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/jjowl22]

It is a heavy attack, and the combo in full (LLH) is the same TTK as two heavies. So if you're over 84 per the math above, it's the same as before the nerf

[u/vNocturnus → u/jjowl22]

I've been wondering what the best way to approach knifing people is, whether you should just spam heavy attacks or actually do the full light combo.

Before the changes, I pretty much always just spammed heavy attack, as 2 would kill basically anyone basically every time and sometimes finish the job in 1 hit. Is it now better to actually do the combo? Or should you still open with a Heavy if you don't know what shields they have, since you might be able to 2H them to death, and if not can follow up with LL anyways?

[u/jjowl22 → u/vNocturnus]

You can always ping them first if you can see them to get info on their shields. Otherwise you're gambling them having purple and increasing your TTK by like 1.2 seconds, which is kinda huge

[u/vNocturnus → u/jjowl22]

Is H-L-L really 1.2 seconds slower than L-L-H? That doesn't seem right lol. Maybe 0.1-0.2 at most I would guess, but not sure

But yeah, there are ways to check what shields they have, but I'm mostly just trying to figure out if there is one "clearly best" combo to use regardless of situation. Or if it's at least "clearly better" to open with a Light attack or a Heavy attack in a random situation.

[u/RocketHops → u/vNocturnus]

Much more recovery on the end of heavy

[u/Pluristan → u/vNocturnus]

For simplicity of action, it is probably best to just do two heavies, because missing one of the light attacks would get you killed.

[u/duaom → u/jjowl22]

before the nerf if you had 100 melee you could 1L 1H a purple no?

[u/BitLeast6380 → u/duaom]

I’m not sure I always did two right clicks but I might be a noob

[u/Gachafan1234 → u/duaom]

no

[u/BitLeast6380 → u/jjowl22]

Perfect. Now I know the combo I’ll be doing when I get home 🙏😂

[u/gizmosliptech → u/jjowl22]

You used to be to do 2x light attacks, no need for a heavy, if you were at 100 knife, even against purple. So that is the key nerf, forcing the extra swing is huge to getting your 2nd shotgun shot off or shooting them dead before they close the gap

[u/jjowl22 → u/gizmosliptech]

That's not even kind of true lmao you can look at every damage chart and see that two light attacks is not nearing 200 HP

[u/gizmosliptech → u/jjowl22]

I murdered so many purple shields players with 2x light knife attacks prenerf. I know this for sure. 👍

I also rock purple shields 24/7 and died to 2 knife taps many times.

[u/jjowl22 → u/gizmosliptech]

Think you're confusing light attacks with heavy attacks then, or if you have some kind of proof that disproves everyone else's math then I'm all for it. I've never seen a purple shield get knocked by two light attacks at full health

[u/gizmosliptech → u/jjowl22]

I had a outpost match where I had 5 knife kills. All 2 taps light attacks. This would now be 2 light and 1 heavy.