Engaging zombies in melee

[tingkagol 9]

Given my current circumstance in-game, I usually engage zombies in melee in hopes of saving what little M4 rounds I have on my toon. That said, is there some sort of strategy in engaging zombies in melee combat and coming out unscathed?

 

My melee encounters usually look like this:

1. A zombie spots me.

2. I run to an open space to increase maneuverability during melee combat

3. I arm my axe, move in reverse facing the zombie, and wait for it to lunge (the zed will go into a lunge animation).

4. Zombie lunges, sometimes I get hit (even if I was 2 meters away), sometimes not.

5. I go in and take a swing. Now this is a bit complicated. Most of the time I end up hitting air if I just stand still (and sometimes I do get a hit in while standing still). But what I noticed recently is you have to move forward while swinging to guarantee a hit (feel free to verify this). The overall clunky controls makes this even harder to pull off.

6. Repeat until zombie is dead.

 

End result: I usually take some damage, sometimes only my clothes get damaged, other times I start bleeding and immediately patch myself up with bandages once the zombie is dead.

 

 

Do you folks have a better melee strategy when dealing with zeds?

Edited December 28, 2013 by tingkagol

[ImageCtrl 719]

face him, strafe left or right when he attacks you, attack him, he gets down.

he goes not down, repeat...

[tacticalbanana 38]

Yes there is, grab and axe, equip it, run straight at the zombie while it is walking to you and swing once you get in front of the zombie.

[ImageCtrl 719]

 

I don´t know why he is not aiming in meele. I do it in first person this way + aiming.

Edited December 28, 2013 by NoCheats

[Aussie Bogan 350]

In this scenario imagine me as the rabbit running around the zed, just without an axe that's all ;)  Happy killing

 

 

[atreyiu 3]

Yeah i just run straight to the zombie and swing my axe 2-3 meters before it get any closer, you know swinging the axe is take some time so when i swing mine before zombie get to me, it hit zombie in time so i am without any harm. It take som practise

 

It s also depending on what axe or weapon do you use, fireman axe did on one swing, etc.

[wetspot 11]

i run backwards from him until he gets close enough i can do a 'couple step' lunge towards him and try to smack him in the face with the axe before he has a chance to take a swing. If my aim is good, then i wont take damage, if my aim is bad and i miss then its circle time and I cross my fingers.

Truthfully, the aim is the hardest part and I chalk a lot of that to strange mouse behaviour in the alpha.

[Zyryanoff 227]

In this scenario imagine me as the rabbit running around the zed, just without an axe that's all ;)  Happy killing

 

 

Killed 2 zeds with a knife. It was a long fight. :lol:

[AP_Norris 1018]

You don't walk back, you strafe.

Press space, it may help.

Use it a bit after a while of mucking around with different swings and strafes you will find the melee is awesome.

[K J 0]

The trick to hitting in melee is that you have to realize that your weapons in arma lag behind your aim. This is especially true when making large sweeping movements as when circle-strafing.

[tingkagol 9]

Do you guys do it in 3rd person (like the video)?

[VeritechHT1 (DayZ) 18]

I tend to always fight zombies in third-person view. As mentioned before, I normally move in circles: it takes longer, with the above mentioned 'lag' factored in, but rarely do I get hit. Sometimes to speed things up I will move in a circle for a bit then strafe diagonally across the circle to get a few rear attacks in (let the zombie pass me and turn to face). Understand that different melee weapons will do different damage and have different attack distances. I.e. was fighting with the large pipe wrench today against a zombie and it was much faster than when I fought another zombie later using a baseball bat. The bat had a longer reach but did less damage per contact. However, the wrench had a shorter attack distance and required me to maneuver closer on average.

[blacklabel79 949]

third person, fire axe..have fun. oh and circle counterclockwise. Or run at them fully charged..

 

the timing lags a bit behind..as stated in another post above.

 

Train on the strollers. As soon s you have a fireaxe dont run away...

Edited December 29, 2013 by {Core}BlackLabel