Top Melee Classes in Mistfall Hunter for Dominating PvP Battles

Knowing which classes are the top of the Meta in Mistfall Hunter is key to surviving its merciless PvP. Close-quarters encounters are a common thing in this extraction looter ARPG, and players will find themselves overwhelmed by enemy Gyldhunters at least once every three matches, if not more often.

This guide was designed to help players avoid frustrating encounters that end up with losing important gear and loot, by selecting the top melee classes, tanking in consideration builds, power, and combat advantages. It is also a Tier List for each Class and its subclasses (also known as specializations). Since each class has at least two different combat focuses, we will analyze each of the builds for the melee classes and select the most powerful that are leading the scores in terms of won PvP encounters.

Greatsword Withered Knight - S+ Tier

• Preferred Affixes: Fervid, Tenacious, Stoic, Burst, Fervor
• Greatest Advantage: Balanced mobility and damage. Incredible Durability

The Greatsword Withered Knight is the strongest and most versatile melee class in PvP battles. Thanks to its ability to Parry blows, blocking all damage, and returning a potent counterattack, it can melt down foes with incredible speed. Repositioning itself with Sprinting Slash and Opportunistic Thrust, the Withered Knight dances around its foes and delivers a merciless assault of heavy hits that apply Wither and expose their weaknesses. With Breakthrough Charge, the Withered Knight has a chasing option that can be quickly turned into a lethal follow-up attack with the Dominance/Cataclysm perks.

The core archetype of Greatsword Withered Knight also comes with an enhanced version of the Wither Mark, which evolves into a more powerful curse when applying it in succession. Greatsword specialization allows players to use one additional skill of the Greatsword, in exchange for losing one from the Polearm & Shield specialization. Needless to say, this enables players to complete their build with Thorn, the Greatsword Withered Knight's signature pull skill.

It's not just about its powerful kit, but its mobility too. With access to so many branching combos, once you adapt to its combat style, you can overcome most obstacles. Even defeating ranged opponents by closing in with Breakthrough Charge and then pulling with Thorn.

Warhammer Mercenary - S+ Tier

• Preferred Affixes: Fervor, Unyielding, Stoic, Bulwark, Tenacious
• Greatest Advantage: High-pressure attacks, crowd control domination

The secondary archetype of the Mercenary is meant to beat opponents to a pulp. Wielding an enormous Warhammer, the Mercenary can split parties and control the area around him, pummeling the ground to topple foes and applying high pressure on opponents who find themselves cornered in a split second. Once the Mercenary has hit an opponent, it will not let go until it is finished. Assault Hammer, Punishing Hammer, and Power Hammer are its core moves, which allow it to cut the distance with opponents and continue to apply pressure even as it dodges.

Not knowing when the Merc is going to drop his charged hammer is a powerful deterrent, and foes will need to be extremely careful of what they do or where they move, especially in enclosed spaces. Hammer Dash becomes a true menace in Trios, since its cooldown is greatly reduced, and adds even more mobility and pressure to the build.

Earthshaker is the greatest asset to corner a foe. Once it is staggered, releasing a Lvl.1 charge of this attack is enough to paralyze a foe for enough time to deal a decisive blow.

But perhaps, the major asset of this build is its capacity to enter the Super Armor state while it charges, thanks to its core passives: Hammer of Convergence, Unstoppable, and Relentless Advance. Then, the Leap Step upgrade for the Earthshaker will also allow players to dodge and move as they charge, completing this incredibly punishing build that can obliterate foes in no time.

Dual Blade Shadowstrix - S Tier

• Preferred Affixes: Seeker, Strife, Valor, Elusive
• Greatest Advantage: Fast, deadly damage buildup, refreshes cooldowns, super agile

Capable of releasing deadly-fast combos that apply burst damage and stagger its foes, the Dual Blade Shadowstrix is a monster that cannot be stopped once it locks in a foe. A destroyer of rearguard players, the Shadowstrix will ignore tougher opponents and go for the kill of weaker foes like Sorcerers, Seers, or Blackarrows. Still, it has the tools to deal with high-armored opponents like Mercenaries and Withered Knights.

Pursuit Strike and Flurry Strike are two attacks that can be combined to enter and exit melee range as the Shadowstrix dances around his foes, confusing them and rendering them helpless. The Wound Buildup Talent turns these two basic combos into a ticking bomb of burst damage that can destroy opponents in a matter of seconds.

Next, we have Bloody Blade Dance, the Dual Blade Shadostrix main skill to dish out incredible amounts of damage in no time. It's a charged attack that begins a flurry of blows, and it can be improved with either Bloodthirsty Frenzy (which adds stacking damage buffs and deflects all projectiles while it lasts) or Shadow Dance (which enables you to use Bloody Blade Dance after a dodge).

Finally, a talent you need to grab for this build is Stance Recovery (it's on the 2nd Talent Page, bottom right), because it will chip down the cooldown of Dual Blade Skills (and Dagger skill as well) every time you land a Light Attack.

Stealth Shadowstrix - S Tier

• Preferred Affixes: Seamless, Seeker, Strife
• Greatest Advantage: Now you see me, now you don't. Super serious damage. Ambush tactics.

Greatly underestimated for PvP, but able to generate a sense of dread that no other class can manage, the Stealth Shadowstrix can use its dagger attacks and pivot in and out of stealth at will. Thanks to Cooldown reduction Affixes, and some particular talents, this build can enter stealth every 5 seconds (if not less) and turn a one-v-one encounter into a bloody nightmare.

Using the Shadow Wheel Slash combo is quite tricky, because its description is a bit confusing. But it basically works like this: every three strikes, you have a 0.5 second window to chain another attack which recovers energy and deals stagger damage. That way, you can chain another spinning dagger attack (LMB) or a heavy spinning kick (RMB).

What's cool about this is that getting out of stealth to perform a combo also enhances damage, and if you invest Talent Points in the Frequency Shift Talent from Sneak Arcana, you will enter a semi-stealth state and can hit another ambush, dealing critical damage if you attack from behind (as long as you have the Element of Surprise Talent). Besides, investing in Swift Sneak will turn the Sneak Skill into an instant stealth skill.

On the other hand, putting one Talent Point in Shadow Slash (second page, bottom left) turns every combo you make into a cooldown reduction tick for the Stealth skill. Potentially, you could take it as low as 5 seconds between each Stealth rotation, plus the Frequency Shift bonus Stealth, which means you will be invisible at all times, except when performing a full ambush combo. And, if you want to go even harder, you can also pick the empowered version of Crow Storm with the Blackout talent (page 3), to start every ambush with a stun AoE. It's brutal.