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Grinding Gear Games talks Path of Exile 3.7 melee balance

Path of Exile 3.6 Synthesis League

[Update] The Path of Exile 3.7 expansion has been announced, say hello to Legion. Also the melee rebalance has been detailed.

In a new development post from the Grinding Gear Games team, players got to see a tiny bit of the design philosophy for Path of Exile 3.7. And players are looking happy, because this upcoming patch is taking a deep look at the state of melee attacks skills in the ARPG.

Melee in Path of Exile has always been a bit clunky, a fact acknowledges by Chris Wilson and the rest of the team at GGG, This is especially true when compared to other implementations of the play style in games like Diablo 3 and Grim Dawn. It’s a fairly commonly acknowledged facet of life in Wraeclast that melee skills are in a bit of a sorry state in a few different ways. One of the common complaints is that the reliance on certain mechanics, like Leeching, and the overpowered nature of some melee skills, has completely stunted build variety. And as someone who has fallen into the trap of playing Cyclone builds far too often, I feel this criticism is valid too.

Speaking of Cyclone, the immensely popular attack is now a Channelled Skill, rather than one with an immediate effect. A Channelled skill in POE means that the skill has stages with effects that often stack or build up, releasing their full potential when the corresponding trigger is met, usually releasing the button for the key bind.  Channelled Skills are a bit more active, as players have to time their usage and pay more attention to maneuvering. Making this change to Cyclone, along with any other melee tweaks GGG is planning, is likely to shake up the melee meta-game a fair bit.

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No real details on what Path of Exile 3.7 will contain beyond the few teases though, but there’s sure to be plenty of numerical and mechanics-based changes, rivaling the massive spell revamp of Path of Exile 3.6’s Synthesis League.

GGG are currently planning to announce the 3.7.0 expansion between the 17th and 24th of May.

If you’re new to POE, there’s some great guides out there to get you started. There’s a new players guide to POE that lays out the basics of playing this ARPG. If you want a POE 3.6 starter build, that’s here too. We’ve also got a guide about the basics of Synthesis League and the Memory Nexus if you want that. For you looking to farm tons of currency, check out our currency farming guide. If you’re leveling a character for the first time and need some help optimizing your item loadout, we got that covered as well. And if you need a refresher on Betrayal League content, we’ve got you.

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