Melee is a form of combat which involves no shooting rifles, usually meaning close combat with fists or handheld weapons such as knives, swords and etc. In Warframe melee combat is an important part of fighting and knowing how to do it properly is a true helper and suits you well in the long (and short) run. In this article we’ll look over the basics of melee combat, take a look in to more advanced maneuvers and give you tips and guidelines on how to become a more successful fighter period.
First of all, there are 22 classes of melee weapons:
- Nikanas
- Swords
- Dual Swords
- Daggers
- Dual Daggers
- Machetes
- Glaives
- Fists
- Claws
- Sparring sets
- Staffs
- Polearms
- Heavy Blades
- Hammers
- Scythes
- Swords and Shields
- Tonfas
- Gunblades
- Whips
- Nunchakus
- Blades and Whips
- Rapiers
Each time you perform an attack in melee you take a step forward, but if your character can remain crouched (ducking), not combo attacks won’t make you step in front. The first thing to know is the basic attack, the default key is E (R1 for the controller), but you can bind this to whatever of your liking. We recommend remapping E with Left Mouse as you’re more comfortable with spamming your mouse rather than the E key. You deal damage depending on your selected item which also possess such attributes as: Attack speed, maximum possible targets, swing diameter – they all affect your performance. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s focus on combinations. Sliding or air sliding + melee attack button performs a slide or an air slide attacks respectively.
Jump in the air and press E to perform an airborne attack. If you want to knock down your enemies and do elemental damage – jump in the air, then instantly aim downwards and press E to perform a smashing attack and knock your enemies over.
There is also the wall attack (use melee while running on the wall climbing).
Don’t forget to channel your weapons to charge them with energy so you deal more damage. Parrying you should do also. Parrying is like blocking (hold aim while with a weapon in hand) and break your enemy’s attack.
Look at the bottom corner – see the little numbers after a successful hit? That’s your combo counter, it shows how many successful hits you’ve nailed in a row. A damage multiplier appears increasing the damage by the respective number. Combo counter restarts if you don’t land any hits in 3 seconds.
Charging attacks are a more powerful method of attack and if you connect – your character deals triple damage. Charge lasts for one second and after release you launch towards the opponent. Don’t forget about your finishers (fatalities of Warframe), never let your guard down, defend and wait for your opponent to slip up. If you’re unsuccessful with melee, just switch to a shooting rifle ;).
We leave you with a video of melee weapons. Follow us on social media and send us your questions. Cheers!
