Buff Melee Strike Range

Isn't it about time you buff melee strike range. With the Assassin changes going into 3.27 I thought I might actually make a melee Assassin boy and then I was instantly reminded why that is a terrible idea. Daggers and Claws have some of the worst attack range in the game, add that to the fact that there are barely any options on the passive tree near the Assassin to gain strike range other than for sword just makes it worse. So not only do I need to scale strike range, but I need to scale additional strike targets and damage. Then if I want to go poison on top of that I need to scale that damage on top of crit if Im going perfect agony and why would I not with Assassin. When I add all of those variables together it equals Assassin is meant to be a spell caster which seems weird thematically but that's just me. Additionally the fact that the Assassin has last luster defense just adds to the problem. In a game where Range is king can we give some love to the melee dual-wielders.


Item class Range
Dagger 1.0
Rune Dagger 1.0
One-Handed Sword 1.1
Claw 1.1
One-Handed Mace 1.1
One-Handed Axe 1.1
Sceptre 1.1
Two-Handed Axe 1.3
Two-Handed Mace 1.3
Fishing Rod 1.3
Staff 1.3
Two-Handed Sword 1.3
Warstaff 1.3
Thrusting One-Handed Sword 1.4
Wand 12.0
Bow 12.0

They could double the base range of claws and daggers and they would still feel terrible in "true melee" situations because "true melee" combat has been obsolete, especially in mapping, for a long time. Why is shadow encouraged to use poison-based strike skills with all the multi-target options (e.g. tribal fury) far away from the shadow skill area?

Even a duelist with dual strike ambi, double strike, boneshatter, etc. feels terrible for the same reasons. Every time there's a target out of your tiny tiny range you have to walk over and target it while getting pelted by a million projectiles and spells, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Seconds matter in POE mapping situations outside of trivial content levels. An extra second to reach a pack of targets is enough time for that pack to delete you, since the average endgame damage output of monsters in POE1 (and POE2) is extreme relative to other ARPGs.

I think the community is underestimating just how terrible "true melee" feels in a "fight all these big AOE packs in a circle" like what is coming in keepers. Double the damage of all "true melee" strike skills and this situation will feel terrible. Get a 100 million super juiced dual strike ambi build and it will still feel terrible. You do zero DPS to something you can't reach.

That is why I keep coming back to "reave" for a physical AOE "melee" playstyle, including on my assassin character in 3.2.6, because there are no other options. Every other option for physical is "true melee" outside of cyclone which has zero base damage and blade flurry that is a death sentence trying to stand still and channel.

With 20% quality reave you hold down your skill key (I use "E") and just spin your mouse to mow down the whole screen from one spot.

It will be 2026 soon and we will have wand blasters hitting everything on screen 50 times in one click while mr. double strike sits in a corner attacking one tiny pack at a time WITH NO DAMAGE COMPENSATION.

Then the devs sit there pondering "GEE I DON'T KNOW WHY NO ONE WILL PLAY HEAVY STRIKE!".