The Hitbox trace can be triggered and managed by Hitbox Melee AnimNotify. This notify is suitable for close combat attack, whether it’s unarmed or armed state.

Add Hitbox Melee Notify to you attack animation, and set the properties that fits your attack.

For unarmed attacks, you need to specify the bone/Socket names under Notify details. As for armed attack (Weapon is not part of your character skeleton) Sockets must be added to the weapon static mesh.