Heavy melee movement techniques

Hold melee (Q by default) to perform a heavy melee on the ground or in the air. It costs no stamina and lasts 1.25 seconds, with a one-second cooldown on hit or 1.3 seconds on miss.

Phases and hit detection

Windup lasts 0.36 seconds. Starting on the ground stops the hero; in air the hero retains velocity but cannot steer with movement keys. The attacker is vulnerable and has no hitbox yet. Sound and fist particles telegraph the attack.

The lunge lasts up to 0.6 seconds. A small moving spherical hitbox can hit enemies, including neutral creeps; a hit ends the lunge and enters recovery without the final hit. The attacker can be parried while the hitbox is active. Turning is restricted to roughly 300 degrees; airborne vertical direction can change by about 5 degrees. If the lunge finishes without an earlier hit, the final attack checks both a 192-unit sphere and a forward conical frustum 200 units long with a 100-unit end radius. An enemy hurtbox must intersect both checks.

Equipment	Ground peak	Air peak, starting stationary
None	750 units/s	797 units/s
Melee Charge	1,125 units/s	1,195 units/s
Crushing Fists	1,200 units/s	1,275 units/s

Recovery takes 0.2833 seconds and removes the hitbox and momentum, including airborne momentum. Typical base damage is 116; the source lists Ivy at 116, Yamato at 128 and Paige at 120 with 0.45 Spirit scaling. Melee damage and weapon damage items can increase it; melee receives 50% of weapon damage bonuses.

Distance item	Cost	Category	Heavy Melee Distance
Melee Charge	1,600 souls	Weapon	+50%
Crushing Fists	6,400 souls	Weapon	+60%
Runed Gauntlets	Legendary	Weapon	+150%

Heavy Melee Cancel

Activate a compatible item or ability during the lunge to cancel recovery. A true cancel permits immediate actions; a false cancel interrupts the melee but puts the hero in an ability state that prevents normal actions. Kelvin’s Frozen Shelter is a true cancel. True cancels can preserve some lunge momentum for movement, especially when performed near the end and followed by a slide bunnyhop; Melee Charge increases the lunge speed. The April 17, 2025 update substantially reduced preserved momentum, limiting the movement gain. False cancels mainly serve as parry bait or small positioning changes.

Active item	Category	Cost in souls
Fleetfoot	Weapon	1,600
Restorative Locket	Armor	1,600
Fury Trance	Armor	3,200
Colossus	Armor	6,400
Unstoppable	Armor	6,400
Vampiric Burst	Armor	6,400

Hero	Ability	Cancel
Dynamo	Singularity	False
Ivy	Stone Form	False
Kelvin	Ice Path	False
Kelvin	Frozen Shelter	True

Cancel extension

Holding melee after an item cancel starts a second heavy punch immediately. The two punches appear as one extended attack and can cover roughly twice the normal distance. The extension permits another turn in tight spaces and can bait a parry. The extension source refers to four active items, while the current cancel page lists six; the count is not reconciled by the sources.

Hidden melee

An ability animation can hide or obscure the heavy melee animation, making visual parry cues harder to read. The sound and fist particles remain visible or audible to enemies; effects hidden only on the user’s client do not hide them from enemies. Timing depends on the ability: Viscous has a generous window, while Seven’s is described as three ticks.

Hero	Ability	Method and visibility
Bebop	Exploding Uppercut	Buffer melee during the ability; hidden, with a much shorter melee.
Grey Talon	Charged Shot	Buffer melee during cast; hidden.
Holliday	Bounce Pad	Buffer on landing while stomping; hidden, once per pad.
Kelvin	Ice Path	Heavy melee, then cast; hidden.
Kelvin	Frozen Shelter	Melee while casting or cast then melee; hidden.
Lash	Grapple	Melee during approximately three seconds after the initial grapple; hidden.
Lash	Flog	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Lash	Ground Strike	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Mina	Nox Nostra	Hidden throughout the ultimate.
Mo & Krill	Sand Blast	Melee after throwing it; hidden.
Seven	Lightning Ball	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Seven	Static Charge	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Shiv	Killing Blow	Buffer melee after cast; hidden.
Viscous	Puddle Punch	Melee as the punch emerges; animation obscured.
Vyper	Screwjab Dagger	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Vyper	Petrifying Bola	Cast and buffer melee; hidden.
Yamato	Shadow Transformation	Buffer melee after casting; hidden.
Silver	Boot Kick	Melee after casting; hidden.
Victor	Shocking Reanimation	Melee just before the ability; hidden.