Thunderspy has released a new video that showcases their Melee Defenders. This is something that already exists in the game on the Thunderspy server, but it is also a bit of a work in progress. These changes were made to give Defenders a bit of a leg up as they are considered by some to be overshadowed by other archetypes, especially Corruptors.
Not every melee powerset will be made available to Defenders, though it isn’t actually said why this is the case. Specifically, they will not have Titan Weapons or Super Strength. Here is a list of what melee powersets are available for Defenders:
Battle Axe
Broad Sword
Claws
Dual Blades
Katana
Savage Melee
Street Justice
War Mace
Staff Fighting
Martial Combat
Thorny Combat
Earth Combat
The taunt in melee sets has been changed to feint which forces enemies to stop attacking you and gives you AOE protection for a short time as well as placating enemies around you.
Elemental blast sets are also getting melee options. At the moment it is only available for Fire but more are going to be released in the future. When you level up you are given the option between the traditional power or a melee power. You can choose one or the other, but you cannot have both.
All of this information came from another one of their excellent videos that is complete with its own little story at the beginning. You can watch the video below. If you only want to hear the explanation of Melee Defenders then you should skip to around the 2 minute, 15 seconds mark. If you have the time though the whole video is worth watching.
Just in case you missed out on their last update a few days ago, Thunderspy also announced some changes to Empathy that are well worth taking a look at.