So after doing a few characters and playing the heck out of the game since the release in October, I finally decided to do a female build specializing in melee. Sure energy weapons and guns have always been fun but gosh it adds new life to the game. I am still only a couple hours in and I have had a blast with Melee in Primm specifically, but other parts too. Fun Fun Fun!

And the point of this thread is.........?

That melee is fun I guess.. which it is.

Using a Straight Razor against a Super Mutant, not fun. (It might be fun though)
Using a Super Sledge against a Viper Leader, now that's fun.
But overall, Melee is fun, and as I said before my Guns, Melee, Unarmed, Energy Weapons, and Explosives are all 100 and my STR is 10, so I can use any weapon without negative effects.

Hey quick off topic question: How do you get all those skills to 100? I like always end up getting like 100 in two. Like does it take a certain SPECIAL or is it the way you distribute the skill points?

Now on topic: Ive been trying to build a melee/unarmed character so thats why I asked the question above

Unarmed is moar fun

Melee is fairly ridiculous once you get the perk that lets you knock people over. Giant radscorps, super mutants, even deathclaws are not immune to being knocked on their ass and schooled in pain while they try to stagger to their feet/claws. Which doesn't come into effect with lesser enemies who you can turn them into a bucket of giblets with one good smash to the head.

I Always develop melee to atleast 60 with my characters. For some of those tight corridor moments.. you just need a bat of some sort. My fave is the fire axe.. with 100 melee and the fire axe you dont even need guns. Fire axe has the perfect balance of speed, power and badassness. Super sledge looks way too big on screen.

use a little common sense.... I am encouraging folks to try something they may not have tried yet. Sheesh

Going to try that on my next build

An Unarmed or Melee Character brings a whole new perspective to the game. You are not going to soften them up from a distance (if you are being pure about it) so you have to plan out your attacks. I would say that Sneak would be a major co-skill to being successful at this type of build.

However it will be challenging, as it should be.

Skills: Barter, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons and Unarmed are all 100.
How I do this: Have INT of 10 and Educated Perk and be level 34 or 35.

Skottey at 5:44 PM, said:
use a little common sense.... I am encouraging folks to try something they may not have tried yet. Sheesh
By point, I meant there is nothing to say about, "Hey, I started a melee weapons character, its fun!". You're telling us this, so congradulations! Cheers! Goodbye!

And at each level up do you invest all the points in one level, or do you do it like my friends and put like 5 or so points into each of the skills your trying to max?

good luck killing deathcaws with a melee weapon

Oh and have the Tag! perk, and don't focus on all stats, just focus on 2 or 3, get them to 100 then, focus on 2 or 3 more later. Like, I raised Melee Weapons and Unarmed to 100 first, while raising Medicine on the way, then I focused on Guns, Lockpick, and Medicine, I got Medicine to 100 then Guns. Later, Energy Weapons, Lockpick and Barter, pretty soon, they will be 100. Then, when Dead Money came out, I maxed out Barter and Explosives. But you must be level 30-35 to have skills equal or close to mine. But make sure you make your INT 9 in Mitchell's house and take Educated at LVL 4 and then buy INT implant as soon as you can.

Played Unarmed character.
Loved it.
Started Melee character.
Level 10.
Quit.

It really isn't any different from an Unarmed character, but with less pizazz. Sure, Melee gets special VATS attacks, but can you throw sand in peoples? Can you do a leg sweep? Can you do a lunge? Can you counter a block?

Only with Unarmed. Yes, I listed all of the learn-able perks.

Played Unarmed, Melee, Energy Weapon, Guns, Explosives character
Level 34
Love It.

You can do a lunge by holding the Attack Button. You can penatrate a block by having the perk.

Don't get Tag! it's not worth it unless you desperately need the point and can't find anything better (unlikely since unless you do a very good build intense training is better).

Melee builds are great fun, my legionnaire melee fella just cleaned out Hoover dam, finding a super sledge halfway through (those 'power armoured' guys carry one each) and utilising it to great effect. Now I finally worked Searchlight out with another character he's gonna double back and grab the fireaxe. (Seriously, 5 characters and not one managed to find the building in Searchlight...)


But yeah, once you have the specific perks for melee it becomes ridiculously easy, he's level 19 and he can take on swathes of enemies with ease, he crushed two veteran rangers with barely a scratch and walked into the strip crushing those securitrons without any real difficulty.

Sneak is a good use of a second skill, he maxed sneak, lockpick and melee and is now working on repair and unarmed (for kicks) with a few going to medicine/science.

It is if you have the right build.. so is a rolling pin vs a deathclaw.
On a console version of the game little jokey things like these fights are one of the few ways to spice up combat ( good thing I'm on PC. )


On a intelligence 5 - 6 build, you should have at least three at 100 by level 30.
Only if you spread your build around alot and don't focus at a few skills early on will you end up thinly spread out.
My 3 weapon skill build had 100 in each, and 90+ in sneak and 60+ survival by the end of the game with 5 in intelligence.

For my unarmed character, who is honorable, i always let my opponent get the first attack, before i punch the hell out of him, no sneak, no traps, i [censored] punch them like a man.

First melee build I did that, it's such fun to take the hits..
Go Bearserk and imagine you're smashing some punks face into a rock.. though know it sounds like I need anger management.

Man toughness 2 and nemean for DT, i wear Wasteland Wanderer clothing for the +END and +AGI and have Travel Light... NO STOPPING THE RAGE TRAIN!

Fire Axe, chop chop! :vaultboy:

No luck to it. High skill and a good melee weapon = high skill and a good gun. Knock Knock chops Deathclaws into tiny pieces.

you think that's big? One of my characters (I do mostly melee) used a bumper sword throughout most of the game. It looked utterly ridiculous, so funny though :cheat: