Best Path of Exile Melee Player(cArn_): The Problem With Melee & How to Fix It
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFWBM5Bmzjo
cArn has made a detailed feedback highlighting the most major gameplay issues regarding melee in Path of Exile 2 and given meticulous and 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 Path of Exile 2 Fundamental - > Collision, hitbox inconsistencies, and environmental obstructions create unnecessary friction, making melee engagement frustrating rather than rewarding. > Movement-while-attacking, a promised feature, is absent from all melee skills, but present in other classes and skills(bow, spells), further exacerbating combat fluidity issues and disparity. > Skill animations and charge-up times introduce excessive delays, diminishing the impact of what should be fast and decisive combat interactions. > The resulting experience is mechanically sluggish, counterintuitive to the archetypal vision of a physically dominant melee combatant. > Core gameplay systems discourage proactive melee engagement, compelling a more measured and defensive approach inconsistent with the intended fantasy. Balancing - > All melee advantages are coupled with drawbacks, a contrast to Dexterity and Intelligence builds that receive net benefits. > The passive tree imposes constraints on melee playstyles, requiring concessions that are not imposed on casters or ranged attackers. > Resource management is overly punishing, particularly with mana costs and sustain mechanics that limit melee effectiveness in prolonged fights. Fundamental Expanded: 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. 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 Leap Slam) 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. 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. Balancing Expanded: 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. 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. 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. The Proposed Fixes for Melee in PoE2: > Fix collision issues so warriors don’t get stuck on enemies and objects. > Allow some melee attacks to be used while moving, mainly the ones which are used the most frequently, increasing combat fluidity. > Maybe introduce quick and heavy attack options inherent to the skills, quick or light attacks can be used and spammed while having the ability to move, they have high attack rates, heavy attacks require charge up, cannot be spammed, and has a movement speed penalty but character can still move. > Fix Stampede and Shield Charge interactions so they don’t get blocked by minor objects and can push back enemies until their entire animation ends. > Alternative dodge roll, which instead of rolling, pushes away enemies while rushing, akin to shield charge. Perhaps dodge roll type changes based on the scenario. > Improve targetting and make namelocking optional. > 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). > Remove unnecessary penalties from the Strength skill tree (make it like Dex/Int trees). > Reduce mana costs of melee skills, making them more intuitive to use. > Reduce armor’s movement speed penalty, or let strength counteract it. > Increase melee base attack speed so it feels more fluid. > Make it so that using Combos, therefore synergizing abilties more rewarding, not just in damage, but also in feel, AoE, and perhaps defensively somehow, etc. > Stuns need improvement, stun doesn't hold against freeze or even electrocute, also stun-locking or chain-freeze shouldn't be a thing. > Leap slam doesn't provide damage immunity while above enemies and is deadly. To reiterate, Melee is almost there and can break through, combo based system is at a great path, and can be phenomenal, synergizing abilities especially when they have amplifying effect is something which makes this game special. But, it needs a lot of improvement in the above mentioned topics, I think these are easy to implement, as the game already has these functionalities in other areas. Last edited by Climet#7103 on Feb 15, 2025, 8:19:02 AM Last bumped on Feb 17, 2025, 12:17:08 PM
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" 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). Last edited by Axterix13#5693 on Feb 14, 2025, 11:27:40 AM
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no one cares what streamers think.....
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" I disagree with the first thing basically. Cause connecting lv 100 to being a good player is not correct. Reaching level 100 is just a time thing. If you have more time than everyone else you will reach lv 100 before them. There is basically no skill involved in reaching level 100. |
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Persistence is a skill.
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" READ THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. Stop being being so conservative, at least try to understand their opinion. |
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" I means in the game its a support gem, but no persistence is not a skill as in how you play game. Its more like character trait after all. Also that proves my point. Its all about time investment not about personal skill in the game. Being persistent does not make you a good player. Last edited by Alzucard#2422 on Feb 14, 2025, 12:43:48 PM
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" " Yes, that is mentioned and agreed. Last edited by Climet#7103 on Feb 14, 2025, 1:44:06 PM
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