The Finals Quick Melee: 25 Damage and the Kick Most Players Miss

Quick melee deals 25 damage. That is the number, and it is the second version of it: the swing used to deal 40, and a balance pass cut it to 25 while adding a new behaviour on top. Any guide still quoting 40 is describing the old game.

Knowing the number is what turns the swing from a panic button into a decision.

Why 25 is the number that matters

Against a Light at 175 health, 25 damage is 14 percent of a health bar — meaningful only as a finisher, never as an opener. Against a Heavy at 325, it is under eight percent, which is why swinging at a full-health Heavy is how you lose a fight you were winning with a gun.

The practical rule that falls out is simple: check the health bar, not the distance. If your last shot left a sliver, 25 closes it instantly with no swap delay and no reload. If the bar is full, the same swing spends your committed window on nothing.

The full-stamina kick

When your stamina bar is full, quick melee becomes a kick instead — the target gets pushed back roughly five metres rather than merely damaged. The kick then locks your stamina out for about 2.5 seconds.

This changes what the tool is for. A kick is not a damage move; it is a displacement move, and it is the fastest way to break a hold interaction. Someone stealing your cashout, or holding an objective prompt, gets interrupted and moved off the point. Most players never use it that way because they never notice the stamina condition that triggers it.

The catch is the cost. Spending full stamina on a kick leaves you with no dash and no evasion for 2.5 seconds, which is a long time in a fight you did not intend to start.

Mechanics worth knowing

The swing fires from any state — sprinting, sliding, mid-reload — without interrupting your momentum, which is why it pairs so well with movement. It breaks glass and thin obstacles instantly, making it a traversal tool as much as a damage one.

Melee also has a precision zone. Hits landing inside the swing’s arc deal full damage; glancing blows outside it deal less. That matters more for dedicated melee weapons than for the quick swing, but it explains why two identical-looking melee exchanges can end differently.

Where it fits

Quick melee is a finishing tool and an interruption tool, and the two uses have opposite requirements. Finishing wants a damaged target in front of you. Interrupting wants full stamina and a contestant mid-interaction.

Neither use is a substitute for a gun. The melee guide covers the dedicated weapons, where the swing-to-swing damage tables actually decide fights, and the movement tech guide covers closing distance fast enough to make either use land.