Can we get a couple of changes to underused melee skills

It is genuinely funny to me how people will champion for skills they have no personal experience with, going as far as calling them bad. I'll dedicate a character to the "super weak melee skills" this league and compile some videos maybe. Hope that'll settle that bs, tho I have my doubts

Cleave, Sweep, Chain Hook are garbage. there is no sugercoating that. you CAN make them 'work' but you cannot hide the fact that you can substitute 3 other skills in their place, change nothing else about the build and get triple the result



Heavy Strike benefits GREATLY from melee 'buffs' - it is fully compatible with Warcries (overextertion, buffs). the damage is acceptable, altho comparing that to meta skills is rather funny. nobody mentioned this skill btw


Sweep on the other hand has NOTHING going for itself. in the past it had huge flat phys for Voidforge, that kinda worked. People defending its current state will say big things but im sure they wont ever touch it.
dont waste your time with it, just POB it and youll see that once you tick all the crit, rage, impale etc you are still at dps numbers not ready for ubers. this skill lacks scaling vectors - mainly synergy with Warcries or any other melee mechanic (stun, fortify, impale, bleed). it just 'deals damage in a mid-sized circle' and knock backs enemies. low dmg effectiveness, slow attack speed. ta-daam.

if this skill was added with 3.27 Reddit would - rightfully - destroy this idea, because Sweep compared to these multi-functional, rich in scaling potential wand skills is just trash

It’s actually interesting I think the only end game boss including Ubers and t17s where ranged will have a marginally easier time

Is maven as she teleports constantly and doesn’t really have a ability that is devastating at long range


Every single other end game and uber boss it’s better to be close range or melee


For the split second that Sirus teleports away you’re right back on him with frost blink. He’s horrendous to fight at range


My suggestion for Sionnes or ancestral call support wasn’t for me by the way. Just anyone that thinks they need range for some reason on these bosses


I don’t and didn’t

You're bossing 1% of the time and mapping 99% of the time.

Range while bossing doesn't mean much. Range while mapping means everything.

That's pretty much it.

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Z3RoNightMare#7140 wrote:

You're bossing 1% of the time and mapping 99% of the time.

Range while bossing doesn't mean much. Range while mapping means everything.

That's pretty much it.

Doesn't matter at all if you just 1-tap packs by slapping them with a strike skill. Endgame melee mapping is satisfying as heck.

It can be satisfying, but it really depends on your mindset. If you are trying to compete with the speed of the meta you will generally be let down. Things are playable but it really just depends on your standards.

If you're a person that wants to compete in clear speed and/or boss killing speed in the meta you're more than likely going to be dissatisfied with a melee build per divine invested.

Also i totally disagree about bosses being easier as melee outside of maven. Sirus degen puddles are toxic on melee. The easiest bossing I ever experience in my life was penance brand. Tap it 2x on the boss and just run away. No worries about gap closing or dodging mechanics you are incredibly mobile. I think that difficulty just depends on your experience and skill. But an equally skilled person will have a lot easier time with bosses on a ranged character.

I still prefer melee on bosses even if it sucks. I pained through an 800k dps glacial hammer champion in sanctum league for about a month and it was probably my favorite league/char ever. Maybe outside of affliction when I discovered the fourth vow xibaqua tech.

Sirus degen puddles are toxic on everyone

You don’t stand in them on any class or archetype


Dps being equal the fight is easier on melee

Stay far away from him and every die beam hits you easier along with his beams in general

Along with the rotating beams as well.



Saying you two tap it on range suggests you have some range build with a bunch of investment

And then a melee build that flounders


Can’t compare a build with everything and then a build with nothing and then come to the conclusion that the archetype is at fault.

it might be satisfying, but it is outright worse than all other alternatives when it comes to damage delivery, bang-per-chaos ration, clear etc

Penance Brand is numerically broken. it just has too much going for it, so you dont even need investment into it. just tackle all of its numerous scaling vectors a little, it is enough. the first investments are the most impactful, thats why skills like Sweep suck so much - there are like no scaling vectors other than 'more/increased' damage and attack speed. nothing. no overlaps, no extra projs, no 'frequency', no duration, no extra stacks. f.. nothing.

imagine releasing Sweep today - there would be riots

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

it might be satisfying, but it is outright worse than all other alternatives when it comes to damage delivery, bang-per-chaos ration, clear etc

Penance Brand is numerically broken. it just has too much going for it, so you dont even need investment into it. just tackle all of its numerous scaling vectors a little, it is enough. the first investments are the most impactful, thats why skills like Sweep suck so much - there are like no scaling vectors other than 'more/increased' damage and attack speed. nothing. no overlaps, no extra projs, no 'frequency', no duration, no extra stacks. f.. nothing.

imagine releasing Sweep today - there would be riots

If they released another red gem id honestly probably have a heart attack. Then if they released one and it was good. I'd know it would be nerfed next chance they got. Cleave of rage/rvob/vfos being the most recent new red gems getting nerfed even though they were balanced.

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Transfigured_skill_gem

This is all you need to know about how much ggg cares about red gems. but ofc you know that already. we all do.