Question: does the challenge system consider energy sword kills melee kills?
I just got like 10+ kills with an energy sword in rumble pit and none of the counted towards the ultimate challenge. Pretty disappointed that i didnt make any progress on the challenge
No - I believe its just a “power weapon” kill (someone can correct me if i’m wrong)
Ugh that doesnt make any sense. It should also be a melee kill
I may be wrong, but I think even back smacks don’t count (they have their own challenge). Either way, Sword, Hammer, and all kills by punching should count for the challenge.
I’m $20 sure back smacks count but sword/hammers do not.
Well, ninjas don’t count for the “melee from behind” challenges, soo…
I just had a backsmack challenge and a melee challenege and I’m pretty sure they counted for both.
I could be wrong. I’ll check next week.
nope. Sword and Hammer kills both count as kills with that weapon/power weapon kills. Now, a hammer’s secondary melee is a melee and it has the benefit of doing extra damage
Yea, I wasn’t sure. Good to know. I have passed on a guaranteed back smack, to get a melee kill.
Disclaimer: I’m not 100% sure this works.
The Sword has to types of swings:
Try killing people with the melee swing instead. Probably applies to the hammer also.
In my personal experience, Ninjas don’t count as backsmacks . The reason for this is because I think the challenge system is directly connected to medals. So the game is looking X medal when evaluating your challenges. All forms of melee kills ( 
) all count toward melees. A standard melee no longer has a medal and is instead tracked on the postgame report.
tl;dr: spaghetti code
Nope. They are not. It is very annoying.
Off topic, but FYI, if you watch the HCS tournament on Twitch, on Saturday, you can earn a Blue and White armor coating. Hope this helpful.
Oh, thanks. But it’s more of a white and blue. A bit flat too. Cool and I will get it but eh.
I really appreciate the shout-out though, thank you!!
No but inconsistently yes.
I had a challenge for melee kills and went into a Ninja Slayer game. Out of the 20+ kills I got with the sword 4 of them strangely counted towards the challenge and I’m not sure why. Unlike what some people have suggested this is not a result of you using the melee button. My only guess would be bull truces but I haven’t tested that 
Sword and Hammer should both be counting towards melee kills as they smack opponents to slay them.
Double check your ultimate challenge and ensure it’s the right playlist or game type/mode.
Good luck, fellow Spartan.
Same thing happened to me. It must happen after you and your opponent parry a few times.