A lot ofDiablo 4’s combat is a battle of attrition where players trade attacks with enemies in close quarters. Some character classes inDiablo 4shake things up with ranged Skills, although this isn’t always a consistent solution. Most enemies tend to close in on the player and still turn most fights into a close-range battle time and time again. There are also the remainingclasses inDiablo 4who have more melee Skills than not, and these characters tend to rely on plenty of defensive Skills to make their play style viable.
Destiny 2’s Titan class plays out fairly similar toDiablo 4’s combat, especially when backed into a corner by melee enemies. AlbeitDestiny 2’s main mode of combat is an assortment of guns, where Titans get their true class identity from is their melee and shielding abilities. WhileDestiny 2has a wide variety of guns to use, this still only does so much for the Titan subclasses that specialize in melee abilities, which is the same trapping thatDiablo 4characters frequently fall into.
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Destiny 2’s Titans Are Trapped into Being the Resident Melee Class
Back when the recent Lightfall expansion was announced to be adding the Strand Subclasses toDestiny 2, many players were anticipating that this would break the cycle. However, theTitan’s Strand Subclassended up being yet another melee-focused Subclass. At this point inDestiny 2, Titans are too far along for a rebranding away from being the resident melee class. Meanwhile,Diablo 4still has plenty of opportunities to keep things interesting, such as adding new Skills, Legendary Aspects, and even new playable characters inDiablo 4’s future.
Melee-based characterbuilds inDiablo 4andDestiny 2are incredibly powerful and still give plenty of competition to ranged builds, but not without a catch. In the majority of endgame content, melee playstyles ultimately rely on heavy investment in defensive abilities to stay alive. There are plenty of ways to actively and passively generate barriers inDiablo 4, but much like the limited selection of ranged Skills for certain characters, this isn’t an entirely reliable solution. Classes like the Rogue, Sorcerer, and Necromancer that have the most ranged potential have a lot more freedom to take their builds in different directions, although these classes still generally need to invest in survivability for when ranged combat inevitably turns into close-quarters fights.
Melee-Focused Characters Have a Disadvantage in Diablo 4 and Destiny 2
Where melee builds in bothDestiny 2andDiablo 4start to struggle is the late-game content, likeDestiny 2’s Master difficulty activities, andDiablo 4’s Hardcore mode.Destiny 2has its share of challenging content, althoughDiablo 4ups the stakes by a few notches. Hardcore mode inDiablo 4is extremely unforgiving, because when players die, they will lose everything tied to their current character. Given the high level of challenge permanently tied to this difficulty, certain melee-focused characters arguably have an inherent disadvantage in Hardcore mode when compared to the safety net that ranged characters can utilize.
As well as having a tough time in Hardcore mode and other high-difficulty PvE activities in both games, melee-based characters also get put in a tough spot forPvP inDiablo 4andDestiny 2.Diablo 4’s PvP is generally a low-risk activity, but it can still be brutal at times by making players wager all of their Red Dust that isn’t yet extracted. Strictly having the option of engaging at melee range can be a tough play style to pull off inDiablo 4. What makes getting into melee range inDestiny 2tricky is the number of weapons that are also potent within this range, like fusion rifles, shotguns, SMGs, and swords. Not to mention,Destiny 2has several different competitive variations of PvP, like Trials of Osiris, Iron Banner, and arguably Gambit, which all provide increased difficulties.
Diablo 4is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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