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Outer Worlds 2
Best Melee Build
The Melee build lets you charge towards enemies and smash them to the ground in Outer Worlds 2. Learn more about what skills and perks to get for the Melee build, as well as what weapons and armor to equip, here!
Best Melee Build
Build Summary
| Melee Build | |
|---|---|
| Background |  Ex-Convict |
| Traits |
 Nimble Nimble You're quick and dexterous, able to move quickly while stealthing and in combat.
 Brawny Brawny You're able to perform great feats of strength. In combat, you're an unstoppable force.
 Dumb Dumb You weren't recruited for your ability to plan or solve problems. You just can't learn some things.
|
| Skills |
 Engineering Engineering The Engineering skill increases the effectiveness of all armor, granting inherent Damage Reduction. In conversations and while exploring, Engineering aids in the ability to act on the knowledge of mechanical systems. Investing in Engineering allows you to select perks that further increase your defenses and benefits from weapon, helmet and armor mods.
 Leadership Leadership The Leadership skill increases the damage and survivability of your companons. Investing in Leadership allows you to select perks that let you use companion abilities more and improve the overall effectiveness of your companions.
 Lockpick Lockpick The Lockpick skills allows you to unlock locked containers and doors. Investing in the Lockpick skill allows you to select perks that grant the ability to pickpocket humans and preview the contents of locked containers.
 Melee Melee The Melee skill increases damage dealt with Melee weapons. Investing in the Melee skill allows you to select perks that further improve your ability to use melee weapons of various types.
 Medical Medical The Medical skill increases maximum Toxicity, allowing more uses of the Medical Inhaler at a time and increased resistance to Zyranium poisoning. Investing in the Medical skill allows you to select perks that further improve your inhaler, temporarily tame creatures, and make better use of corrosive weapons.
|
| Weapons | |
| Armor | |
| Pros and Cons | |
 High Melee Damage Great Survivability and Buffs Takes a lot of damage No ranged capabilities |
|
Click the links above to see the detailed explanations for the build!
The Melee Build allows you to quickly close the distance between you and enemies, before dealing devastating damage with your melee weapon.
Best Melee Build Background
Ex-Convict
The best background for the Melee build is the Ex-Convict, as it gives the image of a hardened criminal capable of taking down anyone who gets in their way. This background will have its own unique dialogue options, as well as the occasional skill check bypass.
Best Melee Build Traits
Positive Traits
 Nimble |
・+25% Crouch Speed ・+25% Combat Sprint Speed |
|---|---|
 Brawny |
・Sliding or sprinting into hostiles will knock them down. ・Cooldown: 5s |
For Positive Traits, we highly recommend Nimble and Brawny. Nimble provides increased Combat Sprint Speed, allowing you to quickly close the distance and get within melee range of enemies.
Brawny, on the other hand, will allow you to knock enemies downwhenever you slide or sprint into them, allowing you to easily hit them with your melee attacks.
Negative Traits
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
 Dumb |
・During skill selection, lock 5 of the 12 available skills. Those skills can never have points added to them. |
As you will be picking two Positive Traits, you will also need to pick a Negative Trait. We highly recommend Dumb. As there are some skills that you do not need to take as a Melee character. This allows you to focus on the skills you really need.
Upon selecting Dumb, lock out the skills Guns, Sneak, Hack, Science!, and Observation.
Best Melee Build Flaws
| Flaw | Positive Effect | Negative Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Anger Mismanagement | +25% Power Attack Damage | +50% Damage Received While Blocking |
| Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome | +15% Experience Earned | Conversation options are now randomly chosen for you if you take too long to decide. |
| Drug Addiction | -40% Toxicity received from the Medical Inhaler | -20% Health restored by the Medical Inhaler |
These are the Best Flaws to get for the Melee Build. These flaws provide effects that strengthen your power attacks, provide additional XP for fast leveling, and allow you to use your Medical Inhaler more often. Their negative effects are either manageable or easy to play around.
Best Melee Build Skills
Specialized Skills
| Specialized Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Melee |
Medical |
|
As a Melee Build, you will primarily be attacking with melee weapons while using your Medical Inhaler for healing and buffs. As such, specialize in Melee and Medical to increase your damage output and easily gain access to your needed skills.
Other Useful Skills
| Useful Skills | ||
|---|---|---|
| Leadership |
Engineering |
Lockpick |
Other than the Specialized skills, you will also need to take Leadership, Engineering, and Lockpick. Leadership will increase the stats of your Companions, allowing them to deal more damage and survive for longer.
Engineering will improve your Damage Resistance while also giving you access to survivability Perks. Lastly, Lockpick lets you open locked doors and chests, while also increasing your Evasion Chance.
Final Skill Allocation
| Skill | Points | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Melee |
20 | High |
| Engineering |
20 | High |
| Medical |
10 | Medium |
| Lockpick |
6 | Medium |
| Leadership |
6 | Low |
This includes the 58 Skill Points you get from leveling up to 30, as well as the 4 points you get from Specialized Skills
This Skill allocation will allow you to deal massive amounts of melee damage with great survivability. Additionally, it will help you unlock all of the Perks you need for the build.
Prioritize leveling Medical until you reach Medical 5. Afterward, prioritize Melee and Engineering. Level Lockpick when needed, and increase your other Skills once you've reached 20 in both Melee and Engineering.
Best Melee Build Perks
Essential Perks
| Level | Perk | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
 Pharm-thusiast
|
・-25% Toxicity received from the Medical inhaler |
| 4 |
 Heavy Handed
|
・Knocks down enemies hit with a melee power attack. |
| 6 |
 Tinkerer
|
・+10% Damage with modded weapons. Increases by 2.5% per Engineering skill point |
| 8 |
 Inhaler Overload
|
・+20% Damage
・+3 Armor Rating and 10% Evasion Chance ・+50% Movement Speed |
| 10 |
 Run and Hitter
|
・+25% damage onj your next hit with a 1-handed melee weapon
・50% damage on your next hit with a 2-handed melee weapon |
| 12 |
 Bulletshield
|
・+10% Damage Resistance
・+10% Base Health |
| 14 |
 Makeshift Armorer
|
・+1 Armor Value to your equipped armor for every 25 hits crafted |
| 16 |
 Pitch/Tossball Hacker
|
・Ignore 50% of the target's Armor Value when attacking with a melee weapon. |
| 18 |
 Tit for Tat
|
・Heal for 25% of damage by melee weapons. |
| 20 |
 Commando
|
・Weapon Slot +1 |
| 22 |
 Shiny New Toy
|
・+20% Damage |
| 24 |
 Echoing Blows
|
・Heavy Melee weapons deal 50% of their weapon damage
・Light Melee weapons deal 25% of their weapon damage |
| 26 |
 Lucky Strikes
|
・+100% Critical Damage
・Deals 20% of nearby hostile's health in damage on killing with critical hit. |
| 28 |
 Crash Recovery
|
・2% health per second |
| 30 |
 Master Armorer
|
・Gain an additional armoring mod slot. |
These are the perks that you should get for the Melee build. All of these perks work toward dealing as much melee damage as possible, as well as improving your survivability.
We recommend tagging these skills as your Favorite to make it easier to find them and see their Skill requirements.
Best Melee Build Equipment
Weapon Loadout
| Jump to a Section! | |
|---|---|
| Weapons | Armor |
| Weapon | Mods |
|---|---|
 Wham-Bam!
|
・Shotgun-Hammer |
 Thunderstruck
|
・Defense Grip ・Crash of Thunder |
 Prototype N-Radiated Scythe
|
・N-Radiated Blade |
The Melee Build's lineup will revolve around two weapons: the Wham-Bam!, and the Prototype N-Radiated Scythe. The Wham-Bam! is a powerful Unique Shock Hammer that triggers a shotgun blast on hit, dealing massive amounts of damage capable of taking down even armored targets.
The Thunderstruck, on the other hand, is a Unique Telescoping Staff that can shoot electric waves whenever you perform a Heavy Attack, giving your attacks some range.
As you will also be getting the Commando perk, equip the Prototype N-Radiated Scythe as your third weapon. It is a powerful weapon capable of instantly killing enemies once you stack enough N-Ray side effects. While you may not be able to maximize the N-Ray side effects, the weapon's damage output makes up for it.
Armor Loadout
| Jump to a Section! | |
|---|---|
| Weapons | Armor |
| Armor | Mods |
|---|---|
 Bowlzerker
|
・Brawler ・Reflective Amplification Plating |
 Acquiescence
|
・Adaptive Engineering ・Energy-Woven Materials ・Corrosion Disperser |
This armor loadout is the best for Melee builds as they improve your Melee capabilities and provide survivability. The Bowlzerker increases your damage whenever you are hit in melee, something that will almost always happen as you are close to the enemy. Equip the Reflective Amplification Plating to deal additional damage to nearby enemies.
Acquiescence, on the other hand, provides either Evade Chance or Damage Resistance based on the amount of damage you take. Energy-Woven Materials will provide energy recovery, while Corrosion Disperser makes you immune to Corrosion Side Effects.
Best Melee Build Companions
| Companion | Perks |
|---|---|
 Tristan |
・Juggernaut ・Shield of the Law ・Zyranium Regeneration ・Aggressive Challenge ・Steeel Wall ・Groundshaker |
 VALERIE |
・Armor Operation ・Salvaging Tools ・Strength Supplement Module ・Enhanced Emergency Protocols ・Preservation Catalyst ・Prolonged Defenses |
When running a Melee build, bring along Tristan and VALERIE as your Companions. Tristan serves as a tank, while VALERIE is your dedicated Melee support.
Tristan will Taunt and Goad enemies, making it easier to attack them. VALERIE, on the other hand, can provide numerous buffs, including Armor Rating buffs, Melee Damage buffs, and even temporary invulnerability whenever she uses her Companion Ability on you.
Best Melee Build Items
Gadget
Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus
The best gadget for the Melee build is the Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus, as it provides a temporary shield that you can use to absorb some damage while charging toward your enemies.
Inhaler
Adreno Spume Boom Starter Plus
The Adreno Spume Boom Starter Plus is the best Inhaler for the Melee build, as not only does it provide immediate healing, but it also provides healing over time, allowing you to heal large amounts of HP per Medical Inhaler use.
Throwable
Smoke Grenade
The Smoke Grenade is the best throwable you can equip for the Melee build as it makes enemies lose sight of you, allowing you to get close to and attack them.
Outer Worlds 2 Related Guides
All Character Builds
| Character Builds | |
|---|---|
| Stealth | Science |
| Gunslinger | Melee |
| Leadership | |
All Background Builds
| Background Builds | |
|---|---|
| Ex-Convict | Gambler |
| Lawbringer | Professor |
| Renegade | Roustabout |
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Best Melee Build
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