The robust and versatile combat system offered to players in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla allows gamers to unleash their inner berserker in whatever way they see fit. Each weapon possesses unique stats and traits, though are still grouped into different types.
One of the best weapon types for devastating offensive maneuvers is the Flail, which, despite their slow attack start-up, can unleash insanely fast consecutive strikes that deliver huge health and stun damage to targets. With some information on what Flails do in each hand, Eivor Wolf-Kissed can become a destructive tornado of steel.
In The Main Hand
While equipped in Eivor's main hand, a Flail will have a light attack combo with 7 sinister strikes. The first takes almost a full second to start up, meaning that it is not ideal for quick hits, though, after this 1-second delay, the first hit of the Flail will be followed up by second-through-seventh hits landing with an increasingly terrifying speed that will not only stun-lock most regular foes but devastate their stamina gauge as well, while also outright obliterating shields with ease. It is also possible to use a dodge in between strikes, and if the light attack input is hit fast enough afterward, it won't interrupt the light attack combo that requires the player to hit said input 7 individual times for the full attack chain.
The heavy attack can be immensely deadly in individual strikes, potentially even ragdolling foes low on health by sending them literally flying backward. However, a chain of 3 such mightly blows can be strung together for a combo that will be sure to greatly deplete any adversary's stamina bar.
With A Secondary Hand Weapon
Any Flail is sufficiently powerful on its own, though that delay while performing the first attack of any combo can be quite a drag that will be annoying when trying to land hits on fleeing foes, such as archers. To get around this, it would be optimal to equip a weapon with chase-down potential instead of a shield.
A great choice for this is a dagger, due to the secondary hand moveset of this weapon type possessing a very fast forward lunge followed by consecutive stabbing attacks that can be used until fully out of stamina. This is a great way to not only catch up to and quickly slay more nimble foes that can avoid the Flail combo's first blow, but also can be transitioned almost seamlessly into this same Flail Combo if one hits the light attack input while the rapid secondary hand dagger lunge is in the middle of its animation.
Alternatively, if one is having trouble and needs some defensive measures, they can always equip a light or heavy shield in the secondary hand to block in between attacks, however, this will be a much slower and methodical playstyle that will also use up a fair deal more stamina. If this approach is taken, it is recommended to parry more than block in order to conserve more stamina and also decrease the enemy's endurance to potentially land a stun-finisher.
In The Secondary Hand
When placed in the secondary hand, a Flail will have an attack that continuously spins the metal armament over Eivor's head. This looks tremendously intimidating, and for good reason, as this move can be sustained in a very fluid attack animation that can be held until fully out of stamina.
The overhead spinning attack has slightly less start-up time than the attack combos in the main hand, for quicker unleashing, and can also be used while moving freely, which allows one to run at foes while the hitbox of the attack animation is still active, essentially making the player a walking wrecking ball. After the input for the spinning attack is released, Eivor will do a 360-degree-spin that acts as a small AoE which whips the Flail around for a final blow that costs surprisingly little stamina while also partially covering the player's post-attack vulnerability.
Dual-Wielding Flails
Dual-wielding weapons of the same time in Assassin's Creed Valhalla comes with some interesting and very useful perks. Firstly, the attack speed is increased noticeably, which makes power stancing heavier weapons, like Flails, less cumbersome. Secondly, this unlocks unique variations of the weapon's light and heavy attack combos.
When using this technique with 2 Flails, the 7-hit light attack chain will possess the hitbox animations for both weapons, meaning that there will essentially be 14 hits packed into this string of blows that will absolutely annihilate almost anything or anyone.
The heavy attack combo acts very similarly, with its 3-hit chain now packing double the blows thanks to the additional Flail's hitbox. If one has the stamina to unleash these strong consecutive strikes, it will likely do more stamina damage than any other combo in the game.