Melee mechanic, New leech nodes, Duelist and Unique

We all agree Duelist has been demonstrably unused since forever, so why can't GGG just buff him directly and his area?

Some buffs like:
* Make Armor/Evasion more viable by giving the Duelist more of the Armor Evasion nodes with high %Life
* Added a bunch of new leech specific nodes in his vicinity (area) not long ago should have %Life (5-8) and increased all stats by 25% or no adding %Life but increased stats on all nodes by 100-120%. Because as they not - they useless weak and not cost all path to get them.
* The first 5 nodes leading to the first notables (melee damage and attack speed node) should increase stats by 40-50%. I think it would be fair to give duelist superior damage
* Increase stats for most notable node near Duelist by 25% and add more %Life node.
* Create new type of node, for example - melee non critical damage or melee non critical physical damage near Marauder and Duelist area.
* Because of the way item affixes work, you can really only use pure armor or pure evasion gear, so half the hybrid defense stat is wasted. So create more Eva/Armour node or change old node in Duelist to Trihybrid node (life/eva/arm) or just eva/arm to make viable eva/arm gear.
* Iron Reflexes should be close to Duelist.
* Create movement speed node with life leech near Duelist.

That's for Duelist.

Now melee as mechanic and skills:
You wanna do damage as a melee? Well you're going to have to stay on shocked ground and in a web of slow from the cold Searing Bond totems (or Poison cloud, Tarred ground, Chilling ground, TS, Slow effects, etc), or stunned melees in the meantime a ranged character gives no fucks and has a way higher dps uptime.
I don't have the time to go through every single mob in the game,but the melee/range disadvantage is huge for the simple reason that the developers did not take time to think about this when they designed the mobs. Melees ALWAYS taking all kind and source of damage all the time! Special from Bosses.
Why is this so ? Melee skills don't deal more dmg than ranged ones, both types of characters have a basic cap of 75% on resists,and almost no melee skills give any form of extra damage mitigation.
I was hoping GGG would fix this by the introduction of Counterattack and Warcry skills,but unfortunately they seem to do nothing but "helps character deal more dmg",or things like slow opponents.

* Create new notable node or add behind Resolute Technique nodes that would be to give extra elemental/physical/chaos mitigation buffs but at the cost of spells and ranged abilities doing no damage.
* Do proper mob design so melee and ranged have an equal playing field.
* Reduce Slow effect, Cusre effect, etc for melee skills
* Increase stats near Marauder, Duelist and some Templar area nodes by 30-40% and add more melee notable node, more defense in that area.
* Create or design new melee gems, for example melee leech. Add more life leech then normal one, higher leech rate, max life per second and mana leech for melee. And more support melee gem.

Another problem with Melee is: Burst damage. You can't recover when you get killed in half a second by certain enemies getting the pounce on you (Especially with the nerf to CWDT+EC+IC). It's just a bigger issue when melee is more prone to desync and has to be in the enemies' faces!
I think would be good:
* More Reduced Enemy Crit Multiplier nodes (Paired with %Life or big and high flat Life).
* Uniques/New Flask Type/New Node or mods that give melee additional ways to consider damage mitigation. Maybe an energy shield sort of effect that pops up when on low life for melee that has a cooldown.
* Increase base life for all classes and life gain per level.
* Buff leech node and their stats, they are very small and useless. Buff stats for 100-120% or add %Life and stats by 30%.
* Buff armour for better work with hard hits and multiple smaller.

Another melee problem is: horrible AoE size! The poor AoE means they lack an effective clear speed when compared to most archer/ranged builds
Melee Splash and all melee skill should have much higher AOE.

Two handed weapons node and Weapon specific node should have better notable node and higher stats, special Mace, Axe, Sword (non crit one), and Resolute Technique should have some sort of damage stats, maybe %more physical damage or something else.

Blood Magic keystone and Mortal Conviction nodes should have more life and there should be Unique jewel that adds 4% increased Life Regeneration Rate AND 250% increased Melee Physical Damage while no Mana is Reserved (special for BM builds) to compensate no usage aura (like Unique Clear Mind, but for melee).

Leech should be buffed for melee build as mentioned at start. Those new leech node near Duelist and Marauder are waste of space in tree because they have no value, not worthy at all. Need increase their stats as was mention or add %life at them.

Non crit build should have much higher stats in their nodes and better notable node, as Axe, Mace and non crit Swords, also Two Handed even more higher stats with life (Flat or %), buff all base weapon damage for 2H, and 1H Axe, 1H Mace.

Don't buff Chaos, it's already crazy strong and request nothing with all good benefits

Should add that there are no endgame unique for melee, lets not call Atziri gloves as they ONLY for crit builds.
It would be great and GGG should add some melee specific endgame Unique items and Unique jewel.

Buff old melee unique and non crit one, add more melee unique.
Make higher base life and mana.

Change reservation from 50/35/25 to 40/25/15%

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StrongWitchCraft wrote:

It would be great and GGG should add some melee specific endgame Unique items

I used to think the Duelist was carp, then I built a block build with The Anvil, Daresso's shield and Soul Taker. That thing is boss. Duelist is a great character, Ranger is the one that needs an upgrade.

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RogueMage wrote:

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StrongWitchCraft wrote:

It would be great and GGG should add some melee specific endgame Unique items

And? what are you trying to say? Your legacy items and crit items somehow related to endgame or non crit or melee special?

The Anvil - no one use and not even close to midgame (or anyhow good at all)
Bine - endgame? Just a good dagger with new mechanic and most of time used with Spectral Throw, not much related to melee or non crit or endgame.
Facebreaker - nerfed and all unique nerfed that build around facebreaker and you have legacy version that cannot be obtained in new leagues. Not endgame now.
Abyssus - just good DPS boost with much higher negative and risk to die, not used in HC and not much used on non HC. You can find better helmet for most build.
Crown - hahaha
Belly - endgame? no; melee? no; wow, you must be joke or missclicked.
Coil - not melee only, anyone can use it, just good chest. Not much endgame, but very popular and good.

There no endgame unique for Melee and non crit melee special. GGG should create and add some.

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djAMPnz wrote:

I used to think the Duelist was carp, then I built a block build with The Anvil, Daresso's shield and Soul Taker. That thing is boss. Duelist is a great character, Ranger is the one that needs an upgrade.

What? Scion much better for that build, even Ranger can make block ST, its not related to Duelist at all. Also try Incinerate or Flameblast or RF mjolner block - thats what good builds are, not your one.

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StrongWitchCraft wrote:

We all agree Duelist has been demonstrably unused since forever

1. disagree
2. you are not all

I have seen a video where the guy (marauder) specced all the leech node and the result was quite impressive and it seems to me it was worthwhile if you want to invest into it so I might not agree totally with your opinion.


My problem with those nodes is that its skewed toward physical damage they would target all form of damage especially elemental !

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StrongWitchCraft wrote:

Also try Incinerate or Flameblast or RF mjolner block - thats what good builds are...

Oh, my bad, didn't realize "endgame" is your way of saying "cookie cutter".

Only problem i got whit Duelist is lack of accuracy when it come to sword and shield build.
He got accuracy for 2h, dual wield and proyectile attacks but non of it for clasic build.

Else i finde it deceptivly week for thos that dont look the whole picture.

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kcstar wrote:

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StrongWitchCraft wrote:

We all agree Duelist has been demonstrably unused since forever

1. disagree
2. you are not all

I don't know about "since forever" as I am a new player, however if you don't agree with that statement otherwise, they you are mistaken. It a fact that, depending on the league, around 5.5-6.0% of the characters are Duelists IIRC. I'd love to see you site evidence otherwise. Therefore, as the OP stated, Duelists are "demonstrably unused."


EDIT: Current exact percentages are 6.09% for Standard (least played class), 5.59% for Hardcore (least played class), 5.75% for Warbands (second least played class) and 4.95% for Tempest (least played class).