Indeed the spear could use a buff. The primary attack has a range same as the knife and a smaller hit box and lacks the 3 hit combo that all other melee weapons except the big hammers have (where the third hit deals double damage so you get 4 hits worth of damage in 3 hits).
So its main use is for hunting in the meadows. Though is a better weapon for Eikthyr than the axe as the axe is too slow to get a 3 hit combo between the boss' attacks so geting 3 jabs from the spear is better. Other than that you can use spears for killing trolls in melee as they are weak to pierce damage but don't forget to take a step forward after parrying them before attacking becasue you will get knocked back a little.
And in the Plains you can use a Fang spear for killing Lox until you get your hands on the Porcupine.
That's about it.