Biomutant has been out for a few days now, but players are still figuring out the best approach to each different build that can be made in the game at the moment, with melee characters being one of the most appealing in this open-world ARPG due to the Wung-Fu theme. Melee builds can be pretty fun in Biomutant, especially so once players start to get all the juicy components to make their own signature weapons, whether they are two-handed or one-handed. However, new players should know that melee is not exactly as smooth in gameplay as other builds, and that's because of a few fundamental issues with Biomutant, but the correct set-up can overcome that.
The fun aspect about melee builds is that players get to vanquish their opponents by swinging ridiculously large weapons at them, or stab them with extremely tiny blades. Not only that but also the fact that melee in Biomutant feels really good when using weapons that are affected by one of the game's hazards, meaning Cold, Fire, Biohazard, and Radiation. These weapons can deal massive amounts of base damage, only to top them off with cool effects and even more damage with a few side effects for the enemies they hit.
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Melee builds are very straightforward in terms of attributes, as the only one players should be concerned with is Strength, which should be as high as possible from the get-go. This means that the best choice for this sort of playstyle is the Dumdon, in terms of breeds, while the class can be varied depending on which ones the players have available. Choosing the Dumdon as the starter breed means that players can dump all their points in Strength right away, having 100 points in it when first beginning their journey in the world of Biomutant, making all melee attacks deal much more damage than they otherwise would.
The melee class with the best Perks overall is the Mercenary, which can be picked even if players don't want to dual wield and go for big bad two-handed weapons, as every class can pick any weapon in Biomutant, not just the ones they start with. The Mercenary is extremely good because of its starting Perk Fury, and also its Twin Silver Grip ability that lets the character dual-wield one-handed melee weapons, but it's not limited to just that. Mercenaries also come with Reflexes, passively dodging enemy bullets with a 10% chance, Invincibility, increasing Armor and melee damage when at full health, Megamind, increasing Ki energy regeneration, and finally Brutality, which increases all damage from melee critical strikes.
Starting as the Mercenary would allow players to delve immediately into the dual-wielding playstyle with great Perks and weapons, and give the players some time to understand more of the game and choose their path accordingly. For dual wield builds, the best Perks to grab as soon as possible would be Unstoppable Pig, Invincibility, Reflexes, Plating, and Luck Out. These last two are General Perks, meaning they are accessible to all classes, and they will help early on because of how low the players' health will be due to dumping all points into Strength, and because of how important Loot Chance is for finding better items, respectively. With this set of Perks, it will be easy to grind the way out of the early game, but players should make sure to have a few healing packs at hand.
The Saboteur is an interesting class that would see much more play if the Mercenary wasn't so similar, and yet so much more powerful compared to it. While the Mercenary is more focused on dealing substantial amounts of damage, the Saboteur is more oriented to playing it safe with the base Dodge ability, focusing 3 out of 5 class-specific Perks on it. While Hypergenetic is a good Perk to have, and while Agile is nice too, with it increasing the distance at which players can dodge by 20%, the Saboteur doesn't have a single Perk to boost its damage with melee weapons.
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This class is for those players who didn't pre-order Biomutant and still want to immediately use two one-handed weapons simultaneously, or simply a pick dictated by personal preference and a more defensive approach to combat. The best Perks to start with would be Reflexes, Agile, Unstoppable Pig, Luck Out, and later on Whet, in order to have some source of damage.
Biomutant's Sentinel is the only class besides the Dead-Eye to start with a two-handed weapon, and it comes with a few interesting and unique Perks that cannot be found in other classes. Among them, Medic is a great one to start with for melee builds, as it helps to gain more health from natural regeneration and that induced by items. The two more interesting ones are Ricochet and Knock, with the former allowing players to have a passive 10% chance to reflect ranged attacks back to the enemy, and the latter making smaller enemies stumble and fall when dodging into them.
The Sentinel also shares Invincibility with the Mercenary, making it the second-best choice for pure damage melee builds. While Medic can be useful, early Upgrade Points should be spent on more impactful Perks, like Ricochet and Knock from the Sentinel's selection, or Wicked Wolf as a special Wung-Fu attack, for example. Other General Perks like Luck Out, Plating, and Whet should be prioritized.
The best Biogenetics spells and Psi-Powers to use for all these classes are the same, and they include Mothmouth for charming groups of enemies, Fungi for exploration, Freeze for AoE crowd control, and then one between Blaze and Blink. Specifically, these last two are very useful in terms of movement, and they have slightly different uses. Blaze is more of a pure movement skill with a little crowd control component, as it can burn enemies, which makes them panic and run away for a little while. Blink, on the other hand, can also be used offensively to jump into a group of enemies from a distance and beat them with good old melee weapons.
Another thing to keep in mind is that scaling the Anti-Biohazard resistance as high as possible is a great tool to gain more Bio Points early on by killing all the Morks found in Biohazard areas. These options all make a two-handed or dual-wielding melee builds very good to start the game with, and then can evolve from there based on what players like or prefer. This concludes this starter build, which hopefully will help players through their first hours of the game to better understand Biomutant's mechanics.
Biomutant is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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