Best Halberd in Elden Ring - Ranking All 16 Halberds
Apr. 26, 2024Best Halberd in Elden Ring – Ranking All 16 Halberds
In thisElden 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 withShadow of the Erdtreeas well.
Halberds in Elden Ring:
Halberds are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 whenShadow of the Erdtreereleases 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.
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TheLucerneshares 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.
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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,DeterminationandRoyal Knight’s Resolvemake 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 appliesFrostbiteto the enemy.
ThePest’s Glaiveshares 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.
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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 slapSeppukuon 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.
TheHalberdthrusts 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.
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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 likeElectrify Armament. TheClawmark Sealwould also allow you to cast Incantations effectively, since it scales off both these Attributes. Additionally, using Ashes of War that attack rapidly with Talismans likeWinged Sword Insigniawill 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.
TheBanished Knight’s Halberdthrusts 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.
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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.
TheVulgar Militia Shotelshares 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.
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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.
TheCommander’s Standardthrusts 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.
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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 theCarian Filigreed Crestto reduce the cost of this Weapon Skill by 25%, or you will struggle with FP management issues. Or use it with aGreatshield, 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.
TheGargoyle’s Black Halberdshares 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.
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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 theClawmark Sealto cast Incantations when not two-handing it, so consider using this if you use this Weapon. Another option, is using it with aGreatshieldsince you have high Strength, using Block Counters if you want.
TheVulgar Militia Sawshares 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.
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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 likeBlood Tax,Repeating ThrustorDouble 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 theDragon Communion Seal, and pairing it with theRipple Crescent Halberdin the main hand, because you can buff this one with Bloodflame Blade.
TheRipple Crescent Halberdshares 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.
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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 likeElectrify ArmamentorBloodflame Bladeand 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, theDragon Communion Sealsoft 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 withGolden Vowand some sort of Weapon buff like Electrify Armament.
For these reasons I advise something like 45 Arcane and 45 Faith and usingDragon 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 setsHemorrhagerather easily.
Loretta’s War Sickleshares 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.
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Attack Rating: 787
Conclusion: Loretta’s War Sickle is in a bit of a pickle because its weapon skillLoretta’s Slashis 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, likeMillicent’s ProthesisorWinged 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 aGreatshieldwhere 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.
TheGargoyle’s Halberdshares 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.
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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, likeBanished Knightsfor 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 theClawmark 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.
TheGlaiveshares 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.
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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.
TheDragon Halberdthrusts 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.
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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 orElectrifying 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 theDragonscale 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 theSpear Talismanif you aren’t using a Jump Attack Build to take advantage of the thrusting R1 attacks, increasing your overall damage.
TheNightrider Glaiveshares 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.
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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.
TheGolden Halberdshares 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.
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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 theGolden VowIncantation 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 aGreatshieldwith this setup if you wish, using a good Ash of War on the Shield instead likeBarricade Shield,Crashing Shield, orHoly 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.
TheGuardian’s Swordspearshares 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.
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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 theJellyfish Shieldfor very high damage R1 attacks, or buff withGolden VowandFlame, 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 thisHalberds Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare forShadow of the Erdtree!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
