Suggestions for a melee build?

[bookwormbabe29]

Topic. I did a mage in SR, decker/rigger for dragonfall, and going for melee here. My first thought is to do a physical adept unarmed, though the very first Katana I can buy already has higher damage than the fists I am specializing in. Is that normal? It might be better once I get cyberware (which I've read works well with adepts in this game? weird) but second guessing if I'm building this right now. Any tips would be welcome. Thank you for your time.

[lump0815]

Cyberware should work well due to cyberware affinity - which adds +2 essence down the line. Which lets you add cyber worth 2 essence w/o loosing any spell slots - wired reflexes for +1AP is sort of a must to me (costs 1,5), leaving you /w 0,5 essence for spurs/razors/shock hands (monofilament whip costs 2 essence, plus is a ranged atk).
(i guess only the shock hands qualify as "unarmed" tho - which is what you will want for best synergy /w Adept-skills).

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Ran a troll cyber-adapt myself as my first, using the spurs.

It's a bit annoying how a lot of your skills just exists in a vacuum from each other despite being all about hitting people close-up, but it ended up working quite well in the end. Had no trouble with the end-game and such.

Stride alone is a game-changer for a melee fighter, and magic resistence is really freakin' nice.

[Zadok]

Careful now: Cycberweapons have a rather limited compatibility with Qi abilities. I'd be inclined to consider those two different builds.

An unarmed Qi Adept has his main strength in his Killing Hands spell. Unactivated it's already good, activated it competes for highest damage. It is compatible with "unarmed weapons" (~knuckledusters), but not cyberweapons. Killing Hands are unlocked with Qi Casting 1. An unarmed adept doesn't have to go any deeper into Qi Casting. You could instead focus on Strength and Unarmed. It's not possible to max out Qi Casting and Strength and Close Combat and Unarmed. Sword adepts tend to skip on the Melee Weapons skill and replace it by Qi Casting (which unlocks armed special attacks among other things). Unarmed adepts can't use Qi for that - it just buffs them, but doesn't offer unarmed special attacks. Hence I'd personally get some ranks in Unarmed, while thinking twice before going deep into Qi. The build profits from many cyber options, though not cyberweapons. Wired Reflexes, +ST arms, armor, speedy legs: Lots of good options. Fist adepts are however highly dependent on the Killing Hands cooldown, so excessive cyberware (prolonging that CD) is questionable. If Qi is left at 1 this build ought to be easier to complete and offers more leeway than a sword adept (which is a very narrow specialist build). The CD dependence is the main downside.
Few people play fist adepts. I wouldn't call them "overpowered", but as far as theory goes they certainly look competitive.

Cyberweapons on the other hand have their main strength in the Cyber Affinity skill being used as a weapon skill (unlocking special attacks and crit). About any build is well adviced to level up that skill anyway, so using it as a weapon skill is a "free weapon skill" in a way. Thus you only need to worry about Strength and Close Combat.
It is a good melee option with high damage potential, though not the highest damage potential. It is rather cheap in karma due to the "free weapon skill", so it leaves room for some Jack of all Trades ventures. That's rare among melees: They tend to burn all their Karma on a narrow, offense-heavy build.
You could say this build is "incomplete" as its strength depends on how you use the extra karma you've got over other melees. Likely less damage, but a lot more versatility than other melees. It can be very strong - or just average.

In general any build can cope.
Besides that there's always one thing to mind: Hong Kong has you on a budget!
Take care how you spent your money. Doing runs "better" offers higher rewards ;)