Melee

Maneuvers Key Bindings

Gallery

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

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 ), 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.

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.
• Max Targets: The maximum amount of targets that can be struck 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

Excalibur performing a slide attack.

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 attack.

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.

Combo	In Air + Aim Downwards + Melee

Also known as a Leap Attack. While in mid-air, performing a melee attack while aiming downwards will force the Warframe to slam down at the point of the reticle, dealing radial damage and applying a Status Effect to surrounding enemies, such as stagger, knockdown, lift or elemental procs. 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.

There are two damage instances dealt by slam attacks:

1. Direct contact to an enemy will deal Slam 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, this damage is not affected by mods except for  Seismic Wave, but will often have a secondary effect (knockdown, stagger, status effects from base damage types, etc.).

Weapon Class	Slam Radius
Dagger	5m
Glaive
Gunblade
Warfan
Whip
Claws	6m
Dual Daggers
Nikana
Nunchaku
Rapier
Staff
Blade and Whip	7m
Machete
Polearm
Sparring
Sword
Sword and Shield
Dual Swords	8m
Fist
Heavy Blade
Scythe
Tonfa
Hammer	9m
Masseter	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 around 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.

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.

Weapon Aim RMB

L2

Blocking is a defensive motion that negates incoming damage and negates knockbacks in an angle in front of the Warframe. Each weapon blocks 100% of incoming damage, though only within varying angle ranges depending on the weapon type. For example,  Dual Ether has a blocking angle of 60°, meaning any damage coming from 30° to the left or right of the reticle will be negated. Any time an attack is successfully blocked, 1 point will be added to the combo counter.

• 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.
• Will also block Scorpion grappling hooks to prevent getting pulled.
• 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.
• Will not block Status Effects from affecting the player.

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 Swords
Rapier
Scythe
Staff
Tonfa
Sword and Shield	70°

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

Combo Counter

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

Each successful consecutive melee hit against enemies 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 or how many instances of damage have been blocked. Once a certain number of consecutive hits or successful blocks have been made, a damage multiplier will be displayed. This multiplier does not increase normal melee attack damage, it only applies to Heavy Attacks and partially towards certain melee based Warframe abilities.

The combo counter resets if no enemies are hit after 5 seconds, which is represented by a grey horizontal bar below the combo counter. The combo counter duration can be increased up to either 39 seconds with  Body Count,  Drifting Contact,  Gladiator Rush, and  Swift Momentum (57 seconds with 4x  Swift Momentums) or to 75 seconds if the used Aura Mods in addition are 1x  Swift Momentum (used on yourself) and 3x  Melee Guidance (used from squadmates).  Ash and the  Furax family can increase this number to 88 seconds when used with  Rising Storm and  Amalgam Furax Body Count. Further increases are only possible with Riven Mods. The only weapon with infinite combo duration is the​ Europa Xoris​, which is a glaive acquired during The Deadlock Protocol quest.

Depending on the particular stance/weapon, some hits in a combo may add more than 1 point to the combo counter. That is, while a single strike with a blade may add only 1 point per hit, a single strike with another weapon, or a different combo with the same weapon, may add 2, 3, 4, etc. points per hit to the combo counter instead. Point gain is determined by the damage multiplier a hit in a combo has, i.e. a weapon with a 200% damage multiplier will add two points to the combo counter.

Combo Multiplier

The Bonus Damage Multiplier starts at 2.0x after 20 consecutive hits. The multiplier is increased by +1.0x every consecutive 20 hits until 220 consecutive hits have been made, at which point the bonus damage multiplier will cap at 12.0x.  Venka Prime has a passive ability that allows it to reach 240 consecutive hits though, making it the only weapon capable of a 13.0x multiplier.

The table below displays the values up to a damage multiplier of 13.0x.

Combo Counter Bonus Tier	Heavy Attack Multiplier	Heavy Attack Multiplier ( Venka Prime)	Base Damage Multiplier (Certain Warframe abilities)	Minimum Consecutive Hits Required
0	1.0x	1.0x	1.0x	0
1	2.0x	2.0x	1.25x	20
2	3.0x	3.0x	1.5x	40
3	4.0x	4.0x	1.75x	60
4	5.0x	5.0x	2.0x	80
5	6.0x	6.0x	2.25x	100
6	7.0x	7.0x	2.5x	120
7	8.0x	8.0x	2.75x	140
8	9.0x	9.0x	3.0x	160
9	10.0x	10.0x	3.25x	180
10	11.0x	11.0x	3.5x	200
11	12.0x	12.0x	3.75x	220
12	–	13.0x	4.0x (w/  Venka Prime)	240

• Certain Warframe abilities benefit from and contribute to the Melee Combo Counter, albeit at a reduced damage multiplier, 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
  •  Khora's  Whipclaw
• 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.
• Melee hits against objects, like Storage Containers, do not count towards the Combo Counter.
• A negative combo counter duration prevents the combo counter from increasing beyond 0.

Visual Changes

When the combo counter reaches 2x, Prime Armor Channeling special effects will appear as per prior to the removal of Channeling.

Heavy Attack

Middle Mouse MMB

R3

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

Tapping the MMB  or holding the attack button while melee is equipped will perform a Heavy Attack. 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.

Heavy attacks consume the player's current combo counter anytime they are performed. Unmodded, 100% of the current combo counter is consumed per heavy attack. Mods such as  Focus Energy offset this cost, leaving a portion of the combo counter after a heavy attack. For example, Focus Energy will decrease the amount of combo points consumed by 40%, meaning only 60% of the combo counter will be spent after each heavy attack. This effect is capped at 90%, so even with both  Focus Energy and  Reflex Coil 10% of the combo counter will still be consumed upon a heavy attack. When modded for positive melee combo efficiency, performing heavy attacks without hitting any enemies will reset your combo duration, allowing players to keep their combo indefinitely, albeit losing some combo in the process.

When tapping the MMB  in mid-air, a heavy slam attack is executed. The heavy slam does not have any wind-up time.

Heavy attacks and heavy slam attacks use fixed base damage multipliers compared to normal attacks. These multipliers depend on the weapon type. Furthermore, the area 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	Multiplier for Heavy Slam Attacks	Multiplier for Heavy Radial Damage	Wind-up Time
Blade and Whip	4x	12x (4x × 3 hits)	4x	4x	0.4s
Claws	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.6s
Dagger	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	4x	4x	0.4s
Dual Daggers	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	4x	4x	0.5s
Dual Swords	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	4x	4x	0.7s
Fist	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.6s
Glaive	2x	3x	4x	4x	0.6s
Gunblade	4x	4x	1.5x	1.5x	0.3/0.4s
Hammer	6x	6x	5x	5x	1.2s
Heavy Blade	6x	6x	5x	5x	1.1s
Machete	6x (1.5x × 4 hits)	5x	4x	4x	0.7s
Nikana	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.5s
Nunchaku	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.5s
Polearm	6x	6x	5x	5x	0.9s
Rapier	4.5x	4.5x	3.5x	3.5x	0.5s
Scythe	6x	6x	5x	5x	1.0s
Sparring	5x (+200% Impact)	5x (1x × 5 hits)	4x	4x	0.5s
Staff	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.5s
Sword	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.6s
Sword and Shield	5x	5x	4x	4x	0.7s
Tonfa	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	4x	4x	0.7s
Two-Handed Nikana	6x	6x (3x × 2 hits)	5x	5x	0.7s
Warfan	5x (2.5x × 2 hits)	5x	1x	1x	0.5s
Whip	4.5x	4.5x	3.5x	3.5x	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).

Tests in Simulacrum have shown that for heavy slam attacks, the damage increase from combo multiplier is reduced: Each combo multiplier step beyond 1x would increase damage by 60% instead of 100%. So with the above example case, a heavy slam attack will only deal 600 × (1 + (3-1) × 0.6) = 1,320 damage. (Needs further tests with different weapon types?)

Lifted Status

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.

Follow Through

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.

Weapon Class	Typical Follow-through
Hammer	0.4
Blade and Whip	0.5
Dual Swords
Gunblade
Nunchaku
Staff
Whip
Heavy Blade	0.6
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
Exalted Weapon	1.0

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.
• 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.

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 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 it’s 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)!