Power Attack should be changed (opinion)

[Odetta]

Ok, so I tried a straight meathead melee build in my last game and I gotta say; it sucks butt. It's not the stamina, nor its killing power compared to a ranged build.

 

It's...

 

Horde Night.

 

Because doing a build like that you are limited to single target attacks only with cooldowns in the way of APS and stamina regen. Not to mention a very risky play style. Especially when ferals start spawning. Trying to stop a day 28+ horde with just melee is tedious, inefficient, and maybe suicidal. Which is not the case at all if you go ranged.

 

Solution:

Have the power attack be an AOE attack. Got five zombos in your face? Just power attack and knock em' down. Would be really useful in tight situations like being over run in a POI. Most importantly it would be a viable alternative on higher stage horde nights to a ranged build.

[SittingDuck]

die you try the sledge hammer? the skill says it gives you and aoe slam

[Odetta]

With the stamina cost of the ole' sledgey I'd be dead 30 secs in on high horde night. I believe it's only a knock down and does not doing any damage.

[HungryZombie]

I think I saw Madmole write recently that if you choose to only melee that's a choice to limit yourself. If you can pull it off great but if you can't it's on you. I'm paraphrasing of course.

[BobTheBard]

The main reason ranged is so much better than melee is simple, and it all comes down to use times. Simply put, weapon swings are slow in this game. Stamina can be negated eventually, it's possible to play perfectly and take no hits in melee, you can land every swing, etc etc, but you will never overcome the fact that guns are just faster and that matters a lot on horde night. This fact alone renders melee a supplemental combat skill for builders and crafters so they can fight while ranged is a primary combat skill for someone who wants to fight.

[LuckyStar]

With the stamina cost of the ole' sledgey I'd be dead 30 secs in on high horde night. I believe it's only a knock down and does not doing any damage.

 

Yeah it's not effective.

 

I get what TFP are doing with stamina but it severely limits the new combat mechanics.

 

Hopefully they make a few adjustments.

[Ghostlight]

Horde night is 2 to 4 hours out of every in-game week. And melee spec can still fire guns. For the remaining hours (most of the game, right) a melee build is far superior imo. You basically won't die. Sudden 8 Dog horde? Not an issue. Current playthrough on day 48 and I haven't died since week 1.

[zombo]

Why should melee be good on bloodmoons?

And guns are not great on BM either, who uses guns on BM? And bm's play at such low FPS it's hard to aim anyways.

 

Everyone just throws molotovs (or should). Vastly more exp and vastly more efficient, and costs very little to make. 20 molotovs for your first bm, and about 50 for the ones after.

 

 

Melee is fun, but wonky atm. Sometimes you hit from far away, othertimes you can't hit while close. Sometimes you get a head shot while not even aimed at it, othertimes your blade goes through their head but somehow misses... It's like playing morrowind all over again and feels like RNG and I kinda like that part of it, but yes it's wonky.

 

A reworking of melee is needed again, and this time it needs shields for lighter weapons like machete or clubs.

2h weapons like axe and sledge need to really ragdoll mobs back, but you sacrifice having a shield.

 

 

With perks melee is REALLY powerful though later game, and costs no ammo. The greens that spam in poi's are actually best taken on by a high lvl melee char imo.

[Aurelius]

I use guns on a blood moon.

 

Molotovs are great for killing things, but you don't get shared experience with them. Maybe that's been fixed in 17.1b9, but I doubt it.

 

-A

[Odetta]

Molotovs are great early game, but are nigh useless at higher game stages. It's like pouring a bucket of water in a volcano. 💩

[zombo]

Oh no shared? Glad to know that, is that an easy fix in one those xml's?

 

And to odetta-- I still get tons of xp using molotovs on the green hordes later on. The metal spikes soften them up, and quite often the fire does the kill and I reap the rewards. They are useless for the most part in poi's though in the later game, that's for sure.