Do different weapon types have different reach?

Do different weapon types have different reach? e.g. if I use a regular attack with a polearm, will I be able to strike enemies further away than if I use a regular attack with a dagger?

And if so, what is the reach range of each weapon?

This question is inspired by the behavior in Diablo II as well as the category header for polearms in Diablo III's official game guide:

Any polearm will extend the reach of its wielder’s arms noticeably, allowing them to fight foes from slightly farther away.

I cannot tell, however, if it's just flavor text or has an actual gameplay impact


Solution 1:

In diablo 2 there was melee range attribute on melee weapons,a part in diablo 3 guide indicates that polearms have longer range...However testing in game all weapons appeared to have same range.

Most likely another attempt to balance the game.

Solution 2:

There was a noticeable gameplay impact with weapon reach in Diablo II. I've noticed the same impact in Diablo III. In general though, weapon reach importance varies depending on your play style.

In a strictly melee playstyle, weapon reach will determine the 'radius' of your 'circle of death'. I much prefer a higher attack speed w/ a crowd control skill in these instances. However, when ranged damage dealers arrive, a melee character must chase down a fleeing ranged enemy, thus making a longer reach weapon more useful: The chase is shorter because the weapon reach will pick up some of the distance. Since the longer reach weapons usually have higher single-smack damage, the fleeing enemy will usually pause slightly for hit recovery, thus almost always ensuring followup strikes.

If your melee character is highly mobile or has a high movement speed, weapon reach takes second chair to an increased attack speed.

Obviously, this does not apply to ranged damage characters.

In my opinion, higher attack speed is key: Since crowd control is going to be used ANYWAYS... one may as well benefit from applying damage constantly (more enemy hit recovery) and triggering more 'per hit/strike/kill' effects.

Spoken as a DI, DII, and current DIII player that plays both melee and ranged characters. Playing a dual wielding Barb now... dos daggers :)