Does melee serve any purpose?

[Smertnik]

It's slow and you get hit more, while with the crossbow you can just hold down the fire button and kill everything from the distance.
I get it that the guy isn't exactly warrior material but is there any actual reason to pull out the sword?

[mrpeters]

The only reason I know of is that if you haven't gotten Wind Belt yet you can use the sword for knockback, other than that no.

[LanceDH]

It's slow and you get hit more, while with the crossbow you can just hold down the fire button and kill everything from the distance.
I get it that the guy isn't exactly warrior material but is there any actual reason to pull out the sword?


Xbow will shoot ti's arrows all over the place if you keep firing.
If you only shoot now and then and take your time to headshot for example you can kill way faster.
Melee can be very useful as well if there are multiple enemies as it has an area of effect across it's swing. While the xbow is only 1 point.
Getting near them will cause them to go towards you and take their time to swing at you = standing on traps while they recharge for example.
you do have to be careful to dodge their attacks though, as a group might take your health down quite fast.
Simply try to swing and run backwards to kite them.
It also helps if they die before they can hit back, so melee can be useful to finish of mobs with some damage that got through your traps.

[ampd533]

Playing the demo, melee works well in the earlier levels when there is a large group or if you are getting over run. You do get hit more, but you kill more as well. The ranged weapon is great, but if you start getting over run it is better to use the melee weapon because the aimer goes crazy once you start spamming.

But, once you start unlocking new skills, I don't see melee being used anymore, unless you like the melee aspect of the game.

[SixOkay]

Actually, the demo doesn't give the Bladestaff a chance to really shine. It's VERY effective against some of the later enemies like Ogres and Hunters. Especially if you combine it with the Crossbow stun or the Ice Amulet.

[XMMX]

I found Meele superior using second Attack, the shock wave, hence sending them sky high, i also found out it one shots the Archer goblins if you can make it to meele range

[winterforge]

I didn't really like that you have to switch weapons with one key and then start swinging with another, makes it slower and less intuitive. Would be great if it was like Warhammer 40k: Space Marine where you have a ranged weapon button and a button for melee, going between them seamlessly. Best use of switching from ranged to melee I've ever seen.

[LanceDH]

I didn't really like that you have to switch weapons with one key and then start swinging with another, makes it slower and less intuitive. Would be great if it was like Warhammer 40k: Space Marine where you have a ranged weapon button and a button for melee, going between them seamlessly. Best use of switching from ranged to melee I've ever seen.

Not sure if you realised you can scroll between the 2 ?

[winterforge]

Yeah, guess I should clarify. I use a 360 controller in Space Marine. One key fires the guns while another swings the melee weapon. No third button is needed to switch between them. Would be awesome if that was like that here, got spoiled on the efficiency of it ;-)

[Smeggit]

Yeah, guess I should clarify. I use a 360 controller in Space Marine. One key fires the guns while another swings the melee weapon. No third button is needed to switch between them. Would be awesome if that was like that here, got spoiled on the efficiency of it ;-)

The weapons have 2 modes so you still need a 3rd button to switch to alt fire.

Edit: And regarding the OP question: I like using mele just for fun rather than necessity. I saw their interactive trailer (http://www.youtube.com/user/RobotEntertainment#p/c/F4FCE31C8E9BFE47/12/t4NyiUh8ChU) on youtube clip showing some of the bigger emenies like Six mentioned and mele did look most useful.

[Tulipopa]

In my opinion the melee weapon is a lot more funnier to use. The crossbow just seems too "easy-mode" in the demo.

[T4L]

Make "Q" switch between the "1" and "2" slots.

[Matheau]

In my opinion the melee weapon is a lot more funnier to use. The crossbow just seems too "easy-mode" in the demo.

Those are the easiest levels in the game, and relatively speaking have the weakest enemies in fairly small quantities. I've been playing on the XBL version, on the later stages it becomes far less useful as a main weapon as you have to deal with larger groups of enemies and tougher enemies.

It can't kill weak enemies as fast as melee, traps, or some of the other weapons. It isn't strong or accurate enough to deal with Ogres beyond stunning them so you can safely hit them with melee attacks.

[Bragdras]

In the demo, the only reason to take out the sword is to look cool while sprinting around before doing a shockwave.


Or use a crossbow stun and then a quick 2-slash backpedal.

[_KAGS]

I found that though you do take quite a bit of damage, it does a decent job at killing multiple enemies relatively quickly than the xbow, if for some reason you are backed into a corner.

The shockwave definitely is a lot of fun to use to knock them back into your traps!

I'm curious to see if there are maps where you can knock them off the level or onto a path where they have to go around just to get back.

[SixOkay]

I didn't really like that you have to switch weapons with one key and then start swinging with another, makes it slower and less intuitive. Would be great if it was like Warhammer 40k: Space Marine where you have a ranged weapon button and a button for melee, going between them seamlessly. Best use of switching from ranged to melee I've ever seen.


The primary reason that it's like that is because you don't always have both weapons. The Bladestaff (melee) is an option that you choose to take with you like any spell or trap. If you load up on both weapons and all of the spells, we'd need auto fire buttons for all six of those. Or, and this is the way we chose to go, we have a primary and secondary fire button that is contextual - whichever spell or weapon you have, the same buttons work. We have guys in house that never take the Bladestaff in with them, so mapping it to a button is just a wasted button for those guys. In the end, I think the way that we set it up as more economical overall.

[Tulipopa]

I enjoy melee even more in the full game.
It just became too much fun after getting the weavers to give you double HP and stuff. Personally I find myself using the bladestaff more than crossbow.

[TcoNL]

1. Stun large group of enemies.
2. Run in and whack them all with the melee weapon.

Result; possible higher killing spree thus more money and just done a lot quicker then shooting them one by one.

[Selgin1]

Melee is useful if you get lots of mobs in a chokepoint. Combine the Bladestaff with the Wind Belt (for Crowd Control) and a few rows of spike traps finished with a row of tar traps (helps you evade their attacks by slowing them down). Then you can keep sending them back to the start of the traps with Wind Belt and using the Bladestaff's AoE attacks to kill while your mana recharges.

[scouten]

stun an ogre or hunter with the crossbow or ice ammy and melee him dead in two seconds way faster than trying to shoot his head thats the best use of melee, you can also circle ogres with the melee weapon they cant turn fast enough to keep up to you as you hack their sides. i also use a lot of archers and when hunters get to them i can just simply hack them to death in a couple of strokes the crossbow is nice but i find using my fire bracer/Lightning bracer better most of the time except when fighting kobolds which are a pain

[YukoValis]

Melee is VERY useful later when the runners or hunters get past your traps and swarm any archers you have set up, not to mention if you are at the rift you can kill swarms of basic enemies while the rift heals you.

[Korvo]

Sitting in a choke point with a Bladestaff, Paladin or 2, and the "Friends in Need" perk is EPIC. Throw some tar down for added mobility and a few archers if you have fliers around... And you will never go back to using the silly x-bow.