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The best weapons in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

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In the hands of a skilled assassin, anything can be a deadly weapon. Thankfully, you have plenty of extremely lethal options to pick from in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, including bows, axes, swords, and more. As you carve your path of destruction across the land, you’ll realize that there are some weapons just plain better than others, either in terms of their movesets, stats, or both.

Just like with armor, you can invest resources into powering up your favorite weapon to make it useful throughout the game, but which ones are worth your time? Let’s take a look at some of the best weapons across all categories so you know which ones will serve you best in battle.

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The best weapons in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Just like Odyssey and Origins, you will have a large arsenal of weapons to pick from throughout the latest Assassin’s Creed title, but not nearly enough resources to max out more than a couple at the blacksmith. You should first try out at least one weapon from each type before just choosing the one with the biggest number. How a weapon feels is just as important as how much damage it does in some cases.

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The Sepulcher Axe

Assassin's Creed Valhalla The Sepulcher Axe
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What better place to start than with a big, heavy, two-handed axe? This axe not only packs a massive punch naturally, but can also become engulfed in flames if you get a critical hit. As far as heavy weapons go, this one ticks all the right boxes. If swinging around a massive flaming axe doesn’t sound like the ideal Viking afternoon, nothing will.

Ursine Guard Shield

Okay, hang on, don’t count out a shield as one of the best weapons in the game before you use it to knock the teeth out of someone first. This specific shield is notable because it comes with a bonus that raises your attack after either taking or blocking a hit. You also get all the natural benefits of a shield, but using it to hit back harder makes any other weapon you pick to dual-wield it with even better.

Petra’s Arc

The bow has been on the rise in video game popularity for years now, so it can be hard to stand out in a space so competitive. How does Valhalla change things up? By making the Predator bows, which Petra’s Arc falls under, useable in first person. What’s more, this bow’s perk understands how most players will be using bows in this game by increasing your critical damage as long as you’re at full health. That makes it perfect for all of us who sneak up on an area, pick off a couple of guards in stealth, and then roll into open combat when accidentally spotted.

Spinning Death Flail

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Death Flail
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What? Did the name not tell you enough about this beast of a weapon? Flails are already some of the most satisfying weapons to use, but this one blows the rest away, literally. Any time you get a heavy finisher with this weapon, there’s a chance of dropping a fire bomb to blast away anyone foolish enough to want to take you on next. Plus, flails are quite light despite their damage, allowing you to dual wield it with a certain shield perhaps.

Carolingian Longsword

Sometimes you just need to go with a classic longsword to get into the feel of Viking combat. While all of these massive two-handed swords are satisfying to use on their own, it once again comes down to the perk this one is packing that makes it the ideal choice. Any time you get a finisher with this massive blade, your attack will go up. But wait, it gets better: This effect can stack up to five times. That means the more enemies coming at you, the faster you’ll end up cutting them down.

Fafnir’s Fang

While you may find that spears don’t feel as satisfying as some of the heavier weapons in the game, it’s helpful to be able to attack enemies from a distance. Fafnir’s Fang may result in lower damage numbers overall compared to alternative weapons, but it eliminates any doubt by providing incredible speed and crit chance. On the topic of critical hits— this spear features a perk that is peak critical chance. Let’s say you’re battling against three, four, or five enemies; your critical hit chance will increase accordingly and stay high for 10 seconds once you’re no longer surrounded.

Yngling Seax

For the players who would rather carve up their enemies bit-by-bit than in massive chunks, take a stab at the Yngling Seax daggers. The blade on this weapon is relatively small, but it can still have a brutal effect— especially if you approach your enemy with one sword in each hand. However, it’s the daggers’ perk that helps set this weapon apart. After a dodge, which you’ll be doing plenty of if you’re dual-wielding them, you get a melee damage buff for your counter-attack for a couple of seconds afterward.

Excalibur

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Excalibur
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Featuring this weapon feels a bit like cheating, but we’d feel cheated if we didn’t mention the legendary Excalibur. Players must collect a series of tablets and use them to unlock the incredible sword from its underground hiding spot. It could take a lot of work to eventually track down Excalibur, but it will be well worth the effort when you do. Thanks to the weapon’s stats and two insane perks, you’ll overpower nearly every opponent. One of the perks is that all of your critical hits and heavy finishers will blind any enemies close by. The second perk is the same as the Sepulcher Axe— it catches fire after a critical hit. This sword truly lives up to its namesake.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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