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how to stay in melee range of duke with a long range melee weapon like noxious halberd

The trick is to control your movement so the halberd only advances the minimum distance needed, instead of letting run drag you all the way into Duke’s face. The practical fix is to walk , not run, when you re-enter range, and use one-tile repositioning so you stay on the 2-tile edge rather than getting pulled adjacent.

What to do

  • Turn run off before you start your attack cycle, or use walk-only movement for the reset step.
  • Reposition by a single tile at a time, then attack, so your character doesn’t overshoot into melee-adjacent range.
  • If you are already on run, avoid clicking long paths; short, controlled clicks reduce the chance of being dragged too close.

Why it happens

The halberd has 2-tile reach, but movement behavior can still place you one tile closer than you want, especially while running. That’s why people doing Duke with the Noxious Halberd often talk about “walking the last tile” or using exact tile spacing to maintain the safe attack distance.

Duke-specific rhythm

A common Duke pattern is to keep your character just outside true melee contact, then step in only far enough to land the halberd hit and step back out before the boss closes the gap. In practice, that means learning a repeatable click pattern on the same tiles each cycle, rather than free- clicking around the room.

Simple setup

  1. Stand on your chosen tile pair for the phase.
  2. Walk back into range by one tile.
  3. Attack once or twice.
  4. Step back to your spacing tile before Duke gets on top of you.
  5. Repeat with the same movement path every cycle.

Common mistake

The biggest mistake is thinking “range weapon” automatically means safe distance. With halberd-style weapons, your character can still end up too close if your movement is sloppy, so the movement method matters as much as the weapon itself.

In short: walk the last tile, keep run off for tight spacing, and use the same tiles every time. That is the cleanest way to stay in melee range with a long-reach melee weapon at Duke.

TL;DR: Use controlled walking, not running, and re-enter range by exact tiles so the Noxious Halberd doesn’t pull you into Duke’s melee adjacency.