Obtaining the Bolt of Gransax is part of the Legendary Armaments achievement. Once you have obtained the Rune of Death, you can no longer loot this weapon. The Bolt of Gransax can be picked up from the larger version that’s been plunged into a building in Lyndell, Royal Capital. You definitely want to use the strong attack when you can for that extra stamina drain, but you do rely more on the critical hit for damage since the actual charged attack doesn’t do that much more than a regular hit. In contrast, the (non-skill) strong attack can guard break in about 3 hits depending on charging and the guard counter is similar in potential. Enemies that attempt to dodge it will not get knocked down though and the skill doesn’t seem to contribute much, if anything, to guard breaking. Oh yeah, I didn’t mention that earlier, Ancient Lightning Spear knocks most enemies down, allowing for follow-up activations if they somehow live through it. If the boss didn’t attempt to dodge it, they may even get knocked down, in which case you can spam it at them to keep knocking them down, though that feels a little too cheap to me, so don’t feel obligated to use it. If the boss backs away, gets knocked down, or is guard-broken, you typically have enough time to send a fully-charged spear that way. There is limited benefit in backing up to a safe range just to use it because you are giving up DPS while backing away from them.Īll bosses have pretty clear instances to use it though.

In boss fights, I find it’s best to only use Ancient Lightning Spear when you’re naturally at range or they’re vulnerable. Like spears, it can only hit 1 target at a time, and the long attack animation makes it impractical and to use at close range while the high FP cost makes it inefficient to spam. It also has an incredibly long range and travels ludicrously fast, so most enemies fail to dodge it.Īncient Lightning Spear isn’t without weaknesses. The Ancient Lightning Spear weapon skill (Ash of War) is ridiculously strong and can one-shot most enemies, even some of the stronger ones like Knights. This issue is also mitigated by combining it with lightning incantations which greatly expand your AoE (area of effect) capabilities. In exchange for all this security, spears struggle to take out multiple enemies at the same time, so it will take longer to take out larger groups and you will need to depend on your shield since you can’t reliably interrupt secondary targets with hitstun.ĭon’t get me wrong, it is possible to skewer 2-3 enemies with a single hit since the hitbox is a bit larger than it appears, but those opportunities are rare. The biggest benefits offered by spears are their long range and capacity to deal damage while blocking, meaning it’s often possible for you to deal damage to your opponent while they can’t damage you. Spears are more specialized than some of the other weapon types that is, they have more consequential benefits and drawbacks. It has a powerful unique skill called Ancient Lightning Spear, so it cannot have its affinity altered or be buffed by a grease or spell. The Bolt of Gransax is a spear that deals about a third of its damage as lightning and the rest as physical damage (pierce). You’ll be using melee weapons in your right hand, namely, a spear called the Bolt of Gransax for most of your damage output, and a dagger called the Miséricorde for critical hits. You’ll be able to take out both singular enemies with your spear and larger groups with incantations from the safety of range or behind your greatshield. The entire build is quite versatile while offering a ton of survivability. Despite having its own damage type, it’s more of a sub-archetype compared to other damage types like magic and holy. There aren’t a whole lot of lightning weapons in the game and only a few Ashes of War that actually provide lightning skills. In your first playthrough, you’ll only have enough stats to upgrade either the greatshield or your lightning incantations, but in NG+, you’ll have enough to have both. My recommendations are focused on what you should be working towards in the mid to late game on your first playthrough and what you should have for NG+. You’ll focus on primarily improving Dexterity while obtaining enough Strength and Faith to wield everything. The core of the build is the Bolt of Gransax spear and a greatshield with AoE supplemented by lightning incantations. This guide is oriented toward PvE and will cover recommended melee weapons, talismans, Physick mixtures, armor, stats, and Incantations as well as where you’ll need to go to find all this stuff! Left Hand Armaments: Greatshield and Seal.

Double lightning bolt