Melee Damage vs Ranged Damage

[cr00cy]

It seems no one has mentioned yet that most if not all melee skills offer superior taunt, making a party with a melee and a ranged character quite possibly stronger than 2 melee or 2 ranged.

I might be wrong though, i just started this game.

Well i wouldnt say "most". Form what i know only melee skills that have taunt are unarmed, shield, cow, deer and staff.

Well i dont play ranged skills (sometime i use mentalism, but thats about it), so i can really say if they are indeed stronger than melee. All i know is that most range players who i met seems to have higher damage than me (wolf/unarmed), Granted my build is not pure dps, and good part of my damag comes in Dots, but still i think i can agree that ranged specs have higher damage.

That beign said , i cant still 2-shot Onkara rakkies whit some buffs.

If melee have any advantege, i think it would be surivability - tough you dont need much defense if you can kill everything so fast it dont ahve time to deal any significant damage

[alleryn]

Thanks for the correction. I thought i remembered seeing a calligraphy recipe with taunt, but i guess i was imagining things.

[grumpygamer]

There are stats on armor that increase taunt a flat amount regardless of your class choices. It appears you can get up to 20-30% flat taunt for all damage. I think it's also worth considering melee vs ranged in terms of the extra utility you also gain from a melee ability set.

I think that ranged specs may have more burst / upfront damage. However, it's been my experience (comparing abilities with my wife) that melee abilities also can wipe out armor and make enemies vulnerable in a *focused* way that ranged tends not to focus on. Melee and support abilities also tend to reduce rage more than ranged does as well. Everyone seems to have extra dmg to vulnerable targets, but not a focus on making them vulnerable or rage reduced.

Just a few examples:
Acid arrow from archery does armor damage. Archery also has +dmg to vulnerable targets.
Fire has +dmg to vulnerable targets.

Sword has everything from armor reduction, rage reduction, bleeds and attacks with +dmg to vulnerable targets or +dmg based on rage.
Shield has a knockback, taunt, armor recovery, rage reduction to enemies, shields to dmg types.

Melee really brings to the table utility that ranged does not. Increased survivability. The longer the fights the more this becomes really apparent.

[Spiritfingers]

I think what you guys are describing is the challenge in balancing melee vs ranged. Ranged does a whole lot more damage but if a mob gets to you, its very different for ranged vs melee. The issue I'm having is that ranged players are always telling me that mobs are dying before they get into melee range. I as a hammer user will be in a battle much longer and thus will deplete my power - even with gear and food/buffs. I fear death in every battle I go into. I'm not sure ranged players have that same fear. Again, I'm not talking about dungeons where everyone can die over and over again.

[grumpygamer]

I think what you guys are describing is the challenge in balancing melee vs ranged. Ranged does a whole lot more damage but if a mob gets to you, its very different for ranged vs melee. The issue I'm having is that ranged players are always telling me that mobs are dying before they get into melee range. I as a hammer user will be in a battle much longer and thus will deplete my power - even with gear and food/buffs. I fear death in every battle I go into. I'm not sure ranged players have that same fear. Again, I'm not talking about dungeons where everyone can die over and over again.

OK... So what is your other skillset you bring into battle? What kind of armor are you wearing?

As a shield/mental who shield bashes for all his damage, my gear revolves around armor and damage reduction and I almost *never* fear dying to groups of mobs at my level (or slightly above).

At level 36 I have ~350 armor (14 dmg reduction) plus:

5 universal dmg reduction
3 slash/pierce/crush recution
8 poison reduction (I can swap out to 8 archery dmg reduction)
2 indirect poison reduction

Upon casting psi health wave, I can always have
21 (additional) poison reduction
21 nature dmg reduction
21 electrical dmg reduction

Even if you're not focusing on it like me, if you're melee you're going to want a few key pieces to swap in and out depending on the mobs you're fighting.

GG