war spear w/ shield

[Torp]

so does war spear with shield use 1h or polearm prof?

i've seen people saying both, so i'd like to know what is true.

[Sir_Ironlake]

poelarm

[GaenaralHONK]

it's polearm

[Ledrion]

with no docs to back it up I would say its polearm skill. I have used warspear for a long time, but to test I logged onehander with near same skills and he would spear thrust with shield alot slower than my polearm sklled character with only a 3 agility difference.

[Joelturuz]

Definitely polearm. I use it with a shield myself and that 150 polearm proficiency does seem to help

[Mala]

Anyway, the prize for the shield and a bit more range is a speed and damage debuff.

[bruce]

Warspear actually doesn't have the penalty with shield. It is still slower with shield then without because of different animations, but the damage is still there.

[Mala]

The dummy in singleplayer told me another story.

[bruce]

Well, to put it this way, on my previous polearmer before the big patch with a heirloomed warspear many many people would die in one hit (7 powerstrike), with shield.

But it is crappy to use without really high stats, since shield+spear stabbing is... meh.

[Phazey]

(...)
But it is crappy to use without really high stats, since shield+spear stabbing is... meh.

I tried playing my polespaming cav a bit yesterday (Merc_Phazhe) and i noticed a spear + shield is a great support mode. It's a bit lackluster and you must avoid getting facehugged by a 1h or 2h spammer, but a good shield and poking from behind that shield is pretty damn safe.
And if i feel the need to go head to head with anyone, i switch to a hafted blade or a long hafted spiked mace.

I'd recommend going for decent athletics and sticking with team though, as you are vulnerable if you get facehugged and spammed. It's hard to switch to that secondary weapon, your fast 'spamming polearm' if someone keeps swinging at you.