Elden Ring - The Best Spirit Summons In the Game Tier List (You NEED These Spirits) 

Please remember this video is just for fun, it isn't a be all end all. Some of you are getting pretty hostile in the comments. Everyone's list is going to be different. The reason I had them do a 1v1 against bosses was to show how much damage they do on their own. It would be very difficult for me to measure how good a spirit is if I'm attacking them simultaneously. If a spirt summon can almost kill or completely kill a boss on their own, then obviously they are a strong spirit summon. I also couldn't include EVERY spirit because this would have been like 2 hours long. Depending on your play style, weapons, and stats, everyone's experience is going to be different.

Even if the Jellyfish isn’t at the top of this tier list, it still has a place at the top of my heart.

The lone wolf ashes were the first ones I maxed out in level. Had nothing to do with their end game viability. They just helped me so much in early and mid game that I felt obligated to reward them.

The Dung Eater does Bleed Damage, He buffs his damage, debuffs the enemies damage and defense, he casts ranged attacks, and he is a monsterous tank. Theres a reason he is a nightmare to fight again

Mimic tear is the only co-op companion that don't instantly send me back to my world 10/10 would recommend

If your struggling with not being able to summon high fp summons you can set your physic potion with the cerulean hidden tear which gives you unlimited fp for 10 seconds allowing you to summon anyone within that 10 seconds even if you don’t have the right level of fp 👍🏼

I take it this is from a Melee player's perspective. As glass cannon Mage, the Great Shield Soldiers are S+ tier. They surround a mob in a way that both distracts the boss and prevents them from moving much. This makes it super easy to annihilate them quickly with Commet Azure. They might not be good for soloing the boss...but that's not really the point.

Another thing about the red mane knight, using the “war cry” ash of war when he is summoned, makes him do a rain of arrows (he can only do this once per summon but it’s still pretty cool

Having used the Jellyfish, I think the issue is that it's tier is based on how well it does on it's own. Jellyfish is a pretty decent tank and is good as a support spirit. It's good for players who want to use spirits but want a more active role in the fight.

Bonus about Latenna: I also thought she was stationnary and pretty good already... but then I found out today through a youtube clip she has a mobility option: wolves. If you summon her in a zone containing wild wolves, and one of them gets close to her, she will tame it and ride it, increasing her attacking speed and allowing her to run around at mach speed. It doesn't really do anything in most, if not all, boss fights, since wolves are mostly found in the overworld and not in boss rooms, but it's a cool hidden mechanic unique to her. Edit: Many of the comments have specified this to me, so I will correct a bit of misinformation on my part: it doesn't work on ALL wolves, only SOME wolves. They have to be about as big as the wolf she had when you get her ashes, so dire wolf size. The wolves in front of the Ranni Castle work, but I don't know if they appear in other places in the world.

Fun fact about Letannya: if you use her ashes when fighting wolves, there’s a chance she will jump on one of the wolves and ride it around while firing her arrows. Completely caught me off guard when she did that.

Latenna is great against dragons if you put her in a rock where the fire doesn't hit her. The higher she is, the better she is. If you put her on top of a branch in the great bridge she can take care of that dragon by herself.

Please be aware if you are using Luhtel the Headless that when it teleports, it loses aggro from the enemy(ies). You may end up surprised in a fight when it starts taking the heat and then suddenly you find yourself getting focused out of nowhere

The shieldmen are def top tier. Their ability to welcome nearly every boss to the west side of watever realm they reside in by relentlessly curb stomping them into a corner is unprecedented.

Great list! FYI, you can un-summon a spirit by "summoning" it again. That way, you won't have another accident like the Black Knife Tishe one.

One thing I do like about the lone wolf ashes is how quickly they can re-agro a boss because they are so aggressive. Like if you just pulled the boss after a big hit, it only takes a couple seconds for them to pull agro again. They definitely don't tank well though, but you can find a better balance by pulling the boss off them sometimes, especially if they are stuck in a corner or taking AOE damage or something.

Thank you for taking the time and setting up these tests. That must have been a lot of work.

One of my favorite summons, that I didn't see mentioned, is Stormhawk Deenh. The bird flies around dive-bombing enemies and will occasionally screech, giving you a HP regen buff. Definitely won't solo any bosses but it's a great support summon.

I use Latenna surprisingly a lot. Her range insane and her glint arrows track. If there’s a high ground overlooking a boss location you can leave her up there where’s she’s safe. Alternatively you can play tank with Shabriri’s woe equipped to help force aggro and let her do all the work.

That's a thorough analysis! Thanks for taking the time 🙏🔥

Thank you for creating such a comprehensive video based on actual research. I bet it took a lot of time and effort.

fun fact: mimic tear with blasphemous blade can heal himself a lot now and can solo a lot of stuff in the game

Though they didn't make the list, I absolutely adore the Demi-Human ashes. I have 2 Golden Halberds so I always buff them before they go in. They are also much stronger and more aggressive at night which is a really cool detail. They're nothing special by any means but I love my little Demon Death Squad 😆

Even though my Rotten Stray was under levelled, it was still very useful against the Draconic Tree Sentinel as the scarlet rot was very effective against it while I rode around on my horse avoiding it's attacks

I used the Demi-humans for most of my first playthrough. They helped a ton because they do pierce, slash, blunt and standard damage and just swarm the enemy. Granted, they are squishy but they can do a crap ton of damage and just destroy those annoying crystallians

Interesting note about the Latenna the Albinauric: if you summon her and she makes contact with a wild wolf, she will tame the wolf and ride around on it like the Albinaurics you see in the mountain top of the giants area.

I feel like summons should be judged in different categories Like there’s summons that are support, aggressive summons, defensive summons, etc Anyone else agree? (Also Tiche is probably the best summon imo (next to the mimic depending on your build))

Kristoff is such a goddamn badass having the entire Lightning Knight move set Same feeling for the banished knights

Interesting note about the land squirts. I discovered that they often spawn in "cheese" areas. Usually a spot where the boss will get stuck or is vulnerable. The dragon knight outside leyndell gets stuck in that area and doesnt move much. The godskin in windmill village can be cheesed through their area in a ring around the windmill. Several bosses have similar situations with them. Its the reason they seem to spawn at a far corner a lot, especially with bosses that are very mobile.

One of the things I really love about Elden Ring is that almost everything can be viable depending on your build. And that can be especially true for spirit ashes: magic based spirits might be low tier if you are also a magic build and same if you're a tank with a tank spirit, but if you get spirits that are a different class as yours those can be the defining factor of whether you win or lose. Love trying them all out whenever I change my builds!

I feel like the Marionette soldiers do extremely well in non-boss situations, especially compared to a lot of other summons who can die easily from being swarmed.

Great video man! Good explanation on everything

Ashes are very situational. Dolores for instance is the best against the Godskin bosses, specially the duo, but yeah, as you showed, she does not really work if the boss cannot be put to sleep. Great video, it took you a looong time to do, much appreciated.

The Dung Eater is even better than you think: his big AoE blast leaves a lingering debuff on enemies that lowers their dmg reduction AND resists so not only do they take more damage but statuses build up easier as well. Dung Boi is S+ tier.

This Video's S-Tier List: 1) Black Knife Tiche 2) Latenna, the Albinauric 3) Mimic Tier 4) Redman Knight Ogha 5) Dungeater Puppet You're Welcome

I'm surprised about Perfurmer Tricia. My top two are her and the mimic. She's super useful. Keep her health up, and she will keep casting the protection spell as well as attacking the enemy.

Thanks for all ya time testing these 👍

Marionette Soldiers have literally carried me through the entire game. There are a few enemies that trounce them, but the sheer amount of stagger damage they can output and the aggro they draw is far and above any other I’ve seen. Many times a boss will shift aggro between them and basically get stunlocked, allowing you to do literally anything to them. In the double crucible knight fight, they solo’d one of them while I took down the other.

Haven't seen a comment in the top 20 or so mentioning this, so PSA: if you want your spirits to attack one specific enemy, throw a Cursed-Blood Pot at it. You get the recipe from the cookbook found in the Rose Church in Liurnia.

Thanks for this list, awesome job 👏

The time and scientific approach are top notch. I reached for the subscribe button, found you already made something else that got me to click it. Thank you. I came to see if mimic was working how I thought. Check.

Can't sleep on the Imps. They're melee or midrange, VERY aggressive and VERY fast, with bleed weapons and grenades. Some enemies have trouble just trying to land hits on them. They're not tanky though. Good B or *maybe* A rank summons, especially early game.

An additional note about the mimic tear is that is doesn't experience overload. If you you put on heavy armor and can't move, it can still roll, jump, and sprint as if it has a medium load.

Awesome video. Nice and clear explanations. This is S tier.

The mimic tear proved what ever DS player has thought for years, the best summon is just a clone of themselves

To protect Latenna the Albinauric you can use the Shabiri's Woe to atract the agro from enemies.

Thank you so much this is a good list for me. I love the mimic as I do not have all of them as yet but will try to get some others.

Just like to say thanks for taking the time I did not know some of these were even here so thanks

The mimic is absolutely crazy, with staff of the dead prince and just one spell, like Adula's moonblade, he keeps using it quickly, destroying everything. He solo most of the bosses in NG+2

Jellyfish has gotten me through a lot of tough battles. I can't abandon them now

I'm amazed at how early you get the wolves because of how good they are for SO long. Even in the late game I found myself still using them because they are so sporadic and take the focus of the boss that I could kill the boss before they would die. They suck if you want them to kill the boss all on their own, but they make for a great team.

Hey Swany just wanted to say over the course of time you’ve become a really great RU-vidr

Excellent list. You’ve done a fantastic job of explaining everything with all the research you’ve done. Bravo, sir!

Great review overall! However, it seems kind of hard to rank them all the same way when they aren't really supposed to be used the same way. For example, the Rot Dog isn't really built to keep aggro the whole time. If I were using the dog, I'd try to maintain aggro for the entire fight and just have the dog proc rot over and over.

I’ve enjoyed having Lhutel the Headless tanking for me, but the one thing I did notice is that when she disappears to teleport, the boss will also lose aggro and start coming after me instead.

Great video. I’d say as a full mage build I find the mimic underwhelming. Typically I need something tanky to help me and the mimic usually gets 1-3 tap killed. All my strength buddies absolutely love it though. Black knife has been a game changer for me.

I hope Fromsoft adds a bonus upgrade to Latenna when completing her questline in the future where she summons alongside her spirit wolf. She would immediately be number 1 summon from me.

The explosion the dung eater does also applies a debuff that reduces all damage negation and status resistances for all nearby enemies via the "Shriek of Milos" skill from his sword. So he makes you do more damage, he bleeds, has very high poise, and is pretty aggressive. Also he's such an asshole I don't feel bad at all making him my puppet.

Godrick Soldier Ashes are also pretty good, lower FP cost than some of the ones on this list, more HP than the wolves, and there two of them. They can use crossbows or hammer and shield, making them ideal against any enemy weak to striking damage (such as the Crystallians). Easy to get, too, since they're just in a graveyard to the west of Stormhill Shack. Honestly I'd say they're at least B tier, if not A tier against bosses vulnerable to strike damage. Definitely an early game upgrade over your starter Wolves.

Very helpful video! Avionette soldiers are my favorite for fun

I audibly exclaim BLACK KNIFE TEEEEESSSHH, When ever I need her help, summon her, and she never disappoints

Thank you for your time! To be honest, once I gained Mimic I didn't use anything more. I was running heavy armor blasphemous blade + fingerprint shield build so imagine Mimic tanking and healing himself with this greatsword XD

Great list, very informative.

The Lone Wolves have always been my favorite, mostly because they're meant to compliment a playstyle rather than be backup. The way I like to think of it is they are supposed to be the pack behind their alpha, aka the player. And that player leads them, maybe takes a step back to heal sometimes while they distract the boss. So for me they've been very effective

some of my favorites: Cleanrot - Slow and steady boss kill with rot. Holy attacks are also a + against undead. Tiche - Awesome for fast killing bosses. Possibly the highest dps output out of all the ashes. That dot is chef's kiss. Dungeater - Insane debuffs. Therolina - Heals for days. Her aoe heal can insta stagger some enemies. (that fast/annoying multiarm grafted enemy for example) Skeletons - Great for slow bosses (like those cat stone bosses) they will never die. Headless - Great tank. Will zip through a lot of enemy attacks. Latenna - Great DPS uptime against mobile bosses, especially big mobile bosses like dragons. Doggos - My personal favorite against Crystalians. Especially great during 2v1 and 3v1 boss encounters. Stagger one and move on to the next. They will permastagger them to death lol Shieldbros - Awesome for phys/mag ranged builds. Sit back and pew pew while they hodor the enemy.

Thank you for the video, Owen Wilson.

really appreciate your criteria based testing-results

I love the summons for this game. They feel incredibly fair and the sheer diversity of them makes them fun to use on any character type.

This is a great video. It displays all these ashes in action even though I kinda disagree with how the tests are performed. You’re not wrong at all about the lower tier ashes being fragile or not dealing enough damage, but this testing environment favors the hardiest and brutalist among the summons. The lower tier ones function better as extensions of your toolkit. The wolves work great on foes that stagger easily as there’s three of them and they’re relentless, but work together best with a player who is just as relentless, gaining more aggro to keep you both alive and pummeling the boss so they can’t fight back. Similarly Dolores and Miss Jellyfish work best when YOU focus on drawing most of the aggro, as they’ll take some away while shooting at the boss to give you a chance to breathe but you have to take it back to make sure they don’t get overwhelmed (and obvi best used on foes you know are more vulnerable to sleep/poison respectively). Of course the hardy more expensive ones are more versatile in just being a staunch ally to fight alongside you, but the cheaper spirits function well if you’re using them as tools for their intended purpose. Not detracting, great video, super informative.

Thank you for being honest about the jellyfish. I almost got memed into significantly upgrading it wondering at what point it was actually going to be useful.

Brilliant upload as it gave me an insight into a lot of the summons even before i play the game so thank you👍Cant believe the haters tho 🤷‍♀️ A lot of work has gone into this video 👏

Headless 5 shield bros Mimic tear In every boss, in its specific situations, these are the strong 3 as they are the most versatile and survive the longest

I feel like with the way you test them by letting them solo the boss can be a bit skewed when most of these summons are SUPPORT characters

Greatshield soldiers solo any boss that is even slightly slow. They're really strong, S in my opinions I also feel you put way too many summons that were just "pretty good" in A tier. I feel like some of them should have gone in B at least, because this tierlist rn is very top heavy

Yes! Latenna I love her. Whether I summon depends on the boss, and I summon her for big bosses. and I love wolves. so having her associate herself with wolves is a big thumbs up!

Great video. The greatshield soldiers are lately showing up in community vids and comments as an S-tier summon for sorcerer builds who want to stand back and deal spell damage. Now it would be interesting to see 2 future separate vidoes showing the best summons for tank build and best summons for sorcerer.

Lol I ran pretty much the entire game with Lhutel bc I was impressed with her immediately. Tried some other summons here and there and most of them fell flat in comparison - glad to see I wasn't just flat out wrong and she actually holds up!

Only 3 I even slot at all times (all are +10 too) are Tiche, Latenna, and Mimic so...glad to know I'm not the only one who sees their value

Nice one man! If you can do another one with all the ashes in the game that would ne great too, I wonder which tier would you put the Raya Lucaria soldiers

I think all the summons are great, provided you know what each summons is for. Dont use the Greatshield bois as a melee build. Use them for a mage build. Jelly is good against anything that it can poison, and against floor based damage.

My favorite thing about the skeleton crew is their ability to take aggro. As long as I'm engaging consistently with the boss, there's a good chance they'll survive for some time. That means that I can take a moment to rebuff or heal or reposition when I need to and feel safe that they are holding aggro for me. It also means that I can comfortably use a summon without feeling like they did all the work for me/cheesed the boss for me.

Mimic Tear and Black Knife Tiche were the 2 I went to every time I summoned. The mimic was op when i was using a bloodhounds fang bleed build

Not seeing it on the list, but the Skeletal Bandit is pretty decent. It can tank the boss, die, then come back to life so long as you draw the bosses agro. It can really allow for some easier fights

Great list, love the logic behind it. I wish though they were separated by how hard it is to get. Or late game vs Early game. because I am sure the lower one would rank high in early game.

Nice list and I'd say pretty accurate. I like how much testing you did to come to your conclusions, definitely not a low-effort video. Did you try the jar puppet? Might not be particularly strong solo, but he throws a lot of interesting debuffs at bosses, from bleed jars to oil, so I found him quite unique for a cheap summon. Thanks for the video.

The pack of wolves are actually really useful when fighting groups of enemies in the open field, and the amount of chaos they can create is hilarious to watch

I've always really liked the Ancestral Follower because of how annoying they were when I wandered into their territory early on. He was the first I level definitely situational but always useful.

You missed Stormhawk Deenth. They are pretty great, getting all the benefits that the Jellyfish has (avoiding aoes and environment damage and slams) they do decent damage, and they buff your damage with a screech skill. I like the Perfumers too, they provides decent buffs (Tricia will give the damage reduction buff from the Bubbletear) and they also use various perfumes.

Interesting enough with the lone wolf summons...they do blunt dmg so they are VERY useful against the crystalian bosses

Your video's arze very interesting, props 😚.

The thing about the Jellyfish is that what makes it good (for me anyway) is a combination of both poison damage, and being chunky in terms of health. The jellyfish can take a couple hits, and when they’re not being smacked, they’re applying poison damage while you fight the boss. It serves as a meat shield for when you’re healing.

Ancestral spirit is good because his arrows can stun enemies, really helps to break an enemies combo and let u slash away, gonna use him for whole game I think

Mimic Tear with pulley xbow and xplosive bolt is like a visit from the spacemarines

I have to say, the Fanged Imps are pretty decent for distractions on bosses and crowds. Bleed damage plus a ranged explosion, they can also take a hit pretty well

It's fun how the summons have their niche. Some are support, some are ranged dps, some are melee dps and some are tanky and which one you pop out depends on what you're planning to do. It's crazy how even now the mimic tear is just head and shoulders above the rest since it's AI will use all the OP consumables, heals and spells and simply attack non stop.

Redmane ogha has a special attack he does when your character does barbaric roars. I recommend reading the item description. I think that is one of the coolest interactions I have ever seen!

The 2 6 armed archers, I forget what they are called, are beastly when leveled up. The constantly stagger low poise enemies. Marionette soldiers… they are awesome

I used the Fanged Imp Ashes for ages. They put in work.

I appreciate that this is a realistic tier list, tho at 60 hours deep into the game I'm gonna have to ask you to offer rump, for jelly being so low

The thing about the Jelly fish summon. It’s not about “letting the summon do the job” but more for “letting the summon distract the enemy while I’m doing some damage”