A ranged weapen that encourages you to use it at a long-range?

[yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

I don't get it. As a ranged weapen, Gloomerang's design that "the further the distance, the higher the damage" is really strange. Along with its 10% moving speed increase, there is no doubt that Klei encourages us to use it at a long distance. But this is unnecessary. For a game like DST that ranged weapens are so rare and most of them are expensive, nobody would waste a low-cost ranged weapen. In other words we surely use it at a long-range. Why doe Klei still intentedly encourage us to do so?

Moreover, the further the distance, the safer you are. Mobs can't hit you at such a long distance but you can hit them with Gloomrang. And you can cause much more damage! Much reward with less risk.

"The further the distance, the higher the damage" only works as a useless reminder that you need to stay away from the mobs. Let alone this is post-rift, a period that players are already quite skilled at the game, of course we all do know we should keep distance from the mobs.

Like I said this is extremely counterintuitive. Let's take Terraria for example(Since I often see comparison between Terraria and DST's rift content and I don't find a better example), using some weapens closely is more risky but rewading, like higher accuracy and damage. For DST, we don't need to worry about accuracy of course. But Gloomerang's design makes you can cause higher damage with less risks at the same time. Not mention for a weapen that has such low craft and use cost compared to Howlitzer and blow darts and higher durability compared to Brightshade Staff, this is a little bit OP, the design itself gives Gloomerang too much convenience and benefits.

I'm not hoping that Klei redesign it to be "the further the distance, the lower the damage", making it a "melee weapen"  and a ranged weapen that can't leave Enlighted Crown's assitance. Though I personally think this kind of weapen is also interesting but this is completely opposite to Klei's ideas. Many topics also argue that Gloomerang needs nerf/rebalance or something. All in all,  I just want to say this weapen needs fully consideration.

[Larael]

Now that you mentioned it, shadow weapons are one target only you know. 

For lunar we have 2 AoE weapons maybe that's the way. Making the Gloomerang an AoE weapon with low damage that encourage close distance combat.

[goblinball]

I’m mixed on the idea. On one hand it definitely does encourage a more passive playstyle where you’re constantly fleeing from enemies but on the other hand in this context I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. This isn’t smth like terraria where your movement options are unparalleled and running from stuff is really easy, if you have a horde of mobs chasing you it’s going to be difficult to fight them while also keeping your distance. It rewards being strategic with how you manage mobs, finding opportunities to get at the right range.

[Arcwell]

Idk, it makes sense to me.

Most enemies move towards you when you hit them, which makes you deal less damage. It's basically saying you need to use more movement than you would otherwise to maintain optimal DPS, and because you are using more movement you're attacking less often than you would otherwise.