The spear is a weapon that takes a very specific playstyle to get the most out of. Might I suggest switching to a buckler? The buckler gives a 2.5x damage bonus on counter-attacks, but leaves a shorter window to do it in. With the spear's fast attack speed you can get in there and really chop down their health with a little practice. Obviously better 1 v 1, but it's actually possible to parry multiple hits at the same time. There's no cooldown on parrying, so as long as you click block once for each incoming attack the only limit is your stamina (and block bar).