In this Elden Ring Best Great Spear and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 6 Great Spears in Elden Ring, and discussing why you might use them in combat. We’ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills, and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added with Shadow of the Erdtree as well.
Great Spears in Elden Ring:
- Lance
- Siluria’s Tree
- Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
- Treespear
- Vyke’s War Spear
- Serpent-Hunter
Best Great Spear in Elden Ring – Ranked
Great Spears are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. Great Spears in Elden Ring has many benefits in which a player could take advantage of. It has an exceptional reach, making combat safer for you. It also deals Pierce damage, which has Counterattack damage that is exclusive to it. Great Spears having long reach will make it easy for you to deal Counterattack damage. The Great Spear has a great move set, with a deadly running attack and good L2 attacks. It can also attack while holding Block with Shield, which most weapon types cannot do.
However, there are reasons in which you might not want to use a Great Spear for your build. It deals mostly Thrust damage, which a lot of enemies resist. It also has a hard time hitting concave-shaped enemies. The majority of the Great Spears cannot be infused, which means you’re stuck using the Ash of War that the Great Spear has. They also cannot be found early in the game usually.
PROS
- Exceptional reach
- Can deal Counter Damage because of their Thrust Damage type
- Has a running attack that deals multiple hits in rapid succession
- Can block and attack at the same time when using Shield
- Deadly L2 and jump attack
CONS
- Deal mostly thrust damage
- Thrust attacks have difficulty hitting concave-shaped enemies
- 5 of the 6 Great Spears cannot be infused
- Cannot be found early in the game typically
Serpent-Hunter – #6 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Serpent-Hunter has an R2 attack that is a horizontal slash similar to Siluria’s Tree and Vyke’s War Spear, and deals Physical Damage. It is the heaviest Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires ZERO stats in order to use.
PROS
- Has ZERO requirements
- Highest Guard Boost of all Great Spears at 50
- Can deal some Slashing Damage
CONS
- Tied for shortest Great Spear
- Heaviest Great Spear
- Cannot be found until the end of Volcano Manor
- Great-Serpent Hunt has one of the longest windups in the game
Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 693
Conclusion: The Serpent-Hunter is essentially a cross between a Greatsword and Greatspear. It has poking attacks with its R1s, but also slashing attacks with its R2s. It’s tied for the shortest Great Spear in Elden Ring and it’s also the heaviest Great Spear, but it has zero requirements so you could theoretically use it from the very beginning of the game on any character if you could get one, but it’s not located until the end of Volcano Manor, which is a ways into the game.
Great-Serpent Hunt is a deadly weapon skill dealing incredible damage if you can land it or its follow up attack. You can often one or two shot most enemies with it because it deals Thrust damage, which allows it to also deal Counter-Damage, which is improved further by the Spear Talisman, so I highly recommend using this if you use this Weapon. Shard of Alexander/Warrior Jar Shard are also musts for this weapon. It has an incredibly long wind up though, making it tough to use against mobile targets, but it does have insane Poise allowing you to tank everything but the heaviest hits.
The sweet spot for this weapon is about 55 STR, but it scales well up to 80 STR, and scales better than most weapons up to 99. No other attributes are needed for this weapon.
I like to use this weapon two-handed to get additional damage from the STR scaling, and lean into Great-Serpent Hunt for tough enemies, and running R2s that hit multiple times against weaker enemies, using the R2 attack when I need to AoE enemies. You can also Block Counter effectively with this weapon since it has 55 Guard Boost at max upgrade, which you can improve further with the Greatshield Talisman.
Vyke’s War Spear – #5 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Vyke’s War Spear has a slashing R2 attack similar to Serpent-Hunter and Siluria’s Tree, and deals Physical and Fire Damage. It is the lightest Great Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
PROS
- Deals Madness build-up with each hit
- Can deal some Slashing Damage if needed
CONS
- Tied for shortest Great Spear
- Madness is mostly only effective in PvP
- Frenzyflame Thrust builds up Madness on yourself
Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 689
Conclusion: Vyke’s War Spear’s claim to fame is of course that it does Madness Build Up, making it a PvP weapon by nature, though it can still be used in PvE, just without Madness playing a huge role. It’s also tied for shortest Great Spear and causes Madness build up on yourself when you use its weapon skill: Frenzyflame Thrust.
Frenzyflame Thrust launches you into the air coming down plunging your spear into the ground with flames coming out around you. If you connect with the spear, you deal much more damage than just the fire, so try to land on your target if possible. It’s not the greatest Weapon Skill, but it’s certainly better than most, especially since the fire will continue to damage enemies for a couple seconds after the skill has been completed.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 DEX and minimum requirements in both STR and FTH, however the weapon scales well up to 80 DEX. I would then take FTH up to 50 and STR up to 50, but consider taking FTH up to 25 earlier on in order to use Golden Vow.
I like to use his weapon in a dual Great Spear setup with the Tree Spear in the other hand. This is because they have very similar scaling and because Sacred Order will buff both weapons, and then you are free to use Frenzyflame Thrust as needed easily. The running L2 hits many times so be sure to use Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent’s Prosthesis or Winged Sword Insignia with this build if possible. Jump Attacks also do stupid damage with this setup, so the Claw Talisman is also a great choice.
Treespear – #4 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Treespear has a unique R2 chain. The first R2 is a heavy forward thrust (similar to the Lance R2) downward diagonal slash starting from your left side, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It has an average weight for a Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 9.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
PROS
- Can be buffed despite dealing some Holy Damage
- Third longest Great Spear
- Can be found relatively early in Liurnia of the Lakes
CONS
- Holy Damage is resisted by many early and late game bosses
Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 709
Conclusion: The Treespear is a unique weapon because it deals both Physical and Holy Damage yet it can still be buffed. It’s the third longest Great Spear and you can find it relatively early in Liurnia of the Lakes. Holy Damage is not great, but it deals about 65% Physical Damage so that’s a small consolation.
It’s weapon Skill Sacred Order buffs your Damage by 10%, as well as increases your damage vs. Undead by 100% for 60 seconds. This buff stacks with Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength, but does not stack with other weapon buffs like Lightning Armament. This allows you to use it both inside and outside of Faith Builds.
The Treespear scales best with Dexterity, and its sweet spot is 50 DEX with minimum points in FTH and STR, which scale very similarly to one another. I do recommend getting Faith to at least 25 when using this weapon though since then you can use Golden Vow, which is a natural pairing with this weapon. Focus on STR after FTH hits 25 in order to use a Greatshield but then swap back to DEX until you hit 80.
Because this Sacred Order only needs to be used every 60 seconds, the Treespear is a great candidate to be paired with the Jellyfish Shield which can also boost damage. This allows you to get over 1200 Attack Rating when stacking buffs, and play a Block Counter style of play with very high Attack Rating with regular attacks and R2s.
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear – #3 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear shares the default attack of other Great Spears and deals Physical and Fire Damage. It has an average weight for a Great Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires a lot of points in Strength and Arcane, and some Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Does Bleed build-up per hit
- Bloodboon Ritual is extremely powerful
- Longest Great Spear in Elden Ring
CONS
- You have to defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood in order to get this
- Bloodboon Ritual is quite expensive FP-wise
Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 692
Conclusion: Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear is the longest Great Spear in Elden Ring, and it does native Bleed Build Up on hit, but you have to beat Mohg, Lord of Blood to get it, which can be difficult to do early on in the game.
It’s weapon skill Bloodboon Ritual is deadly if you can execute it in a group of enemies, or up close against a Boss, but it has a long animation that can be interrupted if not timed properly. You can cast it three times in a row which can wipe out Bosses in one go, and it does Bleed Build Up as well.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 55 Arcane and 50 STR, with Arcane not only increasing both Physical and Fire damage, but also increasing Blood Build Up on hit, so you’ll want to prioritize that over STR. The weapon scales well to 80 DEX as well, so you’ll eventually want to take it up to there as well.
Because of the STR this weapon needs it makes a good candidate to pair with a Greatshield or you can use it alone gaining extra damage from two-handing. Make sure to use the Lord of Blood’s Exultation in Boss fights, and the Spear Talisman for extra Counter damage.
Siluria’s Tree – #2 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Siluria’s Tree has an R2 slashing attack similar to the Serpent-Hunter and Vyke’s War Spear, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It has an average weight for a Great Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires a lot of points in Strength and some in Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
PROS
- Second longest Great Spear
- Siluria’s Woe is one of the deadliest weapon skills in Elden Ring
- Can deal some Slashing Damage
CONS
- Cannot be found until Deeproot Depths
- Deals 50% Holy Damage which is resisted by many bosses
- Expensive Weapon Skill
Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 713
Conclusion: Siluria’s Tree is a deadly Great Spear with the second longest reach, but it can’t be acquired until Deeproot Depths, and it deals 50% Holy Damage, which is resisted by many of the hardest Bosses in Elden Ring.
Siluria’s Woe hits like an absolute truck and has great range when charged, which subsequently increases its damage. When combined with Godfrey Icon and Shard of Alexander you can one shot some of the most challenging enemies in one use from a safe distance, making it one of the stronger Weapon Skills in Elden Ring.
The sweet spot for this weapon is about 50 STR and 50 FTH with minimum DEX. You’ll continue to increase these to 80 before taking DEX to 50. All 3 stats increase the Weapon Skill, which does a mix of Physical and Holy Damage, so there is no reason to prioritize one over the other, unlike with some other weapons.
Because this weapon naturally scales with STR and FTH it makes a good candidate for the Clawmark Seal, as well as a Greatshield for Block Counters. Siluria’s Tree is extremely long, and this means it’s easy to connect on nearly every Block Counter, and this also allows you to use Siluria’s Woe when needed.
Lance- #1 Best Great Spear in Elden Ring
The Lance shares the default attack of other Great Spears, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Spear in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and some Dexterity in order to wield.
Attack Ratings at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power with each infusion:
- Fire/Lightning – 709
- Sacred/Flame Art – 708
- Magic – 703
- Heavy – 640
- Keen – 628
- Cold – 622
- Blood/Poison – 502
Conclusion: The Lance is the only Great Spear that can be infused and have its Ash of War replaced, and it can also be found very early in the game in Limgrave, southwest of Deathtouched Catacombs. It’s damage is similar to that of the Unique Spears, so that shouldn’t be a consideration when using this weapon.
Fire/Lightning and Sacred/Flame Art are essentially tied for first place when it comes to damage, with Magic coming up a close second, and Heavy a distant 3rd. Heavy outperforms Keen by 12 Attack Rating at this point in the game, which is not much, and Cold is not far behind Keen.
Because you have many different infusions available you can either go dual wield with any other Great Spear, or you can Greatshield and Block Counter with Heavy, Cold or Fire very easily. This makes the Lance a bit more flexible than some other Spears, and is a great pairing with any other Great Spear, as you can set the infusion to match the spear you pair it with.
If you enjoyed this Great Spears Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!
