Melee

The knife is the one weapon every player always has, at every point in every round, regardless of economy — there is no cost, no magazine, and no reload. It has no published damage-range data because it isn't part of the shop economy at all; its role in the game is defined by what it always is rather than by any tunable stat.

A knife kill from behind an unaware opponent is an instant kill regardless of their armor, which is why it's the signature humiliation kill and, more practically, the only weapon a player always has left after spending everything else on economy.

Outside of style points, the knife has one real strategic use: saving a weapon on a round your team is going to lose anyway. Switching to the knife and avoiding a fight preserves whatever gun and shields you're carrying for the next round's economy, which matters far more on a clearly lost eco or force round than trying to trade a weapon you can't afford to lose.

It's also relevant on full-eco eco rounds as the last-resort option after credits have gone entirely to armor or utility, and in rare aggressive plays where a silent flank can end a round without alerting anyone to a firefight at all.