A lot of the melee ease is because of dodging. There’s another topic on it. Dodge Timers
And I’m not saying that ranged is the only reason. I just think some specs are overly strong. You bring up Zealot as an example, and I’m inclined to agree. There are other specs where you can also dive head first into a horde and come out relatively unscathed. You wouldn’t be able to half the stuff on RV Bardin that you can do on IB Bardin.