Elden Ring - Spears

The cheapest way to keep a shield up and still deal damage: you poke from behind guard, from horseback and through gaps, and you pay for it with the lowest per-hit numbers of any polearm class.

Combat

Pros

• Attacks while blocking. 's Spears page states spears (like great spears) let you attack with a shield raised, none of the other three classes here claims this.
• Lightest polearms in the game: Swift Spear 3.0, Short Spear and Smithscript Spear 4.0, Spear/Iron Spear/Bloodfiend's Fork 4.5. Cheap on equip load in a way no halberd is.
• Deepest infusion bench relative to size: 12 of 19 appear in 's Heavy/Keen/Quality/elemental tables (Bloodfiend's Fork, Swift Spear, Smithscript Spear, Celebrant's Rib-Rake, Clayman's Harpoon, Cross-Naginata, Iron Spear, Partisan, Pike, Short Spear, Spear, Spiked Spear).
• Lowest entry cost of the four classes: Celebrant's Rib-Rake 8 Str / 14 Dex, Smithscript Spear 9 Str / 12 Dex, Short Spear 10/10. Nothing in the class needs more than 20 Str (Pike).

Cons

• Lowest damage ceiling of the four. Best max-standard physical is Partisan at 301; the best halberd is Guardian's Swordspear at 340 and the best reaper is Grave Scythe at 352.
• Almost pure thrust moveset, so it is weak into crowds. lists only three deviations: Partisan (Slash/Pierce), Spiked Spear (Strike/Pierce) and Cross-Naginata (Slash/Pierce).
• Nerfed as a stagger tool in PvP: records Patch 1.08 reducing poise damage of all spears, and Patch 1.14 reducing dual-wield damage against players.
• 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, per their pages, cannot be infused or buffed.

Builds

Two clean forks and one dead end.

• (1) Dex/Keen: Partisan tops max Keen at 277 physical with B Dex, Cross-Naginata 257 with A Dex, and Swift Spear reaches S Dex at max Keen (202 physical).
• (2) Arcane/bleed: Occult Cross-Naginata is 263 physical with B Arcane and 45 bleed; Occult Bloodfiend's Fork is 220 with A Arcane and, per, its passive bleed scales with Arcane on every infusion.
• The dead end is pure Strength, max Heavy tops out at Partisan 277 with B Str, which a Heavy halberd beats outright at S.
• Requirement spread runs 8 to 20 Str and 8 to 40 Dex (Bolt of Gransax is the 40 Dex outlier).

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc	Why Take It
Partisan		123	6.5	15	12	-	-	-	Highest max-standard physical attack rating (AR) in the class at 301 and highest base physical at 123; one of only three spears with a slashing R2 (shared with Spiked Spear and Death Ritual Spear); infusible and buffable on ordinary Smithing Stones. 4% drop from Godrick Knights at Gatefront Ruins, so it is reachable in the first hour of a run.
Cross-Naginata		122	8	16	20	-	-	-	The class's bleed/arcane engine: 298 physical at max standard with 50 innate bleed, and 263 physical with B Arcane and 45 bleed at max Occult. it has a unique moveset among spears because its attacks are both thrust and slash. Looted from a corpse in Gael Tunnel.
Death Ritual Spear		99 + 64 magic	6.5	14	20	18	-	-	The only spear with a 110 critical multiplier and the class's best magic split: 99 physical / 64 magic at +0, 242 / 156 with D Int at max standard. You take it for Spearcall Ritual, not for attack rating (AR). Dropped by the Death Rite Bird southwest of Castle Sol; Somber, fixed skill, no buffs.
Swift Spear		99	3	10	26	-	-	-	DLC. Lightest weapon in the class at 3.0 and, per, the only spear with a unique quick moveset not shared by any other. Reaches S Dex scaling at max Keen. Caveat from the same page: Patch 1.14 made it slower to cancel out of one-handed normal attacks. On the road southeast from Castle Front in Gravesite Plain.
Bolt of Gransax		98 + 63 lightning	8.5	20	40	-	-	-	One of nine Legendary Armaments and the only spear with innate lightning: 98 physical / 63 lightning at +0, 240 / 154 at max standard. records +20% damage against Dragon-type and +10% against Ancient Dragon-type enemies, and that it benefits greatly from Shard of Alexander and Godfrey Icon. The costs are real: 40 Dex, Somber only, no infusion, no buffs, and it must be taken from Leyndell before the Ashen Capital transition.

Notes

• Attack with a shield raised: light attacks come out without dropping guard. This is the class's whole reason to exist and it is shared only with Great Spears.
• Damage type: the class deals Standard/Pierce even though base-game descriptions do not say so; Partisan, Spiked Spear and Cross-Naginata are excluded.
• Horseback: spears among the most useful melee weapons mounted, on range alone.
• 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 / Inquisitor's Girandole, Barbaric Roar at 16 FP on Celebrant's Rib-Rake and Bloodfiend's Fork.
• PvP patch history: 1.08 cut spear poise damage, 1.13 increased dual-wield poise damage, 1.14 cut dual-wield damage against players.

All Spears

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	4.5	14	8	13	0	0	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	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	3.0	10	D 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