Melee

Heavy's Fists

Melee weapons are a type of weapon that have a limited and typically short range and do not require ammo, making them a reliable, if risky, last resort option should a player run out. Most classes' default melees do 65 damage and have a firing interval of 0.8 seconds, the only exceptions being the Scout and Civilian, whose melees do 35 damage in exchange for a firing speed interval of 0.5 seconds, and the Spy, whose knife does 40 damage. Melee weapons have an increased chance of critical hits from the 2% to 12% chance on non-melees to a 15% to 60% chance, depending on recent damage or healing done. This can make them effective, albeit risky, ambush tools to try and quickly eliminate other classes. These random critical hits do not apply to the Knife, Harvester, Shock Therapy, Admiralty Anchor or Chekhov's Punch. Some melee weapons have a different swing animation, such as the Fists uppercutting or the Kukri swinging downwards. The Demoman's bottle breaks on a critical hit. This is a purely visual change and otherwise does not affect the weapon in any way.

Due to their niche uses and the standard set by Engineer and Spy, a common theme among melee weapon design is to trade the consistent damage and/or random critical hits for some sort of utility. The Wrench for example, maintains the standard stock melee stats, but with the added ability to heal and upgrade buildings, as well as refill Sentry Guns with ammo. In addition, the Knife has added utility in being able to one shot any class from behind with a guaranteed critical hit, called a backstab. It is worth noting backstabs can only happen from behind enemies, and attempting to attack an enemy with a crit boosted knife from the front will result in the Knife critting as normal, dealing 120 damage. Other examples of utility melees include The Harvester, Chekhov's Punch, Shock Therapy, Umbrella, Derby Cane, Uberspritze, and Fishwhacker.

List of melee weapons

Class	Weapon	Kill Icon(s)	Damage	Attributes
Scout	Bat		Base: 35 Mini-Crit: 47 Crit: 105	Stock
Soldier	Shovel		Base: 65 Mini-Crit: 88 Crit: 195	Stock
	Admiralty Anchor	Melee Kill Earthquake Kill Grenade Taunt Kill		Creates an earthquake upon taking fall damage while active  Takes crits from projectiles while airborne  +30% gravity while active  No random critical hits
Pyro	Fire Axe			Stock
	Harvester	Melee Kill Critical Decapitation Kill		Burning targets charge up crit while active  Heal +5 health each tick while charging  On Crit: Absorbs the health from your victim  On Death: Enemies are extinguished  No random critical hits  Critical kills decapitate the enemy
Demoman	Bottle			Stock
Heavy	Fists			Stock
	Chekhov's Punch			On hit: Store up to 3 critical hits  Stored crits are consumed by all weapons  Melee damage taken will crit on wearer  Melee will crit only at full capacity
Engineer	Wrench			Stock
Medic	Bonesaw			Stock
	Shock Therapy	Uncharged Melee Kill Charged Melee Kill	Ranges: Base: 0 to 100 Mini-Crit: 1 to 135 Crit: 3 to 300	Hit teammates at maximum charge to fully heal them  -15% heal rate  Damage is affected by current charge  Re-charges in 30 seconds
	Überspritze	Melee Kill Überslice Taunt Kill	Base: 65 Mini-Crit: 88 Crit: 195	On Hit: 25% ÜberCharge added  -10 max health on wearer
Sniper	Kukri			Stock
	Fishwhacker		Base: 35 Mini-Crit: 47 Crit: 105	Deals knockback to nearby enemies  On Hit: Bleed for 2 seconds  -45% damage penalty
Spy	Knife	Slice Kill Backstab Kill Fencing Taunt Kill	Base: 65 Mini-Crit: 88 Crit: 6x victim's current Health	Stock  Attack an enemy from behind to backstab them for a one-hit kill  -33% damage to buildings
Civilian	Umbrella		Base: 35 Mini-Crit: 47 Crit: 105	Stock  Alt-Fire: Give mini-crit boost to a teammate  Boost lasts 8 seconds  Re-charges in 15 seconds
	Derby Cane			+15% increase in recharge rate  Alt-Fire: Give haste boost to teammate  Boost lasts 8 seconds  Re-charges in 13 seconds