Melee weapons

Melee weapons are a weapon group that appears in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. Melee weapons consist of close quarters blunt and bladed weapons used to attack enemies at close range. Blunt weapons require players to hit enemies several times until death, while bladed weapons only take a single hit. They also feature in Factions MP, though in a more limited capacity.
== Singleplayer ==
=== Blunt ===
The damage values of a blunt weapon varies—there is no simple amount of 'hits' needed to kill an enemy. Enemies that are hit once and allowed to recover from their stagger, for example, could be hit continuously this way without them dying. Instead, one has to stagger an enemy a certain amount of times in a form of a combo. This number is about four to five times. This combo can be shortened with the environment (such as slamming heads into walls) or with ranged weaponry.
Often the player can hit an enemy four times and apart from the normal stagger, the enemy staggers back, in which this is the cue to charge at them and perform a finishing move, such as crushing their head, hitting their temple at a perpendicular angle or performing a foot stomp.
A blunt weapon is probably the best choice for a player who prefers guns—as unlike the bladed weapons which instantly kill a foe and have low durability, some blunt weapons have high durability, leaving space for a Shorty blast or some time to evade and take cover to use long guns. When modified, blunt weapons lose their usefulness as distractions, and act like a bladed weapon with a slower swing speed, so modifying blunt weapons should only be done if the player is at an early stage of the game or is desperate for a bladed weapon.
=== Bladed ===
Bladed weapons kill most enemies with just one attack. This is extremely useful if for stealth playstyles, so as to kill an alerted enemy quickly before they can raise the alarm. They also swing considerably faster than the blunt weapons, allowing them to kill an enemy quicker. However, the shiv, machete and hatchet all have fairly low durability—with hits 3, 3 and 5 respectively. This makes them break very quickly. Using modifications on bladed weapons is better than modifying blunt weapons—it may seem like a waste since the bladed weapons are already instant-kill, however the hits added are the same, and bladed weapons swing much faster than blunt weapons, so bladed modifications are much more efficient. This also increases the Machete and Hatchet's durability to very reasonable values—six and eight respectively. When the shiv is crafted, it can have a durability of one to three, depending on the training manuals found.
Ellie's switchblade is an exception to the bladed category—whilst it technically is a blade, it acts like a hybrid of a blunt weapon and a shiv, as it takes four hits and then an execution to kill an enemy. It can still be used to grab and kill an enemy from behind or in front like a shiv, however.
A bladed weapon is good for the player who takes the stealthy approach. With a quick killing time and low durability, it is only used in tight situations when a player cannot sneak up on an enemy to use a shiv. The machete also swings a bit faster than the hatchet and kills a bit faster, but has less durability, so it depends on the user's preferences on efficiency or durability. Guns are not needed when using bladed weapons as they can kill an enemy easily.
The main disadvantage of bladed weapons is that they offer less reach than blunt weapons, so if the enemy has a gun or particularly an automatic weapon, they are very vulnerable and have to sneak around to close the distance. If a bladed weapon is used with a gun abundant with ammunition such as a 9mm pistol, the stagger can give them the time to charge in and kill an enemy with the blade.
== Factions MP ==
There are only a few melee options for melee in factions: fists, the 2x4 and its modified variant, and the machete. Fists require four hits to down uninjured opponents; the 2x4 requires two hits, the modded 2x4 1 hit, and the machete takes three hits. The 2x4 swings more slowly than the machete, and its swinging animation is cancelled when hit by a machete.
The 2x4 is a drop from loot boxes, and while the machete may very rarely also be found in loot boxes, it is more easily available through purchasing.
== List of melee weapons ==
=== Single and multiplayer ===
*2x4
*Machete
*Shiv
=== Single-player only ===
*Baseball Bat
*Hatchet
*Pipe
*Switchblade
*Baton
*Club
*Crowbar
*Felling axe
*Fire axe
*Hammer
*Pickaxe
*Scythe
*Kukri
*Tomahawk
*Wrench
Category:The Last of Us Part I melee weapons