Flail Guide and Builds for New World

The Flail is an impactful support weapon that comes with potent group buffing capabilities, as well as, devestating crowd-control and debuffs to help take down enemies..

Strengths

• Incredible group support through buffs, healing, and crowd control
• Acts as a secondary healing weapon
• Versatile and can fit into many builds
• Fantastic disruption weapon because of staggers and knockdowns

Weaknesses

• Low damage output
• Lacks quick, consistent mobility
• Lacks ability diversity in META content

No matter what build the Flail is in, it will be a support weapon. It will be primarily used for its secondary support build that offers the most group synergy, but it can be interestingly used as an option for a healer-damage hybrid in PvE.

For more builds, beyond the two builds we present below, please refer to our PvE and PvP build pages:

Void Gauntlet offers healing over time and burst healing through Orb of Decay. It allows you to root enemies in place with Petrifying Scream for defensive utility and to set up kills for teammates. You can also use Oblivion to increase damage output, stamina and mana regeneration, and remove enemy buffs.

Sword and Shield synergize well with the flail as it also has the opportunity for 3 additional perks that can be provided from wearing a shield. Both of these weapons have potent support buffs, gap closers, and crowd-control lockdown potential..

Spear offers a second weapon that can be used to disrupt enemies. When paired with the Flail, this combination will provide a devestating mix of crowd-control abilities.

The Flail is a support tool that can have viability when flexed into just about any weapon. It may not directly scale with the primary weapon that is selected, but you may use a support Flail build to still have effectiveness in combat.

Your attribute distribution will heavily rely on the build and playstyle you have selected. For clarity on attributes, please reference our PvP and PvE build sections.

This section restricts itself to the important perks of Flail. For a complete rundown, please read our dedicated guide:

• Blessed — This perk is NECESSARY for healing. It is one of the only weapon perks that improves healing output.
• Mending Vortex — This perk provides incredible PvP survivability when using the Flail as a healer.
• Keen Speed

• Refreshing Move

A damage Flail becomes much more flexible and you can play to your preferences. It is just paramount to have Refreshing Move within your build. It may also just be best to use the Artifact - Odo.

• Enchanted Ward
• Refreshing
• Shirking Heals
• Shirking Fortification
• Health
• Conditioning Perks — Use Thrust Conditioning or Slash Conditioning across multiple pieces to counter damage from major sources of player damage.
• Freedom

• Health
• Refreshing
• Conditioning Perks — These can be used to counter expedition specific elemental damage.
• Harnessing Perks

• Health — This is the standard pick for all builds, it is free health that will add to the defensiveness of your kit.
• Stamina Recovery — This is a backpocket save when being focused and taking heavy damage. You will receive a burst of stamina that will allow you to potentially get a quick dodge that can save your life and continue the fight.
• Thrust Protection — This acts as a third perk option that provides more defensiveness against Bows, Muskets, Blunderbusses, Spears, and Rapiers.
• Slash Protection — This acts as a third perk slot that provides more defensiveness against Greatswords, Great Axes, Hatchets, and Swords.

• Sacred — This perk functions similarly to Blessed. It is one of the only ring perks that will result in a healing output increase. This should be the main perk you are searching for on a ring. ONLY USE IF YOU ARE A HEALER
• Hearty — This provides an increase to your stamina cap by 10%, which is just enough to allow you to dodge twice while in light armor without draining your entire stamina bar. It significantly improves your mobility, making it a high priority in light armor, but it is not needed in medium or heavy loadouts.
• Purifying
• Invigorated Punishment
• Arcane Damage
• Strike Damage

• Nimble
• Fortifying Toast
• Healing Heart
• Refreshing
• Refreshing Toast

• Primary Flail Options: Odo, Power Stone
• Secondary Artifact Weapon Options: The Abyss, Trsna

• Tumbler Feetwraps
• Featherweight
• Void Darkplate (if in Heavy)

• Ankh
• Endless Thirst

Minor Heartrune of Stoneform is the most defensive and useful option a healer has. It allows you to freely break out of crowd control effects, become immune to stagger, and obtain defensive buffs. There are three viable upgrade options:

• Brutal Heartrune of Stoneform
• Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform
• Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform

Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform is the best pick as it not only gives a 10% Fortify, but a healing over time effect as well.

Minor Heartrune of Grasping Vines is the best option for non-healer support builds that are trying to emphasize their presence in a fight with crowd-control.

There are three viable upgrade options:

• Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines
• Stalwart Heartrune of Grasping Vines
• Cunning Heartrune of Grasping Vines

Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines is the best pick to make sure that enemies caught in the rooting effect are vulnerable to high damage bursts.

When using other weapons, or if you are seeking more damage, Minor Heartrune of Detonate can be used.

There are two viable upgrade options:

• Brutal Heartrune of Detonate
• Cunning Heartrune of Detonate

Brutal Heartrune of Detonate makes you more vulnerable, but will result in a massive AoE burst of damage. This is best in more defensive builds or for light armor builds where you play with more risk.

For more detailed information on how to properly use Gems in your Flail build, please refer to the our Flail Gems guide.

It is best to use a Runeglass variant of a Cut Pristine Diamond. This will allow for a mixture of increased damage and healing all while also applying damage over time effects.

In PvP it is most effective to have an even resistance split, and then dedicate additional defensiveness to Thrust or Slash through an amulet perk like Thrust Protection or Slash Protection.

• Cut Pristine Onyx x4 & Cut Pristine Opal x4

In PvE combat, more specifically mutators, elemental resistance is the main concern. You can use the following gems in your gear:

• Elemental Resistance Gem x8 (Based on mutator elemental effect) + Amulet Protection Perk (Based on mutator elemental effect)

For more information on how to manage your cooldown hotbar, what consumables to use, what foods should be eaten, or tips on how to be more effective with your consumables in PvP and PvE, please refer to our Flail Consumables guide.

Your rotation will change dependent on the build you are playing. For more specific rotations please refer to our PvP Builds and PvE Builds:

For more information, about Flail abilities, we have a dedicated guide that goes through every single ability in great detail: