Playing on casual or normal difficulty, at least for the first couple levels unarmed combat is very effective, and is still viable on hard. I'm playing on nightmare (last combat at level 2), and melee fights with 2 opponents the same level is not too bad, but more than that gets quite challenging (I have my stat points spread out more than I would do for a straight unarmed warrior, though).
In D2:ED playing a strength based duel wielding warrior on normal difficulty, groups were also an issue when I was on level 2, and I used a bow to draw opponents to me and get a little damage in before switching to my melee weapons.
The following is a D2:ED topic, but as far as I can tell it should still apply to DKS.
Unarmed Combat, A Report
