Highlights

  • Some Elden Ring players are impressed with the Spear of the Impaler, one of the new weapons introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree.
  • The spear is impressively versatile, offering some hard-hitting melee options and a throw attack with an absurd range that even deals AoE damage.
  • Despite these benefits, the Spear of the Impaler is also fairly slow, making it difficult to use against the DLC's lightning-fast bosses.

Some Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree players are super impressed with the Spear of the Impaler, not least because of its absurd range. And while that's not the only benefit offered by this newly introduced Elden Ring weapon, Spear of the Impaler still comes with some notable drawbacks that have already dissuaded some players from using it for long.

Minor Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay spoilers (the method of obtaining the Spear of the Impaler) ahead.

Released on June 21, the critically acclaimed expansion for FromSoftware's 2022 soulslike expanded the base game with over 100 weapons. And while Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree even introduced some new weapon types with those additions, plenty of its armaments also expanded the RPG's existing classes of weaponry. Great Spears are one such category that nearly doubled in size following the DLC's debut, having received four more weapons.

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Shadow of the Erdtree's Spear of the Impaler Is Devastating Both From Up Close and Far Away

This wave of arrivals is spearheaded by the Spear of the Impaler , which can be obtained by defeating Messmer the Impaler . Plenty of players have been singing its praises since getting their hands on it, not least because of its absolutely absurd range. Aside from allowing the Tarnished to keep enemies at a decent melee distance by virtue of being a spear, this new Elden Ring DLC weapon also has a unique charged heavy attack that sees the character throw it like an Olympic athlete. Even if their ridiculously long throw misses the enemy, the attack still has a chance of doing something because the spear explodes in flames upon landing, dealing additional area-of-effect damage.

YouTuber Boomstick Gaming recently demonstrated some of these capabilities in a TikTok video that saw them dispatch a variety of enemies from great distances using nothing but the Spear of the Impaler's charged heavy attack. At the same time, many other social media users have praised the weapon for its versatility and sheer DPS qualities, noting how even its regular heavy attacks can deal in the ballpark of 3,000 damage to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's tanky enemies. Its Ash of War, Messmer's Assault, has also impressed many a fan, largely because it offers quite a bit of destructive power for a relatively low cost of 15 FP.

Spear of the Impaler Might Be Too Slow To Be Considered Overpowered

Despite these qualities, the weapon also has a few notable drawbacks that already appear to have dissuaded some players from using it. Aside from its big reliance on Fire-type damage that some enemies resist, it's also fairly slow, much like every other Great Spear in the game. Given how most of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's bosses move at incredible speeds, using any slow weapon in the vein of the Spear of the Impaler is extremely difficult to do, requiring players to essentially learn their entire movesets before they can reliably punish their attacks without getting hit.