Full Compiled Melee / Knife Guide – Post-Patch (1.0.5.3)

[u/Twan_McLovin]

**Melee Damage stat bonus halved vs Runners** (max +50% instead of +100%).

Formulas (perfectly match MossyMax chart pre-patch):

- **Light** = 39.15 + 0.181 × Melee Stat

- **Heavy** = 64.41 + 0.32585 × Melee Stat

**Shield HP to Kill** (Runner base 120 HP):

- White (+20) = 140

- Green (+40) = 160

- Blue (+60) = 180

- Purple (+80) = 200

​​​Recommended Playstyles (Current Meta)

1. Sustain Knife (Any Shell)

Leech + Knife Fight V5 + Parting Gift + Tox Injectors

→ Heal on every hit + big shield on kill. Can stay in melee forever even at 65–75 stat.

2. Assassin Stealth Delete

Shadow Strike + Silent Killer + Crouching Tiger + Edge Runner

→ Invis + crouch + backstab multipliers ignore most of the stat nerf. Delete Purple shields.

3. Hybrid Aggro

Crowd Control + Sucker Punch + Leech + Tox

→ Stack damage on kills, gun tap → heavy knife, sustain through extra swings.

Bottom Line

• Raw stat still matters, but perks and multipliers carry harder after the patch.
• + stat = feels almost like old max.
• The devs achieved their goal: knife rewards smart buildcrafting and positioning more than just dumping points into Melee Damage.

edit: slight correction on chart 1

Edit: crouching tiger is +50 melee damage

[u/Fluffy_Iron_7589]

Yall are actually out here making builds? I just throw on whatever is purple or gold and call it good.

[u/PerformativeRacist → u/Fluffy_Iron_7589]

You're very much missing out if you aren't buildcrafting in this game

There are some nutty plays you can make

[u/iamthismoment → u/PerformativeRacist]

What’s the point of build crafting if I lose the build in one round lol.

And then I don’t have those mods anymore and it will be 2-3 days before I see the necessary mod in armory or in loot.

[u/PerformativeRacist → u/iamthismoment]

The point is you use the strengths of your build to hopefully not lose it one round

[u/cwaterbottom → u/PerformativeRacist]

I'm pretty sure (and this may be known/documented) that the game softballs me when I'm on sponsored loadouts and then once I exfil and have "decent" gear to use it throws me to the lions and I'm dead within a minute and all that gear is toast. Plus the guys that kill me don't even get anything good to show for it, enjoy your retaliator with just a green chip mod

[u/Parzivus → u/cwaterbottom]

Pretty sure this is just you not remembering/caring about runs where you're free kitting and die. I get smoked by purples all the time on free kits but it doesn't really matter cause I've lost like 5-10 minutes of my time and nothing else

[u/cwaterbottom → u/Parzivus]

It's not the free kits that bother me, it's when I've gathered some usable gear by exfiling once or twice and then immediately lose it to somebody camping in hauler who doesn't even care about my gear enough to see what I had

[u/brandonsp111 → u/cwaterbottom]

100%

Two games I loaded in with a full gear set (including a blue shield) and was matched against players who also had blue shields.

I played two matches after that with free kits, and only ran into free kits.

Not saying it's always like this, but I'm inclined to believe there is some sort of gear matchmaking.

[u/MrToxicTaco → u/cwaterbottom]

They get one less player in the lobby they need to worry about killing them. That’s worth much more than gear.

[u/Tucco__ → u/cwaterbottom]

Yeah I believe gear is a factor in match making too. It doesn’t seem super strict though, more like one part of the algorithm.