The Scorpion Flail is a weapon in Deadlocked. It is a large flail-type weapon manufactured by Vox Industries, which can be purchased for 75,000 bolts from a DreadZone vendor after accessing either planet Shaar or Orxon. With use, it can be upgraded to the Leviathan Flail, which causes its attacks to leave shockwaves behind. In challenge mode, it can be upgraded to the Mega Leviathan Flail for 1,000,000 bolts.
The Flail itself has a very small grip with a chain[a] connecting the ball. It is swung overhead and slammed downwards upon enemies by Ratchet when used. The Leviathan Flail is identical in appearance, although its ball is covered in light blue spikes, and it creates shockwaves on impacts. The Flail in multiplayer has blades attached to the head.
Deceased Gladiator Quaternion X referred to it as "the old ball and chain". It is also capable of disintegrating a small asteroid with its powerful blows. DreadZone does not recommend it for children under 3 years of age.[1]
Gameplay[]
The Scorpion Flail in action.
The Scorpion Flail has a powerful attack with a fixed range (significantly longer than the wrench, but much shorter than other ranged weapons), generally only able to hit enemies in front of the user. In turn its high damage and good attack speed balance out its range. It is generally best used against medium-strength enemies in large groups, especially if they can be attacked safely from up close, or if they spawn in front the user. Aerial foes, on the other hand, are problematic unless they stay close enough to the impact zone to be hit.
When the Charge Boots are acquired, the range issue becomes less of a problem, as the user can now close in on enemies very quickly depending on the terrain, and then immediately using the attack button to cancel the speed boost and strike the intended target. Once upgraded to the Leviathan Flail, it creates shockwaves that move forwards; this is a marginal upgrade and not particularly reliable compared to conventional ranged weapons.
The Speed and Area alpha mods are the most useful. Small bonus potential comes from Impact Mods to very briefly stun enemies, and from Ammo Mods to use the weapon for longer. The weapon's high attack rate and damage also grants it various options with the available omega mods, although in general the Freeze Mod stands out as it will almost instantly slow and freeze affected enemies. This makes the weapon safer to use both against large groups and singular powerful enemies like Executioners and Laser Backs.
Multiplayer[]
In multiplayer the weapon functions somewhat differently. Pressing the attack button will instead cause the player to swing the Flail around them, and holding it while standing still will swing it permanently at the cost of being unable to move. Letting go at that point causes it to instead turn into an overhead smash (which deals about 50% more damage compared to a normal swing). The overhead smash attack can still be used by attacking while in mid-air.
The Charge Boots become much more useful due to the lack of mods to supplement the base stats and range. The flail will also actively damage enemies on touch, such as while swinging it, but also when the ball slams the ground behind the player character in preparation for the overhead swing.
Behind the scenes[]
An Australian demo for Ratchet: Gladiator contains a unused third upgrade for the Leviathan Flail, which was later switched to being the model used for multiplayer.
Notes[]
- Notes
- ↑ Incorrectly depicted as an electrical chain or cable in official imagery.
- Citations