I’m just a spear guy through and through. I find it very convenient for those harder difficulty play throughs where you can’t afford to get hit. Forget constantly getting abrasions and infections just jump somewhere high and let the reach of the spear do the work. Moderate on the stamina use and moderate on the DPS, but the crippling and penetration effect is too good for me. Heavily underrated..
I like the reach of the Spear as well as the piercing effect the talent has for it. It is considered a bladed weapon so you can put the same mods on it as the machete and get the bleed effect. And since they got rid of the stupid throw mechanic, it is much better.
Other properties to consider: - Timing or lag robustness. Some people suck at timing or play with lag. In general, faster weapons are more forgiving. - Aim dependence. Spears and knifes need good aim when going for the head while clubs and sledges are sortof guaranteed hits. Fully maxed stun batons (that includes Physician) give 10% pity kills even to the worst of shots. - How well does the weapon play with static defenses or doors. It's easy to thread a spear though any hole. Swinging weapons like to collide with the environment. Also: Not considering books, mods, apparel, and consumables while almost everyone playing this game uses at least the first three makes absolutely no sense. The stun baton becomes an easy mode noob weapon with the repulsor mod. Other weapons aren't changed as much, but that stuff does matter a lot in actual gameplay.
Nice! Honestly, though, I much prefer playing in a sniper roll for FPS games. I am blind in one eye and my hand/eye coordination gets thrown off easily. It's always frustrated me. But being a sniper/distance shot, I can excel at that. My husband and I have quite a kick-a$$ base in 7 Days. We tried out the base model you had video of a bit back, with the ramp up to a second floor. Well, we took over the NFD Fire Station and have turned it into quite the compound. We've got the ramp (some of it reinforced with metal now), wire trap at the top, turrets on the roof, blade traps running under the ramp (zombies falling off the top have a very small chance of actual surviving for another run up the ramp). We call it the Blender. We have a trench dug out around the entire place, reinforced the walls, used the cubes with the hole in our entrance. It's been fun just sitting there on horde night and blowing zombies left and right off the ramp!
I know you said you weren't including mods and the like but remember that the Sledge is the only weapon you can AOE slam everything, Also if you sprint you have higher damage... AND the sledge does insane block damage. So if you have the repair kits available, take a steel sledge and slam zombies, loot crates, hardened cases, safes, and literally anything else.
Good video and nice info. here is food for another video: each mele weapon has a scenario that they are the best. what are the best scenarios for each weapons? where do they each shine more then others? ex: a crowded close room is a great place to use a max out stun baton with repulser mod. If you are fighting a crowd through a close door as a choke point the best weapon is probably the spear since it is easier to aim in a small hole without damaging the door and the penetrator of the spear can kill multiple zombies at the same time.
So, Machetes and Spears are extremely good if we mix that with a stealth build + the assassin clothes and Bow and arrow as range you can easily clear zombies across the entire week with no use of guns, and save all bullets for the Horde Nights I still love using the baseball ball for melee, because I love the visual/RP of smashing zombie heads with a bat.
Definitely use what you like. Once you figure out a weapons quarks you can leverage them to your advantage. The book series are important because they balance the weapons that can otherwise be underwhelming with more damage, higher attacks speeds, additional bleed damage, knock down etc etc. Clubs have a book for rag doll that supremely satisfying and literally never gets old. Knuckles have a book to restore health on kills. My play style favors speed so I can recognize how good the sledge is I just prefer the knife or knuckles.
I think this contribution is really interesting, leaving aside the fact that, as you yourself said during the video, the best weapon is the one that everyone considers the most fun to use. That said, I think it was worth adding at the end, the list of the most useful mods to increase the synergies associated with each weapon. Not that for an expert player they are not already known, but it would certainly have served to make this video more encyclopedic. I look forward to seeing the next video on ranged weapons and continue in this way.
Once you get the timing down, and headshot aiming skill.. I found the sledgehammer to be a lot of fun. Using one now with shotgun as backup and I feel invincible.
very informative, thanks for the wonderful video. And I agree with your last comments. The best weapon is the weapon you like to use best :D Now to just be able to find them.
Could we get this for Guns? -Such as max damage for a single bullet. -DPS per mag and maybe even DPS for 5 mags taking in account for reloading speed. -And I assume as headshots as well.
I like to change up my weapon load out for starting each new game. I usually have a primary melee and ranged weapon and a secondary for each as well. The stun baton is fun and a favorite but I mix it up and have fun results. The baseball bat has a satisfying feel because we've pretty much all have held a bat. Try something new and you may have a new favorite weapon. You gave me some new ideas for my next map. Great research -thanks
My go option for melee is the stun baton, the aoe stun and knockdown is just something special, that and you combine it with the euthanasia perk from the medicine skill, and you have a chance to instakill enemies
I personally think spears the best. I can 1 to 3 tap any zombie crowd control knock back. Get mad head shots and they go flying. Ive been swarms by 50+ and the spear is where its at. I also dont use stam when i get head shots and get hella stam back. I legit watched my stam bar not go down after ooke 6 head shot hits.
Good analysis! You're right, the best weapon is the one you like to use. You can spec into any weapon and play till day 100 and beyond with it. The only thing I'm left wondering now is what gloves would provide the most DPS. Assassin glove do increase attack speed, and you can take advantage of the full set bonus. Biker gloves improve melee speed too, (not sure if it is the same amount as assassin gloves), but the preacher gloves are such a huge flat damage boost. I use the preacher gloves, stam boots and a health chest piece rather than use assassin from mid game on. (Don't ask about the head gear I use, because I usually forget to change out of the barter hat and end up wearing it for weeks in game)
@@vohrtechs5974 I’ve found that interesting too as I’ve caught a couple of videos pertaining to armor as well can’t remember if they were fire sparks specifically though and it’s also interesting. I’ve become iffy to the mixed armor that’s supposedly the best and went more towards full sets for example I’ve really started to like the athletic set with parkour and the stamina and move speed bonus with its food/water use makes quick smash and grabs at multiple poi’s crazy
@@vohrtechs5974 yeah it’s a bit crazy I actually was thinking of setting up a second save, as I’m doing a perk book challenge on my main. But I found grover high and it’s pretty close to start and I’m wondering if I can smash and grab it with explosives. However I haven’t messed with the great heist, rogue gloves and max lockpicks yet
Would be cool to do this comparison with players who have maxed out all the perks and mods optimal for their weapon of choice. For example how does the club fair with maxed perks and all the battered up books. More interesting would be how the stun baton compares with 5 points into physician as well.
Once you have maxed out stats, mods, books, and armor every weapon is OP. At that point it's just a stamina efficiency game. That's why I left all that stuff out and did a bare-bones look at them. For example with the right setup and the repulsor mod stun baton is the ultimate CC weapon. Would destroy all others. Spears can basically kite for ever once you have a full build.
Maxed out club build is hilariously fun. Never run out of stamina and the ragdoll book sometimes just sends zombies into orbit. Might be somewhat of a bug because most just get knocked back 5-10 blocks but sometimes they just get absolutely launched. Fun times.
@@Firespark81 Then you should be testing end game gear. If your not accounting for everything else you'll have by the time you get those weapons. Also doing the dps stats, it's like those in ESO who sit on a target dummy perfecting their skill rotation to max out dps....that wont happen in combat when your fighting things. With the machete, you're not gonna be sitting the zombies laps refreshing the bleed the whole time. You're gonna be moving around trying not to get hit.
Thanks dude, nice to know a bit more of how melee weapons work, I liked how you did ignore books etc. as this helps determine what will work better early game. Before 1.0 I would have said hunting knife all the way, its knockdown chance was great with crowd control/stamina/speed and still is. However, machete with the dismemberment is great fun now, one mechanic worth noting is the accuracy required, machete has slash that can hit multiple enemies and dont have to be too accurate to at least cause stagger. Spear you have to be super accurate for example. This might help decide what best suits the player based on their skill/experience
Once i switched to higher difficulties (and some crazy mods that increase number of zombies) i only used knives in EARLY GAME. bc you really want to deal as much damage as you can for your limited amount of stamina. they are simply the best melee weapons, hands down. the bleeding is basically cheating :) i always miss other weapons (and bullets !) ability to bleed. -- Late Game i dont know since im restarting over and over and over :) -- adding and adjusting constantly mods (POI, WEAPONS ZOMBIES, VEHICLES, etc etc) until im fully satisfied with the setup. :) ... but i think im soon ready to test long run :)
Thank you firespark 81 for this video. I have level 5 machete and I've never really used it that much for melee attacks cuz I was more of a club guy. I they'll give the machete a try and see if the way I play is better. It's hard to argue against your opinion considering you give all the stats.
I walk through infested clears with stun baton/repulsor mod. With maxed electrocutions, calculated attack and physician, stun baton is ridiculous. To be fair, I also use spear, sledge and knuckles, and they all shine at times. Love spear for clearing buildings. Great for stabbing through door. Maybe I’ll give machete a try.
Interesting video. Then why do I feel like the club is so far the most OP one? Here is what I have in my mind. If zombies can get close to you, then they can hit u and then u need honey, vitamins, painkillers, bandages or whatever. Sladgehammer is too slow why u have many zombies on you, and costs a crazy amount of stamina, spear does not have a useable power attack. I have tried out machete and club in the same high tier POI. Machete works so well against low and mid tier zombies, but when high tier zombies comes, u just cant 1 shot them, and u also cannot wait for the bleed because they gonna kill u before. With club, u also cannot 1 shot hight tier zombies, but at least they fall to the ground where u can finish them with a 2nd shot, and it resets always your stamina, so as long as u keep killing zombies with club, u never run out of stamina and it was a problem with machete because after a few power attacks, I cant even run away without stamina. So the video says, use Machete because of the dps, or sledgehammer, but in my opinion the only S tier weapon is the club in the game. I just lose less health, I clear POI-s faster and just feels better and quicker. And again, when u r facing only a few zombies, it doesnt matter what weapon u have, but when there are a lot, and u have only 1 gun with u and u have no ammo, or the gun is broken, club can save your life against a ridiculous amount of zombies.
I do build swaps throughout the game, normally I stick to clubs or spears for the early game, sledges for mid, and the baton for late game. It's pricey getting that fergetin' elixir but it's what I do.
I’ve always been a club girl. I just love to watch them fly with power attacks. This play through I’m going for knives though, so I’m excited to try the machete. I’ve never been a fan of the sledgehammer. The swing is just so slow. At least that’s how I find them. Thanks for the video. I always appreciate your work you put into them.
This is only on paper though, don't get me wrong it can be done but in my experience running a tier 6 infestation insane nightmare with only melee practically speaking the machete is very difficult the only knockdown that you get is when zombies reach the half health treshold, it's way easier to do with a sledgehammer, a club or the baton even withouth the repulsor mod cause of the amount of control that you get.
I kinda agree, paper dps is very different from practical dps. Using the machete on harder difficulties and higher tier poi's needs some support either with guns or stealth then again every weapon is OP with the new stealth armor.
Lack of stagger ruins the machete imo. Knives arw billed as close range, sneaky weapons that prioritize accuracy. I was surprised to find that after the hunting knife, which I loved, theblast upgrade was a machete. A machete like what's in the game is really a sword, which while cool, should be a different class. There should be a buck knife or even dagger that staggers on heashots. Imagine a long stiletto dagger that you thrust like a rapier. Perfect accuracy, a bit of reach for sneaking and safety, and potentially the ability to hit two heads.
I appreciate you taking the time to do this. Every time you post a video there's always someone posting "but what about X with Y?" and you often have covered that, but they didn't watch the whole video. I can't imagine what it's like being a content creator and knowing that very few people are actually paying attention or immediately going to the comments to write up a response before they finish the video. I saw this with some of your Valheim videos, specifically when the bug to do 0 dmg using the frost staff to the golems in the mountains existed. Like 90% of the comments were people saying "but you only do 0 dmg and they are resistant to frost dmg, this isn't a bug!" without realizing that this basically made it so anyone could powerlevel magic. I think the fist and stun baton folks won't like this video, but those of us that just want to know what is meta for a solo player at any given point in time will appreciate the video. I used club up until someone said sledge was better and I gotta say the AoE definitely fits my playstyle, and it does seem like I'm gibbing the body parts off of the zombies way more than club ever let me. Once you start getting into Tier 4 and higher the AoE and power of the sledge is just too good to justify sticking with the club, though the club is still one of the best early game single target melee weapons, IMHO, and even more so with the chain mod, too.
personally i think you should have included the books for the weapons because that puts clubs higher than it is. however i do agree machete dmg is insane specially with stealth maxed ( books+ armor + perks)
when i start a new game my first weapon of choice is the prim sledgehammer, no matter what build i'm going for later. it has the best chance to knock down and deal with enemies.. i've always considered spears weak and it's not reliable if there's more than 1 target unless you have some sort of wall protecting you but at that point any weapon works the same. sledges are multipurpose tools as well so almost always worth carrying around early game
My favorite weapon is the steel sledgehammer. Mostly Glock9 influenced me, but it has great stopping power. I just have to time my power attacks and level it up for stamina. But I like to have the Steel spear as a backup melee.
Heck m8 even the stone sledge goes hard. I'll run that thing as long as I can just because it's faster and uses less stamina. But sledgehammers are for sure the best jack of all trades weapon.
I am fairly new to the game, and have used and liked the stun baton as well with the spears. Currently, I am using clubs and having a lot of fun with them, but I decided that I am going to go sledgehammer because I never have really used that weapon. Curiosity is driving me to try all of the weapons, but this video was very helpful in helping choose the order that I will go through them. Thanks for your efforts with this very informative video!
Spears are amazing. When come across the burning shaft and serrated blade mods. You should try out stacking those on a spear, so much dot damage with the burning and bleeding.
Having said the comment below this can also be argued that some weapons are better than others when used a certain way. Ie the crossbow, whilst in stealth can be a game changer and later the compound crossbow...being the only weapon i have seen able to one shot a demon zombie bear. It still requires 2-3 shots with a fully maxed out and modded steel sledge, or 3 shots of AP Ammo with a tier 6 sniper rifle and perks/mods attached.
1:30 Are you sure you’re taking into account the fact that the knife’s power attacks are half the speed of its regular attacks? Because these numbers don’t add up. Its power attacks do less damage and swing slower than the machete’s power attacks. There’s no way it does higher DPS.
Where are you getting that power attacks are half the speed of normal cause I see nothing in the any of the items data to suggest this. They all have one attack speed.
@@Firespark81… Just go in the game and test it. The knife swings super fast. But its power attacks are quite slow. Please save yourself from looking like an idiot but being so sure of yourself while you’re wrong.
Can you do another test like this, but have the best possible mods, etc equipped on each weapon? That would be useful to see which weapon is the best at end game.
thank you for the hard work! My Fav weapons is knuckles but without mags and buffs i know its not that good. But like you said "it doesnt matter as long as you have fun" much love
I know this would be pretty much impossible to test but I feel like The robotic sledge should be paired with the baton and taken into account when considering dps and cc capabilities. Unless something goes very wrong, I have the sledge at a choke point in every combat situation.
My preferred weapon is the steel sledgehammer, especially at higher level with perks. I also like the hunting knife but the rag doll effect from hitting zombies with the sledge are amazing and amusing. Stamina tends not to be a problem. If there are too many zombies to use the sledge I use the M60 machine gun.
When all else fails spray and pray. I have always hated the club and favored the sledge but I gotta be honest after learning how brutal the club is I kinda wanna do a run with it. Beating a zombie onto the ground watching it try to get up then fall back down over and over is kinda hilarious.
This is the best approach, really. Try it all. Although if you are putting skill-points into all the melee weapons, you might be shooting yourself in the foot, unless you got too many skill points to spend. Better to focus on 1 melee weapon early on to keep skill points for more useful abilities.
im a simple guy... hunting knife + crossbow is what i do for questing/scavenging... imo bone knife is probably most broken weapon early... i keep ammo and heavy stuff for horde nights
I'm a club guy. Always was, likely always will be. I know it'll never be a chart topper for "best" this or that, but the ragdoll, stuns, reach, timing and stamina use all fall into areas I'm comfortable with. I've never been able to find the right rythm for sledge swinging. Stun batons are too random for my taste. Stealth, spears and bows were kind of useless for me personally when so many zombies auto trigger in POI's regardless of sneaking or not (this may have changed since those days, I'm yet to re-try agi builds) Knuckles and knives look fun but you have to be so close to connect you take so many hits using them I've never been ok with that. Plus my usual skill priorities have always favoured several points into strength early. Bit of a rant I know but play what you like and what you're comfortable with. I'll def be looking into new playthroughs with other builds now 1.0 is out and a bunch of stuff has changed.
Sneak + Machete is GOAT for POI clearing, but I've been trying to find something to use for horde nights. I'll probably take a shot at making a horde base that works well with sledges :)
I struggle in 7D2D as a player. My go-to weapons are the spear and pistol until fairly late. I rarely get the machete and due to my medical issues sledgehammers consistently kill me.
Mods, books and skills will improve weapon utility greatly - which weapon is better then? The Stun baton is nuts, knuckles with bleed, Knockdown, armour penetration etc all different improvements...
All of them. I can make you a totally busted build with each of them maxed out. But then you need to ask the question how long will it take for you to be op? Or you could just get your hands on a sledge or machete and feel op instantly.
I did not see any mention of range ..ie weapon range due to hit boxes, bats, sledge's, clubs have a better range to attack/hit a zombie compared to a knife or machete etc. this is not mentioned in any of the stats or perks but is evident when you play. You can effectively hit a zombie further away from you without getting hit at all when swinging one of the first weapons compared to the closer range of the machete or knife can. You especially see this in higher game levels where zombies become tankier and you are hitting them with closer ranged weapons and still getting hit by them compared to using the ranged melee weapons, regardless of their tiers. But as mention all these things change and are subject to change depending on your build, and now your armor type and any added buffs received from consumables like skull crusher candy, beers, etc Weapons are also dependent on the situation and location, ie trying to swing a weapon in an enclosed environment inside a POI and you hit, walls, furniture, light fixtures, roofs etc..where as a close combat weapon like a knife will slay if weapons are not an option.
Is there still a bonus for sprinting at an enemy and timing a machete power slice to behead them? I heard that was a thing at some point but I don't know if it is true, it sure feels that way..
The DPS of the hunting knife power attacks isn’t adding up with how it works in game… are you remembering to factor in the fact that the knife power attacks half as fast as it regular attacks?
Yeah things like steel knuckles is super short range while spear has a lot of range. And knife weapons shortish range vs hammers longish range. Also you need to be practical for the difficulty you're on, some weapons are much worse at low level vs others. Like clubs early are better than hammers because you don't have the stamina stats to make hammers work. But you could also get a super early stun baton within the first 6 days and clean house with it and can spec out of it down the line.
I don't like the speed that you swing the sledge hammer. Machete stealth build is my preferred method. I'll look for the candy knife if they make it available in December.
Unfortunately your math for the highest dps is still off, the sledge has the highest pure dps, because the slower a weapon is the more it gains from attack speed %. 30% AS* to a 1s swing would be .3% and a .7 swing. If let’s say the sledge is a 2 second swing the 30% would be .6% or a 1.4s swing. Increasing its dps at a greater rate. The highest pure dps even with the bleed is still the sledge
this is OK if stamina was not a factor! as with all 6 batter up books you refill full stamin with Heavy attack kills on clubs, this makes the clubs far superior
what about the reach from a spear. playing on console is alot harder for targeting. i prefer to be able to keep zombies farther away from me. Spear is my Console weapon of choice.
No wonder, I've had such an easy time. I've always used blade weapons because they look cool, turns out, they're also the best. Granted, the agility tree has by far the weakest gun skills, so I guess it balances out. Maybe the sledgehammer is technically better because it goes in the same skill tree as shotguns?
Very informative video I personally like clubs. However I do have one possible critique to the sledgehammers are typically best statement. So being on console I don’t have a health bar option so I can’t test it but has anyone tested to see if there’s a damage bonus on spears with penetrator maxed out. I’ve had some odd results with that but each zombie seems to have a different amount of health even if it’s the same zombie type/model etc.
should also mention knives have base armor pen unless it was changed since i cant find anything on it, basically used to be bigger zeds have armor and knives bypassed most if not all of it dealing full dmg
I used to love blades and before that sledges but stun baton with repulse seems to be the best horde melee since the repulse seems to be aoe. but with the broken stealth I am rethinking blades.
Paused at less than 30 seconds in to place my bet on stun baton cause it's broken levels of good. Probly should have withheld my comment till after the part where he said mods were not being taken into account. RiP big homie repulsor mod.
@@Firespark81 depending on my mood when starting a playthrough ill either choose stun baton, club or machete. Thought about spear but never sledge or knuckles
I mean, it's still in A tier, it's not a bad weapon. Great if you don't want to get hit by the zeds! Personally I find it too slow and think Machete is definitely above the Spear in terms of use, but I'd say Sledgehammer is the better weapon overall. I just don't like using it because slow.
my thoughts here...is that I SUCK at landing hits with the sledge. so if you factor in "user skill" the sledge becomes like...the worst. I have no patience for it. with afull build knuckles are great, but I find the other three to be more my go to's I WILL say that since I do a fair bit of resource grinding, it's actually great to have the STEEL knuckles, or the machete, since those are corpse harvesters! which means you don't need a dedicated tool for collecting meat. [do you KNOW how much testosterone extract is worth?! and how common bears are in the destroyed biome?!] so sounds like machete is my next one!
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Spears have crowd control you just have to line them up which in this game 99% of hoard bases already have the zombies lined up
Especially when you have the penetrator perk.. :)
I’m just a spear guy through and through. I find it very convenient for those harder difficulty play throughs where you can’t afford to get hit. Forget constantly getting abrasions and infections just jump somewhere high and let the reach of the spear do the work. Moderate on the stamina use and moderate on the DPS, but the crippling and penetration effect is too good for me. Heavily underrated..
I like the reach of the Spear as well as the piercing effect the talent has for it. It is considered a bladed weapon so you can put the same mods on it as the machete and get the bleed effect. And since they got rid of the stupid throw mechanic, it is much better.
Other properties to consider:
- Timing or lag robustness. Some people suck at timing or play with lag. In general, faster weapons are more forgiving.
- Aim dependence. Spears and knifes need good aim when going for the head while clubs and sledges are sortof guaranteed hits. Fully maxed stun batons (that includes Physician) give 10% pity kills even to the worst of shots.
- How well does the weapon play with static defenses or doors. It's easy to thread a spear though any hole. Swinging weapons like to collide with the environment.
Also: Not considering books, mods, apparel, and consumables while almost everyone playing this game uses at least the first three makes absolutely no sense.
The stun baton becomes an easy mode noob weapon with the repulsor mod. Other weapons aren't changed as much, but that stuff does matter a lot in actual gameplay.
flaming sledge is love, flaming sledge is life. Need torch? Sledge! Enemy? Sledge! Ungabunga
Nice! Honestly, though, I much prefer playing in a sniper roll for FPS games. I am blind in one eye and my hand/eye coordination gets thrown off easily. It's always frustrated me. But being a sniper/distance shot, I can excel at that.
My husband and I have quite a kick-a$$ base in 7 Days. We tried out the base model you had video of a bit back, with the ramp up to a second floor. Well, we took over the NFD Fire Station and have turned it into quite the compound. We've got the ramp (some of it reinforced with metal now), wire trap at the top, turrets on the roof, blade traps running under the ramp (zombies falling off the top have a very small chance of actual surviving for another run up the ramp). We call it the Blender. We have a trench dug out around the entire place, reinforced the walls, used the cubes with the hole in our entrance. It's been fun just sitting there on horde night and blowing zombies left and right off the ramp!
I know you said you weren't including mods and the like but remember that the Sledge is the only weapon you can AOE slam everything, Also if you sprint you have higher damage... AND the sledge does insane block damage. So if you have the repair kits available, take a steel sledge and slam zombies, loot crates, hardened cases, safes, and literally anything else.
Good video and nice info.
here is food for another video: each mele weapon has a scenario that they are the best. what are the best scenarios for each weapons? where do they each shine more then others?
ex: a crowded close room is a great place to use a max out stun baton with repulser mod. If you are fighting a crowd through a close door as a choke point the best weapon is probably the spear since it is easier to aim in a small hole without damaging the door and the penetrator of the spear can kill multiple zombies at the same time.
So, Machetes and Spears are extremely good
if we mix that with a stealth build + the assassin clothes and Bow and arrow as range
you can easily clear zombies across the entire week with no use of guns, and save all bullets for the Horde Nights
I still love using the baseball ball for melee, because I love the visual/RP of smashing zombie heads with a bat.
I like the baseball bat combo with the barbed wire mod for that classic Lucille look.
Definitely use what you like. Once you figure out a weapons quarks you can leverage them to your advantage.
The book series are important because they balance the weapons that can otherwise be underwhelming with more damage, higher attacks speeds, additional bleed damage, knock down etc etc. Clubs have a book for rag doll that supremely satisfying and literally never gets old. Knuckles have a book to restore health on kills.
My play style favors speed so I can recognize how good the sledge is I just prefer the knife or knuckles.
I like the spear because of distance from the zombies nice short distance attack it keeps the zombies from getting too close.
Definitely a steel spear guy right here, distance, speed, low stamina, decent damage, and poking zombies through doors.
I think this contribution is really interesting, leaving aside the fact that, as you yourself said during the video, the best weapon is the one that everyone considers the most fun to use. That said, I think it was worth adding at the end, the list of the most useful mods to increase the synergies associated with each weapon. Not that for an expert player they are not already known, but it would certainly have served to make this video more encyclopedic. I look forward to seeing the next video on ranged weapons and continue in this way.
Once you get the timing down, and headshot aiming skill.. I found the sledgehammer to be a lot of fun. Using one now with shotgun as backup and I feel invincible.
X2
very informative, thanks for the wonderful video. And I agree with your last comments. The best weapon is the weapon you like to use best :D Now to just be able to find them.
Could we get this for Guns?
-Such as max damage for a single bullet.
-DPS per mag and maybe even DPS for 5 mags taking in account for reloading speed.
-And I assume as headshots as well.
I like to change up my weapon load out for starting each new game.
I usually have a primary melee and ranged weapon and a secondary for each as well. The stun baton is fun and a favorite but I mix it up and have fun results.
The baseball bat has a satisfying feel because we've pretty much all have held a bat. Try something new and you may have a new favorite weapon.
You gave me some new ideas for my next map. Great research -thanks
My go option for melee is the stun baton, the aoe stun and knockdown is just something special, that and you combine it with the euthanasia perk from the medicine skill, and you have a chance to instakill enemies
Yeah even though the damage isn't that good with them you can easily switch to a shotgun and 1 tap the zombies when they're stunned
Definitely having fun and i appreciate all the research you do. Have a blessed day
I personally think spears the best. I can 1 to 3 tap any zombie crowd control knock back. Get mad head shots and they go flying. Ive been swarms by 50+ and the spear is where its at. I also dont use stam when i get head shots and get hella stam back. I legit watched my stam bar not go down after ooke 6 head shot hits.
Good analysis! You're right, the best weapon is the one you like to use. You can spec into any weapon and play till day 100 and beyond with it. The only thing I'm left wondering now is what gloves would provide the most DPS. Assassin glove do increase attack speed, and you can take advantage of the full set bonus. Biker gloves improve melee speed too, (not sure if it is the same amount as assassin gloves), but the preacher gloves are such a huge flat damage boost. I use the preacher gloves, stam boots and a health chest piece rather than use assassin from mid game on.
(Don't ask about the head gear I use, because I usually forget to change out of the barter hat and end up wearing it for weeks in game)
@@vohrtechs5974 I’ve found that interesting too as I’ve caught a couple of videos pertaining to armor as well can’t remember if they were fire sparks specifically though and it’s also interesting. I’ve become iffy to the mixed armor that’s supposedly the best and went more towards full sets for example I’ve really started to like the athletic set with parkour and the stamina and move speed bonus with its food/water use makes quick smash and grabs at multiple poi’s crazy
Yep that 20% move speed on the shoes is really good! I will have to try that on my next light armor playthru!
@@vohrtechs5974 yeah it’s a bit crazy I actually was thinking of setting up a second save, as I’m doing a perk book challenge on my main. But I found grover high and it’s pretty close to start and I’m wondering if I can smash and grab it with explosives. However I haven’t messed with the great heist, rogue gloves and max lockpicks yet
Would be cool to do this comparison with players who have maxed out all the perks and mods optimal for their weapon of choice.
For example how does the club fair with maxed perks and all the battered up books.
More interesting would be how the stun baton compares with 5 points into physician as well.
Once you have maxed out stats, mods, books, and armor every weapon is OP. At that point it's just a stamina efficiency game. That's why I left all that stuff out and did a bare-bones look at them. For example with the right setup and the repulsor mod stun baton is the ultimate CC weapon. Would destroy all others. Spears can basically kite for ever once you have a full build.
Maxed out club build is hilariously fun. Never run out of stamina and the ragdoll book sometimes just sends zombies into orbit. Might be somewhat of a bug because most just get knocked back 5-10 blocks but sometimes they just get absolutely launched. Fun times.
@@Firespark81 Then you should be testing end game gear. If your not accounting for everything else you'll have by the time you get those weapons.
Also doing the dps stats, it's like those in ESO who sit on a target dummy perfecting their skill rotation to max out dps....that wont happen in combat when your fighting things. With the machete, you're not gonna be sitting the zombies laps refreshing the bleed the whole time. You're gonna be moving around trying not to get hit.
Thanks dude, nice to know a bit more of how melee weapons work, I liked how you did ignore books etc. as this helps determine what will work better early game. Before 1.0 I would have said hunting knife all the way, its knockdown chance was great with crowd control/stamina/speed and still is. However, machete with the dismemberment is great fun now, one mechanic worth noting is the accuracy required, machete has slash that can hit multiple enemies and dont have to be too accurate to at least cause stagger. Spear you have to be super accurate for example. This might help decide what best suits the player based on their skill/experience
Amazing comparison, well done Sir! I think a ranged weapon version would be awesome.
Once i switched to higher difficulties (and some crazy mods that increase number of zombies) i only used knives in EARLY GAME. bc you really want to deal as much damage as you can for your limited amount of stamina. they are simply the best melee weapons, hands down. the bleeding is basically cheating :) i always miss other weapons (and bullets !) ability to bleed. -- Late Game i dont know since im restarting over and over and over :) -- adding and adjusting constantly mods (POI, WEAPONS ZOMBIES, VEHICLES, etc etc) until im fully satisfied with the setup. :) ... but i think im soon ready to test long run :)
Thank you firespark 81 for this video. I have level 5 machete and I've never really used it that much for melee attacks cuz I was more of a club guy. I they'll give the machete a try and see if the way I play is better. It's hard to argue against your opinion considering you give all the stats.
"Best" is always situational
In video games there's almost always a best item in every category
I walk through infested clears with stun baton/repulsor mod. With maxed electrocutions, calculated attack and physician, stun baton is ridiculous. To be fair, I also use spear, sledge and knuckles, and they all shine at times. Love spear for clearing buildings. Great for stabbing through door. Maybe I’ll give machete a try.
Interesting video. Then why do I feel like the club is so far the most OP one? Here is what I have in my mind. If zombies can get close to you, then they can hit u and then u need honey, vitamins, painkillers, bandages or whatever. Sladgehammer is too slow why u have many zombies on you, and costs a crazy amount of stamina, spear does not have a useable power attack. I have tried out machete and club in the same high tier POI. Machete works so well against low and mid tier zombies, but when high tier zombies comes, u just cant 1 shot them, and u also cannot wait for the bleed because they gonna kill u before. With club, u also cannot 1 shot hight tier zombies, but at least they fall to the ground where u can finish them with a 2nd shot, and it resets always your stamina, so as long as u keep killing zombies with club, u never run out of stamina and it was a problem with machete because after a few power attacks, I cant even run away without stamina. So the video says, use Machete because of the dps, or sledgehammer, but in my opinion the only S tier weapon is the club in the game. I just lose less health, I clear POI-s faster and just feels better and quicker. And again, when u r facing only a few zombies, it doesnt matter what weapon u have, but when there are a lot, and u have only 1 gun with u and u have no ammo, or the gun is broken, club can save your life against a ridiculous amount of zombies.
Feels crazy to me he didnť even mention the stamina refill on clubs. U basically can use solely heavy attacks without any penalisation
Team stun baton
I do build swaps throughout the game, normally I stick to clubs or spears for the early game, sledges for mid, and the baton for late game. It's pricey getting that fergetin' elixir but it's what I do.
I’ve always been a club girl. I just love to watch them fly with power attacks. This play through I’m going for knives though, so I’m excited to try the machete. I’ve never been a fan of the sledgehammer. The swing is just so slow. At least that’s how I find them. Thanks for the video. I always appreciate your work you put into them.
Great vid. I am going to give sledge hammers a try now. Subbed! 🤘
Yay! My daily dose of video goodness!
That was a fun and informative journey. 👍
This is only on paper though, don't get me wrong it can be done but in my experience running a tier 6 infestation insane nightmare with only melee practically speaking the machete is very difficult the only knockdown that you get is when zombies reach the half health treshold, it's way easier to do with a sledgehammer, a club or the baton even withouth the repulsor mod cause of the amount of control that you get.
I kinda agree, paper dps is very different from practical dps. Using the machete on harder difficulties and higher tier poi's needs some support either with guns or stealth then again every weapon is OP with the new stealth armor.
Lack of stagger ruins the machete imo. Knives arw billed as close range, sneaky weapons that prioritize accuracy. I was surprised to find that after the hunting knife, which I loved, theblast upgrade was a machete.
A machete like what's in the game is really a sword, which while cool, should be a different class. There should be a buck knife or even dagger that staggers on heashots.
Imagine a long stiletto dagger that you thrust like a rapier. Perfect accuracy, a bit of reach for sneaking and safety, and potentially the ability to hit two heads.
I appreciate you taking the time to do this. Every time you post a video there's always someone posting "but what about X with Y?" and you often have covered that, but they didn't watch the whole video. I can't imagine what it's like being a content creator and knowing that very few people are actually paying attention or immediately going to the comments to write up a response before they finish the video. I saw this with some of your Valheim videos, specifically when the bug to do 0 dmg using the frost staff to the golems in the mountains existed. Like 90% of the comments were people saying "but you only do 0 dmg and they are resistant to frost dmg, this isn't a bug!" without realizing that this basically made it so anyone could powerlevel magic. I think the fist and stun baton folks won't like this video, but those of us that just want to know what is meta for a solo player at any given point in time will appreciate the video. I used club up until someone said sledge was better and I gotta say the AoE definitely fits my playstyle, and it does seem like I'm gibbing the body parts off of the zombies way more than club ever let me. Once you start getting into Tier 4 and higher the AoE and power of the sledge is just too good to justify sticking with the club, though the club is still one of the best early game single target melee weapons, IMHO, and even more so with the chain mod, too.
personally i think you should have included the books for the weapons because that puts clubs higher than it is. however i do agree machete dmg is insane specially with stealth maxed ( books+ armor + perks)
when i start a new game my first weapon of choice is the prim sledgehammer, no matter what build i'm going for later. it has the best chance to knock down and deal with enemies.. i've always considered spears weak and it's not reliable if there's more than 1 target unless you have some sort of wall protecting you but at that point any weapon works the same. sledges are multipurpose tools as well so almost always worth carrying around early game
I would actually like to see a video on BiS (Best in Slot) mods for all the weapons and tools. :) Or at least your opinion since it may be objective.
Subjective*
The automatic shotgun and the desert vulture are god-like
I use a mix of stun baton and machete. Works best for me. Used to use spears since I was a Perception player before switching melee weapons.
I generally only use two weapons: sledge or machete. I didn't know maths behind it, but now I do.
Knuckles all the way for melee if you use beer. If not, use machete. This is all assuming you're not using books or special mods to change them.
If you did this for some popular overhaul mods... I'd watch that 😊
My favorite weapon is the steel sledgehammer. Mostly Glock9 influenced me, but it has great stopping power. I just have to time my power attacks and level it up for stamina. But I like to have the Steel spear as a backup melee.
Heck m8 even the stone sledge goes hard. I'll run that thing as long as I can just because it's faster and uses less stamina. But sledgehammers are for sure the best jack of all trades weapon.
I am fairly new to the game, and have used and liked the stun baton as well with the spears. Currently, I am using clubs and having a lot of fun with them, but I decided that I am going to go sledgehammer because I never have really used that weapon. Curiosity is driving me to try all of the weapons, but this video was very helpful in helping choose the order that I will go through them. Thanks for your efforts with this very informative video!
Spears are amazing. When come across the burning shaft and serrated blade mods. You should try out stacking those on a spear, so much dot damage with the burning and bleeding.
Having said the comment below this can also be argued that some weapons are better than others when used a certain way. Ie the crossbow, whilst in stealth can be a game changer and later the compound crossbow...being the only weapon i have seen able to one shot a demon zombie bear. It still requires 2-3 shots with a fully maxed out and modded steel sledge, or 3 shots of AP Ammo with a tier 6 sniper rifle and perks/mods attached.
1:30 Are you sure you’re taking into account the fact that the knife’s power attacks are half the speed of its regular attacks? Because these numbers don’t add up.
Its power attacks do less damage and swing slower than the machete’s power attacks. There’s no way it does higher DPS.
Where are you getting that power attacks are half the speed of normal cause I see nothing in the any of the items data to suggest this. They all have one attack speed.
@@Firespark81 no, power attacks are definitely slower, at least on the hunting and home knives
@@Firespark81… Just go in the game and test it.
The knife swings super fast. But its power attacks are quite slow.
Please save yourself from looking like an idiot but being so sure of yourself while you’re wrong.
Can you do another test like this, but have the best possible mods, etc equipped on each weapon? That would be useful to see which weapon is the best at end game.
thank you for the hard work! My Fav weapons is knuckles but without mags and buffs i know its not that good.
But like you said "it doesnt matter as long as you have fun" much love
Yeah, I stick to my sledgehammer
I know this would be pretty much impossible to test but I feel like The robotic sledge should be paired with the baton and taken into account when considering dps and cc capabilities.
Unless something goes very wrong, I have the sledge at a choke point in every combat situation.
It depends too on if you're good with your weapon. Sledge is a no go for me. I've never used them since 2016
I agree with this assessment. Id say Sledge and knife are the best to pick up early
I’m old school. I only use the club wrapped in barb wire and the smg. I also wear full biker gear. Seems to work very well.
My preferred weapon is the steel sledgehammer, especially at higher level with perks. I also like the hunting knife but the rag doll effect from hitting zombies with the sledge are amazing and amusing. Stamina tends not to be a problem. If there are too many zombies to use the sledge I use the M60 machine gun.
When all else fails spray and pray. I have always hated the club and favored the sledge but I gotta be honest after learning how brutal the club is I kinda wanna do a run with it. Beating a zombie onto the ground watching it try to get up then fall back down over and over is kinda hilarious.
the steel club is the most op .. even in hardest difficulty ..if you read all the club book its literally max stamina power attack swing everyday
Great video Buddy.
How about best modifications for each weapon
Bro is in another dimension entirely.
Awww did I not pick your favorite weapon and it made you sad lol
Your forgot to include brawling + beer. That is 50% more DPS. Also you heal 1hp per hit.
No I didnt I talk about why I did not include such things at the start of the video.
i love to switch between weapons, so i can get the full exp of the game.. and all playstyles are worth a try.. nice video btw
This is the best approach, really. Try it all. Although if you are putting skill-points into all the melee weapons, you might be shooting yourself in the foot, unless you got too many skill points to spend. Better to focus on 1 melee weapon early on to keep skill points for more useful abilities.
im a simple guy... hunting knife + crossbow is what i do for questing/scavenging... imo bone knife is probably most broken weapon early... i keep ammo and heavy stuff for horde nights
I'm a club guy. Always was, likely always will be. I know it'll never be a chart topper for "best" this or that, but the ragdoll, stuns, reach, timing and stamina use all fall into areas I'm comfortable with. I've never been able to find the right rythm for sledge swinging. Stun batons are too random for my taste. Stealth, spears and bows were kind of useless for me personally when so many zombies auto trigger in POI's regardless of sneaking or not (this may have changed since those days, I'm yet to re-try agi builds) Knuckles and knives look fun but you have to be so close to connect you take so many hits using them I've never been ok with that. Plus my usual skill priorities have always favoured several points into strength early. Bit of a rant I know but play what you like and what you're comfortable with. I'll def be looking into new playthroughs with other builds now 1.0 is out and a bunch of stuff has changed.
Sneak + Machete is GOAT for POI clearing, but I've been trying to find something to use for horde nights. I'll probably take a shot at making a horde base that works well with sledges :)
Yea sneaking will always be op af
I struggle in 7D2D as a player. My go-to weapons are the spear and pistol until fairly late. I rarely get the machete and due to my medical issues sledgehammers consistently kill me.
range no factor here? bc it feels like i can stab zombies 4m away with the spear😂😂
Mods, books and skills will improve weapon utility greatly - which weapon is better then? The Stun baton is nuts, knuckles with bleed, Knockdown, armour penetration etc all different improvements...
All of them. I can make you a totally busted build with each of them maxed out. But then you need to ask the question how long will it take for you to be op? Or you could just get your hands on a sledge or machete and feel op instantly.
I did not see any mention of range ..ie weapon range due to hit boxes, bats, sledge's, clubs have a better range to attack/hit a zombie compared to a knife or machete etc. this is not mentioned in any of the stats or perks but is evident when you play. You can effectively hit a zombie further away from you without getting hit at all when swinging one of the first weapons compared to the closer range of the machete or knife can. You especially see this in higher game levels where zombies become tankier and you are hitting them with closer ranged weapons and still getting hit by them compared to using the ranged melee weapons, regardless of their tiers.
But as mention all these things change and are subject to change depending on your build, and now your armor type and any added buffs received from consumables like skull crusher candy, beers, etc
Weapons are also dependent on the situation and location, ie trying to swing a weapon in an enclosed environment inside a POI and you hit, walls, furniture, light fixtures, roofs etc..where as a close combat weapon like a knife will slay if weapons are not an option.
Is there still a bonus for sprinting at an enemy and timing a machete power slice to behead them? I heard that was a thing at some point but I don't know if it is true, it sure feels that way..
Machete with flaming is fun. My 2nd horde night I decapitated so many zombies.
Flame mod doesn't even work on the knives
@@joeloweryourexpectationsbiden it work on machetes but I don't know about knives. Will defenetly check it out
@@Eg00N1 nope just machetes
Or rather, no not on knives but it works also on like, axes and maybe spears?
The DPS of the hunting knife power attacks isn’t adding up with how it works in game… are you remembering to factor in the fact that the knife power attacks half as fast as it regular attacks?
ranged weapons is probably the m60 the goat lmao
Was playing Knifes and the Machetes when 1.0 dropped, now I will try Sledgehammers.
You never mentioned a spear's range.
Yeah things like steel knuckles is super short range while spear has a lot of range.
And knife weapons shortish range vs hammers longish range.
Also you need to be practical for the difficulty you're on, some weapons are much worse at low level vs others. Like clubs early are better than hammers because you don't have the stamina stats to make hammers work. But you could also get a super early stun baton within the first 6 days and clean house with it and can spec out of it down the line.
I don't like the speed that you swing the sledge hammer. Machete stealth build is my preferred method. I'll look for the candy knife if they make it available in December.
i think you should of added weapon mods into this on top of, especially burning shaft
Unfortunately your math for the highest dps is still off, the sledge has the highest pure dps, because the slower a weapon is the more it gains from attack speed %. 30% AS* to a 1s swing would be .3% and a .7 swing. If let’s say the sledge is a 2 second swing the 30% would be .6% or a 1.4s swing. Increasing its dps at a greater rate. The highest pure dps even with the bleed is still the sledge
this is OK if stamina was not a factor! as with all 6 batter up books you refill full stamin with Heavy attack kills on clubs, this makes the clubs far superior
@@glitchhunter8672 …. Killing blows with sledge give you back 30 and with correct gear you never run out of steam ever..
@@glitchhunter8672 also you’re basically always 1 shotting mobs with the sledge
what about the reach from a spear. playing on console is alot harder for targeting. i prefer to be able to keep zombies farther away from me. Spear is my Console weapon of choice.
My favorite weapons are pistols, blades and bows. fun video.
No wonder, I've had such an easy time. I've always used blade weapons because they look cool, turns out, they're also the best. Granted, the agility tree has by far the weakest gun skills, so I guess it balances out. Maybe the sledgehammer is technically better because it goes in the same skill tree as shotguns?
I still prefer club over sledgehammer solely for the fact I've broken my own hoard defensive position with the steel sledgehammer 😅
Very informative video I personally like clubs. However I do have one possible critique to the sledgehammers are typically best statement. So being on console I don’t have a health bar option so I can’t test it but has anyone tested to see if there’s a damage bonus on spears with penetrator maxed out. I’ve had some odd results with that but each zombie seems to have a different amount of health even if it’s the same zombie type/model etc.
should also mention knives have base armor pen unless it was changed since i cant find anything on it, basically used to be bigger zeds have armor and knives bypassed most if not all of it dealing full dmg
Steel Knucks + Weighted Head mod
I think your sleeping a little on the spear vs Machete in my experience the spear armor pentration makes it one of the best melee options.
Little more damage on some targets vs 100 chance to dismember... I'll take dismember any day.
Bring us a ranged weapon!
Knowledge is power, guard it well.
I used to love blades and before that sledges but stun baton with repulse seems to be the best horde melee since the repulse seems to be aoe. but with the broken stealth I am rethinking blades.
Paused at less than 30 seconds in to place my bet on stun baton cause it's broken levels of good.
Probly should have withheld my comment till after the part where he said mods were not being taken into account. RiP big homie repulsor mod.
love the game my favorite weapons in the game are crossbows and Machete, I have played the game for years and am enjoying the newest one
In my solo games, I use the crossbow more often and shoot sleeping zombies rather than fight zombies head on in a POI.
Stealth is so op.
For me its the range with spears... Its soo big, I can do lots of new ways to cheese zombies
hate the sledge
What's your go to?
@@Firespark81 depending on my mood when starting a playthrough ill either choose stun baton, club or machete. Thought about spear but never sledge or knuckles
I agree. The sledge is slow and awkward for me. IRL nobody would use a sledge or knuckles to kill zombies.
Why are you diss in the steel spear man??
I mean, it's still in A tier, it's not a bad weapon. Great if you don't want to get hit by the zeds! Personally I find it too slow and think Machete is definitely above the Spear in terms of use, but I'd say Sledgehammer is the better weapon overall. I just don't like using it because slow.
Knuckles are best for me
The candy knife is a candy cane knife for Christmas.
Sledge is best. The knock out and aoe and the stun is amazing
my thoughts here...is that I SUCK at landing hits with the sledge. so if you factor in "user skill" the sledge becomes like...the worst. I have no patience for it. with afull build knuckles are great, but I find the other three to be more my go to's I WILL say that since I do a fair bit of resource grinding, it's actually great to have the STEEL knuckles, or the machete, since those are corpse harvesters! which means you don't need a dedicated tool for collecting meat. [do you KNOW how much testosterone extract is worth?! and how common bears are in the destroyed biome?!] so sounds like machete is my next one!
Lvl 6 hunting knife is my favorite weapon
Knuckles is a mod based weapon with beer. Batons are a mod weapon.