Flying units may move great distances and may cross enemy lands and Seas provinces as quickly as they cross friendly land provinces.

The flying ability doubles a unit's patrol strength and siege strength, making flying units particularly efficient for these roles.

Flying in combat costs some fatigue, which is increased by rain or snow from Rain and Storm.
Storm prevents flight, unless the flying unit has Storm Immunity.

Flying melee troops are usually scripted with Hold and Attack Rear to give time for enemy infantry to advance, leaving vulnerable archers and commanders exposed. In some battles, flyers scripted to attack immediately can be have a decisive role through interrupting the scripts of enemy mages or thugs.

With good leadership, it is possible to script flyers to advance on foot in combat. Flying units set on a Line or Double Line formation, and scripted to Attack, Fire, or Hold and Fire (not Hold and Attack!) will advance on foot, rather than flying, once they have exhausted any ammunition you told them to shoot. This can be useful both for flying infantry who you'd prefer to serve as a stable front line, and for flying archers like the Spire Horn Archer, who would otherwise bravely fly into melee with their Ice Knives when out of ammunition. This is not a panacea; the combat AI may decide to switch a squad in one of these formations to flying later in the battle.

Most flyers trade poorly with similiar quality units or even province defense. The main bonus of flying in a battle map strategical way is the possibility to reach and kill commanders in an alpha strike, triggering a rout.

• Supporting province defense with an extra commander positioned near the front, ideally with bodyguards, can be very effective against flyers raiding with Hold and Attack Rear.
• A box of infantry at the far back of deployment on Hold and Attack Closest. This will protect the rear of an army, although that infantry will be far from the front.
• Forward positioned fast units that will do a similiar alpha strike against the flying squads commanders as they are doing against yours. You still need an anchor in the back to attract the attention of the rear attackers.