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 ), immediately holstering the currently equipped gun, and can instantly switch back to an equipped primary or secondary weapon with the fire button (default ) or zoom (default ). Going into melee mode (default holding ) 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===
The simplest form of melee attack. The action is achieved by simply pressing the melee attack key repeatedly, in which the animation pattern continues to loop until the player ceases the attack.
Common Attributes:
*Damage: Damage done by each hit. Enhanced by damage mods such as .
*Attack Speed: Speed of the attack animation. Enhanced by speed mods such as .
*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===
Air variation:
Also known as a Spin Attack, Slide Attacks propels a Warframe forward while performing a spinning slash around them, dealing greater damage and hitting multiple enemies. For sparring weapons like the and , 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 mod and all other elemental damage the player may have equipped on their weapon (e.g. ).
===Aerial Attack===
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===
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 usually inflicting . Slam attacks are typically composed of a singular damage type (usually ). Check a weapon's page to see what its slam damage type is. 
Players can 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 status. Heavy slam attacks are typically composed of a singular damage type (usually ). Check a weapon's page to see what its heavy slam damage type is.
Slam attacks do 2x the damage of a normal attack (3x for heavy slam), but 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 	Typical NormalSlam Radius	Typical HeavySlam Radius
Dagger 	5m 	6m
Glaive 	5m 	6m
Gunblade 	5m 	6m
Warfan 	5m 	6m
Whip 	5m 	6m
Claws 	6m 	7m
Dual Daggers 	6m 	7m
Nikana 	6m 	7m
Nunchaku 	6m 	7m
Rapier 	6m 	7m
Staff 	6m 	7m
Blade and Whip 	7m 	8m
Polearm 	7m 	8m
Sparring 	7m 	8m
Sword 	7m 	8m
Sword and Shield 	7m 	8m
Two-Handed Nikana	7m 	8m
Assault Saw 	7m 	9m
Dual Nikanas 	8m 	9m
Dual Swords 	8m 	9m
Fist 	8m 	9m
Heavy Blade 	8m 	9m
Heavy Scythe 	8m 	9m
Machete 	8m 	9m
Scythe 	8m 	9m
Tonfa 	8m 	9m
Hammer 	9m 	10m
Exceptions exist to this chart. For example, has a normal slam radius of 10m and a heavy slam radius of 10m, despite Heavy Blades typically having a normal slam radius of 8m and a heavy slam radius of 9m.
===Wall Attack===
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 , 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 	3.0x
Dual Daggers 	3.0x
Dual Nikanas 	3.0x
Dual Swords 	3.0x
Fist 	3.0x
Glaive 	3.0x
Gunblade 	3.0x
Machete 	3.0x
Rapier 	3.0x
Sparring 	3.0x
Sword and Shield	3.0x
Nunchaku 	3.0x
Warfan 	3.0x
Whip 	3.0x
Claws 	~2.98x
Nikana 	~2.14x
Heavy Blade 	2.0x
Hammer 	2.0x
Scythe 	2.0x
Sword 	2.0x
Tonfa 	2.0x
Polearm 	~1.666x
Staff 	~1.666x
==Advanced Maneuvers==
===Stances===
Upon equipping a Stance Mod, up to three additional advanced Melee Combos will be unlocked, which are special chained attacks that enhance the melee abilities of the weapon. These combos can only be performed while wielding a melee weapon. The combination will vary depending on the melee weapon equipped and the Stance mod equipped.
Dodging or rolling while performing melee combos will immediately end the combo, canceling the current melee animation.
===Blocking===
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 .
*Blocking negates damage from continuous weapons like lasers and Scorch flamethrowers, as well as non-continuous weapons like 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 	45°
Whip 	45°
Dual Daggers 	50°
Fist 	50°
Hammer 	50°
Sparring 	50°
Claws 	55°
Glaive 	55°
Heavy Blade 	55°
Machete 	55°
Nikana 	55°
Nunchaku 	55°
Polearm 	55°
Sword 	55°
Two-Handed Nikana 	55°
Warfan 	55°
Blade and Whip 	60°
Dual Nikanas 	60°
Dual Swords 	60°
Rapier 	60°
Scythe 	60°
Staff 	60°
Tonfa 	60°
Most Exalted Melees	60°
Heavy Scythe 	65°
, 	65°
Sword and Shield 	70°
Assault Saw 	90°
, 	90°
====Mods That Benefit From Blocking====
AmalgamJavlokMagazineWarpMod.png|link=Amalgam Javlok Magazine Warp|
ArcanePhantasm.png|link=Arcane Phantasm|
FocusedDefenseMod.png|link=Focused Defense|
GuardianDerisionMod.png|link=Guardian Derision|
ParryMod.png|link=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===
===Heavy Attack===
Tapping the or holding the attack button while melee is equipped will perform a Heavy Attack. When tapping the in mid-air, a Heavy Slam Attack is executed. Heavy slam attacks also 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.
====Heavy Attack Damage====
Heavy attacks use fixed base damage multipliers compared to normal attacks. These multipliers depend on the weapon type. 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)	Typical Wind-up Time
Assault Saw 	6x (1x 6) 	6x 	1.0s
Blade and Whip 	4x 	12x (4x 3) 	0.4s
Claws 	5x 	5x 	0.6s
Dagger 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x) 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x) 	0.4s
Dual Daggers 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x ) 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x ) 	0.5s
Dual Nikanas 	12x (2x 3 + 6x) 	6x (1x + 2x + 3x) 	1.0s
Dual Swords 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x) 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x) 	0.7s
Fist 	5x 	5x 	0.6s
Glaive 	2x 	3x 	0.6s
Gunblade 	5x 	5x 	0.4s
Hammer 	6x 	6x 	1.2s
Heavy Blade 	6x 	6x 	1.1s
Heavy Scythe 	6x (2x 3) 	12x (6x 2) 	1.0s
Machete 	6x (1.5x + 1.5x 3) 	5x 	0.7s
Nikana 	5x 	5x 	0.5s
Nunchaku 	5x 	5x 	0.5s
Polearm 	6x 	6x 	0.9s
Rapier 	4.5x 	4.5x 	0.5s
Scythe 	6x 	6x 	1.0s
Sparring 	5x (+200% ) 	5x (1x 5 hits) 	0.5s
Staff 	5x 	5x 	0.5s
Sword 	5x 	5x 	0.6s
Sword and Shield 	5x 	5x 	0.7s
Tonfa 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x ) 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x ) 	0.7s
Two-Handed Nikana	6x 	6x (3x + 3x ) 	0.7s
Warfan 	5x (2.5x + 2.5x ) 	5x 	0.5s
Whip 	4.5x 	4.5x 	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 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====
Weapons have varying Wind-up times between activating a heavy attack and the actual attack being performed. For example, has a wind-up time of 0.6s, meaning the actual heavy attack will be performed 0.6s after tapping the . 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.
AmalgamOrganShatterMod.png|link=Amalgam Organ Shatter|
KillingBlowMod.png|link=Killing Blow|
MeleeElementalistMod.png|link=Melee Elementalist|
SwiftMomentumMod.png|link=Swift Momentum|
====Tennokai====
Certain mods have the ability to invoke Tennokai. With Tennokai enabled, melee hits have a 15% chance of flashing a sword icon resembling the on the reticle for 2 seconds; performing a Heavy Attack or Heavy Slam 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 's , and 's cannot proc Tennokai. Despite being able to equip the mods, 's 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.
The first Tennokai Mod is awarded from the Whispers in the Walls quest. The other Tennokai Mods are awarded from Rotation C of Alchemy missions or purchasing the Essential Tennokai Mod Bundle from the Market for ; the bundle only appears after installing the Melee Upgrade Segment obtained from the Whispers in the Walls quest.
Mentor'sLegacyMod.png|link=Mentor's Legacy|
Condition'sPerfectionMod.png|link=Condition's Perfection|
Discipline'sMeritMod.png|link=Discipline's Merit|
Dreamer'sWrathMod.png|link=Dreamer's Wrath|
Master'sEdgeMod.png|link=Master's Edge|
Opportunity'sReachMod.png|link=Opportunity's Reach|
==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 , , , or 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.
 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==
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.Glen's Ask Me [Almost] Anything [Again] The Sweep Radius of most melees is 0.25 meters.
Range can be increased by () , , , and some Riven Mods.
ParacesisUnmoddedReachHitbox.jpg|Unmodded 
ParacesisUnmoddedReachHitboxSide.jpg|Unmodded 
ParacesisModdedReachHitbox.jpg| with 
ParacesisModdedReachHitboxSide.jpg| with 
==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:
:
Where n is the order of when an enemy is hit, and FT is the amount of follow-through for the weapon. 
For example, 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 of the total damage, the second to be hit (n = 2) will be dealt of the total damage, and the third (n = 3) will be dealt 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}
= \frac{1 - \text{Follow Through}^n}{1 - \text{Follow Through}}
For example, against a group of 3 enemes, the Skana would deal 1 + 0.6 + 0.36 = 1.96 = 196% of the base damage in total, which can be calculated with the closed-form formula as \frac{1 - \text{Follow Through}^n}{1 - \text{Follow Through}} = \frac{1 - 0.6^3}{1 - 0.6} = \frac{1 - 0.216}{1 - 0.6} = \frac{0.784}{0.4} = 1.96. 
In general, as the number of enemies grows (i.e. n approaches \infty), the damage approaches \infty if the follow through is one; otherwise, the \text{Follow Through}^n term approaches zero and therefore the damage approaches \frac{1}{1 - \text{Follow Through}}. For example, against theoretically infinite enemies, the Skana's damage would approach an upper bound of \frac{1}{1 - 0.6} = 1 \div \frac{2}{5} = \frac{5}{2} = 2.5times the base damage (250%). 
Follow-Through	Number of Enemies Hit	Number of Enemies Hit	Number of Enemies Hit	Number of Enemies Hit	Number of Enemies Hit	Number of Enemies Hit
Follow-Through	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)
Follow-through was added in , but was only shown in the Arsenal since .
Weapon Class 	Typical Follow-through
Hammer 	0.4
Heavy Scythe 	0.4
Blade and Whip 	0.5
Dual Swords 	0.5
Gunblade 	0.5
Nunchaku 	0.5
Staff 	0.5
Whip 	0.5
Dual Nikanas 	0.6
Heavy Blade 	0.6
Polearm 	0.6
Scythe 	0.6
Sword 	0.6
Sword and Shield 	0.6
Tonfa 	0.6
Glaive 	0.7
Machete 	0.7
Nikana 	0.7
Rapier 	0.7
Two-Handed Nikana	0.7
Warfan 	0.7
Claws 	0.8
Dual Daggers 	0.8
Dagger 	0.9
Fist 	0.9
Sparring 	0.9
Assault Saw 	1.0
Exalted Weapon 	1.0
===Exceptions===
* / have a native value of 0.6, but this reverts to category default 0.4 when a stance mod is used.
*/ and have a value 0.7 instead of the category default 1.0.
*/ with Magistar Incarnon Genesis Evolution II, Perk 1 (Crushing Verdict) increases their value to 0.8 with a Channeled Ability active.
* with Nami Solo Incarnon Genesis Evolution III, Perk 1 (Lone Blade) can increase its value to 1.0, as long as the weapon is in exclusive Melee Mode
* will increase its value to 1.0 for 10 attacks after 10 kills.
==Finishers==
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 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.
==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==
de:Nahkampf 2.0
es:Cuerpo a cuerpo
fr:Mêlée
Category:Mechanics
Category:Update 13
Category:Melee 2.0
Category:Outline Pages