At what point are spears good?

[Valykry]

I've heard quite often how "OP" spears are.
I can't argue against their range and the damage they deal, but they just break SO freakin' quickly.
I managed to get my maintenance level to 6 (mostly by swinging axes all this time, then discovered some craftable items grant maintenance exp) thinking that would help, but nope. A newly crafted spear managed to net me like 5 kills before breaking.

Even at lvl 1 in both the axe and maintenance skills, the axes manage to wipe out small hoards before breaking.

Do spears actually become a good option with high enough levels in spear? If so, what point do they get good? What else can be done to increase their durability (apart from the crafting level, that much is obvious).

[Hirmikss™]

stick good, stick very good, sharp stick better, sharp stick go brrr

sleepy?
tired?
stick go brrr


jokes aside enable multi hit and go swing swoosh spears have a 1 shot hit kill mechanic regardless of zombie hp, carpentry 3 will allow you to craft spears at max durability and the higher the maintenance level the less likely are they to break.

[Zaidah]

It all depends of when you heard/read that.

When spears were first introduced, they were indeed very strong : high damage, high chance of doing a one-shot on isolated zombies, quite sturdy and easy to make (any tree branch and a knife).

Its durability got toned down alter on, as well as the one-shot frequency.

In the unstable B42, like you said their starting durability is lower and I'm not sure which skill can improve that (probably carving ?). They seems to do less damage as well, but at least it can break into broken long stick and broken stick so you still have something to fight with.

I feel like the basic spear (without attachment) is best used to charge with it. It only requires a single component, whereas the axe needs 2. Now that you can craft many new weapons that have way more requirements, they toned down the primitive ones a bit so the former is worth doing.

[Vintorez]

Make sure you're stabbing at maximum range. If you're doing a swipe attack instead of a thrust, you're too close and doing less damage (this applies to most weapons actually) and I think this has an effect on the spear's 1 hit kill chance as well.

[Rusty]

The spear is OP in build 41. Its instakill move can proc regardless of negative moodles. Overall damage is pretty mediocre and it breaks easily to compensate. If you want a stronger one, you can make your way down to any farming supply shop or warehouse and look for a "Gardening Fork." That thing will help you clear any city of your choosing. Especially if you play with Multi-hit...

If you're playing Build 42 (unstable) then you're going to have a bad time trying to cheese with them. The insta-kill has been heavily nerfed, and I think they forgot to adjust the durability and damage numbers to compensate.

[Armagenesis]

You can use garden forks early on until you can make decent crafted spears.

In b42, your crafted spears can be turned into "Fire Hardened Spear" which increases their durability and lowers the chance for durability loss. They are really that good.

[Valykry]

I'll try the fire hardening thing. But unless that makes quite a significant difference, I'm going to consider them useless. The damage they deal isn't the issue, they're good on that front. But if I can only get a handful of kills before it breaks, it wouldn't matter if they're a 100% one-shot kill weapon. I'll also try keeping at max range, maybe the swiping thing not only causes less damage to the Zomboid but causes more damage per swing to the spear.

I'm just looking for a good backup for when I run out of axes.

[Apocaleptic]

yeah i dont like spears either. mostly its when you stab you cant move and then you die. and sure its all about knowing whats going on and thats why i dont use spears :D

[intorpere]

This is another example where the devs made multiple changes all at once, and went too far in the opposite direction. Spears used to be a lot easier to craft, so it didn't matter that they broke easily. In 41, I didn't even bother attaching anything to the end. The pointy stick was effective enough, and could be crafted with a single plank. Now I'm sticking with long blunt.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

Spears do have long reach, and can be stabbed through chainlink fencing, their ease of production means that replacing them isn't a big deal. Also very good for taking out lone zombies that have spotted you.

[DrLamp]

I'm using one (and only one) mod right now. Craftable long sticks. Not only can spears be made with ONLY long sticks, but long sticks can only be found from foraging directly or carving saplings into long sticks. Additionally there are several recipes that require ALOT of long sticks, not just spears.

The devs overcompensated when they nerfed the spear and drove them right into the ground. Intorpere is right, too many changes at once. It's like when you're driving and hit a slick spot on the road, you DO NOT YANK THE WHEEL to the side. You'll just end up overcompensating and then you have to yank it back the other way, and so on and so forth. Now you look like an idiot and everyone else is avoiding your car and tossing insults out the window.