No Man's Sky guide: Travel faster with a melee boost

In No Man’s Sky, traveling a long distance on foot in a hurry is basically impossible. Early on in the game you’ll have to travel long stretches without the luxury of hopping into your spaceship or riding animals.

While upgrades later on in the game will allow you to move faster or make greater use of your jet pack, those options won’t be available until you’re hours into the game. So how do you traverse the opening of No Man’s Sky with a bit more speed? You’ll need to learn how to do the No Man’s Sky melee boost.

This speedy dash has gone through several changes as No Man’s Sky has been patched several times over the last few years. However, in the No Man’s Sky Beyond update, melee boosting is easier than ever.

How to melee boost

Melee boosting in No Man’s Sky is incredibly straightforward.

Simply tap the melee button then hit the jet pack button while moving forward. If done correctly, your character will do a huge dash in the direction you’re facing. You’ll know you’ve done it right if your character looks like they are dabbing.

If done too fast, your character will jump upward instead of forward.

This trick is essential in the opening hours of the game where players will have to do a lot of traveling on foot. Later in the game, as you receive better jet pack upgrades, you’ll be able to soar across alien planets with well-timed melee boosts that’ll carry you for much longer distances.