Is This Marine Melee Build Success?

[Samseng Yik]

So I start a run with melee build in mind plan to go toward Vampire.
And I almost completely didn't melee in my full run, save for a few encounter enemies come close to me.
Since early game is really dangerous with melee, I start with defensive perk 1st such as Tough as Nail and Hell Runner.
I use Assault Rifle in early game just play like the typical cover shooter. I stokepile Smoke Grenade just in case late game I going to melee in dangerous situation.
Europa business is more or less the same. Only different is if enemy really close to me then I just melee and kill it, or if they stand close together.
Got a Calamity end of Europa (Plasma version of Railgun), so I ditch rifle and use that.
Finish IO mostly by Calamity too.
Then Dante, then I notice I trained so much melee perk, time to use it on final boss.
Throw some gas grenade and smoke grenade because I got the helmet immune to poison.
Just stick to the boss and chainsaw it to death. Win.......

Have a feel that if I go with other perk may actually more successful just play the usual cover shooter

[eharper256]

I mean, the real way to play Vampyre is say screw it and go swingin' the moment you get Rip & Tear and a Combat Knife. It really is better than you think, knife easily one-shots most Callisto enemies if your Fury is maxxed. So long as you don't do silly stuff like charging into a crowd (spam the wait button and wait for enemies to come to you) its quite survivable.

Get Hellrunner, stack it with guard, upgrade to a Machete and then eventually an AV2 Katana and laugh as everything gibs around you and you end up with more health than you started with.

The only glaring weakness is your armour will be shredded up you get Vamp Lvl2, so carry Multitools to heal your armour, and get Tech Monitor on a Helm if possible.

[Vathek1]

^That sounds like a fun build... but how would you deal with bots and turrets if all you have is a machete or katana (slashing weapons)? I'm guessing that if you aren't playing Angel of Berserk, you'd want to carry a decent impact, or better yet, piercing weapon to handle mechanical enemies...

Or perhaps keep a stack of EMP and/or Krak grenades?

[harvell64]

I did a Full Clear over the weekend with a melee build. Admittedly, it was on easy, but eharper is right on all counts. Multitools are more valuable than gold, especially toward the end of Io. Be sure to remember to use your Adrenaline often to clear pain and top off your HP, and anything with Bloodrush is awesome for the big damage bump it gives. Hellrunner is invaluable, and the Swift mod is pretty crucial, too.

[eharper256]

I mean, Rip and Tear adds so much damage to high level blades that it often doesn't matter. But until you get a good Machete, you can usually find a Wrench on Callisto to go in Slot 2, and this has innate MechaBane.

Chainsaws also do Piercing if you want to go that route, but Machete and Katana have innate 20% Guard which helps alot (Guard is added to Dodge when you're in Range 4 of enemies).

[harvell64]

Originally posted by Vathek1:

^That sounds like a fun build... but how would you deal with bots and turrets if all you have is a machete or katana (slashing weapons)? I'm guessing that if you aren't playing Angel of Berserk, you'd want to carry a decent impact, or better yet, piercing weapon to handle mechanical enemies...

Or perhaps keep a stack of EMP and/or Krak grenades?

Honestly, mechanical enemies and turrets are no threat with good movement planning and high Dodge. Plus, after Vampyre 2, killing them repairs some Durability on your armor, so it generally makes up for it.

[Begemot]

Melee is awesome especially if you set it up like with a shotgun. Aggro enemies, run behind a corner, step back one tile so when an enemy comes, it will take only one turn to come close. Zombie marines, except CRI marines, can't even scratch you. Oh, and look in the Help section how to attack in melee without moving, I believe it's Shift+Attack combination.