Melee Chonk Feedback (Chayula Monk)

Hello,

It's going to be a long one, but it is worth reading, as it is the real feedback in here.
I am working on a build that's physical Chonk. I am not going into bugged abilities details here (pretty much every single one), but I will post links to the Bug Reports I did in that regard at the end of this post, just for the record.

The build needs to revolve around Wind Blast, Whilring Assault and Flicker Strike, Mantra of Destruction as an addition seems to fit.

It all seem to be coming together nicely (when bugs will be fixed), however the Ascedancy passives tree gives no option to spec into the Breach.
Flames are spawnig way too far for melee to have any use out of it.
Darkness is an option for last Asc pts, but it is bugged to the oblivion atm and it is another tanky choice (which we already have, as Mana Leech talents are perfect fit for the build)
Inability to perform well with the Breach Flames will also handicap the upcoming Daggers playstyle - which Chonk undeniably is well suited for.

I have few ideas on how to solve the Breach issue for melee Chonks:

1. Make Flames spawn distance dependent on the weapon wielded. Melee = close spawns; Ranged = as it is now. (it's the easy bandaid, which is better than nothing, but keep reading)

2. Replace the Flames spawn with a rotating buff, that cycles between 3 modes on the player (X seconds duration, then it swaps to the next one).
As for the modes - whilst (1)Mana Leech bonus and (2)Chaos dmg buff are obvious choices, (3)Life Leech is debatable, as unfitting to the build - perhaps Eshield restore or Evasion stacking would be better instead (my vote goes for Evasion - could even fit thematically, as you are in the Breach, blurrying out of reality to some extent).
The rotating buff itself could have more creative mechanics built-in. For example: it could stack (up to X stacks) when Hitting an enemy - just like Combo stacks.

3. Similarly to the above, rotating buff. This time however you need to perform X Hits on the enemy to stack the buff you have at the time in order for it to give you a bonus buff.
Example:
Rotation starts, you are getting a buff of Mana Leech flame. Now you need to Hit an enemy X times in order to get ignited with the Mana Leech bonus buff, which gives you X Mana Leech bonus for X seconds. You could stack this buff with a buff from next rotation, but limit that with proper duration or just go all-in and let us try to get all 3 buffs uptime when Hitting fast enough.

4. Again, a rotating buff, similar to the point 3 (just above):
Same mechanic that require you to Hit enemy X times within a rotating buff window, but instead of getting a second buff with duration out of it, just pop the flame and "explode" with an effect (Mana Leech restoration, Chaos dmg AoE eruption, Life/Eshield restore/Evasion buff (I have no better idea for Evasion themed one here)

Adding some sort of visual effect dependent on current buff in the rotation would be amazing too (like engulfing in flames of color representing given buff for example)


I believe one of the mechanics I suggested above (2-4) could be a refreshing and engaging way for Chonk to get on-pair with great abilities like Demonform. (collecting flames is boring and unfun imo, even as a ranged)


PS. After some thinking i concluded - you could even combine 3 and 4 together so you have the rotating buff, which you fill in and after you get enough stacks, you "pop" the effect AND get the buff from it.
Example:
Buff 1: Mana Leech - when you reach max stacks, you instantly restore X Mana as a Leech and get Mana Leech % bonus buff.
Buff 2: Chaos Flame - when you reach max stacks you erupt with an AoE explosion of Chaos for X damage and get a chaos damage buff for X seconds.
Buff 3: Life/Eshield - when you reach max stacks, you Get X Life as a Leech (or restore X% Eshield) and get an Evasion bonus buff).

If reaching the stacks would be too hard to achieve (or too frustrating for players), it could get simplified to get the bonus with value scaled to the amount of stacks achieved at the end of given buff rotation cycle. So either keep the stacks cap for the POP and faster rotation cycle end, or let people stack as much as they can and keep the cycle on fixed time duration.
I will make another post about that just to make it easier to comprehend as It is getting confused...

Now the bugs i mentioned at the beginning:
Wind Blast:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3641459
Mantra of Destruction:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3641145
Whirling Assault:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3642297

Acolyte of Chayula is absolute trash when compared to Invoker. Not much sense in being stuck with a choice you make at lvl 40.