Two questions about melee weapons...

[ZedClampet]

Do you prefer:
1) Light, fast, lower damage
2) Heavy, slow, higher damage

And

What is you preferred attack style?

1) Fast, lower damage normal swings
2) Slow, higher damage power swings

I almost always go with light, fast weapons and normal swings. For one thing, if you can have your attack interrupted, getting in your hits is very important, especially if you can stagger the enemy or interrupt their attacks.

And I'm the worst at power swings. It seems like they take forever, and the enemy just moves out of the way.

 

[Pifanjr]

I prefer fast weapons as well. It's just too frustrating missing a slow attack, especially if it leaves you open for a counterattack.

 

[ZedClampet]

I prefer fast weapons as well. It's just too frustrating missing a slow attack, especially if it leaves you open for a counterattack.

I keep trying to land a power swing in Soulmask, and it's almost hilarious how I keep missing, getting interrupted, etc.

Originally, I was using this legendary great sword that I randomly found, but I've switched to dual blades and am much happier with them.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

It depends on the game, currently playing Elden Ring and in Soulslike games I prefer a big honker.

If the moveset has a good sweep you can take out multiple low tier/low health enemies in one swing, and when your facing up against a boss or something bigger, finding a window to hit a heavy attack that does huge health damage feels good, but also the posture damage quite often breaks the boss down so you can get in a free critical hit for even more damage. Also means that you dont have to survive for as long because youre chunking the health down so fast you often only need to land 8-10 hits before the fight is over. Theres also hyper armor on larger weapons which allow you to just blow through most incoming enemy attacks and trade damage, most of the time to your favour.

Dying Light I prefer something medium speed as the first person combat feels different and youre much more mobile. Also the game doesnt have a posture system so youre not getting the bonus of knocking stuff down for a free big hit.

 

[BeardyHat]

Almost always light and fast. Although something I like about Lies of P is that it walk encourages you to switch between them depending on enemies and bosses, but even then, I'm going for something of a more "medium" persuasion.

Though in a recent Dark Souls run, I did try to train myself to play with slow and heavy and did pretty well. Although, I still didn't go with the slowest or the heaviest, so...

 

[ZedClampet]

It depends on the game...

It definitely does. In a horde game like Vermintide, slow swings are death, but you don't want the lightest weapons either because they can't penetrate armor even with their power swings, so something in between seems to work best, at least for me. A good medium type weapon can get you through a horde and the power attacks can cut through the big guys' armor.

I'm so bad at the slow combat of Dark Souls that I couldn't tell you what works best for me Same thing with Monster Hunter. I've just never adapted to slow melee. Learning the boss moves is one thing, but my timing with my swings is always off.

I did do better with Lies of P, though, so maybe I'm coming around to it.

Almost always light and fast. Although something I like about Lies of P is that it walk encourages you to switch between them depending on enemies and bosses, but even then, I'm going for something of a more "medium" persuasion.

Though in a recent Dark Souls run, I did try to train myself to play with slow and heavy and did pretty well. Although, I still didn't go with the slowest or the heaviest, so...

Medium is really what I usually go for. Should have made that an option.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

It definitely does. In a horde game like Vermintide, slow swings are death, but you don't want the lightest weapons either because they can't penetrate armor even with their power swings, so something in between seems to work best, at least for me. A good medium type weapon can get you through a horde and the power attacks can cut through the big guys' armor.

I'm so bad at the slow combat of Dark Souls that I couldn't tell you what works best for me Same thing with Monster Hunter. I've just never adapted to slow melee. Learning the boss moves is one thing, but my timing with my swings is always off.

I did do better with Lies of P, though.


Medium is really what I usually go for. Should have made that an option.

I dont really like the colossal class weapons as theyre too slow, but great weapons are fast enough to have a decent attack window and dont do all that much less damage per hit. That level of seperation is maybe particular to Souls games though, I think most games just have light, med, or heavy. Not that Ive played a ton of character action games though tbh.

 

[Johnway]

When in doubt, i prefer fast weapons, hammers and slow weapons generally are more precision based and honestly, if multiplayer games have taught me anything, speed/DPS is a far more successful strategy.

Interestingly, in Chivalry 2 i'm very much a Longsword/Dane axe sort of person. The greatsword with its longer reach doesn't sit well with me. Then again, i'm not very good at it. Don't expect the highland sword or the maul as weapons i'll use as they're very very slow but do huge amounts of damage.

that said, in DS i do use the mace a lot, but again, a regular longsword and shield is my style.

 

[Colif]

it depends on the class. not all pointy weapons designed for melee combat. I know I have played mages that run around with 2 handers... mainly in games where weapons are just stat sticks.

If its melee, I normally go 1 handers aka fast. possibly 2 at a time...
but then it depends on game and choice of weapons classes can use. Last Epoch, some classes needed two handers to do enough damage.

I don't play any games with power swings... just the regular ones, you need to push me... go on.

 

[Belfast07]

I usually lean towards light, fast weapons with normal swings as well. Being able to land quick hits and potentially stagger enemies is crucial, especially in situations where interruptions are possible. Power swings can be effective for dealing higher damage, but I find they're often riskier due to their slower speed and the chance for enemies to evade or counterattack.

 

[Zimbaly]

Depends on the game, the weapon and it's move set, but also who and what I'm fighting.

I'll use an old term. I bat for both teams in this matter.

 

[Zloth]

Games can be laughably unrealistic. In FF7, Cloud's famous Buster sword would weigh hundreds of pounds and Sepheroth's sword would require a ladder to sheath.

A lugian mace, found in Asheron's Call.

But I guess to the question of do you want to hit fast and often or slow and hard, I would favor the latter - assuming I can move around OK between swings. If I've got to just stand there and take whatever's coming at melee range, well, whatever has the best DPS and/or looks coolest.