The State of Melee Combat in Path of Exile 2: Challenges, Frustrations, and the Road Ahead

Path of Exile 2 (PoE2) has been eagerly anticipated for years, promising players not only an expansion of the beloved original but also the refinement of its most glaring gameplay issues. Among these, melee combat has always stood out as a polarizing topic. In the original Path of Exile, melee was often overshadowed by ranged or spellcasting options, with many players citing its punishing difficulty and lack of flexibility as key barriers. Grinding Gear Games (GGG) recognized this issue and made improving melee combat one of the core goals of POE2 Currency. Yet, nearly a year into early access, it’s becoming increasingly clear that many of the same challenges persist.

As someone who genuinely enjoys melee playstyles, particularly with the recent 0.3 patch and its subsequent updates, I find myself torn. On one hand, melee combat remains exhilarating, offering an active, visceral experience that keeps you in the thick of the action. On the other hand, the combination of limited weapon choices, restrictive skill design, and overwhelming visual effects makes melee far more punishing than it arguably needs to be.

Limited Melee Options

One of the most immediate issues melee players face in PoE2 is the lack of diverse weapons, skills, and archetypes. Currently, melee characters are largely restricted to maces, quarterstaffs, unarmed combat, shields, and select spear skills. While these options can be fun, they leave out a broad spectrum of traditional melee archetypes. Fans of swords, axes, flails, daggers, claws, and shape-shifting melee skills are left wanting. Similarly, key classes and ascendancies historically associated with melee play—like the Duelist and Marauder—are not fully realized in terms of their unique mechanics or passive tree support.

Adding to this imbalance is the structure of the passive skill tree. The left-hand side of the tree, which primarily caters to melee characters, is noticeably less powerful than the right-hand side, which offers more robust options for damage scaling, survivability, movement, and overall character power. This creates a situation where melee users, especially those focusing on maces, are funneled into narrow, punishing pathways to achieve optimal performance. While the developers have clearly aimed for a specific “weighty” feel with certain weapons, the result is often a tradeoff between thematic satisfaction and practical character power.

Even when players overcome these limitations, the grind required to make melee viable—particularly through notable passive nodes and gear—can be discouraging. The intention may be to reward mastery and planning, but the execution often leaves melee feeling unnecessarily restrictive.

The Gameplay Challenges of Melee

Beyond weapon and skill limitations, melee combat faces fundamental gameplay obstacles that significantly affect the experience. For one, melee inherently requires players to be in the thick of combat, exposing them to more damage, environmental hazards, and enemy effects. This design philosophy amplifies the risk-reward ratio to an extreme degree in PoE2.

Acting as a case study, consider early gameplay experiences: Act One presents a relatively manageable challenge, even for melee characters. Traversing from riverbanks to encounters with monsters like Geonor and Biri feels engaging and exciting. The act’s pacing allows players to enjoy active combat, maneuver through enemy packs, and feel the impact of each attack. Boss fights remain tense yet manageable, requiring skillful positioning and attention to enemy behavior.

However, the difficulty curve steeply escalates in interlude and endgame content. Monster packs grow larger, faster, and more unpredictable. AoE attacks become frequent, environmental hazards proliferate, and the screen becomes a chaotic mixture of monsters, projectiles, ice shards, fire, and other effects. In these scenarios, melee players are often at a disadvantage. Ranged characters can mitigate much of this chaos by attacking from a distance, while melee characters must weave through hazards while absorbing incoming damage.

Two specific mechanics exacerbate this imbalance: on-death effects and ground effects. On-death effects, such as exploding monsters or lingering hazards, are often poorly telegraphed and difficult to avoid. Ground effects, meanwhile, are pervasive and visually confusing. Rare monsters, Waystone mods, and even bosses frequently employ hazards that clutter the battlefield, often blending into the background or matching monster colors. Melee skills that lock players in place or force them to engage directly with enemies amplify these challenges. The result is an experience that can feel less like dynamic combat and more like constant damage mitigation.

Visual Clarity and Its Impact

Visual clarity—or the lack thereof—is perhaps the most overlooked yet impactful issue for melee players. In PoE2, the battlefield is often saturated with visual noise: dozens of monsters, overlapping effects, explosions, elemental hazards, and loot indicators all compete for attention. For melee characters, who must navigate these hazards up close, the inability to clearly discern threats can make the game feel unfair rather than challenging.

While ranged characters also contend with visual clutter, their distance from the action often shields them from the worst of it. Melee players, conversely, are directly in the fray, forced to react instantly to overlapping hazards. This discrepancy creates a perception that the game favors ranged play, despite its stated goal of improving melee viability. Improving visual clarity—through better telegraphs, distinct colors, or audio cues—is critical if melee combat is to feel both fair and rewarding.

Comparing Melee and Ranged Playstyles

To highlight the contrast, consider a comparison between a melee warrior and a minion-based ranged witch. Early encounters for the witch often involve minimal danger due to the ability to attack from range, controlling enemy movement indirectly through minions. Damage output is high, and visual clutter is less threatening. Meanwhile, a melee character faces constant hazards, slower skill execution, and restrictive movement, creating a scenario where risk often outweighs reward.

This disparity is not about enjoyment—many players, myself included, genuinely relish melee combat—but about game design. Melee in PoE2 currently demands a higher level of skill, patience, and situational awareness just to achieve parity with ranged alternatives. While some might argue this is a desirable challenge, the combination of visual clutter, limited weapon options, and punishing mechanics creates frustration rather than fun.

Potential Solutions

There are several paths forward to address these challenges without compromising the core thrill of melee combat:

Increase Movement Flexibility in Melee Skills: Many melee skills, particularly maces, restrict movement, locking players in place. Expanding movement options would allow players to actively dodge hazards, reposition during boss fights, and engage enemies more dynamically, preserving the active feel of combat.

Balance the Passive Tree: The left-hand side of the tree should be enhanced to offer more viable scaling options and reduce drawbacks. This could involve new nodes for melee damage, survivability, and utility, ensuring that melee characters are competitive without being forced down punishing pathways.

Improve On-Death and Ground Effect Visibility: Clear telegraphing through contrasting colors, audio cues, or visual effects can reduce frustration and allow melee players to react to threats more effectively. Rare monsters and Waystones should remain challenging but not overwhelming.

Reevaluate Ground Effect Density: Reducing the prevalence of environmental hazards on maps and rare monsters can help restore a sense of agency for melee players. Ground effects should feel meaningful and tactical rather than ubiquitous and punishing.

Expand Weapon and Skill Options: Introducing additional melee archetypes—swords, axes, flails, claws, daggers, and shape-shifting skills—would broaden the appeal of melee and allow players to explore varied playstyles. Classes like the Duelist and Marauder could also receive more unique skills and ascendancies to reinforce their melee identity.

Looking Ahead

Despite these issues, PoE2 remains a compelling and enjoyable game, particularly for those who love melee combat. The 0.3 patch has improved many aspects of gameplay, and ongoing updates are likely to continue addressing balance, clarity, and skill diversity cheap POE2 Currency. Yet the underlying challenges for melee players persist, rooted in both game mechanics and design philosophy.

Melee combat in PoE2 is an inherently riskier choice, requiring players to navigate environmental hazards, manage slower or restrictive skills, and make strategic use of limited weapons and passives. While the thrill of smashing into enemies and feeling every hit is unmatched, the tradeoffs often feel steep. Without targeted improvements in visual clarity, skill flexibility, and passive tree balance, melee may continue to occupy a niche segment of the player base rather than standing alongside ranged and spellcasting as a fully viable, exciting option.

For veteran Path of Exile players and newcomers alike, the hope is that Grinding Gear Games will continue listening to community feedback, refining melee combat, and introducing the diverse weaponry and skills needed to make close-quarters combat as satisfying as its ranged counterparts. After all, the essence of PoE2 is about offering dynamic, visceral combat across multiple playstyles, and melee deserves to be front and center in that vision.