In this Shadow of the Erdtree Messmer Spear Build, I’m going to be showing you my Fire Knight Impaler build. This is a build that uses Spear of the Impaler. This is an absolutely fantastic weapon, one of my favorites so far. And you get this weapon by defeating Messmer the Impaler and using his Remembrance back in Roundtable Hold.

Elden Ring Messmer Spear Build – Fire Knight Impaler

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you my Spear of the Knight build. This is a Shadow of the Erdtree build that takes place after level 150. If you’ve been looking for a fire build that deals tremendous damage to all enemies alike, then you might want to check this build-out.

• Class: Any
• Flask Spread: Equal Charges
• Main Weapon: Spear of the Impaler
• Off-Hand Weapon: Erdtree Seal or Fire Knight’s Seal
• Shield: N/A
• Armor: Winged Serpent Helm, Fire Knight Armor, Fire Knight Gauntlets, Fire Knight Greaves
• Talismans: Bull-Goat’s Talisman, Shard of Alexander, Fire Scorpion Charm, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
• Alternate Talismans: Axe Talisman, Smithing Talisman, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia or Millicent’s Prosthesis, Two-Handed Sword Talisman
• Primary Stats: Faith, Vigor, Dexterity
• Secondary Stats: Mind, Endurance
• Skills: Messmer’s Assault
• Spells: Golden Vow, Flame Grant me Strength
• Crystal Tear: Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Opaline Hardtear
• Great Runes: Godrick’s Great Rune or Radahn’s Great Rune

We have over 110 Elden Ring builds. Each one is meticulously crafted to offer unique playstyles, strategies, and experiences, ensuring there’s something for every adventurer in the Lands Between. Whether you seek the raw power of heavy weapons, the finesse of spellcasting, or the versatility of hybrid builds, our collection has you covered. Explore the depths of the game’s mechanics and unleash your full potential with our diverse array of builds.

Elden Ring Messmer Spear Build – Fire Knight Impaler: Equipment

The Spear of the Impaler is a fantastic Great Spear weapon that deals both physical and fiery damage. Depending on your stat allocation, it can have more fire damage than physical. The weapon scales with Dexterity and Faith, with Dexterity generally scaling a bit better.

However, Faith impacts the fire damage of the weapon’s skill, and since the first attack of the weapon’s skill is entirely fire damage, I prefer to prioritize Faith slightly over Dexterity. You’ll still need a good amount of Dexterity to wield the weapon. Additionally, although I haven’t done it here, you could prioritize Faith even more when leveling up to increase incantation scaling if you want to mix incantations with this weapon. My focus has been on maximizing the damage from the weapon’s skill and the weapon itself. Optimizing for Messmer Flame spells, Talismans, and attributes would require very high levels, around 200 or 250, for full optimization.

Now, let’s talk about Messmer’s Assault, the weapon’s skill. This skill is incredibly deadly. The first input performs a fire sweeping attack, the second input executes a series of pokes, and the third input leaps and plunges the spear into the ground, creating an AoE of spears and swords that deals massive damage. These three inputs are separate button presses, allowing you to stop the chain at any time for longer or shorter combos depending on the boss you’re fighting. This flexibility is great since many combos lock you in.

One aspect I love about this weapon skill, which might be overlooked, is that the fire sweep from the first press deals significant damage at a good range. During boss fights or when facing groups of enemies, I’ll often use just one button press. This conserves FP and often kills enemies outright. In boss fights, you sometimes only have time for one button press before getting knocked out of the combo. Learn to use this skill effectively, especially when unlocked, to aim at multiple enemies simultaneously. As an added bonus, this weapon skill is very effective against finger enemies.

Additionally, you can throw the Spear of the Impaler with an R2 or charged heavy attack, launching it a decent distance. A fully charged heavy attack detonates on impact, dropping magma and dealing damage over time. I haven’t built around this mechanic, but it can be useful. The Smithing Talisman and Axe Talisman work with this weapon, enhancing its throwing capabilities. However, the damage drops off significantly with distance, which can be a drawback. Despite this, it can be useful in boss fights for ranged damage, especially against large targets like dragons.

For armor, I use the Fire Knight Armor, Gauntlets, Greaves and the Winged Serpent Helmet. The Winged Serpent Helmet enhances Fire Knight skills by 10%, boosting Messmer’s Assault.

However, this setup only provides 41 poise, so I slot the Bull-Goat’s Talisman to reach the 51 poise breakpoint, preventing frequent stagger from enemy attacks. If you’re min-maxing, you might choose other armor pieces to achieve the poise requirement, but I love the style of this armor and opted for the talisman instead.

Elden Ring Messmer Spear Build – Fire Knight Impaler: Talismans

When it comes to Talismans for this build, I’m currently using the Erdtree’s Favor because I’m only utilizing Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength since the weapon deals both physical and fire damage. Flame, Grant Me Strength is a fantastic spell.

Golden Vow is excellent for boosting both damage and defenses and has a long duration, so I typically use it while exploring dungeons. I save Flame, Grant Me Strength for boss encounters. If you want to focus more on an incantation build, prioritizing Faith and using the Fire Knight’s Seal alongside some Messmer Spells could be beneficial. The Fire Knight’s Seal boosts Messmer Flame incantation damage, which works well with the armor piece we’re using, as it increases the damage of Messmer Incantations. However, you’ll need higher Faith to see significant benefits.

For other talismans, I have Shard of Alexander. This is essential to increase the damage of Messmer’s Assault. It’s a no-brainer since we use this skill frequently.

Fire Scorpion Charm boosts fire damage significantly, which is crucial since the build deals over 50% fire damage and the first input of the weapon skill is pure fire.

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman provides additional protection, which is necessary due to the vulnerability from using the Fire Scorpion Charm. This setup offers a good balance of offense and defense.

Alternative talismans include Axe Talisman, which increases the damage of charged heavy attacks when throwing the spear, as does the Smithing Talisman. If you find yourself using this attack often, either talisman could be beneficial.

Rotten Winged Sword Insignia or Millicent’s Prosthesis are also good for this build since you need quite a bit of Dexterity for this weapon. Millicent’s Prosthesis provides additional Dexterity and boosts attack power from the poke sequence of Messmer’s Assault. However, I found the Fire Scorpion Charm to be more reliable for consistent damage.

Lastly, the Two-Fingers Heirloom can be used to boost melee attack damage when two-handing the weapon, though it doesn’t enhance the weapon skill.

Elden Ring Messmer Spear Build – Fire Knight Impaler: Recommended Attributes Distribution

Attribute-wise, for this build, I have 50 Vigor, 26 Mind, 25 Endurance, 14 Strength, 35 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 60 Faith, and 9 Arcane. You don’t need any Intelligence or Arcane; I was an Astrologer, so you can disregard those. The 14 Strength is solely to meet the weapon requirements.

50 Vigor is typical for builds at this level, and you’ll likely want to increase it to 55 or 60 eventually. There’s a significant drop-off in benefits starting at 60, with a mild drop-off at 55, so aiming for 55 is a good idea.

26 Mind provides enough FP to buff and use weapon skills frequently. If you use the first input on trash mobs often, you’ll conserve more FP. However, if you use the full combo frequently, you might want more Mind. If you level this build higher, consider increasing Mind to around 35 for easier FP management. Golden Vow is also FP-intensive, which contributes to the need for more Mind.

This weapon scales well with both Dexterity and Faith, with Dexterity slightly ahead in terms of damage. Faith increases fire damage, which is beneficial for the first attack that deals fire damage, so I have higher Faith. I also experimented with incantations, which require around 80 Faith for effective use. If you want to incorporate incantations, aim for 80 Faith to maximize their damage. If you don’t care about incantations, prioritize Dexterity, increasing it to 50-60. Eventually, you can take both Dexterity and Faith up to 80 for optimal weapon performance.

Endurance at 25 is enough for a medium roll with this setup, but more stamina would be beneficial. The combo and charged heavy attacks with the spear consume a lot of stamina. Consider increasing Endurance to 30 or 35 if you continue leveling this build to ensure you have enough stamina for sustained combat.

Elden Ring Messmer Spear Build – Fire Knight Impaler: Final Tips

For the Flask of Wondrous Physick, I use the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This increases fire damage, enhancing the damage of the first sweep and subsequent attacks since our melee attacks also deal significant fire damage. Additionally, I include the Opaline Hardtear for further damage negation. Alternatively, you could use a stamina recovery tear, which might make this build easier to play from a stamina perspective.

Regarding Great Runes, you could use Godrick’s Great Rune since you utilize six out of the eight stats, although Strength only needs to be 14, so it’s more like five out of the eight stats. Another option is Radahn’s Great Rune, which provides more HP, stamina, and FP—all beneficial for this build and likely the best choice.

That wraps up my Fire Knight Impaler build. I hope you enjoyed this one—it’s a ton of fun to play, and the weapon is absolutely outstanding. You can expect to see other Fire Knight builds in the future, perhaps not in the next couple of builds, but I plan to explore other Fire Knight weapons as well. I’d love to hear what other builds you want to see. Your suggestions help me decide what to do next. 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 and Shadow of the Erdtree so stay tuned for those. If you need help finding the spells, items, or equipment in this build, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map.