Best Melee Weapons in The Finals Ranked

Here are all melee weapons in The Finals ranked from best to worst

Of the 21 weapons available in The Finals across all loadouts, only 4 are melees. Therefore, in a game heavily dominated by rifles and shotguns, you must be clever with melees to land kills.

Each class in The Finals has at least one melee weapon. They are all different from one another in terms of playstyle, damage and speed. This guide will rank all melee weapons in The Finals based on which ones dominate in the current 1.5.1 patch.

Melee Weapons in The Finals Ranked: Best to Worst

Based on the current meta of the game in patch 1.5.1, the following is the ranking for all melee weapons available in The Finals:

Sword

Build: Light

Damage: 74

Alt-Fire Damage: 140

With the high movement speed of the Light Class, the Sword is an incredible weapon in close-quarter engagements. Light players using the Evasive Dash get the most out of the Sword, as they can quickly get in and out of fights, allowing them to dodge enemy bullets and break their crossfire.

The Sword is the fastest melee in the game and has a better range than the baton or the Dagger. Therefore, you can quickly appear out of nowhere, kill a player and then leave to prepare for your next surprise hit. Quickly moving left and right while stabbing an enemy with the Sword allows you to stay alive against enemies with rifles or other long-range weapons.

Combining Quick Melee with the Sword’s attacks lets you defeat your foes quickly. Here are some of the best combinations to use:

1 Alt Fire → Quick Melee = 188 Damage (For killing Light Classes)
1 Alt Fire → 1 Primary Fire → Quick Melee = 254 Damage (For killing Medium Classes)
2 Alt Fire → 1 Primary Fire = 354 Damage (For killing Heavy Classes)

Sledgehammer

Build: Heavy

Damage: 115

Alt-Fire Damage: 200

Destroying enemies as well as structures – the Sledgehammer is a melee that only makes sense in the hands of the Heavy players. It deals a great deal of damage: 115 on the primary fire and 200 on the secondary. Along with breaking the enemies’ bones, the Sledgehammer is also a great weapon to destroy the buildings of The Finals.

The Sledgehammer can be used alongside Quick Melee to counter the slow speed of the weapon. These are the most effective damage combinations of this weapon:

1 Primary Fire → Quick Melee = 155 Damage (For killing Light Classes)
2 Primary Fire → Quick Melee = 270 Damage (For killing Medium Classes)
1 Alt Fire → 1 Primary Fire → Quick Melee = 355 Damage (For killing Heavy Classes)

Thanks to the 325 health of the Heavy Class, it will take a while for the enemies to kill you while you are swinging your hammer. Moreover, you can also use the map to your advantage by making holes through the walls and floors of a building.

The downsides of this weapon are similar to other melees, as you can only use it in close quarters, and being seen from far away in the open will almost always get you killed without the use of shielding abilities or gadgets.

Dagger

Build: Light

Damage: 50

Alt-Fire Damage: 320 (Backstab)

The Dagger does 50 damage with the primary fire and a whopping 320 damage when you backstab enemies with the alt fire. As a result, this weapon can kill any Light or Medium player with a single blow from the back. While this high damage output might make you think that the Dagger is an overpowered weapon, it has several limitations, setting it back from being a good melee in The Finals.

One of the main issues with the Dagger is its slow speed despite only putting out 50 damage per stab. You can only win duels against Medium and Heavy players if you have incredible movement and your opponents don’t know how to aim. Therefore, the only viable option for using the Dagger is to backstab your enemies.

Backstabbing with the alt-fire has its own problems. These are:

It takes a while for the Light Class to perform a backstab after pressing the alt-fire
Backstabs can lock onto certain enemies, making it hard to perform when several opponents are nearby
Due to the locking of backstabs, your movement can be awkward sometimes, as it can propel you forward
Backstabbing during the “Dead Go Boom” event will likely bring your own demise, as dead players will deal explosion damage

Riot Shield

Build: Medium

Damage: 84

The Riot Shield proves itself to be highly useful only in specific scenarios. This melee comes with a bulletproof ballistic shield and a riot baton. Each hit with the baton deals 84 damage. The shield provides cover from bullets while leaving your arms and legs exposed. Therefore, even when having the shield up, you can still get shot in your legs and arms.

Similar to using all other melees, the Riot Shield is only applicable in close combat situations. Beyond that, there are a few more reasons why we think this is the weakest melee in the game. Firstly, having a shield on a Medium Build defeats the purpose of having agility as a Medium class. The Mesh Shield ability of the Heavy Build does a much better job, as it can provide cover for the entire squad.

Going back to Medium’s agility, having the riot shield up greatly reduces your movement speed. Therefore, other Medium and Light players can easily use movement to their advantage to kill you from behind.

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