how much damage does melee do on tarkov?

Melee damage in Escape from Tarkov depends on the weapon and the attack type: each weapon has separate chop and stab damage values, and some weapons hit much harder than others.

Typical melee damage

• The Taiga-1 Survival Machete is among the hardest-hitting melee weapons, with about 30 chop / 50 stab damage.

• The M-2 Tactical Sword is also very strong, at about 34 chop / 48 stab damage.

• Heavier tools like the Antique Axe and Crash Axe do around 26 chop / 44 stab damage.

• Smaller blades such as the 6Kh5 Bayonet are lower, around 18 chop / 23 stab damage.

What that means in practice

A single melee hit usually does not guarantee a kill unless you hit a badly damaged limb or land repeated hits, since Tarkov’s health system applies damage by body part and overflow rules. Head or thorax hits can be lethal much faster, but armor and hit location matter a lot.

Quick rule of thumb

• Weak melee weapons: roughly 15–23 damage per swing type.

• Mid-tier melee weapons: roughly 25–37 damage.

• Top melee weapons: roughly 48–50 damage on stab attacks.

If you want, I can turn this into a small table of the best melee weapons and their damage values.