The lead pipe is the toughest breakable melee weapon in the game, lasting nine hits. Joel can first pick one up in The Outskirts while clearing infected on his own, and another lies where Ellie drops it after hitting Bill in Lincoln.
Charge an enemy to knock them down, or stagger them and slam them into a table, chair or wall for an instant kill. The extra durability lets one pipe carry you through several fights.
A blade and binding add one-hit kills, and the Melee: Knots and Melee: Techniques manuals bring that to three before the blade snaps off.
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail is a crafted firebomb made from alcohol and a rag, the same ingredients as a health kit. One hit kills almost any enemy outright, and the pool of fire it leaves kills anyone who walks through it.
Revolver
The revolver hits harder than the 9mm but fires slower, and it is the pistol Joel draws in scripted scenes. You pick it up in The Outskirts from a dead soldier in downtown Boston, next to his field ops log.
Bolt-action rifle
The bolt-action rifle, also called the hunting rifle, is Joel's long-range gun, taken from a dead Firefly on the second floor of the Capitol building in The Outskirts. Its armor piercing upgrade makes it one of your best answers to armored soldiers and bloaters.
2x4
The 2x4 is a plank of lumber and the most common melee weapon in the game, especially in Boston and Pittsburgh. It reaches farther than your fists, stuns a human with one hit and lasts four swings before it breaks.