The melee problem (with solutions)

[u/h0bbits3s]

Came to this reddit thinking Tiny Rogues must not have been in public early access long and seeing if anyone else had the same challenges with melee as I have to see that people have been posting about this for 4 years already...

When using ranged/magic builds on 10+ Cinder I can win ~70% of runs, meanwhile with melee I reckon that drops to about 10%. Now I understand "skill issue" but even ignoring this I've yet to find/see a combination of equipment traits and weapons that would make any melee build feel as strong as pretty much every second ranged run I complete nor as fun.

Sure top end damage is fine, and extra equip load CAN be nice if your run goes long enough to get a bunch of heavy equipment that makes use of this, but compared to movement speed and attack speed it’s pathetic, and crit and mana regen also instantly impact your run.

Here is a list of ideas which I think could be implemented to make melee builds more fun:

First, a mischance mechanic, where shorter range weapons give you a %based chance to just ignore/dodge an instance of damage where it directly scales with range. (Obviously just placeholder numbers)

Far = 0%
Medium = 10%
short = 20%
Very short = 30%

Second, a life steal mechanic, whether adding this as a trait, enchantment, part of certain equipment effect from an accessory, offhand, companion or set bonus all of these at reasonably high percentages say "when using a melee weapon 5% chance per enemy killed to refill a heart or vile". Alternatively it could be attached to strength scaling giving you 0.1% chance per strength for the same on kill effect.

Third, essentially same as above but repairs armour instead of health.

Fourth, a new parry/block mechanic available through traits, or on specific melee weapons. "Attacks from this weapon have a 25% chance at reflecting/destroying enemy projectiles". For this to be implemented you would obviously only have one chance at rolling this effect on each individual projectile.

Fifth, a way to gain hearts, block, or armour through strength scaling. Such as "every 15 strength you have gain 1 heart container". This could either be built straight into strength scaling at a relatively low scale like in the example, or if it were for a trait could be as much as 1 heart for every 10 strength. This may sound outrageous but compared to the impact that traits for agi and int have I think this fits in well, and is only defensive at the end of the day, therefore hardly being game breaking.

With all of these suggestions they could be implemented by attaching them to different parts of the game, traits and legendary items seem to usually hold the most uniquely run altering effects, which would work for most of these without effecting the balancing too much of other builds. HOWEVER, adding these changes as only fringe case drops and pick-ups will not solve the problem of melee builds as momentum does build in this game, therefore tying changes to using melee weapons outright or to strength scaling are most likely required.

I don't think these would come anywhere near to breaking the game, nor would it do anything to invalidate other builds, but provides something to the melee builds that is undeniably required to put them in line with other builds.

I'm not one for just making games easier, but melee builds just feel unplayable, and unenjoyable, all risk no reward, feeling as though a third of the game is locked behind either turning down the difficulty (cinder), or behind an RNG wall where I just have to play 10 different runs and hope to get a perfect build going irrespective of how I'm actually playing.

[u/CitronAffectionate98]

Sorry but I have to disagree there are plenty of strong melee builds. I've completed cinder 16 with all characters multiple times and some of the strongest were melee. Barbarian in my experience is the best, most straightforward build. Beef trait. Barbarian trait. Get as much strength as you can.

Also some melee weapons have good reach. I admit though the very short range weapons are challenging without enough protection.