The extra range is NOT WORTH IT
It is completely overshadowed by Covered in Dirt and no one realized because of the poorly worded description. It leads you to believe you get that when you land a melee hit you get 30 shields. That statement is already wrong for a few reasons. Really, you receive 5 shields for 6 ticks of clobber totaling to 30 shields so it's not a burst of defense. But another really important thing to mention is EVERY TICK OF DRILLDASH NOW RESTORES 5 SHIELDS PER ENEMY HIT. If you unburrow, drill dash, and melee into someone. Assuming you're only hitting 1 target and taking consistent damage, you are receiving usualy 60 shields, and then ANOTHER 60 SHIELDS FOR FREE. An extra 60 effective hp in a fight is INSANE.