Star Citizen Knife Melee Guide
Learn how to defend yourself using a knife with Star Citizen's melee combat gameplay.
About this time last year, The Doctrine published a thorough guide covering unarmed melee combat. Although nowhere near as complex as unarmed melee combat, we felt that it would be a good idea to go over the basics of knife fighting for the sake of completeness.
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Knife fighting basics
To engage in knife fighting melee combat in Star Citizen, press “5”. This will produce a knife if you have it equipped. While your knife is out, tap the left mouse button (LMB) or right mouse button (RMB) to perform a light attack. Hold LMB or RMB to do a heavy attack. To perform a lethal knife takedown, move behind your opponent and press the middle mouse button (MMB).
Dodging works in the exact same way as it does with unarmed melee combat. Attacks can be evaded by sidestepping, backstepping, or bobbing. To sidestep left, double-tap “A”. To sidestep right, double-tap “D”. To backstep, double-tap “S”. To bob an attack to the head or chest, move your mouse all the way down or all the way up.
To rush forward, hold SHIFT and “W”. Finer control over movement speed can be had by scrolling the mouse wheel up or down.
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Physiological effects and best practices
Excluding the knife takedown, there are four kinds of knife attacks: inside slash, outside slash, backhanded stab, and thrusting stab. Inside and outside slashes are the standard light attacks, while the backhanded stab and thrusting stab are the standard heavy attacks.
Knife attacks—or at least their animations—are dependent on which hand you’re using. Inside slash and backhanded stab are performed by tapping or holding LMB, respectively. Outside slash and thrusting stab are performed by tapping or holding RMB.
If your opponent’s below 70% health, landing a heavy attack will cause them to begin bleeding out. Likewise, landing a heavy attack on your opponent’s head will do significant damage, dropping them from full health to below 50% health and causing them to begin bleeding out. In either case, a MedPen will need to be administered as soon as possible.
Your heart rate increases when you slash, backhand stab, or thrusting stab. You will “gas out” if your heart rate reaches or surpasses 160 BPM. When you gas out, you will be unable to use your knife, sidestep, or backstep for a short while. If you gas out, your heart rate will need to fall below 160 BPM before you can perform one of those actions again.
You can slash a few times before your heart rate breaks 100 BMP. The same isn’t true with heavy attacks. It only takes four slashes to break 100 BMP, and about a dozen heavy attacks in quick succession before gassing out. Although performance will likely be better if you approach each exchange with some thought toward it, heartrate management isn’t as much of an issue as it is with unarmed combat.
Blocking and bobbing on their own don’t cause your BPM to rise. But being attacked with a knife while blocking will still cause substantial damage. Therefore, bobbing is likely to be a more effective technique if you gas out—though still far more dangerous than sidestepping or backstepping.
Drag your mouse either down or up quickly to bob an attack effectively. Dragging your mouse down gives you the best chance to completely avoid an attack to the head and neck, but opens the back of your head, neck, and back up to an attack.
When used in combination with blocking, dragging your mouse up will give you the best chance to take a hit meant for your head or chest with your arms instead. But, it leaves your lower torso open to attack.
Combining a sidestep or backstep with a bob whether or not you are blocking is also possible. Remember to re-center on your opponent immediately after bobbing.
You will not be able to use your knife while sprinting forward. Once stopped, there’s a slight delay before you will be able to use your knife.
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Final observations
Unlike unarmed combat, knife fighting doesn’t seem to make use of any true executable combos (such as the hook-uppercut combo when unarmed). But light attacks are extremely fast and have a wide arc, while heavy attacks can be extremely damaging. It’s also easier to time following up a heavy attack with another heavy attack.
Lastly, all attacks are done with the weapon hand. As a result, attacks are lethal. That means that when equipping a knife, you’ll have to commit to killing your opponent.
If you want to learn more about melee combat in Star Citizen, you should read:
nice guide! thank you.