Hand tools are instruments that rely on its user's own physical force, as opposed to power tools. They may be used by infantrymen to prepare earthwork defenses such as gabions, trenches, and foxholes, although these tasks are nowadays performed with earthmoving vehicles. They may also serve as makeshift weapons, occasionally outperforming purpose-built close combat weapons such as bayonets. Certain military forces such as the Spetsnaz have even created fighting techniques around implements such as entrenching tools.
Battlefield 1[]
Hand tools are among the melee weapons available to players in Battlefield 1. Per hit, they inflict the most damage, but are slow with follow-up attacks, have a narrow kill zone for takedowns, and need to be loosened from the victim following a takedown. Certain tools also have the ability to break barbed wire, destroy wooden objects, and pierce light armor.
List[]
Image | Name | Description | Information | Unlocked |
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Shovel | The small size of shovels made them suitable for melee combat in the trenches. One edge was often sharpened to make them able to cut into the enemy. |
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Hatchet | Primarily designed as a tool to destroy or modify various equipment on the battlefield, the hatchet also made for a vicious cleaving weapon up close. |
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Pickaxe | Useful as an engineering tool on the battlefield, pickaxes were also used in melee combat to conserve ammunition or to stay relatively silent. |
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Billhook | An agricultural tool that found its way to the front lines. |
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Kukri | A machete-style knife, still commonly found and used in Nepal. |
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Coupe Coupe | A French style of machete. |
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Russian Axe | The Axe is as useful as a tool as it is effective as a weapon. |
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Meat Cleaver | Treat your enemy like a piece of meat. |
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Prybar | Great for prying open crates, locks, and skulls. |
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Welsh Blade | Carried by Lewis gunners and bombers, some were engraved with 'DROS URDDAS CYMRU' meaning 'For the honour of Wales.' |
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Sickle | A farming tool, but also a great weapon in a pinch. This one looks like it has a lot of years left in it. |
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Takedowns[]
Takedowns occur any time that a melee weapon would inflict lethal damage on an opponent, although rear and prone takedowns can be performed on enemies at any health. Melee weapons inflict less damage to enemies facing the player, but may still result in a takedown.
Target Stance | Direction | Action |
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Standing/Crouching | Front | The attacker chops into the target's left collarbone, who then drops to their knees. The attacker then forcefully removes the weapon from the target's neck. |
Left | The attacker chops into the target's back, who drops to their knees. The attacker then grabs the target's shoulder to free the weapon. | |
Right | The attacker chops into the target's chest, then kicks them off to free the weapon. | |
Back | The attacker does a quick chop into the target's back. | |
Prone | Front | The attacker chops into the target's upper back. |
Left | The attacker kicks the target onto their back and hacks into their chest. | |
Right | The attacker does a heavy chop into the target's neck. | |
Back | The target is spooked as the attacker does a two-handed chop into their right collarbone. |
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Battlefield V[]
Hand tools are melee weapons featured in Battlefield V for all kits. Hand Tools are unlocked by increasing the rank of each respective kit or through special challenges. All hand tools are statistically the same, having a damage output of 55 per hit. Unlike other melee weapons, hand tools deal the most damage but are slow with follow-up attacks. Additionally, hand tools can destroy certain wooden objects.
Common[]
Image | Name | Description | Unlocked |
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A hatchet is not just for felling small trees or chopping fire wood. In the hands of a skilled soldier it becomes a terrible weapon in close combat, rightly feared by the enemy. | |||
If a building catches fire, cut it down to save the neighbourhood. The same applies to enemy combatants, burning or no. |
Uncommon[]
Image | Name | Description | Unlocked |
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Any soldier worth his salt will tell you that a shovel is good for more than just digging. They are also effective weapons in close combat, and some soldiers even took to sharpening the edges. | |||
While pickaxes were issued to British soldiers as a traditional tool, they were often used in unintended ways, including as a weapon and to scuttle vehicles to keep them from falling into enemy hands. |
Rare[]
Image | Name | Description | Unlocked |
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The bent shape of the Nepalese kukri made it a particularly good knife for chopping. The elite soldiers of the British Gurkha regiment made these famous during World War II. |
Epic[]
Image | Name | Description | Unlocked |
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Despite a resemblance to long bladed instruments, machetes are most commonly used as a hacking tool in line with an axe or a cleaver. Its sharpened cutting edge makes it as useful a weapon as it is for clearing undergrowth. | |||
This Filipino agricultural tool may have been more likely found in a garden than on a battlefield, but its usefulness was just as remarkable in both theaters. |
Legendary[]
Image | Name | Description | Unlocked |
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Decorated with a sword portepee strap normally found on dress uniform swords. No one is sure of its significance to Ilse, but the axe has likely seen more use than most. | |||
Pilots were issued these axes to escape the fuselage of crashed planes if they did not manage to bail first. Incidentally they cut into flesh as well as they mangle a fuselage. | |||
Despite a resemblance to long bladed instruments, machetes are most commonly used as a hacking tool in line with an axe or a cleaver. Its sharpened cutting edge makes it as useful a weapon as it is for clearing undergrowth. | |||
An ornamental sword created before the war and given to Siegfried's father that was then handed down to him. Its construction and fine details are of remarkable quality. |
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Trivia[]
Battlefield 1[]
- Despite appearances, the shovel cannot be used to dig. The ground can only be lifted via explosions.
- The Cavalry Sword, Sawtooth Knife, Saber, Yatagan Sword, Naval Cutlass, and Ottoman Kilij use the same takedown animations as hand tools, although only a shallow bit of blade appears to get "stuck" in the victim.
Battlefield V[]
- The Commando Machete was originally known as the Okinawa Machete.