Elden Ring: 14 Best Spears

Elden Ring spears are some of the most sought-after weapons to hoard for your arsenal. While you may have grown fond of certain weapons, you may want to consider a spear build to get you through the challenges lurking in the Lands Between. The best Elden Ring spears fit an excellent niche for taking care of enemies with long weapons or reach.

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For those who enjoy playing with a shield, then spears offer some of the best medieval knight cosplay options available that are effective and equally stylish. For those accustomed to using some of Elden Ring's powerful curved swords or rapiers, you'll find the forward range of spears to be a huge quality of life improvement as you won't have to move within enemies' striking distance in order to lash out at them.

Updated June 28, 2024, by Andrew Scariati: The best in Elden Ring got some new competition in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. While you search for tools to defeat bosses like Mohg and Messmer, look out for Elden Ring's best spear, as these weapons pack an incredible punch with their standard attacks and weapon skills.

14 Pike

• Stat Requirements: 20 STR, 14 DEX

Despite its plain Jane appearance, the Pike actually boasts the longest weapon reach in the game. Elden Ring spears possess a variety of special traits, but sometimes having the longest reach is all you need to survive. While it's far from the best spear in Elden Ring, there's no denying that the Pike will get the job done.

While its Strength requirement is slightly greater, the Pike scales evenly with both Strength and Dexterity at an average D-scaling. However, adding a Quality gem upgrades these both to B-scaling, an excellent improvement for this staple weapon. You can use the Charge Forth Ash of War to capitalize on the range or choose your own instead.

13 Clayman's Harpoon

• Stat Requirements: 12 STR, 10 DEX, 12 INT

An easy-to-wield option, the Clayman's Harpoon is a unique weapon but is not restricted in Ash of War or effects, allowing you to assimilate it quickly to your build. Its standard Weapon Skill, Impaling Thrust, offers a classic powerful forward thrust that can break your foe's guard, offering the opportunity to riposte them or continue poking away.

Despite its utility, you will likely want to add your own Ash of War and change the effects of this weapon while upgrading it to suit your play style better.

If you're interested in splitting your Strength and Dexterity, then the Quality affinity provides B-scaling to both, allowing you to use this weapon at higher levels with greater effect.

12 Swift Spear

• Stat Requirements: 10 STR, 26 DEX

Swift Spear makes a good argument for the best spear Elden Ring offers among non-unique choices. You can upgrade the weapon in several ways, but focusing on maximum Keen upgrades will upgrade your Dex to S-scaling, giving you increased damage with a high-dex build.

The Ash of War: Impaling Thrust can be swapped out to something else, giving you plenty of room to customize this spear in addition to improving its scaling.

You can find this spear on a corpse along the road to the south of Scadu Altus. A few soldiers guard the spear, so get the spear and get out, or prepare to fight.

11 Inquisitor's Girandole

• Stat Requirements: 18 STR, 15 DEX, 16 FAI

The Inquisitor's Girandole is one of the most visually appealing Elden Ring spears, which should offset the annoyance of needing to kill an Abductor Virgin under Volcano Manor to get it.

Much like the Rotten Crystal Spear, the Charge Forth Skill is solid, and the Girandole trades Scarlet Rot buildup for Blood loss.

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While you cannot customize its damage, it does reach respectable levels of Physical and Fire damage at about 250 and 160, respectively. You can also look forward to solid scaling that keeps this weapon relevant. C-scaling in Dexterity and Strength is fine, but the additional B-scaling in Faith should allow you to fill out your incantations freely.

10 Barbed Staff-Spear

• Stat Requirements: 14 STR, 18 DEX, 22 FAI

This unique Great Spear easily takes the cake for the best spear Elden Ring has for hanging your coat – just look at those options. Jokes aside, the Barbed Spear-Staff is a fun and effective weapon to use, drawing inspiration from its former owner, Jori, in the Jori's Inquisition weapon skill.

Although you can't infuse this weapon with ashes of war, the unique skill and powerful passive bleed effect will make up for those limitations. Once you've defeated Jori, The Inquisitor at the end of the Darklight Catacombs, you can claim one of the best Elden Ring spears for yourself.

9 Death Ritual Spear

• Stat Requirements: 14 STR, 20 DEX, 18 INT

The Death Ritual Spear is a top choice if you're investing in Dexterity and also boasts a unique Spearcall Ritual Skill. The Ritual summons a downpour of ghostly spears that damage foes caught in its onslaught. This allows you to catch groups unaware at a distance, inflicting solid damage with one of the most distinctive Elden Ring spears.

Its damage improves nicely at level ten, clocking about 240 Physical and 150 Magic Damage on top of B-scaling in Dexterity to keep those numbers competitive as you progress.

Avoid exceeding the maximum Strength and Intelligence requirements unless needed for your character's spear build, as their D-scaling won't do much for you.

8 Rotten Crystal Spear

• Stat Requirements: 10 STR, 16 DEX, 16 INT

If you still want some classic spear gameplay with a twist, then the Rotten Crystal Spear is an option you may fall in love with. It provides innate Scarlet Rot buildup against enemies with each hit and has an improved weapon art compared to the Harpoon via Charge Forth.

If you've fought Morgott, The Omen King, then you know exactly how effective a long forward dash and spear thrust can be.

On the negative side, your scaling is almost non-existent until you reach max level via Somber Smithing Stones, which will reward you with B-scaling in Dexterity. Luckily, its base damage is nice for a spear, hovering around 250 at max upgrade while also dealing an extra 75 magic damage alongside Scarlet Rot buildup, offering a powerful combination of immediate and chip damage over time.

7 Cross-Naginata

• Stat Requirements: 16 STR, 20 DEX

Despite its common Impaling Thrust Weapon Skill, the Cross-Naginataintrinsic Blood loss should more than compensate, especially against bosses. Its base D and C-scaling in Strength and Dexterity, respectively, do leave a bit to be desired, but you can augment it with additional Blood loss affinity to compensate for lower initial damage.

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Depending on your choice of upgrades, you can improve your scaling to as high as A-level, but it's probably best to lean into Blood loss in this case. Poking at a distance will stack the Bleed effect quickly and make it difficult for enemies to retaliate before they've been sufficiently damaged.

6 Cleanrot Spear

• Stat Requirements: 16 STR, 16 DEX, 14 FAI

If you're sick and tired of the Lake of Rot and want to put that annoying effect to work for you, then this might be Elden Ring's best spear in your eyes. The Cleanrot Spear offers a low bar of entry stat-wise and comes with a wonderful unique skill: Sacred Phalanx Skill.

This powerful skill conjures a massive amount of spears to spike through the ground, striking your enemies with Holy damage if they're caught in the area of effect (AoE).

Unfortunately, it offers unimpressive D-scaling across the board until it is upgraded to max level, at which point it gains C-scaling in Strength and Dexterity: a minor improvement.

5 Spear Of The Impaler

• Stat Requirements: 14 STR, 35 DEX, 18 FAI

Messmer the Impaler is one of the best new bosses introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree, and although his design is incredible, his fight is punishing. While it may take some time to defeat this abomination, the Spear of the Impaler is the best spear Elden Ring can offer if you want an amazing weapon skill.

Messmer's Assault might be the coolest-looking spear weapon skill in Elden Ring, as you can chain successive attacks and reproduce similar spear-wreathed-in-flames combinations, just like Messmer. This spear cranks up the fun factor – if you can claim it from its owner.