Melee Viable on UV & NM?

[Casey]

Is melee viable on these difficulty statuses? I've tried the Tech melee builds and it's immensely satisfying, but even when decked out with awesome gear it just seems to get ground down over time and the 'Guard' doesn't seem to block near enough damage, and you take on a lot of armor wear and tear that needs repairing.

[Dervix]

It's definitely viable, however you'll have real issues vs Reavers until you find yourself a katana... Europa can be a nightmare.
Full melee builds are really powerful in the end-game, and each one plays a bit differently, so you may have limited success until you figure out the best tactics.

[Incognito]

Absolutely on UV at least. Beat a few UV challenges first try with melee. Probably good at gibbing on N! too, although Bladedancer not so much since it's two attacks. Some tips:

• Take levels in Hellrunner. Toxicologist is amazing (only needs the first level). Melee Marine with Running 3 is crazy, you keep going forever.
  
• Keep a knife around for killing bots. Marine and Scout (with stealth) can often one-shot them.
  
• If you're not playing AoB, consider keeping a gun around, it can still help.
  
• Bulk mod weapons for the +10 guard. Try to get the Guard Shield modifier (+1 range). You only need to do this with the first weapon with Bladedancer, but it's even more important.
  
• Extended fights are really bad. You rely on killing everything in 1-2 turns, pain accuracy loss will ruin you fast.
  
• Let enemies move into melee range. Run away, bait them and wait around corners. Be aware that waiting seems to take a full turn even if your move speed is faster so you might get meleed from a tile away if you're not careful.
  
• Use attack+move and standing attack smartly to avoid taking damage. For example, melee locking a group of formers or avoiding leap attacks from fiends/kerberi.
  
• Grenades are your best resource. Essential versus CRI bots and medusae. Hoard them, don't forget about them.
  
• Go to Mimir if it's available for an AV2 machete. You can kill all of the parked bots before they switch on (manual target them). Frozen Temple is good too, but the enemies aren't the easiest. Containment Area is a bit nasty but can be mitigated with grenades (smoke and get out of the middle ASAP). Shadow Halls is doable, you don't care about ammo, Cathedral spawns are close proximity and by that point in the game you should shred most things you can reach. Mephitic Mines is easy and profitable with Toxicologist.

[vic]

Originally posted by Incognito:

Be aware that waiting seems to take a full turn even if your move speed is faster

If it is, then it should be a bug. I think...

[Incognito]

It probably doesn't count as a move action. Would be interesting to see if stim buff speed lowers the wait time, I haven't paid attention to that.

Speaking of probable bugs, the heal reduction seen on some of the relics doesn't affect Adrenaline or Vampyre. Finding the reaver spleen that makes poison clouds on kill is basically a free win with Marine melee.

[Fenix-Venix]

On nightmare itcould be really difficult early on, as you will reliy on weapon only, as traits will be for melee, for Tech particularly.

[kotamine]

the issue is that you're trying it with tech, who has the worst melee build by far. it's much easier on marine and scout, but no matter the class, early on you want to avoid using melee until you invest enough traits in to make it reliable. with marine and scout that means a few levels in hellrunner, with tech that means juggernaut 3 and blademaster 3

[Casey]

Originally posted by kotamine:

the issue is that you're trying it with tech, who has the worst melee build by far. it's much easier on marine and scout, but no matter the class, early on you want to avoid using melee until you invest enough traits in to make it reliable. with marine and scout that means a few levels in hellrunner, with tech that means juggernaut 3 and blademaster 3

Yeah, part of this is that Tech is the only one I haven't bothered to play yet in general, so I'm trying to jam in a melee build at the same time heh.

[kotamine]

Originally posted by Casey:

Yeah, part of this is that Tech is the only one I haven't bothered to play yet in general, so I'm trying to jam in a melee build at the same time heh.

id recommend against it until you got him figured out. he's my favorite class, but his melee builds are unarguably the worst of the 3