Heavy armor + sledgehammer = non-viable?

[Megabiquette]

I'm level 7, had some trouble in depot A so I decided to level up a bit using the non-oddity XP system.
So I go in the burrower nest that is in the GMS compound after having crafted myself a heavy armor and I can't kill burrowers. I'm at 73% armor penalty and as burrowers move away from you before spitting, I don't have enough action/movement points to get close to them and attack them with my sledgehammer.
That's my third run and I wanted to try a melee character, am I doing it wrong?

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Do you have Sprint? Lots of melee enemies have that to close gaps.

[Megabiquette]

Yes but it only lasts 2 turns and has a really long cooldown.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Hmm. I suggest investing in a backup ranged weapon then. The problem will stop, at least with burrowers; the Warriors late game want to be as close as possible.

[Eldakar]

You want penality around 50% for Juggernaut.

[Wildan]

Well then, now that melee and dex weapons got significally nerfed a heavy sledgehammer build (as other non-light weapons) became more viable than ever.

Taste for Blood no longer reduces AP cost
Combo now has 20% chance to stun (down from 100%)
Fatal Throw now only restores action points once per turn
Lightning punches now requires armor penalty to be below 20% (up from 25%)
Light weapon AP cost reduction changed to 3% (down from 4%) for each dexterity point above 5

On topic: Burrowers have ranged attacks that bypass armor. Later on they're usually not a threat but at level 7 it's too early to fight them, even Depot A muties are easier at this point. If you must level up a bit more clear the underpassage on your way from SGS to GSM compound, do the quest for Luckmeier, buy good equipment from the money found in his home, then kill the syphoners at the lake near Junkyard and clear the caves with the boars and other minor stuff (south west of SGS). When I face the mutants for the first time I'm usually already level 10 (classic leveling).

[Megabiquette]

Thanks for the replies but I gave up and restarted with a knife user.
I thought the damage dealt increased with the quality of metal used when crafting but it stays fairly low, I'm a bit disappointed.

[Eldakar]

Where can i get new patch?

[Wildan]

For knifes the major damage output comes from critical hits. Now with reduced dexterity AP bonus and no Taste for Blood AP, most knife attacks you will ever make within 50 AP is 8:
12 base AP - 36% (@17 DEX)= 7,68 -> 7 AP - 1 from tabi boots = 6 AP per attack. Jackknife can still get to 4 AP but that knife sucks for combat.

Unless Styg changes the balance again it will be much tougher with knifes as compared to sledgehammers. They got hit very hard by the patch. Unarmed got a big nerf too but it still can reach 4 AP, especially with no gloves. Sledgehammers on the other hand almost remain the same. They never had DEX bonus but -2 AP TfB reduction is gone so in the worst case withing 50 AP you can always hit 3 times either with 1 x pommel and 2 regular hits from a steel type hammer or 3 x regular hits from a tichrome one.

Where can i get new patch?

If you play via Steam than the patch will automatically get applied before you start the game.

[Eldakar]

I dont have steam. Can anyone upload it somewhere?