When is Melee better than Unarmed?

[mcsproot]

My character is still pretty low, but I want to try and make him a fighter. So far I've been fighting ants, and my melee and unarmed skills are the same, yet unarmed is currently much better against them than my melee is. My stone axe is only quality 6, so this may be the problem.

I have Brawling, Valor and Miltia Training. The group I play with does not have access to metal, so swords aren't available to us right now. But it seems that building initiative takes so much longer that by the time I can chop again with a decent level of attack, the ants have regernated their defense.

When using anything besides Jump, I run away during the recharge to prevent the ants from doing their...thing. I build initiative with Charge mostly, and swap to Dash if my defense is low. But so far I'm having the best luck punching, as Strangle doesn't seem to do much, and has more restrictions on it's use.

So are there any stats I should improve for better axe use? I'm guessing Survival to buff up my axe, and obviously melee combat. But what about Agility, Strength etc.

[Radenk]

It's hard to make a decision when all you're fighting is ants.

But on the big picture, it's hard to say. Many people agree that UA is better than MC though. If it were easy to say "X is better than Y", then there would be no point in having two different options, since everyone would go for the best choice.

I say raise UA to 100 first, since you'll need it even if you're going to go the melee path. And then when you learn how to fight, make a decision.

Also, try not to run when you're fighting something, because if someone or something hits you while you're running, it hits you for full damage (as if you had no defence bar).

[mcsproot]

It's hard to make a decision when all you're fighting is ants.

But on the big picture, it's hard to say. Many people agree that UA is better than MC though. If it were easy to say "X is better than Y", then there would be no point in having two different options, since everyone would go for the best choice.

I say raise UA to 100 first, since you'll need it even if you're going to go the melee path. And then when you learn how to fight, make a decision.

Also, try not to run when you're fighting something, because if someone or something hits you while you're running, it hits you for full damage (as if you had no defence bar).

I just assumed Melee was better than Unarmed, simply because you tend to get better results from using a weapon than from using your bare hands.

So I guess I should stand still the entire time if I'm melee fighting?

[Tonkyhonk]

I just assumed Melee was better than Unarmed, simply because you tend to get better results from using a weapon than from using your bare hands.

many said "Melee > UA" and seemed to have had higher Melee on w3 untill the combat fix was applied.
dont expect the game to be stable, J&L may decide to screw your "perfect" stats later on

[Radenk]

So I guess I should stand still the entire time if I'm melee fighting?

If by melee fighting you mean close-combat fighting, then yes, unless you're pretty damn sure you're going to lose the fight.Don't run away if you get randomly attacked, for example; a lot of newbie-griefers have crappy stats, and running away will only make it easier for them to kill you.

While aiming with a ranged weapon, standing still also helps you aim faster, so you might want to stay still the entire time no matter how you're fighting.

[Foarl]

Another thing worth noting is that melee's big usefulness depends heavily on the quality of your sword. If you can't make a good sword, you're going to be dealing 0 damage against people with good armor. Whereas with Unarmed 30% of your attack will always penetrate the armor when you've eaten their defense bar. For better players this might seem trivial, but for beginning players I'd think it might be rather important when fighting off potentially better equipped raiders.

[btaylor]

I think people usually choose Melee over Unarmed when they plan on using a one-handed weapon and shield combo.

[Potjeh]

I just assumed Melee was better than Unarmed, simply because you tend to get better results from using a weapon than from using your bare hands.

many said "Melee > UA" and seemed to have had higher Melee on w3 untill the combat fix was applied.
dont expect the game to be stable, J&L may decide to screw your "perfect" stats later on

Nah, what really killed melee was the jewellery nerf. It was better than UA simply because of q2300+ thanes.

As for OP's question, the answer is when the opponent's defence bar is empty. Which is achieved through UA. So yeah, pure melee isn't the best choice.

[mcsproot]

I just assumed Melee was better than Unarmed, simply because you tend to get better results from using a weapon than from using your bare hands.

many said "Melee > UA" and seemed to have had higher Melee on w3 untill the combat fix was applied.
dont expect the game to be stable, J&L may decide to screw your "perfect" stats later on

Nah, what really killed melee was the jewellery nerf. It was better than UA simply because of q2300+ thanes.

As for OP's question, the answer is when the opponent's defence bar is empty. Which is achieved through UA. So yeah, pure melee isn't the best choice.

So I use unarmed attacks to lower the defense to zero, then use a weapon attack?

[Potjeh]

That's the general idea. You still can't do it with 1 melee, though, since the opponent will recover a sliver of defence during your cooldown.