Melee Only

[Gelkor]

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

 

Yeah, that's just a video I have a problem with because of that is all.  So many people use that video as proof that "melee sucks" and "DE doesn't know how to make melee good"  because one semi-popular guy made a video of going melee only with a clearly sub-par build. That's like if I modded Boltor Prime for magnetic damage, took energy siphon aura, and made a video showing how the Boltor P can't compete in high level Tower missions.   (Not saying that was your intention, just that that's what most people use that video as "proof" of). 

 

Melee is very viable, but like all things in WF is specialized and needs to be treated and modded with the mission purpose and your warframe and complimentary weapons (if you are bringing any) in mind. And that video is kinda the antithesis of that.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Gelkor

[Darkholde]

Yeah, that's just a video I have a problem with because of that is all.  So many people use that video as proof that "melee sucks" and "DE doesn't know how to make melee good"  because one semi-popular guy made a video of going melee only with a clearly sub-par build. That's like if I modded Boltor Prime for magnetic damage, took energy siphon aura, and made a video showing how the Boltor P can't compete in high level Tower missions.   (Not saying that was your intention, just that that's what most people use that video as "proof" of). 

 

Melee is very viable, but like all things in WF is specialized and needs to be treated and modded with the mission purpose and your warframe and complimentary weapons (if you are bringing any) in mind. And that video is kinda the antithesis of that.

Strangely I actually don't use the faction specific mods even though they would increase my performance, but I like having static builds and the 3 configs isn't enough for me to start adding those in. So many builds tend to use corrosive/blast to cover bases. My configs are used for different playstyles / element setup.

 

But overall I agree with what your saying, and I have had melee function no problem for me in high level content.

[(XBOX)Knight Raime]

I agree with him in the sense that stamina consumption is too much with everything.  On the other hand I don't think melee only isn't viable.  It's obviously going to not be the best thing in certain areas like defense for example.  But it's not like they didn't think about melee either.  We got melee 2.0.  We also have spy missions/exterm that really seem like they are made for melee only.

 

TBH if melee could work in all situations very well why would we ever use guns or abilities?  The biggest problem I had with him was suggesting that you shouldn't need to use your warframe abilities for melee to be viable.  What's the point in having abilities then?  or variety?  Why have stealth mechanics?

 

Videos have shown that you don't need one frame to have melee only viable.  I myself have seen excal, ash, loki, banshee, valk, and rhino used in melee only videos.  So clearly you don't need to rely on one frame or one ability for it to work.

[.Tabris]

I guess we're supposed to use as many aspects of the game as we can, specially on higher levels. Melee is very viable, but you may need to take a shot depending on the situation.

 

As is the other way around; while running a Survival map with a melee-less Mesa (for the health boost), I kept finding myself at situations were a two or tree quick swings would be better than running-aiming-gunning ... I changed the health boost for a melee as soon as the mission ended.

 

I mean, keep an alternative by your side all the times, be it a gun or a blade.

[Darkholde]

I guess we're supposed to use as many aspects of the game as we can, specially on higher levels. Melee is very viable, but you may need to take a shot depending on the situation.

 

As is the other way around; while running a Survival map with a melee-less Mesa (for the health boost), I kept finding myself at situations were a two or tree quick swings would be better than running-aiming-gunning ... I changed the health boost for a melee as soon as the mission ended.

 

I mean, keep an alternative by your side all the times, be it a gun or a blade.

I found the same thing for Mesa, though I stubbornly won't equip a melee as it just seems out of theme for the frame and I will make it work, albeit at a little more difficulty. You know, like Homer Simpson using his handgun for everything, shooting off the light, shooting off the tv, shooting open the door, shooting open that can of beer, pow pow fixes everything.. :)

[.Tabris]

[...] though I stubbornly won't equip a melee as it just seems out of theme for the frame and I will make it work [...]

 

hahahahahahaha, that's why I only equip a Redeemer on her ! even my blade shoots ! lol

[KingTaro]

Yes, I've tried melee only. In fact, I've been running melee only since Damage 2.0. (Since U11).

And from my experience so far, I can tell you that Orthos Prime is the ultimate melee weapon. It doesn't even have a competition.

I'd love to be proven wrong, so add me ingame if you've got a trick or two for the other weapons.

 

As for frames, you can take any frame you want, but preferably frames that have some kind of defence skills.

Frames like Rhino, Loki, Ash, Zephyr, Valkyr, etc...

Edited March 27, 2015 by KingTaro

[LGear]

Valkyr is pretty much my melee-only frame since Update 13 when Life Strike graced the game with its presence. Rage + Steel Fiber gives her all the energy she needs to sustain herself even in long-duration Survival missions and the like.

 

Chroma is rapidly becoming my secondary for melee-only though, since he can also abuse the Rage + Life Strike combo, and with his Elemental Ward and Vex Armor he can dish out a ton of damage while maintaining incredibly high defense in melee.

Edited March 27, 2015 by LGear

[_Azeizel]

Melee only for me. Well I got 3.

 

 

First one: Xcal + Glaive. DUH

 

 

 

Second one, (srsly this time): Probably Chroma with abilities or not, he is still nice to melee only with

 

 

 

Third one. Now this one is just for challenge. Nyx with no mods except the ones that help for melee, no health or shield boosts, and worst of all, MACHETE

[xXSuperBeastXx]

 Glad to see more topics like this. To the OP, melee is quite viable and extremely effective, even into late game (40+ mins), solo Void runs. Matter of fact, I just logged my new personal best (1h1m17sec) in T1 as a test to get my Chroma build tweaked. Sadly, there is no one perfect build. It depends on the frame, weapon, and skill level of the player. Mods will vary frame to frame, weapon to weapon. Don't get discouraged... this ultimately is a good thing. Nothing I despise more than carbon-copy-cookie-cutter-over-generalized solutions.

 

 Another thing that I don't believe anyone touched on, your choice of sentinel/compainon. As crazy as it sounds, this made more of a difference than a few of the warframe mods I was choosing between.

 

 Going full melee is a total package deal and you can't build like you normally would for '4' spam. Every choice must be scrutinized and tested. Good luck on your build and if you see me in game, I'd be happy to help with any questions or just run a mission or two to help you test the build.

[ranks21]

melee only builds are tricky when modding for it to go long I hate using life strike in my melee builds. I have several different combos for melee only builds.

 

 what melee only has taught me is that armor on 99% of the frames are totally useless especially excel where in 2-3  hits from a high level slash its totally  diminished and your health and shields are gone also.

 reflex guard+handspring+ equilibrium is a staple in melee builds as you can have your back to a corner or wall and recover while  reflex guard do its thing.

 

 pre directional melee slam attack was truly effective  and useful knocking the enemies down and interrupting their constant stream of slash proc bullets. now you tend to do a football rush 80% of the time than actually do a slam attack.

 

 diamond skin needs a serious buff 45% isn't good enough even on low level maps like whats on venus and mars.

 

 on a whole the frames at least most of them isn't truly armored enough to go a full 1hr with just your melee only equipped and you not spamming your abilities or relying on corrosive projection to aid you.

 

 pretty soon you wont have nothing left to actually enjoy in this nerf ridden game.