Spears

Spears deal pure pierce damage and have the fastest primary attack in the game at 0.68 seconds. The secondary throws the spear and you pick it back up, which makes it the only melee weapon that is also a ranged one.

Combat

Pros

A 0.68-second primary. No other weapon in the game swings that quickly, and it costs a single unit of stamina multiplier to do it.
The throw is free damage at range. It hits for 1.5x, the spear lands where you aimed, and you walk over and pick it up again. It even floats on water.
Cheap all round at 6 to 16 stamina a hit, and the class tops out at 248 damage with the Frostfire Spear, ahead of the 170 of the Nord Spear.
Every spear is one-handed, so each one pairs with a shield and the full parry game.

Cons

Pierce is the most resisted damage type in the game. Many creature types cut it and very few take extra, so the class fights uphill almost everywhere.
No 3-hit combo. Every other melee class builds to a double-damage third swing, while a spear just repeats the same 1x poke.
A 40 degree arc, the narrowest of any melee primary, so it hits one thing at a time and misses a moving target more often than a 90-degree swing.
1.9 metres of reach is barely more than a knife and much less than the 3.2 a polearm gets from the same long-handled idea.

Builds

Run spear and shield, and open with a throw. The throw costs the primary's stamina plus 2 and deals 1.5x, so an approaching Greydwarf takes a spear before it arrives, and you have the spear back a second later.

Carry 2. A thrown spear is out of your hands until you reach it, so keep a second spear in the hotbar rather than walking across the clearing mid-fight.

Lean on the speed, not the numbers. At 0.68 seconds a swing, the class deals its damage by volume, which pairs well with the parry window: block, stagger, then land 4 pokes in the time a two-hander lands one.

Against anything armoured, and that covers most of the Ashlands, pierce is the problem rather than the spear. Bring blunt or an element.

Spears are made at the Black forge, the Forge, the Workbench and the Frost Foundry.

The skill is Spears, and it levels by use rather than by choice.

Best Spears

Build	Name	Stats
Hardest hitter	Frostfire Spear	248 damage across all types
Cheapest to swing	Flint Spear	6 stamina a swing
Best guard	Frostfire Spear	66 block armour
Lightest to carry	Carapace Spear	1.5 weight
Longest lasting	Frostfire Spear	400 durability

Notes

A spear throw takes 1.04 seconds from start to finish.
Thrown spears float, so a spear thrown at a Serpent can be picked up again instead of sinking.
Each primary attack steps forward only 0.33 meters, less than any other melee weapon type, so it rarely carries the player into a second enemy.