Melee weapons.

[Zee_Panda 29]

Is it just me or do the melee weapons suck even more ass, they say they "improved" but it does not work, I have tried using multiple weapons, I aim with my crosshair right on them, Then I aim so that the swing will hit them, but nothing. Maybe im doing something wrong so fill me in. 

[DerDuderich 149]

You are doing something wrong, the system works very good for me.

 

You need to aim carefully, it's not enough to put your cursor on the zombie.

 

For me especially the Pickaxe works like a charm, even better than the Firefighter Axe. As long as I hit the zombie it's always a onehit.

 

I think because of the new collision check it's helpful to have a weapon with a long range and "hit area". Try for example the Farming Hoe, you needs two hits to kill a zombie but you hit almost every time if he is in front of you...

Edited September 19, 2014 by DerDuderich

[Zee_Panda 29]

You are doing something wrong, the system works very good for me.

 

You need to aim carefully, it's not enough to put your cursor on the zombie.

 

For me especially the Pickaxe works like a charm, even better than the Firefighter Axe. As long as I hit the zombie it's always a onehit.

 

I think because of the new collision check it's helpful to have a weapon with a long range and "hit area". Try for example the Farming Hoe, you needs two hits to kill a zombie but you hit almost every time if he is in front of you...

Thanks, I was using the firefighters axe but its just not working, ill give the pickaxe a go.

[DerDuderich 149]

What still causes a lot of trouble tho is the desync. 

 

As in: You and the zombie are moving while hitting each other, you hit where your client displays the zombie but in fact the zombie has already moved to a different position so you hit into nothing.

 

What I am doing whenever a zombie attacks me: I stop moving so the zombie comes close face to face and stops moving, too. This often causes me to be hit at least once, but it's not really an issue as long as you always have a decent amount of rags with you. Then when we both are standing still take time and aim for the head and you'll often kill him with the first hit...

[MaxTheSurvivor 152]

Thanks, I was using the firefighters axe but its just not working, ill give the pickaxe a go.

Don't dump your firefighter axe, it's the best melee weapon in game, it's not only a one hit kill but also a tool that you can use to chop wood, open canned food. The pickaxe is fine but not versatile as the firefighter axe is.

 

If you can't kill the Z with the axe it's probably because you're not close enough, run round the Z and go closer and closer targeting their head and hit when you're behind the Z. Even better, if you have to opportunity just attack them from behind.

[Ceallach 56]

Well, one thing I've learned from using my axe: You never hit where the cursor is. When you have a zombie in your face, you need to aim slightly to the left so the animation (right handed swinging) lands right into its... face. Some wonky collision right there. :P

Edited September 19, 2014 by Ceallach

[Schweinsteiger 107]

The melee has definitely changed for the worst. I used to be able to take out Zeds with my fireaxe easily, now it is "hit or miss". A buddy of mine told me to strafe as I swing and I took the head off of a Zed in the first swing. I haven't come across another Zed since that swing so who knows if it will work every time?

 

It isn't a good idea to stand in front of a Zed so they stop (supposedly making them easier to hit, which it doesn't half the time) because they will ruin your jacket. Jackets have become very important since the weather effect update. 

 

Hopefully I'll either learn to hit them based on the new update or they will fix the "problem" (if it is indeed a problem).

[Ceallach 56]

It isn't a good idea to stand in front of a Zed so they stop (supposedly making them easier to hit, which it doesn't half the time) because they will ruin your jacket. Jackets have become very important since the weather effect update.

Yep, definitely not. The Zeds have an annoying habit of moving few paces forward whenever they play the attacking animation, possibly throwing you off balance.

[Zee_Panda 29]

For me to use the fireaxe (tested on stuck zombie), I have to right up to it, aim it at its ankles and hope to jesus i kill him, Right now Im searching for the splitting axe as it can do the same things but is a 2 hit kill and i feel more comfortable with it 

[Evil Minion 943]

Didn't find a Fireaxe yet but the Splitting Axe, Combat Knife, Machete and Cattle Prod hit where you direct the strike. This means the model not that little white dot - so just ignore the crosshair and you will be fine.

[Schweinsteiger 107]

I tried using the stun baton and nothing happened at all! The battery was fine. I figure I did something wrong?

[Zee_Panda 29]

I tried using the stun baton and nothing happened at all! The battery was fine. I figure I did something wrong?

Yeah, I noticed the same, plus they are so common its not funny, what supermarket has a cattle prod and a stun baton just lying around.

[Zombie Milkman 167]

Yeah, I noticed the same, plus they are so common its not funny, what supermarket has a cattle prod and a stun baton just lying around.

 

I love the stun baton BUT....

 

- You can't open a can of beans with it.

- You can't chop wood with it.

- It lasts what, maybe 10-15 hits before you need a new battery?

- Batteries are not lying around everywhere (well, ok, if you go to the spawn points you can find a bunch, but...)

- Batteries take up even more inventory slots AND THAT SUCKS!

 

Fire axe = best choice, IMO.

[chompster 171]

I tried using the stun baton and nothing happened at all! The battery was fine. I figure I did something wrong?

i'v used it and it worked plenty of times until the battery ran out. first hit knocks them down for a second or 2. second hit kills them.

 

As for the topic itself, melee weapons are still pretty shit. weapons like the crowbars, machetes and pipewrench should kill infected as a sort of compensation for the fact that you can't knock them down (ragdoll) or maim them.

[darth_vaizard 42]

There's a bigger reason why they suck major ass.  A healthy player has 5k hp, a machete does 40 health damage according to the wiki...  that's 125 swings to kill.  Granted there's the blood loss and shock, if you're lucky enough to land a headshot, but let's be honest.  A sharpened metal bar has the potential to do at LEAST as much damage as a bullet, if not much more.  

We should also be able to one shot zombies and players without helmets more easily.  As it stands, however, pulling something like that off requires a fresh out of the factory fireaxe blessed by the server's admin and the gods to be smiling upon thee whilst the planets are aligned and your target happens to be shot by a sniper at the same instant your attack lands...  

Hyperbole aside, we should carry these things to be used as tools, but they shouldn't be as effective at killing things as a stick covered in camping foam.

[Zee_Panda 29]

There's a bigger reason why they suck major ass.  A healthy player has 5k hp, a machete does 40 health damage according to the wiki...  that's 125 swings to kill.  Granted there's the blood loss and shock, if you're lucky enough to land a headshot, but let's be honest.  A sharpened metal bar has the potential to do at LEAST as much damage as a bullet, if not much more.  

We should also be able to one shot zombies and players without helmets more easily.  As it stands, however, pulling something like that off requires a fresh out of the factory fireaxe blessed by the server's admin and the gods to be smiling upon thee whilst the planets are aligned and your target happens to be shot by a sniper at the same instant your attack lands...  

Hyperbole aside, we should carry these things to be used as tools, but they shouldn't be as effective at killing things as a stick covered in camping foam.

Yeah its quite ridiculous how weak weapons are in this game, a swing from a crowbar would so much damage, 3 hits and you should be out if they are placed correctly. Baseball bats, you can hit people in the head so many times and the only thing that happens is they turn into a bobble head. Hopefully they get buffed. 

[hombrecz 832]

Fire axe = best choice, IMO.

 

I tend to disagree good Sir. Personaly I prefer splitting axe as that baby seems to be able to chop a lot more trees before getting ruined as opposed to fire axe. It can generaly 1 shot zeds and open cans as well.

 

 

As for the topic itself, melee weapons are still pretty shit. weapons like the crowbars, machetes and pipewrench should kill infected as a sort of compensation for the fact that you can't knock them down (ragdoll) or maim them.

 

I think that problem with melee weapons is just the weird way you need to aim to get a hit.

For me, it's mostly aiming a bit right of the "dot".

I was able to kill zed with 1-2 hits to the head with telescope baton, crowbar and farming hoe, so I would not say they do low damage.

It's those torso hits that don't do much.

 

There's a bigger reason why they suck major ass.  A healthy player has 5k hp, a machete does 40 health damage according to the wiki...  that's 125 swings to kill.  Granted there's the blood loss and shock, if you're lucky enough to land a headshot, but let's be honest.  A sharpened metal bar has the potential to do at LEAST as much damage as a bullet, if not much more.  

We should also be able to one shot zombies and players without helmets more easily.  As it stands, however, pulling something like that off requires a fresh out of the factory fireaxe blessed by the server's admin and the gods to be smiling upon thee whilst the planets are aligned and your target happens to be shot by a sniper at the same instant your attack lands...  

Hyperbole aside, we should carry these things to be used as tools, but they shouldn't be as effective at killing things as a stick covered in camping foam.

 

Hm well you can knock out player without helmet with bare fists too quickly, if you ask me.

If everybody was Tyson, I would agree, but they surely ain't.

 

Except for wonky hitting mechanics, I'd say melee weapons are ok against zombies, but against players?

Well that's another story, it seems crazy I had to stab a dude like 15x with sks bayonet before he collapsed.

Plus he most likely just bled out from all those hits instead of the damage from being hit.

 

So yea, dmg of melee weapons needs to be tweaked atleast when talking about player vs player.

And hitting mechanics are still far from complete.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Hombre

[Whyherro123 2283]

There's a bigger reason why they suck major ass.  A healthy player has 5k hp, a machete does 40 health damage according to the wiki...  that's 125 swings to kill.  Granted there's the blood loss and shock, if you're lucky enough to land a headshot, but let's be honest.  A sharpened metal bar has the potential to do at LEAST as much damage as a bullet, if not much more.  

We should also be able to one shot zombies and players without helmets more easily.  As it stands, however, pulling something like that off requires a fresh out of the factory fireaxe blessed by the server's admin and the gods to be smiling upon thee whilst the planets are aligned and your target happens to be shot by a sniper at the same instant your attack lands...  

Hyperbole aside, we should carry these things to be used as tools, but they shouldn't be as effective at killing things as a stick covered in camping foam.

 Damn straight.

 

If I introduce the hammer-head of my crate hatchet to your dome, you shouldn't be able to walk it off.

[Avant-Garde 229]

I belive this is relevant to your question OP, I posted in another thread

 

 

After I posted that I got in the game and tried to test again. I was using a fireaxe and the target was the pole on those Stop signs, at first I tried to hit it using the animation, like draging the mouse/animation through the pole, some times it hit, some times it doesn't. Then I placed the crosshair at the middle of said pole and the same result, some times it hit and some times not. While aiming with the crosshair my char didn't move, I was totally static aiming at the same point and only some of the hits registered, it was like for every 5 hits, 3 register. The thing is, its tracer based indeed because it didn't hit exacly where my crosshair was, it hit more at the end of the animation due the maximum close range you can get of something.

 

In Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (a melee game that uses tracer system) they have something called the " bubble", which is a bubble that get arround chars and create colision, so 2 chars can't get way to close to eachother. In one of the balaces patches they increased the size of said bubble, and shorter weapons like daggers and such became total shit because you cound't get in a good range to attack people. This is, imo, one of the problems with DayZ melee right now, the bubble is way to big or the weapons have to little reach. In the Stop sign test, I belive that one of the reasons to the misses was that the axe coudn't reach it very well, this I belive is because when aiming with the crosshair I hitted the pole lower to where I was aiming, and thats the end of the animation.

 

I belive that lag also has a lot to do with all this too, but the tracers also doesn't match the animations 1-1. I belive that in beta phase we will see a very much improved melee due animations being reworked, I think that their objective with melee and its animations should be matching flawlessly the tracers with the animatios, or we will aways have this artificial skill level where the veteran knows how to correct the aim, and newer players will think (with reason imo) that melee is shit.

 

Also maybe if the increase the "release time" (the whole moment where the animation deals damage and the amount of time it takes to draw the full tracer arc) the melee would be far more enjoyable. The bigger the release time, the more control you have over the attack animation.

 

What you guys think about this?

 

PS: For the record, this image here shows what tracer based melee system means:

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/209229-status-report-week-of-25-august-14/
 

Edited September 21, 2014 by Avant-Garde

[Evil Minion 943]

I am not getting into Chivalry bubble discussions here. But the character collision in DayZ seems a little big - most noticable on stairs.

 

As for melee weapons I think the Fireaxe is the best choice right now and will be as long as the free slot on your back persists - because those 5 slots simply don't matter. Its not as bad as with ranged weapons (where a small handgun needs 4 slots and a rifle zero) but it has an effect. After some practise strikes you should be able to reliably hit zombies.

 

Those damage values seem a little low so there are probably some modificators still to applied. Both guns and melee weapons are listed to do far less damage than they actually do so its probably <raw damage>*<hit area>. Axes kill players pretty fast especially when you go for the head. The Stun Baton/Cattle Prod might be better at not killing them though - but I haven't tested them yet.

[hotcakes 348]

how 2 street fighterz: fireaxe edition

Hold Q + Mouse1 = SKULL DEVASTATOR

Hold E + Mouse1 = ROUNDHOUSE 

[Khanarac 252]

Is it just me or do the melee weapons suck even more ass, they say they "improved" but it does not work, I have tried using multiple weapons, I aim with my crosshair right on them, Then I aim so that the swing will hit them, but nothing. Maybe im doing something wrong so fill me in. 

I have the same experience....

 

In  0.42 I could hit a guy with a baseball bat right on the head and knock him out, now I can't even hit them most of the time, and hitting the head was impossible for me.

 

I wonder why they even changed it to begin with.

[Schweinsteiger 107]

Since the update the melee system (using the Fireaxe, the best melee weapon in the game) is worse.

 

I used to easily be able to score a hit on a Zed without any problems. Now, under .49 I can't seem to hit shit. I've stood right behind Zeds and missed them several times. In .48 I never missed.

 

I'm surprised some people feel the new system is better.

 

I hope they fix this pronto!

[doctorbadsign 645]

I agree. Melee is utter shite, I don't think it's going to get much better really. It's been "improved" several times now.

 

I died to zombies after getting them with repeated headshots with a pitchfork today. Not even three hits did it.

 

To add insult to injury I randomly got a drink out without having pressed the hot key for it. 

 

I think it needs to be a lot smoother in order for it to work in any meaningful sense. If you think about melee in other games, it tends not to be just one animation at the same angle. There will often be a few animations that flow together nicely so that your attacks feel continuous and rapid. I'm not sure whether there is scope for this in DayZ but I really hope so, because melee has been shit and is still shit despite so called improvements.

[Krawallkurt 118]

I needed a bit till i got used to it. Wait till they try to hit you ...strafe and hit with axe......one hit kill!

 

60% of the Time...it works every time^^