Is melee even viable?

[RogueLdr 46]

Has anyone had success trying to melee in PVE?

I've tried every weapon and between lag, mobs charging, knock backs, mobs jumping or flying into the air... i've found melee not worth the trouble.

Add to that the fact that topor KO's you in about 3 hits and it seems really hard to kill much with melee weapons.

Am i missing something here?

Is anyone good at melee, cuz even with the bow nerf it still feels like the most consistent way to kill anything.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

Melee is not a good way to kill animals.  You do too little damage, and take too much damage in the process.  There is no balance in this.  Even metal armor offers almost no protection.  In metal, 3 or 4 hits by a normal wolf and you are almost dead.

The Alphas are stupid.  You don't even want to take tames out.  Even an Alpha Pig is death to your tames if you do something to make it mad.  Tonight, one of our guys had 3 bears with him, one he was riding.  There were 5 pigs, and something attacked his bears, and the Alpha pig ended up getting hit also.  Killed two of the bears before we could get the Alpha Pig to aggro to us and not the remaining bear, while he got away with that bear.    It just feels pointless to spend so much time trying to get tames when they are killed so easily.  Horses are useless.  Too vulnerable.

[Pappy Green 71]

My PVE char is about to hit level 45 and he has never fired a gun. I use the bow (w/stone arrows) and wear plate (but with the pirate hat). I rarely get knocked out. When my bow breaks or I run out of arrows I use my sword. I can go days without dieing, and when I do, it's because I wasn't paying attention.

[RogueLdr 46]

The problem is there's not always room to kite, and some mobs run faster then you can, so you often get hit anyway.

It'd be nice not to have to run or kite everything, i hope the melee gets balanced. As much as i hate the guns atm, i may have no choice since melee is broken and now you have to fix your bow every 4 mobs.

Edited January 6, 2019 by RogueLdr

[Nightstrasza 137]

1 hour ago, Pappy Green said:

My PVE char is about to hit level 45 and he has never fired a gun. I use the bow (w/stone arrows) and wear plate (but with the pirate hat). I rarely get knocked out. When my bow breaks or I run out of arrows I use my sword. I can go days without dieing, and when I do, it's because I wasn't paying attention.

Bows deal 86 dmg per headshot and tiny 17 dmg to alpha head, how can live with that?, not to mention can't instakill a wolf charging in with a bow, pisol can.

[quazythain 6]

1 hour ago, Pappy Green said:

My PVE char is about to hit level 45 and he has never fired a gun. I use the bow (w/stone arrows) and wear plate (but with the pirate hat). I rarely get knocked out. When my bow breaks or I run out of arrows I use my sword. I can go days without dieing, and when I do, it's because I wasn't paying attention.

try living on an island with yeti's lol. 

[Pappy Green 71]

Don't live in those places if you're solo or a small group.

[RogueLdr 46]

last time i checked every island has predators on it. some topor, some leap, some charge... some islands have them all.

You show me an island with resources that has no preds and i'll happily move there.

[firedropx 0]

no, melee is trash. basically fire arrows, guns, and artillery are the only useful weapons

[darcek 44]

I haven't invested in Melee except from the sword.

I found it us full in two cases: 

1. Best bee killer.durable,and when it hits it usually one shot them.It also has an AOE swing which really isn't reliable but compared to other weapons kills them best.
2. Good against Army of the damned,treasure guardians,in some cases.. I usually use guns on them,but sometimes the server performance is terrible or sometimes they start dancing in front of me,every shot misses,I take out a sword and that connects with them,dance or not(Only problem that way they also get to land hits on me..)

[UDO 361]

6 hours ago, Pappy Green said:

My PVE char is about to hit level 45 and he has never fired a gun. I use the bow (w/stone arrows) and wear plate (but with the pirate hat). I rarely get knocked out. When my bow breaks or I run out of arrows I use my sword. I can go days without dieing, and when I do, it's because I wasn't paying attention.

now try the same with wolfs or lions they kill u in 3-4 bites unless u have stacked fort and hps i call bullshit , as high hp is the only way u are not dying, which means u are sacrificing stamina , weight and fort for it 

 

 

 

[psykikk 66]

i dont believe anyone that  says they never had and never have problems fighting anything in this game. 

The physics, the AOE damage of most animals, as well as the horrible scaling (one moment you fight a lvl 3, next second another lvl 56 joins in) is just icing on the cake.

Alphas that instakill anyone, no matter what they tell you. 

if the game needs one thing - its balance. serious balance.

oh yea and ending of exploits, cheating and a working hit detection / collision / physics-model. 

[Talono 434]

I use double pistol and bow after initial shots... just as any other pro gamer.

Melee is nice indeed to kill bees... wild swinging and Bäääm !

In PVP melee is meaningless against all these hopping pistol bunnys, they just continue bunny style till their pistols are reloaded. Shuffle girls were yesterday, hip are shuffle troll pirates.

There would be some balance by giving pistol guys a movement penalty and removing the melee swinging animations (just like it is in ARK.. i loved my spear there).

The range of melee weapons should be increased as well, spear is ok but sword/fists are a joke in the „Atlas heaven for LAG hoppers“.

Edited January 7, 2019 by Talono

[Loni 32]

Trying to melee a teleporting lvl 60 Wolf is the real endgame 

[Talono 434]

Hitting teleporting Ping 700 chinese is a kind of challenge as well

[Pappy Green 71]

I never said I don't have a problem fighting anything. I'm just not stupid enough to live in a place with op things that I have no chance in winning against. This game requires at least half a brain to get by.

[RogueLdr 46]

i say again, show me an island with no preds lol

 

If you mean alphas, yeah, i agree. But even normal animals are a pita.

[Pappy Green 71]

I have snakes, crocs and tons of vultures, also fn bees. They are not a problem.

[quazythain 6]

2 minutes ago, Pappy Green said:

I have snakes, crocs and tons of vultures, also fn bees. They are not a problem.

Try yetis. Even a level 1 is a semi alpha. And an alpha yeti is super alpha

[Pappy Green 71]

Like I said, I'm not that dumb.

[RogueLdr 46]

This is getting sidetracked into a gitgud thread.

Back on topic:

I'm not saying i can't kill things, what i'm saying is that killing things with melee is MUCH harder, more dangerous, and less practical then with bows and guns, and that shouldn't be the case in a game.  Personally once they fix the mob glitching it'll become 50% better. The mob suddenly being behind you randomly, (or through you) is half the problem.  The damage might actually be fine if we can hit the things.

 

I guess right now there's two schools of thought:

Fast weapons so if you miss you can swing again quickly.

Slow but powerful weapons so when you do hit it does much more damage.

 

Thus far with VERY limited testing, also these numbers are from memory so they may be a bit off but should be close. I'll update it with more accurate numbers if i get the chance today.

 

Pike seems the fastest and does the highest DPS but also has the weakest power attack. 

attk: 26, PA: 31

 

Sword lowest dps but hard hitting power attack that's fairly quick. 

Atk: 24, PA 60

 

Mace is VERY slow, i'm pretty sure it slows your run speed as well. However it hits like a truck and i think the power attack is an AE, haven't confirmed that yet as i only have one dummy but it shows a circle when it hits. 

Atk: 42,  PA: 96

[Cyrus Bloodwood 3]

powerful slow hit seems useless right now, till they fix animal clipping and teleporting.

I use my sword most of the time, my island has spiders, giant snakes, and mountain lions.  Spiders and snakes are easy kills for me, but flying/teleporting mountain lions that grab me and hold me in the air till i'm dead?  I don't have the technology to kill something like that!!

[Linea 80]

if you use shields you can fight alot better against animals. but pirates with shields? there should be a proper block mechanic even without shields, so not only do the animals stun you but you can stun them too if you hit them.

[RogueLdr 46]

When the lions / tigers grab you in their mouth, that's the time to do a power attack as it's a guaranteed hit.

I have mixed results overall. easier to hit with a fast weapon, but you need to do it more often. if i time the power attack with the mace i can two shot most things, but it's harder to hit.

pike is kinda in the middle.

[Pappy Green 71]

This is not a gitgud game, it's a get smart game, that was my point. Is melee viable? Yes, under the right conditions. Could you fight off a 300lb lion with a bow or sword? Maybe, but you would probably be mortally wounded if you managed to kill it. Could you fight off 2 or more, very unlikely. This game is about knowing your surroundings, your condition, and your capabilities. This isn't gauntlet, you don't wade in and start slashing. You observe from a distance and move in where appropriate. And yes, everyone gets caught out sometimes. To you gun wielders, just be glad your flint doesn't break as often and you don't have to keep your powder dry. Don't get me wrong, I agree that much needs to be done in the way of balance.