Every MMO has multiple classes to choose from when you want to primarily be a damage dealer. Ultimately, all of those classes can be filtered into two groups: melee and ranged. Each offers unique benefits that cater to different playstyles and party compositions. But, just like every Friday Fight, in the battle for DPS (damage per second) superiority, there can be only one winner.
The Melee Maulers
For players craving an up-close-and-personal combat experience, melee damage dealers are a natural fit. These classes, such as warriors, monks, and death knights, excel at wading into the fray, utilizing powerful strikes and abilities within close quarters. One of the primary advantages of melee combat is its consistent, reliable damage output. Melee attackers often have access to high-impact, spammable abilities that can steadily chip away at enemy health bars. Additionally, many melee classes possess impressive defensive capabilities, allowing them to soak up damage and serve as frontline tanks when necessary.
Melee fighters also bring valuable utility to the party. Classes like paladins and death knights can debuff enemies, control the battlefield, and provide vital support to their allies. This versatility makes melee damage dealers an invaluable asset in coordinated group content, where their ability to disrupt, control, and soak up damage can be a game-changer.
The downside to melee combat lies in its inherent risk. Melee attackers must position themselves dangerously close to their targets, exposing them to a higher degree of incoming damage. This can be especially precarious in chaotic, multi-enemy encounters where positioning and situational awareness become paramount. Melee combatants must also contend with obstacles, terrain, and enemy abilities that can limit their mobility and restrict their access to targets.
The Ranged Ravagers
In contrast, ranged damage dealers excel at maintaining a safe distance from the fray. Classes such as mages, hunters, and sorcerers can rain down destruction from afar, leveraging spells and projectiles to dish out maximum damage. The primary strength of ranged combat lies in its superior flexibility and safety. Ranged attackers can engage targets from a distance, avoiding the perils of melee combat while contributing substantial damage with single-target and area-of-effect skills.
Ranged damage dealers can also bring crowd control capabilities to their group. Many ranged classes possess crowd-control abilities, like sleep, stuns, and enemy debuffs, allowing them to kite and disrupt enemy movement. This makes ranged combatants invaluable in content where managing large groups of foes is a priority.
The tradeoff for ranged combat's safety and utility is a general reduction in single-target damage output compared to melee classes. Ranged attackers must also contend with the limitations of their attack ranges, which can restrict their mobility and force them to reposition more frequently in dynamic encounters.
My Take
When it comes to DPS, melee is the only way to go. Anyone can stand in the back lines and pew-pew-pew, but it takes real skill to engage a boss at close range. If you think all melee has to do is stand in one place while they spam their primary ability, think again. Not only do you have to maintain positional awareness to take advantage of any flanking bonuses, but you also need to quickly disengage and re-engage combat to avoid any AOE or one-shot boss mechanics.
Although melee players carry the stigma of being difficult to keep alive, they are actually more healer-friendly than ranged classes. Unlike ranged characters, who are by nature spread out across the battlefield, melee classes are always positioned to soak up an AEO heal or buff that is targeted on the tank. Similarly, it is much easier for a tank to regain aggro from a melee character since they don’t have to locate and then reposition as they do with ranged classes; melee is always standing right behind the boss, and they are tough enough that they don’t run around screaming the second a random mob latches on.
Melee classes also have a larger variety of combat styles than ranged classes. A fireball, poison arrow, and blaster bolt are essentially the same attack highlighted in a different color. In contrast, each melee class has a unique aesthetic to its attacks. Rogues and assassins dart around with dual daggers, while a barbarian will spin-to-win with a massive greatsword. And if nothing else, it is hard to deny that a warrior clad in full plate armor will always look better than some measly mage wearing a robe. Prove me wrong.
