Looking for an extreme melee build

Game Talk The Bunker
1

I guess I’m a bit bored, but I’d like to go next for a melee only character capable of handling most monsters without ranged weapons. I’m a bit pissed at Armored Centipedes and Melded Task Forces. I underestimated both of them - twice.

4 latest runs go like:

  1. Minding my business. Armored Centipede appears. “It’s only an insect.” Splat!
  2. Exploring Trans-Coast Logistics first time. What is this new funny looking mob? Ouch!
  3. Random Niten manual. Forge katana. Powerful. Get cocky. Attack centipede. Fuck…
  4. Raid logistics facilities. Task Force ahead. Suddenly SPIW empty. Try Aikido. Surprised when you don’t immendiatelly die. Shitty damage. Get surrounded and die anyway.

I guess I could have survived the last one, had I really wanted. But at that point I had done most things and was about to retire anyway. But, what would it take to be able to beat those suckers to pulp in single combat consistently? Aikido seems to make you more or less immune with maxed dodge as long as you keep reacting to grabs, but the damage is abysmally low. And Niten… I now know it doesn’t work reliably. High damage, high dodge skill when stationary, but not enough dodge attempts. And if they get one or two good hits in, you’re done for.

Any recommendations? Is this even theoretically feasible?

2

I always go a heavy melee build, 12 strength and Tough for that 115 health pool.

Get indefatigable you will need it, for melee getting exhausted it a death sentence

I like pain resist for extra flexibility, one you get hurt too much you really start to suffer bad and helps when a surprise shocker zaps you

Parkour expert it great but you really need to use it a lot, and I prefer just to tank the hits.

You need armor, real armor the best thing you can do it start as Swat officer for the armor and clean up a suit from the dead ones. That with platemail and your tanky but hoards will eat you alive.

Train you blunt weapons all the time all other weapon skills stack with it, experiment with weapons, I had a jian that was amazing, it cuts through dozens before you get fatigued.

The best thing I do is let monsters come to you, tab through hoards trickling in for really armored stuff I use a halberd or Morningstar

Use a death bicycle, just a bike with some frames added on so everything has to get slowed reaching you

The basics I can think of

3

A lot of good advide. Thank you.

Thinking about that armor part though. The mobs I had in mind hit really hard and have probably crazy armor penetration. I’m not sure if anything else except dodging will work for a sustainable solution.

What I had in mind specifically was something to give me 2-3 chances to dodge an attack and at least one dodge bonus (I think at least for one of them 21 is the threshold of them having 0% chance of landing a hit).

There are long lists of styles, mutations, CBMs and stuff for almost infinite combinations. The reformulated question is: is there some attainable combination which makes you immune to (single) high end melee mobs through dodging while simultaneously providing reasonable damage?

And hmm… Yea. I know I’m asking for something that’s more or less broken and akin to cheating, but then again so is deathmobile with 12 lasers =) More like a final goal state for getting some payback for those last four runs. :laughing:

4

When I’ve made brawler type characters in the past (not a huge draw for me personally, but I’ve tried a few), the ninjitsu skill served pretty well. The stealthy movement and attack bonus on the first strike could take down normal enemies often in one hit. Add parkour and you can draw them to an obstacle, make several hits then back away to reposition or set up for another atrack.

Knock back/down combat traits work well if dealing with individuals or small groups, but I don’t know if they affect the “big” enemies the same. I simply haven’t tried them enough to be sure. It does do well to down an individual them charge in and clobber them while helpless.

I think the drunken boxing skill (forget what it’s called) used to give almost limitless dodge chances, but I think that was changed. That’s how long ago I tried that style…

Overall, I’d suggest ninjitsu for the 1st attack and stealth bonus, but it is a retreating attack style. Knock back/down styles can be aggressive or defensive, depending on group size and if you charge in or knock down one or two, fall back and knock down another one or two.

As far as armor goes, I’d rather have unencumbered mobility than a thick layer of armor that slows down movement and attack speed.

5

That sounds interesting. Thanks. I think I’ll give naked ninjitsu a try next =)

6

Plenty of people have gotten the starter traits and fighting styles down so I will suggest mutagens instead. The Cephalopod is great because it can attack seven times in one turn and has great armor. (Note, arm tentacles before this stage can become too bulky to justify combat.) I prefer the medical path because it is a grand boon for up-close builds with its tanky demeanor, acidic blood, regeneration, and a trait that removes the negative effects of pain (Note, that mutation can turn into Cenobite which flips pain into a mood boost.)

7

Ok this is going to be a long answer
i always have aftershock, magiclysm, dinomod, crit expansion, blaze industries, and bionic professionsm installed, so i might be referencing items/things that i think are part of base game but are actually from a mod, and vice versa…

anyway for vanilla game, what ive found to maximize dodge, and damage and armor, and minimize encumbrence is this setup: chainmail suit, plate mail suit, lobster helmet, spear strap, large quiver, back scabbard, bow sling—longbow. military rucksack…

personally i think halberds are the best weapon, cause their insane damge, reach attacks, and being to use spear straps on them.

anyway ive found this setup for these monsters:
1 zombie: wtf too easy
10 zombies: still too easy
35 zombie horde mixed with a few special zombies… shockers, hulks, pupating crawlers, necromancers etc…: ill still take no damage but if not careful they’ll surround and shred my armor
jabberwock: easy as normal zombie
trex: too easy
military base with turrets: be careful, not high ballistic armor
demon spider queen: wtf just happened

anyway if you have CRIT expanion installed (which i reccomend) and your looking for a character that starts with insane dodge, damage, storage, armor, and speed, and practically no encumbrence for what its worth… just do CRIT Lone Wolf: the lone wolf has overpowered armor stat, takes no damage from pretty much anything including bullets, arrows, acid, scratches, bashes and anything else except for shocks, has 6+ dodge so even if you are hit (somehow) you still take no dmage, can carry massive amount of stuff (need military rucksack/MOLE pack, 13+ strength=around 240+lbs of carry weight) has stupidly high damage (use CRIT CQB) weild CRIT Service Knife, get 2-3 hits per turn, each does 45-90 dmg even against high dodge and armor, has knockback and stun, so any zombie ded 1-2 turns, and finally has normal movement speed even with all this… and you start with this from character creation, like no grinding, for a year in-game, no forging or anything, although anything is pretty tough to repair if it gets damaged

1 zombie: wtf too easy
10 zombies: still too easy
35 zombie horde mixed with a few special zombies… shockers, hulks, pupating crawlers, necromancers etc…: ez af
jabberwock: wheres a challenge
trex: ez no challenge
military base with turrets: omfg eeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzz
demon spider queen: bruh… easy?

tbh i wouldnt reccomend Lone Wolf, i would recomend CRIT Spec Ops, its like lone wolf but nerfed down, its more for the survival and helping and not just combat focused, and also you can take dmage after enough hits or if surrounded,and the CRIT axe althoug it has knockback and stun, its very fatigue-ing and less damage

Spec Ops:
1 zombie: wtf too easy
10 zombies: ok dont be stupid
35 zombie horde mixed with a few special zombies… shockers, hulks, pupating crawlers, necromancers etc…: lets play hit and run
jabberwock: yes?
trex: taking aim…
military base with turrets: just brute rush, high enough bullet armor
demon spider queen: help

all in all, i prefer spec ops out of those three, its decently balanced, but still op. has high enough damage plus knockback and stun (CRIT CQB :slight_smile: ), can take damage, but for the first 20 fights is probably good, medium dodge( is mostly a tank, so you have to use points to invest in dodge) once the armor is deamged, its unlikely you can repair at the time, so the armor is like a starting boost, and finally Spec Ops comes with some useful survival tools, such as the axe and water purifiers

for Michael_Panariello:
agree but 13 strength+tough = 118 HP
no matter what do pain resistant
parkour expert is an eh… not needed
go for fast healer if available

8

I’ve discovered Krav Maga and Butterfly swords is an insane combo. Second runner up is bionic claws and akido. The first is offense heavy the other is very defense heavy.

I just got the RM42 fighting knife and it looks a bit underwhelming. Weird that it’s worse than a combat knife.