Best Melee Weapon?

[Tylernol]

Doing a melee build and I'm in chapter 3 right now and still just using the pipe. I feel like I should have a better melee weapon by now. Any tips?

[Aluxes]

The best one is new game+ only.
I've gotten a spear in the labyrinth, it was a chest on the market street. Kept it all the way to the final boss. It has great reach, good damage and decently fast too.

Before that, I was using a Bayonet that I bought from the Butcher guy that hunts organs (east stairwell, top floor).

[chaos915]

Stats alone don't tell you how good a weapon is.

Don't underestimate the torch. It's stats look low, but with decent luck and the crit ring it takes off big chunks of hp with the strong attack. A lot of enemies are also weak to fire, especially in the labyrinth. It's also a light source, as a bonus.

The spear can be very good, and can stun lock some enemies. It's better outside of the Labyrinth though.

The Pipe is a pretty bad weapon, except against skeletal enemies. Against flesh or armor it's not great. It's slow so you either need high melee damage or high speed to make use of it.

If a pipe is your best weapon, the axe is just plain better. The old sword is like a better axe, if not for durability.

The whip takes too long and doesn't hit very hard, but it seems like you would need high speed to make it good, The enemies will rush you before you even hit them.
Also the spear fills a similar role, but hit's faster/harder.

There's a tesla mace, but it makes constant electrical noises, even when you aren't attacking. I haven't used it, but I've seen it.

Magic is boring but strong, Guns are OP (but require constant restocking)

[BananaBadman]

Originally posted by chaos915:

The Pipe is a pretty bad weapon, except against skeletal enemies. Against flesh or armor it's not great. It's slow so you either need high melee damage or high speed to make use of it.

If a pipe is your best weapon, the axe is just plain better. The old sword is like a better axe, if not for durability.

Disagree.

Pipe is one of the best melee weapons if you use it right. The whole point of it is the heavy attack doing high physical and poise damage. No other melee weapon does higher poise damage.

If you want to stand there and smack enemies repeatedly, pipe is bad. If you like to charge up heavy attacks and are good at positioning correctly, pipe will stun most enemies on the first hit allowing you to deal completely safe damage by giving plenty of time to backstep or roll.

The whip is in a similar position as it does the same amount of poise damage on a heavy attack. You're just trading physical damage for bleed. It is quite good as a status applicator if you equip rings that give flat status buildup to melee attacks.