Which melee weapon is your favorite?

[Sjustus548]

I've been trying to use more melee weapons with A20 and I'm trying to decide which is my favorite.  I would say that listing the melee weapons from best to worst would be Knuckles, Clubs, Sledgehammers, Stun Batons, Spears, and Knives.  We all know why Knuckles, Clubs and Sledges are great.  I really like the idea of the Stun Baton but compared to the Strength and Fortitude weapons it is very lack luster.  To make it really good you need to have the magazines, craft the mod for it, and eat the candy that increases the area that the stun effects.  If all that lines up the Stun Baton becomes fun to use but still feels weak.  I've tried to use the spears but even with max points they still just didn't feel worth it.  The throwing was just a way for me to constantly lose my spears.  The Knives should only really be used to harvest meat.  Just feel way too weak.  I'm currently using the Knuckles and absolutely love them.  Just feels great downing a beer and smacking the zombies around on horde night lol.  How do you feel about the melee weapons and which is your favorite to use?

[Schwa]

I'm a big fan of clubs. I run a primarily strength build and try to learn the full batter up magazine tree as fast as possible. Get that stamina recovery for killing with power hits.

[Pernicious]

I actually like sledges the best:

 

1) Early on, a power attack to the head is enough to take out all zombies in a single hit - even the tougher ones.

2) Mid game, with the right perks, normal attacks take out normal zombies, and are essentially free stamina wise, and power attacks  can one hit ferrals - also close to free.

3) Horde night, you can crowd control fairly well, even if not predictably - (Hitting the primary usually means knocking down those around them.)

 

Clubs with the right mods can be more effective at crowd control, but I really like one hit kills.

[bloodmoth13]

I really like spears for their reach, the power attack though is very awkward. I'd like tapping right click to do a regular power attack that doesn't drop your weapon while charging it will throw it.

Fists are great, been ages since I used sledges, knives felt weak when using them and stun baton feels useless without the lightning but fully modded is absolutely insane.

Haven't ever done clubs, I know they are good but I just don't care for them, will try them one day though...

[Sjustus548]

1 hour ago, Schwa said:

I'm a big fan of clubs. I run a primarily strength build and try to learn the full batter up magazine tree as fast as possible. Get that stamina recovery for killing with power hits.

I used to solely use the Baseball Bat, I would wait as long as I could to switch to the Steel Club because the Baseball Bat was so much fun to use.  

 

59 minutes ago, Pernicious said:

I actually like sledges the best:

 

1) Early on, a power attack to the head is enough to take out all zombies in a single hit - even the tougher ones.

2) Mid game, with the right perks, normal attacks take out normal zombies, and are essentially free stamina wise, and power attacks  can one hit ferrals - also close to free.

3) Horde night, you can crowd control fairly well, even if not predictably - (Hitting the primary usually means knocking down those around them.)

 

Clubs with the right mods can be more effective at crowd control, but I really like one hit kills.

I've never given sledges that big of a chance now that I think about it.  I've started using them but always switch out to clubs with my strength builds.  Next time I go strength I'm going to have to strictly use them and see how it feels.

[pahbi]

Baseball bat, then when I have the skill points + the recipie, steel knuckles

 

 

[BarryTGash]

Baseball bat is too satisfying to switch up to steel club.

 

[BFT2020]

Knives

 

I will use all of the other melee weapons, but I just like the way you have to fight with knives to be effective.

[OneManStanding]

I'm drawn between baseball bats and spears. Head explosions with a tap from a bat are quite common, I prefer the bat to any of the other type of club. But I also love throwing spears - one hit kill to the head in many if not most cases, and on occasion the head explodes too. Only problem is when my spear glitches and vanishes after throwing it. I suppose it falls through the map or something. Lost some pretty nice spears that way   

[Ramethzer0]

Knife.

 

Knife.

 

Knife.

 

I am like Chucky from Child's Play up in this biot.  EDIT:  Runners up include the Baseball Bat, and the Stone Sledgie.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Ramethzer0 (see edit history)

[Urban Blackbear]

I play on Nomad but the knife is my new favorite go to when I'm not playing a Perception build. I tried fistwraps but early game it is awful. Spears are still my favorite but I don't like how they're lacking a power attack that doesn't hurl them away.

[Darklegend222]

I like sledgehammers since they've got a very nice starting percentage to remove heads. Though they take a lot more precision and timing early game to prevent wasting stamina. Like standing around while a zombie is standing up so I can conserve that much more stamina even if they have one more hit left.

 

I've never used clubs but I know that with all the mods installed they can become godlike for knocking down enemies without using too much stamina. They're also a really nice balance between knuckles and sledgehammers.

 

I absolutely love knuckles despite them not being perfect for later difficulties unless you have a nice farm for hops and a constant in-flux of brawling/melee buffs around. They're perfect in my opinion for Middle difficulties like nomad or warrior. I've used them extensively on survivalist but it never felt right.

 

I've heard nothing but good things about knives they just don't fit my playstyle the same with stun batons. The trade-off with stun batons is that your also supposed to be throwing down junk turrets for extra crowd control.

[PoloPoPo]

I have tried to stick to a certain melee weapon per savegame so many times just for the sake of trying something different from time to time. But no matter what, I always end up committing 100 % to either clubs or sledgehammers in the end for obvious reasons. They are by far superior and usually my difficulty settings don't allow me to play with weaker weapons like knives.

 

End-game steel knuckles with skill points invested are very strong as well but I don't like playing around with weak leather wraps or brass knuckles until you get to the fun stuff.

[Jason Tamosiunis]

R6 steel club

[Outlaw_187]

I've never played with the stun baton or knuckle wraps/brass knucks/etc. So I can't speak too much on these. 

 

Personally I like the axes or machete just for the simple fact they are multi use as weapons & tools, so saves on inventory slots. 

 

Im not a fan of sledge's, too much stamina drainage, especially early game. Even late game it can put you in some dicey situations once again regarding stamina. Seen in happen numerous times to Glock9, Guns, Nerds, & Steel, & Gamez4kicks (when he actually plays a series long enough).

[ZOOT]

I'm a fan of Steel Knuckles and Stun Batons.  What mods would you recommend for each?  I have the Stun Repulsor Mod on my Stun Baton and have not crafted anything yet for my Steel Knuckles...need more Forged Steel.

[Viktoriusiii]

Machete is without a doubt the strongest weapon on the hardest difficulties.
The safest one is a fully upgraded stunbaton (AoE stun and every stun ragdolls)

[A Nice Cup of Tea]

Stun Baton with the booster mod that I forget the name of.

 

It's by no means the most effective weapon, in fact it's one of the weaker ones, but it's so much fun.

[ChickenWings]

Clubs for me, then lots of times if a zombie gets knocked down I'll switch to a knife and stab him a few times to get him bleeding, back to the club when he stands up.

I'll use a wooden club for a long time, nice and fast to repair and takes some good mods.  But there's nothing like the sound of a solid hit with a baseball bat 🙂

Steel club with mods and perks is a force to be reckoned with.

 

Batons feel a little weak to me as well, sledge kinda slow and lots of stamina.  But I know it's a good weapon.   I should try out the knuckles more and see how they work.  Spears were ok but I always ended up going back to clubs.  Knife alone with perks is fun as well, you can get them bleeding and they fall over dead, just takes a little time and space.  In 19 I would count the hits and run away, knowing they would be dead.  Just like the 5 point palm exploding heart technique 🙂

[ElDudorino]

4 hours ago, Viktoriusiii said:

Machete is without a doubt the strongest weapon on the hardest difficulties.

What makes them so strong? The base damage seems a bit low compared to clubs, and I've never seen the point of bleed since I'm trying to drop enemies fast.

 

I've tried a sledge but fell back to clubs because they're just so good. High damage, high knockdown, kinda fast, easy to use attacks, and reasonable stamina usage. Plus killing with the bat is just really stylish, especially with visible mods.

[Viktoriusiii]

On harder difficulties you can not "drop enemies fast".
This, coupled with the high atkspeed makes this awesome.

Every hit slows them, applies bleed and on crits you instakill them even on higher difficulties.
Also it gains sneakdmg multiplier, but since stealth is currently broken that doesn'T factor in.

I am not 100% sure about basedmg, but a machete felt a lot more useful than a baseballbat at a comparable level.
Fast atk, slowdown, dot, crit, and stealth make it my prefered (close range) weapon lategame. If I discard the perfect stunbaton.

[ElDudorino]

24 minutes ago, Viktoriusiii said:

On harder difficulties you can not "drop enemies fast".

I had a brain fart and even though you said hardest difficulties before, for some reason I interpreted it as T5 PoIs and/or endgame zombies.

 

I've heard that Insane mode is just Bullet Sponge Central so I haven't even considered it for an instant 😐

 

(About bats vs machetes, I think the base damage is equivalent but bats have another tier above them in the form of the steel club, so basically the strongest blade is in the range of the second-strongest club for base damage.)

Edited February 4, 2022 by ElDudorino (see edit history)

[Viktoriusiii]

1 hour ago, ElDudorino said:

I had a brain fart and even though you said hardest difficulties before, for some reason I interpreted it as T5 PoIs and/or endgame zombies.

 

I've heard that Insane mode is just Bullet Sponge Central so I haven't even considered it for an instant 😐

 

(About bats vs machetes, I think the base damage is equivalent but bats have another tier above them in the form of the steel club, so basically the strongest blade is in the range of the second-strongest club for base damage.)

 

If you increase spawn up to 4 times, make them jog or even sprint on daytimes and feral at night...

Trust me. Those "bulletsponges" are more than just sponges
You want to avoid them if possible. A quick atk that takes basicially no stamina and deals dmg and slows while you run away is perfect

 

I see. Well I do think the higher atkspeed + lower staminacost should make them equal.

But everything below machete is bad because of the low range and speed as well as dmg

[ElCabong]

Baseball bat. There are other clubs that are better and I never got very interested in clubs until the baseball bat was introduced into the game. A club is essential at the start of the game and the best way to deal with some problems like buzzards. But I didn't like it and rarely used it unless I had to. I played baseball when I was a kid.

 

I find it very therapeutic to walk around clubbing zombies in the head with a baseball bat after coming home from work.

[Vaeliorin]

Generally clubs.  I'm okay with knives, fists or spears, but I can't stand the sledgehammer or stun baton.  For the sledgehammer, I've always hated slow weapons (never used any of the strength weapons in Dark Souls because of that), and for the stun baton...maybe I was just using it wrong, but when I tried it fully perked (literally every perk maxed in the entire game), full books, full mods, etc. I just found that it didn't kill quick enough to give me back the stamina from flurry/sex rex, so I was always without stamina.  Granted, I was using it super late game against mobs of radiated bikers and such, so maybe that was the problem, but I wasn't impressed.