Well the power weapon + smart pistol might is real already. With this combo, I personally tend to land one or two melee hit(s) on my target and then emptying my whole pistol clip in the face, bolter isn't good on armor anyway.

But I think that particular combo you mentioned in the "more health bar dmg" context could be a great incentive to use the pistol to actually engage the fight, thus breaking armor but also letting people know your position before you engage in melee. Just another way to fight !

Please not. This would turn melee into the most annoying experience imaginable. It's already bad enough as is with teammates jumping into the fray and chain staggering each other.

Both actally, the dbash doesnt seem to be working and clanging is going to be a very short fight too. i would immagine the biggest problem is the dbash though ... if you win rock paper scissors, you shold be able to gain something from it .... presently if you dbash a quick attack spammer who is using the power axe or maul you die before the animation completes from quick attacks.

so essentially yo uhave no option to fight them since if you beat them with the appropriate choice you die, if you clang you die if you clang again, and if you get beat you die .... yes you can still win by uber juking but rolling away from damage has gotten a lot harder with the removal of iframes, and the tracking on the melee attacks working ... better(not always).

I've tried d bashing with a knife (actually the syringe) against a power fist and it just seemed to clang.

You can however d bash a maul.

ive been on the receiving end of d-bashing and getting killed by 3 quick attacks while i was dbashing, i have also done the killing when i got trumped and someone dbashed my quick attack with all weapons power axe/maul and Up. im not 100% it isnt a bug but it happens very often.