Elden Ring - Spears

Keeping a shield up while still dealing damage costs least with a spear, which pokes from behind a raised guard, from horseback and through gaps, at the price of the lowest per-hit numbers of any polearm class.

Combat

Pros

• Spears, like great spears, can attack with a shield raised, which halberds and reapers cannot.
• These are the lightest polearms in the game. Swift Spear weighs 3.0, Short Spear and Smithscript Spear 4.0, and Spear, Iron Spear and Bloodfiend's Fork 4.5, and no halberd comes close on equip load.
• The infusion bench runs deep, with Bloodfiend's Fork, Swift Spear, Smithscript Spear, Celebrant's Rib-Rake, Clayman's Harpoon, Cross-Naginata, Iron Spear, Partisan, Pike, Short Spear, Spear and Spiked Spear all taking Heavy, Keen, Quality and elemental affinities.
• Entry cost is the lowest among the polearm classes. Celebrant's Rib-Rake needs 8 Strength and 14 Dexterity, Smithscript Spear 9 Strength and 12 Dexterity and Short Spear 10 and 10, and nothing in the class needs more than 20 Strength.

Cons

• The damage ceiling is the lowest of the polearm classes. The best fully upgraded physical damage is Partisan at 301, while the best halberd, Guardian's Swordspear, reaches 340 and the best reaper, Grave Scythe, reaches 352.
• The moveset is almost pure thrust, so spears are weak into crowds, with Partisan (Slash and Pierce), Spiked Spear (Strike and Pierce) and Cross-Naginata (Slash and Pierce) the only exceptions.
• Spears make a weak stagger tool in PvP, where their poise damage and their dual-wield damage against players are both low.
• The high-end spears are locked. Bolt of Gransax, Death Ritual Spear, Cleanrot Spear, Crystal Spear, Rotten Crystal Spear and Inquisitor's Girandole all take Somber stones with fixed skills and cannot be infused or buffed.

Builds

There are two clean routes and one dead end.

• Dexterity runs on Keen: Partisan tops fully upgraded Keen at 277 physical with B Dexterity, Cross-Naginata reaches 257 with A Dexterity, and Swift Spear reaches S Dexterity at full Keen (202 physical).
• Arcane and bleed run on Occult: Occult Cross-Naginata reaches 263 physical with B Arcane and 45 bleed, and Occult Bloodfiend's Fork reaches 220 with A Arcane, with its passive bleed scaling with Arcane on every infusion.
• Pure Strength is the dead end, since fully upgraded Heavy tops out at Partisan with 277 and B Strength, which a Heavy halberd beats outright at S.
• Requirements run from 8 to 20 Strength and 8 to 40 Dexterity, with Bolt of Gransax the 40 Dexterity outlier.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc
Partisan		123	6.5	15	12	-	-	-
Cross-Naginata		122	8	16	20	-	-	-
Death Ritual Spear		99 + 64 magic	6.5	14	20	18	-	-
Swift Spear		99	3	10	26	-	-	-
Bolt of Gransax		98 + 63 lightning	8.5	20	40	-	-	-

Notes

• The class deals Standard and Pierce damage even though the item descriptions do not say so, with Partisan, Spiked Spear and Cross-Naginata the exceptions.
• Their reach alone makes spears among the most useful melee weapons on horseback.
• Default skills split three ways: Impaling Thrust at 9 FP on most, Charge Forth at 16 FP on Iron Spear, Pike, Torchpole, Rotten Crystal Spear and Inquisitor's Girandole, and Barbaric Roar at 16 FP on Celebrant's Rib-Rake and Bloodfiend's Fork.
• Stamina cost per swing when fully upgraded runs from 68 (Celebrant's Rib-Rake) to 88 (Cross-Naginata, Bolt of Gransax), the cheapest of the polearm classes.

All Spears

The table below lists all Spears in Elden Ring.

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Bloodfiend's Fork		103 42	0 26	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 31	4.5	D 14	E 8	0	0	D 13	100	Barbaric Roar
Bolt of Gransax		98 60	0 31	0 31	63 47	0 31	100 40	8.5	D 20	D 40	0	0	0	1000	Ancient Lightning Spear
Celebrant's Rib-Rake		109 40	0 25	0 25	0 25	0 25	100 33	5	E 8	D 14	0	0	0	100	Barbaric Roar
Clayman's Harpoon		99 49	64 38	0 25	0 25	0 25	100 33	5.5	D 12	E 10	D 12	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Cleanrot Spear		102 49	0 25	0 25	0 25	66 38	100 33	5.5	D 16	D 16	0	D 14	0	200	Sacred Phalanx
Cross-Naginata		122 52	0 32	0 32	0 32	0 32	100 39	8	D 16	C 20	0	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Crystal Spear		110 48	33 33	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 33	5.5	E 10	D 16	E 16	0	0	200	Impaling Thrust
Death Ritual Spear		99 54	64 42	0 27	0 27	0 27	110 36	6.5	E 14	D 20	D 18	0	0	500	Spearcall Ritual
Inquisitor's Girandole		102 56	0 28	66 43	0 28	0 28	100 37	7.5	D 18	D 15	0	D 16	0	100	Charge Forth
Iron Spear		114 42	0 26	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 31	4.5	D 13	D 11	0	0	0	100	Charge Forth
Partisan		123 48	0 30	0 30	0 30	0 30	100 36	6.5	D 15	D 12	0	0	0	200	Impaling Thrust
Pike		115 53	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 39	7.5	D 20	D 14	0	0	0	100	Charge Forth
Rotten Crystal Spear		104 48	31 33	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 33	5.5	E 10	D 16	E 16	0	0	200	Charge Forth
Short Spear		112 40	0 25	0 25	0 25	0 25	100 30	4	D 10	D 10	0	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Smithscript Spear		107 38	0 23	0 23	0 23	0 23	100 28	4.0	D 9	D 12	E 11	E 11	0	500	Impaling Thrust
Spear		114 42	0 26	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 31	4.5	E 12	D 15	0	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Spiked Spear		120 46	0 28	0 28	0 28	0 28	100 34	6	D 14	D 16	0	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Swift Spear		99 40	0 25.0	0 25.0	0 25.0	0 25	100 30	3.0	10	C 26	0	0	0	100	Impaling Thrust
Torchpole		104 48	0 26	31 33	0 26	0 26	100 34	6	D 14	D 15	0	0	0	100	Charge Forth