User:Hordes/Melee Comparison

Page designed to hash things out. Probably not a separate page, probably belongs in Weapon Guide?

Craftable

There are 4 "viable" melee weapons that you can craft in RimWorld. In order of highest raw DPS to lowest:

• Longswords are the best (craftable) weapon against unarmored and lightly armored targets.
• Spears are somewhat worse than longswords, but have a much higher AP.
• Maces are special for being Blunt weapons. Most enemies have very little blunt armor, and Blunt damage has a few other special mechanics. The mace is also the cheapest of the 4 weapons.
• Warhammers are also Blunt weapons. The warhammer swings slower than the mace, but is stronger per-hit.

But ranking weapons isn't as simple as ranking DPS. There are many mechanics, even beyond armor and AP, that make determining the "best" weapon difficult.

Longsword

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• Raw DPS: 10.71 (plasteel, normal)
• AP of "Best" attack: 37.4% (plasteel, normal)
• Damage types for "Best" attack: Stab (50%) or Cut (50%)

Notable mechanics:

• Cut damage has a chance to "cleave". When a Cut damage hits an enemy, there is a chance to "cleave" an enemy. This increases total damage by 140%, then spreads it throughout body parts. This makes Cut damage less likely to destroy body parts, but causes more pain. Pain shock is, by far, the most common way to disable an enemy in combat. The chance of a cleave attack is undocumented.

From EMPERICAL TESTING, 60% - 70% of cut attacks are cleave attacks. Assuming chance is 60%, the longsword would result in a +12% boost to raw DPS.

• Cut damage is more likely to destroy small / weakened body parts. When a body part would be reduced to 0 HP, there is a mechanic in place to prevent its destruction. An attack must do overkill damage in order to actually destroy it. A Cut attack needs to do (Part Max HP) * 0.0 to 0.1 extra damage, while both Stab and Blunt need to do (Part Max HP) * 0.4 to 1.0 extra damage. Due to the cleaving described above, Cut is still less likely to destroy larger body parts.

• Sharp weapons cause bleeding. Both Stab and Cut damage will cause bleeding on hit. However, bleeding is unlikely to help the player; melee engagements are usually over long before combat penalties due to blood loss can kick in.

Spear

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• Raw DPS: 10.55 (plasteel, normal) (98.5% of longsword)
• AP of "Best" attack: 55% (plasteel, normal)
• Damage types for "Best" attack: Stab (100%)

Notable mechanics:

• Stab damage is marginally better at attacking internal organs. Stab attacks are more likely to hit internal organs. And when a Stab attack targets an internal organ, its damage is not reduced, unlike Cut and Blunt damage. Note that attacking the internals isn't a common occurrence, spear or not.

• Stab damage is concentrated on 1 part. Stabs are more likely than Cuts to destroy large body parts, like the head, heart, and torso. Though, below Masterwork quality or so, this is unlikely to matter.

• Stab damage has the worst damage spread mechanics. If Stab damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed. If Blunt damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed and the arm is damaged too. If Cut damage would destroy the finger, there is a chance for cleave to proc, spreading damage to multiple parts.

Therefore, stab damage is more likely to "whiff", and damage can be wasted (especially at the highest of qualities). Note that stab damage can attack internal body parts if it overkills.

• Sharp weapons cause bleeding. Stab damage causes bleeding on hit. However, bleeding is unlikely to help the player; melee engagements are usually over long before combat penalties due to blood loss can kick in.

Mace

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• Raw DPS: 9.56 (uranium, normal) (89.3% of longsword)
• Damage types for "Best" attack: Blunt (100%)

Notable mechanics:

• Most enemies have little Blunt armor. For example, a flak vest has 100% Sharp armor but only 40% Blunt armor. Almost all "armored" enemies in RimWorld follow this trend. A uranium mace is likely to have enough AP to completely ignore the Blunt armor of every enemy you see in the game.

• Blunt weapons can stun enemies, though the chance is small. If a blunt weapon hits the torso or a equivalent body part (a scyther's thorax, a centipede 1st body ring...), then the target has a chance to be stunned for a short time. This is completely independent from EMP and mechanoid adaptation. Stun chance depends on the target's health scale and the damage done. A normal uranium mace hitting a human would have a 2.7% chance to stun per hit to the torso.

• Blunt weapons have superior damage spread. If Stab damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed. If Blunt damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed and the arm is damaged too. Unlike Cut damage, Blunt is always concentrated on 1 body part first, making Blunt better at destroying body parts.

• Maces are the cheapest weapon of the four. Maces cost 50, half that of longswords and a third of warhammers. Maces are best used with uranium, which is a cheaper and less useful metal than plasteel. In addition, maces are the only one of the four to be unlocked with Smithing rather than Long Blades.

Warhammer

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• Raw DPS: 9.31 (uranium, normal) (86.9% of longsword, 97.4% of mace)
• Damage types for "Best" attack: Blunt (100%)

Notable mechanics:

• Most enemies have little Blunt armor. For example, a flak vest has 100% Sharp armor but only 40% Blunt armor. Almost all "armored" enemies in RimWorld follow this trend. A uranium warhammer is likely to have enough AP to completely ignore the Blunt armor of every enemy you see in the game.

• Warhammers swing slowly, but deal more damage (than the mace). Well, it swings as slowly as the longsword or spear, for less damage than either sharp weapon. It swings slower and hits harder than a mace, however. This is relevant when considering the below point.

• Blunt weapons have superior damage spread. If Stab damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed. If Blunt damage destroys a finger, the finger is destroyed and the arm is damaged too. Unlike Cut damage, Blunt is always concentrated on 1 body part first, making Blunt better at destroying body parts.

• Blunt weapons can stun enemies, though the chance is small. If a blunt weapon hits the torso or a equivalent body part (a scyther's thorax, a centipede 1st body ring...), then the target has a chance to be stunned for a short time. This is completely independent from EMP and mechanoid adaptation. Stun chance depends on the target's health scale and the damage done.

Comparisons

Assume no strong melee damage gene unless stated otherwise. This gene changes the comparisons in a large way.

Also assume that weapons are made out of plasteel (sharp) or uranium (blunt).

Normal to Excellent

General rule: Longswords for unarmored targets and lightly armored targets (scythers & lancers). Spears are better against armored targets like centipedes.

• Longswords do the most damage when armor isn't an issue.
• Spears are not much worse against unarmored than longswords. However, the high AP makes a difference against centipedes and the like.
• Maces are outdamaged by spears until 68% armor (normal) or 78% armor (excellent). On a practical scale, most enemies do not carry enough armor to make maces worth it (in terms of damage). They are still the cheapest weapon of the 4.
• Warhammers cannot one-shot body parts, so are completely irrelevant at these quality levels. Maces are 3x cheaper.

Masterwork and Legendary

General rule: Longswords.

• Longswords do the most damage when armor isn't an issue. With 61% AP at legendary, longswords can ignore a good chunk of armor. If you can only make 1 legendary weapon, make it a longsword.
• Spears are worse against unarmored, and do roughly the same damage as longswords against centipedes (after AP). Enemies with more armor than centipedes are rare. Against all humans, longswords (and warhammers) can 2-shot even without hurting a vital organ. Due spear's poor damage spread, it must 3-shot to do the same.
• Maces are outclassed at this level. Against humans, warhammers have a better chance to 1-shot or 2-shot, which more than makes up for the slightly worse DPS.
• Warhammers still can't reliably one-shot the big part, the torso. It can 1-shot from the head, but everything else can do that. It can 2-shot fairly reliably, though.

Masterwork + Strong Melee Gene

Genes are a mechanic in the Biotech DLC. Strong melee damage gene, not to be confused with the strong melee (skill) gene.

General rule: Warhammers / Maces for humans and human-sized targets, longswords for large targets like centipedes.

• Longswords still do the most DPS. It can 1-shot from cleave, it can 1-shot when it hits torso or head. With so much AP, it ignores pretty much all armor. The reason longswords are worse against humans is because blunt has a better damage spread.
• Spears are thoroughly outclassed by the 3 other weapons. Against humans, spears waste damage, as it can only ever hit 1 body part at a time (if it hits an arm, 60% of damage is wasted). Swords have enough AP to ignore the armor of every non-human in the game. To add insult to injury, it turns out that spears' AP is not boosted by the strong damage gene, unlike longswords.
• Maces are again outclassed by warhammers, this time as maces are less likely to 1-shot humans.
  Note that @Francis John's video is incorrect on maces, as the testing used 15-year old pawns instead of full adults. Maces cannot 1-shot adults as easily.
• Warhammers can now 1-shot any body part. Due to blunt's damage spread, it will 1-shot humans from pain, in a ton of places (it is possible to not 1-shot if you hit 2 redundant parts, like foot -> leg). The longsword deals more DPS, but against humans, the warhammer 1-shots anyways. Against centipedes and other high-HP enemies, the longsword's DPS matters more as you aren't 1-shotting a centipede.