High End Melee Dps?

[VKhaun]

I want a melee weapon to stun lock and dps very high level Corrupted Infested Ancients as efficiently as possible.

 

What's the best melee option for killing very high level Corrupted Infested Ancients? Playing T3 Void Defense as Frost with various friends and I do fine between the globe and my guns vs everything except Ancients. They seem to laugh at my laser damage (Dera), Despair does okay but can't kill them before they get to me/the pod, and I don't have Acrid built yet so I don't know how that'll do but I still have the interrupt issue at close range even if it's good damage.

 

I know next to nothing about melee. I've always been the type to just stack damage and charge attack everything for a one shot kill. Obviously that's not going to be applicable here so any insight about the mechanics of stun or what weapons yield the best DPS (crit build?) would be appreciated.

 

[Zero5412]

Umm. You want dps and good against ancients?

 

Orthos (maybe with max fury) I hope that will help. Besides that Idk.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Zero5412

[Denvert]

Dual Ether. Staggers, has armour ignore on any attacks and hits multiple targets.

 

Or Reaper Prime for large AoE knockdown on jump attacks and stagger on normal hits.

[Xuande]

I actually just end up using Kogake to roundhouse kick any enemies that breach the Snow Globe during T3 Defense. Then I shoot them with my guns.

[AvatreDaemonSadi]

If you want to be able to just CC and Keep distance. Kestrel. 100% ragdoll. Allows you to kite and/or keep away from pod. For damage pick the Orthos or the Dual Ether like previously suggested..

[VKhaun]

Will Kestrel ragdoll a lv100+ Corrupted Ancient?

Can I really roundhouse kick one?

 

I haven't used either of those weapons yet, but I believe I have built them both and they're ready to claim.

 

 

 

Dual Ether is what I'm using now. Charge attacks had lowish DPS, but better than guns. Light attacks were very nice and slicey dicey, but did not seem to stagger them. I was going to try Fragor regular attacks.

Edited July 31, 2013 by VKhaun

[philleapa]

Will Kestrel ragdoll a lv100+ Corrupted Ancient?

Can I really roundhouse kick one?

 

I haven't used either of those weapons yet, but I believe I have built them both and they're ready to claim.

 

 

 

Dual Ether is what I'm using now. Charge attacks had lowish DPS, but better than guns. Light attacks were very nice and slicey dicey, but did not seem to stagger them. I was going to try Fragor regular attacks.

 

Kestrel will ragdoll anything even bosses

[Xuande]

Kestrel and Kogake are guaranteed to ragdoll enemies including bosses, but when they recover from ragdoll status they will be immune from ragdoll again for a short period of time. You can cycle between Kogake's charge attack (ragdoll) and jump attack (knockdown) for some prolonged CC, or you can make sure to kill an enemy before it recovers (Freeze damage really helps).

[Diarrhea]

Follow your heart.

[VKhaun]

Right but chaining Kogake won't kill them before three more spawn, and Kestrel is going to be even more abysmal DPS.

I need something I can just beat the crap out of them with, charged or regular is fine, and stun them enough that they don't hit me back.

Edited July 31, 2013 by VKhaun

[Darzk]

I actually logged on today to ask this same question. Right now Im stuck between:

 

Scindo [Jump attack knockdown] / Orthos [5 targets instead of 3] Charged Attacks - highest DPS that can hit multiple targets, with a good range (Leaning towards Scindo for this scenario, knocking down ancients is pretty useful and with a cold mod on they get up pretty slowly)

Furax Charged Attacks - highest single target charged DPS ('nuff said)

Ether Daggers regular attacks - highest non-charge dps, stagger, and a quicker slide attack for getting around

 

Edit: I do NOT mean the Dual Ethers. People underestimate the daggers b/c they don't have armor ignore, but they have by far the highest non-charge DPS of any melee weapon, and as elemental damage is based off that base DPS before armor is applied, they actually deal significantly more damage with 150% AP/90%Fire/60% elec/60% cold [my mod spec for them] than people think.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Darzk

[VKhaun]

How do the dual weapons do when it comes to stagger/stun though? Sure Ether Daggers will grind things up and look pretty scary on paper, but if the ancient just *@##$ slaps me my DPS will go to squat. If I do dual weapons I'd probably go all out and do Dual Zorrens with a stun mod since they have the highest attack speed.

[Hallorann]

How do the dual weapons do when it comes to stagger/stun though? Sure Ether Daggers will grind things up and look pretty scary on paper, but if the ancient just $#*(@ slaps me my DPS will go to squat. If I do dual weapons I'd probably go all out and do Dual Zorrens with a stun mod since they have the highest attack speed.

 

if it were me, and that tough ancient were coming at me, and i really cared for DPS, i'd probably keep my distance and use a firearm. or a warframe skill. Just sayin.

[Necromonger2100]

If your good with a glaive then you can hit a ancient in between the legs causing it to bounce back and forth a few times doing some good damage.

[Saenol]

My Dual Cleavers are rather effective up to about rank 100 Ancients. They crit every third attack for several hundred points of damage. They aren't as fast as Zorens, but the greater base damage makes up for this. They don't armor ignore like Dual Ether, but the much better crit rate makes up for much of that as well. Never charge attack with Cleavers or Zoren, they do worse sustained DPS this way because their attack speed and crit rate/damage go down the toilet. Just normal attack as fast as you can, and keep your foes stun-locked until they die from a hail of crits. Both (if fury is on the cleavers) are capable of doing this to multiple opponents, even ones not able to be hit with the same attacks.

 

I also have Reaper Prime, Hate, Orthos, Fragor, Scindo, and Gram, and out of all of these, I honestly prefer the Gram. It attacks faster than any other heavy with inertia, staggers frequently, and charge attacks still ignore armor while doing damage that is competitive with anything. AoE is impressive as well. I use a mix of normal and charge attacks with my heavies. A few quick normal attacks to stagger, then I hold down the button and deliver a charge attack that won't be interrupted.

 

I should note that I am not considering default polarizations, because I am more than willing to blow the forma necessary to get a weapon I find promising to the next level.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Saenol

[Saenol]

How do the dual weapons do when it comes to stagger/stun though? Sure Ether Daggers will grind things up and look pretty scary on paper, but if the ancient just $#*(@ slaps me my DPS will go to squat. If I do dual weapons I'd probably go all out and do Dual Zorrens with a stun mod since they have the highest attack speed.

 

Zorens attack so fast that if you slot Fury, you might not be able to click fast enough to make it worthwhile. This is one of the reasons I prefer Cleavers, I don't want a repetitive stress injury or a broken from clickity click ckicking away with my Zorens, and the base damage boost is worth dropping some other mod to slot Fury.

 

Stun mods are worthless on Zorens/Cleavers because every hit, as far as I can tell, staggers. You can't do better than this.

[Phoenix86]

Considering your needs your best options are: Kestrel - Kogake - Gram

 

Of these 3 the most effective at CC would be the Kogake on single target and Gram on multi target.

Talking about dmg... well Gram is AoE while Kogake are single target... i'd say go Gram

 

You cant get anything as fast and as dangerous as it can be

[Llokii]

Orthos with max reach and fury, then add damage mods.  Infested Killing Machine

[F1ddleD1ddle]

My Dual Cleavers are rather effective up to about rank 100 Ancients. They crit every third attack for several hundred points of damage. They aren't as fast as Zorens, but the greater base damage makes up for this. They don't armor ignore like Dual Ether, but the much better crit rate makes up for much of that as well. Never charge attack with Cleavers or Zoren, they do worse sustained DPS this way because their attack speed and crit rate/damage go down the toilet. Just normal attack as fast as you can, and keep your foes stun-locked until they die from a hail of crits. Both (if fury is on the cleavers) are capable of doing this to multiple opponents, even ones not able to be hit with the same attacks.

 

I also have Reaper Prime, Hate, Orthos, Fragor, Scindo, and Gram, and out of all of these, I honestly prefer the Gram. It attacks faster than any other heavy with inertia, staggers frequently, and charge attacks still ignore armor while doing damage that is competitive with anything. AoE is impressive as well. I use a mix of normal and charge attacks with my heavies. A few quick normal attacks to stagger, then I hold down the button and deliver a charge attack that won't be interrupted.

 

I should note that I am not considering default polarizations, because I am more than willing to blow the forma necessary to get a weapon I find promising to the next level.

 

Dual Cleavers are the unsung, unknown king of dual weapons. Straight upgrade from Dual Zoren and best crit melee weapons. Twinned with Loki's invisibility they become absolutely GODLY! Mine are potato'd and have been polarized twice in order to reach their full potential, which is this...

 

 

With this I can quite happily pop my invisibility, run into a crowd of level 250 grineer and still crit into the thousands.

Think of dual cleavers as Stronger, slightly slower Zorens, with overall a higher DPS and much easier to control and sick to targets with. Plus they look BADASS and can still eat through high level enemies with ease (Using Loki).

 

But, crit weapons in general are rather bad in the hands of any other frame that does not get a boost to regular melee damage. Loki gets a 150% damage boost per normal attack in invisibility and so they really were made for him :).

 

Also for the non-believers...

 

As you can see my Dual Cleavers are there looking sexy as ever on the Casta Defence mission (Ceres).

[Saenol]

I don't have any stealth/invisibility frames leveled to any real degree, and only have a Dethcube sentinel. I normally use them with Rhino or Excalibur. Often, I slot all endurance mods and can sprint while attacking for significan periods, only interupted by the occasional slide. Lower rank foes and any light infested just disappear as I run through them. Crits do appreciable damage to the tougher stuff.

 

My build for them is quite similar, though I usually slot Reach instead of Rending Strike.

 

You are absolutely correct about them being an upgrade to Zorens.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Saenol

[DeathByDribbling]

Have orthos and furax.  Furax wins hands down for killing anything you can't one shot (ancients, heavy grineer, etc) - charged swings much faster then orthos but does almost the same damage (base 150 vs 200) so dps quite a bit higher.  It also has a ground pound that knocks stuff over.

[honeybadger]

Beyond level 100, even the orthos begins to fall of from a DPS standpoint. It will stagger ancients on charge attacks, but otherwise provides zero CC utility.

If you are pushing high level defense. I would suggest a utility melee weapon as suggested in this thread. Kogake, Kestral, <insert weapon with good knockdown jump attack>.

I like the kogake personally. If they are at range, I'll be shooting them in the face. It's only when Heavies get close that they are really dangerous and the Kogake provides two CC mechanisms (charge attack and jump attack).

[PettiTheYeti]

Dual Cleavers are the unsung, unknown king of dual weapons. Straight upgrade from Dual Zoren and best crit melee weapons. Twinned with Loki's invisibility they become absolutely GODLY! Mine are potato'd and have been polarized twice in order to reach their full potential, which is this...

 

 

 

With this I can quite happily pop my invisibility, run into a crowd of level 250 grineer and still crit into the thousands.

Think of dual cleavers as Stronger, slightly slower Zorens, with overall a higher DPS and much easier to control and sick to targets with. Plus they look BADASS and can still eat through high level enemies with ease (Using Loki).

 

But, crit weapons in general are rather bad in the hands of any other frame that does not get a boost to regular melee damage. Loki gets a 150% damage boost per normal attack in invisibility and so they really were made for him :).

 

Also for the non-believers...

 

 

As you can see my Dual Cleavers are there looking sexy as ever on the Casta Defence mission (Ceres).

 

Looks like I know what melee weapon I'm going to try later tonight..