Fortnite is no stranger to melee weapons. While pickaxes serve to harvest materials, they can also be used as weapons. Pickaxes can also be skinned to look like almost any weapon Epic can imagine, either single or dual-wielded.
There have even been special melee weapons available for players to pick up and use in the past, each with their own special stats.
Fortnite really needs a melee class weapon available throughout each season, not just special occasions like movie or game tie-ins. Players got a taste of this in Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 8 with the Sideways Scythe, and hopefully they will get to see more in Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 1.
LATEST NEWS
December 7, 2021 -
There are no signs of melee weapons in Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 1. The Sideways Scythe is gone, as expected, and there has been no word of future melee weapons at all.
A History of Fortnite Melee Weapons
Fornite has had five different melee weapons throughout its multi-year history.
Of these five, only one remains in everyday play (Creative excluded.)
The Fortnite Harvesting Tool
Fortnite's pickaxe has been available since the game's conception, with every player being equipped with it at the start of every game.
Players cannot drop their pickaxe, and the pickaxe is used to harvest materials and damage other characters.
It is Common rarity, which makes sense, and has the current following stats:
- DPS: 20
- Damage: 20
- Fire Rate: 1
The pickaxe is as basic as any Fortnite player gets and can be skinned with many different cosmetic items made available by Epic Games.
Damage to structures and characters have changed throughout time, though have remained the same since Fortnite Chapter 1, Season 6.
Fortnite Weekly Challenges often require players to deal damage or even eliminate other players, with the pickaxe.
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The Infinity Blade
The Infinity Blade was the first real, equipable, melee weapon in Fortnite and a throwback to Epic's mobile games of the same name.
In Fortnite Chapter 1, Season 7, and Season X, the Infinity Blade caused players to drop whatever else they were holding when it was found and equipped.
This meant that players did not just drop their weapons but materials and traps as well.
When a player was Knocked, they dropped the Infinity Blade, with the item creating a large blue beacon into the sky to denote where it lay.
The Infinity Blade gave es the wielder the following benefits:
- 200 HP and 200 Shields
- 1 Effective Health gained per second
- 50 Effective Health gained upon eliminating an opponent
- 130% Movement Speed
- 600 Structure Damage
It had the following stats:
- DPS: 112.5
- Damage: 75 (swing), 25 (jump)
- Fire Rate: 1.5
While players had to sacrifice a lot to wield the Infinity Blade, the weapon was severely overpowered.
If the weapon were to make a return to standard play, it would need some real tweaking.
The Infinity Blade was considered Legendary rarity.
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Lightsabers
Available during Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 1, Lightsabers arrived with a Star Wars collaboration.
There were four different lightsabers available for use: Kylo Ren's, Rey's, Luke's, and Mace Windu's.
Players could use lightsabers to attack other players or to deflect shots.
Consecutive swings with each saber determined damage.
The stats for all four sabers were identical:
- DPS: 25, 45, 150
- Damage: 25, 45, 150
- Fire Rate: 1
Players could Aim Down Sights with a lightsaber to block up to 30 shots.
This feature then had a three-second cooldown.
Unlike the Infinity Blade, lightsabers were a bit more balanced in terms of gameplay.
Lightsabers were considered of Mythic rarity.
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The Kingsman
The Kingsman was available in Fortnite during Chapter 2, Season 2, in collaboration with Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Similar to lightsabers, it could be used as a melee weapon or to block incoming attacks.
It could also be used as a glider, though only for a limited amount of time.
The Kingsman had the following stats:
- DPS: 50-100 (swing), 75 (charge)
- Damage: 50/55/60/100 (swing), 75 (charge)
- Fire Rate: 1
In addition, The Kingsman did between 75-1000 damage to structures depending on how it was used.
The Kingsman deflected all damage from a particular angle but left players vulnerable from all other angles.
The Kingsman was considered Legendary rarity.
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The Amban Sniper Rifle
A Mythic weapon available during Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 5, the Amban Sniper Rifle was a collaboration weapon with Disney+'s The Mandalorian.
The interesting part about this sniper rifle is that it functioned as both a sniper rifle and melee weapon with the following stats:
SNIPER
- DPS: 55
- Damage: 110
- Magazine Size: 1
- Reload Time: 2.4 Sec
MELEE
- DPS: 45
- Damage: 45
- Fire Rate: 1
While not quite as powerful as previous melee weapons, the Amban Sniper Rifle offered snipers a valid defense against opponents who got too close.
The idea of combining a long-range weapon with a melee weapon is something Fortnite should delve into a bit more in the future.
The Sideways Scythe
The Sideways Scythe arrived in Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 8 as a powerful and effective melee weapon. Available in every rarity, players could regain health by eliminating opponents with the weapon.
The Sideways Scythe is a glimpse of what the future of Fortnite with melee weapons could be like.
Here are its stats:
- DPS: 80-94
- Damage: 40-47
- Fire Rate: 2
Fortnite Needs Melee Weapons
Why does a shooter like Fortnite even need melee weapons?
It is the building aspect of Fortnite that makes melee weapons viable.
Close quarters combat could be made even more exciting and fast-paced with the addition of some solid melee weapons.
Give us swords, axes, batons, spears, whips, tasers, and more.
Allow players to snag melee weapons of different rarities and uses to supplement medium-to-long-range firefights.
Imagine a box fight with melee weapons.
Imagine areas similar to the boxing ring in Apex Legends where firearms are disabled, and players have to rely on melee attacks to survive.
Fortnite needs more than a few overpowered weapons used to advertise a movie or game.
Fortnite needs a selection of different melee weapons to add more depth and strategy to every match.
Custom pickaxes are cool when it comes to how a player character looks, but actual weapons where the look of them correlates to how they are actually used and how much damage they deal would be an amazing addition to the game.
Craftable Melee Weapons
To take the idea even further, Fortnite could utilize the current crafting mechanisms to make melee weapons even more interesting and viable.
Imagine rusty weapons being upgraded to weapons worth fearing, or combining certain guns and melee weapons to create combination weapons similar to the Mandolorian's Amban Sniper Rifle.
The possibilities are endless, and Fortnite would be a much richer game with the addition of melee weapons.
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