Melee

Maneuvers Key Bindings

Gallery

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New dual nikanas melee class introduced in Update 33.0 (2023-04-26)

Preceded by
Melee 1.0 since Update 13.0 (2014-04-09)

Melee

Melee 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

Melee can be switched to at any time by pressing the melee attack key (default E ), immediately holstering the currently equipped gun, and can instantly switch back to an equipped primary or secondary weapon with the fire button (default LMB ) or zoom (default RMB ). Going into melee mode (default holding F ) will unlock additional melee combat features such as manual Blocking.

All melee attacks can be executed by pressing or holding the melee input button.

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

Excalibur performing a basic melee combo.

E

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  Pressure Point.
• Attack Speed: Speed of the attack animation. Enhanced by speed mods such as  Fury.
• Follow Through: When hit multiple targets in one strike, the part of damage remaining after each target. (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

Excalibur performing a slide attack.

Damage inflicted on enemies when performing a Spin attack.

—In-game Description

Combo	While Sliding + Melee

Air variation:

Combo	While Air Sliding + Melee

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 (e.g.  Shocking Touch).

Aerial Attack

Excalibur performing an aerial combo.

Combo	In Air + Melee

Press the melee attack button while in mid-air to perform an aerial attack, or rapidly press to perform an aerial attack combo, regardless if a jump has already been made or not. The Warframe will automatically maintain Aim Glide for the rest of the air combo if Aim Glide was initiated at the time of starting the combo. This is useful for fighting airborne targets such as Ospreys.

Slam Attack

Excalibur performing a slam attack.

Damage inflicted on an enemy by hitting them directly with a Ground Slam attack.

—In-game Description

Additional damage inflicted to all enemies in the radius of a Ground Slam attack.

—In-game Description

Ground Slam attack hits all enemies around the point of impact within this distance.

—In-game Description

Combo	In Air + Aim Downwards + Melee

Also known as a Leap or Jump Attack. While in mid-air, performing a melee attack while aiming downwards causes the Warframe to slam down at the point of the reticle, dealing damage and sometimes inflicting  Stagger or  Knockdown. Players can also utilize slam attacks to change direction or add momentum while in mid-air, effectively zip-lining themselves to the point of the reticle.

Players may also perform a heavy slam attack which benefits from the heavy attack combo multiplier and applies the  Lifted status.

Slam attacks have Damage Falloff, linearly diminishing with distance from the point of impact to 50% (70% for heavy slam) at the edge of its radius.

Slam Attack Stats By Weapon Class

Weapon Class	Multiplier	Typical Normal Slam Radius
Dagger |	2x	5m
Glaive
Gunblade
Warfan
Whip
Claws		6m
Dual Daggers
Nikana
Nunchaku
Rapier
Staff
Assault Saw		7m
Blade and Whip
Polearm
Sparring
Sword
Sword and Shield
Two-Handed Nikana
Dual Nikanas		8m
Dual Swords
Fist
Heavy Blade
Heavy Scythe
Machete
Scythe
Tonfa
Hammer		9m
Masseter,  Masseter Prime, and  Volnus Prime		10m

Wall Attack

Combo	While Wall-Latching + Melee

While wall-latching a player may initiate a melee attack, causing the frame to drop off the wall facing 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 unlatch off the wall, while heavy weapons will swing the weapon beneath them, and sparring weapons will deal a forward punch.

Since Update 26.0 (2019-10-31), Wall Attack damage stat is not shown in the Arsenal.

Weapon Class	Wall Attack Damage in Relation to Melee Damage
Blade and Whip	3.0x
Dagger
Dual Daggers
Dual Nikanas
Dual Swords
Fist
Glaive
Gunblade
Machete
Rapier
Sparring
Sword and Shield
Nunchaku
Warfan
Whip
Claws	~2.98x
Nikana	~2.14x
Heavy Blade	2.0x
Hammer
Scythe
Sword
Tonfa
Polearm	~1.666x
Staff

Advanced Maneuvers

Stances

The Melee Combo list for the  Crimson Dervish Stance.

Main article: Stance

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.

Dodging or rolling while performing melee combos will immediately end the combo, canceling the current melee animation.

Blocking

 Volt with  Skana in blocking pose.

While in hand, melee weapons block incoming attacks within a [Blocking Value]° cone. Blocking is centered around the current point of aim.

—In-game Description

Weapon Aim RMB

L2

Blocking is a defensive technique that negates both incoming damage and knockbacks in an angle in front of the Warframe.

Successful blocking can only be performed if enemies attack within the blocking angle cone of the player's melee weapon, which varies depending on the melee weapon type. For example, Dual Swords have a blocking angle of 60°, meaning any damage coming from 60° to the left or right of the reticle will be negated.

All melee weapons block 100% of incoming damage, with the exception of certain boss attacks and area-of-effect damage such as Bombard rockets, where blocking is only partially effective. However, it does not negate Status Effects, which can still damage through the block.

When a melee weapon is drawn by performing a melee attack while using a primary or secondary weapon, blocking is automatic assuming enemies are attacking within the blocking angle. However, if a melee weapon is manually switched to, or only a melee weapon is equipped in the Arsenal, blocking is manual and the block button must be held down to block.

Any time an attack is successfully blocked, 1 point will be added to the Combo Counter. Additionally, blocking an enemy melee attack has a chance to stagger them, briefly opening them up to melee front/back finishers. This stagger chance can be increased through mods like  Parry.

• Blocking negates damage from continuous weapons like  Flux Rifle lasers and Scorch flamethrowers, as well as non-continuous weapons like  Gorgon bullets and Butcher cleavers.
• Blocking completely negates the knockdown effect of Seismic Shockwave from Grineer heavy units and Eximus variants.
• Blocking completely negates the pull effect from Scorpion grappling hooks.
• Blocking partially negates effects like Fire Blast from Sargas Ruk and Rippling Shockwave from certain Corpus units, preventing the knockdown effect, but the player will still be pushed back.
• Certain enemies such as Fusion Moa require the player to either back up slightly or aim slightly upward in order to parry their attack up close.

Weapon Class	Typical Blocking Angle
Dagger	45°
Gunblade
Whip
Dual Daggers	50°
Fist
Hammer
Sparring
Claws	55°
Glaive
Heavy Blade
Machete
Nikana
Nunchaku
Polearm
Sword
Two-Handed Nikana
Warfan
Blade and Whip	60°
Dual Nikanas
Dual Swords
Rapier
Scythe
Staff
Tonfa
Most Exalted Melees
Heavy Scythe	65°
Iron Staff,  Iron Staff Prime
Sword and Shield	70°
Assault Saw	90°
Diwata,  Diwata Prime

Mods That Benefit From Blocking

 Amalgam Javlok Magazine Warp

 Arcane Phantasm

 Focused Defense

 Guardian Derision

 Parry

Tactical Dodging

A tactical dodge or roll can be performed by rolling while blocking, allowing the player to shorten their roll distance while maintaining melee distance with enemies in combat.

Combo

Main article: Melee Combo

Melee Combo
A 50-hit Combo Counter with a 3.0x Damage Multiplier

Melee Combo is a power source that grows as the Tenno strikes or blocks with melee weapons, multiplying the damage of certain attacks. Heavy attacks consume the melee combo gauge, called the combo counter, for a burst of damage (from 1x to 12x). Certain Warframe abilities also benefit from melee combo, and they do not consume combo points, but they receive 1/4 of the added damage. Normal melee attacks are not affected by the combo multiplier, though combo scaling effects and mods can apply to all melee attacks. An inactive melee combo resets to zero after 5 seconds.

Different attacks award varying amounts of combo points, depending on their strength and number of hits. The combo reset period is affected by combo duration, and combo consumption from heavy attacks is affected by Heavy Attack Efficiency.

Heavy Attack

An example of a heavy attack. Notice entire combo counter is spent.

Base damage of the weapon's Heavy Attack. Damage is increased by Combo Multiplier, but consumes Combo Count.
Damage inflicted with a Heavy Slam. Damage is increased by Combo Multiplier, but consumes Combo Count.
Additional damage inflicted in the radius of a Heavy Slam attack. Damage is increased by Combo Multiplier, but consumes Combo Count.

Heavy Slam attacks hit all enemies around the point of impact within this distance.

—In-game Descriptions

Middle Mouse MMB

R3

Tapping the MMB  or holding the attack button while melee is equipped will perform a Heavy Attack. When tapping the MMB  in mid-air, a Heavy Slam Attack is executed which, unlike the light version, does not have radial damage falloff. Heavy slam attacks also  Lift enemies airborne, keeping them suspended for longer at higher combo multipliers. Both kinds of heavy attacks deal increased damage depending on the combo multiplier, and they consume all or part of the combo counter in the process.

Heavy attacks can be performed without a combo counter, albeit with diminished effect.

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There are two types of heavy attacks that can be performed depending on the character's current animation state. Standing heavy attacks equals "First Heavy Attack". Performing a second heavy attack after the first equals "Second Heavy Attack". Heavy attacking while sliding will also perform "Second Heavy Attack".

Heavy Attack Damage

Heavy attacks and heavy slam attacks use fixed base damage multipliers compared to normal attacks. These multipliers depend on the weapon type. Furthermore, the radial damage of heavy slams uses another multiplier. This can be seen by comparing the values shown under the Heavy Attack section in the Arsenal to the total normal attack damage. The following table lists the possible values.

Weapon Class	Multiplier for First Heavy Attack	Multiplier for Second Heavy Attack (or Slide Heavy Attack)	Multiplier for Heavy Slam Direct Impact	Multiplier for Heavy Slam Radial Damage	Typical Heavy Slam Radius	Typical Wind-up Time
Assault Saw	6x (1x × 6)	6x	1x	1x	9.0m	1.0s
Blade and Whip	4x	12x (4x × 3)	4x	4x	8.0m	0.4s
Claws	5x  Slash	5x  Slash	4x	4x	7.0m	0.6s
Dagger	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x)	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x)	4x	4x	6.0m	0.4s
Dual Daggers	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x  Slash)	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x  Slash)	4x	4x	7.0m	0.5s
Dual Nikanas	12x (2x × 3 + 6x)	6x (1x + 2x + 3x)	4x	4x	9.0m	1.0s
Dual Swords	5x (2.5x + 2.5x)	5x (2.5x + 2.5x)	4x	4x	9.0m	0.7s
Fist	5x	5x	4x	4x	9.0m	0.6s
Glaive	2x	3x	4x	4x	6.0m	0.6s
Gunblade	5x	5x	1x	1x	7.0m	0.4s
Hammer	6x	6x	5x	5x	10.0m	1.2s
Heavy Blade	6x	6x	5x	5x	9.0m	1.1s
Heavy Scythe	6x (2x × 3)	12x (6x × 2)	5x	5x	9.0m	1.0s
Machete	6x (1.5x  Slash + 1.5x × 3)	5x	4x	4x	9.0m	0.7s
Nikana	5x  Slash	5x  Slash	4x	4x	7.0m	0.5s
Nunchaku	5x	5x	4x	4x	7.0m	0.5s
Polearm	6x	6x	5x	5x	8.0m	0.9s
Rapier	4.5x  Slash	4.5x  Slash	3.5x	3.5x	7.0m	0.5s
Scythe	6x  Slash	6x  Slash	5x	5x	9.0m	1.0s
Sparring	5x (+200%  Impact)	5x (1x × 5 hits)	4x	4x	8.0m	0.5s
Staff	5x	5x	4x	4x	7.0m	0.5s
Sword	5x	5x	4x	4x	8.0m	0.6s
Sword and Shield	5x	5x	4x	4x	8.0m	0.7s
Tonfa	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x  Slash)	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x  Slash)	4x	4x	9.0m	0.7s
Two-Handed Nikana	6x  Slash	6x (3x  Slash + 3x  Slash)	5x	5x	8.0m	0.7s
Warfan	5x (2.5x  Slash + 2.5x  Slash)	5x  Slash	1x	1x	6.0m	0.5s
Whip	4.5x  Slash	4.5x  Slash	3.5x	3.5x	6.0m	0.4s

On top of the fixed multiplier, the damage is further multiplied by the current combo multiplier. For example, a heavy attack with a Staff with normal (modded) attack damage of 400, when at a 3x combo multiplier, will deal 400 × 5 × 3 = 6,000 damage on hit, in exchange for the combo counter being reduced down to zero (if no Melee Combo Efficiency mods are equipped).

Combo Efficiency does not decrease the combo multiplier of a heavy attack.

Wind Up

Time a Heavy Attack must charge up before it activates.

—In-game Description

Weapons have varying Wind-up times between activating a heavy attack and the actual attack being performed. For example,  Skana has a wind-up time of 0.6s, meaning the actual heavy attack will be performed 0.6s after tapping the MMB . Increasing melee attack speed does not reduce the wind-up time; rather, it reduces the interval between heavy attacks. During this brief period, the player is free to move and maneuver with the exception of performing any other melee attack. Being knocked down will cancel the charge. While winding-up, the combo counter decay is paused. Performing a heavy attack is possible when the combo counter is zero, and connecting with a heavy attack does not add to the combo counter.

There is no cap to Wind Up. Even if numbers stop changing in the arsenal after adding multiple Wind Up mods, this is due to diminishing returns and the game's number rounding system. This can be proven with an FPS animation test.

Heavy slams do not have any wind up.

 Amalgam Organ Shatter

 Killing Blow

 Swift Momentum

Tennokai

Recall the art of Tennokai. You occasionally have opportunities to perform faster Heavy Attacks with no cost to your Combo Counter.

Certain mods have the ability to invoke Tennokai. With Tennokai enabled, melee hits to have a 15% chance of flashing a sword icon on the reticle for 2 seconds; performing a Heavy Attack or Heavy Slam (but not Heavy Slide) during this flash increases its Wind Up Speed and does not consume Combo Counter.

Triggering Tennokai requires directly striking an enemy. With the exception of Gunblades, striking multiple enemies from a single hit and multi-strike attacks do not count as hits. The energy waves created from  Excalibur's  Exalted Blade, and  Baruuk's  Serene Storm can not proc Tennokai. Despite being able to equip the mods  Titania's  Diwata is unable to proc Tennokai, due to Archmelee lacking heavy attacks.

The wind up speed of Tennokai attacks is not affected by wind up speed bonuses from other sources.

Tennokai Mods are awarded from Rotation C of Alchemy missions or purchasing the Essential Tennokai Mod Bundle from the Market for 100 Platinum 100.

 Mentor's Legacy

 Condition's Perfection

 Discipline's Merit

 Dreamer's Wrath

 Master's Edge

 Opportunity's Reach

Lifted Status

Main article: Lifted

Depending on the type of melee weapon, both light attacks and especially heavy attacks can deal different effects to enemies, such as applying  Knockdown,  Ragdoll,  Stagger, or  Lifted status. Surviving enemies that are struck by heavy attacks from Heavy Blades for example, will have a guaranteed Lifted proc applied to them. However, not all melee weapons grant Lifted status on heavy attack hits.

 Lifted status suspends enemies in mid-air in a ragdolled state for a short period of time, allowing players to briefly "juggle" them in a melee combo. Besides heavy attacks, Lifted status can also be applied to enemies by performing Heavy Slam Attacks with nearly any melee weapon, lifting all enemies within that weapon's ground slam radius. The higher the combo multiplier at the time of a heavy attack or heavy slam attack, the longer enemies can stay suspended. Unlike standard status effects however, status duration bonuses do not extend the lifted duration.

Range

Melee attacks hit enemies within this distance. Some Stances offer more Range using throws or lunges.

—In-game Description

Each melee weapon has a Range statistic associated with it that displays the weapon's reach in meters. The hitbox of melee weapons are obround in shape, with the Range stat representing the length of the hitbox and a hidden Sweep Radius stat representing its width.^{[citation needed]} The Sweep Radius of most melees is 0.25 meters.

Range can be increased by ( Primed)  Reach,  Spring-Loaded Blade,  Motus Impact, and some Riven Mods.

Unmodded  Paracesis

Unmodded  Paracesis

 Paracesis with  Primed Reach

 Paracesis with  Primed Reach

Follow Through

Modifies the amount of damage dealt in a single strike each time an additional enemy is hit after the first.

—In-game Description

Each melee weapon has a Follow Through statistic associated with it that tells what proportion of damage is dealt to successive targets in a single strike. In general, if a single strike hits multiple targets, the amount of damage each target will receive will be:

Proportion of weapon damage = FT^{(n - 1)}

Where n is the order of when an enemy is hit, and FT is the amount of follow-through for the weapon.

For example,  Skana has a follow through stat of 0.6 (FT = 0.6). If a single strike of Skana hits three targets, the first target to be hit (n = 1) will be dealt 0.6^{(1 - 1)} = 100% of the total damage, the second to be hit (n = 2) will be dealt 0.6^{(2 - 1)} = 60% of the total damage, and the third (n = 3) will be dealt 0.6^{(3 - 1)} = 36% of the total damage.

The total damage dealt with a given follow through stat for a sample of enemy group sizes are as such: $\text{Total Damage Multiplier Against n Number of Enemies} = \sum_{X = 1}^{n} \text{Follow Through}^{X - 1}$

Follow Through	Multiple of base damage per enemies hit
	1	2	3	5	10	∞ (infinite)
0.4	1.00	1.40	1.56	1.65	1.66	1.66
0.5	1.00	1.50	1.75	1.94	1.99	2.00
0.6	1.00	1.60	1.96	2.31	2.48	2.5
0.7	1.00	1.70	2.19	2.77	3.24	3.33
0.8	1.00	1.80	2.44	3.36	4.46	5.00
0.9	1.00	1.90	2.71	4.09	6.51	10
1.0	1.00	2.00	3.00	5.00	10.0	∞ (infinite)

As of Update 26.0 (2019-10-31), this stat is shown in the arsenal whereas previously it was hidden despite it existing before since Update 13.0 (2014-04-09).

Weapon Class	Typical Follow-through
Hammer	0.4
Heavy Scythe
Blade and Whip	0.5
Dual Swords
Gunblade
Nunchaku
Staff
Whip
Dual Nikanas	0.6
Heavy Blade
Polearm
Scythe
Sword
Sword and Shield
Tonfa
Glaive	0.7
Machete
Nikana
Rapier
Two-Handed Nikana
Warfan
Claws	0.8
Dual Daggers
Dagger	0.9
Fist
Sparring
Assault Saw	1.0
Exalted Weapon

Exceptions

•  Volnus/ Volnus Prime have a native value of 0.6, but this reverts to category default 0.4 when a stance mod is used.
•  Diwata/ Diwata Prime and  Ironbride have a value 0.7 instead of the category default 1.0.
•  Magistar/ Sancti Magistar with Magistar Incarnon Genesis can increase their value to 0.8 with Evolution 2, Perk 1: Crushing Verdict with active.
•  Nami Solo with Nami Solo Incarnon Genesis can increase their value to 1.0 with Evolution III, Perk 1: Lone Blade with the weapon fully equipped (long press) or when its the only weapon equipped.
•  Dorrclave will increase its value to 1.0 for 10 attacks after 10 kills.

Finishers

Excalibur executing a Stealth Attack with Dual Swords.

Main article: Finisher

Finisher attacks have custom animations and deal a very high percentage of the equipped melee weapon's total damage. Players performing finishers are immune to any kind of damage for the duration of the animation.

The three types of finishers are:

• Ground Finisher, on knockdowned targets
• Stealth Attack, on unalerted enemies
• Front- / Back-Finisher, under specific effects

Tips

• For players wanting to specialize in melee combat, remapping the equipped melee attack key to LMB  can make performing attacks and melee combos easier and more instinctive.
  • There is also an option which allows the Fire button to be used when the melee is drawn using the default melee key. Players can immediately return to their other weapons by pressing the Aim/Block button, which will not block, but rather bring up the previously equipped Primary or Secondary.
• While doing heavy attacks, the moment the swing does damage, immediately pressing the melee key will execute another heavy attack, this can be repeated. Connecting a second heavy attack immediately after the first will retain the current combo counter, only draining it after the second heavy strike has been swung.

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.
• On some weapons, the Heavy Slam does have radial damage falloff. An example being the Cyath Machete Zaw.

Media

Warframe - All Melee 3.0 Combos (Part 1 of 3)

Warframe - All Melee 3.0 Combos (Part 2 of 3)

Warframe - All Melee 3.0 Combos (Part 3 of 3)

Patch History

Hotfix 35.5.1 (2024-03-27)

• Fix Slam Attacks not benefiting from Melee Slam Damage Mods.

Update 35.5 (2024-03-27)

MELEE ATTACK CHANGES

Melee Ground Slam Attack Changes

Prior to Dante Unbound, Melee Ground Slam Attacks were distributed between two damage instances - they appeared in the Arsenal UI (includes the stats window when hovering over equipment as well as the Upgrade screen) as follows:

• Slam Attack: Damage inflicted on an enemy by hitting them directly with a Ground Slam Attack.
  • Note: We’ll refer to this stat as “Slam Direct Hits” moving forward in this section of the patch notes to avoid confusion between all the terms. This term denotes that the damage instance came from the direct Melee hit on an enemy while performing your Ground Slam - effectively Goomba Stomping them, if you will.
  • Damage on Slam Direct Hits was scaleable with Mods.

Slam Radial Damage: Additional damage inflicted to all enemies in the radius of a Ground Slam attack.

• • Other than a few specific Mods (Seismic Wave, etc.), Slam Radial Damage was locked at a flat value and did not scale with Mods.

What’s Changed:

1 - Ground Slam Attacks are now entirely Radial Damage
Ground Slam Attacks now only have one instance of damage: Slam Radial Damage! It is now the whole sum of the damage dealt by Ground Slam Attacks instead of being “additional”.

What this means is that Slam Direct Hits are no more. All the damage done by a Ground Slam Attack is now purely Radial.

With this change, it's worth noting that we have also maintained the Damage Falloff on Slam Attacks, where damage diminishes the further an enemy is from the point of impact, but with some changes:

• Previously: Damage could fall off to ~0% at the edge of the impact radius.
• Now: Damage will only ever go as low as 50% (of total damage) at the edge of the impact radius for normal Slam Attacks, and 70% for Heavy Slam Attacks.

2 - Ground Slam Attack’s Radial Damage now scales with Mods
Since Slam Attacks are now purely Radial Damage, we’ve made its damage scaleable with Mods, when previously it wasn’t. This effectively buffs Ground Slam Attacks since you can now directly increase its damage and apply Weapon Status (inherited from Mods), which ultimately improves its scalability for late game content.

It’s worth noting that all of the above changes only apply to AERIAL/JUMP Ground Slam Attacks (In air + Aim Downwards + Melee) and AERIAL/JUMP Heavy Ground Slam Attacks (In air + Aim Downwards + Heavy Melee). They do not affect Slam Attacks that are part of Stance Combos. For example, Slam attacks during combos deal flat damage amounts and do not scale with Mods. We currently do not have plans to change this.

3. Added a 2x Multiplier to its Radial Damage
Slam Direct Hits had a 2x-3x multiplier (depending on Weapon Class) to account for the fact that it was actually quite difficult to land them, so the multiplier helped in making those rare instances feel impactful.

Since Slam Direct Hits are no more, we have accounted for its removal by applying a 2x multiplier to Slam Attack’s Radial Damage across all Weapon classes. For the reasons listed directly above (Radial Damage now scalable with Mods) and for the sake of balance, the 2x (3x for Heavy Slam Attacks) multiplier on Radial Damage maintains the damage output without going overboard.

How The Changes Appear in the Arsenal:
Melee Ground Slam Attacks now has only one core stat in the Arsenal: SLAM ATTACK. The number listed beside indicates its Radial Damage.

You’ll notice that with all of the above changes, some Melee weapons’ Slam Attack Damage has changed. Previously “Slam Attack” in the UI informed of “Slam Direct Hits”, which for some Melee weapon types (ex: Polearm, Sword, Two-Handed Nikanas, etc.), had a 3x multiplier applied. Now, since “Slam Attack” in the UI indicates Radial Damage and has had a 2x multiplier applied across all Melee types, the damage for those weapons may differ.

But now that you can scale Slam Attack Damage with Mods, those differences can be easily recouped and then some.

We’ve also added a Slam Radius stat to the tooltip to better inform players in-game: “Ground Slam attack hits all enemies around the point of impact within X meters.”

• It’s worth noting that the Slam Radius for each Weapon class has been untouched.

Melee Finisher Improvements

Melee Finishers have been updated to standardize Finisher eligibility across enemies and weapons. Previously, if an enemy did not have a finisher animation prepared for a certain weapon type, then players would not be able to perform that specific Finisher on them. We have added default animations for all weapon types to prevent this restriction, meaning all enemies* should now be eligible for every type of finisher.

• Also added a new VFX to showcase when an enemy is open to Finishers. You will still need to get into proper position to execute the finisher with this VFX active!
• This includes finisher openings created by Warframe abilities (ex: Inaros Desiccation) and Ground Finishers.
• *Flying enemies (Corpus Ospreys, The Anatomizer, etc.) are still ineligible for Melee Finishers with this change.
• Added new unique Mercy Finishers to the Hollow Vein, Severed Warden, The Anatomizer, Lumbering Fragment, and Shuffling Fragment enemies! Each with their own custom animations to really stick it to the Murmur in style.
  • The context action to perform a Finisher on the airborn Murmur enemies (The Anatomizer and The Severed Warden) are not anchored to their bodies and will instead appear on the HUD when you are within radius of them. This is an experimental approach into finding ways to include Finishers on other airborne enemies in the future.

Auto-Melee Fixes

• Fixed getting locked auto-meleeing (even without input) after interacting with items and other actions while melee attacking. Notably:
  • Interacting with Golden Hand Tributes
  • Selecting Duviri Decree
  • Entering Sanctuary Onslaught portal
  • Selecting Endless Void Fissure reward
  • Opening Gear Wheel
  • Using Transference
  • Interacting with turrets in Railjack
    • Known issue: We are aware that this issue can occur from the Stay/Leave screen in the Circuit.
• Fixed Auto-Meleeing in a certain location in the “Awaken the Sleeper” stage of the Whispers in the Walls Quest causing an interaction to be skipped.
  • Melee will now be disabled when in this area to prevent key moments from being skipped.
• Fixed getting locked auto-meleeing after holding the ability menu open and auto-meleeing simultaneously while using a controller.
• Fixed getting locked auto-meeling after opening the pause menu/chat window while holding the Melee attack button.
• Fixed Auto-melee persisting after exiting a Railjack turret / pilot seat if melee input was held upon entering it.

TOP FIXES

• Fixed being able to Heavy Attack mid-air. Now mid-air Heavy Attacks will perform a Heavy Ground Slam as intended.
• Fixed being unable to perform a Melee Ground Slam if started while in Transference.
• Fixed Disclipline’s Merit’s “Opportunities [for Tennokai] occur every 4 melee hits” not counting all the hits from an Exalted Melee Weapon and standard Melee Weapon when equipped on both.
• Fixed Melee Heavy Slide Attacks not functioning with various mechanics, including but not limited to Tennokai, Heavy Attack Decrees (ex: Salted Wound), etc.
• Fixed an issue where if you had any Heavy Attack Efficiency and your Combo Duration was zero, you would immediately get all of your Initial Combo back instead of it regenerating overtime.
• Fixed context action Finishers not triggering “On Finisher Kill” Arcanes (Arcane Trickery, Arcane Ultimatum, Melee Crescendo).

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed an issue where using Melee attack to switch from Operator to Warframe and then immediately using Transference could leave you with an invisible Operator.

Update 35.1 (2024-02-20)

• Fixed Operator getting stuck infinitely Void Blasting after switching from Warframe to Operator while auto-meleeing.
  • We are aware of and investigating other issues related to Auto-Melee that we’re hoping to fix for Dante Unbound.
• Fixed Kullervo’s Wrathful Advance ability not activating Tennokai.
• Fixed being able to gain Melee Combo by unconventional means if your Melee Combo Duration was negative. Indirectly also fixed Heavy Attacks not consuming from Combo Counter when Melee Combo Duration was negative.
• Fixed being unable to swap Polarities on a Melee weapon if you do not own the Tennokai Segment.
• Fixed the Exilus Slot appearing for Melee weapons in the Upgrade screen even if you don’t own the Tennokai Segment.
• Fixed Mod Slots overlapping in the Zaw Gild screen if the Tennokai Segment isn’t installed.

Hotfix 35.0.4 (2023-12-20)

• The Tennokai Mod Bundle no longer requires completion of the Whispers in the Walls Quest to purchase in the Market.
  • Players can access Tennokai without the Melee Upgrade Segment installed in their Arsenal, so we see no reason to lock it behind Quest completion.
• Fixes towards Heavy Attacking while using Transference causing players to be stuck in an endless Void Blast loop as Operator/Drifter.
  • We cannot guarantee this is a perfect fix, but after testing we hope that this issue should be less prevalent at the very least!
• Fixed Tennokai attacks sometimes occurring in the wrong order if multiple Heavy Attacks are done in a row.

Hotfix 35.0.3 (2023-12-18)

• Fixed Tennokai not applying to Heavy Slam Attacks.

Update 35.0 (2023-12-13)

NEW HEAVY ATTACK SYSTEM: TENNOKAI

With the launch of Auto Melee in Abyss of Dagath, we mentioned that we were working on a “Perfect Heavy Attack” system for Whispers in the Walls, and it is officially here!

Recall the ancient art of Tennokai with new Tennokai Mods for your Melee Weapons. Tennokai is a long-lost melee art form, allowing Tenno to make the most out of their Heavy Attacks. With Tennokai enabled on your Melee weapon, you will have a 15% chance for a symbol to appear while performing a melee attack. If you perform a Heavy Attack while the symbol is active on your reticle, it will trigger a Tennokai Heavy Attack, which has a faster wind-up speed and does not consume any combo counter.

With this new Tennokai system, there are a variety of Mods that allow you to further customize the frequency and effects of these Tennokai attacks.

HOW TO ENABLE TENNOKAI:
You can enable Tennokai for your Melee Weapon by equipping any of the new Tennokai Mods onto it. Tennokai Mods can be equipped in your build as normal, or in the new Melee Exilus Slot that is unlocked via the Melee Upgrade Segment acquired upon completion of the Whispers in the Walls Quest.

TENNOKAI MODS

These Mods can be earned from Rotation C of the new Alchemy game mode (Cambire, Deimos) or purchased via the Market in the Essential Tennokai Mod Bundle*.

*The Market purchase option is not available to players until they have installed the Melee Upgrade Segment (rewarded from completing the Whispers in the Walls Quest).

Discipline’s Merit
Enables Tennokai. Opportunities occur every 4 melee hits instead of at random.

Dreamer’s Wrath
Enables Tennokai. Increases opportunity chance by 50% and Heavy Attack critical damage by 32%.

Master’s Edge
Enables Tennokai. Increases Tennokai damage by 60%.

Condition’s Perfection
Enables Tennokai. Increases status chance by +100% on Tennokai Attacks.

Opportunity’s Reach
Enables Tennokai. Increases opportunity window to 4.0s and melee range by 3m for Tennokai attacks.

Tenno will also receive a basic Tennokai Mod in their Inbox upon completion of The Whispers in the Walls Quest:

Mentor’s Legacy*
Enables Tennokai.
*This mod is not tradeable as it is a Quest reward!

MELEE UPGRADE SEGMENT

Upon completion of the Whispers in the Walls Quest, players will receive a new Melee Upgrade Segment via their in-game Inbox. Installing it will further expand your Melee Arsenal with two new upgrade options:

Melee Exilus Slots
Fuse an Exilus Weapon Adapter into your Melee weapon to unlock the new Melee Exilus Slot. Players will be able to equip the new Tennokai Mods into this slot, as well as the following newly Exilus-compatible Mods:

• Parry
• Dispatch Overdrive
• Focused Defense
• Guardian Derision
• Electromagnetic Shielding
• Whirlwind

Melee Arcane Slot In these new Arcane Slots, players will be able to equip new Melee Arcanes, which have also been released with this update. Players can earn Melee Arcane Adapters via the Wares & Shiny Treasures Vendor in the Cavia Syndicate, Netracells, or by purchasing them in the Market for Platinum*.

*The Market purchase option is not available to players until the completion of the Whispers in the Walls Quest.

Melee Arcanes and Zaw Arcanes
Like Kitguns, Zaws will offer both a slot for Zaw Arcanes and Melee Arcanes (once Melee Arcanes are unlocked). Zaw Arcanes cannot be used in Melee Arcane Slots, and vice versa.

TOP FIXES

• Fixed Auto Melee persisting if the first melee of a mission is a Warframe ability (Kullervo’s Wrathful Advance, etc.)
• Fixed using Auto Melee while entering a Cutscene resulting in being locked in a perma-melee state with no input required.
• Fixed block combos not working seamlessly with auto-melee.
• Fixed Parazon getting equipped in hand after Mercy-killing an Eximus enemy while auto-meleeing.
• Fixed endlessly Melee attacking in Duviri as Drifter if the “Melee with Fire Weapon Input” toggle is enabled.
• Fixed a bug where auto-melee was preventing players from throwing throwable objects, such as Thermia Canisters, with their Melee equipped.

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed Heavy Attack charge up animation not respecting “Camera Tracks Melee Target” setting while the player is stationary.
• Fixed rare cases where you could trigger Auto Melee while on the Kaithe.
• Fixed an issue where lightly tapping the melee input to swap from Sirocco to Melee as Drifter would not actually perform a melee swing, resulting in players being unable to quick fire for a short period of time.

Update 34.0 (2023-10-18)

Auto Melee

Adding an Auto Melee button has been a frequently requested topic over the years as a way to mitigate repeated button presses. Your days of spamming E are over with the new Auto-Melee functionality! Here’s how it works:

With Auto Melee, players can trigger melee swings through the familiar repeated melee inputs, or they can simply hold the melee input button to repeatedly swing their melee weapon for as long as that input is held. Combos can be executed while auto-meleeing by simply adding the required inputs -- i.e. to start Slide Attacking, simply start sliding while holding the Melee Input, etc.

In short, the Warframe melee that you know isn’t changing - the only difference is that instead of needing to press your E hundreds of times, you only need to press (and hold!) it once.

Our goal is not to alter the main way you play Warframe melee if you prefer the precision of individual inputs - auto-meleeing is an additional way to play the game. This mechanic has been released as a permanent functionality of the Melee system, as we’ve designed this so that both individual input and auto-melee can co-exist without issue.

Since Auto-Melee is removing a lot of the active element of meleeing, we are working on an addition to this system called “Perfect Heavy Attacks” that aim to release with Whispers in the Walls.

Exclusions to Auto Melee
Due to the mechanics of Auto Melee mirroring that of thrown melee weapons, the following weapons will not have Auto Meleeing enabled for them:

• All Glaive Weapon Types
• Wolf Sledge

Update 33.6 (2023-07-27)

• Added on-hover tooltip in the Melee Combos screen to provide more details (Stats, Status Effects, etc.).
• Fixed consecutive Heavy Attacks not resetting the Melee Combo multiplier.

Hotfix 33.0.11 (2023-05-24)

• Fixed sword and hammer melee “whoosh” SFX being too loud.

Update 33.0 (2023-04-26)

• Fixed Melee hits that hit multiple enemies in the same frame using the wrong hit FX after the first enemy was struck.

Update 32.2 (2022-11-30)

• Fixed performing a Heavy Attack turning other active melee effects into Heavy Attacks.
• Fixed flickering on Heat and Viral Melee elemental FX.

Update 32.0 (2022-09-07)

• Fixed some melee weapons (ex: Nikana with Blind Justice) not chain attacking while blocking in melee-only mode.
• Fixed your character rotating rapidly in the Pause Menu if it was opened while you are toggled into Blocking or you are facing enemies that cause you to automatically Block.
• Fixed cases of some Melee weapons being unable to chain attacks while blocking in exclusive Melee mode.
• Fixed for Melee elemental FX not showing up when loading into a level.
• Fixed crash when certain enemies attempt to melee attack.

Hotfix 31.6.4 (2022-07-14)

• Fixed being unable to use manual blocking while in melee-only mode, or use aim+attack melee combos, unless you are also using the ‘Hold to Aim Weapon’ in the Accessibility options.
  • We reverted back to its original functionality where melee could toggle into blocking mode when ‘Hold to Aim Weapon’ was disabled.

Update 31.6 (2022-06-09)

• Fixed the intended heavy attack wind up time not applying to Gunblades when spammed.
  • This also fixes melee charges (from any melee weapon) being ignored when spammed.

Update 31.2 (2022-03-16)

• Fixed script error related to Melee ground slam kills.

Update 31.1 (2022-02-09)

• Fixed inability to block with your Exalted Melee weapon if your normal Melee weapon has a Melee Combo built up and you’re in exclusively Melee mode (no other weapons).
• Fixed a cosmetic issue where being downed while only carrying Melee weapons would leave them looking holstered when somebody revived you.

Update 30.9 (2021-11-11)

• Updated Melee Slam FX.

Hotfix 30.7.5 (2021-09-16)

• Tweak elemental weapon FX to bring unification across elemental combos.

Hotfix 30.7.2 (2021-09-09)

• Fixed Melee Ground Slams not traveling to targeted spot due to being affected by gravity.

Update 30.7 (2021-09-08)

• Fixed a pop in the Heavy Blade animation loop that would occur in the left hand.

Hotfix 30.5.4 (2021-07-17)

• Reverted the Melee Follow Through changes that unintentionally went out in 30.5. This was an experimental change we tried out in development, but it should have been reverted before release.
  • https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1271197-numerous-melee-weapon-classes-recieved-undocumented-follow-through-nerfs/page/3/

Update 30.3 (2021-05-25)

• Fixed improper Melee sounds when hitting Sentients.
• Fixed incorrect positioning of Sugatras on numerous Melee weapons.

Update 29.10 (2021-03-19)
For those Tenno who don’t tune into Devstreams, we are actively reviewing the divide between Melee and Primary weapons in terms of power and lethality. A lot of Tenno have made cases that ‘Primary weapons just can’t compete with Melee’, and we agree. We are planning on doing a full detailed review of this and giving players a detailed workshop on what’s on our minds. That will come in the next few weeks.

However, we have one single change in this Update to Melee. The majority of all guaranteed enemy staggers on Melee hits have been removed. A few remain in neutral, forward block and neutral block combos. What this change does in practice is effectively removes the infinite Crowd Control melee attacking provided. The Crowd Control potential stacked with the scaling Damage potential was an area we could immediately change to give players a chance to try out this single tweak in the context of the current game.

This change is rather small in a practical sense, and after you’ve played missions with the change, please let us know what you think.

Other Melee Changes:

• Reduced the forward movement of the Warfan Heavy Attack.
• Reflection Mod changed from “Damage reflected during Channeled blocking” to:
  • +40% Chance to Stagger on Block
  • +10% Chance to Stun on Block
  • Increased from common to uncommon

Hotfix 29.6.5 (2021-01-09)

• Fixed missing lower body animations when performing a Whip aerial attack.

Hotfix 29.5.2 (2020-11-20)

• Fixed an issue with several one-handed Melee weapons not functioning (as an accidental result of the Glaive changes). Weapons included: most Machetes, Plasma Sword, Destreza and Destreza Prime, Sheev, and Scoliac.

Update 29.5 (2020-11-19)

• Improved Melee slam animations!
  • You’ll now be able to start moving after a Melee slam at the same timing as when you can shoot or perform another Melee attack.

Update 29.2 (2020-09-29)

• Made a micro-optimization for Melee ground slams.

Update 28.3 (2020-08-12)

• Cleaned up Melee grip FX across all Prime, Syndicate, Prisma, etc. weapons.
• Fixed switching back and forth between Melee weapon and Exalted Melee weapon causing the Arsenal stats to stack indefinitely.

Hotfix 28.0.6 (2020-06-24)

• Fixed ability to keep your Melee Combo for Gunblade Heavy Attacks by timing a Transference activation at the right time. Gunblade Heavy Attacks will now expel Melee Combo as intended.

Hotfix 27.3.9 (2020-04-07)

• Fixed being able to exit the Input Bindings screen without something bound to Melee Heavy Attack, which could result in wonky Melee Combo icons.

Update 27.2 (2020-03-05)

• Fixed an extremely specific method of Melee coptering (hello 2015) by interrupting a slide attack with a dodge roll.

Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

• Melee Heavy Attacks are no longer able to be triggered by holding 'E', they again live exclusively on Alt-Fire.
  • The loss of Melee Combo Counter feedback due to spamming Melee drove the vast amounts of requests for Melee Heavy Attack to not be holding ‘E’. A toggle for Melee Heavy Attacks is not in the cards, thus Melee Heavy Attacks are now essentially brought back to its original mechanic of having to use Alt-Fire.

Hotfix 26.0.7 (2019-11-14)

Melee Phase 2: Technique Changes & Fixes

While most of our previous Hotfixes have focused on base functionality and bug fixes of Melee: Phase 2, this Hotfix takes a stab at some balancing in the wake of all the changes. This Hotfix also adjusts some Stances based on feedback.

• UI: Split ‘HEAVY ATTACK’ Stats into their own category to better organize the various stats associated with all Melee Weapons.
• ‘Hold Melee’ will now perform heavy attack like it did before Phase 2.
• Removed Combo Hit Multiplier with Glaive's hit damage. Only explosive damage will use the Combo Multiplier.

Mod Changes

The Critical Chance game has largely allowed Blood Rush to shine for active melee players, and with the ‘Steel’ series of Mods applying at the Base Critical Chance level, it’s led to players feeling they are obsolete. We are significantly buffing these Mods to give players a different option for Critical Chance builds. We want to give a more upfront Critical Chance and hard-hitting Heavy Attacks to builds that don’t rely on maintaining a high combo multiplier.

• True Steel increased from 60% to 120% Critical Chance (x2 for Heavy Attack) at Max Rank.
• Sacrificial Steel increased from 88% to 220% Crit Chance (x2 for Heavy Attack) at Max Rank.

Stance & Weapon Changes

• Crimson Dervish:
  • Fixed Crimson Dervish not having its sliding heavy attack hooked up.
  • Increased the damage and combo-point value of Crimson Dervish's Neutral (Twisting Flurry) and Forward+Block (Coiling Impale) combos
• Gun Blade:
  • Added a free movement shooting attack to the first move in the Forward Combo for High Noon (Vagabond Blitz) and Bullet Dance (Magnum Mamba).
  • The Heavy Attack shot is no longer free movement (the wind up remains free movement).
• High Noon
  • Neutral Combo (Desperado Zeal) is now Tactical Forward Combo (Final Showdown), and vice versa.
  • Switched the order of the two Tactical Forward attacks and increased the forward distance of the first attack
• Bullet Dance
  • Moved the first attack of the Neutral Combo (Samba Slash) to the end of the combo chain.
  • Bullet Dance - Neutral Combo (Samba Slash) is now Neutral Block (Automatic Rhumba) and vice versa.
• Rapier: Vulpine Mask
  • Swapped the order of the first two attacks in the Neutral Combo (Assailant Guise).
• Nunchaku Stance: Atlantis Vulcan
  • Decreased the forward movement of the first attack in the Tactical Forward Combo (Blazing Vortex) and increased it in the second.
• Wize Razor
  • Second attack in Forward Combo (Cut Thrice) is now free movement
  • The last attack in the Neutral Combo (Threshing Grain) is now the first attack, damage multipliers and combo points adjusted accordingly
  • The last attack in the Tactical Forward Combo (Calling Thunder) is now the first attack with increased gap closing movement, damage multipliers and combo points adjusted accordingly.
• Dark Split Sword Heavy Blade
  • Increased Critical Chance from 10% to 15%
  • Increased Puncture Damage from 68 to 78
• Zenistar
  • Combo Multiplier applied to disc recall explosion.

Fixes

• Fixed Blood Rush / Weeping Wounds resetting when using a normal attack on Gunblades.
• Fixed Exodia Valor considering every target to be Lifted whether they actually are or not.
• Fixed Zenurik Inner Might not applying correctly.

Update 26.0 (2019-10-31)

Melee PHASE 2: TECHNIQUES

Melee has evolved again with a focus on TECHNIQUE - Stance/Combo reworks, the return of Equipped Melee, and MUCH more.

THE GAMEPLAY

1. The Return of Equipped Melee and Manual Blocking!

• Holding the weapon swap button will equip melee fully again, and the aim button will manually block when in this mode. Holding the Weapon Swap button while Exalted Melee is in play will also lock you into Exalted Melee mode! (Don’t worry, Auto Blocking is still a thing!)
• Blocking will now prevent 100% of damage, with a blocking angle that is dependent on the melee weapon equipped. All successful Blocks will also add to the new Combo Counter!

2. Dodge Cancelling and Tactical Dodging

• Dodge Cancel - Allows a player to activate a dodge any time during a melee attack to end the combo immediately and dodge out of the way.
• Tactical Dodging - Dodging while blocking now performs this Tactical Dodge, keeping the distance short, and allowing you to remain within melee range. This is an effort to not break the flow of combat after cancelling out of an attack, but also if you need to make a quick escape!

THE COMBOS

3. Stance Changes, Combos and You!

• Forward Combo (Forward + Melee) - This allows you to attack without initially interrupting movement with the first 1-3 swings (depending on the weapon Stance). The last attack in the sequence will loop seamlessly into the first, so that you can keep a level of mobility while attacking.
• Forward Tactical Combo (Forward + Block/Aim + Melee) - This move is usually a distance-closing opener, bringing you closer to the enemy and getting you within range to continue a harder-hitting string of attacks. The beginning or end of this combo can have a slam effect, allowing you to control the enemy, and during the mid-point of the combo, attacks will be large and sweeping, allowing multiple enemies to be hit.
• Neutral Combo (Melee button only) - Hard hitting, movement-free attacks to allow a player to destroy their target. The last attack can either have a knockdown effect, or throw them into the air and hold them there, if one set of strikes does not finish the job.
• Neutral Tactical Combo (Block/Aim + Melee) - First hit will likely be a longer thrust or throw of a weapon to increase range. Further attacks will be hard-hitting, and will often finish in a ragdoll effect or a Lifting Attack, as opposed to a knockdown or stagger. Lifting attacks are detailed in Section 7 of this workshop.
• Air Combo (Melee while Jumping) - Perform a combo in the air without sacrificing movement.
• Hover Air Combo (Back + Melee while Jumping) - Holds the player in place while the combo completes, and overrides the slam attack angle to keep the action going!

4. Smoother Combo Transitions

• This allows for last-second decisions on combo changes to occur immediately after the first attack has finished. No more waiting for a combo attack animation to end before you can start spamming the attack button again! Embrace the fluidity!

5. Combo Counter Rework

• Rather than just providing flat bonuses to damage, the Combo Counter will now also act as an expendable resource for new heavy hitting combat: HEAVY ATTACKS!
• This counter will be increased in a more granular and rapid way, and can be built by using melee attacks, blocking damage, radial damage from Slam Attacks and hits from a thrown weapon (such as the Glaive).
• In addition, the ‘heaviness’ of an attack will have a measured difference on the amount of Combo Counter it increases. As a general rule, lighter, swift attacks will give lower additions to the Combo Counter than slower, heavy attacks will.
• Combo Duration is now displayed as a bar underneath your Combo Counter!

THE TOOLS

6. Changes to Slam Attacks

• The ragdoll effect of the Slam Attack is being removed (with some weapon-specific exceptions *cough*JatKittag*cough*), however it is being replaced with an effect that will push enemies back or knock them down, giving the player some breathing room, and setting the enemy units up for follow-up attacks.
• Also, all Melee weapons have received an updated Slam FX - come on and SLAM (attack), and welcome to the jam!

7. Goodbye Channeling, Hello Heavy Attacks and Lifting!

• Channeling will be saying its final farewells in the Melee Rework: Phase 2 update, and instead is being replaced with a new form of Heavy Attack, as well as a new Lifted status effect. As we said before, Channeling Mods will also be changed to support this new system, as well as providing a larger pool of utility to choose from in your builds.
• Heavy Attacks (Alt-Fire for Melee) - Heavy attacks can now occur at any time, simply by pressing the Alt-fire button while you have melee equipped or in your hand. This costs all of your Combo Counter (affected by Mods), so make sure you lay down the hurt! If you don’t have any Combo Counter active, you will use a Heavy Attack, but it will not benefit from any damage bonus from the Combo Counter.
• Heavy Slam Attacks (Jump + Alt-Fire for Melee) - This new Slam Attack will create a new effect on targets, known as the LIFTED STATUS. When a target is Lifted, it is held suspended in the air, allowing a player to follow up on attacks while the target is held helplessly aloft. Again, if you do not have any Combo Counter active, this will act as a Heavy Slam attack without a damage bonus, and minimal Lifting Status.
• But what about the Channeling FX you ask? Prime Armor Channeling FX will now appear when the Combo Counter reaches 2!

8. Weapon Stats, Mastery Limits and General Melee Changes

• Mastery Rank - Weapons have been reviewed to make sure their function and power are aligned with an appropriate Mastery Rank, similar to passes made on Primary and Secondary weapons.
• Base Damage - Since the Combo Multiplier will apply to Heavy Attacks only, the base damage of all melee weapons has significantly increased.
• Base Range - Along with damage, range has also been increased to make sure you get the most chop for your buck. While base range is being increased, Range Mods are going to have a different calculation applied to them. This is detailed in Section 9.
• Mod and Arcane Channeling Functionality - As mentioned above, any Mods or Arcanes with functionality tied to Channeling have had their stats altered to increase Lifted Status, Heavy Attack damage and Combo Counter modifiers.
• Every Melee weapon that was originally a single Elemental damage type has been converted to Physical + Element, allowing for more Status reliability as well (Silva and Aegis excluded given Flame Blade).
• Range increased for kick attacks from 1.5 to 2m (Except for Sparring weapons which is increased to 2.5m).
• Combo Duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.

9. Mod Rebalancing / Functionality

• All Channeling Mods - have been changed to the Melee Parent type to bring them in line with Melee Phase 2 changes
• Amalgam Organ Shatter - Description changed from Charge Attacks to Heavy Attacks.
• Blood Rush - Will now scale differently, using a stacking multiplier based on the Combo Counter, raising 60% per Combo Counter tier (something much easier to achieve in Phase 2).
• Condition Overload - Now uses a stacking multiplier based on how many Status Effects are on the target at 120% damage per Status.
  • During this whole Melee rebalance, Condition Overload remained a persistent outlier. Since launch, it has had an unintended stacking mechanic, that nothing else uses in the game: it grew exponentially, making it too volatile to balance. We know there’s nothing worse than ‘how can you call this unintended’, so let’s explain the history: initially it did the stacking on final damage, which, as you know from previous changes, we have been trying to move away from. This is because this type of stacking makes for very hard to control damage progression, and tends to be very confusing as to which damage, Melee/Proc etc, applies where. This new version of the mod makes Condition Overload’s damage multiplication become equal to Pressure Point when the enemy has 1 Status applied, better than Primed Pressure Point at 2 Statuses applied, and from there it just grows and grows. Even though the maximum potential damage is lower now, we think it is still an extremely powerful Mod in its latest iteration.
  • The new ‘Lifted’ Status also counts for Condition Overload calculation. Revised Stances and the new Heavy Attack give reliable ways of applying Status to enemies, which greatly increases the reliability of Condition Overload
• Corrupt Charge - Adds a large amount to the Combo Counter, but significantly reduces the time it takes for the Combo Counter to drain.
• Covert Lethality - is remaining as a Dagger Mod for now with +16 Initial Combo and 100% Finisher damage, pending later review. (Note: This has changed from what was laid out in the recent Dev Workshop)
• Dispatch Overdrive - Increases player movement on a Heavy Attack hit.
• Enduring Affliction - Increases the Status Chance on enemies suffering from the Lifted Status.
• Enduring Strike - Increases the Combo Counter chance when hitting Lifted enemies.
• Focus Energy - Add Electrical damage to an attack, as well as increasing Combo Counter generation.
• Focused Defense - Adds an additional 20 degrees to a weapons blocking angle.
• Gladiator Mod Set - Adds a multiplier with the Combo Counter up to 60% for the whole set.
• Guardian Derision - Will add more to the Combo Counter for blocking hits. (Note: The Taunt mechanic is still in place.)
• Killing Blow - Increases Heavy Attack damage and decreases the ‘wind-up’ time for Heavy Attacks
• Life Strike - Heavy Attacks will now regenerate Health.
• Maiming Strike - Changes from an additive buff to a stacking buff, but base functionality increased 150%.
• Quickening - Grants +40% Attack Speed, +20% Combo Count Chance
• Reach / Primed Reach - Will now increase range in a way that has been normalized. In the previous incarnation, long-range weapons were getting too much of a benefit, while short-range weapons were barely seeing any increase at all.
• Reflex Coil - Increased Combo Point Efficiency when using Heavy Attacks.
• Reflex Guard - +100% Combo Count Chance while Blocking.
• Spring-Loaded Blade - Will now provide a maximum of 2 additional stacks of Melee Range.
• True Punishment - Add 40% Critical Chance, but reduces the chance to add to the Combo Counter by -10%
• Weeping Wounds - Increases Status chance in a Stacking Multiplier, 40% per combo tier.
• This update will also see some changes to the following Weapon, Arcane and Focus School buffs:
  • Zenurik - Inner Might - Has been changed to provide 60% Combo Efficiency, instead of Channeling Efficiency.
  • Synoid Heliocor, Furax Wraith and Fragor Prime - All receive bonus initial Combo Count to offset the boosted Channeling Damage they had previously.
  • Exodia Triumph Arcanes - Have been changed to +50% chance to increase the Combo Counter on hit.
  • Exodia Valor Arcanes - Have been changed to +200% chance to increase Combo Count when hitting Lifted Enemies.
  • Exodia Brave Arcanes - Now grants +5 Energy Generation when killing an Enemy with a Heavy Attack. This can stack up to 3 times.

10. Exalted Weapons

• All melee-based Exalted Weapons have received the Phase 2 functionality treatment, gaining access to the combo changes. For those of you who may have missed it, Wukong’s Exalted Iron Staff has already had this functionality implemented (with the exception of the new Heavy Attacks and changes to the Slam Attacks).

11. The Screens: Arsenal Changes

• In Update 26, this screen is being reorganized to include Loadouts, Companions and Vehicles in tabs, while also giving more information about a weapon when selected: https://gfycat.com/serpentinearidalligator
• As you can see, new stats for Heavy Attacks and Heavy Slam have been added, with channeling statistics removed.

THE TECHNICAL BITS

12. Aim Assist

• Aim assist can be a help or a hindrance depending on what type of attack you wish to perform. While the current system either applies to all or none (on or off), the new system will have more intelligence on aim assist on a per-attack basis. As a general rule under the new system, Aim Assist will be disabled for almost all attacks in the Forward and Tactical Forward Combos, and enabled for most of the Neutral and Tactical Neutral Combo attacks. Of course if you don’t wish to use aim assist at all, you can disable it from the settings menu as normal.

13. Sticky Fingers when Equipping Melee!

• Another common issue in user feedback was the unequipping of Gear Items (like the Codex Scanner), or dropping the ‘football’ (usually a pickup for Mobile Defense or Sabotage Missions) when equipping melee or using a melee attack. This has now been changed so that you will no longer drop items or unequip Gear Items when either equipping melee or using a Melee Attack!

Hotfix 25.7.4 (2019-09-05)

• Fixed Melee Elemental FX not always showing up when you swing the weapon. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1126060-elemental-fx-on-melee-weapons-arent-showing-up-in-game/

Update 25.5 (2019-07-31)

• Adjusted the holster position of Warfans, Polearms, Scythes and Staffs on Zephyr Prime.
• Adjusted the Holster position of Sword and Shields on multiple Warframes so it is attached and rotated correctly.
• Fixed Melee Channeling toggling off when swapping to a Primary / Secondary.

Update 25.2 (2019-06-19)

• Fixed the bright white FX projector on Electrical Melee FX.

Update 24.6 (2019-04-04)

• Whip and Sword slide attacks now do the same damage with a Stance equipped as without.

Hotfix 24.5.3 (2019-03-19)

• Changed the Glaive recall to be done with Melee instead of Melee Channel so its consistent again (Channel being a toggle-only messed up this function).
• Fixed cases of performing a Melee ground slam at an extreme horizontal angle if you move your mouse downwards while pressing Melee.
• Fixed an error where, after Dual-Wielding gun and Glaive, throwing the Glaive in the "normal" Melee only mode could result in a turbo throw that is only supposed to apply for Dual-Wield.
• Fixed a movement hitch that happened if you tried to sprint right after a Melee ground slam.

Update 24.5 (2019-03-14)

• Upon picking up a Datamass, a Melee to gun swap will automatically equip your Secondary weapon instead of your Primary weapon, which would make you drop the Datamass.
• Pressing F when in Melee mode now switches you back to your "other" weapon. For example, if your Primary weapon is equipped when you trigger a Melee attack, you will return to your Primary weapon when you aim or fire. If you instead press F while in Melee mode, you will now equip your Secondary weapon.
• Fixed a case where you could be left in an UNARMED state after using a non-Melee Exalted weapon (like Hildryn's Balefire) and went back to Melee when you had no other weapons in your loadout, having gone Melee only to that mission.
• Fixed the Operator's Vazarin Guardian Shell not manifesting the charged Void Blast shield.
• Fixed an issue where auto-blocking could cancel the charged/heavy Melee attacks.
• Implemented fixes toward briefly being unable to Melee after an Aerial Attack, which breaks the flow of battle.
• Fixed being able to Quick Melee when you equip an Archgun with either a Primary or Secondary equipped before that.
• Fixed the Melee-only Parry becoming a toggle that you can't release until you attack for Clients.
• Fixes towards the Wise Razor Stance giving unintended extreme velocity. Comical yes, but clearly an oversight of gravity!
• Fixed the Melee combo menu not updating with the proper button inputs to use Melee when using a controller.
• Fixed missing Melee Channeling binding callout in the Advanced Melee screen of the Codex when using a controller.
• Fixed a number of Melee attacks that could leave weapon trails active after the attack is finished.
• Fixed losing your crouch position when initiating a Melee to gun swap while crouching.

Hotfix 24.4.2 (2019-03-08)

Melee Phase 1: 'Flow' Changes

• Manual blocking/parry has been added when players wield only a Melee weapon in a mission (i.e NO Secondary or Primary equipped). This is possible because in this specific state, the keybindings are free to allow this manual blocking. We do not plan on adding it to any other state yet. The default keybind for this is RMB/Right Mouse Button, as it was in the past.

Controller Changes & Fixes

• Melee Channeling can no longer be rebound on Controller due to it completely breaking Melee 2.99997 changes. We apologize for the discomfort this may cause for those who have built their controllers comfortably around a different binding. You can't make an omelette without cracking some eggs!
• Fixed a widespread issue where players using Controllers could no longer Aim after the Melee 2.99997 changes. This affected numerous mechanics like Aim Gliding, Melee Channeling, etc.
• We’ll be continuing to monitor controller issues as they arise! If you’re still having issues, restoring your Controller bindings to ‘Default’ will help in the meantime. Please let us know of further issues!
• Fixed an issue where attempting to reload your Primary/Secondary while in Melee mode would not transition you back to your gun.

Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

MELEE REVISIT: PHASE 1 - "Flow"

Tenno - your favorite melee weapon probably feels a little different today. Today we bring you Phase 1 of 2019’s melee upgrade - we hope you love all the gorgeous new visual effects, streamlined combat, and high fidelity hit reactions! Here's what you can expect:

Let The Gun & Blade Flow

Swap between your gun and melee at the press of a button, no holstering required! Combos can be executed and resumed between movement and more. Blocking is now automatic in melee mode when aiming at an attacking enemy. Your stance combos may have changed, check out the Stance interface!

Death From Above

A Tenno is a master of aerial tactics - now you can better target enemies on the ground with deadly and responsive aimed ground slams.

Effects Upgrades

We've done a complete overall of all Melee Effects! Hit animations, elemental effects and slam attacks: making melee look as good as it feels!

More to Come

Fundamentally, we aim to upgrade Melee. This is Phase 1.

No one knows the power of their Arsenal better than the Tenno - your adaptability and skill with the blade will be tested, and as we continue these changes, we rely on your feedback!

If you missed the full workshop discussing Phase 1, you can catch it here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1063446-melee-changes-phase-1/ https://gfycat.com/darkdesertedharlequinbug https://gfycat.com/scrawnyshinycrustacean

Our Mainline update notes will summarize the information from within the Workshop, plus denote additional information

1) Uninterrupted Combat - firearm to equipped melee (and vice versa) states are instant.

Bonus 1.a) Combo Resume.

2) Ground Slams are more controllable, cleaner, and simpler.

All melee weapons have had their ground-slam ranges increased and new FX added:

• Glaive slam range increased to 5m
• Warfan slam range increased to 5m
• Dagger slam range increased to 5m
• Dual dagger slam range increased to 6m
• Claw weapon slam range increased to 6m
• Gunblade slam range increased to 5m
• Nunchaku slam range increased to 6m
• Sword and Shield slam range increased to 7m
• Single Sword slam range increased to 7m
• Blade Whip slam range increased to 7m
• Rapier slams increased to 6m
• Dual Sword slam range increased to 8m
• Tonfa slam range increased to 8m
• Machete slam range increased to 7m
• Nikana slam range increased to 6m
• Hammer slam range increased to 9m
• Staff slam range increased to 6m
• Polearm slam range adjusted to 7m
• Scythe slam range increased to 8m
• Heavy Blade slam range increased to 8m
• Fists weapon slam range increased to 8m
• Sparring weapon slam range increased to 7m

3) Visual FX

2019 style!

A full Visual FX pass has been done for Phase 1! Because this is Phase 1, it 'means all the unique weapons will have new generic FX for a little while (Jat Kittag etc.) until we can get through them all and make new clean variants'.

New and cleaner FX have been created with the idea of beautifully short, highly detailed lifespans. Not infinite - meaning the 'Constant Weapon Trail' option will be removed as a result of this change (at least for Phase 1, we really do think it looks better removed).

4) Keybinds!

Notable Keybind changes:

BLOCKING

• Blocking with a melee weapon is no longer keybound, it is automatic when facing enemies who are dealing damage to you in melee mode. Your Reticle determines all!

CHANNELING

• Channeling is now a toggle set to your alt-fire button when in melee mode.
• Your 'F' button (if using default key bindings) now exclusively swaps between Primary and Secondary weapons with a tap.
• Your left mouse button is gun fire, always, instantly.
• Your right mouse button is now aim, always, instantly.

OPTIONS:

• We are adding a toggle to preserve one aspect of the older melee system. You will be able to toggle an option, allowing you to continue melee attacks with the left mouse button once in melee mode.

Additional Information and Changes

• Updated Reticles: Melee mode has received its own reticle!
• Archwing: Arch-Melee & Archgun now also use the 'instant swap' behaviour.
• Dual Wield (i.e Glaive & Single Secondary) is still supported!
• Exalted weapons will also benefit from the uninterrupted swaps! Be aware that Energy will still drain, even when swapping between weapons!
• AI hit reacts are getting updated! Enemies will have a more visceral/realistic response to the various hits you dish out.
• With Melee Blocking now automatic, the Blocking angle has been reduced to 45 degrees.
• If using no custom Energy color, the weapon will inherit the colors of the Elemental FX (or base trails if no elements are present). This unifies all colors (swing FX, trails, hit FX, etc).

Hotfix 23.10.2 (2018-10-12)

• Minor sounds mix adjustments to Melee slide attack / heavy attack / slam attack.

Update 23.10 (2018-10-12)

• Updated Melee slam and elemental FX!
• Cleaned up Melee FX when hitting an enemy.

Update 22.20 (2018-05-17)

• Melee attacks (including spin attacks) will no longer sweep through walls or objects. Please read our Dev Workshop for Melee insight!

Update 15.0 (2014-10-24)

Directional Air Melee!

• Allows you to jump, pick an angle and then hit the melee, which will then send you with momentum in the given direction
• This will enable you to hit enemies in the air
  • Note: this feature is planned on being revised depending on feedback

Update 11.1 (2013-11-27)

• Melee Auto-Targeting System:
  • Allow more customization based on player preference.
  • Add Settings for Auto-lock (Melee Assist), attack toward character facing or camera (Align Attacks To Camera)
  • Auto-turning the camera to face the target (Camera Tracks Melee Target)
  • Do smooth turns when attacking away from a melee target.

Update 7.0 (2013-03-18)

• New moves - Ground Attacks, smart-actions for finishing off downed enemies (no more jumping)!