By pressing the melee key¹⁾, you can execute a Light Melee. By holding the melee key, you can continue winding up your punch to execute a Heavy Melee. A full Heavy Melee lasts for 1.25 seconds and has a cooldown of 0.9 seconds²⁾. A Heavy Melee costs no stamina.

Heavy Melee's are available both on the ground and in the air. There are three phases to a Heavy Melee: windup, lunge and recovery.³⁾

Upon initiating a Heavy Melee, you enter the first phase: windup. During windup, you pull back and “windup” your punch. If you were on the ground upon initiation, you are instantly stopped while you windup.

During this phase, you are fully vulnerable and do not yet have a hitbox. While in windup, yellow and orange particle effects will be emitted from your fist and a noticeable sound effect will be played for all players. If you are in the air, you will continue in your current velocity, and be locked out of moving using the standard movement keys.

The windup phase takes 0.36 seconds.

After the windup phase is the lunge phase. During the lunge phase, you start lunging forwards and are able to damage other players. The peak speed at which you lunge is 750 u/s on the ground and 797 u/s in the air. With the Weapon item Melee Charge, the peak speed is 1050 u/s on the ground and 1116 u/s while in the air.

During this phase, you have a hitbox attached to you. While you are moving, a small spherical hitbox is attached to your player which can damage opponents. Since you have a melee hitbox applied on your character, you are susceptible to being parried. If any enemy player is hit (including neutral creeps), the rest of the lunge phase is cancelled, the final hitbox will not appear and you immediately enter the recovery phase.

While in lunge phase, you have unrestricted turning. This allows you to fake out opponents or take very sharp turns.

At the end of the lunge phase is a “final hit”. This hitbox is much larger and is able to be aimed in any direction. This final hitbox consists of two checks:

• The game checks in a 192 unit sphere around you to check for enemy players (includes Neutral creeps and minions).
• The game checks in a conical frustum (which is 200 units in length and 100 units in final radius) in front of your current position to check for enemy players. (includes Neutral creeps and minions)
• If an enemies hurtbox is in both, they are hit and damaged.

While in the air, you are able to change your direction by ~5° upwards or downwards.

The damage that a Heavy Melee deals depends on the character; the normal damage amount is 116. Ivy and Yamato deal 99 and 128 melee damage respectively. This damage can be increased by buying items that have the +Melee Damage stat or by buying items that increase Weapon Damage⁴⁾

The lunge phase takes a maximum of 0.6 seconds.

After the lunge phase is the recovery phase. In this phase, you no longer have any active hitboxes and stand still. All previous momentum is cancelled and you stop at a standstill, both on the ground and in the air. If you are in the air, all momentum (both the x-axis and the y-axis) is cancelled for a moment.

The recovery phase takes 0.2833 seconds

Certain items have the +Heavy Melee Distance statistic, which changes the distance that your Heavy Melee goes. A base grounded Heavy Melee travels 241.62 units forward; you can extend the distance by obtaining the Weapon item Melee Charge, which extends the lunge by 96.63 units, for a total of 338.25 units.

Price (Souls)	Type of Item	Item Name	+Heavy Melee Distance	Distance Travelled on Ground (u)	Peak Speed (u/s)
Base Stats				241.62	Ground	Air
					750	797.50
1,250	Weapon	Melee Charge	+45%	338.25	1050	1116.27