*Melee damage has been reduced by 10% in both multiplayer and campaign.
- In multiplayer, this change to melee damage makes the Mangler a 2-shot beatdown rather than a 1-shot beatdown.
Nerfing melee across the entire game in order to balance one gun was a bad idea, on top of that many players I know and have talked with share the sentiment that the mangler just needed to be spawned less or in different locations. Was it not possible to nerf only the manglers melee damage?
In Ranked multiplayer only, the Battle Rifle has increased melee damage.*
* This change was made to preserve the Battle Rifle’s two-burst beatdown after the global melee reduction.
This further drives home the question of why the balance change was implemented this way. If the BR was able to get a melee buff for a specific playlist then why was melee across the rest of the game changed? If the mangler was bad for ranked then why not remove the gun from those playlists? I believe 343 should reconsider this balance change. How do you guys feel about the change? Any thoughts on a better solution?
4 Likes
The melee itself was a bit too strong in general, so they hit two birds with one stone on this one.
However, I believe the BR melee increase should be on social aswell. The changes with ranked and social should be settings and starting weapons. Not actual game mechanics.
2 Likes
To be fair brute weapons were supposed to do more melee damage than regular weapons.
3 Likes
Don’t really find the mangler worth picking up now because of the nerf over just using other weapons. Now, it really only gets use if I have a weapon that has no ammo and that’s it.
There’s just better options out there then it now.
3 Likes
Does it now take longer to “recover” from using a Mangler melee attack? Seems like the opponent is quicker to fire off a shot after I melee them… or maybe it’s just me 
1 Like
I personally miss the 1 shot melee and think that should’ve never left. Most of all tho, the BR should be a 2 shot melee in all modes (ranked & social). Lastly, I think this change was basically like using a wrecking ball to swat a fly. It also affected the bulldog and heatwave as well as just about every other weapon.
They also made a change which effects melee trades:
- ie.“Other changes to melee will also result in the following improvements for multiplayer: “Traded” melee kills will occur more often now than in Season 1.”
A problem this change has introduced is now, every time I get into a melee fight with someone, if I melee them first and win the fight, I still sometimes die if they melee after. Where basically my melee lands and maybe half a second after theirs does and I still die. This might not be a new bug but rather exacerbates problems already existing with desync. In the end, this greatly hurts the viability of melees.
All these changes are really a shame, personally I felt the balancing in these areas was perfect before.
3 Likes