>>534540643
His melee is not useless, it's only useless if you EVER attack in melee or use is melee dash without being in lifesteal mode.
Losing out on 5 stacks of attackspeed is brutal from not goin lifesteal into sword dash.
You can also gain additional burst if you do another melee range sword dash after your lifesteal whirl.

You also don't need as much burst as other heroes because you're lowering their heals by 40%.

In fact, you should even rebind the buttons so you can never ever equip default melee mode so you never accidentally equip it.