How do I not suck at melee?

[Itharus]

I'm starting to run into irradiated zombies, feral zombies, and feral wights. I just... cannot stand toe to toe with these guys atm. I'm in iron plate armor, and have 3 points in the bleeding perk, but I get curb stomped, especially by the wights. They just... live way longer than I do.

Game stage atm is 175. Does melee just quit being useful at this point? My compound bow is also starting to lose effectiveness - even on head shots :( The AK and SMG do alright, they just burn thru ammo like it's paper -- and RNG hates me so no tool and die set yet.

Any advice for how to not get killed in melee better?

[Khalagar]

Melee stops being useful by like day 4 or 5 for me, at most. Honestly, I try and use a bow as fast as possible. Melee is just an absolute last resort for me

The hit box is horrific, and the stamina drain is absurd. IMO, the best melee weapon is the Fire Axe because it does good damage, decent stamina, and is amazing for looting houses. With a Fire Axe you can just tear through the walls in a house in a couple of hits to screw up basically any ambush. It's great for making a one block hole into a room so you can shoot, but they can't fight back too.

Sledgehammer hits slightly harder, but uses your entire stamina bar, and a single missed hit is GG.

Club is good early game, I'd use a candy cane early on if you get it. But the hit box is abysmal, it will miss VERY often, and you'll get worn down by chip damage when zombies punch you in the face while you wildly swing and miss at 2 foot range despite having the reticule perfectly on the zombies head.

Late game, I absolutely wouldn't be using melee besides *maybe* one on one against a normal low tier zombie that's slowly shambling around. Shotgun is my go to "OH CRAP" gun for when I get jumped by a zombie, and Pistol is great for dispatching lone zombies.

I'd rather use a few bullets than have to waste med kits healing after zombies punch my teeth out because my melee attack missed

[baddoggs]

Get a gun!

[Itharus]

Alas, the art of pistol whipping is not in this game :-\

[Andi]

Mod your club with a rad remover and all good mods you can get your hands on. Also put points into strength, stamina and melee stuff and your good to go. Rad remover is essential though, if you wanna go that way.

[CellNav]

Itharus a écrit :

How do I not suck at melee??

To begin to answer that question yourself, you have to look at everything and then balance your game from there. It starts from your difficulty setting, your perks chosen, the armor class you're wearing, and the weapon and mods you're using.

Difficulty? ... Nomad + Zombie Jog Speed (my setting). Melee works for me.
Perks? ... There are two key words in the perk descriptions, Stun @ Stanima.
Weapons? ... Depends on your perks, right?
Armor? ... Light or Heavy, effects your mobility and damage reduction.
Mods? ... Weapon mods for added damage and effects.

Let's look at PERKS ... Stun the enemy, or regain Stanima :

-- Shotgun Messiah or Archery = Stun enemy at Level 3+, cripple at Level 5.
(note: Archery doesn't say stunned or crippled, it's a bug? maybe).
-- Stay Down = extra damage when enemy "stunned".
-- Sex T-Rex = Level 5 you regain 50 Stanima for killing blow.

Can we say ...
Shotgun/Archery perks + Stay Down + T-Rex = Melee Combo? ... Yes, imo.

Throwing all that together above ... I slow the enemy down at range (stun), hit them with a power attack at melee range (extra damage + stay down), then get back 50 stanima.

IMO, long range weapons (AK47 and SMG) are just that ... long range.
Automatic weapon perks don't stun the enemy, it won't slow them down.

Stun Effects? ... We've experienced being stunned, it sucks. Effects are :
1. Move speed reduced (run, walk, crouch).
2. Jump strength reduced (zombies won't jump so high).
3. Attacks per Minute reduced (zombie doesn't flail on you as much).

That above is just a few examples. Like I said, start with zombie "run speed" set to JOG, then balance your game from there.

[Khalagar]

Difficulty is a good point to bring up, I play on 2 stages above normal with 16 concurrent zombies, and have them set to nightmare speed at night and for ferals.

I consider melee pretty unviable and overly dangerous. My friend plays on baby easy mode with jogging bloodmoon zombies, and melee does work better on that. Although, you still have the issues with the hit box being literal dog crap, so you swing at their head, miss, and get punched in the face over and over

[Monoxide]

This wasn't really asked, but just an FYI - the mod Darkness Falls adds a number of useful melee weapons. I particularly like the spear since the range is good compared to other weapons and its fast. The damage portion is still pretty low from the melee weapons I have seen, but the mod also has more, but weaker, zombies so it balances out.

It makes melee viable and fun in my opinion. My loadout is an AR-15 and a spear but I just swapped over to a combat axe. I use the melee weapon often to conserve ammo - due to the weaker zombies, a single good power attack will take out most of the lower tier zombies. Pair that with mods and strength and you should boost up quite nicely.

The mod has several different types of zombies from what I have noticed; frail, weak, normal, strong, stalkers and behemoths, and I believe radiated versions of each - I am unsure about stalkers and behemoths though. The first 2 tiers are easily 1 shot with melee even if they are radiated, normal might be possible with skill ups im sure.

[CellNav]

Khalagar a écrit :

Difficulty is a good point to bring up, I play on 2 stages above normal with 16 concurrent zombies, and have them set to nightmare speed at night and for ferals.

I consider melee pretty unviable and overly dangerous. My friend plays on baby easy mode with jogging bloodmoon zombies, and melee does work better on that. Although, you still have the issues with the hit box being literal dog crap, so you swing at their head, miss, and get punched in the face over and over

Considering you have more difficult settings, the basic strategy to make melee viable remains the same --> Soften or Cripple zombies at range, finish them with melee.

Automatic weapons drain ammo quickly. Adding a few mods to soften zombies up for melee might be the direction you need to proceed. Here are few mods for Automatics that work for softening the enemy up for melee :
1. Rad Remover
2. Semi or Burst Receiver
3. Cripple 'Em

A fast moving zombie appears.
BANG ... BANG ... BANG (semi fire or burst)
Zombie crippled yet? Yes or No.
BANG ... BANG ... BANG (if answer was no).
Zombie crippled yet? (lets assume Yes).
Zombie prepped for melee ... Start swinging, or switch targets to another runner.

Using a few bursts and checking zombie status is the key.
Most players with Auto weapons do this ->> Empty entire clip into zombie.
Can we see why they spend so many rounds on zombies? ... Yeah, big time.

Horde Night = Run the Gauntlet.
Soften enemy as they approach, finish them when they get in melee range.
The only way to finish them with melee is to allow them to path to your position, all the while getting softened by traps and range combat.

For me, my benchmark for melee is 4 zombies. When 4 zombies "Run the Gauntlet" and get to my position, engaging them with melee is like a "hot knife through butter".

TBH, most players waste ammo on horde night because they want to stop the zombies "at the gate". Having multiple levels of defense is the key to softening the zombies for melee.

Preventing them from advancing = waste of ammo.
Flaming Arrow? (Compound Bow) = Steals zombie kills from traps.

[GDomo]

Use your normal attack to hit them on the head and knock them down. Then, use the power attack on their head when they are down. That'll do a ton of damage and often kills them. You can raise the perk than increase head strike damage, as that'll be the most beneficial.

Yet, you should keep your points for perception as you'll be using ranged weapons for the rest of the game once you find a good gun/bow and some ammo.