Wondering about melee

Hello everyone.

I consider myself a new player to PoE because i never gave this game a proper go and for that i feel like I'm missing out and i wish that to change starting in the Necropolis league.
I come from Diablo 4, i tried it and then i decided to refund it, i get that the graphics are nice but it doesn't appeal to me, i think much of that is due to the bland aura that Blizzard games have had in recent years.

I checked around for a bit to try and find a good or viable melee build but it seems that they rely a lot on being buffed by totems and unless we have these it seems that we loose a very high percentage of damage.
Is this true?

Please don't get me wrong, i love melee builds and if it takes totems to make me stronger then i will have to try those but to me it seems a bit of a shame that melee builds only work if buffed by totems.

Can approve all about must to use totems/rage management. This is the only way to make melee builds a bit more competitive with other playstyles(not enouth). 2 totems gives about 100%+ dps boost. You are always near boss/mobs, so takes alot of hits. Dangerous playstyle.

Can recommend only one build for beginner: boneshatter juggernaut(tanky)/slayer(faster). I mostly prefer slayer for softcore.

Pretty simple mechanics/scaling, no need to check breakpoints. Nice sustain via regen(jugg)/leach(slayer)
Maybe cyclone+shockwave build can be playable

Other ones(melee builds) uses non-obvious mechanics or needs xxx amount of currency to make impact.

Don't get me wrong too. You can get to high tier maps and kill all non-uber bosses with almost any build. But there will be a colossal difference in time/money(currency) spent.

P.S. You will usually use totems on tanky rares and bosses, common enemies will die fast.

Classic trauma builds must do totem management. 3.22 and before totems gave over 200% damage buff. It changed a little bit. Anyways, I want to point out, it is not just about totems. Your char has to close and stay still to deal damage. You have to manage your position, your timing during fight and your regen. You got even more dps with which attack your build able to tank.

Melee builds that have high survivability do better job. For example, JUGG has the best starter survivability in game. JUGG can ignore a lot of variety incoming damage while DPSing.

If your goal is to be able to reliably run T16 maps and take on the lower pinnacle bosses, boneshatter can get you there. a vaal AW and an AP re huge helps. I've run a 2H ax version and an axe and shield version and both are fun to play. They are still visible in my profile. For hard maps having shrines on your tree can make life easier and adding "packed with energy" from the delve node can almost double your dps and give you great movespeed.

With three atlas trees available now, you can set one up the hardest content and others for other content.