Machete or sledge?

[dreamdancer642]

So with the new skill system, it seems likely a good plan to focus one melee weapon type, and skip the perk skills of the other. In a15, I tended to go mainly with blunt weapons, as the sledge is a serious hard hitter, with more damage and range. But with the new patch it seems like the machete got a boost? Plus it might be nice to carry around a good butcher tool without using an inventory slot.

So curious what others prefer. What are pros/cons? Haven't been playing -too- long, and since I play Dead is Dead, I have yet to get into really serious end game content with the new patch.

[Splatter58]

I`ll take the machete and get a better harvest of meat, as rare as animals seem at times. There`s always a way to kill zombies. I``ll even use the machete on them. Does a good job.

[dreamdancer642]

I was talking in terms of the perks. Pummel Pete vs Knife Guy/Decapitator.

[Splatter58]

knife guy

[Hunger]

i never used the sledge, i either went with spiked club or machete, the spiked club was negligibly weaker than the sledge and was way faster, and the machete allowed for faster harvesting, so usually i'd just omit putting points into anything but knife guy for when i finally found a machete.

then again to be honest even a good hunting knife can be op if you have good timing.

[Winsyrstrife]

In terms of perks, knife guy & decapitator lend themselves well to bladed weapons. If you're willing to invest the points, machetes can be powerful weapons and low stamina cost. You also get bonus harvests with higher levels of knife guy.

Pummel Pete at higher levels can be devastating. The entity damage coupled with lowered stamina drain is great, even more so if you're upping Sexual Tyrannosaurus. Those perks combined provide access to powerful crippling blows with very low stamina cost.

[Mugzz]

I go knife this way i have a melee wep and meat harvester in one slot. More room for loot

[Smoey]

5-6 shot a gun safe and 1-2 shot most zombies with the perks invested in.
Sledge, 100%
Even a Feral irratiated is a 1-2 shot (after knock down)

[Commander_Black]

definitely machete.

yes the sledge can be more op because of the stun and crippling blows, but you get as much power with the machete (minus the effects) and you get alot more meat from harvesting.

[rav]

how come a machete gives more meat than a hunting knife doesnt make too much sense if it is true.

So far im using the sledge hammer and its OP, hitting the head is an instant kill for most zombies and hitting the legs makes them crawlers.
Sledge is also better than an iron pickaxe in breaking stone and metal blocks like gunsafes.

[felmari]

slice n dice or bash n smash is the question.

[Torriador]

Originally posted by Holy Cow!:

how come a machete gives more meat than a hunting knife doesnt make too much sense if it is true.

It looks like the hunting knife gives more net harvesting resources, compared to the machete.
But the machete does more damage per strike so it might be that it just looks like you are getting more while harvesting.

for knife;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="10"/>
for machete;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="7"/>

[rav]

Originally posted by Torriador:

Originally posted by Holy Cow!:

how come a machete gives more meat than a hunting knife doesnt make too much sense if it is true.

It looks like the hunting knife gives more net harvesting resources, compared to the machete.
But the machete does more damage per strike so it might be that it just looks like you are getting more while harvesting.

for knife;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="10"/>
for machete;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="7"/>

thanks :)

[YamaKami]

Originally posted by Mugzz:

I go knife this way i have a melee wep and meat harvester in one slot. More room for loot

You can harvest with a machete too...

In any event each has it's upsides and down. The biggest down side to machetes though was not being able to craft them, and that was changed in A16. Early game blunt is going to be easier to get leveled and be more usefull, but later game blade is arguably a little better and as you say you benefit from the extra mat sapce having a harvest tool/weapon in a knife or machete.

The sledge hammer fans will probably disagree with me, but I always likes the spiked club better than that sloe ass hammer myself anyways.

[LokitheWeaver]

Originally posted by Torriador:

Originally posted by Holy Cow!:

how come a machete gives more meat than a hunting knife doesnt make too much sense if it is true.

It looks like the hunting knife gives more net harvesting resources, compared to the machete.
But the machete does more damage per strike so it might be that it just looks like you are getting more while harvesting.

for knife;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="10"/>
for machete;
<property name="ToolCategory.Butcher" value="1" param1="7"/>

I think you "nailed" this one. I had just recently looked through the items.xml for an analysis of early game weapons vs. the new spawning mechanism.

But I also noticed a difference in meat harvest, in actual game play, which seemed to indicate the machete was better. My guess is it is another of those unintended consequences of poorly thought out changes in game mechanics. In this case the "bonus" harvest system changes. Potentially, a good machete, with higher damage value, which leaves just a few health points prior to the last harvest will get a sizable bonus. When a standard deer gives only 5 meat, that bonus can be very significant.

Just an aside / fyi you could test this with zombie vultures and feathers. In my testing the reverse seemed to be true. Harvest with a lower damage hunting knife and I was getting 70+ feathers. Using a nice machete, I would complete the harvest in a single swing. But I would only get ~40-50 feathers.

For OP - I was never a fan of the sledge hammer, as the stamina toll was always too high, unless I spent a lot of precious skill points I "needed" elsewhere. Don't recall very many instances of running out of stamina using a hunting knife or machete. And the sledge hammer was . . . just . . . so . . . slow . . .

Miss with the machete and swing again.

Miss with the hammer and get pummeled. Depending on your target they may be attacking 2 or 3 times before you can swing that hammer again. Each attack with a chance to cause a stun or bleeding buff. And the current armor system does little / nothing to impact this. That zombie dog chews through my full metal leg armor to rip out my femoral artery, just as easily as it chews through my naked leg (and with a 30% chance to get a bleed buff effect and an attack delay of 0.7 vs. your 1.8 delay, if you both attacked at the same time they will get two more attacks before you can swing again, which is 3 total attacks, each with a 30% chance to inflict bleeding - that can pretty much ruin your day.)

Yes, the sledge hammer can do some pretty impressive one-shots to the head, but a machete does the same thing to most "normal" zombie types (if the zombe had 150 health, it dies if you do 150 points just the same as if you do 300 or 500 ; ) Even if you don't "one shot" them with the machete, it still has a much faster attack rate and often stuns them to allow a second "kill shot" attack.

And if I am fighting a zombie with more health than what I can do in two head shots with a stun effect, using a machete, I am sniping it from 100 meters away with the best missle weapon I have <LOL>

[Mardoin69]

I definitely have to agree with Loki on this. I never cared for the sledge either due to slow speed. But, spiked club is pretty nice for the stun effects. I usually just leave a sledge back at base then make my way around with it just for popping open the safes later.