Every direct weapon is poke, poke, poke.
Look javelins.
Look short swords.
What they did wrong with spear on chapter 3 was to remove the flexibility this weapon had.
What i mean is simple.
If you have a short sword you can swift fast opponents while performing light attacks, hit them constantly left and right and keep them staggered.
On javelins the second is Aoe, but it has only lights and it gives window for combo breaking.
So poke, poke, poke is to keep your enemy staggered and if you think it a bit deeper, it’s not that bad it’s quite handy.
Spears need their flexibility back. Tbh i haven’t test them on chapter 4, but i can guarantee you that with a spear you could kill solo Rockslide
Yes it was this awesome to poke with spears until chapter 2.