Darkest Hour Europe ’44-’45 Beginner’s Melee Guide

Several strategies that you can use when you want to be honourable against your enemy. I’ll cover crouch stabs, dolphin stabs, jump stabs, walk stabs and well, stabs.

Stabbing

It’s easy to stab someone in DH. Just bind a key you’re comfortable with to your melee attack, and get stabbing! Yet, there are still many factors involved in bayoneting and meleeing in DH. One must consider where their enemy has an automatic weapon, has been shot or taken damage, has ammunition left, is in a tight spot to move, shoot or look around, as well as many other factors before charging and killing.

As you may have ascertained, in DH, you can tap the melee key and your character will quickly thrust his weapon wherever you’re looking. Quickly stabbing/ b o n k i n g is very helpful for moments when you’ve already shot your enemy, but he remains upright. DH does have a damage model for every character, and a health bar. If you or your friend has shot the enemy infantry a few times and is not dead, they’ve probably only hit their arm or leg. I wouldn’t suggest reloading your weapon, as this takes a long time, and you don’t know whether or not your enemy will realise that they have a sidearm, an extra weapon somewhere, a frag, or even a bayonet attached. Simply walk up to the enemy, face him so he is in the middle of your screen, and spam that melee button! You can also hold down your melee button, for a longer, more powerful attack. I will reference holding down the melee button as “charging your melee”.

Quick Melee

1. Tap and release the melee key (check binds, default is MMB/Middle Mouse Button)

Charging your melee

1. Hold down the melee key for about 1 or 2 seconds

2. Release the melee key

Attach bayonet

1. Tap and release attach bayonet button (check binds, default is C. Beware that not all guns have bayonets, and may only have the stock of your gun, and also beware that some guns are too heavy to thrust, like LMGs)

There are upsides to using and not using your bayonet. Using the butt of your gun, you can b o n k your enemy in the face, causing him to be blind for about 2 seconds. His entire screen will actually turn red, allowing you time to switch to your sidearm, attach your bayonet, run away, or well, anything. Using your bayonet gives you nearly double the damage that using your stock would. If you are facing a large group of riflemen, I would suggest bayonet, but if you are facing full auto weapons, combining your sidearms or semi automatic weapons with the butt of your gun can both stun and eliminate your foes.

You’re not totally screwed if you don’t attach your bayonet, but you’re kind of screwed if you don’t attach your bayonet. Get in the habit of attaching it when you spawn. Weapon sway isn’t a huge issue in my opinion, and doesn’t make enough of a difference in close combat, when you can just stab them. In long range combat, you could lay down and fire, find cover or just banzai the bloke. There are several honourable and dishonourable endings to every fight, and this guide is trying to make you as honourable and effective as you can be.

Stabbing Methods

There are several ways and methods that can effectively be used in DH to KILL the enemy. Many of these methods will TOTALLY take your enemy by surprise and will make them contemplate uninstalling.

Don’t

1. Be sure to consider what the other person is going through when you do use these methods, and don’t overuse them

Use at your own risk.

Jump Stabbing

Method 1:

Jump Stabbing

This method is VERY effective against slow-moving, fortified enemies. It is possibly my favourite and most-used method of this list. The way it works is by running at your enemy, and jumping onto their flank, then stabbing them midair. It is super satisfying to achieve and yet, is easy to do.

Simply charge your bayonet by holding down the melee button with your bayonet attached (you will want to hold this button until you jump), then run at your enemy. Your enemy most likely expects a full frontal assault, and is now prepared to either shoot you, or honour you in return (most likely to shoot you). At this point, you may want to start trying to manoeuvre around as if you were under heavy fire. Change your direction and move unpredictably so that your enemy wouldn’t think of hitting you with a bolt-action rifle. Inch your way towards your enemy with every twist and turn. Don’t think that you’re enemy won’t shoot you, because they are waiting for you to slow down, and to kill. Don’t ever snap out of manoeuvring when you’re more than a meter away, because you’re enemy will lead you and kill you. Now, point straight at your enemy, turn right or left at a 45 degree angle, jump, release the melee button, turn back to face your enemy, and, if you timed and aimed it right, your enemy should be missing a forehead. This method is VERY, VERY effective at killed those who are prone, those who are running themselves, and those below you. That may have been explained weirdly, so I’ll put the steps below.

1. Attach Bayonet

2. Charge melee attack

3. Run at your enemy

4. Avoid any and all bullets ( getting hit in the leg will botch this, this method requires speed )

5. Hold W and D to run slightly sideways(or whichever button you use to strafe, I usually go right, it works for left or right)

6. Face your enemy, jump and release the melee button ( Practice this if you can, releasing the melee button when the melee has been fully charged and when you’ve jumped should allow you to thrust )

Charging the melee so you can attack with maximum damage

Jumping, turning and thrusting, all at once

Dive/Dolphin Stabbing

Method 2:

Dive stabbing is annoying. Don’t do it. Don’t go there.

However, dive stabbing is VERY fun, and is far more unpredictable that jump stabbing! NEVERTHELESS, if you miss, or otherwise botch it, you find yourself laying on the ground, disabled for about 1 or 2 seconds. Dive stabbing is much more simple than jump stabbing, and harder to counter (I’ll cover countering it too..).

Dive stabbing is simply running at your enemy with your melee charged, then hitting the prone key. That’s it. Its totally deadly as well. It isn’t a feature of this game to melee attack while diving to prone, and yet here we are. You probably won’t even need to practice it, or read the rest of this step, but I’ll go through the steps anyways.

1. Attach Bayonet

2. Charge your melee attack

3. Run at your enemy

4. When close enough (less than 2 meters), hit the prone key and face your enemy at all times.

Dive stabbing is actually quite hard. I wouldn’t recommend using it if you want a guaranteed win. I often stab, or b o n k my enemies at least one time, then following up with a dive stab. Dive stabs are easy to miss, and leave you vulnerable. You won’t be able to vertically aim your bayonet stab, so provided that your enemy is not crouched, prone or jumping, and standing upright, you might get a chest or head shot. You can still horizontally aim your dive stab, so if your enemy decides to strafe, there is still a chance that you’ll hit them.

This method is dead simple, and fun. However, there are some downsides. Dive Stabbing is a bit like laying out at the feet of your enemy, because it is. If he isn’t dead, and he has his wits about him, he’s going to go behind or on top of you and very loving b o n k / shoot you. When you dive stab, you won’t be able to move, get up, shoot or stab again for at least a second, and so there are methods to countering dive stabbing.

Counters:

1. Running backwards ( Commonly unknown in DH, you can run backwards by holding your run key and your “backwards” key 😉 ), and waiting for the dive stab to complete ( the opponent is still on the ground ), and then running on top of him

2. Very risky, as dive stabs are unpredictable, but if you manage it, you can just stab them right before they actually stab. ( 1 second window when the user is simply prone and not doing anything, perfect for a bullet or return bayonet ) If you misinterpret a dive stab and your opponent doesn’t actually dive, you’ve just layed yourself out in front of the enemy

3. It is possible to Jump Stab a dive stabber, and has been done before. If the dive stabber is inexperienced, an experienced jump stabber can easily flank and b o n k .

4. I will pretty much guarantee survival if you whip around, sprint and jump away, allowing you then to return to your weakened opponent and run all over him.

Prone, midair, and 0.1 milliseconds away from stabbin

(Hard to see, I know, but try it out for yourself, it works a charm)

Crouch Stabbing

Method 3:

Crouch Stabbing is just cheeky, and simple, like the dive stabbing.

If you’ve established that your enemy is honourable, and you both find yourselves in a bayonet battle to the death, you can crouch stab to avoid incoming blades. I’ll say it again, because crouch stabbing is just plain cheeky. I believe that it adds some range to your bayonet, but I may be wrong. Most honourable opponents try to stab you in the head, which you can easily dodge by crouching. You can then counter that attack by stabbing back. There are actually two ways that you can crouch stab, and they work fine depending on what you want to do in a situation. ( Yay! Step form.. )

Defensive Crouch Stabbing

1. Stand upright, charge melee and for your opponent to approach

2. When your opponent tries to stab you in the head, crouch

3. Stab!

Offensive Crouch Stabbing

1. Stand upright, charge melee and run at your opponent

2. Crouch when you want to stab, OR, crouch when your opponent stabs

3. Stab!

4. One of you is dead ( There is a minor cool down to melee in DH, so if you or opponent misses, its an open door ).

Crouch Stabbing can be done in many ways, and there are arguably more effective and satisfying methods to put him down honourably, but it exists, so here it is.

Early Thrusting

Method 4:

Early Thrusting does not incorporate any movement styles, like jumping, or crouching, but relies on anticipating what the enemy will do, and where he will move, then essentially thrusting your bayonet at him before he is in range of you, then actually stabbing him when he is in range.

When you release the melee key, your character will not thrust his weapon straight away. He will pull his arm back, to then thrust it forwards again. You can begin stabbing your enemy while he is still out of range, by making your character pull his arm back, and thrusting early, you burn time that could have been used to shoot you. A skilled warrior must learn how to time his speed and hit so that his opponent is in range when you have officially stabbed, and there is damage output. Try to learn how to release the melee key when it is fully charged, and yet your opponent is about a meter out of range, and then hit him when he is in range. Every time you release your melee key while the opponent is in range, you give him another second to live, shoot, anything. I’ll put it in step form, because I can’t explain things in paragraph form properly :P.

1. Attach Bayonet

2. Hold melee key to charge melee

3. Wait for your opponent to approach you

4. Release your charged melee on his skull when he is committed to his approach, and yet is still out of range (~1 meter away)

5. Provided the right timing, your opponent should have a very red screen.

Using this method, you must remember to remain calm, and not to move. Always be wary of the enemy’s honour and integrity.

This guide about Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 was written by ct0809. You can visit the original publication from this link. If you have any concerns about this guide, please don't hesitate to reach us here.

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