Elden Ring allows players to summon NPCs to help defeat its many bosses. It works similar to the Dark Souls games, as specific characters players meet throughout the game place a summoning sign outside a boss’s fog gate. In addition, Elden Ring players can also use Spirit Ashes to summon even more NPCs to help with a challenging encounter.
These Spirit Ashes are varied and plentiful, but most players likely use them to take aggro away from them and flank the enemies. Players can summon a pack of wolves, a group of skeletons with massive shields, and even an exact copy of themselves to tackle the various foes. Some players choose not to use them while playing the game, but others argue that Elden Ring’s bosses are balanced around the player using summons. In addition, some Spirit Ashes are more useful than others, prompting players to have a debate on the best summons in Elden Ring.
A Reddit user asks players about the best summons after the changes made in Elden Ring’s latest update. The post has over 4,000 comments, but the answers aren’t as varied as the same names keep coming up throughout the post. Most users talk about Black Knife Tiche, Banished Knight Oleg, Dung Eater Puppet, and the Mimic Tear being their favorite summons. Some others mention their love for the skeleton soldiers with Greatshields and the Jellyfish summon as well.
Many players share stories of the exciting battles they had with their summon of choice while also discussing some pros and cons for each of them. Additionally, users can find some valuable tips and recommendations in the comments. For example, one player talks about the unique ability of the Skeletal Militiamen Ashes, which summons two skeletons that can revive after dying. This is incredibly useful against bosses who don’t finish off skeletons in Elden Ring by hitting their bodies after depleting their HP bar.
Mimic Tear was perhaps the best summon in Elden Ring at launch. It could tank a ton of damage, heal itself when required, and also utilize unique weapon skills equipped by the player. Users even shared videos of an upgraded Mimic defeating some Elden Ring bosses on its own. FromSoftware nerfed it in Patch 1.03, but it’s still an incredibly useful summon according to many players. It’ll be interesting to see if the other popular Spirit Ashes are nerfed in a future update. Hopefully, FromSoftware decides to buff the ones not used that often, similar to the improvements made to Colossal Weapons in Patch 1.04 of Elden Ring.
Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
