I wouldn’t argue that Melee is super weak. In prehardmode,the only boss it really struggles with is Wall of Flesh thanks to the flail rework and it has good options in Hardmode such as the Shadowflame Knives, Light Discs, Flairon, North Pole etc. Terra Blade and Influx Waver and similar weapons are also super powerful. It’s also arguably the best class for exploring because of no resource management and good survivability. It may not be as good as ranged and mage, but I don’t think you’re giving it enough credit.
However, Zenith and PVP are by no means a valid basis to judge a class off of. Zenith is literally *the* last weapon, and PVP is so powercrept that literally anything really ruins it unless you play with pre-Plantera gear.