Despite being helmed by Sony Bend, one of PlayStation’s oldest and most prominent first-party studios, third-person zombie-apocalypse actioner Days Gone wasn’t expected to be a hit. After a seven-year development cycle, Sony allowed review codes to go out with the game in a buggy, messy state. Early reviews were hardly inspiring and likely hurt early sales of the game. Bend’s Day One patch fixed many of the issues reviewers had reported, such that those who played the game at release found a much different experience. This can be seen in the widely varying Metacritic scores the game received.
The game the public eventually received is now seen as a very good action game with a middle-of-the-road story and some interesting mechanics. The “Freaker” hordes are the game’s most popular feature, but many feel they were under-used, only showing up in the latter half of the adventure. One thing most agree upon though is the quality of the arsenal at the player’s disposal. Guns, thrown objects, and the ever-popular “use what’s at hand” style of melee weapons are all put to good use. Players would do well to keep this pecking order in mind when searching the game world for their implements of choice.
11 Most Important Skills For Melee Combat
Days Gone has a skill system that allows players to acquire new abilities with skill points garnered from levelling up the main character, Deacon. For players wanting to focus on melee combat, there are three skills in particular that will make for the most successful run through post-apocalyptic Oregon.
The most important of these is Field Repair, which allows the player to use scrap metal found throughout the game world to repair the oft-brittle weapons. The Home Run and Hard Hitter skills both increase the amount of damage that melee attacks cause, so acquiring all three of these melee-centric skills will really put the hurt to the Freakers.
10 Pickaxe
As non-crafted weapons that can be found early in the game, this one isn’t bad. They aren’t difficult to find, as they are in seemingly every horde cave and can be found lying around randomly as well. Being a bladed weapon, they are better than blunt options like the stool leg. Better than fists, and easily replaceable when it inevitably breaks.
9 Fire Axe
Axes are the top-level melee weapons in the game, so that’s a good reason to grab this straight-away when Deacon’s adventure begins. Though it doesn’t do a ton of damage and breaks relatively quickly, the weapon is easy to find and replace. Stuck to the side of nearly every fire truck in the Oregonian countryside, this is likely the first melee weapon to be accessible to players, and thus there are worse ways to start.
8 Ripper Blade
Crafted weapons naturally have an advantage over non-crafted ones in Days Gone, as there is an additional means of destruction grafted onto the basic weapon. In the case of the Ripper Blade, the marriage of a Stool Leg and a Saw Blade makes this a good early weapon. Remember that using scrap, and thus crafting, requires picking up the Field Repair skill, so be sure to do that as soon as possible.
7 Spiked Bat
One of the best weapons that is easily craftable early in the game, the spiked bat can hold its own even into the mid-game. Bats are plentiful and needing only a box of nails and some scrap, its easy to turn the Louisville Slugger into the pointy stick of death.
Find this one after clearing out the ambush camp in the “Chasing Leon” mission, where the plan is one of the mission rewards and all the supplies needed to craft it are inside the room at the camp where the storyline advances.
6 Lawn Mower Machete
This will be the first machete-type weapon the player will come across, and it is extremely useful for the time it is found. In the “Chasing Leon” mission, when clearing out the ambush camp, the machete is stuck into a crate in one of the outbuildings of the camp. It doesn’t do a ton of damage but has medium durability, and can take out a regular enemy in 3-4 hits.
5 Superior Club
Clubs lose out to axes and other bladed weapons in the world of Days Gone, but this is the best of the group. A crafted weapon, this is a baseball bat with several metal gears attached at the top; it hits hard but is very slow to swing.
This one may be the most useful in a scenario like clearing out freaker nests, where the majority die when the nest is burned and there are just a few stragglers to clean up in the aftermath.
4 Baseball Bat Axe
The best craftable axe weapon, the baseball bat axe is exactly what it sounds like, a wooden bat with a saw blade lashed to it. This will be a one-hit kill on many enemies in the game, but it won’t be craftable until some work has been put in. All ambush camps must be cleared before this one is available, but it’s the absolute finest melee weapon the player can craft for themselves.
3 Machete
For a weapon this good, it is surprisingly easy to find, and in such an early part of the game. In the “He’s My Brother” mission, the machete is inside the red truck on the side of the road at the Nero Checkpoint. This is a traditional machete, with a genuine handle and a long narrow blade. It makes short work of most enemies, even freakers, but it is prone to damage. Keep a lot of scrap on hand to maintain it in tip-top condition, but the damage it does makes the upkeep worth it.
2 Superior Mace
The two best weapons in the game can’t be crafted, they must be found in the world. The Superior Mace is one of those, and it is a beast of durability. A single strike takes only 3% of the durability, meaning it can handle 30 swings before it needs repair. It will take down nearly all enemies with just 1-2 swings, but it is a tad slow in making a full swing, so it may not be the best weapon for tight quarters. Look for it in the Crater Lake area.
1 Superior Metal Axe
There is absolutely no argument among players about which is the best melee weapon available to players. This weapon is maxed out for durability and damage and requires relatively little scrap to be repaired. They say that greatness requires few words, and so it is with the Superior Metal Axe. This one checks all the boxes, so there’s no reason not to look for it in the Crater Lake Area.
NEXT: 10 Post-Apocalyptic Open-World Games To Play If You Like Days Gone
