PC Is Melee Dead? I think so...

With a proper spec, mods, and gear, melee is even viable for bloodmoon. I don't like grinding ammo so melee was the obvious choice for me...day 63 at level 149
Pffft. By day 63 your base should be handling the horde with no intervention from the player(s). Ours does. ;P

And no I will not be posting how it works either because TFP will alter the AI to screw us. Though I will say our design does NOT exploit the AI pathing other than assuming they will in general try to get to the player(s). It would passively murder an A16 horde just as efficiently as it does an A17 horde.

 
Have you tried... I don't know... actually getting decent weapon and melee perks? Coffee and beer or grain alkohol also makes it extremely easy as you just OHK everything.
Wait, can we drink grain alcohol again? I'll have to load up the game and check...

 
Out of my trio, my husband plays full-melee with a flaming sledgehammer. My friend and I both have flaming spiked clubs for emergencies, but the mods actually affect other people even if you have PVP off, so the sledgehammer's aoe stun hits us, and the armor shredding hits my husband, so basically the two of us stand back and range while the husband goes first with heavy armor and tanks while we shoot.

90% of the time, he doesn't need the backup and we're just looting. Watching him pinwheel and stun a load of radioactive ferals is hilarious.

 
Feral or irradiated bikers suck the big one. I hate them I hate them I hate them!!

-Morloc
Yeah same.

I'm not finding these guys fun.

When I was considering Modding in a High Tier set of weapons, these things put me over the top.

They are annoying.

If there was no regen I'd be okay....ish.

Lot's of Hp is annoying but you can eventually get there.

These things just keep going.

 
I'm pretty sure that's the main issue here. I mostly melee myself as I like it up close and personal and yet I truly don't understand what is the purpose of power attacks. The disadvantages outweigh the extra damage by a ton. It is also very easy to miss with - a slight FPS spike can do it.
Pretty much the only time I use power attack is against vultures, as they have a very funny death animation.
Purpose of power attack is when you get the right perk you do more damage with it and have a better chance to knock them back down. Unperked I'd probably not use it.

 
Yeah same.
I'm not finding these guys fun.

When I was considering Modding in a High Tier set of weapons, these things put me over the top.

They are annoying.

If there was no regen I'd be okay....ish.

Lot's of Hp is annoying but you can eventually get there.

These things just keep going.
Have you tried the radiation mod for your weapons? We load that up on everything, it makes a big difference imo

 
ive always thought melee in zombie games was.... lacking(with the exception of Dead Island/Dying light! the crafting system was great-- making zombies puke, bleed, burn, or zap to death was so much fun!).

i really feel we need a lil more diversity in melee weapons tho-- craftable crude spears(which should double as throwing javelins), different style swords(we have a damn forge and crucible! gimme my damn greatsword already! lol), modifyable brass(iron? steel?) knuckles, stackable throwing knives/shurikens/tomohawks, distractions(ex: CODZ monkey bombs, firecrackers, flashbangs)... hell, moddable golf clubs and baseball bats would be awesome lol. alot of these could be modded with the almost useless broken glass and some glue for bleed dmg. lead pipe+ cloth + gas would pass for an early game weapon. maybe akimbo bowie knives? that would 100% be a speed build waiting to happen lol.

dont get me wrong, i love how much theyve put in to this game and i know we've only hit the tip of the iceberg, content-wise.... but the FPS Holy Trinity (bashing, bullets, bombs) seems to lean away from the melee aspect somewhat around navezgane. maybe im just greedy 😁

 
I love melee in this game now. Honestly it gets too easy later on with the armor and damage perks, not to mention armor mods. You become a walking tank. Even the green zombies become easy.

Stamina becomes a non issue once you have perks too. Games gotta be hard somehow someway right now, until pimps dev the game some more.

The real issue I have with melee is the many somehow missed swings. Then other-times you can somehow hit them from like 10 ft away. It's pretty weird how that works, and until you learn how to roll with that, you'll probably get hit a lot.

 
Purpose of power attack is when you get the right perk you do more damage with it and have a better chance to knock them back down. Unperked I'd probably not use it.
I have those perks maxed and the extra damage is not nearly enough to justify stamina loss and ridiculous hit/miss mechanics.

 
Speaking as a person who is very unfit and overweight, i could swing a bat ALL DAY LONG, yet my character acts like he's just run an Olympic marathon from doing almost nothing.
Not even close. Unless you're conditioned,you cant swing the bat for more than an hour.. not hard at least.

Try doing that, then try connecting to something. Over and over again.

Just because you haven't adapted or dont want to or just simply cannot adapt doesnt mean the system is flawed. I have yet have an issue with stamina. Think the hunger could use a fix, but the stamina is fine.

Its different but i like it. Melee is VERY refreshing change of pace.

 
You're kidding right? This is a troll? Melee if anything is easier in A17 than it ever was before. I rarely even pull out the bow on non horde nights now. Just don't be a power attacking fool all the time and melee works just fine.

 
I have those perks maxed and the extra damage is not nearly enough to justify stamina loss and ridiculous hit/miss mechanics.
I can't speak to the damage part. I seem to notice it but I haven't been watching it closely.

The hit/miss has nothing to do with power attacks or the perk but your melee abilities overall.

 
Have you tried... I don't know... actually getting decent weapon and melee perks? Coffee and beer or grain alkohol also makes it extremely easy as you just OHK everything.
Have you tried to drink grain alkohol lately? You can't..

Like beer and coffee it is no longer worth the valuable inventory spot.

 
Have you tried to drink grain alkohol lately? You can't..
Like beer and coffee it is no longer worth the valuable inventory spot.
I've never drank grain alcohol in this game, because in the past, beer or even coffee worked a lot better. Now, beer buff only lasts about 30 seconds, but it regenerates your stamina three times faster. Coffee, lasts a lot longer, but the stamina regeneration buff it gives you is slower. I will say this, if under the influence of the coffee buff when using a power attack that disables stamina regeneration, you will still regenerate stamina because of the coffee. Not sure if beer will help regenerate stamina after a power attack, but both are still useful. I load a stack of both in my inventory before setting out to explore and loot POIs. Use coffee before going in, and switch to beer if I find I've got time and I'm in danger of running low on steam.

 
I've never drank grain alcohol in this game, because in the past, beer or even coffee worked a lot better. Now, beer buff only lasts about 30 seconds, but it regenerates your stamina three times faster. Coffee, lasts a lot longer, but the stamina regeneration buff it gives you is slower. I will say this, if under the influence of the coffee buff when using a power attack that disables stamina regeneration, you will still regenerate stamina because of the coffee. Not sure if beer will help regenerate stamina after a power attack, but both are still useful. I load a stack of both in my inventory before setting out to explore and loot POIs. Use coffee before going in, and switch to beer if I find I've got time and I'm in danger of running low on steam.
Grain alcohol lasted much longer than beer and coffee combined. It was used for taking long trips before getting the minibike.

Coffee: I don't notice enough of a boost for it to occupy a spot on my tool belt or my now very precious inventory.

Beer: Messes with your vision and doesn't last long enough to be worth a spot in my inventory.

Being that both stack at 15, you'll burn through them long before you get through most poi.

I'd rather use my space for extra bandages, barbed wire or spikes.

I throw beer out now like I used to throw out sham sandwiches.

Edit: Most drinks are worthless now. The few extra hydration points aren't worth the effort it takes to gather the items and make them. I've just been drinking water which is just as good but takes the fun out of farming imo.

 
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I've never drank grain alcohol in this game, because in the past, beer or even coffee worked a lot better. Now, beer buff only lasts about 30 seconds, but it regenerates your stamina three times faster. Coffee, lasts a lot longer, but the stamina regeneration buff it gives you is slower. I will say this, if under the influence of the coffee buff when using a power attack that disables stamina regeneration, you will still regenerate stamina because of the coffee. Not sure if beer will help regenerate stamina after a power attack, but both are still useful. I load a stack of both in my inventory before setting out to explore and loot POIs. Use coffee before going in, and switch to beer if I find I've got time and I'm in danger of running low on steam.

Grain alcohol was the best back when you could drink it. 2 would last longer than a full night and keep you capped on stamina. Beer/coffee were good too but neither lasted as long. I always had a stack of alcohol on my belt previous alphas.

Since a17 came out I have to keep a stack of coffee (once i get to farming) and a stack of yucca juice or red tea on the belt. But those dont do the job, they just help a bit for emergencies to buy you a little more time having stamina. Or if you have plenty to spare you can drink them constantly but still nowhere near the effectiveness.

Grain Alcohol also gave you the stun immunity of beer/ painkillers.

Beer was better because it didnt lower your max health, but if you were eating good foods alc didnt hurt you enough to make a difference. Also beer didnt last as long.

 
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Melee is awesome and is the best way to spare ammo. But yes, it needs some training and you have to build a melee character.

What Hek said. I would add melee is good until late game, then you need to hit every time (I use a sledge) against radiated or have the best heavy armor and every damage reduction/recovery perk there is. It's brutal but fun. :)

 
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I used to always use beer for stamina because early in the game I didn't want to deal with the downsides of coffee or grain alcohol, plus beer did the job just fine for me. Now I use coffee for long-term stamina regen and beer when I'm in combat for longer periods of time. I also keep barbed wire fencing on my toolbelt to slow 'em down so I can keep whacking away at the zeds. If I have to switch to my gun, the noise probably doesn't matter anymore as I'm already dealing with more zeds than can be dealt with using melee attacks. In those situations, even knocking down entire groups with each swing of the sledgehammer isn't enough to deal with a worse horde than you find yourself dealing with during horde nights.

Last night I did a horde night just standing out in the middle of a road. It was much, MUCH easier than what I've been dealing with in any POI. I noticed that the zombies that trickled to me during the blood moon seemed to do less damage when they hit me than when I get hit inside a POI. Could it be that a group of zombies not only get a buff to the damage they do to blocks, but also the player? I get hit by a zombie during horde night, it barely hurts me. I get hit by same kind of zombie, and irradiated one, inside a POI with his buddies nearby and I take what seems like twice as much damage. I'm playing the A17 stable build still, so hopefully if this is the case, it's fixed in later experimental builds or future stable releases.

 
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