Elden Ring - Flails

Flails form the smallest and most conditional weapon class in the game, since they cannot be parried, hit hardest with the ball and lose their skill the moment their affinity changes.

Combat

Pros

• Flails cannot be parried, yet unlike Whips they can still land critical attacks, a straightforward advantage in PvP and against tough enemies.
• They particularly shine with guard counters and jump attacks, which is where the class's damage actually lives.
• The Flail, Chainlink Flail and Nightrider Flail all carry innate blood loss at 50 buildup, the highest innate-bleed density of any axe, hammer or flail class.
• Scaling is strong at the top despite small base numbers. The Chainlink Flail reaches S Strength at maximum Heavy upgrade, while Family Heads reaches A Dexterity and Bastard's Stars A Intelligence at maximum standard.

Cons

• Spinning Chain, the default skill on the Flail, Chainlink Flail and Nightrider Flail, is not available as a separate Ash of War, so changing affinity permanently overwrites the class's signature skill, the single biggest constraint on the class.
• The weapon pool is the smallest in the game, and only the Flail, Chainlink Flail and Nightrider Flail are pure physical, so a build that none of them fits finds the class closed.
• Guard boost is the worst of any axe, hammer or flail class, from 20 (Flail, Bastard's Stars, Family Heads) to 24 (Chainlink Flail), against 27 to 43 for Axes and 38 to 48 for Great Hammers.
• Base physical damage tops out at 115 (Nightrider Flail), the lowest ceiling of any axe, hammer or flail class.

Builds

Dexterity is the real stat.

• At 24 Dexterity the Nightrider Flail (the class damage leader, 281 attack rating at maximum standard upgrade, B Dexterity) and the Serpent Flail open up, and 18 Dexterity with 10 Strength covers the base Flail.
• The Strength path is a single weapon, the Chainlink Flail at 18 Strength and 12 Dexterity, which reaches S Strength on Heavy with the class's best stance damage (134) and guard boost (24).
• Caster hybrids want 22 Intelligence for Bastard's Stars (A Intelligence at maximum standard, 166 physical and 198 magic), 16 Intelligence for Family Heads, or 21 Faith for the Serpent Flail (B Faith, 188 physical and 225 fire).
• The cost of an affinity has to be weighed first, because swapping affinity destroys Spinning Chain for good.
• A Blood affinity on the Nightrider Flail, for example, trades roughly 45 attack (281 down to 236) for 32 extra bleed buildup (50 up to 82).

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc
Nightrider Flail		115	6	10	24	-	-	-
Chainlink Flail		112	8	18	12	-	-	-
Family Heads		90 + 58 magic	5.5	8	18	16	-	-
Serpent Flail		77 + 92 fire	6	10	24	-	21	-
Bastard's Stars		68 + 81 magic	5.5	8	22	22	-	-

Notes

• Hitting with the ball deals more damage than hitting with the handle, so spacing matters more here than in any other blunt class.
• Every flail deals Strike damage with no Pierce option, so the class has no thrusting counterattacks.
• Stance damage at maximum standard upgrade is 106 on Bastard's Stars and Family Heads, 112 on the Flail, 116 on the Nightrider Flail and Serpent Flail, and 122 on the Chainlink Flail, rising to 134 on Heavy.
• An Occult Nightrider Flail reaches 247 attack rating with B Arcane at max upgrade, while the Chainlink Flail at maximum Heavy drops from 274 to 235 in exchange for S Strength and 12 extra stance damage.
• The Serpent Flail belongs to the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and the Golden Order Flail comes with the Tarnished Edition.

All Flails

The table below lists all Flails in Elden Ring.

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Bastard's Stars		68 32	81 48	0 24	0 24	0 24	100 20	5.5	E 8	D 22	C 22	0	0	500	Nebula
Chainlink Flail		112 43	0 28	0 28	0 28	0 28	100 24	8.0	C 18	E 12	0	0	0	200	Spinning Chain
Family Heads		90 37	58 36	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 20	5.5	E 8	C 18	E 16	0	0	200	Familial Rancor
Flail		112 36.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	100 20	5.0	D 10	D 18	0	0	0	100	Spinning Chain
Golden Order Flail		75 39.0	0 28.0	0 28.0	0 28.0	92 37.0	100 22	5.0	E 9	E 16	0	C 26	0	0	Causality's Wrath
Nightrider Flail		115 37.0	0 25.0	0 25.0	0 25.0	0 25.0	100 21	6.0	E 10	C 24	0	0	0	100	Spinning Chain
Serpent Flail		77 34.0	0 25.0	92 50.0	0 24.0	0 25.0	100 21	6.0	E 10	D 24	0	D 21	0	0	Flare, O Serpent