I decided to break from years of tradition and write an actually serious guide. If we end up getting some new people, they might benefit from something other than 4 year old shit-posting and info that's outdated by six years.
I am Caramel Macchiato, and over the years I developed an effective anti-cav build. Then I forgot that build, and realized I was over-complicating things. -Anyone- can be an effective anti-cav if the team balance demands it, as long as they put in a little practice. No change in build is needed, but you will need to spend time learning some timing. The point of this guide is to show how easy it is to augment your current equipment set-up so that you can always be ready to take on cav if they become to many. Then. after the threat is over, you can go back to using the gear you always use. Really, all you're doing is adding 1-2 items to your set-up.
So, here's the big tip. When it comes to anti-cavving, the less WPF you having in polearm the better. The reason for this is that your spear will hang in the air for a long, long, ass time. And the entire time its hanging there, it can damage whatever it hits. That means if you throw it too early you might still kill some dumbass newbie cav who decides to rush you thinking you shot your wad early. It also means you sometimes get lucky glance stops or damage hits on cav passing by.
The obvious upside of this is that you don't need to change your build at all. Just toss a spear on your back and if you're getting gang banged by cav, stick your spear out at whoever comes your way. You can even throw a practice shield on for a special panic block if you fuck up (talking to you 2-handers).
The downside is of course that not everyone is a dumb newb who will fall for you sticking your spear out in the air hoping they'll run into it. This is where the practice comes in. If you're going to put no points into polearm (and why should you unless that's your primary focus), then you need to become knowledgeable of how long it takes for you to thrust your spear and how long it will stay thrusted. Basically, you need to spend a few hours getting wrecked by all the cav dicks out there until you get good enough where at least half of them learn to avoid you by your armor. At that point, you're helping the cause of cutting down on the cav pop. So you did your duty. If you wanna get good enough to kill Sauce (Tiny Glancer) every time he comes at you, then that's extra work you can put in for your country and everyone would love you for it all the more.
I can tell you that with practice, you can kill any cav with 0 wpf and a war spear. Because in the end its your skill vs their skill. And if everyone just grabbed a spear, we could end the cav plague every time it popped up.
Regarding gear, you're not going to want a spear that you cant sheath. Cav come suddenly and without warning if they think your a threat. They want to remove you so they can kill freely. If they think you're vulnerable even for a second, they'll get you good. There's no time to chuckle fuck around looking for your pike on the ground. I like to have my MW warspear with me any time there are a couple cav on. Its got a good length and good damage. Its not so long that I have to overthink where the cav is gonna be (and also so it won't get easily blocked by enemies I don't want to engage) but not so short that the cav will be in my face either. I let the cav come in close so he has to commit and then either he dies or is stopped or I die (or block or dodge).
And that's pretty much it.
So for the TLDR:
When map is overpopped with cav
1. Do not change your build.
2. Put a spear on your back.
2.a. (optional) put a practice shield on your back
3. Stab horses when they attack you.
4. Go back to primary weapon until another horse attacks.
5. When threat is over, drop the spear.
I hope this info helps someone. I know it'll be a no-brainer to most of the vets, but a lot of new people take a while to get how WPF works. Anyway, happy hunting.
