Melee

Melee (version 2.0) is a form of combat system that utilizes edged or blunt weapons and close quarter attacks. Every attack causes the player to take a single step forward. However, if the player is crouched, non-combo melee attacks will not cause a step forward. Melee weapons can be equipped in the tertiary slot of the arsenal in Warframe.

Current melee weapons consist of a number of classes, in which each class of weapons has a unique set of attack animations, including normal, jump, slide, stealth attacks, finishers, combos, and blocking.

Basic Maneuvers
Basic melee attacks can be achieved while equipped with Primary or Secondary weapons by pressing melee attack key. To perform advanced maneuvers however, players must fully switch to a Melee weapon by holding down the weapon switch key (default or ). Equipping the melee weapon will unlock additional melee combat features such as Parrying and Channeling.

Each melee weapon has a number of attributes, such as attack speed and damage. Each attribute can be altered by a variety of Melee Mods.

Normal Attack


The simplest form of melee attack. The action is achieved by simply pressing the melee attack key repeatedly, in which the animation pattern continues to loop until the player ceases the attack.

Common Attributes:
 * Damage: Damage done by each hit. Enhanced by damage mods such as.
 * Attack Speed: Speed of the attack animation. Enhanced by speed mods such as.
 * Max Targets: the maximum amount of targets you can hit in a single cleaving motion (excludes jump attacks and slide attacks)
 * Cleave Radius: A rough estimation of the size of the swing. May not be accurate due to individualized cleaving animations.

Slide Attack


Air variation :

Also known as a Spin Attack, Slide Attacks propels a Warframe forward while performing a spinning slash around them, dealing greater damage and hitting multiple enemies. For sparring weapons like the Kogake and Obex, slide attacks perform a double kick that targets only a single enemy, but ragdolls them away instead of only dealing damage. Slide Attacks can be performed on the ground to hit low-lying enemies, or in the air to hit tall enemies, potentially landing headshots.

Slide attack damage can be increased by the Pressure Point mod and all other elemental damage the player may have equipped on their weapon.

Aerial Attack


Also known as a Jump Attack, press melee in mid-air to perform a targeted aerial slash, regardless if a jump has already been made or not. The Warframe will slash and be propelled towards the direction that the player is aiming at, making melee capable of targeting airborne enemies like Ospreys.

Slam Attack


Also known as a Leap Attack, aiming down towards the ground when performing a jump attack will perform a slam attack that forces the Warframe downward and creates a small radial damage and special effect upon impact with the ground, such as knock down or elemental damage. One can perform this move to anchor themselves to the ground, losing most if not all momentum.

There are two damages dealt by slam attacks:
 * 1) Direct contact to an enemy will deal Leap Attack damage, normally with the damage type of the weapons base attack.
 * 2) Radial damage deals a secondary damage type which diminishes with distance from the point of impact, but will often have a secondary effect (knockdown, stagger, etc.).

Wall Attack


While wall running or climbing, a player may initiate a melee attack, causing the frame to launch off the wall at the angle of the direction aimed, with a special melee attack animation. The attack will change depending on what melee weapon is used; most weapons will slash the air in front of them as they launch, while heavy weapons will swing the weapon around them, and sparring weapons will launch with a forward punch. This maneuver is also useful as it may be used to leap parallel to the wall surface during a wall run; in contrast, releasing the jump key will always jump away from the wall.

Advanced Maneuvers
Advanced maneuvers can be achieved by equipping the melee weapon by holding down the weapon switch key, default or.

Stances


Upon equipping a Stance Mod, up to three additional advanced Melee Combos will be unlocked, which are special chained attacks that enhance the melee abilities of the weapon. These combos can only be performed while wielding a melee weapon. The combination will vary depending on the melee weapon equipped and the Stance mod equipped, Some Stances will change the default melee combo when the melee is wielded.

Channeling


Channeling converts energies from the Warframe energy pool to enhance melee attacks and blocking, and is activated by using the Melee Channeling key with the option of either holding it down or toggling. While Melee Channel is activated, each enemy hit in melee will drain 5 Energy from the Warframe and deal +50% increased damage and any additional effects from channeling mods.

Currently there are only three exceptions to the +50% channeling damage, such weapons being the Fragor Prime, Furax Wraith, and Synoid Heliocor with +80% channeling damage output.

The damage dealt by Channeling can be improved by mods like. In addition, various mods such as can improve the energy efficiency of Channeling, while mods like  will grant bonuses but reduce Channeling efficiency. The list of Channeling mods can be found here.


 * When active, parts of the Warframe tinted by the Accent color will glow according to the Warframe's energy color, while parts of the melee weapon which gain elemental effects will glow according to the melee weapon's energy color.
 * Warframe Skins will change the patterns of the channeling glow, as they will usually change the position of sections tinted by the Accent color.
 * Armor parts will also glow while under the effects of channeling. Despite having their own Energy Color in the Attachments tab, Armor will glow using the Warframe's energy color instead.
 * When using Excalibur's Immortal Skin, the parts of the Warframe tinted by the Primary color will glow instead.
 * Damage bonus from channelling and combo counter stack additively with each other, as per the formula:


 * As example while channeling without channeling damage mods and at a combo counter of 2.5x you gain a combined damage multiplier of.
 * Enemies killed by Channeled attacks will disintegrate while floating in the air. Making the corpse unaffected by Desecrate.
 * Channeling will consume energy for each successful strikes. Strikes that do not connect do not drain energy, nor do strikes that connect to neutral objects like Containers.
 * Energy is drained per enemy hit, i.e. hitting two enemies in one swing will consume twice the energy.
 * Energy drain rates are affected with Channeling Efficiency mods and not Ability Efficiency mods.
 * Channeling Efficiency has a maximum cap of 80% with and  even while they both have a total of 100% efficiency.
 * Channeling increases damage based off total melee damage, which is the sum of the base damage plus any physical damage and elemental mods.

Blocking


Can be achieved by holding the aim button while having a melee weapon equipped. Blocking will reduce incoming damage and will block knockbacks; however, this action can only block frontal damage and not back. The amount of damage reduced differs between melee weapon types, with some blocking more damage than others.

Channeling while Blocking will perform a parry which will nullify all incoming damage, reflect some damage back, and open up melee attackers for finishers, but will drain Energy on every blocked attack.
 * Can block Fire Blast and Rippling Shockwave. Doing so will push the Warframe back, but prevent the knockdown effect.
 * Will completely block Seismic Shockwave from Grineer heavy units and Eximus variants.
 * Can block continuous weapons like Flux Rifle lasers and Scorch flamethrowers.
 * Parrying can block Bombard Rockets, though it will not prevent damage from the explosion itself.
 * Will also block Scorpion grappling hooks to prevent getting pulled.
 * Parrying with Rhino's Iron Skin active will not deflect any damage and instead mitigate the hitpoints to Iron Skin.
 * Will not block Status Effects from affecting the player.
 * Channeling Efficiency mods do not affect the amount of energy lost from blocked damage while channeling.

Exceptions to the above table are:
 * Ankyros (Prime), which block at 85% instead of fists' usual 60%.
 * Dragon Nikana, which blocks 85% instead of the other nikanas' 60%.
 * Dual Zoren and Twin Basolk, which block at 35% instead of dual swords' usual 60%.
 * Kama, which blocks at 35% instead of the other machetes' 85%.
 * Kronen, which block at 35% instead of the other tonfas' 60%.
 * (Prisma) Dual Cleavers, which block at 85% instead of dual swords' usual 60%.
 * Ripkas, which block at 85% instead of the other claws' 35%.
 * (Sancti) Magistar, which blocks at 60% instead of hammers' usual 85%.
 * Silva & Aegis Prime, which blocks 90% instead of sword and shield's usual 85%.

Combo Counter
Each successful consecutive melee hit against enemies with a Melee weapon equipped within a short period of time will start a Combo Counter that appears above the weapon UI, which tracks how many hits have been performed. Once a certain number of consecutive hits have been made, a Damage Multiplier will be given to the Melee weapon, increasing the weapon's overall damage including any additional elemental damage. The Damage Multiplier increases as larger consecutive hit counts are achieved, allowing for greater damage against larger numbers of tougher enemies. The Combo Counter resets if no enemies are hit after 3 seconds, which can be increased up to 31 seconds with the, , and mods.

The Bonus Damage Multiplier starts at 1.5x the weapon's base damage after five consecutive hits. The multiplier is increased by +0.5x after achieving three times the number of hits of the previous multiplier, i.e. 15 consecutive hits yield a 2x Damage Multiplier, 45 consecutive hits yield 2.5x Damage, 135 hits yield 3x Damage, 405 hits yield 3.5x, etc. The exact formula used for this growth in terms of the combo multiplier is known to be, where H denotes the number of hits when M is the desired combo multiplier.

Currently, only Venka Prime has a modified Bonus Damage Multiplier which starts at 1.75x of the weapon's base damage. As a result, each subsequent Combo Counter multiplies the damage by +.75x instead of the normal +.5x, thus gaining 1.75x combo multiplier at 5 hits, 2.5x after 15 hits, 3.25x after 45 hits, etc. The exact formula used for Venka Prime's growth in terms of the combo multiplier is known to be, where H denotes the number of hits when M is the desired combo multiplier.

The table below displays the values up to a damage multiplier of 8.0x.


 * Damage bonus from combo counter and channelling stack additively with each other, as per the formula:
 * As example while channeling without channeling damage mods and at a combo counter of 2.5x you gain a combined damage multiplier of.
 * Currently the highest reachable Damage Multiplier is 8x with the combo counter unable to exceed consecutive hits.
 * However, with the addition of Venka Prime, the Damage Multiplier is increased to an 11.5x modifier with the same amount of consecutive hits.
 * In practice, the number of possible consecutive hits is limited by the number of enemies, their durability, and the player's skill at connecting combos to other enemies.
 * Certain Warframe abilities benefit from and contribute to the Melee Combo Counter, allowing them to further enhance their damage as the Combo Counter increases. The following are the list of abilities that use the Combo Counter:
 * Ash's Blade Storm
 * Atlas's Landslide
 * Excalibur's Slash Dash and Exalted Blade
 * Valkyr's Hysteria
 * Wukong's Primal Fury
 * Despite its name, the Combo Counter should not be confused with the Combos performed using Stance Mods. The Combo Counter will count all melee attacks performed while equipping Melee weapons, including stealth attacks.
 * The Combo Counter counts melee attacks performed while having Primary or Secondary weapons equipped. Immediately switching to a melee weapon within 3 seconds will show the amount of hits performed before the switch.
 * Melee hits against objects, like Mining Equipment, do not count towards the Combo Counter.
 * The Combo Counter does not increase the damage of prompted stealth attacks or prompted finisher attacks.
 * The Combo Counter does not apply to thrown attacks from Glaives

Charge Attacks
Holding down the melee attack key while melee is equipped will perform a Charge Attack. After approximately 1 second of charging, the attack will release, dealing 3x damage (unconfirmed with non-sword weapons). It is still possible to sprint, slide, crouch, double jump, and bullet jump while charging, though double jumping and bullet jumping will have a lesser effect. Being knocked down will cancel the charge.

Some weapon types can have up to two different types of charge attacks, the type of attack performed being dependent on when during an attack chain the charge attack is begun, ex. the first type is performed if the charge is done after the first melee attack, while the second type is performed if the charge is done after the second melee attack in a chain, etc. Stances can further modify the attack timing necessary to perform the desired type of charge attack.

Charge attacks are generally precise melee attacks; melee weapons will be swung in the direction of the reticle and can more easily obtain headshots or more accurately hit targets.

Finishers
Finisher attacks have custom animations, and deal a very high percentage of the equipped melee weapon's total damage. Heavier weapons tend to perform this action slower than lighter weapons. Contrary to the common belief, Finisher maneuvers do not inflict Finishing Damage; the damage bypassess armors but not shields. Players performing finishers are immune to any kind of damage for the duration of the animation.

Finisher attack damage is dependent on the type of melee weapon used and can be increased by, Ash's , Banshee's , and Excalibur's. As the weapon's total damage is accounted for, equipped mods (including critical chance and critical damage mods) will also affect the stealth attack's final damage.

Examples of finisher moves can be found in the gallery page.


 * Damage bonus from finishers, stealth and critical hits stack additively with each other, as per the formula:

Ground Finisher
Execute knocked-down enemies. This attack is performed upon moving close to a downed opponent, aiming your crosshair at the target and pressing the melee attack button. This will not work on most bosses. This attack often will initiate even when not looking down at an enemy, but when contacting an enemy who has been knocked down. Though this is called a Ground "Finisher,".

Stealth Finisher


Walk up behind an enemy who is unaware. Wait for the "stealth attack" prompt. Special enemies, such as Targets and Wardens, receive extra damage from stealth attacks; see the pages for details.

,, and the weapon type have an influence on the Finisher animation speed while  and the weapon's base attack speed do not.

Counterattack Finisher
When parrying, activating Channeling just before an enemy strikes the player with a melee attack will grant a chance to stagger them—a move known as a Counterattack. While enemies are staggered, an attack prompt similar to stealth attacks will appear, allowing for Finisher moves to be performed.
 * The mod gives a chance to automatically perform a counterattack against enemies while blocking with Channeling, reducing the need to time Channeling while parrying to perform a finisher.
 * Enemies stunned by Ash's Teleport, Valkyr's Paralysis, Excalibur's Radial Blind, Equinox's Rest, Ivara's Quiver sleep arrow, and Inaros's Desiccation (if hit from the front) act as if hit by a parrying counterattack, giving the attack prompt necessary to perform a finisher – notably targets killed under some effects also count as stealth kills.
 * also initiates the stealth prompt on stunned enemies, allowing enemies to be killed by finishers without needing to block or use energy.
 * Another means of initiating Finishers is by performing certain Stance-based combos, like the headbutt in the Venging Thrash ​combo of.
 * When activated, the Justice effect of certain Steel Meridian-related equipment will stagger all enemies in a 25-meter radius, leaving them vulnerable to finishers.
 * Counterattack finishers can only be performed on non-humanoid Infested, and Robotic units like MOAs by certain weapons. For Infested, only Leapers and Crawlers can be executed by finishers.
 * Counterattack finishers are affected by the damage increase through channeling. As an example, without channeling, an un-modded Rakta Dark Dagger does 1693 damage to a level 150 Corrupted Heavy Gunner by Counterattack Finisher triggered with ; with channeling, it does 2538 damage, consistent with the 1.5x damage multiplier of channeling.
 * If a staggered enemy's attack prompt is activated from their backs, a different rear finisher animation will play instead. The animation is also shared with stealth attacks.
 * Due to sharing the stealth-kill animation, it does not knock the foe down after the animation unlike the frontal attack.

Tips

 * For players wanting to specialize in melee combat, remapping the equipped melee attack key to can make performing attacks and melee combos easier and more instinctive. Quick melee attacks when using Primary or Secondary weapons are considered a separate keybinding, and can be kept in its default key.
 * While doing charge attacks, the moment the swing does damage, immediately pressing the melee key will execute another charge attack, this can be repeated.

Bugs

 * Successfully blocking an attack while rolling can make a player unable to attack with their melee weapon. This is usually accompanied by a slight change in camera perspective where the camera is positioned slightly down while facing upwards. This bug can be resolved by performing a roll or dodge again.
 * Tapping the melee key slightly before landing causes the player to slide across the ground with minimal friction for a brief period.

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