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.

The Fire Knight Impaler build for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree is a build that utilizes the Spear of the Impaler weapon, a fantastic weapon that does physical and fire damage, and scales with Faith and Dexterity. In this build, we've prioritized Faith (a little over Dexterity) because of its weapon skill, Messmer's Assault, to effectively boost the damage of the skills' first attack, which is 100% fire damage. However, you do have the option of boosting the Faith attribute even more if you want to get higher incantation scaling and make the build into a hybrid of casting incantations. Before we talk about the skill of this weapon, there is one thing to mention about the Spear of the Impaler, is that pressing the R2 button or using a heavy attack/charged heavy attack will make the character throw the spear at a decent distance. By using a charged heavy attack, the spear will explode upon impact, causing a pool of magma to drop onto the feet of the target, dealing damage over time for a short time. Just with this attack alone, players can make a build around it and make it into a type that utilizes throwing the spear.

Messmer's Assault is a powerful skill for the Spear of the Impaler weapon, what this does is on its first input, it does this sweeping fire attack, followed by a combo poking move, and finishes off with an aerial move, plunging the weapon to the ground, causing an AOE effect of spears that burst from the ground, dealing massive damage. These are three separate button presses, so you can stop the full chain at any time, allowing you to mix up your moves and use them effectively depending on what enemy or boss you are facing. What we love about this skill is its initial attack which is the fire-sweeping attack, it does significant damage at a significant range. And a lot of times, we found ourselves using this move over the full chain of the skill because it just kills enemies or deals tremendous damage and it is such a good tactic to conserve FP. Additionally, the Fire Knight Impaler build comes equipped with the Erdtree Seal on our off-hand to cast spells that buff us such as Golden Vow or Flame Grant me Strength. Both spells benefit the build by buffing the physical and fire damage of the weapon and also adding more protection to yourself. Now as mentioned, if you want to make this into a hybrid build where you can cast incantations, the Fire Knight's Seal is the best one to use because the seal boosts the damage of Messmer Fire Incantations.

For Armor, this build is equipped with the following pieces: Winged Serpent Helm, Fire Knight Armor, Fire Knight Gauntlets, and Fire Knight Greaves. We chose the Winged Serpent Helm for this build because it enhances Fire Knight skills by 10%, one of those Fire Knight skills that we have on this build, which is Messmer's Assault. The only issue about wearing these armor pieces is they only give the player 41 Poise, and to alleviate that, we have to use the Bull-Goat's Talisman to get that 51 Poise value, and so you don't get staggered when attacking or using the skill. Moving on to the other Talismans that can be used for this build, Shard of Alexander is without a doubt a must-have to boost the damage of the Messmer's Assault skill. Fire Scorpion Charm is there to boost the damage of the fire attack of the skill, and since you take more damage if you use the Fire Scorpion Charm, this build is also equipped with the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman for that added protection effect. If you find yourself utilizing the heavy attack or charged heavy attack of the weapon, you might want to consider using the Axe Talisman or Smithing Talisman to boost the damage of charged heavy attacks or the throwing attack. Since you also need Dexterity for the weapon, Millicent's Prosthesis is a good talisman to consider using for this build.

For the attributes, the build is running at 50 Vigor, 26 Mind, 25 Endurance, 14 Strength, 35 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 60 Faith, and 09 Arcane. Intelligence and Arcane are not required for this build. 14 Strength is set to meet the requirements of the weapon. At this point, you should know that having 50 Vigor (or even 55) is needed so you can survive and trade attacks. 26 Mind gives enough FP (before chugging a flask) for using the Golden Vow, Flame Grant me Strength, and Messmer's Assault. However, if you find yourself using the skill more or utilize the full chain, then you might want to consider adding more points to Mind. Spear of the Impaler scales with both Dexterity and Faith, but since this build is focused on using the Messmer's Assault and is centered on its fire attacks, Faith is higher than Dexterity to get the most out of the damage of the fire attacks.

When it comes to the Flask of Wondrous Physick, the build is equipped with Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear to even amplify the damage of the fire attacks coming from the Messmer's Assault skill. We also want additional protection, especially when you're fighting bosses, so having Opaline Hardtear mixed in the flask will help us boost damage negation. If you find yourself struggling with stamina, you can swap out the Opaline Hardtear for Greenburst Crystal Tear. For great runes, you can use Godrick's Great Rune to raise all the attributes since the build utilizes 6 out of 8 stats. If you require more Health, FP, and Stamina, Radahn's Great Rune is the one to go for.