Combat knife + shotgun build. Knife has gained a small aoe attack since December patch and kills all regular ridden except armored in a single hit. The knife does no friendly fire, can be used while reloading and allows you to keep your shotgun ready to keep blighted, charred and exploders at a distance without switching weapons. The knife also doesn't slow you down while attacking and uses less stamina than the other melee weapons. For big bads like tallboys and breakers you can still keep a fire axe handy.
Holly's innate stamina on kill and damage resistance, combined with a few (temp) hp on kill cards will have you wade through hordes like a hot combat knife through butter.
