The roblox melee combat system you choose to implement or play with is often the single most important factor in whether a game feels "premium" or like a total jank-fest. If you've spent any time in Roblox Studio, or even just jumped between games like Blox Fruits, Strongest Battlegrounds, or the old-school Sword Fight on the Heights, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There is a massive, world-of-difference gap between a combat system that clicks and one that just feels like you're swinging a wet pool noodle at a brick wall.
Building a solid roblox melee combat system isn't just about making a sword move when you click your mouse. It's this weird, delicate balancing act between physics, animations, server-client communication, and what game devs often call "juice." If you get it right, players feel every hit. If you get it wrong, they're going to complain about lag, "phantom hits," and broken hitboxes before they even finish their first round.
The Technical Backbone: Hitboxes and Raycasting
Let's get the technical stuff out of the way first, because you can't have a good fight without a way to actually detect a hit. Back in the day, everyone used the .Touched event. It was easy, it was built-in, and it was—to be honest—kind of terrible. The problem with .Touched is that it's incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it fires when the sword is three feet away; other times, you can run a blade right through a guy's torso and the game won't register a thing.
Most modern devs have moved on to Raycast Hitboxes. Instead of relying on the physics engine to tell the game when two parts touch, you basically draw invisible lines (rays) between the positions of the weapon from one frame to the next. If that line crosses a player, boom, that's a hit. It's way more precise and much less prone to the "teleporting sword" glitch that happens when the server lags. There's a really popular module out there called "Raycast Hitbox 4.0" that almost everyone uses because, frankly, why reinvent the wheel when someone already made a perfect one?
The "Feel" of the Fight: Animations and Weight
You can have the most mathematically perfect raycasting in the world, but if your character just stands there stiffly while a sword magically teleports forward, the combat is going to suck. This is where animations come in. A great roblox melee combat system relies heavily on anticipation and follow-through.
When a player clicks, there should be a split-second "wind-up" where the character pulls back. Then, the swing happens—fast and aggressive. Finally, there's a "recovery" period where the character resets. This creates a rhythm. Without it, you get "click-spamming," which is the death of skill-based gameplay.
I've noticed that the best games also use something called view-model bobbing or slight camera shakes. When you land a heavy hit, the camera should give a little rattle. It tells the player's brain, "Hey, you just did some serious damage." It's all about feedback. If the player doesn't feel the hit through the screen, the combat feels hollow.
Dealing with the Final Boss: Latency
We can't talk about any roblox melee combat system without talking about lag. Roblox is a platform where players are connecting from all over the world, often on sub-par Wi-Fi. Latency is the absolute "fun-killer" in melee games.
If I swing my sword on my screen and hit you, but on your screen you've already walked five steps away, who does the server believe? This is the eternal struggle of client vs. server. If you handle everything on the server, the combat feels "heavy" and delayed for the attacker. If you handle everything on the client, it's easy for exploiters to just tell the server "I hit everyone on the map at once," and the server will blindly believe them.
Most top-tier combat systems use a hybrid approach. The client handles the visuals and the initial "hit" detection so the player gets instant gratification. Then, the server does a "sanity check." It looks at where both players were and asks, "Is it actually possible that Player A hit Player B from that distance?" If the answer is yes, the damage is dealt. If not, the hit is discarded. It's not perfect, but it's the best way to keep things fair without making the game feel like it's running through molasses.
Adding Depth: Combos, Stuns, and Parries
If your combat system is just "click to swing," players are going to get bored in about ten minutes. To keep people engaged, you need depth. This is usually where the "M1, M1, M1, M2" combo comes in.
The first three hits (M1s) might be quick jabs that deal low damage but keep the enemy stunned. The fourth hit (M2 or a heavy finisher) might have a longer wind-up but knock the opponent back or break through their block. Speaking of blocking—that's another essential. A block mechanic gives the person being attacked a way to fight back.
And if you really want to get fancy, you add parrying. If you block at the exact moment an attack hits, you shouldn't just take zero damage; you should stun the attacker. This turns the game into a high-stakes dance of timing rather than just a contest of who has the lower ping.
Sound and Particles: The "Juice"
I mentioned "juice" earlier, and I really can't overstate how much it matters. Imagine hitting someone with a giant hammer and hearing nothing. Just silence. It's weird, right? Now imagine hitting them and hearing a deep, bassy crunch accompanied by a burst of sparks and a slight screen blur. It's the same amount of damage, but the second one feels a thousand times better.
When building a roblox melee combat system, you should spend at least 20% of your time just on the sound effects (SFX) and particle effects (VFX). Every surface should have a different sound. Hitting a wood shield should sound different than hitting metal armor. These tiny details are what separate the front-page games from the ones that sit in the "New" section with zero players.
Why Custom Systems Trump Free Models
Look, there's no shame in using a kit when you're starting out. There are some decent sword kits in the toolbox. But if you're serious about your game, you eventually have to move toward a custom-coded system.
Free models are often bloated with old code, or worse, they're vulnerable to exploits. When you write your own roblox melee combat system, you have total control. You can decide exactly how the "knockback" physics work. You can tweak the "stun duration" down to the millisecond. You can make sure the code is optimized so it doesn't lag the server when forty people start fighting at once during a big event.
Final Thoughts for Aspiring Devs
If you're currently banging your head against the wall trying to get your combat system to work, don't sweat it. It's one of the hardest things to get right on Roblox. Start simple. Get a basic raycast working first. Then, add an animation. Then, add a sound. Don't try to build Elden Ring in a weekend.
The most successful creators on the platform are the ones who iterate. They playtest their combat, realize the sword feels too "floaty," and they spend three hours tweaking the gravity and the swing speed until it feels just right.
At the end of the day, a roblox melee combat system is about the interaction between two players. It's a conversation. "I hit you," "No, I blocked it," "Okay, but I'm going to parry your next move." If you can make that conversation feel smooth, responsive, and exciting, you've already won half the battle. Just remember: keep it crunchy, keep it fair, and for the love of all things holy, don't rely on .Touched!