Heavy Melee Is Extremely Viable Early And Late Game

[(PSN)Crixus044]

I know most people don't like melee gameplay, but I'm one of the few who prefer going sword alone into a t4 survival for hours solo. I love melee and it's my favorite aspect of the game. I use to keep up and even surpass power spammers and shooters without any problems. They said that I am just really good, but for the damage I was doing, I questioned whether it was just skill. Turns out it's not. Heavy Melee weapons are one of the best types of weapon classes and anybody who can learn to master it will be invincible with any warframe. Atlas, Rhino Prime, Chroma, Valkyr, and Loki Prime are probably the best frames for this class, but feel free to use whoever you want. Here is the proof, keep in mind that these numbers are from warframe-builder which usually isn't as accurate, but play testing proved impossible as I'm in college now and nobody else I know plays warframe as much as I do. I do have screenshots of insane damage numbers that'll blow your mind and I'm sure these numbers are severely UNDERPOWERED compared to actual use in game were weakpoints, headshots, and other circumstances increase damage.

 

First let's look and the stances. Rending Crane, great for headshots, essentially doubling damage on every hit if done correctly. This is my least favorite stance and I do not recommend for endgame material but it is nice and usable. Tempo Royale is beautiful and looks like an art form of swordsmanship. The fluid movement is just so easy on the eyes and a spectacle to look at. This stance most certainly is endgame viable. The stances multi-hit and have a connecting flow that never interupts and has great cc ability with the ground slams. Also, the final combo has a 5x damage multiplier. Talk about insane damage. While pretty than it's predecessors, it's still not my favorite. Cleaving Whilrwind and the infamous Spin2Win is just so fun to use. Now a lot of people think Broken Bull is the only useful combo in the stance. It's a tragedy since Sundered Tusk is such a great quick combo. Not only does it finish in a ground slam with super damage and good cc, the quick hits before multi hit 3x TWO TIMES. That's 6 hits in a matter of seconds. It's a great and underrated combo. Broken Bull.....we know broken bull enough lol.

 

Now for Hammers: Crushing Ruin is a huge and powerful combo and is my favorite stance of all. It has 75% and 50% damage multipliers and multi hit everywhere and is ragdoll central. Shattering Storm has equal amounts of each, but look $&*&*#(%& to me. I like the look of Crushing Ruin but either or is fine.

 

Now to the Math:

 

 

Scindo Prime maxed out can do 10,000 dps against grineer with my corrosive slash build (I'll post a link of my build). Add broken bull 4x multiplier and hit twice per swing and I can get 80,000 dps sustained. That's higher than any other weapon in warframe. Plus it hits multiple enemies.

 

Let me say that I still prefer Galatine and Jat Kittag. My Galatine can get 5500 dps on grineer and only reason why it's not higher it's because I prefer channeling efficiency on Galatine for the more enemies it hits draining my energy. I only prefer Galatine for infested and when RD Loki is around. The reach allows me to hit them twice as much as Scindo prime when they're charging at me. Effectively doubling the damage done in comparison to Scindo prime. That's 11,000 dps when used at charging enemies. Add broken bull combo....O_O also, Galatine hits more enemies. Scindo only hits 3 max. Galatine hits 5 per swing.

 

I'd use Scindo prime over Galatine in regular missions or when there's no Loki RD. Even then, I prefer Jat Kittag over Scindo prime for Ragdoll, arguably the best cc ability of any weapon. Ragdoll a bombard out of bounds and he doesn't get up and dies from being out of bounds. One shot any enemy of any level with this ability. If not, finisher attack bypasses armor. With Jat Kittag slam, you got a lot of finishers. This scales better than slash damage and eventually, becomes the only possible means of damage. Impact damage is a little under rated as its proc is decent cc and isn't that much of a negative in damage.

 

My Jat Kittag is ACTUALLY the king of dps as it does 11,500 dps on grineer. Discounting elemental damage for either, it does 8800 dps while the Scindo prime maxed out does 7800 dps general damage. Galatine sits at a 4500 in general damage. So for all you tempo royale Scindo prime users, I'm out-dpsing you no matter what enemy or way you look at it. Plus crushing ruin has some damage buffs by 75% which is just bringing in the 800 pound gorilla to finish the job. Fragor isn't too far behind as it has higher crit, but I'd compare fragor vs jat kittag argument to a regular scindo vs. galatine argument. I can't wait for a Fragor Prime. That will be epic. Counting elemental combos, the jat kittag does 100 more dps than the scindo prime. Hammers also have 6400% damage increase of damage on finishers

 

So if you want to go in an infested/RD Loki mission, Galatine is the king. If you really want a heavy blade for normal missions, Scindo prime is the best option, although Jat Kittag is a better weapon in general for that kind of mission. I hope this solves your problem.

 

 

Here's my build:
Jat Kittag: http://warframe-buil.../4-0-51/63129/0

Scindo Prime: http://warframe-buil.../4-0-67/62963/0

Galatine: http://warframe-buil.../4-0-41/62749/0 

 

So all in all, between Scindo Prime and Galatine's Broken Bull combo showing enemies close by who's boss and Jat Kittag with his unmistakable Ragdoll effect prove effective in any situation and I recomend giving it a look.

Edited December 3, 2015 by (PS4)Crixus044

[p3z1]

Pair that with Saryn and everything cries (once saryn rework hits though)

Edited November 30, 2015 by p3z1

[Draciusen]

Volt and Shocking Speed with power strength is outstanding for melee as well.

[Trichouette]

Everybody know Heavy melee are the best, especially the scindo p, and guess why ? Because they're the only kind of melee that got recently reworked.

[Zachatoo]

You forget to mention heavy melee'a drawback: Being stuck in animation sequences for the duration of each movement.

For me, heavy melee is only usable with Valkyr/Volt to speed up the animations so I'm not a sitting duck.

[Atomic_Noodles]

Melee is truly the most satisfying playstyles. Heavy Melee Weapons more so. The only thing I hate with it is the slower Stealth Attacks and Attacks in General making destroying Containers a bit painful to do if you're in a rushed mission.

[lightdragon64]

yes, but have you tried prisma skana with bright purity on it? it's actually suprisingly good in late game considering the fact that it is just a sword.

[(PSN)Crixus044]

Volt and Shocking Speed with power strength is outstanding for melee as well.

I agree, but after enemies reach level 32, volt becomes paper to the enemies. I see him more as a designated marksman especially in survival. He takes a positron, puts up a shield, pulls out his sniper or bow or any weapon, and obliterates all enemies in sight. Enemies getting too close get zapped. After the room is cleared, he runs to the next position at superspeed, speed slashing enemies in his positron. Wash and repeat lol. So yes speed is great for melee, but hell, it's friggin volt for God's sake.

[letir]

My Hek can do impressive damage, hit multiply targets (punch through) from any distance and any position, don't lock me down in the animation and can freely target heads, have Syndicate mod.

 

Bigger damage numbers, much easy to use, combo counter aren't necessary, work with any frame. Don't bring a sword into a gunfight, Tenno.

[(PSN)federally]

My Hek can do impressive damage, hit multiply targets (punch through) from any distance and any position, don't lock me down in the animation and can freely target heads, have Syndicate mod.

Bigger damage numbers, much easy to use, combo counter aren't necessary, work with any frame. Don't bring a sword into a gunfight, Tenno.

I didn't bring a sword, I brought a battle axe ;) Edited November 30, 2015 by (PS4)federally

[Bloop]

Honestly, in my opinion there was no need for maths to prove a point, I personally think melee is viable fpr the late game, the combo multiplier itself helps a lot our melee weapons.

I am not that much into melee though I use a Surging Dash Excalibur with the bo prime, no EB, I can survive for an hour without real issue (melee only). In short, it really depends on the player and not a specific melee itself.

[Defendor]

You forget to mention heavy melee'a drawback: Being stuck in animation sequences for the duration of each movement.

For me, heavy melee is only usable with Valkyr/Volt to speed up the animations so I'm not a sitting duck.

It's not a problem with Berserker.

[(PSN)Crixus044]

My Hek can do impressive damage, hit multiply targets (punch through) from any distance and any position, don't lock me down in the animation and can freely target heads, have Syndicate mod.

Bigger damage numbers, much easy to use, combo counter aren't necessary, work with any frame. Don't bring a sword into a gunfight, Tenno.

That's not true. I proved that the Scindo prime, Galatine and Jat Kittag have more sustained and burst dps than any Other weapon when used correctly. Hek can only do that huge damage if all the pellets hit and at most can do that sort of damage to two or three enemies max and they have to be in a line right behind eachother. You won't get locked in a slow animation with combos if done correctly and even with guns, you're not that much faster than in melee. And damage numbers are not bigger, if anything they're equal or slightly lower. Good luck getting those huge numbers with the multishot nerf anyways.

[letir]

First, you don't actually "prove" anything, you make statements. I respond with my own statement.

Second, you are severly understimated power of the overbuffed shotguns and versality of guns.

 

My Hek deal 31086 total damage per shot. V Hek can do it even better with crits, especially if player take headshots.

Your Scindo P deal around 12000 per strike. It's around 45150 even with crits, and your crit chance is only 15%.

 

Talk about damage more.

 

Guns never lock you in animation, even if you don't do it correctly. Guns can be sucessful used in flight. Guns can take down bunch of enemies, even if they are spread all around. Guns can do headshots without any animation, just with good hand. Guns can be used from the distance, which reduce risk.

 

In usual combat any gun (even shotgun, even shot-range beam gun) is much more versalite against crowds. And Warframe is all about crowds.

Edited November 30, 2015 by letir

[vrdwrst]

But in late game those crewmen oneshot you before you can hit them with your sword.

[B0N3M4N]

Yes and we know it.

[AoiiToori]

I actually pair Jat Kitty with a Berserker even without crit rate mods. You'd be surprised how often it procs.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

Jat Kittag + Crushing Ruin = heaven.

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

I actually pair Jat Kitty with a Berserker even without crit rate mods. You'd be surprised how often it procs.

I always use Berserker if a weapon has at least 10% crit chance. All you need to get is the first proc and the rest just keeps on coming.

[Voltage]

<<<<<< i main this frame for a reason :D

Scindo Prime is IMO the best melee in the game because I can swing faster than mios its ridiculous. Heavy Melee is VERY viable in late game and it is my favorite to use.

[Vidaren]

I actually don't use heavy melee, like at all, simply because i don't like how the stance is when holding them, it's either a baseball bat or... a baseball bat being held a different way, but that's just me. glaive for the win...

[xStonedRaveNx]

I stack fury+ berserk to offset infuriatingly slow wind up animation. I absolutely hate how slow the first strike is, which in other melee games tends to be substantially faster than follow up combos. 

[(XBOX)Master4733]

I agree, but after enemies reach level 32, volt becomes paper to the enemies. I see him more as a designated marksman especially in survival. He takes a positron, puts up a shield, pulls out his sniper or bow or any weapon, and obliterates all enemies in sight. Enemies getting too close get zapped. After the room is cleared, he runs to the next position at superspeed, speed slashing enemies in his positron. Wash and repeat lol. So yes speed is great for melee, but hell, it's friggin volt for God's sake.

Lol my volt prime begs to differ

[OldGodKing]

I agree, but after enemies reach level 32, volt becomes paper to the enemies. I see him more as a designated marksman especially in survival. He takes a positron, puts up a shield, pulls out his sniper or bow or any weapon, and obliterates all enemies in sight. Enemies getting too close get zapped. After the room is cleared, he runs to the next position at superspeed, speed slashing enemies in his positron. Wash and repeat lol. So yes speed is great for melee, but hell, it's friggin volt for God's sake.

Here is a prime example of someone with no experience with Volt trying to downplay Volts usefulness and thinks he is only good for Speed.

My Volt Prime modded with shocking speed, Flow+rage+QT with Prisma dual cleavers would like to have a word with you

[a-Arcadia]

I love my crimson dervish