Version 1.1 update - I did not pack the file properly in the 1.0 upload and the mod did not work as intended, this is fixed now. Please download the new 1.1 version if you downloaded the original 1.0 file. Apologies to those who downloaded 1.0.

ESL version now available.

This mod tweaks aspects of real-time melee combat. It is focused on making non-VATS melee more viable and fun.

I find non-VATS melee annoying due to three key aspects: Enemy blocking, stagger interrupting the player, and blocking feeling janky. I made this mod to tackle these issues.

This mod allows the player to avoid stagger/recoil/interruption when an enemy blocks their melee attack - if they have appropriate strength and/or perks.

This mod adds stagger reduction effects to vanilla perks in a measured/balanced way to make melee combat more tolerable but not making it too easy or removing the mechanic altogether.

This mod allows the player to cancel the blocking animation early by releasing the block button - instead of having to wait for several seconds for the animation to end.

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PART 1 - AVOID RECOIL/STAGGER WHEN AN ENEMY BLOCKS YOUR ATTACK

In the vanilla game, when a player melee attacks an enemy and the enemy blocks their attack, the recoil01 animation event is played - in first person the player's arms spread wide and they can move but cannot act for around 3 seconds, in third person a stagger-like animation plays and the player cannot control movement or act for around 3 seconds. Note that the Recoil01 animation event is separate to stagger, and stagger reduction mods (there are plenty on this site) do not actually prevent the effect: this mod does.

This mod allows the player to continue attacking and moving even if the enemy blocks their melee attack under the following conditions:

- If the player has 10 strength or more (this includes buffs like power armor and chems)

- If the player has the Big Leagues rank 3 perk and a two-handed melee weapon.

- If the player has the Big Leagues rank 4 perk and a one-handed melee weapon.

- If the player has the Iron Fist rank 4 perk and is unarmed or using a hand-to-hand weapon.

The enemy will still block the attack and avoid damage - but the player will not be interrupted, and they can continue acting as though they were not blocked. This can allow you to immediately attack again.

No longer will a raider send you stumbling backward because they blocked your rocket-powered sledgehammer swung in power armor by crossing their wrists together...

This is enabled by adding a condition to the recoil01 idle animation event so it will not play under the aforementioned circumstances. The normal melee attack swing carries on as if it were not blocked. The enemy will still play the block impact animation and sound effects will play - the player is just unaffected.

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PART 2 - STAGGER REDUCTION TO VANILLA PERKS

Stagger mechanics are a huge part of non-VATS melee combat, a player must be careful to avoid being staggered as it interrupts their actions and can potentially lock the player out of acting if surrounded by melee attacking enemies. However stagger reduction is hard to acquire in the base game.

This mod adds stagger reduction to vanilla perks as follows:

- Big Leagues rank 1 reduces incoming stagger by 1 if a melee weapon is equipped.

- Iron Fist rank 1 reduces incoming stagger by 1 if the player is unarmed or a hand-to-hand weapon is equipped.

- Rooted rank 1 reduces incoming stagger by 1 when standing still.

- Rooted rank 2 now allows Rooted rank 1 stagger reduction to apply when the player is moving forward as well as standing still.

- Rooted rank 3 now allows Rooted rank 1 stagger reduction to apply all the time, and also makes the player IMMUNE to stagger if standing still.

In addition to this, power armor can reduce stagger by 1 under certain circumstances.

- If the player has a T51, T60, or X01 power armor torso, and power armor legs of any type, stagger is reduced by 1.

The power armor stagger reduction is based on a lore tidbit found in Fort Strong - it is mentioned that T51 torso pieces were modified with gyroscopic stabilisers and shock absorbers to prevent operators from falling over. I am open to changing this if too many people complain about it being too particular.

There are also vanilla stagger-reduction effects available with the pneumatic torso armor mod which also reduces incoming stagger by 1 - the power armor stagger reduction this mod adds is a counter to this.

Note that stagger in the vanilla game works by triggering animations according to stagger values. A value of 3 triggers a large stagger animation. A value of 2 triggers a medium stagger animation. Below 2 a small stagger animation is triggered. Therefore I have made it easy to achieve a small reduction of 1 from rank 1 of melee perks, this should reduce the problem of having weapon attacks interrupted too much, and is based on the idea that one of the first basic things melee combatants learn is how to assume a proper/stable stance - but this isn't active when another weapon like a gun is used. Further reduction is available from Rooted later in the game, Rooted was otherwise a lacklustre perk as far as I was concerned, adding stagger reduction seems fitting for a high-strength perk called rooted - it should be considered a key part of melee builds now, but it is also generally more useful.

No vanilla perks are modified - This also means the effects are not detailed in the vanilla perk descriptions - I will make an alternate version that does.

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PART 3 - CANCEL BLOCK ANIMATION

In the vanilla game, when the player presses the block button an animation is played of the player parrying. If accidentally pressed too early or inadvertently it is very annoying to sit through when a player needs to be very responsive in real-time melee.

This mod changes the block animation to be interruptible. Hold the block button to go through the complete animation, or release the block button early to cancel it early.

This is done by adding the BlockStop animation event to the Action Left Release controls for Animation triggers. Similar to previous games you can now stop blocking at any time. Interestingly this animation event is already referenced in the name of the leftattackrelease animation tree - and the animations connect smoothly - the player moves their hands properly between blocking and idle - which suggests this may have been part of the game at some point like previous titles.

I have also removed isBlocking = 0 conditions to the requirements for the block animation event to be triggered - this is because flags like isBlocking can take a while to be updated when conditions change - potentially this could prevent a player from blocking for up to a second after they have just finished the blocking animation. You may have experienced the joys of blocking too early by accident, the player character putting their arms down, and smashing the block button again only for it to be too late... This should make blocking seem more responsive, this isblocking condition seemed redundant to me anyway.

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SMALL ADDED BONUS - MORE OUTGOING STAGGER TO LATE-GAME PERKS

I have also added increased stagger to unarmed and melee attacks if the player has the Iron Fist rank 5 or Big Leagues rank 5 perks. These are powerful additions, potentially allowing a player to stagger-lock enemies, as such they are restricted to the rank 5 versions. This late in the game builds start to get broken anyway.

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NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY AND HOW IT WORKS

A script applies a perk to the player on start-up. This custom perk handles all the effects on changing stagger and adding conditions to affect the animations played during melee combat.

The effects listed above are player-only. But they could be applied to NPCs by giving them the perk via console.

This mod does not touch vanilla perk entries to apply its effects - as such vanilla perk descriptions do not detail this mod's effects.

This mod changes vanilla behaviour graph children - It may conflict with other mods that specifically affect blocking and stagger animations.

The download file contains an ESP file and a Scripts folder path to the script that adds a perk to the player on game start. Compressed as 7Z.

ESP is named MeleeMechanicsTweaks.esp. Script is called StaggerOverhaulScript.psc.


Alternative to this mod: ACTUALIZED Power Armor.

I have integrated effects of this mod and more into a power armor mod.

I have also found a way to change melee attack speed in a non-jarring way in that mod too. See ACTUALIZED.