Imma say it again, while Flail "neutral game" might be lackluster, in horseback combat (especially against bosses) the flail is goated. The charge R2 spins the chain so the flail hits multiple times even while standing still. Combined with the bleed procs you can do quite a lot of damage in little time and w little stamina cost
My best guest is that the point of the flail is to have a dex-oriented hammer so that there’s a dex-scaling, strike damage class of weapons (a relatively rare damage type for those builds). That’s why the moveset seems to mirror the hammer’s so much. This wouldn’t be a problem per-say if the hammers weren’t so terrible already.
No offense to Fromsoft but I think the reason was they were just being lazy with the new weapon types. Most of the new weapon types are pretty samey, Greatspears and heavy thrusting swords are pretty much just slower heavier versions of what we already have. Colossal weapons are just a pick n mix of random ultra weapons from previous games. They just didn't prioritize making the new weapons special, flails just got the short end of the stick because they are inherently more unique than say greatspears and needed more to stand out. Also unsurprisingly most of the best weapons are from the same weapon types that always have the best weapons in every game.
In my first playthrough I didn't know any better, so I ended up using the flail for almost the entire Limgrave section. I (eventually) beat the Tree Sentinel, Bloodhound Knight, and Margit with it. Each boss took me maybe 50 tries. I just figured I was bad at the game. Wish I'd seen this vid beforehand.
I used the flail most of my first playthru and it absolutely wrecked most enemies. It’s not a terrible weapon class. In fact I really like them personally, especially the night riders flail and bastard stars weapons. Striking damage is really strong in this game.
@@joshmay2944 they're definitely bad compared to other striking damage and other weapons in general, but they're usable. Doesn't make them good or anything though
@@joshmay2944 have had multiple playthru I found the flails to be overall the worst weapon type in the game. Except on horse back. Then they're god like.
@@justinshaeffer1482 wouldnt hammers be the worst weapon type? Flails are basically hammers but cant be parried, have blood loss and actually stagger on some attacks. Not saying they are good, but they sound like an upgrade to the hammers.
I admit that like many I originally only got into your videos for the weapon rankings, but after watching so many I really think people should stick around for your other content as well. You have such a chill aura and i love plopping down and casually watching anything youd do. keep it up youwy
It sounds like a meme, but i'd love to see a horseback comparison between the weapon classes Now that youre done with all classes, it would be cool to see the advantages and disadvantages between the different categories, and this would be a nice place to start Cool video, keep it up :)
While I do agree that flails ( and hammers)'s moveset are sub par compared to the other weapons, caoslayer made a video comparing each weapon class's guard counter and both of them did really good. They do as much poise damage as collosal weapons but way faster, same speed as smaller weapons like straight swords. It may be a small niche, but maybe they can be used in a guard counter based build.
Guard counter builds do very well with these smaller and faster weapons - the main drawback of flails are slow speed and lack of range. Shields fix that nicely and guard counters are FAST.
honestly thought they were going to add gag weapons which included a octopus flail consisting of their arm or crab claws. I also thought the fallingstar beast would have easily had a flail because of their tail more so than astel getting one of it self and wonder if the elden beast counts for the bonus damage for the bastard star. I guess raptor maces are viable too.
It sucks because I love the flails, their animations are really cool and I don’t even necessarily mind the boring move set but there’s so little variety and they don’t do any damage, feels like a missed opportunity
Flails, hammers, and axes deserved to have so much more going for them, but sadly they had to focus on weapon types they knew people will flock towards
I used a normal Flail for almost my entire first playthrough, up until Godskin Duo. It was crazy to me how much more damage everything did once I tried something besides a ball and a stick
Thanks Youwy, I feel you provide a great service, your weapon reviews provide something I wasn't able to find anywhere else, plus you're entertaining. Appreciate it mate.
The range of flails is SO bad. If they were long and the chains were longer they would be so much better. They have the same move set as hammers. From Soft hates hammers…
Since flails share movesets with hammers.. can you mix-powerstance them? Probably not, but maybe it would actually be a workaround to make the hammer crouching/jumping attacks stagger enemies, in a way. ._.
Giving the flail damage through shields like the shotel on top of it not being able to be parried would help a bit. It needs more range too imo as well as a few more weapon arts
I quite liked using flails as backup weapons for the first half of the game. They do Strike damage, do not bounce off shields, have bleed, and have enough range to be useful on horseback. Ended up replacing them with whips though, as they have most of the same advantages for less weight and more range.
i used nightrider flail all game with faith buffs and did fine except againt tall enemies like gargoyles. used it two handed ocasionally one handed to use some spells
They just need to give the flails, especially the Nightrider Flail, the type of buff it deserves. I have an NG+2 going and added occult to a +9 nightrider flail. Even with 68 arc, 54 dex, and 55 strength, it's only doing 598 dmg with 99 bleed build-up (only goes up to 113 with bleed affinity). Those are ridiculously low imo for what is 1 of only 2 weapons that are dropped by the Night's Cavalry (and it's probably the first of those 2 weapons most new players get). I just think at those stats with that weapon affinity, it should be doing more like 650-675 dmg. Or keep the damage where it is with those kind of stats and increase the bleed build-up to 115-120 with occult or 135-140 with bleed affinity. At 68 arcane, a +24 greataxe with bleed affinity does 137 build-up while also doing 175 more damage than the Nightrider Flail. A +24 Iron Cleaver with bleed does 648 dmg and 113 bleed....that weapon should in NO WAY be a better than any weapon you get from the Night's Cavalry. Don't mean to b!tch so hard about this but I would really love for flails to be worth using. They sucked in the Souls series and they suck in Elden Ring.....and that really sucks🤨
Chilling Mist on any of the flails that can be infused and its perfectly decent. I beat Mohg with Chilling Mist at level 81. The frost/bleed/poise damage types are a good match as far as dps is concerned. And Chilling Mist has a large, lingering aoe even if you miss the attack while also coating your weapon in frost(regardless of damage type. I can coat my cold mace in frost, which is pretty hilarious)
I know it hurt but thanks for the video lol. Good information is always appreciated. Besides, maybe one day, we'll get a hammer/flail patch? I hope?!? 🥺
Cover the greatbows! The golem gb is the one of the most powerful str weapons in the game. If you have the cookbook and killed the warmaster shack invader, you can farm birds and buy heavy beast bones: greatarrows for 50 runes per shot. (Plus restock inbetween bonfires)
Golem scales much better with str. Just meet dex req (18). I dont consider 55 str 18 dex “quality” but it’s still worth trying. It’s faster than the cannon, the weapon art adds more dmg.
Such a shame thwy suck since Flails are so awesome. Also FS couldn't come up with anything imaginative for these weapons either. Like give us a Collosal flail that you can two hand or something
Big weapon = big posture damage. Collosal weapons, collosal swords, and great hammers have the big poise damage values, though some collosal weapons have higher posture damage values than others.
I'm impressed you nearly got half hour out of this if I'm honest my dude 😂 Shame this cool weapon class is literally trash. Seems if it isn't a katana or a spear in this game you have some sort of disadvantage to using the weapon.
If we are being completely objective, daggers and fists are worse than flails. Hammers too are just worse flails. Sure flail is slower but enemies don’t really stand there and let you beat on them forever so you get just as many hits with a flail as a hammer. Plus sure flail copied hammers move set but it does it better with the bleed and longer range. There is a reason why there are dagger only challenge runs but no flail only challenge runs and it’s because flail is an extremely viable weapon. Saying it sucks because it isn’t as good as other weapons just means everything sucks compared to katanas and rivers of blood or better yet all weapons are useless because sorcery is more efficient and better.
Imma say it again, while Flail "neutral game" might be lackluster, in horseback combat (especially against bosses) the flail is goated. The charge R2 spins the chain so the flail hits multiple times even while standing still. Combined with the bleed procs you can do quite a lot of damage in little time and w little stamina cost
Good to know, I found horseback R2 on greatsword to be OP, a good horseback attack is underrated
Its true, I always use night riders flair R2 buffed with bloodflame blade to hunt dragons
@@pinchelolo
Yeah its pretty good agains the Dragons. My Nightriders also first tried me Fire Giant easily
I've had good luck with the Lance on horseback. I think it has a very good mounted R2.
Hey dude thanks for the info, I tried after reading your comment and I’ll be damned, they are useful on horseback 😂
My best guest is that the point of the flail is to have a dex-oriented hammer so that there’s a dex-scaling, strike damage class of weapons (a relatively rare damage type for those builds). That’s why the moveset seems to mirror the hammer’s so much.
This wouldn’t be a problem per-say if the hammers weren’t so terrible already.
Hammers got major nerfs from the previous game which is pretty sad to see as I had a whole character around hammers, but I guess he is an axe guy now.
Almost every weapon category has a strength and dex option anyway, so I dont think thats the reason for flails.
@@althenawhm Right, but 1. The strength requirements are relatively high for a purely dex build and 2. iirc there aren’t any A scaling Keen hammers.
@@StarShade0 Flamemonk mace, A when its keen. 13 str, so every starter should be able to two hand it.
No offense to Fromsoft but I think the reason was they were just being lazy with the new weapon types. Most of the new weapon types are pretty samey, Greatspears and heavy thrusting swords are pretty much just slower heavier versions of what we already have. Colossal weapons are just a pick n mix of random ultra weapons from previous games. They just didn't prioritize making the new weapons special, flails just got the short end of the stick because they are inherently more unique than say greatspears and needed more to stand out. Also unsurprisingly most of the best weapons are from the same weapon types that always have the best weapons in every game.
In my first playthrough I didn't know any better, so I ended up using the flail for almost the entire Limgrave section. I (eventually) beat the Tree Sentinel, Bloodhound Knight, and Margit with it. Each boss took me maybe 50 tries.
I just figured I was bad at the game. Wish I'd seen this vid beforehand.
I used the flail most of my first playthru and it absolutely wrecked most enemies. It’s not a terrible weapon class. In fact I really like them personally, especially the night riders flail and bastard stars weapons. Striking damage is really strong in this game.
@@joshmay2944 they're definitely bad compared to other striking damage and other weapons in general, but they're usable. Doesn't make them good or anything though
@@joshmay2944 have had multiple playthru I found the flails to be overall the worst weapon type in the game. Except on horse back. Then they're god like.
Eh i beat the game with the black double flail. Not a bad weapon at all.
@@justinshaeffer1482 wouldnt hammers be the worst weapon type? Flails are basically hammers but cant be parried, have blood loss and actually stagger on some attacks. Not saying they are good, but they sound like an upgrade to the hammers.
I admit that like many I originally only got into your videos for the weapon rankings, but after watching so many I really think people should stick around for your other content as well. You have such a chill aura and i love plopping down and casually watching anything youd do. keep it up youwy
The lack of a spinning chain ash of war is nearly criminal, lol.
It is criminal, flails were robbed of potential blind in the street
It sounds like a meme, but i'd love to see a horseback comparison between the weapon classes
Now that youre done with all classes, it would be cool to see the advantages and disadvantages between the different categories, and this would be a nice place to start
Cool video, keep it up :)
To piggyback on this, I'd like to see a thorough comparison between halberds and reapers.
Flail actually has hidden horseback bonus
Congrat's on finishing all the weapons !
Awesome job, thanks for all the hard work o/
you never flail to surprise me!
While I do agree that flails ( and hammers)'s moveset are sub par compared to the other weapons, caoslayer made a video comparing each weapon class's guard counter and both of them did really good. They do as much poise damage as collosal weapons but way faster, same speed as smaller weapons like straight swords. It may be a small niche, but maybe they can be used in a guard counter based build.
Guard counter builds do very well with these smaller and faster weapons - the main drawback of flails are slow speed and lack of range. Shields fix that nicely and guard counters are FAST.
using cold on a flail was the only way I could really get milage out of them for the double status build up
honestly thought they were going to add gag weapons which included a octopus flail consisting of their arm or crab claws. I also thought the fallingstar beast would have easily had a flail because of their tail more so than astel getting one of it self and wonder if the elden beast counts for the bonus damage for the bastard star. I guess raptor maces are viable too.
It sucks because I love the flails, their animations are really cool and I don’t even necessarily mind the boring move set but there’s so little variety and they don’t do any damage, feels like a missed opportunity
My favorite flail is the Nox Flowing Hammer 😅
Flails, hammers, and axes deserved to have so much more going for them, but sadly they had to focus on weapon types they knew people will flock towards
They had one flaw… they weren’t Katanas and Fromsoft have a huge boner for Katanas.
I used a normal Flail for almost my entire first playthrough, up until Godskin Duo. It was crazy to me how much more damage everything did once I tried something besides a ball and a stick
more like fails amright ? huhu killme
⬆️💯
Thanks Youwy, I feel you provide a great service, your weapon reviews provide something I wasn't able to find anywhere else, plus you're entertaining. Appreciate it mate.
thanks for reviewing most of the weapons I enjoyed all the videos
The range of flails is SO bad. If they were long and the chains were longer they would be so much better. They have the same move set as hammers. From Soft hates hammers…
Since flails share movesets with hammers.. can you mix-powerstance them? Probably not, but maybe it would actually be a workaround to make the hammer crouching/jumping attacks stagger enemies, in a way. ._.
im excited to see your next step. its been fun listening to you break all these weapons down.
Thanks for these videos lots of great information
Giving the flail damage through shields like the shotel on top of it not being able to be parried would help a bit. It needs more range too imo as well as a few more weapon arts
thank you for the weapon reviews!!! do you think you’ll do bows or crossbows eventually?
Rate the weapon types
I quite liked using flails as backup weapons for the first half of the game. They do Strike damage, do not bounce off shields, have bleed, and have enough range to be useful on horseback.
Ended up replacing them with whips though, as they have most of the same advantages for less weight and more range.
Thx for all the weapon reviews! R u planning on going over any ranged weapons or shields?
I would actually greatly appreciate a great shield video personally
Been looking forward to this after your rant video haha
I've heard the chainlink flail actually has only the hitbox of the normal flail and half the rod is actually useless.
After your done the weapon category videos you should make a tier list with all the weapons
Also, bastard stars does +20% damage to gravity type enemies, ie. onyx lords, alabaster lords, fallingstar beast, full-grown fallingstar beast, Astel, and Astel's stronger cousin, Astel.
i used nightrider flail all game with faith buffs and did fine except againt tall enemies like gargoyles. used it two handed ocasionally one handed to use some spells
based
They just need to give the flails, especially the Nightrider Flail, the type of buff it deserves. I have an NG+2 going and added occult to a +9 nightrider flail. Even with 68 arc, 54 dex, and 55 strength, it's only doing 598 dmg with 99 bleed build-up (only goes up to 113 with bleed affinity). Those are ridiculously low imo for what is 1 of only 2 weapons that are dropped by the Night's Cavalry (and it's probably the first of those 2 weapons most new players get). I just think at those stats with that weapon affinity, it should be doing more like 650-675 dmg. Or keep the damage where it is with those kind of stats and increase the bleed build-up to 115-120 with occult or 135-140 with bleed affinity. At 68 arcane, a +24 greataxe with bleed affinity does 137 build-up while also doing 175 more damage than the Nightrider Flail. A +24 Iron Cleaver with bleed does 648 dmg and 113 bleed....that weapon should in NO WAY be a better than any weapon you get from the Night's Cavalry. Don't mean to b!tch so hard about this but I would really love for flails to be worth using. They sucked in the Souls series and they suck in Elden Ring.....and that really sucks🤨
Its perfect for people who have a perry dagger or a buckler you can get a few hits before they realize that it cannot be perried
Only a complete PSYCHO would use the baby rattle flail
I appreciate you putting yourself through this; considering how much hammers and flails got shafted lol
They are amazing on horseback
Chilling Mist on any of the flails that can be infused and its perfectly decent. I beat Mohg with Chilling Mist at level 81. The frost/bleed/poise damage types are a good match as far as dps is concerned. And Chilling Mist has a large, lingering aoe even if you miss the attack while also coating your weapon in frost(regardless of damage type. I can coat my cold mace in frost, which is pretty hilarious)
I can feel the tension rising up his voice, while he speaks about the moveset.
I know it hurt but thanks for the video lol. Good information is always appreciated.
Besides, maybe one day, we'll get a hammer/flail patch? I hope?!? 🥺
"my flail.. please bring me my flail"
Night rider flail question.
Can i use that spinning ash of war that rennalla uses in her boss fight.
Cover the greatbows! The golem gb is the one of the most powerful str weapons in the game. If you have the cookbook and killed the warmaster shack invader, you can farm birds and buy heavy beast bones: greatarrows for 50 runes per shot. (Plus restock inbetween bonfires)
“Most powerful strength weapon”? All Greatbows are Quality weapons… sadly. If you want a strength ranged option you get the Jar Cannon
Golem scales much better with str. Just meet dex req (18). I dont consider 55 str 18 dex “quality” but it’s still worth trying. It’s faster than the cannon, the weapon art adds more dmg.
TBH when I clicked play I just imagined a looped scream for 25 mins.
Such a shame thwy suck since Flails are so awesome. Also FS couldn't come up with anything imaginative for these weapons either. Like give us a Collosal flail that you can two hand or something
I use bastard stars since the I started and it's my fav weapon.
No rant?
Have you done shields?
I should ignore armor, those weapons were for that.
Now do a list ranking the weapon classes compared to each other, gogogo
We know it hurt your soul to make this video. But we love you for it😊😊😊
Shields pls
Flails seem to shine more when not infused and used with weapon greases.
I feel like the bastard stars would still be a great weapon for a pure mage, just for the ash... you can rely on carian slicer for normal melee.
Yea but Wing of Astel is just better
Was the stagger because of blood loss?
I heard that the guard counter of the flails is kinda good for stagger, is that true?
Flail and hammer guard counters do the same amount of posture damage as collosal swords, and given how much lighter they are, I'd say yes.
Just curious, which weapon classes do the most posture damage to break enemy stances?
Generally colossal swords, colossal weapons and the like do the most posture damage, especially with a power-stanced jump attack
Big weapon = big posture damage. Collosal weapons, collosal swords, and great hammers have the big poise damage values, though some collosal weapons have higher posture damage values than others.
I giggled a little seeing this on my feed knowing what a joke the flails are lmao
Family Heads = Having the fam around all the time
Can u not use a lost ashes of war to duplicate spinning chain then use that 4 infusion?
No. You can only duplicate ashes of war that you own. You can’t own Spinning Chain as it doesn’t drop anywhere for you to pick up.
@@nickl3138 yeah, just checked. Feels like a missed opportunity
The bastard actually has a solid weapon art
You're not covering sorceries?
Don’t give up, skeleton
DO NOT TRY AMD BEAT THE GAME WITH THE FAMILY HEADS FAIL! YOU WILL REGRET YOUT CHOICE
The ball is your hot 🔥 🥵 spot timing the ball to hit is key.
I am a bit sad because I really really like bastards stars
Family heads are the best flail in the game
Thank you for your service
Its a flail - its for self-mortification. Fromsoft did nothing wrong ~~
I'm impressed you nearly got half hour out of this if I'm honest my dude 😂 Shame this cool weapon class is literally trash. Seems if it isn't a katana or a spear in this game you have some sort of disadvantage to using the weapon.
I see you saved the worst for last
Flail? More like FAIL amirite
Well shields are amazing.
But boring.
Should have ranked them before those piecec of crap on a stick
If we are being completely objective, daggers and fists are worse than flails. Hammers too are just worse flails. Sure flail is slower but enemies don’t really stand there and let you beat on them forever so you get just as many hits with a flail as a hammer. Plus sure flail copied hammers move set but it does it better with the bleed and longer range.
There is a reason why there are dagger only challenge runs but no flail only challenge runs and it’s because flail is an extremely viable weapon. Saying it sucks because it isn’t as good as other weapons just means everything sucks compared to katanas and rivers of blood or better yet all weapons are useless because sorcery is more efficient and better.
Yes. Everything in the medium category does suck in comparison to Katanas.
Schields?!