# Long-Neglected Issues: Common Melee Enemy, and Mixed Factions **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818 "2026-05-23T02:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EggFever](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/eggfever/32/88286_2.png) [@EggFever](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/EggFever)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 1:22am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/21 "2026-05-24T01:22:04Z")
bro i reverse image searched your pfp are you an astrophysicist ---
**Author:** ![Hammer\_hold](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/hammer_hold/32/103503_2.png) [@Hammer\_hold](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Hammer_hold)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/22 "2026-05-24T12:24:57Z")
More like, they use an image of an astrophysicist for their profile picture. ---
**Author:** ![Martak7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Martak7](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Martak7)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/23 "2026-05-24T14:18:48Z")
Scabs are pretty low quality enemies as well tbh. It seems like over half the conventional traitor guards are armed with clubs and machetes lol. What happened to all their guns? ---
**Author:** ![anon63448941](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anon63448941](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/anon63448941)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/24 "2026-05-24T15:17:57Z")
And chainswords. Yeah, there’s very little differentiation between Scab and Cultists at the moment, outside of Scabs being better armored. I’d like to see Dreg Ragers be able to keep pace with a max mobility combat knife, and not use the combo that locks them into an animation as often. Make a small group of them a higher threat that can’t just be kited endlessly, but must be dealt with before a knife player can kite enemies. That said, I like the high mobility aspect of knife so ideally it would be specific types of enemies that are able to act as more of a hard counter for high mobility weapons. The knife doesn’t have CC or much cleave, so it makes sense that a group of Ragers (3-4) should be a hard counter to it. As for Scabs, they should feel more oppressive in ranged than they are currently, more tactical. They should be able to lockdown a path better, force players to flank rather than just blitz in with dodge-slide spam and wreck the Gunners. Scab Shotgunners should spawn as a 1-1 pair with Scab Gunners in roaming groups and ambushes, also their shots should not be dodgeable by sliding. Rather than go into melee like the less trained Cultists, ideally they would blast away at melee range making melee suicide until Scab Shotgunners are blasted with a headshot. They’re very weak enemies, most ranged weapons can OHKO them with headshots. Scab Gunners should get a Carapace head so they’re less susceptible to being OHKO’d when peaking out of cover, and should have a higher suppression resistance. Blaze Bolts should not shut down Scab Gunners. Scab Gunners should mount their guns when peaking out from behind cover, giving them much greater accuracy and fire rate, so their spawn count can be reduced. They should also drop Smoke Grenades right before they begin their volley, that Shotgunners, Scab Shooters and other Scab Gunners can aim through. Hopefully the new Scab Suppression Shield enemies will have Shotpistols they wield as they peek from behind their shield, periodically using the Shield’s Flashbang feature when players get within close range. The Flashbang would ideally not allow players to dodge, or Sprint for a short period of time - if players were looking at the Shield when the Flashbang went off. Anyway, just a few ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Hammer\_hold](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/hammer_hold/32/103503_2.png) [@Hammer\_hold](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Hammer_hold)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/25 "2026-05-24T16:16:45Z")
Honestly I’d add more onto this. All the suggestions below would act as compensation for lesser spawns: Scabs ranged troops should be more responsive to ranged combat since they are a military faction. They should be noticeably harder to fight with from a distance. Things like: - Every Scab ranged enemy reacts much faster when bullets start flying; - Scab Shooters and Gunners run faster to cover compared to their Dreg Counterparts. You could even switch their running animation to the one of Flamers. This running animation looks more intense and could justify why they are moving noticeably faster when running; - Scab Stalkers, Gunners, Shotgunners move faster while shooting (compared to their Dreg counterparts); - Scab Shotgunners: - having a new special dodge mechanic (after using it would go on cooldown - 5/7 seconds) where they make a quick dodge animation to either left or right which would make it harder to hit them with ranged weaponry. As a reference point check out the dodges of an Agitator from Helldivers 2; - doing less damage but shooting faster because their shotguns clearly have a much bigger magazine compared to the Dreg one; - Having a new special melee attack that only activates on higher difficulties when a player gets close into melee range on higher difficulties. An attack where their melee is drawn and used to strike the target in one single, quick motion. This attack would knock a player back a little just like the shield bash of a Bulwark does. As to melee Scabs, it all comes down to attack speed or new attack animations: - All Scab enemies should take away more stamina if their attacks are blocked. That would be underlining that they actually received training and know in what way to swing and hit to make their strikes more impactful; - Scab bruisers should either: - Scab Maulers should either: - Scab Ragers should: - Scab Capitans: I already went over the potential buffs they could receive here: > [@Scab Capitans in in the Assasination missions need buffs](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/scab-capitans-in-in-the-assasination-missions-need-buffs/114207): > > Scab Capitans, in both of the Assassination missions we currently have, die way too quickly, even after the health buffs they received. I think they need buffs in many aspects. So I propose these changes: Give Scab Capitans 100% more hp across all difficulties (yes, in Auric it would be 100k hp). Make their charges way faster and more impactful but dodgeable. Any reject, that would get hit by their charge, would get knocked away and if they were blocking, it would take away all their stamina.… Just some suggestions to feed the void with. ---
**Author:** ![anon63448941](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@anon63448941](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/anon63448941)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/26 "2026-05-24T17:07:21Z")
Those are all great ideas honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Martak7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Martak7](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Martak7)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/27 "2026-05-24T18:45:42Z")
Making every Scab grunt wear carapace is an actually horrible idea, and makes no lore sense whatsoever. Also horrible for the game. Fatshark’s spam of walls of carapace HP drove the destructive Dueling Sword meta which despite nerfs still badly affects the game. ---
**Author:** ![JanZamoysky](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/janzamoysky/32/87926_2.png) [@JanZamoysky](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/JanZamoysky)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/28 "2026-05-24T18:56:54Z")
Unless you play high Havoc, horde enemies aren’t really threating, and even in Havoc they mainly serve as a mass to obstruct your movement and …toughness battery for players. In my old VT2 friend group we used to have that running joke, that the most dangerous enemy is that one slave rat, you didn’t see who downs you after your successful last stand against a mixed horde. Apparently common shield enemies are being added to Darktide, in the next content drop. That might be interesting. > [@MONIKA2333](#): > > Perhaps Fat Shark deliberately made the long-range enemies of Dark Tide pose a higher threat. After all, they had to make Dark Tide and Vermintide have obvious differences in gameplay and performance. The enemy has powerful long-range attack methods, and the player also has more ammunition and stronger long-range weapons. Possibly, only shame Darktide “gunning experience” is easily the weakest part of the core combat experience. A pretty bad move if you ask me, especially based on H40 experience. Most guns just don’t feel fun to use. Some, like the old bolter, and both bolt pistols have RNG written into their “recoil” behaviour. Some guns are designed for “horde clear”, and as a result have been totally forgotten. Multiple other guns just don’t perform well at tasks they are supposed to excel at. I would love for Fatshark to play some Counter Strike, and come back to the drawing board. Then limit ammo, to make ammo actually count. Make guns harder to master, but more punchy into the target groups they are supposed to be good at. Limit gun target groups simpler: soft targets and armoured targets, to not over-complicat things. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/fatshark/original/3X/3/1/319a2f41b73f03a4d9360defbe43058888a33c8c.png) [@system](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/long-neglected-issues-common-melee-enemy-and-mixed-factions/121818/29 "2026-06-07T18:57:35Z")
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