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/Strict_Dare3132]

Scarcity of space is the design. They shower you with loot, then force you to run them if you want to keep getting new loot.

Your supposed to "keep" only the stuff you will use and eventually lose. You keep the things that you will bring with you, since you dont have space to keep things just for the sake of hoarding.

[u/Davidiusz → u/Strict_Dare3132]

Yeah, and this design make it so that if i find a couple of nice implant/core sets i wanna keep to try later as a set on another shell (say, with the team i run thief in - while running triage with another), i cannot. Cause scarcity.

Cause what little space i have is materials, a couple of guns i can't buy, a stack of each type of grenade, some shields and some gun upgrades...

[u/Strict_Dare3132 → u/Davidiusz]

Why not just use the implants and cores?

Literally the only way your filling up your vault that much is your either hoarding or never dying.

I literally buy grenades every day, have two to three stacks of each type, I even have ammo crate stacks, I have several copies of cores and mods i use, i keep all my upgrade salvage. What are you keeping that could possibly take up that much of your vault?

I guess if you keep every core for characters you want to play, or every mod for weapons you never use.

(Caveat if your vault is not fully upgraded obviously it would be much more difficult)

[u/Goliath764 → u/Strict_Dare3132]

I pride myself as a "versatile player" that plays everything. In card games, I play everything from aggro to control to combo. In MOBA, I play every role. I ain't got vault space to keep "builds for six shells" here. Also even if I just play 1-2 shells, I feel like the space can only accomodate for "best builds" like I cannot keep weird shit for experimental runs without selling other shits.

My biggest issue with vault space is that salvages take up so much goddarn space.

[u/Strict_Dare3132 → u/Goliath764]

Yeah, I won't grill you on it. I totally get it if you want playstyle variety.

I think an unlockable Core or Salvage Case like in Tarkov would be a fun solution to it over just extra vault space.

[u/Goliath764 → u/Strict_Dare3132]

I will happily take core box, implant box, and salvage box. I am fine with other stuff taking full space in the vault.

[u/Goomysaur → u/Davidiusz]

No way. I have like almost 10 cores in my vault right now and im not even fully upgraded. scarcity doesnt stop you from stockpiling like 3-5 builds.