Basic Math - The Failure of Diablo Melee

[Concillian]

1% life per second and 15% damage reduction are both large enough to make a difference on a melee character at the higher difficulties (which are mostly forced into being very defense oriented). If you're receiving any amount of self healing, then 15% damage reduction is not small, in fact, it's pretty large... larger than the +15% armor buff the enchantress gives. Also if you have pretty significant damage reduction 1% health per second is also a substantial amount.

The main issue is the limited range and the fact that a DH probably doesn't want to be too close to a melee character, but I'll admit they have their uses.