Spears of the Church | Dark Souls 3 Wiki

I love it when the "Disturber of Sleep" tries to spawn camp me and eats a faceful of ritual spears right at the start of the fight.

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If I suffer, yall suffer with me

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Keep cleaning :))))))

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Lol someone's a bit touchy today aren't we basement dweller??

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A second Spear Ornament will be given if an additional phantom is summoned (excluding Unbreakable Patches).

Wrong, I just killed a white and then the host and only received one ornament. Who writes these entries?

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I feel awful for mfs who summon patches.

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I would just like to point out that while I looked it up and found that 'kusa' was an archaic word for 'ninja', that's probably not what the Japanese is in reference to here. What is the point of inserting a pun to some random word?
Rather, after checking the Japanese wiki, the word specifically used is 若草 waka-kusa, 'young grass'. Looking into it a bit more, this term can be used somewhat poetically to refer to a young woman (for example, the Japanese title of Little Women is 'Story of Young Grasses'). As used in DS3 it is probably in reference to the maiden Filianore, not to ninja.
If I were to go a step further, young grass in its original meaning is the first grass of spring. The first herbs and grass of early spring were believed to have medicinal properties and collected for sick loved ones as an act of devotion. This meaning is famously used in Hyakunin Isshu Poem 15 (the specific term used is 若菜 waka-na, young herbs/plants): 'For your sake, I head out to the fields to collect the young herbs, with the snow falling on my sleeves'.
I'm probably reading too far into it, but the Spears of the Church collect young grass (woven in the spear ornament) for Fillianore as an act of devotion to ease the sickness of their maiden.

tl;dr: If there's any wordplay involved here, it's on 'Young Grass' meaning both 'maiden' and the connotation of 'medicinal herbs', not on the term 'ninja'.

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If you suck at PvP, this is for you. Its like "invading for dummies" or invading in easy mode.

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I recently got summoned as a spear of the church outside fillianore's church. The battle happened in the Ringed City streets instead of the usual place, and even a Watchdog of Farron got summoned at the same time.

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For those uncomfortable with the random PVP, you can exploit the summoning mechanics. If you're playing with a friend, have them lay down a summon sign just before you enter the fogwall by yourself. ANY summon sign has a chance of being summoned as a spear, which means your friend's sign will have a chance of being summoned to YOUR world, where you can freely off one another and get passed this boss for free

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So sad how inactive this has become with the population decline, I am still determined though. Waiting 40+ minutes for one encounter to defend my princess just to be faced vs a gank squad of tryhards

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honestly the poise buff should be even higher the more phantoms a host brings, with 3 or more good luck tanking through the endless flurry of blows coming your way any time you try to strike back

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Does this covenant have no active members anymore? I’m trying to get summoned for Midir but get forcibly summoned to be the Spear 9/10 times…

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best covenant

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i was getting summoned a lot and then ranked up and the rate i got summoned at dropped off HARD. probably a coincidence but potentially worth mentioning

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From software's covenants peaked with gravelord servant, rat king servant and this one. All the others were absolute garbage.

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Seems like the only covenant that is worth of my time.

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Thank god I don't have to offline farm this one for the achievements

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Ganktards always defend their ways saying "you deserve to be invaded, you re getting into someone's world."

Now it's the other way around, for that is OUR church. What's your excuse now? Gonna grow balls and go on your own or keep whining about your summons being useless?

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it would be cool if when the spear got summoned, instead of the funny spears it would do a wrath of the gods spell like what happens in brawl, or maybe do both spears and wotg for ultimate coolness

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I left white summon sign as Sun Warrior and was summoned as Spear phantom to fight player.. It was my first time, i haven't find covenant nor killed Midir at that moment, so was quite confused ))

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I seem to get more regular summons with the white soapstone/red orb than I do with the covenant itself on.

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I really like this covenant, being a boss is very fun though I must say the covenant items are pretty dissapointing. I kind of wish the items were more substantial than just being useable in the fights. It would have been cool if the devine spear fragment was a spell or something instead of just a random consumable you can only use in boss invasions

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Fun fact! You get bonus spear ornaments if the person assaulting the church is also a spear!

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does everyone 2v1, 3v1, or 4v1 this? Seems pretty unfair for the Spears, the minor advantages given to the spears don't trump players ganking them and using 15 estus heals.

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Gotta say, loading in as a spear to find four people throwing Seething Chaoses at my feet is a better jumpscare than any horror game can provide

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Everybody gangsta till the spear gets ds1 poise

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THOU SHALL NOT AWAKE OUR PRINCES FILIANORE

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How I play Spears:

1 opponent: let them finish off the painting guardians at their leisure, and cast Great Heal without any safeguard(spear fragment, back to a wall, etc.)

2 opponents: let them kill the first painting guardian(it's usually dead when I show up anyways). Same as 1 opponent, but without letting them freely kill the second.

3 opponents: fight the second I leave the gate, first painting guardian is usually dead anyways. Can now cast Great Heal with safeguards(spear fragments and walls)

4 opponents: all out. Same as three opponents, but now I add Projected Heal into my bag of options.

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Honestly love this covenant, it's like an alt form of PVP- and given how often folks do invasions in the ringed city, there's always a chance Argo calls them up for a fun little war.

For those that don't like PVP, either, it's not too much of a hassle to go to R/summonsign and find a team dedicated to spear crushing. If you lose, it's not a problem; you're at a point in the game where you can go and shred the lothric knights outside Vordt for a handful of embers.

The only time I feel it's actually unbalanced is for solo hosts- the Spear can camp behind their wall and heal, and they have the soulmasses to protect them. If they removed the soulmasses in 1v1 spears, I'd say this is pretty much a perfect covenant

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Never had a good pvp experience, and hate the overpowered nature of Froms human npcs, so this boss just sucks ass.

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Best covenant ever.

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Let us murder them all

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"you re the one invading, go to arena, don't expect us to be fair in another person's world, stop ruining the other's experience (summons are already there for that), etc etc."

Such hypocrisy comes from someone who didn't ever use a red orb to be in the invader's shoes, but then they get reeeally quiet when you enter in OUR bossroom, inside OUR domains where the boss is one of US.

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I had a different experience with this covenant fighting against me than other people in the comments.
I dont play offline and i dont summon help so ..yeah i got players invading ..and died many times.. untill i finally defeated the summoned player.
The npc boss summoned only one time for me, first time.. and i died to him...every other time there were players.
But.. there were a lot fun fights..even when i died there were about 5 or 6 fun fights in 10 to 15 times i repeated this fight...the most boring fight was with npc the first time.
Tips...
Some players will stop agroing you and let you kill those painted guardian summons... thats nice of them... but if not prioritize them, i died most to them actually not the player.
You can dispach first summoned painted guardian right away, before player will be summoned, with backstab if you stand right behind the spot where he will apear...there even messages sometimes on the ground pointing out the right spot.
Use pillars to your advantage...
Player has a tell when casting that spear thing... dodge sideways and towards the player because it will open a way for you to counter attack.
Dont be greedy... when you dispach a second painted guardian summon.. you have all the time in the world.. get in, get a hit, get out... rinse and repeat.
As with any boss.. so with players, any players... best time to get a hit is when they finnish their attack...watch carefully what they are doing and with what weapon...go towards them to provoke an attackand roll back right away...then roll towards them through the attack and get your counter attack from a roll and get out of the range imidiately.
Heal only when you have sufficient distance from the player and the player has started attacking and will miss you or is finishing attack animation..
Use buffs for weapons... dark is good against players generally...
Higher damage slow winging weapons in my experience proved better to get that one hit in... also it helps you dispach the painted guardian more quickly.
Sepparate the painted guardian and the player... guardian will be faster than the player and here you can use pillars to your advantage.
If you fail, try again... there is a good chance that you will get better with practice... you will get better at pvp in general and you may stumble upon a player that is at your skill level.
Good luck...you will win the fight eventually... slave knight Gael and Midir are harder than this fight...

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bad covenant. if it was WINGED SPEARS of the church, i would've considered joining.

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The only reliable "invasion" in dark souls 3.

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"unfair, forced pvp, bad design, op npc, mimimimi..."

Welcome to the forgotten days of lordran where you had to take care of your business by yourself. All we're doing is getting an ornament for each player who doesn't want to learn.

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got summoned to fight as a Spear of the Church while waiting outside the boss room with a white soap stone. i felt pretty bad having to kill them.

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I dont get the complains. Just go offline and fight the NPC … or is that too much to ask?

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this boss is weird because it's the least fun boss if you're the one fighting it, but one of the most fun things in the game if you're playing as it

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To the other covenant members who always defends ganking: "bRuH iT's JuSt A gAmE, iT's WoRkInG aS iNtEnDeD. ThE gAmE iS mEaNt tO bE pLaYeD ThIs wAy, yOu'Re ThE oNe InVaDiNg, bLa BlA bLa..."

Doesn't sound that good now that it doesn't favor you, does it? Feel free to demonstrate your hypocrisy via your dislikes.

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Everybody gangsta until ganking gets nullified.

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This covenant is the most demoralizing thing I’ve ever faced ngl. Sorry that I’m interesting and don’t just LKSS or PKCS every play through ;)

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Judicator argo just released his new soundtrack: "another gank bites the dust" ft. Chosen undead

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what is the point to wearing the covenant if you get summoned anyway

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nice covenant, going 1 vs 4 phantoms spamming pkcs while being unable to use estus

KEKW KEKW

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I got summoned as a Spear more when I didn't have the covenant equipped than when I intentionally equipped it to fight at the church lol

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Imo this is how blades of the darkmoon should have been. I'd rather fight a hacker than a ganker because of how toxic host of embers are in general. Thinking they have impunity just because they take can advantage on from software's absolute incompetence at balancing multiplayer.

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I love getting summoned as a spear. The host always brings at least 2 phantoms including patches sometimes, and they still usually struggle to deal with the guardians. I remember a time whenever I was fighting patches while the church guardian managed to nearly solo the host at sl120. It’s hilarious.

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>The covenant can be gained by equipping the item Aldrich Faithful which is obtained from defeating Darkeater Midir
ok

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No coward hosts, white "stand" wannabes or blue prostitutes allowed in this church. Begone, disgraceful heretics.

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Always at least try to make it fun for the challenger if it's a 1v1

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I'm gonna join and let myself get killed GG2EZ on purpose

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i got summoned multiple times while being a finger and using red eye orbs inside ringed city, so you dont have to put down a summon sign

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That comes out when you are too lazy to make a proper boss. gg b-team

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The covenant can be gained by equipping the item Aldrich Faithful which is obtained from defeating Darkeater Midir under the Inner Ring Wall bonfire
Aldrich faithful?

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Something using players as the base is inherently going to be a mixed bag. There are people below saying how hard this boss is, I used the Paired Greatswords strategically and won on my first attempt. I also killed a few players as part of the covenant. That surely means it's not that skewed towards one side, especially when people on both sides will say it's unfair.

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Enjoyed this boss even though the first few people I encountered kicked my ass. Eventually resolved to get high enough poise to not get stunned by the painting guardian throwing knives and bum rush the boss while keeping the mobs at bay.

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I got summoned as a spear even though I had not killed Midir and was in SunBro Covenant

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You know well what you've been doing the rest of the game, and it won't work here. Turn off online and do your job on your own for once.

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Rant incoming:
Hands down the worst boss I've ever fought. Invasion bosses are always a red flag, and this one doesn't even try to escape that fate. Fighting two ganking painting guardians WITH HEALS, and a player, who can heal themselves with miracles is the absolute bane of my existence. I can take a gank, but i prefer a one on one duel. I just tried to beat it on my fourth run through the ringed city, but I've never had this much trouble. The same goddamn Farron ugs spammer, with the ethereal sheild with its passive heals, and a faith build for miracle heals, made this boss impossible. I would run around while getting stagger locked by the throwing knives, and the painting guardian swords, and then once i got the players health to even half, he would heal all the way from the guardians and himself. Every time he would heal i would be down about three estus, and after 5 minutes, I would die, no estus, both guardians alive, and the boss "untouched." Truly a terribly designed boss.

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Ho, you're ganking me? Instead of trying to git gud you've brought your 3 phantoms against me? Despite the boss mechanics strengthening my absorption to the point where i'm almost unkillable, and all those bloodstains showing how useless gankers are in this church?

Ho ho, then burn as many embers as you like.

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Sad they don't mention it but there is a way to restart infinitely this boss fight : go to the bridge in the undead settlement, go to the statue of Velka and you will be able to revive Argo. It works as well with the monument in the ringed city.

Personally, I really like this covenant, because it's a great training for invasions and mostly about dealing with ganks : side boss, you have resistances and side host also, because you have the heals and there are NPCs so for both you have to play wisely.

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The spear of the church that backstab spams patches is just as toxic as the host that brings 3 summons

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I use greatdoor shield and gaels sword I also wear the untrue dark ring and Havel’s for fashion.

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Hey so I know that whenever you equip a covenant that auto summons you, the covenant thing in the top left flashes to let you know you are being summoned. This one just flashes infinitely does someone know why

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This is the bossfight that filters good, experienced players from absolute donkeys. If you see 2 or 3 phantoms don't bother with being unpredictable as they can't think ahead of their finger tapping the r1 button.

Really, they can't.

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What is the item code?

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These fights are almost as chaotic as rampant invasions, but slightly tuned towards the 'boss' player if they play their cards right. As an invader, there's a world of difference between just treating it as normal PvP, and treating the fight like a Spear. Utilizing your helpers, the pillars in the arena, as well as the useable spear item, all help contribute towards being more than just some guy with no Estus.

Depending on how many players are involved, the engagement changes. 1v1, the challenger is outnumbered due to the church helpers, but there is no damage resistance given to the Spear -- while it is tempting to say the Spear has the advantage in terms of numbers, the Spear can be cheesed by high damage combos, or a backstab/parry to end the fight immediately. Closer to a duel, but the Spear will receive a trickle of healing from the NPC helper, while the host will have Estus.

In 2v1 and larger, the Spear is aiming to divide up the challengers while also protecting their NPCs. One does not have to be a miracle build to heal, as the NPCs can cover healing, as long as the Spear keeps them safe. When outnumbered, this is also where the Spear wants to use their Ritual Spear Fragment in order to divide up the challengers, preventing them from helping each other out, or protect the NPC. Conversely, the challengers want to rid themselves of the NPC as fast as possible in order to cut off the healing the Spear is receiving, while also keeping an eye out to make sure that the Spear doesn't attack them from the back.

The fight tends to be wrapped up in one of two cases: the Spear's NPC dies, in which case the sheer number of opponents and access to healing overwhelms them. The other is that a phantom takes a death, and the host is forced to deal with a buffed Spear that can trade with them but they cannot trade favorably in return. This is not to say comebacks cannot happen, but this is when the pacing of the fight tends to shift.

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Here are praticals advises for being a good spear of the church :

- Have a decent knowledge of PvP (used other covenants, invasions, duels...)
- Have a build with regen./heal included (paladin / chaos...) since you have 3 estus for your fp
- Use your ritual spear fragment when they rush you, to help your NPC, to cast spells
- Players will most of the time focus the NPC first. Try to use it to punish them as much as possible
- Once they are half HP, people usually want to heal. Use this time to punish them or chase them as a bait to attack the others behind you.

Hope it helps ! It's my favorite covenant by far and I have 99+600 Ornaments x)

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To be summoned as much as possible, I recommand being at around lvl 90, which is the most active.

Also a very good place to learn how to PvP, since you have a summon to help, gain a lot of resistances against ganks and you don't have to worry about quit out, blues and re-summoning, which are the most annoying things when you are invading. You don't have estus so you have to learn how to dodge and punish your opponent, which are the basics of invasions.

The only problem I have is the soulmasses you get. I really don't like them, because it made me fail a lot of combos/parries. It's annoying, but still manageable.

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"You are summoning phantoms to beat this bossfight, so as the boss i'm powered up to counter your gank and you will die time after time until you learn how to do your job on your own, wich will probably be when you run out of embers."

-Every boss in the game, but specially this one.

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I love invading a gank squad in a tiny room while being unable to heal while they can chug as much as they like. It's a good thing you at least get the one painting guardian that dies in a single hit to help you. Brilliant design From, absolutely flawless, truely.

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This covenant is awesome. I love it when i have to fight 3 opponents. Never had trouble with it to be honest. I slowly take them out one by one and when only the host is left, i just play around with him. Like poison him run after him with a two handed shield and mashing L1. It is just so much fun and the buffs you receive are more than op. DS1 poise comes to mind <3

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This is honestly the coolest thing ever. I love making and having my own second phase!

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To any gonker who cries around here saying "stupid forced pvp bla bla bla", (those idiots need help to walk in a straight line):

Look back at your whole playthrough. If you summoned for every boss and ganked every invader, serves you right. Delete your character and start over if you want any right to talk sh*t about what's right and what's wrong.

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Long preachy spiel incoming. Read at your discretion.

So basically, this is basically a duel, but is treated as a boss fight.

On one hand, you have the Spears.

They get minor buff per number of opponents. They can't use estus, but may use miracles, which is risky depending on their opponent. They can also use items, especially Undead Hunter Charm to level the playing field. Though that is largely situational. They have the covenant items which they can use strategically in the fight.

They have 2 NPC helpers who can also heal, but are about as useful as regular NPCs. The 2nd helper is summoned midway, but can be coaxed into appearing though means such as Bloodlust/Rose of Ariandel WAs, and forcing the host to damage you.


On the other hand, you have the host.

They can heal AND do everything the Spears can, apart from the covenant items. They can also summon a gank squad to tip the odds in their favor.


So let's be frank here. Assuming that both parties are of the same PvP skill level, playing as the Spear in inherently disadvantageous, because the host can heal and prepare against you like any other boss. Even summoning 1 phantom or even Patches for the fight makes this fight significantly easier. Patches is built like a tank, and is enough to distract at least 1, while the host juggles between dodging the Spear and killing the other NPC, which is fairly manageable. This becomes all the more easy with each player phantom the host summons.

In the worst case scenario, the host maxes out 3 summons. They kill Argo, then kill the Painting Guardians in a snap, and come for you next. The covenant items and the boss buffs don't matter much anymore at that point. People argue this is a boss fight, but the Spear is still a player, can panic all the same, and you can stunlock a player much more easily than a regular boss. It's always hard to fight when outnumbered.

In the best case scenario, the host comes in by themselves alone, juggles between you nipping at their heels while they kill the Painting Guardians, and then deal with you ALA PvP duel while also withholding their own estus from there. That's basically what this all is; a PvP duel with the facade of a boss fight.

TLDR; the Spears of the Church is even more of a grey area compared to the Undead Arena. One side agrees to be buffed slightly and experience being a Souls boss somewhat, but is also severely handicapped, while the other comes in normally and can choose the level of handicap the Spear endures.

If you can endure gank squads as a Spear in spite of no estus, awesome. You're PvP skills are unmatched and the host and his posse are idiots for losing a 2-4 VS 1 set-up.

If you face against a lone host, but let him kill your helpers, then fight fair, bless you for being modest and considering the other guy in spite of your disadvantage.

If you go in alone, kill all the helpers, then go at it with the Spear in a classic PvP duel (which it basically is,) then bless you too for your skill and consideration.

I know that experiences are mixed depending on all the circumstances out there, but ultimately there is a degree of control exercised by both sides here. Since voice chat isn't native to the game, and there are only gestures and carvings, in the end our actions reflect both our characters in-game and real life.

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This covenant is great, but I wish there was some control over getting summoned or not. Spent about 6 hours today helping people with Midir, but got summoned almost 2 dozen times even without the covenant equipped.

Thank god only 1 so far was a gank squad. And another guy had a sunbro who was just wanking around because he somehow disabled his hitbox.

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This has been my favourite covenant since it first arrived. Went back to the game recently and quickly remembered why I love it so much.

To all the people on PS4 I’ve smashed this week with the FUGS, I’m not sorry.

Also, if the heal spamming knob who wasted about fifteen minutes of my life just running around the room while not making any attempt to fight me is reading this, I hope to one day find out what you look like without your skin on.

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I absolutely HATE this boss simply because I can't control whether or not I'm summoned as a Spear of the Church! I just want to do co-op, not this forced PvP bull ****.

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Worst covenant

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Reminds me of the Looking glass knigh, being summoned to that bossfight was one of the best mechanics of DS2

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I had not yet defeated midr and got summoned into a bossfight I as of yet knew nothing of. How come? ... I only had the ritual spear.

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Killed the Halflight very easily. I initially thought it was an AI before reading about the covenant. Underwhelming boss fight.

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Once I was summoned to be a boss and had 86% damage resistance... needless to say I won

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This covenant is worth it just for things like what happened the other day:

"Oh, so you re one of the blues that were sticking around pontiff and the swamp? One of those *******s, huh? Too bad your 3 little phantoms just died. I'll take my time ripping your hide off."

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So... will I be still be able to advance in the covenant if Halflight is dead?

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Other covenant members: i'll put my sign/invade in the ringed city and see if i can help/kill a host.

Argo: come here, you!

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When doing this boss solo, I can confidently say that Halflight presents a bigger challenge than any player Spear. It feels weird to say that.

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While i was waiting to be summoned as a defender. Shortly after i killed this boss and went out so i could be summoned ( i am farming the covenant items killing the boss ). I got the dialogue lines and heard "Make Haste" couldn't skip it. Anybody else got it?

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Alright I'll be straight. If you people are out there AFK when it's your big moment, you shouldn't be a Spear.

Take out your covenant.

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I got summoned more often for spear of the church by using the red eye orb than actually using the covenant item...

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I put my summon sign in the ringed city to get summoned 5 times against a host... Killed him all 5 times... FeelsBadMan

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almost every time there's 3 people co-op in this fight and they never 1v1 you even though you have no chance against their whole squad. I've only gotten 1 summon with just 1 player doing the fight solo and I let them kill the NPCs before we do a fair duel.

why even play a DS game if you're going play it like WoW

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Crybaby gonkers: "ngeeee stop invading and let me and my 3 summons enjoy the game, don't ruin my chewed up experience so i can compensate for being totally useless on my own, ngeeee invaders are bad, from nerf force ngeeee"

From software: and this is why we ended the series. Have fun in this covenant.

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Go back to pontiff, casuls

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Ironic to think that Amir dude made a much better Spear of the Church boss with cheat engine.

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I beat Darkeater Midir and got the pendant for this covenant, but being summoned as a boss fight took WAY too long! Idk what was going on, but I wasn’t gonna wait all night just to be summoned; side note, I put my summon sign OUTSIDE the entrance of the church in the Ringed City, so what the **** was I doing wrong!?

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Where are your blues now, host? What good are your phantoms now, boy? WHERE ARE YOU MOMMYS AND DADDYS, *****??

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