[Top 5] Sons of the Forest Best Melee Weapons

In Sons of the Forest, enemies can be brutal. Without proper armor, you can easily die in one or two shots; possibly even from a sideways glance from an angry cannibal.

This is actually just the result of a dirty look.

It’s best to keep your distance; but ammo is scarce, so sometimes you have no choice but to take things up close and personal. Especially, if you're crowded in the caves or just out of shotgun ammo. These are the top five weapons for hand-to-hand combat. 

5. Crafted Club

If you haven't figured it out yet, this game is a little morbid.

The most beneficial thing about the crafted club is how easily it can be obtained. The only ingredient not supplied at the drop point will quickly find its way to the drop point and try to kill you. By this I mean the decapitated skull of your first enemy. You might have difficulty killing your first cannibal; so I suggest crafting a bow first (which is made of even simpler materials). 

While the crafted club can pack a punch its greatest benefit actually comes from defense. It has a better blocking ability than most of the more powerful hand-to-hand weapons, making it imperative for protecting yourself when you can’t keep distance from your enemies. 

You won’t find much use for the club past the very beginning of the game; but much like the crafted bow and spears, you are severely limited on your defense options until you explore some more dangerous parts of the island. I honestly found the crafted club, spear, and bow all more useful than the most readily available firearm in the game (the pistol). 

4. Stun Baton

I'd make a joke about the police here, but it would probably be in bad taste.

The stun baton is another melee weapon that I found myself using for defense instead of offense; however, the form in which that defense presents itself is very different. Whereas the crafted club was for blocking enemies attacks who I planned on killing, the stun baton was used when I found it more convenient to run away. 

Sometimes you simply are not going to come out on top and some of the enemies are very fast. You might find yourself ended from behind when trying to flee. The stun baton will force enemies to pause long enough so that when they remobilize you will be far enough away that they cannot catch up. 

To obtain the stun baton you must go near a cave entrance on the West side of the map. It will be on the West side of the West-most (is there a synonym for West?) river that comes out of the large lake. It is sticking out of a pile of skulls on the ground across from a small waterfall.

3. Crafted Spear

They aren't bad for hunting either.

The crafted spear is a solid melee weapon for a variety of reasons. While it does not have a defensive stance at all, what it does have is far more convenient: It’s the only weapon that is both a melee and projectile weapon. It’s pretty easy to aim so headshots aren’t all that difficult and when you land them it can be a one-hit-kill on enemies towards the beginning of the game.

The spear also has considerable reach, so while you may not be able to physically block, a well placed shot from a distance can do the job pretty effectively. 

The most useful thing about spears is how easy they are to obtain. All you need is a stick, which can be found in no more than five seconds from anywhere above ground, and tape, which is also extraordinarily easy to find. Since you can open your inventory and craft things mid-battle, this means that you can actually hold more spears than the game allows, being that you can have as many additional spears as you can hold tape. 

2. Chainsaw

I'm sure if the game was in third person I'd be wearing a flannel.

Like the crafted spear, the chainsaw does not technically have any defense. But the best defense is a good offense, and there’s very little an enemy can do if they no longer have a head. 

In all seriousness though, the chainsaw has excellent defense, just not in terms of its stats. It has great crowd control if you’re plagued by a bunch of enemies that are conveniently in front of you. It will usually stun your enemy on contact (if not immediately killing them) and can even repel some attacks. 

Outside of combat, it is also imperative if you’re trying to build a large base and are unsatisfied with Kelvin’s speed. Where any ax will drain your stamina quickly and take an annoying amount of time to fell a tree, the chainsaw does what it was truly designed for really well: cutting logs. 

Considering it has positive uses in offensive and defensive situations, as well as outside of combat (the cool factor doesn’t hurt either), it is an easy choice for the number two slot. Some might consider it the number 1 spot because of the addition of its out-of-combat use. However, I’m writing about weapons not tools; and we know there is one melee weapon that outranks the others by a landslide…

1. The Katana

Pictured next to the skull of my enemies, along with the liquid courage needed to kill more.

This booger is all you will ever need (assuming you’re out of ammo). 

It is faster than any melee weapons–other than knives, but those are useless in combat scenarios–so you can easily get in multiple hits before your enemy can get any. This is often enough to kill them outright without taking any damage. If you aren’t quick enough, or if it is a more powerful enemy, the katana also has decent defense.

The katana has an awesome attack where you can impale a downed enemy. In a particularly hard part of the endgame, I found myself stunning a certain difficult boss with bomb arrows and then quickly switching to the katana to use the impalement attack. It is also a viable option for the demons ahead of the boss fight; however, I advise lighting them on fire with the cross instead of the bombs. You don’t want to run out of those before the boss fight.     

The only downside to the katana is the fact that it is harder to find than the rest of the melee weapons; but I think that’s a fair trade for being the most powerful melee weapon in the game. To get the katana you must already have the maintenance keycard obtained from a bunker on the Northwestern area of the map… which requires the shovel that is only accessible if you have the rebreather and rope-gun… which are obtained in two caves that are very far away from each other. The rebreather is in the cave directly by the drop point and the rope gun is in the cave right by where you picked up the stun baton. 

Once you’ve done all that prep-work,.this is a pretty easy cavern to find. It is directly East from the middle of the largest lake on the island. If you have everything needed to get the katana you will have probably also discovered its GPS location, meaning it will be marked on your map anyway. 

At this point, it is easy to find so long as you’re equipped well enough to fight off some strong enemies. You'll pass through a bunch of hallways that have doors open with access to bedrooms. It is on display in one of the bedrooms. You can’t miss it. 

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• [Top 5] Sons of the Forest Best Melee Weapons