Comparing the Summon Spells in D&D 2024 (5.5e)

Digging into the data for all the summon spells to work out which are best.

What summon spells are there?

I’ll start by outlining what summon spells are available and who to.

There are some summoning spells that have specific functions like find steed, which summons a steed to ride or conjure elemental which is more akin to an AoE spell than an independent creature that’s been summoned. For this comparison, I’ll strictly be sticking to spells that summon a creature with a stat block that can aid you in combat. These spells are:

Summon spell	Level	Available to
Giant insect	4	Druid
Summon aberration	4	Warlock, wizard
Summon beast	2	Druid, ranger
Summon celestial	5	Cleric, paladin
Summon construct	4	Wizard
Summon dragon	5	Wizard
Summon elemental	4	Druid, ranger, wizard
Summon fey	3	Druid, ranger, warlock, wizard
Summon fiend	6	Warlock, wizard
Summon undead	3	Warlock, wizard

Which summons deal the most damage?

I’ll start by comparing how much damage each summon deals. Since to hit calculations are highly variable, and to hit rolls are exactly the same for all summons except with summon beasts for land and water beasts who sometimes get advantage on attack rolls, I’ve just looked at average damage on a hit for comparison here.

Some damage dealing is quite situational (like the clay construct’s reaction attack on a hit or the demon’s explosion at death). In these cases, I haven’t included that damage.

A couple of summons have additional AoE capabilities that are relatively easy to land. For the draconic spirit’s breath weapon, I’ve assumed a modest 2 creatures hit per turn. For summon aberration (mind flayer), I’ve assumed that whispering aura affects 1 creature per turn.

Summon spell	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Giant insect (centipede or wasp)	N/A	N/A	26	28	45	48	68	72
Giant insect (spider)	N/A	N/A	25	27	43.5	46.5	66	70
Summon aberration (beholderkin)	N/A	N/A	23	25	40.5	43.5	62	66
Summon aberration (mind flayer)	N/A	N/A	30	32	47.5	50.5	69	73
Summon aberration (slaad)	N/A	N/A	25	27	43.5	46.5	66	70
Summon beast	10.5	11.5	25	27	43.5	46.5	66	70
Summon celestial (avenger)	N/A	N/A	N/A	28	45	48	68	72
Summon celestial (defender)	N/A	N/A	N/A	27	43.5	46.5	66	70
Summon construct	N/A	N/A	25	27	43.5	46.5	66	70
Summon dragon	N/A	N/A	N/A	39	54.5	57.5	76	80
Summon elemental	N/A	N/A	27	29	46.5	49.5	70	74
Summon fey	N/A	13	28	30	48	51	72	76
Summon fiend (demon)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	46.5	49.5	70	74
Summon fiend (devil)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	48	51	72	76
Summon fiend (yugoloth)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	40.5	43.5	62	66
Summon undead (ghostly)	N/A	10.5	23	25	40.5	43.5	62	66
Summon undead (putrid)	N/A	9.5	21	23	37.5	40.5	58	62
Summon undead (skeletal)	N/A	11	24	26	42	45	64	68

The highest damage option is summon dragon with its extra breath weapon attack. The advantage of the breath weapon is that it is an AoE too and is able to hit more than the 2 creatures I’ve assumed in this calculation. Summon fey and summon fiend (devil) also perform quite highly here.

Things like the putrid undead, beholderkin aberrations, ghostly undead and yugoloth fiends perform worse than most on damage. Often this is because they have ranged attacks, but can also be compensated for with their other abilities too.

Which summons are the most resilient?

Of course, it’s not all about damage. The more hits a summon can take, the longer it can cause damage and the more attacks it can absorb from enemies. To work this out, I’ve calculated the HP and AC of each summon in the table below. Many have resistances and immunities which help here too, but I’ve tackled that a bit further down:

Summon spell	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Giant insect	N/A	N/A	AC15 HP30	AC16 HP40	AC17 HP50	AC18 HP60	AC19 HP70	AC20 HP80
Summon aberration	N/A	N/A	AC15 HP40	AC16 HP50	AC17 HP60	AC18 HP70	AC19 HP80	AC20 HP90
Summon beast (air)	AC13 HP20	AC14 HP25	AC15 HP30	AC16 HP35	AC17 HP40	AC18 HP45	AC19 HP50	AC20 HP55
Summon beast (land or water)	AC13 HP30	AC14 HP35	AC15 HP40	AC16 HP45	AC17 HP50	AC18 HP55	AC19 HP60	AC20 HP65
Summon celestial (avenger)	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC16 HP40	AC17 HP50	AC18 HP60	AC19 HP70	AC20 HP80
Summon celestial (defender)	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC18 HP40	AC19 HP50	AC20 HP60	AC21 HP70	AC22 HP80
Summon construct	N/A	N/A	AC17 HP40	AC18 HP55	AC19 HP70	AC20 HP85	AC21 HP100	AC22 HP115
Summon dragon	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC19 HP50	AC20 HP60	AC21 HP70	AC22 HP80	AC23 HP90
Summon elemental	N/A	N/A	AC15 HP50	AC16 HP60	AC17 HP70	AC18 HP80	AC19 HP90	AC20 HP100
Summon fey	N/A	AC15 HP30	AC16 HP40	AC17 HP50	AC18 HP60	AC19 HP70	AC20 HP80	AC21 HP90
Summon fiend (demon)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC18 HP50	AC19 HP65	AC20 HP80	AC21 HP95
Summon fiend (devil)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC18 HP40	AC19 HP55	AC20 HP70	AC21 HP85
Summon fiend (yugoloth)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	AC18 HP60	AC19 HP75	AC20 HP90	AC21 HP105
Summon undead (ghostly and putrid)	N/A	AC14 HP30	AC15 HP40	AC16 HP50	AC17 HP60	AC18 HP70	AC19 HP80	AC20 HP90
Summon undead (skeletal)	N/A	AC14 HP20	AC15 HP30	AC16 HP40	AC17 HP50	AC18 HP60	AC19 HP70	AC20 HP80

A few of the summons do perform better in the defence department than others. The highest AC belongs to summon dragon, tracking 3 higher than most summons. Summon construct and the defender from summon celestial also do well at +2 higher than the standard AC.

When it comes to hit points, summon construct, summon elemental and yugoloth fiend summons perform best here. It’s also worth noting that dragons do quite well in this department too. And with their higher AC, makes one of the most resilient summons alongside constructs.

Summon beast is your least resilient option with a standard AC progression (which is also the lowest) and the lowest HP for a summon, with air beasts having the least HP.

What about the other features of summoned creatures?

This is where comparisons get trickier. Not only do many have unique combat capabilities, with a 1hr duration, summons can be used for utility outside of combat too. Potentially as scouts, distractions or other useful things.

In the below table, I’ve added in additional features that various summons have. Alongside that, I’ve included average damage, HP and AC for summon spells cast at level 6 (the lowest level that all summon spells can be cast at). I can’t include data for every level for all aspects of each summon in 1 table, but level 6 gives us a decent snapshot of how different summons compare.

Summon spell	Avg. Damage	AC	HP	Resistances	Immunities	Additional Features
Giant insect (centipede)	45	17	50	None	None	Climb (inc. ceilings), bonus action to cause poisoned
Giant insect (spider)	43.5	17	50	None	None	Climb (inc. ceilings), ranged attack, can reduce movement to 0
Giant insect (wasp)	45	17	50	None	None	Climb (inc. ceilings), fly
Summon aberration (beholderkin)	40.5	17	60	None	Psychic	Fly, ranged attack
Summon aberration (mind flayer)	47.5	17	60	None	Psychic	Damaging aura
Summon aberration (slaad)	43.5	17	60	None	Psychic	Regeneration, attacks prevent healing
Summon beast (air)	43.5	17	40	None	None	Fly, doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks
Summon beast (land)	43.5	17	50	None	None	Climb, advantage on attack rolls from nearby allies
Summon beast (water)	43.5	17	50	None	None	Swim, breathe underwater, advantage on attack rolls from nearby allies
Summon celestial (avenger)	45	17	50	Radiant	Charmed, frightened	Fly, ranged attack, healing
Summon celestial (defender)	43.5	19	50	Radiant	Charmed, frightened	Fly, temporary hit points on each attack, healing
Summon construct (Clay)	43.5	19	70	Poison	Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned	Reaction attack when hit or move half speed
Summon construct (Metal)	43.5	19	70	Poison	Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned	Cause 1d10 fire damage when hit or grappling
Summon construct (Stone)	43.5	19	70	Poison	Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned	Potentially half speed and prevent opportunity attacks for nearby enemies
Summon dragon	54.5	20	60	Acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison	Charmed, frightened, poisoned	Fly, swim, blindsight, caster gains 1 resistance, breath weapon
Summon elemental (air)	46.5	17	70	Lightning and thunder	Poison, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned	Fly, move through narrow spaces
Summon elemental (earth)	46.5	17	70	Piercing and slashing	Poison, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned	Burrow
Summon elemental (fire)	46.5	17	70	None	Fire, poison, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned	Move through narrow spaces
Summon elemental (water)	46.5	17	70	Acid	Poison, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned	Swim, move through narrow spaces
Summon fey (fuming)	48	18	60	None	Charmed	Fly, teleportation, advantage on next attack roll
Summon fey (mirthful)	48	18	60	None	Charmed	Fly, teleportation, charm nearby creature
Summon fey (tricksy)	48	18	60	None	Charmed	Fly, teleportation, darkness
Summon fiend (demon)	46.5	18	50	Fire	Poison, poisoned	Climb, explodes when it dies, magic resistance
Summon fiend (devil)	48	18	40	Fire	Poison, poisoned	Fly, can see through magical darkness, magic resistance, ranged attacks
Summon fiend (yugoloth)	40.5	18	60	Fire	Poison, poisoned	Magic resistance, teleport after each attack
Summon undead (ghostly)	40.5	17	60	None	Necrotic, poison, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poison	Fly, move through creatures and objects, attacks cause frightened
Summon undead (putrid)	37.5	17	60	None	Necrotic, poison, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poison	Poisoned to nearby creatures, paralyze poisoned creatures with attacks
Summon undead (skeletal)	42	17	50	None	Necrotic, poison, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poison	Ranged attacks

I’ve already touched on resilience, but it’s worth noting that constructs, elementals, dragons, fiends and undead all have quite a lot of resistances and immunities. Some of these, like dragons, constructs and elementals are already quite resilient through their AC and hit points. If you’re up against spellcasters, you might want to consider a fiend summon with their magic resistance.

If you want to tackle invisible creatures, dragons have blindsight. They also have an AoE breath weapon which is great for tackling crowds. Dragons also have flight, as do air elementals, air beasts, devils, ghostly undead, wasp insects and fey. If you need something that can swim, dragons can do this too, as can water elementals and water beasts.

If you want something with ranged attacks, there’s skeletal undead, devils, the celestial avenger, beholderkin aberrations and the spider insect. If you want to cause frustrating effects against enemies, then centipede and spider insects, putrid undead and mirthful fey are good options.

Which summon spell is best?

So now we have all that data at our fingertips, it should be easy to work out which summon spell is best right?

Sadly, it’s not that easy. They are largely, fairly balanced in what they can do. And much will depend on what you want your summon to do. You might want it absorbing lots of hits, causing lots of damage, frustrating enemies or for some kind of utility effect like flight or blindsight.

However, one summon does come out on top in this, and that’s summon dragon. It can tackle almost all of the above things I mentioned and is best in class when it comes to damage and AC. It also has a lot of resistances and immunities, an AoE weapon and the flexibility to fly or swim. It’s not only the most versatile summon, but one of the most damaging and one of the most resilient.

Of course, you do have to get to level 5 spells to start using summon dragon. And even then, only if you’re a wizard.

Notable runners up

Fortunately, I think there are some notable runners up. Summon construct gives you loads of resilience and clay and metal golems will find themselves often giving off extra damage when hit.

The defender celestial doles out lots of temporary hit points which can easily keep nearby martials boosted on the frontlines. And it’s no slouch when it comes to defence either.

Any bad summons?

Unfortunately, while summon beast is your lowest level summon, and brings summons online at spell level 2, it doesn’t scale as well as other summons. If possible, I’d trade in at later levels to something with a bit more teeth. They lack both resilience and damage and other summons can take over their flight or swimming capabilities if this is what you need.

Skeletal undead I feel have little going for them too. They do get a ranged attack, but they lack resilience and the damage isn’t anything to shout about. There’s not really anything else to them other than that. To a lesser extent, I feel similarly about the beholderkin aberration. Often, you’ll want summons taking damage rather than you or your allies, and it’s a relatively low damage option with no other real effects other than hovering. It’s a bit better than the skeletal undead, but not by much. I’d probably also put the wasp giant insect in this category of underwhelming summons with only flight making it stand out (which other summons can do).

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So there you have it. All the data you need to decide which summon spell to use. Summon dragon seems the best option to me with summon construct and summon celestial offering strong options as well. Despite being the highest level summon, I felt that summon fiend was only average as far as summon spells go.

But which summon spell do you prefer, and what do you think of my analysis? Let me know about it in the comments below.

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