Great Swords are two-handed weapons in Assassin's Creed Valhalla that offer some of the best health and stamina damage as well as very intuitive and effective combos for both the light and heavy attacks. Players with the Heavy Dual Wield skill from the Way of the Bear perk tree (highly recommended for all kinds of playstyles as it unlocks aspects of all melee weapon movesets) will also be able to use a Great Sword in conjunction with another weapon for higher damage output.
Those who want a heavy-hitting weapon that also has a fast attack speed and versatile maneuvers should definitely try out a Great Sword, as they are arguably the best melee weapon type in the game. Players can be aggressive and not leave themselves too vulnerable to counterattacks by foes or focus on defense by mixing up parries, dodges, and light attacks. To best use one of these big blades, however, Eivor will need to learn techniques that can bring out a Great Sword's deadliest strikes.
In The Main Hand
As a main hand weapon, a Great Sword will have a flexible moveset consisting of mostly slashes, though also has a powerful thrust attack that deals ridiculous amounts of health and stamina damage. Most players could repeatedly use this heavy-thurst attack to dominate the battlefield, as it pierces through the guards of foes like a hot knife through butter, though all of the combos of this weapon type are very usable.
The light attack combo is a series of 5 slashes that ends in an overhand one that slams the blade to the ground. The reach is generous and the attack speed is quick, meaning that this string of strikes can be used liberally with little risk, even when surrounded by foes.
While the heavy attack combo only consists of a max of 3 hits, each is a hefty blow. This short chain starts with 2 horizontal slashes that are followed by the aforementioned deadly thurst attack. For a quicker way to unleash this piercing blow, use 2 light attacks and then a heavy attack to strike forth with one of the most overpowered moves in the game, which will severely hurt targets as well as knock many to the ground.
With A Secondary Hand Weapon
With another weapon in the secondary hand, the Great Sword's movesets change a bit, though only really benefit from the inclusion of another two-handed weapon that either matches or exceeds the length of one's Great Sword. The attack animations of most one-handed weapons won't extend as far as the Great Sword in the main hand can reach, meaning that many of the off-hand strikes will miss, essentially making the secondary hand weapon useless. The ideal pairing for a Great Sword is a Spear, for they have the most reach out of any weapon type in the game and can allow one to increase their radius of attack.
Combos of light attacks include the secondary hand weapon in slash 1 and slash 5, which add some bonus damage to this already viable chain of hits. Heavy combos benefit from having the secondary hand weapon included in the 2 initial horizontal swings but not the final thurst and are often worth the stamina consumption.
In The Secondary Hand
Equipping a Great Sword in the secondary hand will let the player use an excellent chase-attack, where Eivor begins to rush forward, sword pointed ahead, and will mow down anyone in their path if one holds down the attack input. This constantly consumes stamina, so should mostly be used in short bursts and to close the gap between oneself and a target, however, can be used at point-blank range to great effect.
When the input is released, the player will thurst forth with a stab that will knock foes down and deal respectable stamina damage as well as moderate health damage. This is not nearly as impressive that the heavy attack combo's thrust, but can be very helpful to fluidly approach an enemy while also doing damage to them. A maneuver like this is especially useful for those wishing to wield shorter or slower weapons in the main hand, like a Dane Axe or a Flail.
Dual-Wielding Great Swords
By far the best way to make use of Great Swords is to dual-wield 2 of them, for this, like with all weapons, increases their attack speed while dropping the damage a bit. This trade-off is worth it for Great Swords as the combos both change for the better.
Chains featuring purely light attacks go from a max 5 to a max 9 as Eivor will start off with 2 double-slashes that equate to 4 strikes, followed by 3 thursts, and ends with a spinning double-slash for a final 2 blows. This string of deadly movements is pretty fast considering each weapon is meant to be used with both hands and grants one the ability to slaughter all in their path in record time.
The heavy attack combo remains the same, though, the speed boost from dual-wielding weapons of the same type allows the player to use them more frequently in a battle for greater devastation.