The Flail Dilemma in Elden Ring: An In-Depth Analysis

Elden Ring, the critically acclaimed action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware, features an expansive arsenal of weapons, each offering unique mechanics and playstyles. Among these weapon classes, flails stand out as an intriguing yet often underwhelming choice for many players. Despite their potential for interesting builds, flails are generally considered less effective than their counterparts, such as hammers and axes. This article aims to explore the strengths and weaknesses of flails in Elden Ring, analyze their position within the game's weapon hierarchy, and provide a Elden Ring Runes comprehensive ranking of all six flails available.

 The Flail Class: An Overview

Flails, characterized by their unique swinging mechanics and the ability to inflict bleed damage, can be enticing to players seeking an unconventional weapon choice. However, their implementation in Elden Ring leaves much to be desired. Unlike hammers and axes, which offer distinct advantages in terms of damage, stance breaking, and overall utility, flails appear to lack a clear identity or purpose. Their move sets and performance are similar to those of hammers and axes, yet they consistently fall short in key areas.

 Comparing Flails to Hammers and Axes

One of the fundamental issues with flails is their performance relative to hammers and axes. Hammers excel in delivering high stance damage and possess quick heavy attacks, making them effective for breaking enemy guards. They are also equipped with unique weapon skills that enhance their versatility. Axes, on the other hand, often provide better damage output and more advantageous weapon skill options, allowing for potent two-handed DPS builds.

In contrast, flails seem to have been designed without a clear purpose. They mirror the move sets of hammers and axes but fail to deliver comparable damage or unique benefits. While flails do boast the same charged heavy attack stance damage as hammers, their slow animations render them impractical for many encounters. In PvE scenarios, players can achieve better results with hammers and axes, making flails feel redundant in most situations.

 The Strengths of Flails

Despite their shortcomings, flails do possess a few notable strengths. 

1. Bleed Potential: Most flails in Elden Ring come equipped with innate bleed effects, making them valuable against enemies susceptible to this status ailment. While there are bleed-infused axes and hammers available, flails provide an alternative option for players looking to build around bleed mechanics.

2. Immunity to Parries: In PvP scenarios, flails cannot be parried, offering players a layer of security against opponents who rely on parrying to counter heavy attacks. This characteristic can be particularly advantageous for players who enjoy engaging in duels or competitive play.

3. Unique Skill - Spinning Chain: Flails have access to the unique skill Spinning Chain, which could have offered them a unique niche. However, this skill is not available as an Ash of War, limiting its potential and preventing players from infusing it onto other weapons. This missed opportunity further highlights the lack of attention flails received during development.

 Ranking the Flails: From Worst to Best

Given the overall performance and utility of flails, let’s rank all six flails in Elden Ring based on their effectiveness and usefulness in PvE.

6. Night Rider’s Flail

At the bottom of the list is the Night Rider’s Flail. While it boasts the highest damage potential among dexterity-based flails, its high dexterity requirement (24) makes it a less viable option for early-game players. Acquiring this weapon requires defeating a boss, whereas the regular flail can be obtained without any significant effort. The Night Rider's Flail simply does not justify the investment needed to wield it, particularly when players can farm the Chain Link Flail, which scales better with strength and offers more damage.

5. Normal Flail

The Normal Flail is slightly better than the Night Rider’s Flail, primarily due to its accessibility. Players can obtain this weapon early in the game, allowing them to experience bleed mechanics without significant investment. However, like the Night Rider’s Flail, it is outclassed by the Chain Link Flail, which offers better damage potential and scaling.

4. Chain Link Flail

The Chain Link Flail ranks fourth as the best of the infusible flails. It provides decent damage output and scales well with strength, making it an attractive option for players pursuing strength builds. The Chain Link Flail shares the same move set as the other flails, but its superior damage makes it the go-to choice for those willing to invest in a flail. However, it still lags behind hammers and axes regarding overall effectiveness.

3. Family Heads

The Family Heads flail occupies the third position. As a split magic flail, it cannot be infused, but it offers a unique playstyle by scaling best with dexterity and providing a decent weapon skill. The Familial Rankle skill launches a slow-moving projectile that can track enemies effectively, making it a useful tool for ranged engagements. However, its reliance on intelligence scaling makes it less appealing for players focusing on pure weapon damage.

2. Bastard Stars

The Bastard Stars is considered the best flail in the game based on its performance alone. It features a split magic damage type and boasts high scaling for intelligence and decent scaling for dexterity. The weapon skill Nebula allows for quick lunges and a lingering AoE effect, making it a formidable choice against gravity-type enemies. However, it faces stiff competition from the Wing of Estell, which offers similar benefits with greater overall efficiency.

1. Serpent Flail

Topping the list is the Serpent Flail, the only flail introduced in the DLC. It features split fire damage and provides a substantial fire damage bonus through its skill Flare O’ Serpent. This skill grants a significant boost in damage for a minimal FP cost, and its AoE explosion feature allows for impressive stance damage. While it requires a higher dexterity investment, its overall effectiveness and utility make it the most powerful flail in the game.

 Conclusion

In summary, flails in Elden Ring present a unique yet underwhelming weapon class. While they possess some interesting mechanics, such as bleed potential and immunity to parries, they are often overshadowed by the superior performance of hammers and axes. The lack of unique move sets and Ashes of War significantly detracts from their appeal, making it challenging for players to justify their use.

While the ranking of flails highlights some strengths, such as the Serpent Flail's impressive skill and the Bastard Stars' performance, the overall consensus remains clear: flails are a challenging weapon class that requires careful consideration and experimentation to make viable builds. As the meta continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see if future updates or DLCs provide any much-needed love to flails, allowing them to cheap Elden Ring Items carve out a more defined niche within the expansive world of Elden Ring.