Spears and Great Spears are a popular pick in Elden Ring’s PVP. Players prefer these types of weapons for their reach and their flexibility. But just like anything else in Elden Ring, wielding Spears and Great Spears is complicated, since each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages.
One disadvantage of Spears is their pointy end. If tarnished are overwhelmed by other players, the Spear won’t do much against all of them combined. Instead, players are forced to take them down one by one, making it a hassle. As for competitive dueling, it’s an ideal weapon of choice, if built right.
Defensive Spear Build In Elden Ring
Shields and Greatshields in Elden ring have a special passive allowing thrusting weapons like Thrusting Swords, Thrusting Greatswords, Spears, and Great Spears to attack while still blocking incoming attacks. This ability gives Spear weapons a significant advantage over all other weapons.
For this build, players need to prioritize Stamina, capped at 50. It will allow the tarnished to shield as much incoming damage as possible. For the other stats, 40 Vigor is highly recommended as it’s the standard for any build; dexterity and Strength should be above 20 each. And finally, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane are leveled up based on the requirements of Elden Ring weapons and Spells.
The best Greatshield to withstand as many hits from opponents as possible is, without a doubt, the Fingerprint Stone Shield. It has 81 Boost stat on level zero, reaching 90 at level 25, allowing the Greatshield to consume less stamina than other Shields when tanking damage. It is best to use the No Skill Ash of War on the Fingerprint Stone Shield, allowing the right-hand Spear to cast their skill immediately.
This build's gameplay is somewhat easy. Simply hold the shield and defend against all incoming attacks while pressuring enemies and counterattacking them. Do not give opponents any space and keep following them around.
Whenever enemies hit the shield, the tarnished will lose a portion of Stamina. Players can let the Shield down for a brief second and hold it back up again to quicken the Stamina regeneration.
Unsurprisingly, after enough pressure is put on opponents, they will start retreating to spam spells to bypass the Greatshield. For that, using an Armor Set that has high stats against Magic and Lightning is required, since both Elements are Meta in PVP.
As for Talismans, these are the best to use with this build:
- Spelldrake Talisman +2: Boosts Magic Damage negation.
- Pearldrake Talisman +2: Boosts non-physical damage negation.
- Boltdrake Talisman +2: Boosts Lightning Damage negation.
- Greatshield Talisman: Boosts guarding ability.
- Green Turtle Talisman: Raises stamina recovery speed.
- Spear Talisman: Enhances counterattacks unique to thrusting weapons.
- Curved Sword Talisman: Enhances guard counters.
- Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman: Enormously boosts physical damage negation.
To effectively counter range casters in Elden Ring, players can give up the fantastic Stamina control the Fingerprint Stone Shield provides and carry the Erdtree Greatshield. It can still successfully manage Stamina control, but players will lose the freedom to cast their weapon's right-hand skills instantly.
Its Unique Skill, Golden Retaliation, can block incoming spells and then aim them back at the targeted player. The retaliation is Holy damage and scales with Erdtree Greatshield’s level only. Buffs that increase Skill and Holy damage can raise the retaliation damage, allowing the Erdtree Greatshield’s Unique Skill to one-shot opponents.
It’s important to note that shielding in PVP has its own advantages, but some attacks can still bypass the Shield, like Scythes and a handful of Ash of Wars. Players are also sacrificing a considerable amount of their offense, slowing the PVP encounters with other players.
For the weapon, the Great Spears are great for this build. They may be slow and consume a lot of Stamina, but they also deal high Thrusting damage. Hence, it’s ideal to prioritize them over Spears when behind Shields. The best Great Spears to use are Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear, Treespear, and Vyke’s War Spear.
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
The Great Spear requires a whooping 27 Arcane, which can be demanding for some players. It causes Blood Loss Build-up on hit as it deals Fire and Physical damage.
The Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear’s Bloodboon Ritual is a dangerous Unique Skill to get close to. It forces enemies to move away in fear while the caster is applying Blood Loss Build-up to the entire area around them.
Treespear
The Treespear requires 18 points built on Faith to be wielded. It is better to invest more in Dexterity and less in Faith to use Treespear, as it has C scaling with Dexterity on full level. The points invested in Faith are not lost; however, players can still buff with Elden Ring incantations or use them offensively.
This weapon is among the strongest because of its Physical and Holy damage, while people can still infuse it with another Element, reaching immensely high damage on hit.
Vyke’s War Spear
Madness Build-up is widely used in Elden Ring PVP. Consequently, it’s safe to say it’s a Meta gameplay style. Vyke’s War Spear is one of the most used Great Spears for that approach because of its Unique Skill, Frenzyflame Thrust. Tarnished would levitate, then strike the ground under them, causing Frenzy to burst out all over the surrounding area.
Vyke’s War Spear requires 18 Faith and Scales B with Dexterity and C with Faith. Therefore, players should focus on both mentioned stats to maximize the Spear damage.
Additionally, the Fingerprint Stone Shield also builds up Frenzy when hitting an opponent. To improve the Frenzy Build-up playstyle, Elden Ring players can equip an offensive Ash of War on the Greatshield or keep the default Shield bash Skill on it.
Offensive Spear Build In Elden Ring
Spears can have one of the most defensive playstyles, but they also possess the ability to be extremely offensive. By equipping two Spears or two Great Spears, players leave themselves defenseless yet able to punish their aggressors lethally.
For this build, Stamina doesn’t play an essential role, allowing players to invest more in other attributes. Ideally, Vigor should reach 40 points, while the rest of the stats should adapt based on the weapons of choice.
The best Spears for this build are the Pike and Cross-Naginata. Pike for having an extra length, and Cross-Naginata for having Blood Loss Build-up by default. As for Great Spears, equipping two Vyke’s War Spears can be deadly every time they inflict damage.
To perfectly inflict damage on enemies, always look for vulnerable moments during their attacks. Keep running around while ready to dodge any incoming attack. Once the opponent strikes, keep a distance or dodge and punish immediately with two thrusts.
Two Cross-Naginatas are perfect for Bleed builds when equipped with Blood Ashes of War. They can fill the Blood meter right away the first time tarnished hits their enemy. Seppuku is the best Elden Ring Ash of War to equip with the Cross-Naginatas alongside Blood Tax​​​​.
On the other hand, Pike has a massive reach, and it can even reach further to crazy distances with Piercing Fang Ash of War, and they can adapt to new playstyles other than Bleed builds. For example, one Spear can have a mobile Ash of War like Bloodhound's Step, and the other can have an offensive one like the Piercing Fang. It can be used to surprisingly strike down enemies from far away while they feel safe.
Just like stats, Talismans in this build are flexible based on the weapon of choice. However, the best Talismans to use with the mentioned weapons are:
- Red-Feathered Branchsword: Raises attack power when HP is low.
- Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman: Enormously boosts physical damage negation.
- Green Turtle Talisman: Raises stamina recovery speed.
- Claw Talisman: Enhances jump attacks.
- Hammer Talisman: Enhances stamina-reducing attacks against a blocking opponent.
- Shard of Alexander: Greatly boosts the attack power of skills.
Note: Talismans that boost attack power when Blood Loss occurs are not recommended in 1v1 no-heal duels since enemies will probably fall from two to three hits at maximum.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.
