Ranking the best Melee Weapons in Project Zomboid. Use this Tier List to help you choose what weapon to take.
Check out our Guns Tier List
Melee Weapons Tier List
Below is a list of some of the more common melee weapons you will come across in Project Zomboid. Let’s take a look at their stats and how they rank.
| Tier | Weapon | Type | Damage | Crit Chance (Crit Multiplier) | Range | Base Attack Speed* | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S |  Katana | Long Blade | 8.0-8.0 | 30% (6x) | 0.61-1.4 | 1.0 | 150 |
| S |  Pick Axe | Axe | 1.0-2.2 | 25% (9x) | 0.61-1.6 | 0.8 | 260 |
| S |  Machete | Long Blade | 2.0-3.0 | 20% (5x) | 0.61-1.23 | 1.0 | 325 |
| S |  Spear (Machete) | Spear | 1.2-1.7 | 30% (10x) | 0.98-1.48 | 1.0 | 120 |
| S |  Garden Fork | Spear | 1.0-1.5 | 30% (10x) | 0.61-1.37 | 0.9 | 150 |
| A |  Axe | Axe | 0.8-2.0 | 20% (5x) | 0.61-1.2 | 1.0 | 455 |
| A |  Baseball Bat | Long Blunt | 0.8-1.1 | 40% (2x) | 0.61-1.25 | 1.0 | 300 |
| A |  Crowbar | Long Blunt | 0.6-1.15 | 20% (2.5x) | 0.61-1.25 | 1.0 | 1050 |
| A |  Spear (Hunting Knife) | Spear | 1.2-1.7 | 30% (10x) | 0.98-1.48 | 1.0 | 72 |
| A |  Spiked Baseball Bat | Long Blunt | 1.0-1.5 | 30% (5x) | 0.61-1.28 | 0.95 | 150 |
| B |  Lead Pipe | Short Blunt | 0.7-1.2 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.15 | 0.93 | 300 |
| B |  Hand Axe | Axe | 0.7-1.5 | 15% (5x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.0 | 150 |
| B |  Canoe Paddle (Double-bladed) | Long Blunt | 0.8-1.9 | 50% (2x) | 0.61-1.6 | 0.8 | 100 |
| B |  Shovel Snow Shovel | Long Blunt | 0.8-1.9 | 40% (2x) | 0.61-1.6 | 0.8 | 100 |
| B |  Nightstick | Short Blunt | 0.6-1.1 | 25% (2x) | 0.61-1.2 | 0.95 | 300 |
| B |  Metal Bar | Short Blunt | 0.7-1.1 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.2 | 0.95 | 120 |
| B |  Metal Pipe | Short Blunt | 0.6-1.0 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.2 | 0.95 | 120 |
| B |  Crafted Spear | Spear | 1.0-1.5 | 30% (10x) | 0.98-1.4 | 1.0 | 10 |
| C |  Wood Axe (Heavy) | Axe | 1.3-3.0 | 50% (12x) | 0.61-1.35 | 1.0 | 375 |
| C |  Hammer Ball-peen Hammer | Short Blunt | 0.5-1.0 | 20% (3x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.0 | 300 |
| C |  Hunting Knife | Short Blade | 0.6-1.2 | 50% (3x) | 0.61-0.9 | 1.0 | 150 |
| D |  Pipe Wrench | Short Blunt | 0.5-1.0 | 25% (2x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.0 | 250 |
| D |  Wrench | Short Blunt | 0.5-1.0 | 20% (2x) | 0.61-1.0 | 1.0 | 135 |
| E |  Frying Pan | Short Blunt | 0.3-0.5 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.0 | 120 |
| E |  Griddle Pan | Short Blunt | 0.25-0.45 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.0 | 120 |
| E |  Rolling Pin | Short Blunt | 0.2-0.5 | 15% (2x) | 0.61-1.1 | 1.2 | 112 |
| E |  Meat Cleaver | Short Blade | 0.4-0.8 | 15% (5x) | 0.61-1.0 | 1.2 | 150 |
| F |  Stone Axe | Axe | 0.5-1.5 | 15% (5x) | 0.61-1.2 | 1.0 | 25 |
| F |  Stone Hammer | Short Blunt | 0.3-0.7 | 15% (3x) | 0.61-1.05 | 1.0 | 25 |
| F |  Spiked Plank | Long Blunt | 0.5-0.8 | 25% (5x) | 0.61-1.32 | 0.85 | 20 |
| F |  Plank | Long Blunt | 0.4-0.6 | 30% (2x) | 0.61-1.3 | 0.9 | 20 |
| F |  Stone Knife | Short Blade | 0.4-0.6 | 20% (2x) | 0.61-0.85 | 1.0 | 42 |
| F |  Kitchen Knife | Short Blade | 0.3-0.7 | 25% (4x) | 0.61-0.9 | 1.0 | 20 |
| F |  Sledgehammer | Long Blunt (Heavy) | 2.0-3.0 | - | 0.7-1.35 | 0.9 | 400 |
| *Note that weapon type also affects attack speed. Eg. Heavy weapons will attack slower than any other weapon with the same base attack speed. | |||||||
Spears are Top Tier Weapons But…
Spears are some of the best melee weapons in Project Zomboid. They have the longest range and the highest crit multiplier.
The problem is they have low durability. The crafted spear itself is really good for leveling up your Spear skill. However it will break very easily. Good thing that they are easy to craft.
Once you have sufficient levels in spear and maintenance you can consider using attachments like the Hunting Knife and Machete.
Without sufficient levels to reduce durability loss its a bit of a waste, especially with the Machete as it is itself one of the best weapons in the game.
The Garden Fork is only slightly worse than the Machete Spear. A solid late game option too.
S-Tier Melee Weapons
The Katana is the undisputed champion of melee weapons Project Zomboid. It has the highest base damage. However it’s very rare…
Pick Axe and Machete are still rare but you’ll eventually come across a few. What gives the Pick Axe the advantage is its massive 9x critical multiplier second only to spears and the wood axe.
A-Tier Melee Weapons
The Axe (Red Axe) for Lumberjack Axe Man builds is an S-Tier weapon. For any other occupation it still has all round solid stats.
The Baseball Bat and Crowbar are top tier melee staples. They are easy to find and pretty common. The Baseball Bat has twice the crit chance which is probably why you will notice killing zombies much faster with it. But the Crowbar durability is unmatched compared to any melee weapon. So you’ll probably want one to deal with large hoards.
Both the Baseball Bat and Crowbar are Long Blunt weapons. Attack range is very important in Zomboid, Long weapons typically are superior to shorter alternatives as you can attack from a safer distance. Which is also what makes spears OP.
Whilst the Spiked Baseball bat does have more damage than your basic Baseball Bat it has half the durability and a lower crit chance.
B-Tier Melee Weapons
The Lead Pipe has the best stats out of all the long metal rods (Lead Pipe, Metal Bar and Metal Pipe).
The Nightstick is a great one handed weapon that can be placed onto your belt. The only downside is that it cannot be repaired.
The Canoe Paddle and Shovel both make quite nice weapons with very nice crit chance. However its attack speed is on the slower end and has pretty low durability.
C-Tier Melee Weapons
The Wood Axe is a bit tricky to rank. It’s not as heavy as the Sledgehammer so it won’t cost you as much endurance to swing it (roughly 3x the cost of swinging the red axe).
However the weapon boasts very good damage along with the highest 12x crit multiplier paired with a massive 50% crit chance. So you’ll likely one shot everything.
The biggest down side is that as a heavy weapon it swings slow leaving you vulnerable especially when fighting multiple zombies.
For the Lumberjack this isn’t as much of a problem as the Axe Man trait boosts attack speed by 25% (perhaps increasing this weapon to high B-Tier). However for the rest of us its probably just going to get us killed.
The Hammer/Ball-peen Hammer are great starter weapons you can commonly find. You can switch it out for a longer range melee weapon when you come across one.
The Hunting Knife is better saved for attaching to a stick. Unmodified it has poor range. Short Blade weapons by itself are just not that great.
D-Tier and E-Tier Melee Weapons
These weapons you will use when you have nothing else. They are basically better than nothing and at least the blunt ones allow you to safely break windows.
The Wrenches beat all the kitchen tools. Out of the kitchen options the Frying Pan is the best.
F-Tier Melee Weapons
Don’t bother with these as there are better alternatives that are easy to come by. These items have horrible durability and will just break if you try to use them as a weapon.
The Sledgehammer is more of a tool. A rare item that can be used to destroy walls and help you break into that gun store. You don’t want to use it as a weapon as swinging it will rapidly exhaust you.
