Melee Weapons

I am at level 11 now and I have completely stopped with the melee weapons. I had once had my engineer carry one as apparently they were good with these things, but now, he is lagging behind because he can't get enough XP and I have switched him to a firearm. It just seems that, unless the melee weapon is insanely OP, they would be better off with a small pistol.

Do you guys still use melee weapons (You all seem to be extremely high levels so...)

All guns, unless I'm going achievement hunting in a low-mid level mission. Still, they've always been hitting pretty hard, and the dodge mechanic implemented in 1.03 makes them much more viable, not to mention the decrease in zombie damage. Only ever see them hit for single digits worth of damage now.

Tried melee several time. I agree, it is silent and powerful. I've also tried to use melee to sneak around high-level zombies, and it worked. Still, I think it safer to stand back and take no damage, instead of taking little damage.

I gave my Lv.13 engineer a Longarm and a police vest (+33% health), and then threw him in the middle of Lv.17 hordes. This guy can basically tank through the entire mission along with chunks of exp.

It decreases zombie damage?

Hmm, that may be good, i've got 2 medics and way too many fighters so while they are strong enough to hold back a majority of the zombies, any scratch made on my survivors can't be healed and sometimes it gets too much to handle. Might consider using them.

The problem is that they rarely get to fight as the guns keep picking off all the zombies before they get close. If I send out my melee to confront the zombies, they hog all the kills as well as all the damage.

TheASDF wrote:It decreases zombie damage?

No, Con reduced zombie damage in the 1.042 hotfix. Slightly boosted their health too, though.

Dodging means zombies can actually miss the survivors now, even the ones with guns. Before, they always hit if they managed to get close enough and weren't blasted away before they finished the swing. Also, melee weapons can knockback (not damage, only the target takes damage) multiple zombies at once, and they swing at the advertised rates now.

As for tactics, I would place your melee survivors where zombies will spot them, while placing the ranged survivors to cover them so they don't get swarmed. Keep in mind that your survivors aren't invulnerable, a swarm will still incap or badly maul them.

Yeah thats what I do but the AI's fight or fight response means that they will charge head first into everything. And I mean CHARGE. They get seperated easily and controlling survivors is not easy in this game.

TheASDF wrote:Yeah thats what I do but the AI's fight or fight response means that they will charge head first into everything. And I mean CHARGE. They get seperated easily and controlling survivors is not easy in this game.

I guess either move your gunners closer to them, or park the melee survivors in front of a zombie spawn. Less chance of them running off, in my experience. You could also keep your melee survivors in reserve and use them to peel off any zombies that get near your gunners.

I have only used melee weapons once for an achievement. Other than that, I avoid them.

Ecthel_013 wrote:

TheASDF wrote:Yeah thats what I do but the AI's fight or fight response means that they will charge head first into everything. And I mean CHARGE. They get seperated easily and controlling survivors is not easy in this game.

I guess either move your gunners closer to them, or park the melee survivors in front of a zombie spawn. Less chance of them running off, in my experience. You could also keep your melee survivors in reserve and use them to peel off any zombies that get near your gunners.

Yeah thats what I tend to do.

Mellee is usefull for getting you precious achievements, but since most melee weapons have low damage and also you can't hit multiple targets, theyre probably only good for low level raids, achievements small group silent looting etc.

Quotex wrote:Mellee is usefull for getting you precious achievements, but since most melee weapons have low damage and also you can't hit multiple targets, theyre probably only good for low level raids, achievements small group silent looting etc.

Silent looting? So like, a different compound or literally sneaking around zombies?

No, I don't use melee weapons anymore because I scavenged more effective fire arms who can kill zombies whitout getting a big chance your survivor getting hit.

Melee weapons useless if the rest of your survivors carrying fire arms.

TMZK wrote:No, I don't use melee weapons anymore because I scavenged more effective fire arms who can kill zombies whitout getting a big chance your survivor getting hit.

Melee weapons useless if the rest of your survivors carrying fire arms.

Thats the thing though, I have one guy who has this long range, high damage sword thing and it 1-hit kills almost everything. Its disadvantage is that its slow and hits only 1 target at a time but it makes the guy quite strong.

So melee weapons do have their advantages.

Waraddicts wrote:I gave my Lv.13 engineer a Longarm and a police vest (+33% health), and then threw him in the middle of Lv.17 hordes. This guy can basically tank through the entire mission along with chunks of exp.

IT true i do the same

Since the PVP and barricade update, I give my Engineer a higher level Melee weapon when I do a raid, other than that, I still stick to guns.

I stopped using melee weapons a while back. Around lvl 12-15, since I automate everything (for some reason I get better stuff off it). Melee is very silent, and attracts a few zombies, so if you want to be that quiet guy use them. Bear in mind though, you might need a medic or the best vest your survivor could use. Also... have one melee guy when raiding, very useful on structural damaging.