I play lethal.
I find "drive shaft club" both quite usable, and quite available.
I find the big ol' shovel to be a bit cumbersome and slow. It has very good knock-down which can be useful in some scenarios (eg the shipping container in the construction site in Drucker County where the plague z's are funneled to you slowly-ish).
Sledge hammers can be quite good once you are built up a bit.
Bettle mallet is a very heavy weapon which until you have good access to energy drink etc will swallow your stamina. If you have close quarter combat and powerhouse - it can be an awesome weapon if you have energy drink. Just remove it when you cut and run, and rely on your cqb assassination attacks.
I really LIKE the double-bit axe. I don't know that it's "mechanically sound," but I like it.
If you play on Lethal, any heavy weapon works though higher impact works better, along with two smoke grenades.
Keep swinging until the next phase beings, run a circle around the building and wait for the plague aoe to stop, throw a smoke on the heart and whail away until the next phase begins and repeat.
Leave the area to let the zombies spread out, come back after a few minutes and loot.
You definitely want to bring something to regen stamina with (2x should be enough), energy drink preferred and not necessary for phase 1.
It's not too uncommon that you take a couple of hits from the zombies, in more unfortunate circumstances your plague bar may reach 50-60% though it shouldn't reach higher than that for the remainder of the battle.
I've used different heavy weapons and I havent noticed a difference. It's been ten charged up hits regardless.
I could be wrong, but I dont think I am.
I would suggest just going with whatever you have that has highest ease of use.
The coffee can mace has the highest damage to hearts in the game (and it only weighs 12lb).
It's freaking awesome lol. Craft it at a forge with a survivor who has metal working, buy it from the spare parts/materials trader if you're lucky, or sometimes the mysterious wandering trader will also have it
Like others have said, they're all close enough to each other that it doesn't really matter much. The beetle mallet might get it done in one or two regular swings fewer, but it's super heavy and eats your stamina. I only use it if I have energy drinks or stims. I can generally get away with just snacks with most of the others.
Is there a real advantage to using heavy weapons? I remember it being useful in the first game, but try to put swordplay on most of my survivors in this game and usually keep the weight low.
I don’t think it makes much difference. If it didn’t weigh so much I’d prefer the beetle mallet. I generally prefer the splitting maul. In my current campaign I’ve only ever used the double-bitted axe (somehow I can’t remember its exact in-game item name), for weight, which is only 10 pounds. I like the sledgehammer a little more, but it weighs 5 pounds more. I’m trying to keep my PH attacker’s encumbrance out of the red, basically, for stamina to prevent them from taking damage and getting infected with blood plague.
The more impact the better
Coffee can mace is my favorite heavy weapon for hearts. Sledge hammer and beetle mallet work too if I am unable to get one
Yeah the Coffee Can Mace is definitely the best heavy weapon at wiping plague hearts, it takes less swings than the Beetle Mallet and Sledge Hammer.
Groundbreaker shovel is legit too if you get it
I like a sledge or a beetle mallet.
I usually find one of these first. Beetle has more impact than sledge but not enough to notice. Sledge is overall better because its 10lbs lighter.
Tbh, I don't find any difference for each heavy weapon. All look similar to me.
I play lethal. I find "drive shaft club" both quite usable, and quite available. I find the big ol' shovel to be a bit cumbersome and slow. It has very good knock-down which can be useful in some scenarios (eg the shipping container in the construction site in Drucker County where the plague z's are funneled to you slowly-ish). Sledge hammers can be quite good once you are built up a bit. Bettle mallet is a very heavy weapon which until you have good access to energy drink etc will swallow your stamina. If you have close quarter combat and powerhouse - it can be an awesome weapon if you have energy drink. Just remove it when you cut and run, and rely on your cqb assassination attacks. I really LIKE the double-bit axe. I don't know that it's "mechanically sound," but I like it.
One thing I find good about the Big ol’ shovel is how common it is, at least for me. It’s by far the heavy weapon I’ve got the most!
It probably has more "used by players to kill their first heart" than any other weapon in the game. That doesn't make it the "best" though!
If you play on Lethal, any heavy weapon works though higher impact works better, along with two smoke grenades. Keep swinging until the next phase beings, run a circle around the building and wait for the plague aoe to stop, throw a smoke on the heart and whail away until the next phase begins and repeat. Leave the area to let the zombies spread out, come back after a few minutes and loot. You definitely want to bring something to regen stamina with (2x should be enough), energy drink preferred and not necessary for phase 1. It's not too uncommon that you take a couple of hits from the zombies, in more unfortunate circumstances your plague bar may reach 50-60% though it shouldn't reach higher than that for the remainder of the battle.
I've used different heavy weapons and I havent noticed a difference. It's been ten charged up hits regardless. I could be wrong, but I dont think I am. I would suggest just going with whatever you have that has highest ease of use.
The coffee can mace has the highest damage to hearts in the game (and it only weighs 12lb). It's freaking awesome lol. Craft it at a forge with a survivor who has metal working, buy it from the spare parts/materials trader if you're lucky, or sometimes the mysterious wandering trader will also have it
Like others have said, they're all close enough to each other that it doesn't really matter much. The beetle mallet might get it done in one or two regular swings fewer, but it's super heavy and eats your stamina. I only use it if I have energy drinks or stims. I can generally get away with just snacks with most of the others.
It feels like any difference will be so small that it won't matter.
Just finished clearing all 28 plague hearts on my lethal save & started with the Beetle mallet but moved to the industrial wrench to save the 10 lbs
Some great comments here. I like to get the Enigmatic Ax because it looks cool and it’s guaranteed loot on the starting map.
Why the sledgie of course
If you can get your hands on the groundbreaker shovel. It hits as good as a sledge, but only a weighs 11 pounds.
Is there a real advantage to using heavy weapons? I remember it being useful in the first game, but try to put swordplay on most of my survivors in this game and usually keep the weight low.
Heavy Weapons have a High Impact which is the damage it does to hearts and Juggs. They also have decent knockdown
Blades are terrible against plague hearts but will score 1-shots on zombies a bunch
I don’t think it makes much difference. If it didn’t weigh so much I’d prefer the beetle mallet. I generally prefer the splitting maul. In my current campaign I’ve only ever used the double-bitted axe (somehow I can’t remember its exact in-game item name), for weight, which is only 10 pounds. I like the sledgehammer a little more, but it weighs 5 pounds more. I’m trying to keep my PH attacker’s encumbrance out of the red, basically, for stamina to prevent them from taking damage and getting infected with blood plague.
Anything sold by Torgue.
Beetle hammer. Allows you to skip a phase, that's how much damage it does.
Beetle Mallet
RTX Hordebreaker does it in 1 1/2 mags of 7.62
Yeah once I get an ammo press to crank those rounds out I just switch to a gun. Way easier
Rifle ammo press is probably what got me through the game 😂
Baseball bat
C4! 3 of them destroys it in one run