Melee Only

[J1ffyLub3]

mogamu posted a video not too long ago regarding melee only builds and i got inspired

 

after browsing through and comparing all the warframes, i decided to go with ash for my melee only build. other candidates i gave serious thought about were saryn, excal, and chroma. i left valkyr out of this because i wanted to challenge myself and getting free invincibility isn't challenging. i also just dont find her very interesting to play

 

i picked ash because his smokescreen makes a good panic button (i don't plan on spamming it), he has good mobility with his teleport, im going to run seeking shuriken which will help deal with armor on higher level enemies, and bladestorm is pretty self explanatory

 

here is my intended build. melee build isn't too special, i use a dakra prime with life strike. have any of you guys tried melee only? if so what frames did you decide to go with?

Edited March 26, 2015 by J1ffyLub3

[(XBOX)CeaselessKarma]

If I do a Melee pure tills be Hydroid with the new Dex Dakra or Nami Skyla for a pirate-theme

[Aratir]

http://goo.gl/GHj3uG

Here is a good build i like rush to move faster, more stamina is good just as more energy and reflection is very good it reflect effect back to enemies like knockdown if you block it.

[UltimateSpinDash]

Tried it with Excal after seeing the Video a while ago. Didn't quite work out.

 

Although I think Chroma with Toxin element may be very good for Melee only playstyles.

[spaceninjaaaa]

Melee only builds are best with valkyr since she has high armor, a skill that buffs your armor AND doubles your melee speed, and her 4 can act like a panic button

 

Other frames aren't designed for melee really since they dont have skills that directly enhance melee, or are tanky enough to face enemies head on

Edited March 26, 2015 by Hitmonho

[J1ffyLub3]

http://goo.gl/GHj3uG

Here is a good build i like rush to move faster, more stamina is good just as more energy and reflection is very good it reflect effect back to enemies like knockdown if you block it.

only reason i didnt use rush is because you can copter. i also didn't see a point in redirection as your shields are never going to have a chance to recharge, and i didnt use reflection because enemy health outscales their damage pretty heavily

 

these are just my opinions

[Dwolfknight]

your build is preaty good butt i personally would take flow out.

 

this is my blood thristy ash build http://warframe-builder.com/Warframes/Builder/Ash/t_30_020002002_2-0-10-3-8-5-5-7-5-6-5-5-29-2-5-38-3-5-59-1-3-256-6-3-469-4-3_2-12-59-5-29-7-38-9-469-9-6-6-256-9-5-9-3-18_2/en/1-0-1/

 

edit: forgot that i have locust helmet, also i change continuity/seeking depending on play style

 

Edit 2 : dammit wrong url!!! there fixed it

Edited March 26, 2015 by Dwolfknight

[Dwolfknight]

links are hard :/

[.Tabris]

After the Radial Blind nerf I switched to a Speed Volt build.

 

For my play style it works wonders actually !

 

I usually cast an Electric Shiled to keep the rangers at bay, and hack/slash melee units close to me, before moving to the far away targets.

[Allenaattori]

Get rid of Marathon and Quick Rest and merge them with a maxed Reflex Guard. (RG doesn't consume stamina when blocking, that's why)

 

Then replace Handspring with Sure Footed. (with Handspring/Costitution you can still get knocked)

 

Then put something useful on the two free slots like Rush maxed... you need speed to reach your targets. Maglev is actually as good if you slide.

 

 

 

At last, play Valkyr for REAL melee......

 

 

Just advices.

Edited March 26, 2015 by CookingFood

[GeckoOBac]

If you want to go melee only then you should *really* try a duration/strength Volt build.

 

Speed is also a melee speed multiplier. Beside giving you excellent mobility, you also get an impressive increase in DPS.

 

If you don't suffer from epilepsy I suggest you try volt with a tipedo berserker build. Works like a charm, I solo T3/T4 stuff with that.

If you have volt prime even better.

 

Otherwise a Scindo P (probably still with berserker) and likely Tempo Royale if you have it would be incredibly powerful.

 

But you really have to be immune to seizures and motion sickness because it's *that* fast. I once asked my squad in a T4 survival how did it look from the outside and the answer was "Pretty much I can only see red lines and stuff dying", which is as awesome as it sounds =)

[Allenaattori]

If you want to go melee only then you should *really* try a duration/strength Volt build.

 

Speed is also a melee speed multiplier. Beside giving you excellent mobility, you also get an impressive increase in DPS.

 

If you don't suffer from epilepsy I suggest you try volt with a tipedo berserker build. Works like a charm, I solo T3/T4 stuff with that.

If you have volt prime even better.

 

Otherwise a Scindo P (probably still with berserker) and likely Tempo Royale if you have it would be incredibly powerful.

 

But you really have to be immune to seizures and motion sickness because it's *that* fast. I once asked my squad in a T4 survival how did it look from the outside and the answer was "Pretty much I can only see red lines and stuff dying", which is as awesome as it sounds =)

huh but Volt has 0 survivability compared Valkyr or even Ash.

[xBloodfarmer]

i u go melee only get a Valkyr with energy build

get a lot duration for the final power and u don't get hurt in hysteria but can kill fast and the more times you get a hit in the larger the damage boost and the claws are very fast

if u too damage to your health before activation then the claws will heal you

[GeckoOBac]

huh but Volt has 0 survivability compared Valkyr or even Ash.

 

What did you not understand about "Soloing T3/T4"?

 

Now if you want me to say you'll be soloing T4 for 1h, then that's a no. 20 mins? Walk in a park. I doubted it myself until I tried it. You simply can't stop it unless you do something stupid like standing still in the open. Nullifiers are a laugh as you'll just slide kill em from half a room away. Bombards up to level 50ish don't even slow you down. Once I was soloing a T3 mobile defense. Stalker spawned. It died before I could even see him. Thus far it's still the ONLY time I killed him solo.

 

And if you have volt prime you get 100 armor (which is more than Ash has) and 200 base energy that can go up to 850 with maxed primed flow. Couple with quick thinking (you don't need much energy if at all for a volt melee build), you get roughly 2700 EHP through QT and armor alone. Add on top of that whatever shields and health you actually have.

 

It IS a bit less forgiving than, say, pressing 4 on banshee and going afk. But if you even have to do that, electric shield helps a lot (just to give a concrete case, put two shields around the life support before activating it and you're pretty much immune to damage).

Edited March 26, 2015 by GeckoOBac

[.Tabris]

[...]

Now if you want me to say you'll be soloing T4 for 1h, then that's a no. 20 mins? Walk in a park. I doubted it myself until I tried it. 

[...]

 

Just described a run I did yesterday night.

 

I guess, as we read lots of times, it's about "how" you want to play. I, for one, rejoice playing a lightning fast -- voltaic blades swirling -- non-stop all over the place -- blur of a frame.  The speed, button pushing, energy, time and sorroundings management is thrilling !

 

Anyways, enough of that, hehe.

 

Built a Valkyr the other day. Still leveling up to test her full melee capabilities

[a-Arcadia]

I melee only with

 

Trinity- Cause she is god and doesn't need lifestrike, plus a hell of a lot armor reduction to enemies.

Excalibur- Cause im stubborn, but hey i do T4 with him, just gotta move really fast and handspring your way

Valk- ... nuff said

Ash- Same as excalibur but nit as fun

MIrage- Clones eclipse and discoball

Volt- Speed augmant

Chroma- Hes meant to melee with the toxic aura

Hydroid- High stamina, and pool mode lets you regenerate if you make mistakes

Loki- Invisible stealth kills for high affinity gains

Ember- When i equip Overheat. oh wait i don't play her 

Nyx- I try to find a good way to melee with her-

 

All of the other frames I use mixture

 

Banshee, Mesa and Nova are my only shooting frames.

[GeckoOBac]

Banshee, Mesa and Nova are my only shooting frames.

 

You might want to try a banshee melee build... With a long reach weapon (to avoid touching the enemies) you deal a crapload of damage in melee while the enemy is under the effects of silence, as it counts as a kill on an unalarted enemy and thus gets "stealth damage multiplier". The long reach weapon is so that you don't touch enemies before killing them, as that resets the stealth damage multiplier for that enemy.

[Gelkor]

Valkyr doesn't mean you have to use Hysteria. I routinely go melee only focusing on Warcry, Paralysis Finishers, and channeling, I only use Hysteria if my team dies and I need to res them.

[ravend]

I have seen that video and i have problems with it.

 

First: Melee only builds: He rants that there shouldnt be a stamina bar. stamina is a built in limiter in the game, just like ammo is to weapons.

 

Second: Can you only go melee, yes you can. But when you go into the highest lvl area's you shouldnt bring just melee. the game was balanced between melee/primary/secondary. The samething could be said for someone bringing just a primary weapon to a game. At some point your weapon is going to loose effectiviness. Not to mention that primary or secondaries lack a lifesteal like melee has.

 

Third: is was going for a crit build against high lvl grineer. While crit is good, no penetration  makes the fighting ahellva lot harder.  If he wanted to wreck face he should have forgone the steel charge and put in corrosive projection to lower the high armour of the grineer. yes, he would have lost 4 points.

 

Fourth: its the weakiest i got for what he did. he didnt pick a valkyr for fighting against the grineer. starting 600 armour, not including have the armour mod on. having auto parry mod on maxed out helps out tons (55%). The valkyrs warcry alone is a life saver in tough fights, i only use my 4th when im low on health or ran into 3 heavy gunners and 1 bombard.

[J1ffyLub3]

I have seen that video and i have problems with it.

 

First: Melee only builds: He rants that there shouldnt be a stamina bar. stamina is a built in limiter in the game, just like ammo is to weapons.

 

Second: Can you only go melee, yes you can. But when you go into the highest lvl area's you shouldnt bring just melee. the game was balanced between melee/primary/secondary. The samething could be said for someone bringing just a primary weapon to a game. At some point your weapon is going to loose effectiviness. Not to mention that primary or secondaries lack a lifesteal like melee has.

 

Third: is was going for a crit build against high lvl grineer. While crit is good, no penetration  makes the fighting ahellva lot harder.  If he wanted to wreck face he should have forgone the steel charge and put in corrosive projection to lower the high armour of the grineer. yes, he would have lost 4 points.

 

Fourth: its the weakiest i got for what he did. he didnt pick a valkyr for fighting against the grineer. starting 600 armour, not including have the armour mod on. having auto parry mod on maxed out helps out tons (55%). The valkyrs warcry alone is a life saver in tough fights, i only use my 4th when im low on health or ran into 3 heavy gunners and 1 bombard.

i have to agree with most of this. i wouldn't use melee only for the higher end stuff because it would simply be more challenging then its worth. and yes, valkyr is the best warframe "suited" for melee builds, however i find her very boring as a frame overall. so i decided not to use her. i like ash because he is a tougher variant of loki, his teleport has great mobility (and staggers i believe) and the seeking shuriken augment pretty much negates any armor on a given target

[Gelkor]

Honestly, anytime I see Mogamu's "Dakra Prime is the only viable melee weapon" video, I laugh and watch KingTaro's Orthos Prime slide damage video:

 

I've actually found that Mirage+ Orthos Prime or Tonbo with max/primed reach is quite hilariously good and being a mobile high speed blender.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Gelkor

[Darkholde]

I love Melee in this game and find too many relegate it as useless.

 

My main's Loki / Limbo both have melee setups that rock. I use Dikana for both with Primed Reach as to not touch enemies (mainly for Loki)

 

Loki, more self explanatory, duration build for invis gets you about 32 sec, and with energy siphon your getting your invis cost back in about 20 sec.

Always stay in stealth, and if you don't want to run around a room to get everyone one, just Disarm and they come to you, followed by mass evisceration. Melee wise you really should have Reach/Primed to avoid contact with enemy which removed stealth damage bonus verse that opponent.

 

Limbo, max out with damage mods and you get about 800%+ damage bonus. Use your Riftwalk to get you to choke point, cast Cataclysm on group to damage / stun them while you go to town with 800% damage bonus, while being protected from outside enemies, when done dispel it and re-position. This build will take some testing to get it just right for you with duration and efficiency after your x3 power str mods. It will also take a learning curve to play as Limbo imo requires the most skill to play well. Don't be a try hard and get lazy, use your abilities correctly to make the strat work, don't rush to just kill as fast as possible while not using the Rift to setup and move, or you will just get frustrated with getting killed a lot. It won't be as fast as point and shoot err slash like any other frame but it also gives your long lasting staying power that no other frame can match at higher waves. Always be in the Rift.

 

Other frames for Melee I enjoy, is Excal with Dakra / CrimsonDerv and the RJ Augment to increase your damage. Higher levels your RJ won't auto kill them giving you a significant bonus to melee damage. RB still works great regardless of the nay sayers, just means you need to be a bit more tactical about where/when using it. Your stealth jump works great for getting your a quick and better elevated position for RB while offering you stealth protection. Also if things are a bit to hot, Stealth Jump works great for breaking lock ons and getting you out of there for a breather, or getting you to target unmolested.

 

I also love Rhino and Jat Kittag, it's like those two were meant for each other. Iron Skin lets you run around getting in peeps face, Reach on JatK is just awesome, coupled with blast and enemies just fly to the moon all in one swing. It is just soo much damn fun!

 

Frost makes a great circle fighter that you can just pick any spot to be his circle of death. I use the Reaper with him and damn is it fast naturally.

Put the Snowglobe augment on that freezes enemies in the snowglobe and you pretty much have free reign inside it with little repercussion, especially with them slowed.

 

I just can't get into Valkyr, maybe it's her looks which I don't like at all, or her abilities.

 

Saryn has some potential, and her Molt adding some survivability but I just built her and trying to find a good setup.

 

Nyx as well isn't to shabby. Use Chaos to keep direct fire on you at a limit, dominate the odd soul or so, and just go to town with melee. When things get to heavy or you need a pause, just use Ult to give you a few to re-evaluate the battlefield and see where's your best place.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Darkholde

[J1ffyLub3]

Honestly, anytime I see Mogamu's "Dakra Prime is the only viable melee weapon" video, I laugh and watch KingTaro's Orthos Prime slide damage video:

 

I've actually found that Mirage+ Orthos Prime or Tonbo with max/primed reach is quite hilariously good and being a mobile high speed blender.

mogamu was only trying to get a melee weapon that would work with any frame, he isn't trying to set up any combos like mirage + anything with reach

 

if you going full melee, range shouldn't be an issue. your going to be in people's faces all the time. also, dakra prime currently deals the most damage among melee weapons with crimson dervish as we all know. higher damage helps lifestrike keep you alive as well as kill stuff faster to stop it from shooting at you

 

i don't disagree with you, i can think of other weapons that are viable for melee only. however, i understand mogamu's thinking process and understand why he picked dakra prime as the best overall

[Gelkor]

mogamu was only trying to get a melee weapon that would work with any frame, he isn't trying to set up any combos like mirage + anything with reach

 

if you going full melee, range shouldn't be an issue. your going to be in people's faces all the time. also, dakra prime currently deals the most damage among melee weapons with crimson dervish as we all know. higher damage helps lifestrike keep you alive as well as kill stuff faster to stop it from shooting at you

 

i don't disagree with you, i can think of other weapons that are viable for melee only. however, i understand mogamu's thinking process and understand why he picked dakra prime as the best overall

 

Well that's the problem, all warframes have a unique set of powers and have different movement profiles, some are faster, some are slower, some (Mirage) even flip/roll/wallrun/climb faster.  Movement is key to melee, and so there can't be just one weapon for all warframes, that's inane.  That's to say nothing of warframe powers, which, ok, I guess you can go melee only and never use powers, but otherwise, your powers are going to dictate what weapons mesh with your warframe.  

 

Rhino, due to it's durability and knockdown resistance, as well as it's percentile damage increase, can actually perform well with fast close weapons. Rhino+ Kogake is very handy and I've used that up to 60 minutes in T3 before (Grim Fury Backstep combo has a built in stagger which allows you to go into finishers, to say nothing of Kogake's slide attack catapulting enemies to the roof).

 

Valkyr with Warcy or Volt with speed can become incredibly powerful with lifestrike channeling on 2 handed weapons, especially with stances like Cleaving Whirlwind or Tempo Royale. 

 

Valkyr with a Prolonged Paralysis, Mag with Pull, Loki, Ash, Limbo etc can all take great advantage of finishers and ground finishers, so utilizing weapons focusing on that is the way to go. 

 

Your powers and movement profile are going to dictate what weapon is best for going melee only, there isn't, can't, be a best overall, because it won't be specialized enough to be competitive.  That's like trying to make a warframe/weapon build that's good "overall" against all 4 factions as opposed to using a specialized setup for each faction (like most people do).

[J1ffyLub3]

Well that's the problem, all warframes have a unique set of powers and have different movement profiles, some are faster, some are slower, some (Mirage) even flip/roll/wallrun/climb faster.  Movement is key to melee, and so there can't be just one weapon for all warframes, that's inane.  That's to say nothing of warframe powers, which, ok, I guess you can go melee only and never use powers, but otherwise, your powers are going to dictate what weapons mesh with your warframe.  

 

Rhino, due to it's durability and knockdown resistance, as well as it's percentile damage increase, can actually perform well with fast close weapons. Rhino+ Kogake is very handy and I've used that up to 60 minutes in T3 before (Grim Fury Backstep combo has a built in stagger which allows you to go into finishers, to say nothing of Kogake's slide attack catapulting enemies to the roof).

 

Valkyr with Warcy or Volt with speed can become incredibly powerful with lifestrike channeling on 2 handed weapons, especially with stances like Cleaving Whirlwind or Tempo Royale. 

 

Valkyr with a Prolonged Paralysis, Mag with Pull, Loki, Ash, Limbo etc can all take great advantage of finishers and ground finishers, so utilizing weapons focusing on that is the way to go. 

 

Your powers and movement profile are going to dictate what weapon is best for going melee only, there isn't, can't, be a best overall, because it won't be specialized enough to be competitive.  That's like trying to make a warframe/weapon build that's good "overall" against all 4 factions as opposed to using a specialized setup for each faction (like most people do).

exactly, which is why he picked dakra prime. dakra prime will perform well no matter what warframe you are using. his build is very generalized, and he even made a posted a comment regarding this as well. in this case, dakra prime is the excalibur of melee weapons