Elden Ring Spear and Shield Build Guide - Haima Hoplite
May. 14, 2024Elden Ring Spear and Shield Build Guide – Haima Hoplite
In this Elden Ring Spear and Shield Guide, I’ll be showing you my Haima Hoplite build. This is an all-game build that you can use from the very beginning of the game all the way to NG+.
Haima Hoplite is based on Strength and Intelligence stat attributes to utilize theClayman’s Harpoon’sPhysical and Magic damage. Paired with theImpaling ThrustandRepeating ThrustAshes of War, this build can stance-break targets or even burst down bosses with highly damaging repeating thrusts.
We have over 110Elden Ring Buildsnow, for all classes and playstyles. This build is recommended for all levels.
The weapon that we’re using for this Spear and Shield build is theClayman’s Harpoon. This is a weapon you can find relatively early in the game. If you go toSiofra River Welland farm theClaymenthere, you can get this weapon as a drop. You can use this from probably the first 5% of the game.
What makes this weapon interesting is that this weapon deals both physical and magic damage, while still being able to infuse it. I recommend leaving it on the standard fusion as you’re still going to get scaling out of Strength and Intelligence, allowing you to increase the physical and magic damage of it while still being able to buff it with spells likeScholar’s Armament. If you put it on the heavy infusion, you can still buff it but you will have no Intelligence scaling, so any points in Intelligence wouldn’t go towards the damage of the weapon. You’ll be 10-15 points behind heavy if you go this way, and you do more magic damage with it then buff it, getting even more magic damage. When you make use ofTerra Magica,Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear, or evenMagic Scorpion Charm, you’re going to get more damage from the weapon.
When it comes to the Ash of War for this Spear and Shield build, there are two that I actually like to use. If you have two Clayman’s Harpoon, you can put them both on your main hand, then switch it depending on what Ash of War you want to use. It’s difficult to draw early on in the game, but it’s a lot easier once you reach NG+.
The first Ash of War isRepeating Thrust. I like this because the extra damage from Scholar’s Armament is going to be applied to each hit. You hit four times with this, making you get more damage out of Scholar’s Armament’s buff. You could also use a talisman likeRotten Winged Sword Insigniato further boost your damage when you hit the enemies repeatedly. With the talisman, item buffs, and Terra Magica, you can hit over 1200 attack rating. The reason why I have another Ash of War instead of one is because I find this very situational with this build. It can be hard to use in boss fights, as it doesn’t have a lot ofPoisedamage.
The other Ash of War isImpaling Thrust. What I like about this is that it has very good reach. It goes through shields, which is the weakness of spears. It staggers just about anything in one hit, if it’s not a tough enemy or a boss. I like using Impaling Thrust on bosses for the Poise damage, which allows you to take them down very quickly then keep attacking them or doing a critical strike. It’s really strong in boss fights, which is why I recommend using these two in this build. You can swap on the fly, as these two Ashes of War cover each other’s weaknesses.
You can do theMoonveilstrategy of block countering then doing a critical attack to get FP back withAssassin’s Cerulean Dagger. Impaling Thrust only costs 9 FP, while Repeating Thrust only costs 7 FP, so these two are very cheap to use.
What’s great is that Impaling Thrust is that it is found at theWarmaster’s Shack, while Repeating Thrust is found by defeating the firstNight’s Cavalryalong the main road just below theGatefront Ruins. You can obtain these two very quickly in the game, so you can put this build together very quickly.
When it comes to the shield, I’m using theCuckoo Greatshieldhere because I feel like it fits the style of my armor. I’m using three pieces of theCuckoo Knight SetwithBlaidd’s Armor, so that’s the kind of style I’m going for. You can use any Greatshield you want here, as I just wanted this for the look of my character.
When it comes to our staff, we are using theAcademy Glintstone Staffbecause it’s the best staff you can use at around 50 Intelligence. This is going to give you the best sorcery scaling, which is going to make Scholar’s Armament as strong as possible. For early game, I would recommend usingMeteorite Staff, which you can get inCaelid.
As I mentioned earlier, the armor that I’m using is three pieces of theCuckoo Knight SetwithBlaidd’s Armor. You can use whatever you want here, as long as you have 55 Poise. That’s the number you’re going for so that you aren’t going to get interrupted when you use Repeating Thrust or Impaling Thrust. 55 Poise lets you use Impaling Thrust repeatedly to stagger a boss quickly.
For our talismans, we haveShard of Alexanderto boost both of our Ashes of War,Curved Sword Talismanto increase your guard counter damage, andSpear Talismanto increase the amount of counter damage. I also like usingDagger Talismanto give me increased critical damage when you’re doing a follow-up attack. That happens a lot when you’re using Impaling Thrust, and also during block counters, so that’s really good.
Sometimes, I would swap out Dagger Talisman forRotten Winged Sword Insigniaif I’m using Repeating Thrust in order to get my attack power boosted each time I use it.
Early on in the game, I also like usingAssassin’s Cerulean Daggerwhen you don’t have all these talismans, particularly Shard of Alexander if you’re not usingWarrior Jar Shard. I like this early on in the game in order to help with FP management, since you’re going to have to put points in Strength, Intelligence, Vigor, and Endurance. You’re not going to have a lot of points in Mind, so you’re not going to have a lot of FP. I would sub it out later in the game when you don’t have FP issues.
BesidesScholar’s Armament, I also haveTerra Magicaslotted into this build. I don’t use this very much, as this is a very aggressive build. You’re not usually sitting inside Terra Magica’s circle while waiting for the boss to approach you. You’re on the offensive with Repeating Thrust and Impaling Thrust. Sometimes, you can put Terra Magica outside a boss fog, then start the fight. You will roll away quickly, landing on it. It’s very situational, as you won’t use it all the time.
You can use other sorceries if you want so that you have a ranged option in a pinch. Having a ranged sorcery will save you even if you’re not hitting with maximum damage, compared to a pure sorcerer build. It’s good to have options, but you will notice that once you get 50 Intelligence withClayman’s Harpoon, it just drops off incredibly. You’re not going to increase Intelligence higher than 50 when you get to NG+, so your sorceries will become even less effective.
When it comes to the attributes for this Elden Ring Spear and Shield build, I have: 60Vigor, 25Mind, 33Endurance, 50Strength, 12Dexterity, 50Intelligence, 7Faith, and 9Arcane. You don’t really need any Faith, Dexterity, or Arcane for this build, although you would want to increase Faith to 25 by the end of NG+ in order to useGolden Vow. After you hit about 80 Strength, you’re not going to get much more damage out of this weapon, so it would be better to put points in Faith to use Golden Vow andFlame, Grant Me Strength. Clayman’s Harpoon requires 10 Dexterity, so you hardly need Dexterity as long as you have 10.
60 Vigor is here because we trade damage quite regularly with Repeating Thrust and Impaling Thrust. This is a very tanky build, as we don’t really need much more in the way of attack power attribute.
25 Mind is probably too much at this point of the game, as we don’t use a lot of FP. Impaling Thrust costs 9 FP, while Repeating Thrust costs only 7 FP, so these aren’t very high. Scholar’s Armament doesn’t use a lot of FP either, and it has a long-lasting buff, so you don’t go through a lot of FP. You can use your flasks between checkpoints, so you could probably drop this down to 20 early on in the game. You’re going to prioritize Strength, Intelligence, Endurance, and Vigor, so it’s okay to have low Mind at this point.
I have 33 Endurance, the exact number I need in order to medium roll with this set-up. If you’re using other equipment than what we’re using, the exact number will vary. It’s going to be somewhere around this ballpark.
Strength and Intelligence are both at 50 here. Our weapon scales much better with Strength than it does with Intelligence early on, so I would prioritize Strength to meet the requirements for a Greatshield. At some point, once you get to around 50 Strength, you’re going to want to increase Intelligence to give you more magic damage from the sorcery scaling on Scholar’s Armament.
When it comes toFlask of Wondrous Physick, I like to use theMagic-Shrouding Cracked Tear. We do over 50% magic damage when we’re fully buffed, so we get good use out of this. It’s going to increase your damage by like 150 attack rating, so it’s pretty good in NG+. You can also useStrength-knot Crystal TearorIntelligence-knot Crystal Tearif you want.
You can also useStonebarb Cracked Tearto increase your Poise damage to help make Impaling Thrust more viable in boss fights. It doesn’t last very long, but it allows you to stagger bosses more easily. If you’re using Repeating Thrust, it would be a good idea to useThorny Cracked Tearto increase your damage with repeating strikes against bosses and tough enemies.
When it comes toGreat Runes,Godrick’s Great Runeisn’t a bad choice. You need Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Intelligence, a little bit of Dexterity, and Faith later on to boost attack power through Golden Vow. You get a boost on 5 of the 8 attributes that you really need. Another good choice would beRadahn’s Great Runein order to get more health, stamina, FP. All these things are good for this build, so I would recommend either of the two Great Runes.
That’s it for our Haima Hoplite Build Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring andShadow of the Erdtreeso stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check theElden Ring Map. Happy building!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
