So I have never completed an Unarmed or Melee build. Just can not see myself only using close range skills. So here is the question - anyone out there use melee/unarmed along with guns/energy weapons? Is it a waste of time to bother with unarmed when you also have energy weapons?

My Ranger character has all aspects covered.

Guns (100, using Brush Gun + Cowboy)
Explosives (90, using Mercy + Demo Expert 3)
Melee (50, using Chance's Knife + Cowboy)

Unarmed is slow at the beggining but when you find some good unarmed weapons it great if you have decent armor

Once you get the Spiked Knuckles in Primm, the fun begins.

I liked having Space Suit + T51b Helmet + Sub-Dermal Armor. Looks great, decent DT, fast speed (great for unarmed), and provides like 50+ rad resistance.

That gets me thinking. Which skill is stronger at the start - melee or unarmed? EW already starts off kind of slow and I do not want two slow start skills.

After you walk through a big pile of robots with the Paladin Toaster you see what unarmed can do. I run guns and unarmed up. 5th play I think I may have it almost right.

Huh... and to think, all but one of my characters has a close range and ranged weapon skill. Honestly, I do it for the variety. That way, there's more ways than one to handle a situation. Ranged - I may be a bit cautious; Close Range - I may sneak in aggressively and if that doesn't work, unleash hell. It adds a nice, unnoticeable dimension to gameplay.

Using one specific weapon skill all the time doesn't appeal me, as that one character demonstrates.

As for your recent question, Melee gets a bit of a head-start. The better Unarmed weapons, starting with Spiked Knuckles or Bladed Gauntlet, don't come for a bit. However, the head-start really is non-existent once you get past Nipton or Novac, as you'll find one of the two weapons at that point.

Also, I never had much of a problem just using the Laser Pistol at the start of the game. Sure, it's slow but it's still effective for me. Plus, there's a Laser Rifle at Nipton, so it picks up speed from there, if not sooner.

I have melee and range skill because I have skill points and perks left over.

As for Unarmed weapon, Boxing tape (Chet should have some) or Barefist is quite capable unless you are trying to fight Giant Radscorpion. Blade Gauntlet is available at Primm and NCRCF.

Good melee startup weapon would be Sledgehammer, use your imagination to get one from Sloan.

As for when to use range or not, I would say use different weapon oppose to mobs'; i.e. Range against melee opponent and melee against range. Of course with more knowledge about each type of enemy you can devise which would be more effective, one good example is in Dead Money which I shoot then switch to unarmed.

I only killed maybe 3 - 4 things in all of Dead Money with a gun. After I acquired a Bear Trap Fist I just punched everything. A lot of fond memories waiting just round the corner. The Ghosts use way too much ammo for my taste and you gotta cripple em' anyway. I did do Elijah with the BAR, I wanted to use it for something.

Being an multi-role combat character player, I have to say, the one that gives you the most advantage at the start will still be guns. You don't obtain any decent EW (unless you count Recharger Rifle as one) at the start and unless you luck out and loot a brotherhood corpse for a recharger pistol or a plasma defender, you're moot with EW till at least The Mojave Outpost, where a character can get free repairs. You don't get a decent melee weapon till at least Wolfhorn Ranch (Chopper, eh?). Sure, you get a lot of dynamite, but it's really not that useful, except for creating time bombs. Unarmed's the next fastest, you can get that at Primm. Guns though, are EVERYWHERE.

I ususally mix up my skills between Guns, Energy Weapons and Explosives. I think this character is going to go Energy Weapons, Explosives and Melee. It seems that melee has more variety of weapons. Plus some of the unarmed models look kind of silly.

I notice a lot of the close combat perks requires Unarmed skill. But I assume Melee weapons will still be ok without those perks?

Since I was role playing with one of my characters about how she had to learn to master melee as she progressed in skill, I used a lot, and I mean a lot of melee weapons, probably all but the Rolling Pin and any weapons that were heavier than 8 or 9 pounds, as she is a she :wink_smile: .Chopper is not the first "good" melee weapon. A baseball bat is, and you can find one relatively early in the game. Tire Iron's also a great beginning melee weapon. It served me well for a good portion of Dead Money, as I was waiting to get a Cleaned Knife Spear before I used them.



Yep. the character I mentioned in this post is Energy Weapons and Melee with no Unarmed points added after character selection. I haven't had much of a problem without Piercing Strike or Slayer, which I thought I would originally.

Started off my new character. Went a little nutty and tagged Energy Weapons, Melee and Explosives. It has been a lot of fun so far. I am finding the Lead Pipe to be extremely effective. So far I am using a Lead Pipe, Dynamite(very effective despite what some people think), and the Laser Pistol. I have hardly used my Energy Weapons. Just lobing Dynamite and cracking skulls with a Lead Pipe.

Lead Pipe's a nice choice as well. I used that for a bit after the Tire Iron did its stint.

Overall, melee has a good variety of things to whack people with and most of them are pretty effective at what they do.

Unarmed is OP as hell so I think you'll do fine with just that skill.
In the beginning just get Bladed Gauntlet from Chet and you'll be set until you get a unique or powerfist, then exchange for Ballistic Fist whenever you see one or can buy one and you're wielding Mj?lnir.

I beat the entirety of McCarren with Spiked Knucles and Leather Armor.

And a hellovalota stims.