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Doing that is still rather situational, since it only works on a single enemy and requires you to have enough room. I recall a bunch of times where I got in 2 hits and was instantly killed by a single shot afterward. And that's with having a couple or so seconds attack advantage over the NPC. What the fuck.
Which is only saying for common troopers, by the way. If you end up in the same predicament against an MiB or power-armor dude, you either have to be really good or really lucky. I think I put in a dozen hits (with master low-tech and fully upgraded Combat Strength) to one of them once or twice, and still got killed. This is why you have to save up prod stick charges.
The very inconsistent hitboxes alongside how weak the baton is makes it so that, with whoever it's viable against, you actually have a way better chance of taking out two lone enemies who are side-by-side if you use the pepper gun instead of trying to knock them out with stealth, and, wow, that's dire.
That might sound very situational, but I think I've had to quick-load against that more than anything else in the game. That shit is entirely dependent on luck. You either hit one in the back and have it not register as a torso hit, getting you killed instantly, or take the first enemy down and also get lucky enough to not have the other one notice you because of it. The latter happens rarely. (Even when you use distractions, by the way.) You can also GET STUCK ON THE FIRST BODY AND NOT GET TO THE OTHER GUY IN TIME. I HATE IT. Next playthrough, I'm not picking up scramble nades and keeping a pepper gun instead.
The pepper gun doesn't get enough credit for what it can do, it has potential to carry you through the entire early-game. (Helps later as well.)
Also, I just remembered. The baton actually does 2x damage against limbs as well. So, that means, within Deus Ex logic, hitting somebody in their arm will put them unconscious while the same impact to their head will leave them standing. Great.
