Spear and Quarterstaff Builds in DnD 5e

by Brandon Gregory

Heroes with swords are overrated. There’s something fun about a classic warrior using a spear or quarterstaff as their main weapon. Historically, these weapons were powerful, and with the right feats and class selection, these simple weapons are anything but simple. There are ways to use Dexterity and even Wisdom as your main stat for these builds, and some feats make them significantly more powerful. Here’s how to make the most of them.

Spears vs Quarterstaves

First off, which to choose? Here are the stats for each:

Quarterstaff in DnD 5e

• Cost: 2 SP
• Weight: 4 lb.
• 1-handed damage: 1d6 bludgeoning
• 2-handed damage: 1d8 bludgeoning

Spear in DnD 5e

• Cost: 1 GP
• Weight: 3 lb.
• 1-handed damage: 1d6 piercing
• 2-handed damage: 1d8 piercing
• Thrown (range 20/60)

Both spears and quarterstaves are simple versatile weapons that do 1d6 when used with one hand or 1d8 when used with both. Spears can be thrown, which might be useful in a pinch, but can leave you without your primary weapon. Aside from that, the only real difference is that spears do piercing damage and quarterstaves do bludgeoning, which doesn’t make a ton of difference in-game but can be important if you take either the Crusher or Piercer feats.

If you want a spear that does 1d8 damage with one hand (so you can use a shield), check out the yklwa. Though often overlooked for its odd name, it’s basically a short spear that does 1d8 damage with one hand at the expense of the versatile option and some throwing distance.

Another factor to consider is the availability of magic items. There are basic versions of spears (and yklwas), but there’s a far greater variety of magic staves available with a variety of effects. For instance, the Staff of Defense can help increase your defenses, and the Spider Staff can give you some useful utility options as well as bonus damage. If you want more magic spears, you might talk to your DM about flavoring a magic sword as a spear to give you more options.

Can I Use a Baseball Bat?

Sure. Just use a quarterstaff and call it a baseball bat. That’s probably the best way to do this if you want a Harley Quinn-type character.

Getting the Most From Your Attacks

With quarterstaves and spears doing less damage than similar weapons, it helps to get as much damage as you can from your attacks. There are two ways to do this: additive bonuses and a bonus attack.

Additive bonuses add damage to each attack. Classic examples are the Barbarian rage ability and the Ranger spell Hunter’s Mark, making both Rangers and Barbarians great candidates for quarterstaff or spear fighting. Hex is another spell that adds bonus damage to each attack; this is normally a Warlock-exclusive spell, but you can acquire it with the Fey Touched feat, giving potentially any class access to this spell. Battle Master Fighters can also use their maneuvers to add damage to attacks, and the maneuvers work well thematically with a quarterstaff or spear user.

With a bonus to each attack, you can wrack up some more damage by getting another attack in each round. Any class can do this with the Polearm Master feat. This allows you to make a bonus action attack using a 1d4 damage die, making it lower damage than the main attack, but with additive bonuses mentioned above, this can still be a good source of damage.

With these tactics in mind, you face another important choice. Both spears and quarterstaves are versatile weapons, meaning they can be used with one hand or with both hands for additional damage. If the class you’re playing in is proficient with shields, this means choosing between a little less damage and added defense, or going all in on damage for a slight boost. If you take the Dueling fighting style, however, the damage is about equal for both options, essentially giving you free defense with a shield. If you can get both a shield and the Dueling fighting style, weapon-and-shield is mechanically better, but choose whichever works best for your character.

Using Dexterity With Spears and Quarterstaves

Anyone who watched the fight between the Mountain and the Viper in Game of Thrones knows how cool using a spear with Dexterity can be, and seeing a skilled quarterstaff fighter swing their weapon around can be equally enthralling. But in DnD, spears and quarterstaves are not finesse weapons and can only be used with Strength. Is there a way to get around this?

Yes, spears and quarterstaves can be used with Dexterity, you just have to be a Monk. Monks get two abilities at level 1 that help with this. One is Martial Arts, which allows you to use Dexterity instead of Strength with any Monk weapon (which includes both spears and quarterstaves) as long as you aren’t using armor or a shield. Giving up armor and a shield seems like a major detriment, but Monks get another ability to help with that: Unarmored Defense, which allows them to calculate their armor class as 10 plus the Dexterity modifier plus the Wisdom modifier. Note that Monk features also give the ability to make an unarmed attack as a bonus action with the same damage die as the Polearm Master bonus attack, so this strategy may mean you don’t have to take Polearm Master.

If you don’t want to be a Monk, you can easily be another class and multiclass into Monk for a single level to gain this ability. Ranger works particularly well, as Rangers need Wisdom for some of their spells and class abilities, giving a good synergy between the two. Going for a second level in Monk gives you access to a few ki points that can be used to make an additional bonus attack (2 attacks with your bonus action), or Dodge as a bonus action. Rangers also get easy access to Hunter’s Mark, making this build a good candidate for a quarterstaff or spear build.

Fighter-Monks can also be a good fit, provided you choose a subclass that works with a high-Wisdom build. Fighters don’t get Hunter’s Mark, but they do get Action Surge, which can give you some good burst damage when needed. Battle Master Fighters can be a particularly fun build.

Note that both Fighters and Rangers get access to a fighting style. For this build, there’s no clear winner. You can’t wear a shield, so you might as well use both hands for your weapon, so the dueling fighting style is out. Fighters get access to the unarmed style, although this won’t work with your bonus action attacks and will offer little benefit (unless you lose your weapon somehow). The defense fighting style requires you to wear armor, which you cannot. Rangers get access to Druidic Warrior, which grants two Druid cantrips, which can add some nice flavor. (DND Tinker Inn has a great write-up on cantrips to pick with the Druidic Warrior fighting style for other options.) Blind fighting is available to both of them and can add some nice flavor and might come in handy if your DM pits you against invisible foes or makes you fight in magical darkness.

Using Wisdom With Quarterstaves

There is a niche build that allows you to use Wisdom as your primary attack stat for quarterstaves (not spears). The Shillelagh cantrip can be cast to turn a quarterstaff (or a club) into a 1d8 magical weapon that uses Wisdom instead of Dexterity or Strength. This is a Druid spell, but there are a few ways to get it as a martial class. Rangers can take the Druidic warrior feat and choose Shillelagh as one of their two Druid cantrips. Additionally, any class can take the Magic Initiate (Druid) feat to get the spell.

The downside to this is that the spell only lasts for 1 minute, and you might have to waste a bonus action on your first turn casting it. That’s not a deal-breaker by any means, just something to be aware of.

Strength-Based Spear and Quarterstaff Builds

Strength-based spear and quarterstaff builds are probably the most straightforward. Here are some classes that do well with that. Any of these options can benefit from the Polearm Master feat to get an additional attack as a bonus action (along with some other goodies).

Barbarian - Path of the Totem Warrior

A Totem Warrior Barbarian is a solid choice with just about any weapon. The various totems give you some customization over the build, but some stand-outs for the level 3 pick are Bear Totem, for being very tough to hurt, and Wolf Totem, if you want to help your party out by giving advantage on attack rolls against whomever you’re attacking. Go for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor, and max Strength as quickly as possible.

Barbarian - Path of the Zealot

The idea of a religious zealot smashing or stabbing things with a simple weapon fits well, and this subclass is loaded with flavor for roleplaying. Compared to a Totem Warrior Barbarian, the Zealot has fewer customization options, but the subclass features grant a nice boost to damage and later features allow you to shrug off death. As with the Totem Warrior, go for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor and max Strength.

Fighter - Battle Master

The Fighter opens up some nice options for a Strength-based warrior, like heavy armor proficiency (so you don’t need to worry about Dexterity) and the Dueling fighting style (so you can wear a shield and get the same damage as using your weapon with both hands). The Battle Master subclass has great damage potential, but also great control options and some other tricks as well. With Battle Master maneuvers, you’ll be knocking your opponents around and truly feel like you’re a master of your weapon. Also, if you want a Roman- or Greek-style warrior with a spear and shield, this is the way to go. Max out your Strength. If you’re going for medium armor, shoot for 14 Dexterity; otherwise, you can drop it to 10 and wear heavy armor.

Fighter - Rune Knight

As with the Battle Master, having access to heavy armor and the Dueling fighting style makes this build easier. The Rune Knight subclass taps into ancient giant magic, giving you some useful tricks in battle and the ability to grow in size to do more damage with your weapons. Other than that, the build is pretty similar to the Battle Master: shoot for max Strength, and either 14 Dexterity (if you’re wearing medium armor) or 10 (if you’re wearing heavy armor).

Ranger - Horizon Walker

Most Rangers rely on using their bonus action for Hunter’s Mark, but the Horizon Walker has a subclass feature that uses their bonus action in a different way to give a large damage boost to one enemy. Having the ability to zip around the battlefield hitting multiple foes who are spaced out is also pretty cool. Rangers also have access to the Dueling fighting style, so take that and wear a shield. Max your Strength and shoot for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor.

Ranger - Hunter

Hunter Rangers are great at dealing lots of damage and taking less. Unlike the Horizon Walker, Hunters do rely on Hunter’s Mark, which will use their bonus action frequently—meaning the Polearm Master feat will be of less use to you than other options on this list but can still be useful when you have a free bonus action. While Hunter’s Mark is active, if you do get in a bonus action attack, you will also get the 1d6 damage from Hunter’s Mark, making these hits much more potent.

As with the Horizon Walker, take the Dueling fighting style so you can wear a shield. Max out your Strength quickly and pump your Constitution as high as possible, since you’ll be making concentration saves to keep Hunter’s Mark up. Shoot for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor. With a need for high scores in three stats, your Wisdom stat will probably be lower than most other Rangers, but high Wisdom is only needed for spells that force the target to make a saving throw, so it’s perfectly viable to have a Ranger with lower Wisdom.

Dexterity-Based Spear and Quarterstaff Builds

Some levels in Monk are the key to any Dexterity-based spear and quarterstaff build, but other classes can multiclass into Monk to gain this ability. Here are a few notable builds.

Monk - any

If you want to stick with a single class, spears and quarterstaves are the best weapon choices for most Monks. The Kensei subclass opens up a few interesting weapon options (including archery), but just about any other Monk subclass will do great with a spear or quarterstaff. Monks get great class features to use their bonus action, so you don’t need Polearm Master. You’ll want both your Dexterity and Wisdom to be as high as possible.

Monk 2 / Battle Master Fighter X

Taking two levels of Monk allows a Battle Master fighter to use Dexterity with spears and quarterstaves while still being an absolute master of their weapon, knocking foes around and controlling the battlefield. As with any Monk, pump your Dexterity and Wisdom as high as possible and avoid Polearm Master.

Monk 2 / Hunter Ranger X

Hunter Rangers get Hunter’s Mark, which can make all of your attacks more potent—including the extra attacks using your bonus action, making a Monk-Ranger extremely dangerous for foes. You’ll give up a bonus action to cast or move your Hunter’s Mark, but any time you can get a bonus attack in (or a Flurry of Blows, for two attacks), you’ll get an extra 1d6 every time you hit. As with any Monk, pump your Dexterity and Wisdom as high as possible and avoid Polearm Master.

Wisdom-Based Shillelagh Quarterstaff Builds

Wisdom-based builds only work with quarterstaves (or clubs) and require the Druidic Warrior fighting style to cast Shillelagh, limiting this to Rangers. Any Ranger can work, but two subclasses have synergy with a high Wisdom score that makes them better choices.

Ranger - Beast Master

(Obligatory note: the Beast Master is much more effective with the optional rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Using the old rules in the Player’s Handbook makes your animal sidekick much less effective.)

Beast Master Rangers use their Wisdom stat a lot with their primal companions, so maxing out your Wisdom will also make your animal sidekick a lot more effective in battle. Beast Masters typically use their bonus action to issue commands to their primal companions, so there’s no need to take the Polearm Master feat—or Hunter’s Mark, in most cases. Max your Wisdom and shoot for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor.

Ranger - Fey Wanderer

Fey Wanderer Rangers don’t get a damage boost from Wisdom, but they do get to add their Wisdom modifier to Charisma checks (including rolls for Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion), potentially making them better face characters than Charisma-based classes like Bard and Warlock. They also get some use out of a high Wisdom with class features like Beguiling Twist, Misty Wanderer, and of course all of the control spell options that require a saving throw.

Your bonus action will be pretty free, so feel free to take Hunter’s Mark, or possibly Polearm Master, but see if Hunter’s Mark is sufficient for you before investing in Polearm Master. Max your Wisdom and shoot for 14 Dexterity to wear medium armor. If you’re going to be using Hunter’s Mark a lot, make sure you have a high Constitution score as well so you’re not constantly failing concentration checks to keep Hunter’s Mark active.

Best Races for a Spear or Quarterstaff Build

Neither quarterstaves nor spears have the heavy property, so both can be used by small races without penalty. With custom origins allowing you to set the stat increases for a race and some diverse builds possible, many races can be used here, so don’t think races not on this list aren’t viable. That said, here are some that stand out.

• Bugbear - An extra 5 feet of reach can be useful, and the sneak attack feature is always useful if you have the Dexterity to take advantage of it.
• Dragonborn - The breath attacks can help you deal with crowds.
• Goblin - If you went the Monk route, Goblins can disengage as a bonus action, potentially saving you a ki point. Fury of the Small is also a nice little damage boost when you want it.
• Goliath - Some defensive abilities will help with your probably lower-than-average AC.
• Half-Orc - Half-Orcs are always fantastic attackers and all of their features can help you.
• Hill Dwarf - You’ll be light on defense, so the extra hit points help.
• Variant Human - Some feats can help this build, so getting one at level 1 can help make a character more viable in the early levels.
• Wood Elf - Great for Monk builds with some sneaky features.

Best Feats for a Spear or Quarterstaff Build

Any of the standard martial character feats can apply here, but here are some with particular synergy.

Polearm Master

As discussed above, this allows you to make a bonus action attack with a spear or quarterstaff and gives you some additional options for opportunity attacks as well.

Caverns and Creatures has a more thorough write-up on the Polearm Master feat.

Sentinel

The ultimate Tank feat, this feat can stop enemies dead in their tracks as they try to move past you. Won’t help much on the damage front, but it’s a great option for many martial characters.

Fey Touched

Getting the Hex spell can significantly boost your damage output, but be aware that this is a concentration spell and you’ll be taking hits in melee range, so its use may be limited.

Magic Initiate

Can be used to get Shillelagh or Hex for the builds mentioned above.

Heavily Armored

If you’re playing a Strength-based Ranger and don’t want to multiclass, this is how you get heavy armor proficiency so you don’t have to boost your Dexterity too.

Crusher

You gain a bonus to Strength or Constitution (making this less useful for Dexterity builds), but the ability to push enemies away from you with a quarterstaff gives you some decent control options in combat.

Piercer

You gain a bonus to Strength or Dexterity, making this useful for Strength or Dexterity builds, but the feat gives you a small potential boost to damage with spears. It can be useful, but not as much as other options on this list.

About the Author

Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.