Baldur's Gate 3 BEST SUMMONS / FAMILIARS TIER LIST

In this video I will be ranking the Best SUMMONS and FAMILIARS in Baldur's Gate 3 on a tier list. There are some really good summons in this game that can make your play time a whole lot more fun by being able to craft synergetic builds around your summons. I want to talk a little bit about each of these summons because some of them are extremely powerful and can give you a huge benefit, while others are just not that good at all. Some of these summons will now use a bonus action, which is really nice
Let me know what your favorite summons are in Baldur's Gate 3!
Also leave a comment with what kind of content you would like to see in Baldur's Gate 3!
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[@jackmclean4120]

Spiritual Weapon's like an old mule that can barely move, but it can just chip down on enemies to give you a fighting chance

[@JasonDunna]

Great analogy! It also takes hits for your team which is crucial

[@jackmclean4120]

@@JasonDunna Even if I kind of hate it for the reasons I listed in the comment (can't move for shit, meh damage), it fills a niche that Guardian of Faith and Spiritual Guardians don't.

[@gr4ndv1ll3]

The necromancy wizard’s Danse Macabre summons five ghouls, so for drawing aggro as well as swarming enemies, they’re insanely effective.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah they’re incredibly powerful!!

[@cloudy978]

they have soime really big drawbacks too sadly. mainly inconveniences. Death burst can chain react and deal a lot of damage to you, their AI is dumb and you cannot control them, the game is bugged a little which makes them take like a long time to end their turn for some reason and they can block your path. they are still decent summons I'd say but to use with Care in honor mode.

[@neonbreon100]

I just wish spiritual weapon could MOVE FARTHER!!!!

[@JasonDunna]

I know right? Or get a free teleport. Gotta be strategic when placing it

[@werewolfjedi38]

I would like to be able to throw it. A nice YEET at the opponents.

[@AJ-oj1xy]

I can’t tell you how many fights my imp has actually saved by just being invisible and blocking ladders, distracting and giving disadvantage to ranged enemies, actually killing with its two sting attacks, it’s insane. Way more useful than F tier

[@JasonDunna]

You make some good points I think I was too harsh to it

[@claygame1244]

Imo Connor should be in s tier, believe me or not, but I cannot count the number of traps, ambushed attacks and tanked attacks. My fav summon to be fair.

[@JasonDunna]

I was thinking of putting him in S tier but I already had so many I wanted to put there that are stronger in other ways. But Connor is very useful, could definitely go S tier

[@JasonDunna]

I need to use him more and figure out strategies

[@mynameisstepon7860]

Please let Connor rest in peace

[@stuffandthings617]

I gave Connor to his Wife XD

[@JasonDunna]

@@stuffandthings617 People are torn on what to do with Connor it seems hahaha good on you

[@lordjosephcharlton9704]

I like the arcane trickster for its mage hand, using the invis mage hand is nice for sneaking into some areas and moving items to block doorways with barrels n such for enemies before entering. Scratch also gets the help action unlike most summons :)

[@JasonDunna]

Githyanki also get the invisible mage hand!

[@RosePostedThis]

The Dryad summon also confers poison resistance, also making you immune to retrained or paralysed. The first aspect is very helpful when entering the Morgue in Act 2. Best to wait until you've got Halsin before going there.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah that is a really good point. The dryad is one of the skills I always use

[@jameshealan2881]

A really great thing about Scratch is he can run over and get someone up if they get knocked out. I always throw an invisibility potion on him and have him run over to pick up Dame Aylin in the 2nd Ketheric fight.

[@JasonDunna]

Invisible Scratch saving Dame Aylin is the best thing I’ve ever heard 😂 thanks for sharing that, it’s a smart idea!

[@nicksprung436]

really like your videos, i have probably watched 10 or 15 in the last 4 days ! got some goodd info too! i just started my 3rd play through but my first 2 i fizzled out in act 2 but this time i think im going to finish the game partly because of the good info i have gotten here

[@JasonDunna]

Thank you for watching, I appreciate it! Best of luck with your next playthrough, what are your favorite classes? I can suggest some strong/fun builds for them

[@nicksprung436]

@@JasonDunna im playing a half orc barbarian like it so far, first playthrough did a Drow Ranger (Drizzt) which i liked but i messed some stuff up and didnt have a save. then i tried a wizard and was like mehh .

[@sesimie]

So summoning is my fav type Magic use in fantasy. and BG3 does an excellent job of varied summons. nice video!! So Find familiar is easily an S tier for utility early levels. Recon, Blind with raven, and although limited to the 5e familiar... they can drag objects. Yup....you can use familiars to block vents and move barrels.

[@JasonDunna]

Oh cool I didn’t realize that you could use them to drag things! Thanks for sharing that! Appreciate it

[@BoomPamplemousse]

Love this video! I don't mean to be that guy but you did forget some summons unfortunately. I'm mostly thinking about Us, the brain thingy and also I think it would be worth mentioning the bird you can summon with the gloves. Anyway great content love you byyyyyyyyyyyye!!

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah this tier list didn’t have US on it but maybe I’ll revisit this topic at a future time and include everything I can possibly find. I meant to mention Us but I forgot! They would be S tier

[@jthompson7175]

I found out in my last playthrough that the base Air Elemental's ranged attack can hit switches. Saved a character's action one round in the Iron thrown.

[@JasonDunna]

Air elementals are underrated! That’s a unique use for one

[@bred223]

I think the hardest part about this list is that summons as a whole are s+ tier when compared to any other action or spell. Just adding one other body with 10-20 dmg per turn is an amazing use of an action and even better if cast out of combat.

[@TheFeanor74]

Great video, haven't seen that topic covered by a lot of other videos. I just want to add that Scratch even has his own story arc at the start of Act 3 (no spoilers) and that he helps with survival checks to find hidden treasures. The latter can be annoying if he starts to trail off the party and triggers traps or enemies, so I wish Larian would have made this feat of him a toggle.

[@JasonDunna]

Thank you! Yes Scratches story arc is great. A cool thing about survival checks is if you see your character fail one, you can just shovel the ground anyway and find the treasure

[@cannyvalley8522]

S is for Scratch xdd I wish best boy was better in combat, maybe scaled like beastmaster companions. One time I summoned Scratch in a monastery to try him out, while my team made short work of a room full of kobolds, Scratch and Shovel struggled with a single kobold separated from the group, I had to send a party member to help them out x)

[@JasonDunna]

Hahahah scratch and shovel struggling is the story of my life. I like shovel’s surprise attacks but scratch just brings the cuteness

[@OldManMoko]

So, one thing about scratch, aside from his own mini story arc in act 3, is out of combat he has a lot of survival utility in terms of tracking and uncovering buried stashes. In combat he can tank a hit and also revive fallen comrads

[@JasonDunna]

Tanking hits is underrated. I love having a summons focused team

[@OldManMoko]

@@JasonDunna Im about to do my first summon focused run, so should be good... spammed a few of your videos for it

[@cloudy978]

shadows used by a necro are really nice summon. With Undead Thrall they have pretty decent hit rates are immune or resistant to so much damage get more health and damage and have strength drain which provides decent utility. they also don't cost a spell slot only a weaqpon slot which Necros don't really have a use for before act 3. their personal damage is really good as well. you probably want to drop them for double staff in act 3 but putting them in C is a disservice as I find them to be on par with elementals. their invisibility also makes them really tanky by default. I find them MUch better than Mage hands If I am honest. my biggest grip with them is you can tell they weren't completely well implemented because they have no ways of crossing gaps and cannot dash so that is the annoying part especially in act 3 where so many buildings and ladders are present. One of the best summons for act 2 by far and getting to moonrise early is really easy. Also surprisingly not a lot of things are resistant to necrotic in act 2, I know the mound is, some undead and the final fight. so it's actually a lot more useful than one might think.

[@angelguerrero3679]

Aye cat by itself is S-tier it’s the ultimate weapon cause it can bring enemies together in a small circle to get absolutely destroyed it makes honor mode so easy it’s not even funny

[@JasonDunna]

Agreeeeed. Minor illusion cat is cool too

[@AnthonyVasapolli]

Animate dead zombies also create more zombies when they make a kill

[@JasonDunna]

If they’re a spore druid’s zombies they will

[@subice121]

The animate dead zombies can inflict crawling gnaw on enemies. When an enemy with crawling gnaw dies they summon another zombie in its place. It's not just the spore zombies that do this, my pure wizard necromancer zombies also have this ability

[@relshdan191]

agree with most, but imp being able to fly and be invisible is pretty great....if quazit is S, Imp being F seems wrong.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah imp is probably better than f tier I just find the quasit much more powerful

[@dkay9013]

Other ones to mention are that a wizard can scribe a Planar deva spell and the level 6 Spiritual weapon from sethan

[@JasonDunna]

Yes sights of the seelie! And the axe summon you’re right. I guess I’ll revisit this topic in the future

[@bloonstowerdefender]

I prefer Genie for the teleporting Thunderwave

[@JasonDunna]

Djinni is also quite solid! The deva’s mace does crazy damage but djinni works well too

[@adagioliggin9899]

Great video man. What are your thoughts on the shadow summon you can get with the pixie lamp in act 2?

[@JasonDunna]

I have it in this video but I called it a wraith instead of shadow, it’s okay but it deals necrotic damage in a place where everything resists necrotic or just is immune! so its usefulness is less than all other summons

[@adagioliggin9899]

@@JasonDunna lol truuu I was so geeked to get it and was salty when it wasn’t useful at all in the act 😅

[@JasonDunna]

@@adagioliggin9899 they’re super cool! Just barely deal damage 😂

[@laskr71]

Pact of the chain imp is better than quasit right? It has invisibility as well for surprise and a bite that is better than claw. You can use macabre as bomb too because they explode when killed for additional damage.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah the imp does a bit more damage but both pact of the chain are rather weak. Shovel the quasit can be learned by a caster and kept for the entire game. Pact of the blade is really good compared to pact of the chain too

[@qwertyuiop4701]

Spiritual weapon was really good to me in act 1 and act 2, but it fell off pretty hard in act 3

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah it doesn’t keep up in act 3 but sometimes it’s still worth summoning to tank a hit or two

[@MulderHiggins]

Oh! The raven from He Who Was isn't in this tier list? But I presume it's on the same level as find familiar raven?

[@JasonDunna]

Oh yeah you’re right!! Ravens are really strong so yeah

[@viper2436]

Idk if it counts but I believe you missed US

[@JasonDunna]

@@viper2436 yeah I did there’s a few that were missed, I think us is solid, probably S or A tier

[@viper2436]

@@JasonDunna you can’t spell us without S

[@JasonDunna]

@@viper2436 YESSS I love that 😂

[@itsnatural20]

One of your previous videos berserker, thrower and cleric are not S tier and now you make scratch s tier for your summons list, I want to like your videos because you have good quality and seem like a nice guy but you have to actually care about your scale ratings people take these kind of lists to heart your next summon video. Please do not put scratch on s tier. Makes no sense

[@JasonDunna]

If people take these lists to heart, that’s on them for caring so much about others opinions 😅 Scratch is the best boy. He requires no spell slot to summon too and can be use infinitely

[@itsnatural20]

@@JasonDunna Hit point too low and low functionality. The only cool thing is the dialogue It takes up your slot summoned people take things like this to heart because they don't know how to play. So they're looking for guidance people like you for the guidance and you're making videos like this and aren't even taking it seriously obviously your channel do what you want. Just saying you're misguiding new players

[@JasonDunna]

Scratch can help pick up downed allies where no summon can do that. He can also break concentration on spell casters. You can also upcast aid and heroes feast to give him over 30hp if that’s a worry. He’s definitely S tier

[@itsnatural20]

@@JasonDunna Yes, that's true he can bring back allies and he's only somewhat relevant in act 1. But with honor mode party everyone will have optimized builds. Going down is not something that happens often and I'm constantly playing co-op with four people everyone's built ready your party will not be going unconscious so that's niche. 30 hit points isn't enough, especially anywhere in act 2. And he has a super low armor class, not s tier

[@TheThreeHeadedDragon]

Actually, Scratch is incredibly useful in combat because, unlike any other summon, he can use the Help action.

[@JasonDunna]

Strong agree!! Some people don’t like scratch but he’s goodest boy and can pick you up