Spear
More actions
 | |
| SPEAR | |
|---|---|
| Weapon Quote |
|
| Profile | |
| Build | H Heavy |
| Type |  |
| Unlock |  |
| Damage | |
| Body | 65 → 80 → 90 |
| Alt-Fire | 105 × 3 |
| Environmental | 30 → 35 → 40 |
| Environmental Alt-Fire | 40 × 3 |
The Spear is a Heavy class melee weapon that deals contact damage in a sequence of attacks which reach further than other melee weapons, while also having the ability to cover a large area using its special spinning attack.
Usage
The Spear can be selected as the weapon of any Heavy build loadout.
The attack trigger can be used to strike opponents in front of the user to damage them. The trigger must be released before attacking again. The first attack will perform a swipe, and the next two attacks, if executed soon enough, will perform a stab attack with increasing damage but a narrow damaging area.
The secondary attack trigger can be used to enter a spinning animation where the user swings their spear in an area of effect, dealing damage three times over 3 seconds. The user can move at 75% of the normal run speed during the animation to control its area.
| Controls | PC | PS | XBox | Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equip Spear | 1 | Weapon | ||
| Stab or swing (Tap) | R2 | RT | Primary fire | |
| Spin attack (Tap) | L2 | LT | Secondary fire |
Stats
- Primary fire has a range of around 4 meters.
- Alternate fire is a 3-hit combo with a slightly shorter range than the primary attack.
Properties
Weapon
Attack
Guide
Strengths
- The Spear has increased range, with nearly double the attack range of all other melee weapons.
- The Spear has an easier time damaging an opponent while chasing them than the comparable Sledgehammer would have, thanks to its increased range and smoother animations.
- The Spear's alternate spinning attack is very strong when there are one or multiple opponents in an enclosed area that they cannot easily leave, such as a tight space or the Power Shift platform.
Weaknesses
- The Spear deals less damage than the comparable Sledgehammer and will often lose an engagement if held in the Sledgehammer's range. It also does not have a way to deal extreme damage in a single attack like the Sledgehammer.
- Spin attack doesn't hit very far above and below the player, making it difficult to hit enemies in stairwells and on sloped terrain.
- It's easy to accidentally set off mines and C4 with spin attack.
Tactics
- The Spear can be combined with a Dome Shield, with the user moving in and out of the dome shield while utilizing the Spear's attack range.
- The Spear can be combined with a Barricade to great effect. By jumping and attacking with the right timing, the player can hit enemies over the barricade with the primary and secondary attacks. Using a barricade in confined spaces will force enemies to go around it to attack and often give the player a free hit with spin attack.
- Smoke can be combined with spin attack to hit enemies without being able to see them.
- Winch Claw brings enemies into the Spear's range and allows winch throw to be performed.
- Dropping down onto enemies and dropping them onto you is highly effective, especially if they're grouped up within spin attack range. Jump Pad, Zipline, and Gateway are useful for getting the drop on enemies, and RPG, C4, and Dematerializer are useful for dropping enemies.
Spin Attack
- Each hit deals 105 damage.
- The spin attack animation lasts for 3 seconds, during which it deals damage 3 times. The first hit happens 0.6 seconds in, the second hit happens 1.25 (+0.65) seconds in, and the third hit happens 2.55 (+1.3) seconds in.
- Because the third hit comes out much slower than the first two, it's almost always better to emote cancel spin attack after the second hit. See the Tech section for details.
- Each hit sweeps in a full circle around the player. The position of the Spear depends on where the player is looking. It's not possible to hit a player more than once with the same sweep.
- The hitbox for the spin attack follows the animation to some extent. The Spear first does two turns to the left starting and ending in front of the player. The hitbox is only active for the second turn, hitting in front of the player first and sweeping to the left. The Spear then reverses direction and does one and a quarter turn to the right, again hitting in front of the player first. The third swing reverses again, goes overhead to the left side and does two turns to the left, with an active hitbox for the last turn.
- Against single enemies, it's best to face toward them to get damage as early as possible.
- Against multiple enemies, it can be advantageous to turn with the attack to increase the effective speed of the Spear and hit enemies earlier.
- The player moves at 75% of running speed during the attack. They can jump but can't slide or crouch.
- Spin attack hits at a fixed height relative to the player. However, the player can jump to hit enemies higher up if they time it correctly.
- There's no way to hit lower down if an enemy is below the attack. Even a piece of rubble can be enough height to allow a crouching light to slip under the attack.
- Spin attack pushes objects, including Cashout Stations, Cash Boxes, Vaults, and revive statues. This can be useful for moving the Cashout Station, but can be unhelpful when trying to defend a stealing teammate.
- Spin attack is the only attack in the game which puts the player in a third person camera. You can use the third person camera to peek around corners and over barricades.
Useful Damage Combinations
| Build | Attack Combo | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Winch Claw → Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 | 5+65+80= 150 |
| Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Primary Fire 3 | 65+80+90= 235 | |
| Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Quick Melee | 65+80+40= 185 | |
| Medium | Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Primary Fire 3 → Quick Melee | 65+80+90+40= 275 |
| Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Primary Fire 3 → Primary Fire 1 | 65+80+90+65= 290 | |
| Heavy | Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Primary Fire 3 → Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 | 65+80+90+65+80= 380 |
| Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 → Secondary Fire → Secondary Fire | 65+80+105+105= 355 |
Tech
Emote Cancel
- Spin attack can be canceled by using an expression during the attack. This is performed by opening the emote wheel and selecting one of the options. Holding the emote wheel button for a while also works. Pressing the emote wheel button doesn't.
- The communication wheel can be used instead.
- Emote cancel can't be performed during a short window at the start of the spin attack.
- Buffering attacks doesn't work while the emote wheel is open. You need to buffer the attack before or after using the emote wheel.
- Gestures or emoticons should be used because they don't hinder the player. An emote wheel consisting only of gestures will prevent accidentally emoting during combat.
- Players should rebind the emote wheel to make it easier to perform this tech.
- Emote cancelling stops the spin attack immediately and allows the player to use primary attack, spin attack, gadgets, and specializations. They can also crouch and slide. The only downside is that the player will retain the movement speed penalty for the remaining duration of the spin attack.
- The player can use primary attack very quickly after emote canceling, opening up effective damage combinations.
Useful Damage Combinations using Emote Cancel
| Build | Attack Combo | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Secondary Fire 1 → Emote Cancel → Primary Fire 1 | 105+65= 170 |
| Medium | Secondary Fire 1 → Secondary Fire 2 → Emote Cancel → Primary Fire 1 | 105+105+65= 275 |
| Secondary Fire 1 → Emote Cancel → Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 | 105+65+80= 250 | |
| Heavy | Secondary Fire 1 → Secondary Fire 2 → Emote Cancel → Primary Fire 1 → Primary Fire 2 | 105+105+65+80= 355 |
| Secondary Fire 1 → Secondary Fire 2 → Emote Cancel → Secondary Fire 1 → Emote Cancel → Primary Fire 1 | 105+105+105+65= 380 |
Winch Throw
- You can perform a winch throw by winching an enemy and then using the secondary attack, which will throw the enemy in the direction you winched them. When you winch an enemy they get pulled toward you, but they're normally stopped when they get close. The secondary attack cancels the winch so the enemy doesn't get stopped.
- The secondary attack needs to be timed correctly for it to work. Too early and the enemy isn't pulled. Too late and they get stopped.
- The player needs to move out of the way to avoid having the target hit them. Turning ninety degrees from the direction of the target and moving forward is the most consistent way, but strafing is often sufficient.
- A well timed jump helps throw the enemy farther and over barriers.
- Winch throw is useful on maps with bottomless pits where you can send enemies to their demise.
Other Info
- The range and line of sight checks for the Spear originate from the player's head. As a result, at the very edge of the Spear's range, it's possible to hit enemies when aiming at their head but not when aiming at their legs. Spear players can also hit enemies farther above them than below them.
- In some situations the line of sight check causes spin attack to be blocked when it looks like it should hit. Even if there's line-of-sight from the body at the height of the attack, if line-of-sight from the head is blocked it won't connect.
- The first attack in the primary attack sequence covers a wider area but has slightly shorter range than the other two attacks. It's still longer than spin attack.
- At the very edge of the attack range, attacks will only hit sometimes, randomly. This is true for the primary attack and spin attack.
- All melee weapons used to be able to hit through solid objects but the Spear was by far the most capable of leveraging that due to its range. Before the fix, players could utilize this bug to hit enemies through walls, floors, and ceilings. This was fixed in update 6.9.0.
- Emote cancelling used to make the player unable to use the primary or spin attack for the remaining duration of the attack. Update 8.9.0 contained a fix to players being unable to attack after getting winched during spin attack. That fix extended to emote canceling as well.
Item Mastery
Item mastery XP can be earned by damaging and eliminating opponents with the Spear.
Each time a certain XP threshold is reached, the item levels up. This does not improve the item, but rewards a unique item customization.
| Source | XP Reward |
|---|---|
| Damage dealt by the Spear | 0.2 × Damage Dealt |
| Opponent eliminated by damage from the Spear | 50 |
| Assist on an opponent damaged by the Spear | 20 |
Cosmetics
Notice
Skins
Animations
| Name | Rarity | Source | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIRTUAL VORTEX | RARE
|
Spin your way into the spotlight and leave a trail of awe with every rotation. |
Gallery
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A Heavy using the Spear's alternate attack as seen from above
History
| Patch | |
|---|---|
| 7.6.0 |
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| 5.0.0 |
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| 4.0.0 |
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| 3.4.0 |
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| 3.0.0 |
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