What's the point of using unarmed? Isn't damage scaling very limited?

So from what I understand, the only way to increase damage with unarmed is to max out the melee skill tree? Well I already have Kliff's maxed out but I'm still not feeling the damage with hand 2 hand (yes I have the gloves equipped).

The damage is not much different from a one-handed weapon and worse of all, the range is horrific. It's terrible in facing multiple enemies at once since there's no real area-of-effect like the melee weapons enjoy. Do people just play unarmed for the novelty or what? I just struggle to see any practical application to it. I also just tried unarmed against the big monk boss in that Chapter 9 island and gave up halfway with how poor the damage output was...