Melee Combat

Melee Combat is a fighting style adopted by several characters in the Fairy Tail series.

Description

Melee combat is a fighting style which, as the name itself suggests, revolves around close-range confrontation, with users assaulting opponents physically. Widespread around Fiore, this form of combat can be employed by normal people and Mages alike. While the latter ones were described by the Vanish Brothers as lacking the ability to fight at close range due to their time being devoted to studying Magic,^[1] some Mages are in fact shown to be fearsome melee fighters, even specializing in such form of combat.^[2] Magic itself can be a valuable asset when engaging foes in close quarters, with many forms of Magic being focused around melee combat.

Dragon Slayer Magic provides its users with many melee techniques that utilizes the user's respective element.^[3]
Titan enlarges the users' body, making their strikes stronger and granting them a larger striking range.^[4]
Ice-Make can be employed to craft melee weapons,^[5] or to freeze foes at close range.^[6]
Requip allows its users to store away and equip at will weapons and armors for battle.^[7]
Sword Magic grants users a range of empowered melee attacks when employing swords.^[8]
Urumi employs retractable flat cables which can be used to assault foes in combat.^[9]
Take Over can transform the users' bodies into that of creatures fit for melee combat.^[10]
Nails Growing, as the name implies, grows the users' nails in mere instants, enhancing their slashing and scratching attacks.^[11] When combined with Paralysis Claw: Mega Jellyfish, one touch of these nails can kill a person in few seconds.^[12]
Meteor, a Heavenly Body Magic spell, can increase the power of the users' blows and make them almost unavoidable by propelling their bodies around with Magic energy.^[13]
Iron Dog can turn the users' arms into metallic beings, enhancing their punching power.^[14]
Regulus can greatly boost the power of unarmed attacks.^[15]
Lightning Magic can greatly increase the speed at which users move around,^[16] at the same time granting the unarmed blows they land in melee more force.^[17]
Slowing Magic can significantly reduce enemies' speed, allowing the users to strike them in melee undisturbed.^[18] This effect is similar to those of High Speed and Athletic Magic, whose users also employ their superior speed to attack the opponents.^[19]^[20]
Power Perfume, a type of Perfume Magic, greatly increases the size of the users' muscles, giving them an immense amount of strength and thus making them suited for delivering blows in melee.^[21]
Muscle Speak can enhance the strength of the users' allies, making them more suited for close-range confrontations.^[22]
Needle Magic can cover the users' bodies in spikes, making them deadlier at close range, as well as enlarge them in a similar way to Titan, though on a smaller scale.^[23]
Palm Magic focuses the users' Magic Power in the palms of their hands, making their unarmed blows way more damaging.^[24]
Drill 'n Rock makes the users' limbs spin like drills, augmenting their offensive power in melee and their overall movement speed.^[25]
Water Magic allows the user to turn their body into water, granting them the ability to move at great speeds,^[26] and also allows them to envelop certain parts of their body with water, allowing them to greatly enhance their unarmed attacks.^[27]

Melee combat can be performed both unarmed, with users assaulting foes with punches, kicks and other moves, and armed, with users wielding weapons of various kinds, and is thus divided in two main classifications: Hand to Hand Combat and Armed Combat.

Hand to Hand Combat

Users of Hand to Hand Combat engage into melee confrontations employing unarmed moves. A variety of such moves has been shown, with the most recurring ones being different types of punches^[28] and kicks;^[29] headbutts, elbows,^[30] knees^[31] and palm strikes are also used to various extent.^[32] The way such form of combat is harnessed varies from user to user: some are shown to employ an aggressive, direct attack style relying on mighty blows^[33] and body slams^[34] while others prefer performing more fluent and acrobatic motions to strike opponents.^[35] While most fighters aren't stated to employ any specific fighting style, some named martial arts exist:

Bacchus' Fighting Stance — The typical stance adopted by users of such martial arts

Chop Hanging Palm (劈掛掌 Hikashō): A martial art which revolves around the use of palm strikes. Users of such art usually assume a typical fighting stance, diagonally stretching their arms upwards and bending their knees, in order to more easily perform these attacks. The only known user of this style is the Quatro Cerberus guild's S-Class Mage Bacchus.^[36]
Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm (酔劈掛掌 Sui Hikashō): Bacchus' exclusive version of Chop-Hanging Palm, which he employs after consuming alcohol. Doing this makes the pattern of his strikes unpredictable, at the same time drastically boosting their power.^[36]

The unarmed prowess, predictably, varies from user to user, with some being more experienced or physically prepared than others.

Master Hand to Hand Combatants

Masters of unarmed combat possess the greatest prowess of all, being capable of easily taking on several opponents at once with ease. Some of them are known to employ hand-to-hand combat as the main element of their fighting style, and can overwhelm foes even if they are armed or larger than the users themselves.^[37]

Master Hand to Hand Combatants

Bacchus

Racer

Zancrow

Azuma

Zoldeo

Kain Hikaru

Bluenote Stinger

Byro Cracy

Expert Hand to Hand Combatants

Expert unarmed combatatants possess remarkable prowess in the use of such art, being able to use it to great extent, and to take on more than one opponent at the same time.^[10] Some of them, while not employing hand-to-hand combat as the main element of their fighting style, are shown capable of holding their own against masters of such discipline.^[38]

Expert Hand to Hand Combatants

Sol

Fukuro

Jellal Fernandes

Freed Justine

Aries

Cobra

Loke

Unarmed Techniques

Physical

Magical

Armed Combat

Armed combat, as the name itself suggests, revolves around the usage of weapons, which users employ against their opponents at close range. A variety of melee tools is commonly utilized throughout Fiore, with swords, coming in different shape and size (among which are longswords, sabers^[39] and rapiers)^[40], being the most common ones, and with other weapons being daggers,^[41] spears,^[42] staves,^[43] axes,^[44] whips,^[45] scythes,^[46] guan dao,^[47] war hammers and kanabō.^[48] Even curious tools such as oversized frying pans^[49] and elongated nails^[50] have been shown to be employed as weapons.

Due to swords being the most popular weapons, Swordsmanship is a known discipline, with swordsmen found throughout the Kingdom possessing various levels of mastery. Most forms of swordplay, similar to most forms of unarmed combat, aren't properly classified as specific fighting styles. However, so far, one named art of the sword has been revealed:

Kagura slices Ophiuchus — The style being used

Style of the Undrawn Long Sword (抜かぬ太刀の型 Nukanu Tachi no Kata): A form of swordsmanship revolving around the use of a sheathed blade. While technically not exposing the weapon's cutting edge/s, users of such art are shown able to slice foes as if they were wielding a drawn sword. The stances assumed in the performance of this swordplay are vaguely reminiscent of those typical to Iaido, with the swordsmen wielding the sheath of their sword with one hand, and resting the other on the sword's hilt. Kagura Mikazuchi is currently the only swordswoman shown employing the Style of the Undrawn Long Sword, making use of it with the "Blade of Resentment", Archenemy.^[51] It's as of yet unknown whether the peculiar cutting capabilities which this form of combat relies on stem from skill or from the weapon employed.

Master Swordsmanship Specialists

Masters of such art possess impressive swordplay, demonstrating great speed, accuracy and power,^[52] and being capable of fighting several foes at the same time.^[53] Many master swordsmen who are also Mages actively employ Sword Magic.^[8]^[54]^[55]

Master Swordsmanship Specialists

Ikaruga

Yomazu

Expert Swordsmanship Specialists

Expert swordsmen possess advanced swordplay, enough for them to hold their own against several opponents,^[56] or to slice things which are usually considered impossible to slash, such as spells.^[57]

Expert Swordsmanship Specialists

Gray Fullbuster