Melee vs martial arts?

[brad]

How does the scaling compare in late game? Are there enough fist weapons to keep martial arts relevant?

[UIfix]

I haven't finish the game, but I'd say melee is better.

[Naqel]

Melee is better once you get some proper weapons, and more flexible for various Dexterity levels.

Unarmed starts naturally high, and it is a lot more reliable in terms of the minimum damage, and is very eco-friendly, so it makes for a good backup skill.

[Ienjoyvidyagames]

Melee. I based my character around both but unarmed did good damage until I got my hands on a shiv, which attacks for 2 AP so you can spam people to death.

Eventually I found a much better knife which costs 3 AP and the prybar which costs 5. I prefer the knife even though the prybar has 1 more max damage.

I've still yet to find a fist weapon and I've killed at least a dozen caravans and visited many traders.

A cool trick if your character has a lot of AP. If you fight an opponent who uses a prybar, punch them in melee range, then run backwards. The enemy needs at least 5 to attack, so they'll end up wasting their turns with movement and then you can kill them at minimal risk.

This only works for enemies who use costly attacks and have lower AP though. My character has 10 AP, 9 when fully armored up.

[Skaldy]

depends on what/who you are fighting and how is your build. Generally tank build with good armor/dodge can take out 3 armed thugs on his own but you gonna need help for special enemies so lone wolf is not an option for melee/martial based builds.

On second thought if you get throwing skill as a back up you can actually inflict much damage and do crowd control plus crossbow(which can be upgraded and use armor piercing bolts) you can do a solid monk run even unarmored but you have to spec your char according to that cause martial arts weapons are limited so you gonna have to rely on knock down/armor piercing martial perks.

Now for melee, it is a good back up skill and bullet saver for fire arms builds. Shot someone two times and he is almost dead? Go knife him to death. You dont need to even use perk points if you are not focusing on melee but if you are make sure you do. There are plenty of melee weapons each has it's own trait(knock down and stuff like that). Generally stuff you can stab costs less ap mean while blunt weapons has knock down chance hence cost much more AP.

Also mind you enemies get heavier gear when you go further so after some point you wont be able to use melee weapons. And certain enemies needs targeted shots. Bears for example. Or some mutated creatures. They have solid body armor values.

I have talked about this before but here we go again. Dont focus on 2-3 skills. spread them whenever you can. Choose a RPG style build the basic parts of the char and develop as your needs grow.