Is Building Into Knives worth it?

[Jack The Ripper]

So I'm running mainly as an Archer but I like to have a backup weapon with it just being a knife

Is it fine to have a knife as a backup or should I spec into other one handed weapons because they are just that much better? I like the speed of the knife and how fast I can swing it along with its 4x Parry Bonus which I utilize a lot.

[Tonisaka]

The knife i like alot compare to other weapons, it has no speed penalty, and the smaller stamina usage allows you to be more nimble. I played with knife all the way to the endgame (Plains Biome), i think you made the right decision having the knife as a secondary weapon, as you stated your using Archery. The other choice i would suggest be the sledge Hammer, at crowd control.

[Draconifors]

I mainly use a bow, a knife, and a mace and it's working great. I always pair the melee weapons with a light shield I can parry with.

Knives' speed makes them really good despite the lower damage, and the bonuses from sneak and parry are awesome.

You will also want a blunt weapon (so a mace unless willing to go two-handed) for some enemies, such as pretty much everything in the swamp plus mountain golems.

[AugustusKron]

you're never going to gimp your character progression wise, so use whatever weapons you like

[Marty Chonks]

The only disadvantage to a knife is, it ain't that good against certain bosses (especially bonemass since you shouldn't have a sliver one at that time). Otherwise, the alternative attack is great (+ interesting/unique mechanic) and normal attacks have same or better dps than most other weapons out of the same material/biome. Black metal knife for example is absolutely on par with blackmetal sword, and you can kill singular or spread out trash mobs often a lot faster cuz it swings super fast. And if you can land a sneak alternative attack on an unsuspecting foe it does a really big amount of damage (like 80% of lox hp gone with black knife and decent skill in knifes).

[blankitosonic]

Nah , a sword has better uses than a knife as a back up weapon , better damage with second attack and stagger combo
Sometimes landing the knife second attack can be tricky or troll , or not land even if you are just in the enemy's back ( happen a lot with lox )
My back up weapon tier is :
Sword
Blunt
Spear ( stagg >throw > meele combo ftw )
Knives

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by Marty Chonks:

The only disadvantage to a knife is, it ain't that good against certain bosses (especially bonemass since you shouldn't have a sliver one at that time). Otherwise, the alternative attack is great (+ interesting/unique mechanic) and normal attacks have same or better dps than most other weapons out of the same material/biome. Black metal knife for example is absolutely on par with blackmetal sword, and you can kill singular or spread out trash mobs often a lot faster cuz it swings super fast. And if you can land a sneak alternative attack on an unsuspecting foe it does a really big amount of damage (like 80% of lox hp gone with black knife and decent skill in knifes).

the thing with Bonemass though, or any mob in the swamp for that matter, is they are weak to Blunt damage, so Slash damage will do very minimal damage to him. mace or stagbreaker should really be your go to for the swamps. i tried a few times with edged weapons, it makes running the swamps twice as hard, or rather makes you spend a lot more time there than you normally would have.

[jjones_50]

Use them to save movement speed when running.

Also sometimes use special attack.

When not running switch weapons to something else mostly.

[Crom]

yes

[luponix]

knives can not replace a melee weapon. if you are looking for the best allrounder melee weapon just build a mace as a lot of the annoying enemies are weak to blunt and it scales very well into late game options like the porcupine and sledgehammer, frostner. blunt is also good as it counteracts the dependence on pierce from the bow. since no matter how much i love the bow its effectiveness falls off in the later stages even with maxed upgrades and high skill values

[Draconifors]

I upgraded from the abyssal razor to a silver knife yesterday, making it level 4 right off the bat. I can now one-shot wolves after parrying them if RNG rolls a high damage number, which is extremely useful in the mountains.

I don't know about Plains yet, but other than that and those enemies that really require a blunt weapon, a knife with a light shield absolutely is viable throughout the game. The speed of attacks is invaluable and you can even stagger-lock enemies.

I don't see why I wouldn't be able to handle Plains enemies with a knife or bow. I already know a bow is very good there and that the mosquitoes are easy enough to parry.

[ajohnemus]

You’ll want to use most types of weapons. Bronze axe will get you far but you should really have slashing blunt and piercing for the random enemies in the games with resistances/weaknesses to them.

Copper dagger is pretty good but I prefer leaving the inventory slot open and just using a bronze axe until I get to the swamp

[blankitosonic]

Originally posted by Draconifors:

I upgraded from the abyssal razor to a silver knife yesterday, making it level 4 right off the bat. I can now one-shot wolves after parrying them if RNG rolls a high damage number, which is extremely useful in the mountains.

I don't know about Plains yet, but other than that and those enemies that really require a blunt weapon, a knife with a light shield absolutely is viable throughout the game. The speed of attacks is invaluable and you can even stagger-lock enemies.

I don't see why I wouldn't be able to handle Plains enemies with a knife or bow. I already know a bow is very good there and that the mosquitoes are easy enough to parry.

A sword make that same job but with a lot more damage

[Draconifors]

Originally posted by blankitosonic:

Originally posted by Draconifors:

I upgraded from the abyssal razor to a silver knife yesterday, making it level 4 right off the bat. I can now one-shot wolves after parrying them if RNG rolls a high damage number, which is extremely useful in the mountains.

I don't know about Plains yet, but other than that and those enemies that really require a blunt weapon, a knife with a light shield absolutely is viable throughout the game. The speed of attacks is invaluable and you can even stagger-lock enemies.

I don't see why I wouldn't be able to handle Plains enemies with a knife or bow. I already know a bow is very good there and that the mosquitoes are easy enough to parry.

A sword make that same job but with a lot more damage

Speed. Parry and sneak bonuses. The whole point of knives...

[pipo.p]

I don't know for other biomes and techs, but in Black Forest, T3 flint knife is OP against any Greydwarf but brutes and two-starred. It spams staggering attacks that don't cost much of stamina.

[blankitosonic]

Originally posted by Draconifors:

Originally posted by blankitosonic:

A sword make that same job but with a lot more damage

Speed. Parry and sneak bonuses. The whole point of knives...

The leap attack its pretty random to land in sneak attacks , happens me that fails even if i land sticked in a lox butt lol , ever worst if i try in a parry attack whete the enemy is still moving slowly

Sword seconday attack have the same launch speed as the leap and its literally a silent stab almost imposible to fail in a close enemy ( i cant say the same with the knife jump :) )

Lets see numbers :
Blackmetal knife jump makes 111 x2 ( slash and pierce ) with a mult. of x6 on parry or sneak = 1332 in a mob with no resistances , can be less if have one of both resistances
Black metal sword stab makes 339 slash damage with a mult of x3 on parry or sneak = 1017 , a little less but a secure one shot hit in so much monsters , the jumo can fail sometimes and eats a lot of stamina as i remember
And for normal hits , combos and stagg damage the sword make a lot more damage , dagger just have more attack speed in the first hit but the same in the second and third attack as the sword , but has a really weak range comparing with the sword