There seem to be two general categories of melee weapons in Dying Light: blunt (bats, hammers, pipes, etc.) and sharp (knives, swords, cleavers, etc.).
Some sharp weapons have a trade-off of damage for an increased attack speed (ex. dagger), that is not quite what I'm talking about.
My question basically is: Given an average blunt weapon such as a bat, and a sharp weapon such as a sickle, what are the benefits of selecting one over the other?
It almost seems like blunt weapons wear down slower, but I could be imagining that. Sharp weapons can dismember, but blunt weapons can cripple body parts so those seem to basically cancel each other… Are there others?
Best Answer
The biggest comparison is what you already mentioned:
Sharp weapons can dismember, sometimes even take a head clean off which instantly kills them. They do have much lower durability than blunt weapons. which makes sense that a knife breaks faster than a metal bat for example. Part of why that also happens is because of the speed difference you mentioned - you can swing a dagger 5x in the time it takes you to connect once with a bat.
A blunt weapon can break limbs, cripple, or knock them over which in turn allows for other moves to be used. If you break a leg and they collapse, you can stomp their head for an instant kill. In general it seems that blunt weapons are more targeted towards players who want more control to their combat, to pull off other moves with it; whereas sharp weapons allow you to just cut enemies down, at the expense of lower durability which means they are more costly to maintain or replace.
The head to head of the two is pretty much just that. I personally find they each have fun aspects. Sometimes I like taking a head clean off, sometimes I enjoy drop kicking and knockin' skulls.