I keep missing with the hatchet - any tips?

[Perplexelerator 20]

Having been away from the mod for about a year now, I just recently loaded it up again to check out the many changes, and it's looking rather interesting. Cooked myself som bacon yesterday, mmm. Looking forward to some fishing. I would also like to say that I appreciate the work that the mod devs are doing, continually experimenting with new stuff and even releasing hotfixes. :)

Anyway, as the title says, this post is really about the hatchet. I used to play DayZ stealthily, always crawling between the zeds when looting and using my trusty old hatchet to deal with those I aggroed. I wouldn't always hit them, and sometimes I would get Mike Tysoned and die (which was fine, BTW), but I would definitely hit them more than I missed them.
Now it seems I miss them far more than I hit them, so something seems to have changed with regard to this while I was away. It seems particularly difficult to hit them after they start pounding on me, but it's also been difficult to hit them before they see me, even though I was definitely close enough to hit them, and that little puff of smoke from the strike seems to be right at them.
So I was wondering, is there some specific place you need to hit them now? Or do you need to be at a certain distance? Any tips?

Thank you.

[boneboys 7988]

I don't use the hatchet, axe only.

 

Toggle lean left /right and strike.

Axe should fall central to Z in face to face confrontation.

I can get about 80 / 90% hit rate.

[Perplexelerator 20]

OK, thank you, Boneboys. :)

[Dr.Duff 211]

I mainly use the machete, to get a good head shot I aim whilst in third person, keeping my head just below the jaw of the zed. This enables me to gauge the centre of my screen where the melee weapon will strike. AFAIK the ranges of said melee weapons has differed since 1.8, that said they're all still roughlyaround the same, though damage is now varied, the machete being the most powerful at approximately 12000.

[Korsbaek 1778]

the machete being the most powerful at approximately 12000.

 

What!? When did this happen?

[Perplexelerator 20]

I mainly use the machete, to get a good head shot I aim whilst in third person, keeping my head just below the jaw of the zed. This enables me to gauge the centre of my screen where the melee weapon will strike. AFAIK the ranges of said melee weapons has differed since 1.8, that said they're all still roughlyaround the same, though damage is now varied, the machete being the most powerful at approximately 12000.

 

Nice tips, herr doktor Duff. Just read about the new machete, so I will definitely try to find that. I play 1st person only, so I will experiment using my trusted "try and die" method.

I actually managed to find one vanilla 1st person only server with night time. A rare thing these days it seems. Not a lot of players on it, though.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Perplexelerator

[Dr.Duff 211]

What!? When did this happen?

 

1.8

 

Nice tips, herr doktor Duff. Just read about the new machete, so I will definitely try to find that. I play 1st person only, so I will experiment using my trusted "try and die" method.

I actually managed to find one vanilla 1st person only server with night time. A rare thing these days it seems. Not a lot of players on it, though.

 

Yeah I love the machete, it is very powerful but does take up 10 backpack slots like a primary gun, I hope they enable us to place it on our toolbelt in future. The server I admin on (see my sig) has night time and is vanilla, though we have lots of extra scripts, but nothing game breaking. We're going to be switching back to FP only soon too, come check us out.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Dr.Duff

[wild_man 4442]

I know guy who dont manage chopping wood in good way and WOODS NO MOVING!!! :lol:

 

Make good hit  with axe on something like humans or animal who move is not easy thing, is normal you miss sometime :)

 

best sytem for me is wait till they stop move, be ready for aim and strike fast like cobra :thumbsup:

 

even zeds stop move when they getting close ready for hit you, this is moment for headshot with axe, same for player, wait for him doing loot or play backpack tetris, sneak behind and smash skull one shot kill B)

Edited October 6, 2013 by KoS

[Mos1ey 6301]

I mainly use the machete, to get a good head shot I aim whilst in third person, keeping my head just below the jaw of the zed. This enables me to gauge the centre of my screen where the melee weapon will strike. AFAIK the ranges of said melee weapons has differed since 1.8, that said they're all still roughlyaround the same, though damage is now varied, the machete being the most powerful at approximately 12000.

 

Yeah, the machete absolutely destroys damage wise. It takes virals down in one hit every time, which is handy, but I find the range to be a little lacking.

 

I've taken to using the hatchet again and assuming virals will take two hits, so being extra careful not to trade hits.

Edited October 6, 2013 by mZLY

[Sutinen 635]

Okay, here's how: Make sure you are walking and aiming before you hit.

Then, all you need to do is learn at what distance you can hit them at. Which is pretty far.

[Dr.Duff 211]

Yeah, the machete absolutely destroys damage wise. It takes virals down in one hit every time, which is handy, but I find the range to be a little lacking.

 

I've taken to using the hatchet again and assuming virals will take two hits, so not being extra careful not to trade hits.

 

Yeah that is true, the Machete is the second best at range, Hatchet being the best. I am used to the 'chete now, I love it and it looks fucking cool!

[-Gews- 7443]

I don't see any range differences in the weapons, all appear to go about 0.6 meters, except the (non-spiked) bat which goes about 0.8 meters. However I might be missing something. As well there is the possibility that in the 3D model the "muzzle" of the hatchet is positioned further forward than the "muzzle" of the machete.

Damage is apparently as follows:

Machete: 12,500
Hatchet: 8,000
Crowbar: 5,555
Bat: 5,555
Barbed bat: 8,000
Nail bat: 8,000

Note I am slightly confused about the typicalSpeed being (apparently) 50, initSpeed being 100, yet I didn't think damage would be 25,000 for a machete *shrug*...


Not sure why the machete is so much more powerful than a spiked bat or a hatchet, machetes are usually pretty dull things...

[entspeak 374]

The range of zed attack is slightly longer than the range of melee weapons. So, you have to time it right. If you miss, you're going to get hit. The above tips are good. Also zooming in or switching to first person. I've found that holding breath also helps for accuracy - it is a gun, after all.

Zeds don't have the same blood level as players.

[mercules 1290]

What I have found when I or friends are using a lot of melee is that all of us forget when we are hit to check and see if we need painkillers. You get hit a lot in Melee if you are not careful and since you never look down the sights you don't notice you are shaking and your "shot" is going all over the place. I do it and try to remind my friends to check for it. I'm constantly, "Crap I was hit." then switch to 1st person view and back to 3rd person view. It isn't such an issue when I'm on a 1st person view only server but most people play 3rd person as do my friends and there it is very easy to miss.