Machete

Craft it in the first hour, before any bench is down. A machete needs only wood and metal fragments, and there is nothing to research, since every player has it from the start, so on a fresh wipe it is the first proper weapon many solos make after the rock.

Here is where it pays off. You spawned on the beach, cracked a dozen barrels along the road and now carry a few frags. Instead of running off to find a spot for a Level 1 workbench, you craft a machete on the spot and keep farming with something that reaches further than a rock and actually fights back when a boar or another fresh spawn comes at you.

It does not stay your melee for long. Once a bench is up and a blade drops from a barrel, the salvaged sword hits harder and lasts much longer. After that the machete is the spare you leave in a box by the door, or the thing you hand a new teammate so he stops hitting people with a rock.