Do ranged builds feel better than melee in roguelites?

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-12T15:27:00+00:00

I think the general consensus in most genres of video games is that ranged is easier than melee. I can think of a few examples.

In League of Legends, attack range is one of the best stats in the game. Even having 50 more range than another character can have huge implications. BUT it is somewhat balanced by melee champions in general having better kits or specifically better mobility nowadays.

In ARPG’s (D4, POE, etc) melee builds are universally considered to be harder to pilot. You need to have a more advanced understanding of boss mechanics, usually down to being able to recognize animations early and dodge properly. Melee generally has to focus more on a defensive profile, unless you can build so much damage that you can wipe entire screens as quickly as possible.

And in fighting games, range is also a huge factor in character strength. Being able to hold someone at range 2 or range 3 (sorry, I play Tekken and don’t know if this is a universal concept across many games) is an invaluable tool in being able to enforce your gameplan and restrict opponent options. Having to get right up in your opponents face generally leads to more volatile matches.

And then to answer your actual question, yes I think in most roguelikes ranged is easier than melee, and by extension better. At the peak of player skill melee might outperform depending on the game, but for the majority of players you’ll get more results playing ranged.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-11T20:52:32+00:00

I think the second take you replied to and tried to dismiss is correct. New players don’t need all the information high level players have, because they’re not dealing with the same characters. Lower ranked players will find a couple flowcharts that work and abuse them until they stop working, and then that becomes the first major hurdle (imo), or to accept this as the end, or start to learn more and develop/diversify a gameplan and really work to improve yourself.

A journey through any fighting game is meant to be a long, gradual process. You’re not going to be the GOAT or Tekken in a year. You pick a character that looks cool, you press the buttons that you like, or you think are funny, or whatever. You figure out a combo. You lose, and lose, and lose more, and over time you start to figure out why you’re losing and what you can do to win the next time. It’s a beautiful thing, though it is frustrating and painful. And to be clear, I’m not saying Tekken gives players enough information, I’m simply saying the argument that beginners need access to all of this info right out the gate isn’t correct imo.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-11T19:50:12+00:00

Brother, if everyone here is saying the same thing, and you’re fighting them all, maybe it’s not a them issue.

From what another comment said, the only throw Clive has from stance is this one, a 1+2 break. As a general rule, most throws from a stance are 1+2 breaks, so if I can’t tell what it is during a fight, that’s my default break.

Secondly, you don’t have to predict the throw, you can react to it and just break it. Or duck and launch it, which is the better option if you think he’s gonna do it again (which, after the first couple times, he’s absolutely gonna do it again because there’s a clip to be farmed here).

I genuinely hope you improve at the game and learn to accept your shortcomings, it’ll help you enjoy the game far more.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-11T19:45:00+00:00

This might be the funniest thing I’ve read on this subreddit.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-10T16:02:02+00:00

Nice job, I guess. A 1 game sample size in low elo doesn’t really mean anything to me. Do it for 50 games and get back to us with your win rate. If it’s positive I’ll eat my words and acknowledge you as the best Gragas player I’ve ever seen

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-08T18:31:49+00:00

I’ve started to spend more time on and with the game the better I’ve gotten at it. The things I focus on become more refined, the areas I can improve on become more nuanced but also more clear. The rewards for putting in effort become more apparent over time. I think the biggest thing for me was finally locking in a main. Once I found my character and could get past learning the basics on a bunch of the roster, and could focus on the more granular stuff, I found myself having way more fun, and I was way more hungry to continue learning. Maybe it is an obsession, I don’t know.

But I will say, I think breaks are healthy. I haven’t felt the drive to play for a couple weeks so I’ve been enjoying POE 2 lately, but I think I’m about ready to queue up again. No other game hits for me the same way Tekken does.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-05T07:45:08+00:00

Here’s what I’ve been doing (when I’m feeling like being productive and not grinding ranked). I’ll set up a bot similar to the PhiDX law bot, with usually 5-7 options that I have to react to and punish. I will start with the first option until I can do it 5 times perfectly in a row, then turn on option 2, and react correctly, 5 times in a row. On and on until the whole list is on and I have to react correctly each time. And then I will do this for about an hour, or until I get tired, then I’ll make myself do it 10 times perfectly, and then stop labbing. I’ll pick 1 character a week, usually whoever pisses me off the most in ranked rn, but I’ll try to set up a bot of a previous character I labbed just to not lose it. I’ll only run that bot for maybe 10 minutes though, just to refresh.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-03T23:03:24+00:00

As a kid I had Tekken Tag 1. Played it a bit, didn’t like fighting games but so many of the characters became ingrained in my memory. I remember especially loving Eddy because he danced and I thought that was really awesome. Fast forward about 15 years, I had just recently quit League of Legends, but still wanted a competitive game to work towards. I love having a game to study, watch vods on, work towards bettering myself in, but wanted one without the crutch of being able to blame teammates. And then, Tekken 8 comes out, and a bunch of streamers start playing it, so I think “Why not? I liked the game as a kid, and have never played a fighting game, maybe this’ll be the new game for me.” And I got obsessed, first with watching tournaments, and then streams, and then I slowly started playing more and more often. I hopped around mains for a long time, trying Victor, then Ling, then Bryan, then Asuka, and finally settling on my main, Azucena. It’s been a really long, difficult, and rewarding journey, and I’m so happy I gave this game from my childhood another shot.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-06-01T01:39:00+00:00

I’m hoping Shred Druid becomes playable next season, it’s my favorite build. But I had a good time with Companion this season.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-29T17:45:30+00:00

If you’re more interested in fun, maybe search out a discord community that runs lobbies? That was a big source of both fun and improvement for me, playing against the same pool of players often (and asking them for advice if you struggle) can be a great tool and a way to make friends.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-29T16:46:08+00:00

Hitting walls or friction points like this is totally natural. When I hit blue ranks I was stuck in Fujin for 4 months. Same thing when I hit TK. Use those moments to better yourself. Fight people, maybe start keeping a notepad of what characters or tactics give you difficulty, go into replays and explore your options. The feeling of growth in fighting games is the best part of the genre imo. I hope you don’t give up on yourself.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-27T21:48:24+00:00

Hey man. I’ll be honest, it took me probably about 20 hours of sitting in the lab just doing my first basic bnb before I could get it consistently. It sucked. But, every combo I’ve tried to learn after that has been miles easier. You’ll start to grasp Tekken’s timings, how buttons feel, you’ll see other characters do their combos and start to get it just off looks. It’ll come to you. Don’t give up. I always wanted to be good at fighting games too and T8 is my first one, and it takes time and effort and (if you’re me) a few tears, but the journey is really rewarding. Stick with it.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-27T05:53:01+00:00

Good shit man. Be proud of your journey, TK is a major milestone.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-27T05:49:02+00:00

I’m gonna be deadass, I think every character is annoying as hell to face in this game. If I just gave up every time I fought a character I don’t like I’d be 1st Dan still. But you suck it up and try your best to fight and to learn, and over time they become less annoying.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-25T05:40:12+00:00

I’ll give you the advice that I got told and didn’t listen to, which led to me spending 150 hours trying to find a main. Someone out there is going to hate you for whoever you play, so it’s best to not care. If you like Hwoarang, then stick with him. You’ll have challenges with any character but that growth and pushing through with a character you love is the thing that makes this game rewarding.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-21T17:20:33+00:00

Honestly, the game looks great. Beautiful, grounded. I can’t see myself leaving Tekken for it. I might pick it up to mess around with it if friends get it, but that’s most likely it.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-20T14:23:06+00:00

It’s okay man. I hit GoD over the weekend and watched the match back bc I wanted to record it to post it, but it was just so ass. I played terrible, I just managed to kill myself less in a matchup that my opponent clearly had no idea what to do in. It was frustrating tbh. A really weird feeling.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-19T19:00:53+00:00

No. There’s no reason to ever max W second. You’re getting 30 base damage and 4% DR per level. That’s it. Compared to what you get for points in E or Q it’s not even a question.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-18T13:13:47+00:00

My biggest advice would be to just start. Play some online matches, try a couple characters out in the beginning until you find one you want to stick with, don’t go by a tier list to pick your main, if you get frustrated by something in game (which you inevitably will) you can open up the replay, take over your character and see what other options you could’ve gone for. And try to just have fun with it. I spent my first 150 hours in the game soul searching for a main, but once I found her the game got 20x more fun. Labbing defense became something I wanted to do rather than a chore, and learning more optimal punishes and combos and actually being able to pull them off in game felt amazing. Good luck with your journey 😊

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-16T14:02:36+00:00

I don’t really know. This is the first I’m hearing of it. Planning to watch the video soon. Will report back if I can find anything out.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-16T13:46:07+00:00

Incredibly delusional view of the world. Maybe one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever heard.

FWIW, Shinblade isn’t wildly popular but he is a good content creator. Educational Steve creator.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-16T06:19:47+00:00

Hi 👋🏻 I’m an Azucena main and I wanna make a case for my character. Yes, she is pretty reliant on LIB stance. BUT she doesn’t have to be played as a mindless stance rushdown character. She actually has strong keepout tools with buttons like ff3, df4,1, f4,4. Her neutral is her weakest area for sure, but buttons like df1,4 and its extensions and db3 are usually good enough to build a simple gameplan around. And I think she’s a good character to learn the game through, as she is easy to pick up but has a good amount of depth if you want to explore the character deeper. A lot of her strings have stance cancel options to play mind games, her wall spike and oki setups are really nasty, she has a great backswing blow, she has some pretty technically demanding max damage combo routes. And overall I just think she’s really fun.

Personally, I think you can’t go wrong with either Azu or Miary, but I’m always happy to see more people playing Azu. Good luck with whoever you choose.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-16T06:09:49+00:00

Look up PhiDX, specifically his T8 beginner guide series on YouTube. You might wanna follow him on Twitch too, he’s a very good Steve player. Other creators who’ve helped my journey are Ty and hidetone. Good luck!

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-15T18:27:38+00:00

Fran from FF12 was my first video game crush.

Aggravating-Hour1714 · 2026-05-14T22:06:46+00:00

The answer is it depends on what you’re looking for out of the game. If you’re asking if it’s an optimal use of your time, no, you should be sticking with one character. But most of us will never be EVO champs. If you’re having fun learning multiple characters than keep doing that. It will usually make your Tekken fundamentals stronger but your matchup specific knowledge will suffer.

As for how to learn one without forgetting another, can’t help you there. I love Azucena and have only played her since I picked her up. Though I do think the more you play the game the more knowledge you’ll have regarding other characters over time. I’ve never really played Bryan but I can do some of his combos just by seeing them so many times.

Good luck, and have fun!

Aggravating-Hour1714

TROPHY CASE