee attacks to be used while moving, increasing combat fluidity.

> Fix Stampede and Shield Charge interactions so they don’t get blocked by minor objects.

> Improve the scaling of one-handed weapons to make them viable alternatives.

> Enhance melee hit detection to reduce missed attacks due to poor hitbox alignment.

> Introduce better movement options to prevent melee from feeling too stationary.

> Melee abilties having the ability to move while attacking/channeling will fix majority of issues with melee,
which was also initially promised(but not delivered).

(The summary was made through AI compilation to reduce time taken)

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baconbyte#0146 a écrit :

no one cares what streamers think.....

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N3vangel#0037 a écrit :

Persistence is a skill.

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N3vangel#0037 a écrit :

Persistence is a skill.

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Axterix13#5693 a écrit :

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Climet#7103 a écrit :

> Improve the scaling of one-handed weapons to make them viable alternatives.

This is the problem with Giant's Blood. Not the 3x strength requirement. That's what makes it a keystone, that makes it change how you build.

But 1h maces feeling bad, that's what makes people feel they have to take Giant's Blood. And that's the problem.

And worth noting that other keystone nodes suffer from this "must have" feel as well. Acrobatics would be another key example of one that people feel they have to take, because the cost of not taking it is too high (slams will kill you).

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>Giant’s Blood is too extreme—you either go all-in on strength or your build is unplayable.