Melee Weapons

Melee Weapons is a Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: New Vegas skill.

In Van Buren and J.E. Sawyer's Fallout Role-Playing Game, it is renamed to simply Melee.

It determines your combat effectiveness with all melee weapons.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics
Initial Level: Starting Melee is equal to 55% + (1% x the average of your Strength and Agility). Average characters will have a 60% skill.

In Fallout 2, you start out with only a Spear, making Melee Weapons a highly valuable skill from the beginning.

Fallout 3
As this skill increases, so does the damage inflicted with all of these weapons, both in and out of V.A.T.S. mode. The Melee Weapons skill also allows you to use a melee weapon to block an attack; the higher the skill, the more damage is absorbed.

In choosing a melee weapon, don't focus too heavily on which weapon has the highest damage. A fast weapon like a Combat Knife or Ripper can make more attacks in a given length of time than a heavy Sledgehammer, potentially generating more damage in a shorter amount of time. More attacks also means more chances to stagger an opponent so they can't attack back as quickly, reducing the damage you take. Shishkebab is generally considered the best melee weapon available as it has the highest base DPS, which is only improved further when combined with Pyromaniac. However, Jack can, depending on whether or not you have a high base critical chance and/or the Ninja/Better Criticals/Finesse perks deal an astounding amount of damage far superior to that of the Shishkebab in a damage-per-second sense. Jack is especially effective when performing a sneak attack critical hit, since these are known to instantly splatter most enemies.

Ways to increase Melee Weapons
Note: Only items granting temporary +5 or higher are listed.


 * Bobblehead - Melee Weapons (permanent +10)
 * Grognak the Barbarian (permanent +1 or +2 with Comprehension)
 * Little Leaguer (permanent +5 with each rank)
 * Tag! (permanent +15)
 * Ant nectar (temporary +2-8 depending on strength, a perfect strength of 10 will see no benefit)
 * Buffout & Alcohol (temporary +2-6 depending on strength, a perfect strength of 10 will see no benefit)
 * Vault 77 jumpsuit (temporary +5)
 * Tunnel snake outfit (temporary +5)
 * Takoma Park little leaguer cap (temporary +5)
 * Samurai Armor (temporary +10, +10 melee weapon damage, requires Mothership Zeta)
 * Tribal power armor (temporary +5, requires The Pitt)
 * Pint-Sized Slasher Mask (temporary +5, requires Point Lookout)

Melee Weapons-based Perks
Perks that improve damage:
 * Black Widow improves damage by 10% vs. male humans/ghouls.
 * Lady Killer improves damage by 10% vs. female humans/ghouls.
 * Entomologist improves damage by 50% vs. insects.
 * Robotics Expert improves damage by 25% vs. robots.
 * Bloody Mess improves damage by 5% against all targets.
 * Finesse increases the chance of getting a critical hit by 5%.
 * Better Criticals increases the damage of critical hits by 50%.
 * Ninja increases melee/unarmed critical hit chance by +15% and sneak attack critical damage by +25%.
 * Survival Expert increases the chance of a critical hit by 1, 2 or 3%.
 * Ghoul Ecology improves damage by +5 against ghouls (bugged and effects all targets).
 * Superior Defender improves damage by +5 when standing still.

Consumables that improve damage:
 * Yao Guai meat improves damage by 10%.
 * Psycho improves damage by 25%.

Fallout 3 Melee Weapons

 * Damage calculated under Pyromaniac (1 Rank)

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