What range changes
Most blows land harder at one range than the other, and the tell says which. Your own guns care too: cannons land ×0.7 at close range in a Sloop or a Galleon, and the ram does not reach at all from far.
So the range that spares you this turn may be the one you cannot hurt it from. That is most of the arithmetic in a fight.
Nothing has a favourite
A monster is not a far monster or a close monster. It shows you what this turn's blow does at each range, and next turn it may show you the opposite. Settling in anywhere is how you get hit.
Some of them can haul you in whether you meant to be there or not, and the tell says so first. Some have tricks that only work at one range, and the tell says that too.