About a21 melee choices.

[fragtzack]

Sure, spear is the new sexy. Everyone seems to be going the spear route.

 

So I decided to go blades. Go to say, wow. Blades are probably OP now. Even the bone shank turns into a terror with  a little AGI build.

[Gideon]

My wife is a big fan of crushing skulls with blunt objects.

 

For me, I only go spears because I'm in that attribute for explosives and animal tracking anyways.

[canadianbluebeer]

I likes to AXE them questions. 

 

(flaming clubs are fun too though. heh.)

 

[BFT2020]

As a primary blade user, they always been strong.....as long as you play smart with them.  Don't go into a fight expecting them to be the same as clubs  😉

[Ramethzer0]

38 minutes ago, fragtzack said:

Sure, spear is the new sexy. Everyone seems to be going the spear route.

 

So I decided to go blades. Go to say, wow. Blades are probably OP now. Even the bone shank turns into a terror with  a little AGI build.

 

I wouldn't go so far to say as its the new Sexy.   It seems very popular right now, because streamers and the like have hyped it up.  It's received some love, but because of its animation, you gotta be extra precise with how you strike with it.   I've whiffed more with the spear now, than I ever have previously.    I'm not saying this is imbalanced, but the feel of the gameplay has only just been altered, I don't consider it better as a singular weapon, nor do I consider it superior to others.   I am a fan of its ability to cause more knockdown, and in a pinch can also be used as a (albeit less) flesh harvesting tool.

 

In fact, after some testing with all the melee weapons, they all FEEL buffed, but I am also experiencing how the new perks engage alongside their respective perks and magazine changes.  The jury is still out on the subject of weapon superiority to me. I remain confident that there is no king of the melee, only that each weapon still retains the spirit of its advantage, with Batons and Spears feeling a little more user friendly.    The robotic sledge turret is still underwhelming (and the reason for their nerf is quite deserved) but I'd like to see it do more when wielded instead of placed, which could be a coding nightmare for all I know.

 

On a semi-related note, my GF just got into knuckle weapons after being a long time AGI build fanatic and she's having the time of her life as a Pugilist Tank.

[Vaeliorin]

I've started three worlds now.  First I was a spear build, which I really enjoyed, but I started over for b317.  Then I played a baton build, which felt really awkward.  The insane crafting costs of the robotic turrets (10 duct tape per tier) caused me to drop that playthrough, as I felt like I needed the turret support and it just wasn't particularly fun for me (though it was amusing having the stun repulsor mod and sending a zombies body flying while their head dropped straight down when you decapitated them.)

 

Now I'm playing a fist build, and it's really fun.  I had tried fists before and hated it, but for some reason it feels a lot more fun now.  Admittedly, I think a part of it may be the dismemberment system.  There's just something amusing about punching a zombies head off.

[Auger]

Honestly for anyone playing on default setting nearly every melee choice is doable.  

 

I'm doing a mining build with points in motherlode and  miner69er and the fire axe just annihilates everything.

 

I've tried spears, club , baton and they all seem to work great

Edited June 20, 2023 by Auger
Typo (see edit history)

[hiemfire]

13 minutes ago, Auger said:

fire axe just annihilates everything.

Don't put the fireman's ax tool mod you learn from the fire fighting magazine set (if it is still in the game) on an ax you intend to use against enemies. It drastically nerfs the damage to non-block targets to compensate for the hefty buff it gives to taking out wood. Without that mod the ax can hold its own alongside the "actual" melee weapons.

Edited June 20, 2023 by hiemfire (see edit history)

[Khalagar]

1 hour ago, Vaeliorin said:

hen I played a baton build, which felt really awkward.  The insane crafting costs of the robotic turrets (10 duct tape per tier) caused me to drop that playthrough, as I felt like I needed the turret support and it just wasn't particularly fun for me (though it was amusing having the stun repulsor mod and sending a zombies body flying while their head dropped straight down when you decapitated them.)

 

Yep doing a baton build atm, and junk turrets are so nerfed that I haven't even really used them. They cost so much to use, and the ranged ones need lead for some reason.

 

Really hoping int gets some more love. Baton itself is okayish, but then it doesn't have a late game variant which sucks. Int is missing it's early ranged weapon, it's late ranged weapon, and it's late melee weapon which feels pretty bad

[theFlu]

1 hour ago, Khalagar said:

Yep doing a baton build atm, and junk turrets are so nerfed that I haven't even really used them. They cost so much to use, and the ranged ones need lead for some reason.

I'm doing an INT build atm.. I wouldn't say it's bad. The junk turret at 5/5 skills absolutely rips thru anything.. several anythings if not poorly placed. I have the skill to use two, but I just toss a sledge behind the shooter to keep any passers-by in the firing area. Had to mine thru a night for ammo by day 21 so ye, the ammo cost is pretty harsh. Also mined for another night, but I haven't touched that ammo yet.

 

As it seems that POI design is now full of pincer-move-spawns (blocking your retreat by spawning stuff in after you checked..), I've been sorta grateful to have something watching my rear - or rather, have the turrets take out the "main" spawn while gunning down the rear myself. Would've quit by the end of tier 3 quests otherwise.

 

The turrets have managed almost all large fights entirely on their own, with the random single zed getting past them. Not that I've tried a hospital roof yet, but T3 infections have been e-z.

 

Now I'd just like to have my character stay on the world for the D21 horde ... damn toon thinks she's a ghost and keeps trying to phase thru to bedrock

[Slingblade2040]

Went with a tool man build. Even on warrior difficulty the shovel was a nice weapon until iron fire axe became available and now with a quality 5 steel axe its ridiculous to 1 shot some zombies. Also since it's full investment into miner 69er that means crazy fast progress for tools so now on day 7  quality 3 auger is unlocked.

 

I can see this whole magazine nonsense getting a rework or them hitting the tools with a massive nerf to damage.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Slingblade2040 (see edit history)

[Khalagar]

4 hours ago, theFlu said:

Had to mine thru a night for ammo by day 21 so ye, the ammo cost is pretty harsh.

 

This is the main problem with the junk turrets, their ammo burn rate is absolutely insane. I haven't tested it in A21 yet, but in A20 I did several runs through the T5 Shotgun Messiah with various weapons to compare ammo usage.

 

Something like the Auto shotgun would clear it far easier, faster, and cheaper and most of the time you would use like 60-100 shotgun shells and *come out with more shells than you went in with*.  Where as with the robotic turret I'd burn over 12,000 to 15,000+ ammo on a single run. With the turrets taking lead now, it's even worse, because that lead could be used directly for other bullets.

 

Rather than the turrets being a cheaper option to use than guns, they are actually more expensive than the M60 to run and will drain you of resources way faster lol

[Ramethzer0]

1 hour ago, Khalagar said:

 

Rather than the turrets being a cheaper option to use than guns, they are actually more expensive than the M60 to run and will drain you of resources way faster lol

If you think just having 2 junk turrets is bad, wait till you start running 4 or 6 concurrently.   I've played MP horde nights where 3 of us were doing it.

I'll stop to reload the first two and the next two just pick up where the first ones left off.   The final two I'll have parked a short distance away so when I change position those two will engage.  Lather, rinse, repeat, easy, holy-crap-how-did-i-just-go-through-16-boxes-of-ammo!?!?!

Edited June 21, 2023 by Ramethzer0 (see edit history)

[Riamus]

2 hours ago, Ramethzer0 said:

If you think just having 2 junk turrets is bad, wait till you start running 4 or 6 concurrently.   I've played MP horde nights where 3 of us were doing it.

I'll stop to reload the first two and the next two just pick up where the first ones left off.   The final two I'll have parked a short distance away so when I change position those two will engage.  Lather, rinse, repeat, easy, holy-crap-how-did-i-just-go-through-16-boxes-of-ammo!?!?!

Lol.  I just place 2 (usually only 1 until I can use 2 simultaneously) and once they run out, they are out.  I don't refill them during blood moon.  I have other turrets and traps that take the brunt of the attack.  The junk turrets are more for sniping vultures, though since you can't really aim them, they do tend to shoot everything.  Having the drum mod on them helps them stay running longer but they'll still run out long before horde night ends.

[Kazgrel]

While the spear is (rightfully) the new hotness, A21 has made the Fortitude fist weapon brawler playstyle absolutely bonkers.  Being able to simply dump all your points into fort without picking up strength for sex rex and agi for flurry has benefitted this build more than any other.  Couple that with the easier access to consumables (Moonshine in particular) and I've spent the last 2-3 bloodmoons on my friend's server drunker than @%$# and fistfighting the entire horde in the entrance to a Town Hall POI.

Personally hope they don't nerf the availability of consumables because it lets the fortitude tree (moon)shine.

When A21 goes stable and we start over, I'll either try out spears or go agility, since I'm certain at least 1-2 of my friends want to do drunken brawling like I have so far in A21.

[Khalagar]

Yeah my friend is a literal raid boss atm with brawler build. Insane health regen + healing on every hit + beer and skull crushers and health bar candy etc make the knuckles absolutely ludicrous

 

I literally just run to him when there's more than like 2 or 3 zombies because he can just face tank them on the second hardest difficulty. I hide behind him with my stun baton and just play support while he hulk smashes as the main character haha

[Genma]

I like the new changes to spears, that have a bit more range and are decent to handle. But they should have much better bleed statistic and benefit from deep cuts. They are quite literally designed to bleed things out!

[Euzio]

7 hours ago, Genma said:

I like the new changes to spears, that have a bit more range and are decent to handle. But they should have much better bleed statistic and benefit from deep cuts. They are quite literally designed to bleed things out!

I think Spears are fine the way they are now. If they benefited from Deep Cuts, they'd be significantly even more OP and Blades would just lose out from having their core benefit being gifted to other specs. 

The Spear already has the benefit of being able to penetrate targets and its really strong too.