While there are lots of options for keeping your distance in the world of Dark Souls 3, few are as satisfying as the head-splitting halberd.
The lovechild of spears and axes, halberds offer diverse movesets of sweeps and stabs that’ll keep your foes on their toes – and you out of harm’s way.
But which is the best fit for you?
Join me as we go through some of the best halberds in DS3!
10. Halberd
The namesake.
The halberd comes in with a strength requirement of 16, which is high for how early you can get your hands on it.
Those who put in the skillpoints required will be rewarded with a formidable early-game weapon, sporting a great long-range moveset and a hyperarmor weapon skill that can send most foes flying.
How to get: Sold by the shrine handmaiden right from the start of the game, or dropped by giant soldiers wielding the weapon themselves on the high wall of Lothric.
9. Glaive
Referred to as the ‘scythe’ in the last two Dark Souls installments, the glaive sports a nice damage boost compared to the default halberd, at the cost of a bit of range.
Its flashy arcing weapon skill is great for dealing with hordes of enemies. And it combos nicely into the rest of its moveset, too.
How to get: Can be bought from Greirat after his first trip out of Firelink shrine.
8. Immolation Tinder
An extremely interesting half-halberd/half-staff (and part torch!) amalgamation, the immolation tinder boasts some of the longest-range moves.
And it exchanges its heavy attack for the ability to cast your selected sorcery.
Despite its name, it cannot cast pyromancies.
But this weapon’s incredibly unique skill will conjure a trail of fire to chase your foes!
With great intelligence scaling and surprisingly high spellbuff for your sorceries, this halberd can be a lot of fun to experiment with for hybrid builds.
How to get: Drops from fallen fire witches wielding the same weapon within the Irithyll.
7. Winged Knight Halberd
Requiring a high 26 strength, the crushing winged knight halberd boasts great damage and strong range.
But it just isn’t as flashy or as fun as some of the other entries to this list.
Still, if you’re looking to min-max your setup, the good strength scaling and consistent DPS this halberd can dish out makes for an easy contender.
How to get: Uncommon drop from winged knights wielding it, found in various areas of the game- the earliest being the high wall of Lothric.
6. Red Hilted Halberd
Extremely similar to the aforementioned halberd, this one sports a swanky red hilt and the extremely powerful perseverance weapon skill, which grants you unshakable poise and reduced incoming damage for a short time.
With the same scaling and higher damage than the default halberd, the red hilted halberd can be seen as a direct upgrade for people who don’t want their weapon art to cause them to charge into enemies like a maniac.
How to get: Pick it up from the sewers of the undead settlement, en-route to freeing Irina.
5. Lucerne
An absolute classic.
The lucerne boasts great range, a killer moveset, and fantastic damage when infused/buffed.
What’s more, the lucerne always deals thrust damage. And when paired with the leo ring, it can absolutely annihilate other players in PvP if your swings are well-placed.
How to get: Located to the right of the entrance of the dancer fight, at the end of the high wall of Lothric area.
4. Black Knight Glaive
The fearsome black knight glaive has a truly scary moveset to face off against.
Its heavy, sweeping swings are surprisingly fast. And they leave few openings for your foes.
This also sports the same wide-range weapon skill as the default glaive. It even has a nice bit of flavor in the form of 20% extra damage to demonic enemies!
How to get: Tucked away to the side in the champion Gundyr boss arena, within the untended graves.
3. Gundyr’s Halberd
Among one of the highest-range melee weapons in the game, the strength-scaling Gundyr’s halberd will keep your opponents on edge. How?
With its powerful and heavy moves.
Its weapon skill is the default halberds on steroids, causing you to throw caution to the wind and fearlessly charge at your foes with a mighty blow, not unlike the boss this weapon originates from.
How to get: Soul transposition with the soul of champion Gundyr.
2. Crucifix of the Mad King
High on the list due to uniqueness, if nothing else.
The crucifix is a truly bizarre weapon from the ringed city DLC, being a screaming corpse mounted to a cross spear.
It deals dark damage, as one would imagine. Meaning it scales slightly with intelligence and faith, on top of its C-grade strength scaling. It can even be buffed, which is rare for a twinkling titanite weapon.
The strangeness continues looking at its weapon art, which will have you slamming the poor skeleton’s head into the ground… and after a heavy attack, it’ll trigger an AoE blast, a perseverance-style poise buff, or a trailing dark orb which explodes after a set duration.
How to get: Defeat the invading enraged Shira in the barren ashen landscape at the end of the Ringed City DLC.
1. Splitleaf Greatsword
Despite the somewhat confusing name, the splitleaf ‘greatsword’ is indeed a halberd.
And what a halberd it is.
Not only can it be infused and buffed, it sports an insanely powerful moveset.
And its helicopter-mode weapon skill combos in so many mind-boggling ways that you may actually need to watch guides on YouTube to learn how to use it to its full effectiveness.
As a high skill-cap weapon, and one of the most prevalent halberds in the PvP scene, the splitleaf greatsword is undoubtedly one of the top halberds available.
How to get: Purchased from the stone-humped hag in the dreg heap, right at the start of the ringed city DLC.
A game animator by trade, Tom’s insight into the game development world gives him a strong appreciation for the art form that is video games. Kicking off at the age of 3 with Spyro: Year of the Dragon on the PS1, Tom’s tastes in games has hardened over the 19 years he’s spent playing them. He now lives for the challenge that titles such as Monster Hunter, Dark Souls, Dead Cells, and many more offer him. Enjoying nothing more than a session of number-crunching game data and another platinum trophy on his PlayStation account, Tom is dedicated to leaving no stone unturned in even the most brutal of gaming content.
