The Melee class in Terraria is home to a number of weapon sub-categories, as the range that the class lacks necessitates a variety of playstyles to suit different enemies and bosses you'll encounter throughout the world. No sub-category in the Melee class's arsenal, though, is as interesting as the flail.

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Flails come in two flavors, either spinning around the player before being thrown or instantly launching out before coming back just as quickly. The chain that holds the flail is what all weapons in the sub-category share, allowing them to strike multiple enemies as they retract along its path. This versatility makes flails some of the most consistent main weapons in the game.

10 Flaming Mace

Flaming Mace From Terraria

The Flaming Mace is a direct upgrade to the Mace, one of the easiest flails to get your hands on in the game. It's crafted with 99 torches, adding the ability to set enemies on fire as well as provide a little light when spun or thrown.

Both the Flaming and vanilla Mace can carry you through the early game, as the ability to form a shield around yourself while doing damage is valuable during a time when the efficacy of armor is poor. Plus, the extra range lets them surpass every sword you can obtain before accessing evil biome materials.

9 The Meatball And Ball O' Hurt

The Meatball and Ball O Hurt from Terraria

The Meatball and Ball O' Hurt are the evil biome offerings for the flail category, nearly doubling the Mace's damage while keeping all of its functionality intact. For the Ball O' Hurt, you can access it as soon as you can break Shadow Orbs, making it a great tool for the Eater of Worlds thanks to its piercing ability and natural defense against breakable projectiles.

The Meatball, on the other hand, can only be accessed once you have Tissue Samples, requiring you to have already beaten the Brain of Cthulu before it is crafted. In return, The Meatball is slightly more powerful than the Ball O' Hurt, though not quite so much that it changes progression too drastically.

8 Blue Moon

Blue Moon from Terraria

Blue Moon is a flail obtained in Dungeon Chests, functioning like the Mace but with even higher damage numbers. This flail is particularly good for exploring the Dungeon, as it's fairly easy to find and does superior damage to enemies found within.

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If you're doing a flail-only run, this is a great one to take to Queen Bee if you haven't fought her yet; its damage is solid enough to contend with her even as she becomes enraged. Unfortunately, since there's a direct upgrade in the Underworld immediately after the Dungeon is unlocked, the reign of the Blue Moon can be quite short.

7 Sunfury

Sunfury from Terraria

After you grab a Shadow Key from the Dungeon's chests, you can head straight down to the Underworld and get your hands on the Sunfury. This flail is the strongest of all the Pre-Hardmode flails, outdoing the high damage of the Blue Moon while also bringing back the potential to inflict burning of the Flaming Mace.

The Sunfury is particularly good for farming Pre-Hardmode, as its spin protects you from contact damage while wiping out most enemies that you'll encounter. If you want a fat stack of cash going into Hardmode, you can pop a Battle Potion, spin up your flail, and hunker down in the Dungeon as money flies into your pockets.

6 Anchor

Anchor from Terraria

The Anchor is a Hardmode flail that can be obtained as soon as you defeat the Wall of Flesh, infrequently coming out of boxes pulled up while fishing. It's a launched flail, meaning it can't be spun around before it's thrown; this limits its defensive properties by quite a bit.

This flail has a specific use case in crowd control, as it has a decent range and infinite piercing. If you throw the Anchor behind a large group of enemies and allow it to rake through them, its high damage will affect everyone in the line equally.

5 Chain Guillotines

Chain Guillotines from Terraria

The Chain Guillotines are another launched flail, shooting two blades unaffected by gravity. Because they return instantly after hitting an enemy, they're particularly good when autofired close to a target; the blades bounce off, retract, and can be fired again immediately for massive damage.

They're fairly simple to get your hands on, too, since they drop from Corruption Mimics. Even in early Hardmode, it only takes a bit of farming to get the keys to spawn them, making the Chain Guillotines fantastic weapons for fighting early bosses like the Twins.

4 Dao of Pow

The Dao Of Pow from Terraria

The Dao of Pow is accessible right after the start of Hardmode, as the materials required to make it can be farmed quickly in the Hallowed and Evil Deserts. For how early you can get your hands on it, the Dao of Pow is strong enough to get you a decent way through the Mechanical Bosses.

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This flail even has the ability to confuse enemies on hit, making it a wonderful choice when exploring areas with high spawn rates. As long as the Dao of Pow is circling you, every enemy will be running in the opposite direction.

3 Drippler Crippler

The Drippler Crippler from Terraria

The Drippler Crippler is another powerful flail that can be obtained near instantly after the start of Hardmode, limited only by the occurrence of a Blood Moon. If you're able to fish up a Blood Eel during such an event, you have a chance to obtain this flail upon its defeat.

It's more likely to be an upgrade to the Dao of Pow, as the Blood Eel can be terrifyingly powerful. Once you get your hands on it, though, the Drippler Crippler can serve you well up to Plantera, as its fired projectiles add to its already ludicrous range.

2 Flower Pow

Flower Pow from Terraria

The Flower Pow is the most powerful thrown flail in the game, occasionally obtained when defeating Plantera. Similar to the Drippler Crippler, the Flower Pow fires projectiles upon use, adding to overall DPS as well as giving options for how you approach a fight.

The projectiles are fired as long as you hold the button down, so if you keep the head of the flail dropped to the floor, it will disgorge petals while you focus on dodging. The Flower Pow is particularly good for farming the Destroyer due to its piercing ability and extra projectiles.

1 Flairon

Flairon from Terraria

The Flairon is the most powerful offensivel flail in the game, earned by defeating Duke Fishron. Technically, this flail can be received at the start of Hardmode if you find a truffle worm, but the difficulty of Duke Fishron will likely leave this as a Post-Plantera upgrade to the Flower Pow.

Like the two flails that come before it, the Flairon fires projectiles as it is used. Since it's a launched flail, this means that it can rack up massive damage when close to an enemy, releasing tons of bubbles during its ceaseless strikes.

Next: Terraria: The Best Guns, Ranked