PC Melee combat and Spears are still broken

L

Lord_mareck

New member
So, for years i have been hammering on about more Melee weapons and a refinement of the combat system and it still sux.

And finally we see they add a few basic weapons like a spear. (pointy stick that mankind invented 130k years ago)

But the hold the character has on the spear is right below the tip. Making it a dagger.

So we gain no reach. its just a dull knife to stab people with.

And basic melee combat does not knock back a zombie an inch on a blow. so fighting a single zombie still comes to hit and run repeating across the map. A fighter needs to be able to stand his ground without moving his feet against a single zombie.

Fix the Spear hold. Primary hand should be in the middle of the Shaft for balance and reach on a shortspear.

Two handed hold should be third down for the secondary and primary should be another third below.

Add some swords, scrap axes and easy dismemberment. Give a guy a reason why Not to use a gun the hole time.

In the last few years we have been locked to same meta. Shooty with traps only.

 
So, for years i have been hammering on about more Melee weapons and a refinement of the combat system and it still sux. And finally we see they add a few basic weapons like a spear. (pointy stick that mankind invented 130k years ago)

But the hold the character has on the spear is right below the tip. Making it a dagger.

So we gain no reach. its just a dull knife to stab people with.

And basic melee combat does not knock back a zombie an inch on a blow. so fighting a single zombie still comes to hit and run repeating across the map. A fighter needs to be able to stand his ground without moving his feet against a single zombie.

Fix the Spear hold. Primary hand should be in the middle of the Shaft for balance and reach on a shortspear.

Two handed hold should be third down for the secondary and primary should be another third below.

Add some swords, scrap axes and easy dismemberment. Give a guy a reason why Not to use a gun the hole time.

In the last few years we have been locked to same meta. Shooty with traps only.
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well... I got to disagree. Last two alphas I was almost full melee with club/sledgehammer. If you want knockback, try swinging sledgehammer. ragdolling zombies is fun. Hitting them in kneecap with club is also entertaining.

Combine it with firearm and you are set.

Regarding the spear, I would say the range is quite large. Especially if you throw it

fo horde night I use bunker surrounded with electric fences which paralize zombies so I cave their skulls in with my baseball bat.

Melee combat is not perfect, but I would say its not terrible either

 
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Early game spears are very weak. Once you've thrown (heh) a few points into them, they start to pierce (heheh) through that muck. Just gotta poke around with their playstyle a bit is all. The range isn't actually as limited as you'd think, it just seems that way. Try slinging them a bit more often, knockdowns are pretty common, and you can retrieve them very easily from foes you've stuck.

 
In the last few years we have been locked to same meta. Shooty with traps only.
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I think we found the problem. Your lack of diversification comes from a long time tradition of bottle necking yourself.

 
Early game spears are very weak. Once you've thrown (heh) a few points into them, they start to pierce (heheh) through that muck. Just gotta poke around with their playstyle a bit is all. The range isn't actually as limited as you'd think, it just seems that way. Try slinging them a bit more often, knockdowns are pretty common, and you can retrieve them very easily from foes you've stuck.
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Rather just use a sledgehammer that does a ton of dmg on a normal swing and knocks down virtually everytime if it doesn't outright one shot them.

 
A18 represents a massive increase and improvement in melee content and we still get posts like OP. :jaded: The spear has the right range in actual play, although yes I guess cosmetically the hand is holding it too far forward. This is a minor gripe considering the now very respectable variety in melee weapons the game has and how different those melee weapons are. I've been playing this game since people had to make youtube videos to explain how to melee zombies, it was that difficult and unintuitive. Now it's extremely viable with the right build. I just did a horde night using mostly knuckles.

 
Spears are great EXCEPT that there's a chance that if you throw it and miss, it's just gone. Most of the time it glows red and you can pick it up but often it's *gone.* Which sucks when you made yourself a level 5 steel spear and loaded it with mods.

 
Spears are great EXCEPT that there's a chance that if you throw it and miss, it's just gone. Most of the time it glows red and you can pick it up but often it's *gone.* Which sucks when you made yourself a level 5 steel spear and loaded it with mods.
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Heh, lost a couple iron spears this way. But I think it actually despawned or fell through the map or something, onetime I looked around for a good 15 minutes.. I was determined to figure out if it was still somewhere to be found.

I probably would have tried the spear more if it wasnt for this. But kinda lost interest in it after that.

 
I only throw the my spear when there is no chance for it to fly off and get lost. So in general combat our in the open I only throw it as a finisher on a knocked down zombie. And throwing it works well for sneak attacks when clearing PoI's. Otherwise it doesn't get thrown. My only complaint about spears and knock down is that since stagger seems to be based on the zombie hitting specific hp %'s the low damage of low level stone and iron spears can make them challenging to use.

 
spear throwing along the 4 Cardinal Directions (towards north/south etc) zombies walk straight if you get them on the compass in a cardinal direction (I use spears as an opener before I use my fists, usually knocks first guy down or stuns them and my power punch knocks em)

 
I've actually only lost 1 spear and that was due to me not caring to grab it in a surprise rad/feral horde in a building I noped out of. Syn has the right idea. If I whiff a throw I always note the general direction / object it may or may not have hit, that way if I can't run right at it I can get my bearings and find it easy when I can. But generally I sprint past what I missed right to it and snag it -- if I cant, I always face the direction it's located.

 
Losing my spear is always a great moment. I've never blamed the game, nor the developers, nor any deity for that, but I curse every time the idiot sitting in front of the screen.

This is one of the benefits of schizophrenia: you're never alone.

 
I've actually only lost 1 spear and that was due to me not caring to grab it in a surprise rad/feral horde in a building I noped out of. Syn has the right idea. If I whiff a throw I always note the general direction / object it may or may not have hit, that way if I can't run right at it I can get my bearings and find it easy when I can. But generally I sprint past what I missed right to it and snag it -- if I cant, I always face the direction it's located.
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This was my first try with the spear, new game, first wandering horde on insane. It was my best weapon at the time and wanted to try it. Got distracted by a couple ragers and couldnt stop to find the spear until after the full horde was dead. Never did find it though.

I have used it a few times since then, but only starting out, messing around. Had a lot of restarts for this experimental.

 
As for the spear I prefer to stab a few times until the zombie knockdown effect, then sprint up while charging a throw, and throw it into the prone zombie. Near-guaranteed headshot after practicing a bit. The best part is it significantly reduces the chance of the spear flying off to disappear or such (my personal guess is that it is getting cleaned up in a garbage collection phase or something, but I have no insight into the specific workings of 7DtD so who knows).

As far as melee in general I’m digging the brawler style in general and the knuckles in particular. I’m now looking forward to a longer game so I can try adding shotgun options such as the breaching ammo (for doors and safes) as an alternative to lockpock points.

 
So far I am happy with melee, especially with the spear. Have put all points into maxing Lucky Looter and the spear gets interesting as a side effect. Good reach, I never throw it.

Brawling is fun too.

A fighter who stands nailed to the ground always loses, in game as in real life. Combat training involves a lot of footwork, even when using rifles you are thaught to never stay fixed. Shoot, change position.

 
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I like the spear but I can't use it because it's to easy to get lost. I was standing on a car and aimed down at a dog right below me and missed but the spear was gone. Too glitchy for me to devote any resources into modding it or building a better one.

 
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