Melee weapons (skill)

This article is about a skill. For a class of weapons, see Melee weapons (weapons).

Skill
Melee weapons
ID	melee

Skill "Melee weapons" determines combat effectiveness with any melee weapon.

• Each invested skill point increases damage by 5%.
• Each skill level allows using more advanced weapons. Insufficient skill level decreases attack speed and increases action points consumption in S.A.T.S.

Usage

In order to effectively use melee weapons, you must have a certain level of skill, displayed in the weapon's stats. Being 1 level below a weapon's skill level will reduce your attack speed by -25% and increases AP cost by 33%. Being 2 levels below will reduce it by -50% and increases AP cost by 100%. If you are even lower, you cannot use the weapon at all.

Example, the sword is level 5, meaning you must be at least level 3 in melee weapons to use it, but you'll suffer a -50% attack speed penalty. Being level 4 gives you a -25% attack speed penalty. Being level 5 gives you no penalty.

If your skill level is higher then the requirement for a weapon, it gets an additional 10% damage bonus for every level you are above the requirement, capping at 50% damage bonus for level 0 weapons at skill level 5.

  Unlike firearms or energy weapons, melee weapons do not require any ammunition (Except the ripper, autoaxe and chainsaw) and when below half durability will never misfire or jam/short circuit, meaning you can keep using them as long as they're properly repaired. 

  Melee weapons do not have to be rotated to properly aim at a target. This allows you to perform quick, accurate attacks against fast opponents that ranged weapons would have trouble keeping up with. 

  An ability from upgrading the melee skill that is not immediately obvious or stated is your melee attack range increases as your skill level does, allowing you to move the melee weapon a great distance away from yourself to attack. Line of sight is still required however. 

  Unfortunately despite various upsides, melee weapon's biggest issue is range. Unlike firearms, energy weapons, magic or explosives, your attack range is limited by your skill level and even at the highest level is still smaller then many other weapons, requiring you to get very close to targets in order to hit them. 

Weapon types

  Different melee weapons are used in different ways: 

•   Basic: A single swing each time an attack is made. Weapons can sometimes perform power strikes that deal double damage, independent of critical hits. 
•   Automatic: The weapon is swung repeatedly for as long as the attack button is held down. 
•   Charged: The weapon will be held back, increasing it's damage up to double the amount as long as the attack button is held down. When it reaches full charge, the weapon will be swung automatically. 
•   Thrust: Reserved for spear-type weapons. Works similarly to charged weapons, except instead of swinging in an arc it is thrust forward in a line. 

For a list of melee weapons, see Melee Weapons.

Perks

There are several perks associated with melee weapons:

• Iron skin (Melee weapons 1): Increases your resistance to cuts and stubs by 25%.
• Stone wall (Melee weapons 2): Increases your resistance to blunt damage by 25%.
• Piercing strike (Melee weapons 3): Most blade damage melee weapons gain 25 armor piercing.
• Stunning strike (Melee weapons 4): Blunt damage melee weapons have a chance to stun targets for 3 seconds. Additionally they do 25% more knockback.
• Melee master (Melee weapons 5): The attack speed of any melee weapon (except those powered by batteries) is increased by 15%.

Alternatives to melee weapons

Melee weapons excel at close encounters, but there are other way to deal with them:

• Telekinesis: You can move targets away from you to get some distance before attacking at range. Alternatively, holding onto a melee-based target lets you shoot them point blank without fear of retaliation.
• Firearms/Energy weapons: Several weapons from both skills have low range but high power, giving you effective weapons at close range.
• Magic: Similar to firearms and energy weapons, several offensive spells can be effective in close quarters. Distortion field, kinetic blast or ghost wall defensive spells can also make close encounters easier.

Notes

• The in game description for speed penalties for insufficient skill is listed as -20% and -40%, instead of what it actually is (-25% and -50%).