Does throwing Krieg the Psycho's axe when Buzz Axe Rampaging count as melee?

A lot of Krieg the Psycho's skills (especially in the Mania tree) allow him to deal bonus melee damage. I am wondering if skills that increase melee damage affect the Buzz Axe Rampage action skill when the axe is thrown (hold right-click, then left-click, by default on the PC).

Also, what about items? Will Maylay Shields still deal bonus 'Roid Damage' when the axe is thrown? Will Strength Relics and Class Mods that increase melee damage affect thrown axes?

The Borderlands wiki states that:

Critical hits in melee inflict ×2 damage. Weapon or skill critical hit bonuses do not increase this any further.

If I throw Krieg's axe while BAR is activated, will the critical hits behave like a melee critical hit or will it behave like a gun critical hit?

What if I have the Buzz Axe Bombardier skill (Bloodlust skill tree)? It's described as:

When thrown, your Buzz Axe now has dynamite attached to it which explodes on impact.

Krieg the Psycho - Buzz Axe Rampage

EDIT: Two of the current answers: [1], [2] conflict on how much damage the thrown buzz axe does compared to a melee'd buzz axe attack. Can anyone clarify?

3 Answers

yes it does... you'll notice when speccing into skills like "Silence the Voices" a thrown axe does the same amount of damage as a melee swing.

Buzz axe always deals 60% of the melee damage. That's just the cost of it being ranged. If it wouldn't be lower it would be considered op since you could oneshot enemies at extreme range if you could aim properly.

Skills that increase melee damage will also increase the thrown buzz axe damage (notably, the Mania skills). Items like Maylay (melee "Roid" damage bonus) Shields, Strength Relics and Class Mods that increase melee damage also affect thrown axes. However, a thrown buzz axe doesn't always count as a melee attack.

Quests

In the mission, Bad Hair Day (which requires you to do a melee attack), you won't be receiving the item if you deliver the killing blow by throwing the buzz axe.

In the 'Tina Tiny Assault on Dragon Keep' DLC mission, 'A Role-Playing Game', where you are required to punch someone (deliver a melee attack), it won't register as a melee attack if you throw the buzz axe.

Items

If you're using the Love Thumper shield (description: when shield is depleted, in addition to normal Roid bonus the shield also causes an explosive nova every time the user connects with a melee attack), you'll release a nova when throwing the buzz axe. It'll still come from your character, not the buzz axe itself.

Weapon Fire Rate boosts/bonuses from items and skills affect the thrown buzz axe. It's not treated as a melee attack in this case (which are unaffected by weapon Fire Rate boosts).

Skills

With the Taste of Blood skill (description: "During Buzz Axe Rampage, all damage you suffer is reduced. Damage reduction is incresed for each stack of Bloodlust. Killing an enemy during Buzz Axe Rampage adds extra stacks of Bloodlust."), a kill with a thrown buzz axe won't give the additional melee kill Bloodlust stacks.

If you have the Buzz Axe Bombardier skill (description: when thrown, your buzz axe now has Dynamite attached to it which explodes on impact) from the Bloodlust skill tree:

The thrown buzz axe is affected by melee bonuses but you get an additional explosive bonus which gets boosted by grenade damage bonuses (like the bonus provided by the Fuel the Blood skill - "Kill Skill. Killing an enemy with melee increased Grenade Damage for each stack of Bloodlust and adds bonus stacks to Bloodlust").
Maylay (Roid) shields won't trigger if throwing the buzz axe, including unique shields like Love Thumper.
The 'Fuel the Blood' skill won't trigger as the thrown buzz axe would be considered explosive. 'Fuel the Blood' skill description: "Kill Skill. Killing an enemy with a melee attack gives +0.2% (+0.2% per level) Grenade Damage per Bloodlust stack per level for a short time and adds +2 Bloodlust stacks per level."