Curious about what classifies as a melee weapon in Fortnite? Don't worry, we got you covered.
With the addition of Light Chakra quests in Fortnite as part of the Avatar Elements pass, players are trying to figure out the best way to hit opponents with melee weapons.
In this guide, we'll tell you what exactly is a melee weapon in Fortnite and all available melee weapons in the game, specifying which can be obtained as of patch 29.30 and which ones are vaulted.
Fortnite Melee Weapons Explained
As the name implies, a melee weapon in Fortnite is any sort of gear that can deal damage to opponents or structures and requires you to perform hand-to-hand combat, or similar, rather than spraying them with bullets.
If you're wondering about your pickaxe, yes, your harvesting tool does count as a melee weapon, albeit a very weak one and never recommended to use in combat.
All Fortnite Melee Weapons
Now that you know what classifies as a melee weapon in Fortnite, here is the full list updated as of April 2024.
- Pickaxe: Tool is designed to gather materials. It inflicts minimal damage to enemy players
- Infinity Blade: Mythic sword that deals high damage and gives an HP buff
- Sideways Scythe: Weapon with a leap, swing and dash attack.
- Lightsaber: Mythic weapon which can block damage. Variants include Obi-Wan, Luke's Blue, Luke's Green, Rey, Kylo Ren, Mace Windu, Sith Apprentice, Jedi Padawan, and Jedi Training
- Darth Vader's Lightsaber: Mythic weapon. Can block damage and hurt enemies. It's the only one that can be thrown
- Kingsman: Weapon which can block damage and allows temporary glider redeploy.
- Wolverine's Claws: Superpower that allows you to melee opponents and structures with single swipes, as well as dash forward mid-air
- She-Hulk's Fists: Repeatedly melee opponents and build up a combo, which increases the damage per hit. Has a built-in double-jump and slam.
- Amban Sniper Rifle: A sniper rifle with a melee attack
- Shockwave Hammer: A massive hammer that primarily functions as a traversal tool but can deal serious damage to enemies as well as knock them away from you
- Kinetic Blade: A powerful katana. It can do massive damage as you slice enemies, and push them back. Has three charged moves that allow you to move swiftly across the map
- Thorne's Vampiric Blade: A Mythic version of the Kinetic Blade
- ODM Gear: It can swing against surfaces and do damage to enemies as a result
- Grapple Blade: Used to traverse swiftly by grappling to different surfaces and swinging towards them. Can be used as a weapon with fast swipes that deal damage in a large area
- Donatello's Staff: Part of the TMNT Mythic weapon set. It can combo opponents, be used as a traversal tool, and has an area of effect slam attack
- Leonardo's Katana: Part of the TMNT Mythic weapon set. It can combo opponents, be used as a traversal tool, and has an area of effect slam attack
- Raphael's Sai: Part of the TMNT Mythic weapon set. It can combo opponents, be used as a traversal tool, and has an area of effect slam attack
- Michaelangelo's Nunchaku: Part of the TMNT Mythic weapon set. It can combo opponents, be used as a traversal tool, and has an area of effect slam attack
- Chains of Hades: Multipurpose tool used for attacking opponents and pulling items towards the user. They deal 55 damage in the first two attacks, 80 in the third, and have a secondary attack that deals 60 damage and pulls opponents and items. This includes players in cars and those with the Wings of Icarus. It can also pull items from Fishing Spots
At the time of writing, only the Chains of Hades are available. That will certainly change with the upcoming Star Wars collaboration.