[Halo 3]Melee attack: what's your tactic?[Halo 3]

Theories abound but it seems, from a web search sampling, that the majority of Halo 3 players believe that melee kills are determined by shield level and not who strikes first. If this is the case, then how do you use this to your advantage?

*deploys flame shield*

This is how melees work in Halo 3. Who ever has the most health at close range will win the melee fight no matter what.

Example

I have no shields and the person I'm trying to kill has a 1/4542354235324532354 of shields left. He will win. Even if he Melee's 2 seconds later he will kill you. Your beatdown can not hurt him at close range if he melee's with in 2 seconds.

LINK with Video

The system is what it is. For example, this scenario happensseveral times in a ranked match where both myself and my opponent go in with guns blazing but I know that I started first and we're both using assault rifles--the opponent wins the melee attack. Why...not because I hit last but because when he hit be my shield was lower.

Theoretically,thewinning tactic in a gun fightis actually to melee your opponent as late as you can and simply hope that his shield was lower than yours when you land your blow. I know that the obvious logical flaw is that his blow should kill you if your shield is low, e.g. 1/2 or less. For some reason, flaw in the AI perhaps, the timing doesn't seem to factor in and thus during the encounter it is more about who makes contact against the lowest shield.

Melee can work on so many levels and its not always who hits first as if im low on shield I will always throw a grenade before entering that sort of combat situation. I some times hit first jump back and shoot them or I get them with the assault rifle or the rather generic shotgun melee lol.. but I assure melee is not esecial to kick ass because if your that kind of player I will run backwards as I shoot and throw grendades so you cant melee or I will snipe or battle riffle it.. stickies etc.

Everyone thinks its a melee game or something like that but there is not one ****of play that cannot be countered by another, there is no way to constantly dominate, it used to be the noob combo im halo 2, now its melee for halo 3, but its easily beatable.. this kind of thing just differenciates the difference between run and gun and skilled player.

Just tactics and melee seems to be something people can learn easy, I admit I use it alot especially with the shotgun and maluers but I still get my ass kicked sometimes aswell lol..

just find a way to counter it or use it better than someone else =).. besides just a game right

Bungie addressed this in their last weekly update. Here's how it works:

1.) In the event of any non-simultaneous strike, the person who melees first will win IF his opponent's health is low enough that he can be killed with one strike.

2.) In the event of a simultaneous strike, the person with the most health wins, assuming both players health levels are low enough that they can be killed with one strike.

Obviously if your shields are up you might survive a melee attack and then be able to beat down your opponent if his shields are lower than yours were.

Sometimes on movie playbacks it looks like the person to strike second wins. In truth, this is an animation glitch caused by server lag. The strikes are calculated in real time, but the animation takes half a second to catch up. Regardless, the correct person wins, however it looks in the movie. They are trying to fix this, but the easiest way to do so is have host advantage (a la Gears) which is not preferable.

Avoid close encounters in all cases because the melee system is noobified and takes no skill or reflex or timing.

The melee system is garbage/10.

it would make more sense if it was a "i hit first-i kill you" system.. not a "i hit first - i end up dead" system...sandroDX

thats in halo 3 ( i shoot u first, i ended up dead) , which is pisses me off so that why i quit playin halo 3, it just too different then halo 2, i rather play halo 2 over halo 3 any day...imo