Best melee weapon in your opinion?

[MagnusCerebrum]

For stuns alone I would rate clubs and fist weapons high-tier weapons.

[grrantu]

I used to like clubs best. I am leaning toward knives now though. They stab so fast, they slow the zombies down with the bleeds and they are low in stamina cost. Especially helpful in the early game. I can't stand sledge hammers but I haven't ever tried an end game build of sledge hammers. 2 swings and I am huffing and puffing heaven forbid you miss a swing. I have never tried the stun batons. I have done a end game fist build. It was alright but I didn't feel it was as strong as clubs or knives. Fun though cause who doesn't want to knock the teeth out of zombies!

[Niuq]

Everything but the stun baton.

Back when the sledge had 100% AOE knockdown i felt it was so far ahead it was the only answer.

A20 it is more balanced , and more of a preference thing.
Knife build with multiple bleeding enemies has the highest theoretical dps
Sledge has the highest one shot potential combined with some crowd control.
Clubs are more middle of the road speed vs damage
Knuckles are very fast low stamina weapons with good damage. Great with beers + books
Spear solid speed, great reach, acceptable damage again improved with books.

If i am playing vanilla i spec into tools and use an axe as my melee weapon. Saves points.

[aY227]

Club, than in end game knuckles.
Stun baton is actually useful in multi.

[kolchak]

if youre talking overall dmg, attack speed, ttk and secondary tool use, theres not even a close comparison to the hunting knife.

[Dester]

We play the game on the lowest 25% experience setting... so lots of our games depends on what weapons and books we find as compared to others who have dozens of easy skill points for anything they want.

Since Alpha 20 has lots of the spear books in mailboxes the spears are usually a direction I begin my games. Also after the zombies fall down I can usually stab them 3 times which is enough to kill them before they're moving again.

If given a choice then I would probably choose the machete since you need one anyways for cutting up the animals for meat. This means I have an extra slot for guns and tools.

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

The answer is: the Steam search engine!
Like in: this topic has been discussed to death, just use the search box

[TheChoccoBiccy09]

The best mellee weapon is the one I like the most at the moment.

[Captain Pike]

I prefer to end it in a single hit and disable targets if I fail to so sledge usually for me

[thestile]

I would say that the Knuckles are best if you have a good supply of beer in the end game. Early game, the baseball bat seems best to me, especially since you can quickly get the perks to reduce stamina use down that strength tree. Sledgehammer are amazing though also, the damage is great and that AE knockdown is pretty killer.
I'm not a big fan of the bladed weapons or the spear but they can do pretty well also, especially a little later in the game.
I think my #1 would be clubs, if I were to give a final answer for the all-around best weapon that isn't aided by any buffs. Hits hard and plenty of knockdown.

I like these kind of threads though because i'm curious what other people think about topics such as this.

[Midas]

The weapon you spec into. That's it. I've used all of them, they all have their strengths and advantages.

[TheChoccoBiccy09]

Originally posted by Midas:

The weapon you spec into. That's it. I've used all of them, they all have their strengths and advantages.

Couldn't agree more dude. That's why I find these sort of discussions silly. If it was for a certain purpose or they needed heavily optimise something, then that would make more sense

[TheStoryteller01]

A20 I always start out with a stone spear. Good reach, good stamina/damage ratio and - as mentioned - easy to collect skill books. What comes after depends on what I can find.

I often find a steel axe pretty quick and that makes good work of regular zombies, not my first choice though.

[ElDudorino]

Club is best. Great damage, great speed, stuns on hit, high knock down rate, AoE, and gives essentially infinite stamina after a certain point. Knives suffer from lack of stun on hit so you need to be able to kite enemies and sledgehammer is too slow when surrounded or ambushed. Clubs excel in every area.

Plus, they're the only weapon type with unique mods, so clearly they're the developers' favorite.

[brightcat7]

Why did my best steel club vanished when logged in ?

[atom heart]

I like the knife/machete combo early to mid game. Later, I tend to rely on brute force and go steel clubs. By then stamina regen and other perks make this bad boy a total beast.