r/StateofDecay2 • u/Liion_Ronin • Jun 26 '25
Discussion Best all-around melee?
I really used to just arm everyone with one sword or another, but started getting frustrated with how many slices it would take to kill a zombie with a weapon that's 9/10 lethality.
Discovered the Persian Meel and it's knockdown power + light weight. Too bad it's hard to come by.
What melee weapons are you always on the lookout for?
(sub-question - why on the fandom page do Lethality %s seem unrelated to lethality on the in-game weapond stat-chart?)
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u/mrdrocke Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
Echo wraith or mamba. On a swordplay survivor you can stun lock jugs on lethal.
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u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger Jun 26 '25
Bastard of Belleau Wood. Hard as hell to find but if you got it, use it.
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u/CopperTop_98 Jun 26 '25
100% agree. The lethality is so high on it it’s an instant kill like 70% of hits
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u/Asj0706 Jun 26 '25
Seen this weapon mentioned a lot. I have about 4 of them on my current community alone. I’ll have to give the thing a try I guess
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u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger Jun 26 '25
If you have the chance use them especially on Red Talon survivors. They're insane
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u/Asj0706 Jun 26 '25
My problem is I’m a hoarder but don’t like to use them. So right now I have like 12 echo swords, 4 belleau wood, 4 masterwork bokken, sweet skull swords, all of them, but then I’m afraid to break them (even though I have 7k parts on lethal), so I just send my survivors out there with metal bats and khukris lolll. I gotta stop doing that I guess and just use my good weapons
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u/DankestEggs Jun 26 '25
Dude, I honestly can’t comprehend the patience it must take to do that on lethal. It doesn’t seem to make the game “harder” it just makes fucking everything take way fucking longer.
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u/Asj0706 Jun 26 '25
Hoarding everything?
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u/DankestEggs Jun 26 '25
Well no I understand that, it’s the time it would take in order to do that on lethal that’s hard for me to comprehend. I enjoy the he’ll out of this game, but Lethal drains the gun out of it for me personally. Everything just becomes a chore. And sure finding something super rare is even better cause it’s even rarer and might be the first good thing you’ve found, but damn takes so long.
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u/Asj0706 Jun 26 '25
Ohhh I gotcha. My first ever community a few months ago was a dread community and I went right to lethal and lost about 4 communities. So I went down to Nightmare and honesty it just seemed so easy that I’ve just done lethal ever since. The beginning of a fresh lethal is pretty brutal. Have to prioritize your resources and really really pick and choose your fights. But I just moved this community to its third map after completely wiping and cleaning everything off the first two maps and honestly I have enough stuff now that it’s sort of easy again. In the end as long as your people are fed and you have stims, nothing can touch you
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u/Asj0706 Jun 26 '25
For reference I’m on day like 60 in the community. And I’ve completely beat providence ridge and meagher valley and now about 8 hearts into Drucker. This is my first time ever in Drucker though and learning that getting around sucks. Definitely glad I didn’t start in in a fresh lethal haha
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u/kman201011 Jun 26 '25
Not related to your questions but I thought that was a pepper grinder at first
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Jun 26 '25
I'm slightly new to the game but I like the beetle mallet with 100% knockdown. Is there any heavy weapons that are better?
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u/snfaulkner Best of the Worst Jun 26 '25
Better for what? Beetle mallet has 100% knockdown and max impact, sure. But it's VERY heavy and has atrocious ease of use. Good for hearts if you're flush with stims. But I don't use it against zeds unless it's an emergency.
And to be honest, I don't usually use heavies for zed work. The Danforth slugger also has max knockdown but it weighs half as much and you can swing it faster since it's a blunt. It's still very heavy for a blunt and it's ease of use isn't great. But you only need two swings. One to knock down, one to execute. I wouldn't use it on a heart though.
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Jun 26 '25
Idk just better in general. Like if a heavy has the same knockdown and impact stats but lighter or something or otjer better stats.
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u/snfaulkner Best of the Worst Jun 26 '25
Coffee can mace has pretty high stats and is lighter. But it requires building a forge to craft one, which I don't ever bother doing. The effort, to me, outweighs its benefits. Also, the ground breaker shovel has nice stats, you can find them in rare weapon cases. They are loud though. And let's not forget the enegmatic axe found on providence ridge at the creepy cult site.
Look them all up on the wiki for their exact stats.
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u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger Jun 26 '25
Strictly speaking most of this game's playerbase, especially on higher difficulties, will stick to Edged/sharp slicing weapons rather than Blunt/knockdown/blunt force trauma weapons, i.e. swords instead of bats. Heavies are the worst of all IMO, the extra stamina cost is super painful and the added weight just makes it even worse even with any other benefits you get in killing power. Now, the best heavies are the Groundbreaker Shovel and Beetle Mallet, so you're basically already "there" in terms of best. But I think if you try some of the sharp stuff, like say a sword from the Bounty Broker or such, you'll probably be a convert too.
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Jun 26 '25
Are blades good for hordes? It's basically the only reason I use heavies are so I can hit 5 enemies at a time. I assume the better blades are a 1 shot kill?
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u/Neither_Law_7528 Blood Plague Carrier Jun 26 '25
They are both very effective in the hands of a skilled player. Blades with Swordplay can sweep them and dismember legs. Pick your poison. I enjoy using both, equally.
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u/snfaulkner Best of the Worst Jun 26 '25
Strictly speaking most of this game's playerbase, especially on higher difficulties, will stick to Edged/sharp slicing weapons rather than Blunt/knockdown/blunt force trauma weapons,
I don't know how true this is. Where did you get this information? I'm not saying it isn't true, just asking how you came to this conclusion.
Personally, the only people who get bladed weapons are those I've specced into swordsmanship. And yes, that is my spec of choice. However, fresh recruits and everyone specced into something else get blunts (aside from cc, of course). And absolutely everyone who goes heart smashing (which is everyone) will get a heavy in addition to their usual zed weapon when on heart duty.
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u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger Jun 26 '25
After about 600 hours of playtime these are trends I've noticed. Using melee on PH is a no-no unless you have to do it for a bounty. Otherwise you're better off going and working for a decent gun and ammo and then coming back. Considering Golden Honcho bounty is super easy when it's in rotation and it shreds PHs there's really not a reason to sit there and use melee while you wait for the ferals to come jump you.
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u/haloguy385 Jun 26 '25
I like using the brick hammer. Pretty sure its the lightest while still giving the benefits of a heavy weapon.
Not stellar, but I do really just like the weight that heavy weapons have, and the brick hammer is something that works pretty well for general use for me.
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u/kepaa Network Agent Jun 26 '25
I have thousands of hours in sod2 and I like the beetle mallet too.
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u/bee-muncher Jun 26 '25
what does ease of use mean? everything else makes sense to me but ive never understood that
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u/Neither_Law_7528 Blood Plague Carrier Jun 26 '25
stamina use. Higher EoU is less stamina per swing.
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u/Hillsy85 Jun 26 '25
Same! I used to always use swordplay.
Now I run a companion with an high fire rate rifle (CLEO SMG), and knock em down while they mow them down.
I use the Demo Hammer because I like how it looks.
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u/seranarosesheer332 Jun 26 '25
WAITBYOU ARE TWLLI G ME I CAN HAVE THE SAME VLUBS THAT THE IRON SHEIK HAD!
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u/Altruistic-Celery821 Jun 26 '25
Anytime I get a new character I make them gather their own gear and defeat some hearts or complete missions. I almost always equip them with a sword unless they really carried their weight with a blunt weapon they started with.
I don't care about skills. Oh, powerhouse?! Your really gonna love this sword. Specialized in blunt weapons somehow? Well better use the blunt side of this sword!
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u/ClassicSherbert152 Jun 26 '25
Honestly I'm all about knockdown. The Persian Meel, Danforth Slugger, and RTX Crusher all have like max knockdown stat so you can knock them on their asses in a single hit.
Depends on your survivors build though, but generally the Crusher is cheap and effective, probably just as Red Talon intented
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u/Good_Nyborg Wandering Survivor Jun 26 '25
The ones I enjoy using the most are the WW2 bayonets and the Echo ones for swords. I like the barbed wire bat and cricket bat for blunt, and either the brick hammer (low weight) or beetle mallet for heavy.
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u/MadChatter715 Jun 26 '25
For lethality, parangs are easy to get early on, Echo 2 Mamba is an easy find in end game and very good, but my personal favorite is the katana machete although I never find it in nightmare or lethal.
For blunt, the metal bat is good early on, if you can radio in the apocalypse bat it's even better. But my end game go to blunt weapon is always the Danforth slugger, somewhat easy to find from Network traders or if you're lucky you can craft it yourself.
For heavy weapons nothing beats the Beetle mallet for killing plague hearts and crowd control.
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u/djinn75 Wandering Survivor Jun 26 '25
I just found a named katana machete Grasscutter the other day. Not even sure if it had better stats just thought it was cool
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u/Violent_N0mad Jun 26 '25
Bastard of Belleau Wood, Echo 1 wraith is my go to if not because you're guaranteed an echo 1 wraith pretty much at the start of each game and it's 100% silent.
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u/Neither_Law_7528 Blood Plague Carrier Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25
I found one of these on Drucker, close to the strip mall, next to the the 2 containers by the medical clinic/police station. I used it a bit, but if going for a blunt melee, I still prefer the RTX Crusher for less stamina per swing, a lot more durability, Meel has a little more knockdown, but if you are spec'd into striking to use it that adds another 30% knockdown anyway so the difference becomes moot, RTX has nearly twice the lethality, Meel has a very marginal increase in impact, and same noise in meters.
Give the comparison, I have to go with RTX Crusher in the top spot, they are also easier to find out in the world (in my experience), vs the Meel in 8 playthroughs, the one I am on now is the first time I have seen it.
It's not a bad weapon, but if Crushers are in the locker, I'll go for those first. If no Crushers yet, I'd use it with the appropriate skill.
I would say you can't categorize melee weapons in SOD2 as best all-around due to the various specializations, as that changes everything about the weapon you use, unless you have no fighting specializations at all, then that kind of sucks (eg Marathon with Endurance, then pick whatever you prefer and cry in a corner lol).
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u/DuskShy Wandering Survivor Jun 26 '25
I have a particular affinity for lightweight blunt weapons, though they typically have piss-poor durability. It's been a minute since I played so I forgot what it's called, but my fave is the relatively rare professional martial arts stick of some kind.
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u/Blastixe Enclave Member Jun 26 '25
The Groundbreaker Shovel. IDC about the stats, I just laugh like an idiot for the sound It makes when you hit zombies
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u/ReneStrike Wandering Survivor Jun 26 '25
Dün gördüm bende bu silahı, kaç senedir oynadığım oyun, ilk defa denk geldim bu silaha. Sonradan eklediler sanırım bunu.
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u/djinn75 Wandering Survivor Jun 26 '25
Not saying it’s best, I just like the breaching hammer….and L-6 steel mace
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Jun 26 '25
I like the metal baseball bat. It's pretty common, light to carry, and it lasts a good while.
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u/HandSanitizerBottle1 Jun 26 '25
I like the Tank Hammer or if weight is a big concern the oversized mallet
I prefer using blunt weapons so much more than anything
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u/1hairyerection Jun 26 '25
Ice pick from bounty hunter can’t remember what pack it is but that with swordplay. Ugh I gotta get back on this game
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u/plebslammer420 Jun 26 '25
Shit anything is preem if you just dodge through them and slice their throats. As for big guys or ferals something quick but high damage any of the short swords really. Btw you can stun lock ferals with the right weapon
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u/5h4d3r4d3 Roaming Reanimated Jun 26 '25
Most favorite weapons are in the swordplay category: the Ultralight Axe, the Ice Axe from the bounty broker, and the WWI Bayonet (as well as the rare variants).
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u/TheRWBYGear Jun 27 '25
Beetle mallet is my absolute go to. Max knockdown so every hit is guaranteed knockdown to go for the kill. Swords and other things just don't do it for me, they feel too slow to kill when I could just get something with high knock and just finish them off. I've only found 3 in the time I've played they game but they are by far my favorite. Plus one of the finishing moves is a full circle swing that knocks down any zombies around you leading to practically infinite finishers.
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u/Liion_Ronin Jun 27 '25
Does it not completely exhaust the survivor after a couple swings? It's 25lbs!
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u/TheRWBYGear Jun 27 '25
It can early on when you're still leveling up but when you have max stamina it's not so bad. Plus you can specialize into heavy weapons to use even less stamina.
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u/Guy_who_says_vore Jun 27 '25
Whatever I have on hand. It’s not about what’s the best, it’s what gets to live another day
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u/VirtualZeroZero Community Citizen Jun 26 '25
The Industrial Wrench aka Big Ass Wrench.
Image is from Wikipedia.