Tips for melee because it is inherently worse to bring a knife to a gunfight and I want to actually learn how to use it.

[Physical Theorist]

I'm too scared to risk melee so I'm not learning how to get better with it.

Anything that can be suggested I'll hear out.

[Isha]

Be sneaky

[Eastersimulator]

Bring a backup gun like a enigma just in case, use stun grenades, remember you can throw melee weapons, keep equip load low for dodging,

[pgames-food]

hi if you find a spare melee item (like another knife or a large bone etc) most can also be thrown at the enemy by holding down shift key before attacking them.

i think the throwing ability is random/different for different characters, but if they are within "throwing distance" you can usually cause some extra damage using melee items, but from a bit of range, which is especially handy like i often throw hearts at enemies who are slow and melee :)

[pgames-food]

(ah @eastersimulator beat me) - i guess easter is earlier than christmas) :)

[Terminal]

One of the best characters for a dedicated melee build is Kenzie, due to having a high base dodge chance and also due to being less affected by weight penalties.

Give Kenzie either Eclipse Blades or Scouts of Hades. Eclipse Blades is what I personally run, but there's good skills for melee combat in Scouts. Take a good look at their skills and figure out which one you like best. My input is that Scouts of Hades is better for dealing with being swarmed by large groups, particularly by Quasimorphs in the Rapture phase, but Eclipse Blades is better for general combat, avoiding punishment by shotguns and assault weapons, and for surviving surprise one-shots (they can't kill you if they can't hit you).

Equip your choice of armor, but keep in mind you will want a set that is relatively light weight. Impactor, Glory, and Smuggler armor sets can be mixed and matched depending on your resistance preferences. The lightest armor in the game that still offers some protection is Tezctlan (with more variety for helms and chest pieces). Any choice of vests is fine, but I recommend Chainmail or even a Panzer to shore up your resistances. The extra weight on the one piece of clothing isn't a big deal in the long run, and even a Panzer only weighs 5 units.

Next, and possibly most important, choose your backpack. While it seems obvious to just run a buffalo, the bonuses you get for running something lighter to weight reduction help considerably with survivability. I personally run with a Helper servo-harness, which comes with a 50% weight reduction bonus to everything in your inventory and that you are wearing and grants an extra weapon slot.

I then give Kenzie the two best melee weapons in the swords category in both his default weapon slots. Machettes, Razors, Duggur's Sabers if you can get them. Two is not strictly necessary if you have weapon repair kits, but now that they are harder to craft just having two so you have a backup when the first breaks is invaluable. If you do have kits to spare, just bring one to cut further down on weight.

Finally, you want a good ranged weapon for the servo-harness slot. Even on a melee-centric build, there are a couple of situations where you really will just want to be able to shoot particular enemies. The Baron of Venus comes into mind. Ideally, you want something that has high accuracy and does not use much ammo, both to cut down on weight and to make up for Kenzie being a bad shot if you are playing Eclipse Blades instead of Scouts of Hades. A shotgun is a good pick, but if you can find one a Prism is priceless since even while sprinting Kenzie will never miss with it, and having energy ammo on hand means you can use it to power scanner terminals. Engimas are another good choice simply because they do not use ammo, meaning less weight.

Do all of that, then farm up your skills. If you are using Eclipse Blades, Kenzie should be hovering at around 60% passive dodge, which means enemies will regularly completely miss you even when shooting you with four-burst shotguns at point blank range. Eclipse Blades will have significantly lower passive dodge, but once they actually take and survive a shot, they get up to a 100% dodge bonus from Combat Focus, making them very nearly untouchable while the skill remains active (mind the downtime).

The way I play it, Kenzie kills very nearly entire floors, sprinting around at full speed, being virtually untouchable and getting three sword swings with every movement point, all with over 100% accuracy and dealing disgusting damage. You can counter-charge two Duggur Chariots and beat them at their own game pretty reliably. I only slow down when dealing with very particular enemies - Civil Resistance with Blade Cutters, Qausimorphs with Battle Staves, Serpent's Mouths, or Crossbows of Pain. I use the Prism opportunistically, whenever I get a long shot and multiple lined-up enemies or whenever I need to penetrate heavy cover, but I use it sparingly since you only get 30 shots with it before it breaks.

[CrucibleOfHate]

Wow. I thought I had something to say, but Terminal's got it all down. Uh.
You can get lots of large bones from corpses and they make very good thrown weapons, lol.

[Physical Theorist]

Originally posted by CrucibleOfHate:

Wow. I thought I had something to say, but Terminal's got it all down. Uh.
You can get lots of large bones from corpses and they make very good thrown weapons, lol.

This is unironically good advice because I assumed body parts were "joke" weapons doing almost no damage/breaking way too easily/having abysmal hit chances but no they are actually useful.

[Red Bat]

I wouldn't go "dedicated" melee regardless. It just doesn't work out in a risk/reward sense very often.

Best way to use melee is against other melee enemies. You basically just kite them by making sure they can't attack you their turn. Against enemies that can move 3 times per turn, your best bet is actually just to shoot them from 4 squares away and only melee to finish them next turn. Against enemies with guns, you've almost always got better options, but if you've managed to get 100% accuracy with a weapon you are fairly sure can kill them in one turn you can sometimes risk moving in for a kill.

[Lucy!!]

Melee is ironically about kiting and backing up for enemies to come to you. Use melee mostly on robots because they have a low dodge chance, and low threat enemies close. best option it to utilize stealth on quasimorph levels and keep your weight low as possible in the 10 kilo range. Many people don't understand the stealth mechanics and just want to kill everything but you have to be selective about your targets. Ideally you should use a Machete or Razor with flurry for actual melee and everything else for throwing. Playing like Draven is pretty viable with axe chucking but the durability wears and the inventory managing is tedious.

[GeistHeller]

I'm new to the game and I have been using a SoH Kenzie to clear most of my missions thus far:

* Full Glory set + hobo vest or preferably a chainmail to get just enough blunt protection to no-sell basic shotgun pellets & 9mm bullets.

* Full impactor or Brigand can be used instead of you are more afraid of fire and/or poison.

* Molotovs, stun grenades and makeshift grenades are your best friends: they are easily craftable and are the best answers to spider/melee quasimorph hordes. Whenever I start a mission I usually grab a bunch of materials to craft during the mission to keep my stocks growing. I just wish we could craft them on the ship but I guess it would be cheesy/overpowered.

* Early on the Tactical Axe offers a good balance between damage output and weapon durability, but I will still stash it away and use whatever axes or machetes the enemies drop to save up on durability when I have to deal with long missions (3+ floors). A makeshift axe, vibro blade or machete is good enough to chop down wagies.

* Cutting damage seems to work well on Venus and Quasimorph in general since they wear little to no protection. Piercing however is quite bad however so don't expect a knife to do well against them. I think Druggur (moon & fuller station) affiliated Quasimorph especially are resistant to Piercing damage. It also never hurts to bring at least one gunsmith box or a bunch of ductapes to keep yout gear in working condition.

* Weapon wise I have been mostly relying on the Legacy machinegun which is the only piece of heavy equipment Kenzie is carrying: high ammo capacity, workable accuracy in single fire mode, good enough alpha damage to overcome cyborg/medium armour resistance and its burst fire mode can always be relied upon to kill or pain-lock Cutters/Flamers or a lone Quasimorph beast. The Legacy can also be used to just sit behind a piece of cover and mow down enemies during defense missions, but I will still deploy a sentry turret against Quasimorphs due to their high mobility.

* Against low-tier enemies with only 1 tile of movement, let them come to you, enter running stance and whack them 3 times. Kenzie's high melee accuracy should compensate for the accuracy debuff.

* Against Possessed humans/melee Quasimorphs it will be trickier since they tend to have a lot of movement, I'm not experienced enough to really say much more than try to keep dictating the flow of battle and always be stocked up on molotovs/stun grenades to deal with oh-♥♥♥♥ situations.

* Cyborgs are complete pushovers in melee so don't waste ammunition on them unless you have to. They are very weak against cutting damage and usually die in one machete/axe hit. Just check their loadout to make sure they are not equipped with a magnetic gun before letting them get closer for an easy kill.

Hope this helps.

There is probably more to it since my experience is limited to early game, but thus far I have had no issue focusing on melee.

[0x41414141]

Originally posted by Physical Theorist:

I'm too scared to risk melee so I'm not learning how to get better with it.

Anything that can be suggested I'll hear out.

Go naked with only a knife; that will make you braver I swear.

Also as a general tip: pay attention to resistances. If the enemy has high pierce/cut resistance or blunt resistance there's no point in you throwing yourself at them... use a gun.

[korkk]

Originally posted by 0x41414141:

Originally posted by Physical Theorist:

I'm too scared to risk melee so I'm not learning how to get better with it.

Anything that can be suggested I'll hear out.

Go naked with only a knife; that will make you braver I swear.

Also as a general tip: pay attention to resistances. If the enemy has high pierce/cut resistance or blunt resistance there's no point in you throwing yourself at them... use a gun.

iv'e been trying melee builds for the first time and going naked is the way to go

[pgames-food]

i saw someone on youtube play some missions with nothing just bare fists :)
i think he was mexican or something similar, and he played very well. (still died a few times, but i learned something new too) :)

edit i dont want to paste the link as its title is rude/filter but its by TacticalRNG :)

[Vultan]

Going on melee runs are pretty good if you want to conserve ammo and save inventory slots.

But i have not tried melee runs with any other clone than the dodge one.

[Physical Theorist]

So far the best advice I've managed to use to some effect was:

-Bones are GREAT against unarmored enemies
-Running around naked with nothing but a knife for butchering and acquiring everything in the field makes you feel like a GOD
-Kenzie + Sons of Hades + Helper backpack = surviving dumb mistakes that should absolutely have killed you