In this Elden Ring Best Halberd and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 15 Halberds 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.
Halberds in Elden Ring:
- Guardian’s Swordspear
- Golden Halberd
- Nightrider Glaive
- Dragon Halberd
- Glaive
- Gargoyle’s Halberd
- Loretta’s War Sickle
- Ripple Crescent Halberd
- Vulgar Militia Saw
- Gargoyle’s Black Halberd
- Commander’s Standard
- Vulgar Militia Shotel
- Banished Knight’s Halberd
- Halberd
- Pest’s Glaive
- Lucerne
Best Halberd in Elden Ring – Ranked
Halberds are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. Halberds have longer reach than other weapon types, so you can attack from a relatively safe distance. It also tends to make enemies flinch when hitting them, allowing you to attack repeatedly without being attacked back. It also has a pretty high Attack Rating for their weight.
However, Halberds have a slower attack speed compared to other weapon types. Its Block Counters are also usually slower than other weapon types.
PROS
- Longer reach than other weapon types
- Tend to make enemies flinch when hitting
- Pretty high Attack Rating for their weight
CONS
- Slower attack speed compared to other weapon types
- Block Counters are slower than other weapon types
Lucerne – #16 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Lucerne shares a unique R2 with the Golden Halberd and Nightrider Glaive, that does an overhead strike followed by a second overhead attack, and deals Physical Damage. It has the lightest weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 7, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Can be found relatively early on in Liurnia of the Lakes
- Lightest Halberd in Elden Ring
- Does chip damage through the Block of an enemy
CONS
- One of the shortest Halberds in Elden Ring
- The lowest Attack Rating of all Halberds with most Infusions
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 708
- Lightning – 685
- Heavy – 674
- Sacred/Flame Art – 668
- Magic – 667
- Keen – 656
- Cold – 650
- Quality – 644
- Blood/Poison – 558
Conclusion: While the chip damage this weapon deals through the Block of an enemy is useful in some cases in PvE, most enemies lower their guard often enough to attack you, or you can get the drop on them with a Weapon Skill before they see you. This makes it hard to justify using this weapon, particularly when you sacrifice a hundred or more Attack Rating vs. just about every other Halberd.
This weapon could come in handy in PvP where some opponents Block, allowing you to deal damage anyway, slowly chipping away at their Health, and making them re-evaluate their strategy. However, the Vulgar Militia Shotel has much the same function, deals much more damage, and is only very slightly shorter, making it hard to justify this weapon unless you really like the unique R2 moveset. Also, Determination and Royal Knight’s Resolve make a great choice with this weapon, because even more damage can get through a Shield this way.
Much like the Banished Knight’s Halberd, Fire and Lightning take the top spots with Heavy not far behind, and Quality pulling ahead into NG+ when you approach 60 or so in both Strength and Dexterity. Cold is also not a bad option during your fist playthrough, since it has nearly the same damage as Heavy, and also applies Frostbite to the enemy.
Pest’s Glaive – #15 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Pest’s Glaive shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has the lightest weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 7, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Lightest Halberd in Elden Ring.
- Located not too far into the game, dropping from Pests in Caelid.
CONS
- Second lowest Attack Rating of all Halberds.
- One of the shorter Halberds in Elden Ring.
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 726
- Lightning – 702
- Sacred/Flame Art – 681
- Magic – 681
- Heavy – 669
- Quality – 652
- Keen – 648
- Cold – 633
- Blood/Poison – 561
Conclusion: The Pest’s Glaive has very low Attack Rating compared with other Halberds in Elden Ring, though it does have decent Keen and Occult Scaling. It also doesn’t have particularly good reach, making it less than optimal for almost every Build you would make with a Halberd. My advice would be if you want to use this weapon, go Occult and slap Seppuku on it, and try to proc Bleed as often as you can with normal attacks, triggering Lord of Blood’s Exultation and White Mask for higher Attack Rating.
Halberd – #14 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Halberd thrusts with its R1 attack instead of slashes much like the Banished Knight’s Halberd, Dragon Halberd and Commander’s Standard, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Found extremely early on in the game from the Nomadic Merchant north of Limgrave or from the Vagabond Class
- Very light weight for a Halberd
- The R1 attack does Pierce Damage, allowing for the use of the Spear Talisman
CONS
- Lower Attack Rating than most other Halberds
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 741
- Lightning – 717
- Heavy – 714
- Sacred/Flame Art – 698
- Magic – 697
- Quality – 667
- Cold – 662
- Keen – 661
- Blood/Poison – 572
Conclusion: The main reason to use this weapon is because it can be found so early on in Elden Ring, and the R1 thrust attacks allow you to boost your damage with the Spear Talisman, which wouldn’t normally apply to most Halberd attacks. It’s also one of two Halberds with this R1 attack that can be outfitted with different Ashes of War, and it has better Heavy Scaling than the Banished Knight’s Halberd, which is the other.
I’d only suggest using this weapon if you intend to use it two-handed with Heavy Scaling and you really like the thrusting R1 Attack. Another thing I’d recommend is splitting your Attributes between Strength and Faith, which would allow you to take advantage of the good Heavy Scaling, and still buff the weapon rather well with Incantations like Electrify Armament. The Clawmark Seal would also allow you to cast Incantations effectively, since it scales off both these Attributes. Additionally, using Ashes of War that attack rapidly with Talismans like Winged Sword Insignia will produce very high damage because of the high Attack Rating of these weapons.
I wouldn’t recommend this weapon in NG+ unless you go the Strength/Faith route, since you’ll cap out on most of your damage around the end of your first playthrough if you go pure Strength, and Banished Knight’s Halberd has better Quality Scaling and the same moveset if you don’t want to go the Faith route.
Banished Knight’s Halberd – #13 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Banished Knight’s Halberd thrusts with its R1 attack instead of slashes much like the Halberd, Dragon Halberd and Commander’s Standard, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Can be found relatively early on in Elden Ring, dropping from Banished Knights who wield this weapon in Stormveil Castle
- Outperforms Halberd with just about every Infusion, and has the same moveset
- Is one of the longer Halberds in Elden Ring
- Very light weight for a Halberd
- The R1 attack does Pierce Damage, allowing for the use of the Spear Talisman
CONS
- Is in the bottom half of Halberd Attack Rating with most Infusions
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 758
- Lightning – 733
- Sacred/Flame Art – 711
- Magic – 706
- Heavy – 706
- Quality – 674
- Keen – 661
- Cold – 655
- Blood/Poison – 563
Conclusion: The Banished Knight’s Halberd is an upgrade over the Halberd in nearly every way. It’s longer, it has higher Attack Rating in just about every case, but it loses out when compared to the Halberd’s Heavy Scaling. If you like the thrusting moveset of the Halberd, but aren’t using the Heavy Infusion or you just want a longer Halberd, and want to keep the freedom to use various Ashes of War, then the Banished Knight’s Halberd is a good choice.
The best Infusions for this weapon are Fire, Lightning and Heavy, with Quality outperforming Heavy into NG+ when you approach 58 or so in both Strength and Dexterity. I suggest either using this weapon alone, or using it in a Jump Attack style build.
Vulgar Militia Shotel – #12 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Vulgar Militia Shotel shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
CONS
- One of the shortest Halberds
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 774
- Lightning – 747
- Sacred/Flame Art – 721
- Magic – 721
- Heavy – 697
- Cold – 684
- Keen – 679
- Quality – 665
- Blood/Poison – 591
Conclusion: Much like the Lucerne, the major plus point of this weapon is its ability to go through the guard of an enemy and deal some damage. However, very few enemies in Elden Ring Block, making this weapon much more PvP centric than many others in the game. And, it not only deals much more damage than the Lucerne, but you can farm two of them, allowing you to Jump Attack effectively through Shields as well.
Fire and Lightning are both great candidates for this Weapon, and Cold is also a great option since it still retains B scaling in Dexterity when using this Infusion, and Blood retains A Scaling in Dexterity. And just like other Halberds, Quality Scaling will catch Heavy at some point in NG+ or NG++ with enough Strength and Dexterity, so make sure you swap to this if you’re going the all Physical Damage route.
Commander’s Standard – #11 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Commander’s Standard thrusts with its R1 attack instead of slashes much like the Halberd, Banished Knight’s Halberd and Dragon Halberd, and deals Physical Damage. It has a heavy weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 11.5, and requires a lot of points in Strength and some in Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
CONS
- Rallying Standard only lasts 30 seconds, and has a long animation, making it difficult to rebuff with mid combat.
- Rallying Standard is quite expensive at 30 FP for a 30 second buff.
- Lower Attack Rating than most other unique Halberds when not buffed.
Attack Rating: 728
Conclusion: When buffed the Commander’s Standard is in the middle of the pack in terms of Attack Rating, but when unbuffed it’s near the bottom. Because Rallying Standard has such a long animation and short duration, it can be tedious to use while already engaged in combat, since you risk being struck when using it. And unlike the Dragon Halberd, you don’t do any damage when casting it, so you can’t buff and attack at the same time. However, it does have the longest range of all Halberds in Elden Ring, and it’s R1 attack is a thrust, which allows you to take advantage of the Spear Talisman for increased damage.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 Strength, but you can go up to 80 effectively, and the Dexterity scaling is not as bad as it my appear. This weapon is NG+ effective, but likely not much further than that, since you won’t be able to get much more damage out of the weapon past 80 STR and 50 DEX.
If you plan to use this weapon I recommend a Jump Attack playstyle with this weapon in your right hand so you can buff easily, and make sure to use the Carian Filigreed Crest to reduce the cost of this Weapon Skill by 25%, or you will struggle with FP management issues. Or use it with a Greatshield, since you will already have very high Strength, and become a tanky god that has incredibly long Block Counter range, and can make most enemies flinch with regular R1 attacks.
Gargoyle’s Black Halberd – #10 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Gargoyle’s Black Halberd shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It has a heavy weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires a lot of points in Strength and Faith, and some in Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Very high Attack Rating which will continue to increase into NG+ and beyond.
- Has 715~ Attack Rating at minimum requirements, which is extremely high.
- Dropped by Black Blade Kindred, which isn’t too far into the game in Caelid, compared to some Halberds.
CONS
- Deals a lot of Holy Damage, which is resisted by many end game Bosses.
- Cannot change the Ash of War.
- Poor scaling, making it better earlier than later in the game.
Attack Rating: 836
Conclusion: Much like other “Gargoyle’s Black” Weapons, the Gargoyle’s Black Halberd has exceptional Attack Rating at minimum requirements, but very poor scaling, making it much better early on in Elden Ring than Later. Additionally, Holy Damage is resisted by difficult Bosses later on in the game, further reinforcing this concept.
A big negative of this weapon, besides the Holy Damage, is that you cannot change the Ash of War: Spinning Slash. And while this in certainly not the worst Ash of War, the Charged R2 of this weapon does nearly the same thing. This will result in very situational uses of this Ash of War, though it can be used a bit faster than a Charged R2.
The sweet spot for this Weapon is around 50 Strength, 50 Faith and 50 Dexterity, though the Faith and Dexterity scaling is rather poor with this weapon. However, this gives the weapon very high Attack Rating, and one that can continue to increase through NG+ and NG++, making it a decent option for successive playthroughs.
Because this is a Strength/Faith weapon primarily, it makes a great candidate for the Clawmark Seal to cast Incantations when not two-handing it, so consider using this if you use this Weapon. Another option, is using it with a Greatshield since you have high Strength, using Block Counters if you want.
Vulgar Militia Saw – #9 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Vulgar Militia Saw shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
CONS
- Second shortest Halberd in Elden Ring
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 758
- Lightning – 733
- Sacred/Flame Art – 726
- Magic – 715
- Heavy – 706
- Quality – 674
- Keen – 661
- Cold – 650
- Occult – 623
- Blood/Poison – 570
Conclusion: The Vulgar Militia Saw is the only Halberd that has native Bleeding Build Up on it, making it the best option for a status effect Build if you want to use a Halberd for one, particularly because you can use two if you want. The damage on this weapon is also around the middle of the pack Halberd wise, meaning you don’t lose out on that much damage to pick up the Bleed, which is great.
I’d either use two of these in a Jump Attack sort of Build that focuses on Status Effects, or lean into an Ash of War that can hit repeatedly like Blood Tax, Repeating Thrust or Double Slash. You can stack dual statuses with either Cold or Poison, or commit fully to Bleeding with the Occult Infusion. If you go Occult, I highly recommend hybriding into a caster using the Dragon Communion Seal, and pairing it with the Ripple Crescent Halberd in the main hand, because you can buff this one with Bloodflame Blade.
Ripple Crescent Halberd – #8 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Ripple Crescent Halberd shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has a light weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 8.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Arcane in order to wield.
PROS
- Can be buffed with weapon buffs.
- Has fantastic Arcane Scaling
- Can be found very early on in the game, dropping from Albinaurics in Liurnia of the Lakes.
- Third longest Halberd in Elden Ring.
CONS
- Low Attack Rating compared to most other Halberds.
Attack Rating: 670
Conclusion: The Ripple Crescent Halberd is unique because it has 100% Arcane Scaling, does entirely Physical Damage, and can be buffed with weapon buffs like Electrify Armament or Bloodflame Blade and Greases that have status effects work AMAZINGLY WELL with this weapon due to the Arcane Scaling, and it has exceptional length making it easy to hit enemies. However, it has very low Attack Rating compared to other Halberds, even when buffed makes is poor for any sure of pure melee style of build.
This weapon scales exceptionally well up to 80 Arcane, however, I don’t advise taking it that high early on, and there are a couple reasons for that. First, Incantations that buff weapon damage only use the Faith stat to determine their damage, so if you use Electrify Armament with little to no Faith and all Arcane it will be much less effective. Second, the Dragon Communion Seal soft caps around 45 Arcane, so going much higher won’t result in much increased performance, and increasing Faith will actually outperform Arcane past this point. Third, Incantations require Faith in order to use, so you will need some Faith anyway if you are planning to cast spells when using this weapon, which you should be since the Dragon Communion Seal is perfect for doing this. And finally, you will actually do more damage by splitting your Attributes between Arcane and Faith when you are buffed with Golden Vow and some sort of Weapon buff like Electrify Armament.
For these reasons I advise something like 45 Arcane and 45 Faith and using Dragon Incantations, Golden Vow and any other weapon Incantation buffs or Incantations you like. This will give you more Attack Rating than just going all Arcane, and will provide you with the versatility to use Dragon Incantations effectively. You can also pair it with the Vulgar Militia Saw in your off-hand, for a Jump Attack build that can cast spells and sets Hemorrhage rather easily.
Loretta’s War Sickle – #7 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
Loretta’s War Sickle shares a unique R1 with Guardian Swordspear that has angled swings that are quite fast, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It has an average weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Decent Strength and Dexterity Scaling making good for NG+
- Second longest Halberd in Elden Ring.
- R1s have faster attack speed than all other Halberds except Guardian Swordspear.
- Loretta’s Slash provides hyper-armor, allowing you to tank through hits.
CONS
- Located near the very end of the game, essentially making this an NG+ weapon
- Loretta’s Slash doesn’t do as much damage with this weapon as with other Halberds that use the Ash of War and Magic Affinity.
- Loretta’s Slash doesn’t do that much damage in general, and it can be hard to land both hits.
Attack Rating: 787
Conclusion: Loretta’s War Sickle is in a bit of a pickle because its weapon skill Loretta’s Slash is also an Ash of War that is more optimized on other Infusable Halberds set to the Magic or Cold Affinities, where it will hit for much more damage. It also doesn’t have the highest Attack Rating for a Halberd, being in the middle of the pack, making players wonder why you might use it.
However, it has exceptional reach being the second longest Halberd, and attacks very quickly, using the same moveset as the Guardian Swordspear. This allows you to get off more attacks than most Halberds in the same space of time, and make use of Talismans that reward you for attacking quickly, like Millicent’s Prothesis or Winged Sword Insignia.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 45 Strength, 55 Dexterity and 20 Intelligence. Both Strength and Dexterity have similar scaling, with Dexterity slightly edging it out, and Intelligence lagging behind. Because of this I don’t recommend using this weapon in a Spellblade sort of Build, particularly because you cannot buff this weapon, and instead suggest taking the Quality route that I have done here.
The damage on this weapon will continue to increase through out NG+ and on into NG++, and I’d advise simply using this weapon two-handed, or with a Greatshield where you can Block Counter and still use the fast R1 attacks effectively. You might even want to put an Ash of War on your Shield, since Loretta’s Slash won’t be as optimized as it could be with other Halberds.
Gargoyle’s Halberd – #6 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Gargoyle’s Halberd shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has a heavy weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires a lot of points in Strength and some in Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Pretty much tied for the highest Attack Rating of all Infusable Halberds, with the Nightrider Glaive.
CONS
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 797
- Heavy – 782
- Lightning – 770
- Sacred/Flame Art – 747
- Magic – 742
- Cold – 738
- Quality – 709
- Keen – 691
- Blood/Poison – 655
Conclusion: This Halberd is pretty much tied with the Nightrider Glaive for the most damage at every Infusion, slightly beating it out in the Heavy Infusion department. However, it is the shortest Halberd in Elden Ring, and Nightrider Glaive is much longer, and can be acquired a bit sooner. Really the best reason to use the Gargoyle’s Halberd is because it does Standard Damage while the Nightrider Glaive does Slash. Not all enemies that are resistant to Slash Damage, are resistant to Standard Damage, like Banished Knights for example. So it’s not a bad idea to have both of these weapons if you go this route, so that you can swap between them if an enemy is weak or resistant to one of these types.
If you’re going to use the Gargoyle’s Halberd you’ll want to either use the Fire, Heavy or Cold Infusions, in order to take advantage of these Infusions Strength Scaling. If you go the Heavy route, I’d suggest doing a Strength/Faith build using the Clawmark Seal, since you come out with about the same amount of damage when buffed, and it gives you the flexibility of Incantations. It also future proofs your build into NG+, since pure Strength will cap out near the end of your first playthrough.
Glaive – #5 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Glaive shares the default moveset of most Halberds, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Can be found relatively early on in the game, dropping from a Skeleton near the Church of Vows in Liurnia of the Lakes.
- Has higher Attack Rating then most other Halberds.
- Has longer reach than most other Halberds.
CONS
- Can take a while to farm it.
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 786
- Lightning – 760
- Sacred/Flame Art – 736
- Magic – 729
- Heavy – 724
- Quality – 700
- Keen – 677
- Cold – 676
- Blood/Poison – 604
Conclusion: The Glaive is a great all around Halberd. It has relatively high damage when compared with other Infusable Halberds. It has fairly good length, being longer than most other Halberds, and the Quality Scaling on it is exceptional in NG+. However, there is nothing really unique about its moveset or range, making it a good candidate for a Jump Attack build that doesn’t consider these aspects as much, or for a build that just focuses on a particular Ash of War, as this removes the need for a good moveset. It’s also not a bad candidate for a hybrid Incantation Build, much like the Halberd, since it has exceptional Strength Scaling.
Dragon Halberd – #4 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Dragon Halberd thrusts with its R1 attack instead of slashes much like the Halberd, Banished Knight’s Halberd and Commander’s Standard, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 10.5, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Spinning Slash buffs the weapon with Ice Lightning for 45 seconds, adding 160 Lightning Damage and 80 Frost build up.
- Very high Attack Rating when buffed with Ice Lightning.
- Can be found relatively early on in Elden Ring by defeating the Dragonkin Soldier in Siofra River.
- Quality Scaling allows it to be very effective in NG+ and beyond.
- Can use Spear Talisman effectively, due to thrusting R1 attacks.
CONS
- Average Attack Rating when not buffed when compared with other Halberds.
- One of the shortest Halberds in the game.
- The R1 attack can miss off to the right of the enemy quite easily if they are even slightly mobile.
Attack Rating: 730 (860 buffed)
Conclusion: The Dragon Halberd is an interesting weapon because it doesn’t seem that great at first glance. It has relatively low Attack Rating for a Halberd, you cannot change the Ash of War: Spinning Slash, and you cannot apply weapon buffs to this weapon like Grease or Electrifying Armament. However, because Spinning Slash buffs the weapon itself, it become much more potent after using this.
This catapults the Dragon Halberd to near top of the list of Halberds in terms of total Attack Rating while buffed, and it has very solid scaling to boot, allowing it to catch up to or surpass many other Halberds in NG+ and beyond. Additionally, when compared to the Dragonscale Blade, which also has this buff, Spinning Slash is much easier to use, and is likely something you’d use regularly anyway, making the Dragon Halberd the easier of the two weapons to trigger Ice Lightning.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 55 Strength and 45 Dexterity, despite the B scaling in Strength and C in Dexterity. This makes this weapon more of a Quality Scaling weapon than Strength, opening up the door for even more damage at higher levels, as I just mentioned.
I would personally pair this weapon with another Cold Infused Halberd for a Jump Attack style Build, or simply two-hand it, leaning into its Ash of War that you will have to use frequently in order to keep your weapon buffed. Make sure to use the Spear Talisman if you aren’t using a Jump Attack Build to take advantage of the thrusting R1 attacks, increasing your overall damage.
Nightrider Glaive – #3 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Nightrider Glaive shares a unique R2 with the Golden Halberd and Lucerne, that does an overhead strike followed by a second overhead attack. It has a heavy weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires a lot of points in Strength and some in Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Pretty much tied for the highest Attack Rating of all Infusable Halberds, with the Gargoyle’s Halberd.
- Drops somewhat early in the game from the Night’s Cavalry in Liurnia of the Lakes.
- 4th longest Halberd in Elden Ring.
CONS
- One of the heaviest Halberds in Elden Ring.
Attack Rating:
- Fire – 803
- Heavy – 776
- Lightning – 775
- Sacred/Flame Art – 752
- Magic – 746
- Cold – 740
- Quality – 705
- Keen – 695
- Blood/Poison – 643
Conclusion: As I just mentioned, the Nightrider Glaive has many advantages of the Gargoyle’s Halberd, and also has exceptional Strength Scaling, despite being slightly lower. I’d play this weapon in a similar manor, leaning into the strong Strength Scaling to get the most out of it. Again, hybriding with Faith allows you to take this Build into NG+ and beyond much more easily, and is highly recommended if you plan to continue past your first playthrough.
Also note that the R2 attacks is not an AoE sweeping like the Gargoyle’s Halberd, but is instead and overhead smash that deals really good single target damage. This makes this weapon strangely better when facing single enemies, even though it is much longer than the Gargoyle’s Halberd.
Golden Halberd – #2 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Golden Halberd shares a unique R2 with the Lucerne and Nightrider Glaive, that does an overhead strike followed by a second overhead attack, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It has the heaviest weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 13.5, and requires a lot of points in Strength, and some points in Faith and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Good Strength Scaling
- Highest Attack Rating of all Halberds, which will continue to increase into NG+ and beyond.
- Drops extremely early in the game from the Tree Sentinel in Limgrave.
CONS
- It’s the heaviest Halberd in the game.
- Cannot change the Ash of War: Golden Vow, and the Skill is less effective than the Spell.
- Deals a lot of Holy Damage, which is resisted by many end game Bosses.
Attack Rating: 914
Conclusion: The Attack Rating of the Golden Halberd is one of the highest in Elden Ring, particularly when you compare it against its weight, which is almost half as light as most weapons that deal the same damage. However, it’s sort of in a weird place because you get the most damage from it around 55 Strength and 45 Faith, which allows you to use the Golden Vow Incantation easily (25 Faith required). But this weapon’s Ash of War is Golden Vow, and the skill version is actually a little bit less effective than the Incantation.
This makes the Ash of War a bit redundant once you have the Incantation. But, what this does allow you to do is to make a Jump Attack Halberd Build that uses two Halberds that can buff mid combat without having to swap to a Sacred Seal, which can come in handy in aggressive boss situations. I highly recommend using the Gargoyle’s Black Halberd in your off-hand if you do this, because it has similar scaling, damage and damage types.
Much like the Gargoyle’s Black Halberd, the Golden Halberd makes a good candidate for the Clawmark Seal, since you will have high Strength and Faith, and this allows you to play a hybrid Build using this Weapon naturally. You can also use a Greatshield with this setup if you wish, using a good Ash of War on the Shield instead like Barricade Shield, Crashing Shield, or Holy Ground. This sort of allows you to mask the Golden Halberd’s weakness. And since you have solid Strength Scaling, you can increase the damage of this weapon into NG+ and beyond very well, making it a great choice for successive playthroughs.
Guardian’s Swordspear – #1 Best Halberd in Elden Ring
The Guardian’s Swordspear shares a unique R1 with Loretta’s War Sickle that has angled swings that are quite fast, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Halberd in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Exceptionally high Dexterity Scaling and Attack Rating when set to Keen.
- Very fast R1 attacks that hit faster than all other Halberds besides Loretta’s War Sickle.
- Can be farmed somewhat early in the game in Caelid.
- You can farm two of them.
CONS
Attack Rating:
- Keen – 784
- Fire – 781
- Lightning – 757
- Magic – 730
- Sacred/Flame Art – 726
- Heavy – 702
- Cold – 701
- Quality – 675
- Blood/Poison – 600
Conclusion: Guardian Swordspear is arguably the best all around Infusable Halberd in Elden Ring. It’s near the top in terms of Attack Rating, it’s in the middle of the pack when it comes to range, and its Attack Speed is second to none, additionally it looks awesome. But what really makes this weapon stand out is its insane Keen Attack Rating and Dexterity Scaling when set to Keen. Dexterity Scaling plays a part in some Ashes of War damage, like Thunderbolt for example, making Guardian Swordspear perfect for these Weapon Skills.
Another thing that makes this Halberd particularly strong, is that it still has incredibly high damage one-handed, allowing you to use a Shield or Seal in the off-hand without sacrificing hardly any damage. You can pair this with the Jellyfish Shield for very high damage R1 attacks, or buff with Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength, or both for some of the fastest most damaging R1 attacks in all of Elden Ring.
This weapon works very well in that scenario, and allows it to remain strong into NG+ and beyond. You can also make a Jump Attack build with two of these if you want, but personally I feel its fast R1 attacks are the shining star.
If you enjoyed this Halberds Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!
