Dagger

DAGGER
DAGGER
Weapon Quote	“Close-range melee weapon; can also perform a secondary backstabbing attack” "As we pass the halfway point of the match, you could cut the tension with a knife. Or an assassin's dagger. Or a cheese slicer."; — Scotty
// Profile //
Build	Light
Type	Melee
// Damage //
Body	50
Crit	320 [Backstab w/ Alt Fire]
// Technical //
Attack Time	Primary: 500ms ALT: 950ms

The Dagger is a Light class melee weapon with the unique ability to deal extreme contact damage with a backstab attack, designed to assassinate opponents.

Usage

The Dagger can be selected as the weapon of any Light build loadout.

The attack trigger slashes opponents in front of the user to damage them, and can be held down to continuously attack.

The secondary attack is charged up by holding the aiming key and triggered on release. This will damage an opponent in front of the user, if the attack lands behind the opponent, it will count as a backstab, inflicting 320 damage to the target. The backstab charge can be canceled by pressing the primary fire key while holding the charge.

Controls	PC	PS	XBox	Key
Equip Dagger	1	△	Y	Weapon
Attack (Tap) Continuous attack (Hold)		R2	RT	Primary fire
Stab attack (Tap)		L2	LT	Secondary fire

Properties

Weapon

Melee — Strikes targets close to the contestant. Can attack forever without reloading.

Automatic Fire — Continues to attack repeatedly until the trigger is released.

Alternate Attack — Has an alternate attack that performs a slower stab which can critically hit.

No Attack Sequence — Attacks from right to left and left to right, but these have no difference in timing or hit registration.

Bullet

Critical Hit — Critically hits for extreme damage on its alternate attack if the user is behind the target.

Minor Structure Damage — Damages structures. Takes a very long time to break a concrete wall.

Strategy

Strengths

The Dagger's extreme backstab damage makes it a strong tool against Heavies. They are the slowest class, making it hard for them to outmaneuver the Light user, but still get (nearly) one-shot by the Dagger.

Weaknesses

Not only is the Dagger's backstab damage overkill against Lights, they are also very difficult to catch with a melee attack—let alone with a backstab—due to their high movability.
If a backstab attempt fails, the Dagger's damage output is very low, meaning it may be a better choice to escape instead of attempting to eliminate the target.

Tactics

It is possible to instantly kill a Heavy by backstabbing them immediately followed by a Quick Melee.
The Cloaking Device can be paired up with the Dagger to get close to opponents. However, once the user is close enough they should act quickly, as the cloaking device will become easy to noticeable due to its loud and distinct sound when in motion.
The Evasive Dash can be combined with the Dagger. The backstab charge can be started from a distance, and then a dash is used to close the gap. It is also possible to begin the charge facing the opponent, then dash past them and look around. This technique can be perfected in the practice range, but proves quite difficult on actual opponents, as their unpredictable movement can body-block the dash from reaching past them.

Damage

Useful Damage Combinations
Build	Attack Combo	Damage
Light	Primary Fire → Primary Fire → Primary Fire	50+50+50= 150
Light	Alt Fire (backstab)	320
Medium	Alt Fire (backstab)	320
Heavy	Alt Fire (backstab) → Primary Fire	320+50= 370
Heavy	Alt Fire (backstab) → Quick Melee	320+40= 360

Kill times for the Dagger
	Shots to Kill	Time to Kill (Body)	Time to Kill (Crit)
Light	3	1.21	N/A
Medium	5	2.20	N/A
Heavy	7	3.35	N/A

Mechanics

Backstab

The Dagger's backstab attack takes 800ms to charge up. Then, there are 3 frames in which the stab attack occurs. If a target is in the stab's area of effect in any of these frames, they will be struck at the first possible frame. Unlike the standard attack, the stab attack can only hit one target.

If the user is behind the target at the striking frame, the attack will critically hit as a backstab. More specifically, the vector from the user to the target needs to be anywhere between codirectional (0°) and orthogonal (-90° or 90°) to the facing direction of the target.

The backstab charge can be held even when cloaked from the Cloaking Device or Vanishing Bomb.

Item Mastery

Item mastery XP can be earned by damaging and eliminating opponents with the Dagger.

Each time a certain XP threshold is reached, the item levels up. This does not improve the item, but rewards a unique item customization.

XP Breakdown
Source	XP Reward
Damage dealt by the Dagger	$0.2\times {\text{damage dealt}}$
Backstab damage dealt by the Dagger	$0.2\times {\text{damage dealt}}$
Opponent eliminated by damage from the Dagger (Does not count quick melee finishers)	$50$
Assist on an opponent damaged by the Dagger	$20$

Level 1

0 XP

Dagger

Level 2

9,000 XP

Dye Job (Yellow)

Level 3

9,000 XP

Dye Job (Blue)

Level 4

36,000 XP

Dye Job (Red)

Level 5

54,000 XP

Dye Job (White)

Level 6

162,000 XP

Triangle Twinkle

Level 7

144,000 XP

Striped Grazer

Level 8

136,000 XP

Painted Predator

Trivia

The Dagger appears to be a serrated tactical dagger designed for combat, with a steel blade and a synthetic handle.
The Dagger was originally introduced as the "Assassin's Dagger" until its name was changed to Dagger in Closed Beta 2.
About the Ominous Osthyvel (Cheese slicer) skin for the Dagger:

“A couple of weeks before the Closed Beta I was visiting an old friend. During dinner he told me a story about how dangerous a simple “osthyvel” (a traditional Swedish cheese slicer) can actually be… It was a hilarious story and I sent a text to Theodor (artist) and Oskar (animator) to suggest that it could be a weapon. Just two days later it was in the game.! For authenticity, they also scanned a chunk of cheese and then added the amazing slice taunt. The cheese is a Swedish traditional Prästost, you should try it when you visit Sweden, hehe.”

Rob Runesson in an interview with RockhoundBlack, March 2023