With a love for Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, Waleed has dedicated more than 100 hours to Fallout 4, so you can easily trust his information related to the game.
Fallout 4 offers players dozens of weapons – both melee and ranged. Fans of stealth gameplay and close combat will want to try out the various melee weapons offered in the game. This is why today’s guide will focus on the Best Melee Weapon Fallout 4.
This list also includes weapons from the DLCs since they are quite effective as well. All of the mentioned melee weapons are the best in Fallout 4 and superior when compared to other options. Whether you are a fan of melee weapons or not, I recommend that you give these a try and you’ll surely like them.
Key Takeaways
Our Picks For Best Fallout 4 Melee Weapons:
- Super Sledgehammer will slay any foes in your way for 40 damage and 45 AP cost.
- Heavy Pipe Wrench is equipped with a blunt edge and increases your attack speed and damage output.
- Chinese Officer Sword is the most powerful medium attack speed weapon.
- Shem Drowne Sword is mostly useful against human-type enemies and will kill them quickly.
- Power Fist can’t be utilized while wearing power armor and has a modest attack speed.
- Grognak’s Axe deals tremendous damage at the cost of low AP.
- With Ripper’s quick attack speed, you can easily slice through any obstacle in your path.
- Rocket Bat is a mediocre weapon mod, you may also add it to other bat variations, like Fence Buster.
- Kremvh’s Tooth is the most effective weapon in the original. Along with dealing a lot of damage, it also allows foes to become poisoned.
- The Pickman’s Blade has the most strength. Compared to most melee weapons, it excels.
- Shishkebab is frequently favored by most players and is regarded as the most robust blade in Fallout 4.
Best Fallout 4 Melee Weapons Comparison
Here is a comparison table of my best Melee Weapons in Fallout 4. Each stat can be sorted to view the highest and lowest values, which has been done for your convenience:
No. Weapons Type Damage Speed Range AP Cost Value Weight
1 Super Sledge Melee 40 Slow 0.8 45 180 20
2 Heavy Pipe Wrench Melee 13 Medium 0.8 35 30 2
3 Chinese Officer Sword Melee 16 Medium 0 35 50 3
4 Shem Drowne Sword Unique Melee 25 Medium 0 35 250 3
5 Puncturing Power Fist Unarmed 20 Medium - 35 100 4
6 Grognak’s Axe Unique Melee 25 Medium 0.8 20 100 10
7 Ripper Melee 4 Very Fast 0.8 40 50 6
8 Shishkebab Melee 26 Medium 0.8 35 200 3
9 Kremvh’s Tooth Unique Melee 31 Medium - 30 50 2
There are many advantages of using melee weapons especially if you are conserving ammo. While they lack the conventional range of guns, these types of weapons deal tons of damage. This list will also include the various variants of melee weapons that are considered top-tier. Just like the Best Heavy Weapons, this guide will include the 10 best melee weapons in Fallout 4.
Super Sledge
Best Early Game Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Melee |
| Damage | 40 |
| Speed | Slow |
| Range | 0.8 |
| AP Cost | 45 |
| Value | 180 |
| Weight | 20 |
Why did I Choose Super Sledge?
Super Sledge is one of the most powerful melee weapons to clear the early game phase of Fallout 4.
The Super Sledge in Fallout 4 is an early-game powerhouse with a damage of 40 and an AP cost of 45. It’s a formidable weapon, but its variant, the Atom’s Judgement, stands out even more. You can obtain Atom’s Judgement during a quest for the Children of Atom faction. It deals radiation damage, making it effective against various enemy types, especially raiders.
However, Atom’s Judgement has its drawbacks. It’s heavy, which can be mitigated with lightweight armor, but its slow attack speed remains a concern. It’s an excellent choice for a brute build, but for this guide, we’re focusing on base versions, where the Super Sledge is a decent weapon but not the top pick.
Heavy Pipe Wrench
Best Medium Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Melee |
| Damage | 13 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | 0.8 |
| AP Cost | 35 |
| Value | 30 |
| Weight | 2 |
Why did I Choose Heavy Pipe Wrench?
The Heavy Pipe Wrench comes with a slow swing, so I prefer to use it against smaller enemies.
The Heavy Pipe Wrench in Fallout 4 is a formidable blunt weapon, ideal for dispatching smaller enemies effortlessly. It can be further enhanced with mods to add an armor penetration stat, making it effective against armored foes.
A unique variant, the Big Jim, is worth keeping an eye out for. You can find it early, at the Walden Pond drainage pipe within the first hour of gameplay. Big Jim comes with the kneecapper effect, which is useful against a wide range of enemies.
While it has a medium attack speed due to its heavy nature, it’s still a significant improvement over the Super Sledge. With the Pipe Wrench, you can deal more damage and enjoy a better attack speed.
Chinese Officer Sword
Best Melee Weapon For Stealth
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Melee |
| Damage | 16 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | 0- |
| AP Cost | 35 |
| Value | 50 |
| Weight | 3 |
Why did I Choose Chinese Officer Sword?
As cool as it looks, Chinese Officer Sword comes with medium attack speed, but gives exceptional damage to your opponents.
The Heavy Pipe Wrench in Fallout 4 is a formidable blunt weapon, ideal for dispatching smaller enemies effortlessly. It can be further enhanced with mods to add an armor penetration stat, making it effective against armored foes.
A unique variant, the Big Jim, is worth keeping an eye out for. You can find it early, at the Walden Pond drainage pipe within the first hour of gameplay. Big Jim comes with the kneecapper effect, which is useful against a wide range of enemies.
While it has a medium attack speed due to its heavy nature, it’s still a significant improvement over the Super Sledge. With the Pipe Wrench, you can deal more damage and enjoy a better attack speed.
Shem Drowne Sword
Best Melee Weapon For Power Armor
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Unique Melee |
| Damage | 25 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | 0- |
| AP Cost | 35 |
| Value | 250 |
| Weight | 3 |
Why did I Choose Shem Drowne Sword?
Shem Drowne Sword comes with mediocre base damage but radiation damage adds to it, making it very powerful against difficult bosses.
During the Gilded Grasshopper quest, you can find this sword in the grave of Shem Drowne’s. It has a base damage of 16 with additional radiation damage of 5. This makes this sword extremely good as it is one of the rare melee weapons that deal radiation damage.
It has a weight of only 3 which is quite helpful since you can carry other heavy weapons alongside this without being over-encumbered. What makes this sword unique is that it applies radiation damage from two sources. One is when you initially attack and the other is damage over time. This is mostly useful against human-type enemies and will kill them quickly.
Adding weapon mods will allow you to enhance the sword by adding electric attacks as well. Not only that, but you can also add a stun pack that – as the name states – will stun enemies when hit. Having these mods are essential because they can make your life easier and make this weapon a must-have in your arsenal.
Puncturing Power Fist
Best Unarmed Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Unarmed |
| Damage | 20 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | - |
| AP Cost | 35 |
| Value | 100 |
| Weight | 4 |
Why did I Choose Puncturing Power Fist?
It is the best unarmed melee weapon in fallout 4 which offers Passive damage increase.
From the perspective of Fallout 4, this weapon is considered an unarmed one. Although, for my purpose, this is an amazing melee weapon that can save most players from unfortunate situations. Just like other unarmed weapons, the Power Fist has an attack speed of medium and cannot be used if the player is using power armor.
Out of all other unarmed melee weapons, the Puncturing Power Fist is the best choice as it deals an insane amount of damage that is useful against armored enemies. Its variant – the Furious Power Fist – is one of my favorite weapons in Fallout 4.
Thanks to its passive, the more successful hits you land, the more damage you’ll deal. According to this; in theory, the power fist can eventually deal more damage than any other melee weapon in the game. The main reason why this is ranked at this number is due to the inability to equip the Power Fist with power armor. This greatly reduces its effectiveness, especially in survival mode.
Grognak’s Axe
Best One Shot Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Unique Melee |
| Damage | 25 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | 0.8 |
| AP Cost | 20 |
| Value | 100 |
| Weight | 10 |
Why did I Choose Grognak’s Axe?
Grognak’s Axe is a rare find, as its the only Axe in fallout 4 and it is suitable for getting rid of a bunch of enemies.
Moving on to the first and only axe in Fallout 4, the Grognak’s Axe is an excellent weapon that is deserving of a spot on this list. Having an attack speed of medium, this axe deals tremendous damage at the cost of low AP. Using this weapon on enemies will allow you to not only deal damage but stagger them as well.
This effect is especially useful when fighting against tons of enemies as it gives you ample space to move around and avoid getting grouped on. To get this, you must go inside Hubris Comics and lockpick a display case. Keep in mind that the case is difficult to open and might take a few tries.
Ripper
Highest Damage Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Melee |
| Damage | 4 |
| Speed | Very fast |
| Range | 0.8 |
| AP Cost | 40 |
| Value | 50 |
| Weight | 6 |
Why did I Choose Ripper?
The upgraded version of Ripper can get rid of enemies in a very short time span, making it very effective.
Ripper is an extremely unique weapon that not only looks cool but also gets the job done easily. While the base damage output is fairly low, you can add bleed damage once upgrading the weapon to an Extended Ripper. Doing so will not only add bleed but will increase the overall DPS as well.
Not only that, but the Ripper also has a swift attack speed that allows you to slice through anything that stands in your way. Combined with its damage, you will kill any type of enemy within seconds. The Far Harbor DLC introduced a legendary variant called Harvester. If you think the Ripper was good before, the Harvester takes it to a whole new level. You now have a chance to stagger enemies which is a massive benefit.
Rocket Bat
Best Melee Weapon For Zombies
Why did I Choose Rocket Bat?
To penetrate through enemy armor, Rocket Bat is a suitable option as it will stagger opponents as well.
You can get the baseball bat quite early on in Fallout 4 and it can get you through the start of the game without any problems. However, the Nuka-World DLC gave players the option to convert their baseball bat to a rocket bat. When you look at base damage only, this isn’t the best weapon for that.
Apart from raw damage, you should carry this solely for armor penetration. Thanks to the added spikes, your attacks hit like a train. Plus, you can even stagger opponents which is always a welcomed addition. Since it is a simple weapon mod, you can add this to other variants of the bat as well such as Fence Buster. Having these upgraded is a must-have for this weapon otherwise you won’t be able to maximize your damage output.
Shishkebab
Most Powerful Melee Weapon
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Melee |
| Damage | 26 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | 0.8 |
| AP Cost | 35 |
| Value | 200 |
| Weight | 3 |
Why did I Choose Shishkebab?
Other than having a cool look, Shishkebab will deal additional energy damage, making it one of the strongest swords in Fallout 4.
Often preferred by most players, the Shishkebab is considered to be the most powerful sword present in Fallout 4. Located at the Saugus Ironworks, you are guaranteed to get a weapon that helps you even in the end game. It deals 13 base damage but adds another 13-energy damage on top of it.
Being a sword, this weapon has medium attack speed but it somehow feels faster than other medium weapons. When this sword is equipped, you will see steam coming out from it, giving it a unique and cool look. On top of that, when you swing it, the sword will get flaming red and emit fire from its nozzles.
Kremvh’s Tooth
Best Melee Weapon For Poison Damage
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Unique Melee |
| Damage | 31 |
| Speed | Medium |
| Range | - |
| AP Cost | 30 |
| Value | 50 |
| Weight | 2 |
Why did I Choose Kremvh’s Tooth?
Apart from having enhanced base damage, Kremvh’s Tooth will deal poison damage to enemies as well.
The Kremvh’s Tooth deals an insane amount of base damage plus the added poison damage as well. Since it is a strong and unique weapon, it is quite difficult to get. You will have to complete the Dunwich Borers dungeon and find it in the last room of the area.
If you decide to mod this weapon, you’ll add the bleed damage on top of other effects currently present. It also gives a massive damage boost which can one-shot most things in Fallout 4. However, once you mod it, you will not be able to remove the mod to apply on other machetes.
FAQs
The Kremvh’s Tooth is easily the best weapon in the base version. It not only deals great amounts of damage but also adds poison effects on enemies. Plus, if you use VATS, you will be able to kill a bunch of foes in one go. Even without any mods, Kremvh’s Tooth is extremely viable in all situations.
While the Atom’s Judgement is an extremely strong weapon, it was not included because this list focuses on base versions of the weapons. Otherwise, Atom’s Judgement is super strong and I recommend everyone to try it out. You can easily one-shot enemies and even take out a bunch of them if you get surrounded.
I would have to say that the strongest knife in Fallout 4 is the Pickman’s Blade. It has an insane amount of bleed damage that can be further upgraded to destroy anything standing in your way. The DPS of this weapon is extremely superb and it is superior to most melee weapons.
Why Other Melee Weapons Weren’t Chosen?
- Assaultron Blade: Although it is a potential melee weapon, it comes with no modifications and has complex control scheme, which I will not prefer.
- General Chao’s Revenge: This melee weapon comes with limited availability and has low base damage, which does not make it a strong weapon for your use.
- The Harvestor: It uses a lot of limited resources, such as Action Points. Further, it has slow swing speed so it is not preferred against fast-hitting opponents.
- Baton: This melee weapon does not have any special effects and it is not preferred for stealth due to noise.
- Lead Pipe: It is a very common melee weapon and there are better alternatives available to it, such as Ripper or Shishkebab.
My Opinion On The Best Melee Weapons
Whenever I want to choose a melee weapon for my build, I focus on its base damage, swing speed, and weight. Additional attributes to look at can be modification and customization. Considering all the mentioned factors, I short listed 10 melee weapons that can be proved to be the best in combat against difficult enemies. Hence, I advise you to try all 10 in your game play and decide which one fits to your playing style.
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I’m an avid gamer turned content writer, my hobbies include but are not limited to different forms of content creation. Not a complicated person, I play games and write about them. Currently attending university for Data Sciences. My favorite past-time is trying to different challange runs of Soulsborne and Souls-like games in the goofiest way possible for my own amusement. You can check my Gaming Profile on Steam And Xbox!
