Any good melee build recommendations?

[Valorel]

Exactly what it says on the tin. Wondering if there's any good builds people know.

What secondary skills melee pairs of well with?
Thanks!

[Heau]

brawler > melee(sword) > melee(blunt) just because of higher frequency of AoE stun (strike ability).

str > speed ~> coord > int
awareness 1, charisma...I usually play 2 but you can go a few more luck... 1 or 2. Strike availibility increase from charisma is nice but it comes at the cost of top end dmg in the late game through max int. And for brawlers anyway, once you hit brawler 10 perk, you get 1 strike per turn more or less even with low charisma.

Mechanics is far and away the best skill on a highly mobile melee. I prefer it on brawler because they are very weak early and there's always a turret to overcharge from a generator that are hard to deal with early because of lack of energy weapons. A few points in medic too. Besides that, nothing screams melee. I'm sure some people will way nerd stuff for robot control but I prefer it on a ranged unit. I generally just give them hard ass / kiss ass, so that they have enough perks to grab most of the generic perks like 35 hp, 5% evasion, etc. They'll be taking the most lead so any extra layer of protection helps avoid the dreaded res-chain fights. Plus, for brawlers at least, you want to hit brawling 10 ASAP so having a 3rd skill that you can forego early with limited opportunity cost for doing so is ideal.

I find the most impactful decision with melee builds is cyborg tech from the commune for Nociception clamps.

For Melee(sword), Toaster is pretty nice. The Steeltown blade will last you until you can mod a 2nd chainsaw sword in the late game and it's available reasonably early.

I always cap my builds with either weird science or explosives for 4th skill up based on what I plan to mod.

If you save scum chests or systematically turn in the slave girl to La Perla, consider making either build your weird science main (i.e. leveled as one of 3 main skills). The Cryo capsule is pretty cheap, available, early and is outright broken on power gauntlets from La Perla. I forget if you can get a chainsaw from the daughter's bedroom safe or if it caps out to lvl 21 weapons.

And frankly, consider playing 2-3 melee (or 2+ a dedicated healer). Managing revives when the entire team is 8-12 AP away from a body is painful so single melee comps feel rather bad.

If you are dead set on playing melee and not brawler, I'd recommend against the +2 skillcheck option. The melee book is availibile only very late and it forces you to dump 6 skill points on it and possibly respec later to recover the points because otherwise you won't be able to equip the end game weapons you find early.