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Something's been bothering me for a while now, even though I don't actually own the game (yet).

It seems to me that different melee weapons in Left 4 Dead 2 operate differently. For example, I've noticed that the Machete seems to have a shorter 'reload time' than say, the Fireman's Axe, or the Garden Gnome. Can anyone confirm whether or not this is a product of my imagination?

In addition, is there a difference between melee weapons in terms of damage? Do certain weapons do more damage than others? If so, are these values listed in a convenient, and readable format somewhere?

GnomeSlice
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1 Answers1

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They are different in terms of reload time, however, they are not different in terms of damage done per hit. The differing reload times will make for an effective difference in DPS though. Melee weapons will one-shot all Common Infected on all difficulties. They will also one shot all Special Infected on all difficulties, except for the Chargers (2 hits), Witches (4 hits), and Tanks (20 hits).

The following is a table in ascending order of rate of fire.

  Weapon      Hit time

Nightstick    .650 sec
Machete       .675 sec
Katana        .750 sec
Golf Club     .750 sec
Frying Pan    .800 sec
Crowbar       .830 sec
Guitar        .830 sec
Baseball Bat  .850 sec
Cricket Bat   .850 sec
Fireman's Axe .910 sec

The Chainsaw is a special case, and it does 100 damage per hit and hits every .1 seconds for 1,000 DPS. All other melee weapons do 500 damage per hit (as calculated on the L4D wiki for the Level A Charge achievement).

Information is from the individual pages of the Melee Weapons on the L4D wiki, which I conglomerated here. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any information on Gnome Chompski's reload time. :(

badp
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FAE
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    Every time I read Gnome Chompski I think, "that sounds familiar" and then facepalm as I realize the pun AGAIN. – Invader Skoodge Oct 07 '10 at 14:11
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    Whilst I can't disagree with your figures, the correct answer was the Katana. Let's face it - it's the coolest, it has a long reach, and it (given that it is a 2-handed weapon) is it appears have an integrated flashlight somewhere! ;) – CJM Oct 07 '10 at 15:32
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    In all honesty, I would say katana as well - this answer does not take reach into account – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Oct 07 '10 at 16:29
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    As CJM said, these figures don't take into account the weapons' 'reach'. Also - some uncommon infected are highly resistant to blunt melee weapons, such as the construction worker (http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Fallen_Survivor#Worker_Infected). – idan315 Oct 07 '10 at 20:01
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    I didn't include reach information because it's not available on the wiki for all weapons, only some, and I'm not sure how best to quantify it in subjective experience. "I think the machete is shorter than the baseball bat but longer than the frying pan" isn't a great answer. I wasn't trying to answer the "best" part of @GnomeSlice's question because that can vary based on subjective experience. The katana may be "best" in terms of reach, but someone may still prefer using the guitar just to hear the disjointed chords every time they hit someone and thus say that is "best." :) – FAE Oct 07 '10 at 20:30
  • FallenAngleEyes > Indeed that is true. I realize the "b" word is synonymous with subjectivity around here, but I figured it could be answered. However, I forgot to take reach into account. If the only variable had been reload time, then there would indeed have been a single best melee weapon. Is a question title change needed? – GnomeSlice Oct 08 '10 at 00:35
  • I think people missed my point somewhat... the Katana is not the best because of reach... but simply because we like pretending to be Samurai. The reach is just a bonus! ;) – CJM Oct 08 '10 at 14:05
  • @idan315 - Rather than 'highly resistant', some of the guide simply say that the baton (fastest weapon) simply doesn't register hits sometimes. Can't say I disagree... or maybe I'm just not very good. – CJM Oct 08 '10 at 14:07
  • CJM > I think it's because the baton has one of the shortest reaches of any weapon. In any case, I still prefer the Machete over any other. Does anyone know how much damage a melee weapon does, besides the chainsaw? – GnomeSlice Oct 09 '10 at 02:12
  • @GnomeSlice: 500 damage, according to the L4D wiki. I'll add that to my answer. – FAE Oct 09 '10 at 11:20
  • Do they all have the same arc? – clweeks Oct 11 '10 at 15:26
  • @clweeks > If by 'arc' you mean 'attack pattern', then yes, but if you mean 'arc radius' (reach) then no. – GnomeSlice Oct 20 '10 at 13:31
  • Yeah, length of the arc is what I meant. Seems like making wider and narrower arcs and overlapping that with damage quantities and types would add a big "which weapon is better in which circumstances" layer to play. – clweeks Oct 21 '10 at 16:43
  • My favorite for fun is the axe. It's just so satisfying! But if I'm in a hotly contested realism versus game, I like to have a machete or katana at my side. I too find that I can never clear through a horde with the baton--whether I'm just not aiming right (don't think so) or it's not registering hits or reaching my target. It also seems to only kill one common at a time which is not cool. – David Harkness Feb 20 '12 at 19:26
  • For anyone finding this page who wants to know more about the attack range of these weapons: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/97154/how-do-the-melee-weapons-compare-to-each-other-in-terms-of-swing-arc-and-reach – GnomeSlice Dec 24 '12 at 16:59