Summoning

#Creatures bound to gear

Some rare uniques (and a few rune words) carry something alive inside them. Put one on and a creature appears at your side: a spectral tiger, a lizardfolk spearman, a dead knight, a young fire dragon, a pair of frost wolves. It walks with you and fights with you.

Wear several summon items and they all come along. A hero can lead up to 5 summons at once, and some items bring two or three creatures by themselves: the Bonecaller's Mask raises three Bone Thralls, the Rimefang Mantle a pair of wolves.

Summons are very different from pets:

Your pet keeps following you, with your summons around you.

#How summons work

• Wear the item and its creatures appear. Take it off and they go with it.
• Every item adds its own. If your gear would bring more than 5, the strongest come first.
• Kills count as yours, for XP, loot, bounties and your party's share alike.
• Monsters can hit them back. Each has its own life bar and armour and can take the heat off you. Boss slams and arrows catch them too.
• If one falls, it comes back. A downed summon collapses where it stood and returns at full health after 20 seconds. The others fight on.
• They follow you everywhere: along roads, into the Depths, lairs and Ember Rifts, through Homeward Gates and Ashgate portals. A downed summon is still downed on the other side.
• They heal out of combat, just like you.
• They keep formation. Standing still, they spread out behind you; walking, they trail after you and find their way around walls and rocks. Flying summons pass over rocks and rivers.

#Stances

The stance button at the start of your summon row (or the X key on a computer) switches how your summons pick their fights:

Summons never fight in town, and in the Wilderness they fight only its monsters, never other heroes. Your stance is saved with your hero.

#Your summon row

Your summons show as a row of small portraits above the chat, each with its life bar. A downed summon greys out with a countdown until it returns. Click or tap a portrait to look at that summon; on a computer, hover it for its life and level.

#How strong they are

• Level. A summon's level is your combat level, so your army grows with you all the way to the end of the game. Higher level means more life and harder hits (see Summoning).
• Leading more. Each summon hits a little softer the more you lead: three summons deal about 2.14× the damage of one, five about 2.78×. More summons are still stronger, and they also spread the monsters' attention.
• Empowering a summon item (see Crafting Orbs) makes its creatures 8% stronger per level.
• Summon bonuses on your gear make every summon you lead stronger:
  • +% Summon Damage (Commanding on helms, shields, gloves and amulets)
  • +% Summon Life (Kindred on helms, body armour, shields and amulets)
  • +% Summon Attack Speed (of the Pack on gloves, boots and jewellery)
  • Summons Gain X% of Your Damage Bonus (of Kinship on weapons and jewellery): your own +% Damage counts for them too.
• Your character window has a Summoning section with all of these once you wear summon gear.

#Auras

Some gear radiates an aura around you, shown as a faint ring at its reach. The Sceptre of the Legion carries Dominion: every summon within 8 tiles of you, yours and your party's, hits harder and faster. A summon driven by an aura glows in the aura's colour. Every other gear aura (Might, Sanctuary and the rest) reaches your summons too: see Auras, Thorns & Projectiles.

#Every summon

Each summon has its own way of fighting. See the summons page for their full stats.

• Ghostfang pounces on its prey, hitting hard and stunning it for a moment.
• The Saurian Warrior thrusts its spear from a little further back.
• The Mossback Bear mauls slowly, and every fourth blow slams the ground, hitting everything around it. It's the toughest of them all.
• The Grave Knight sweeps everything in front of it.
• The Stormhound bites fast, and every third bite arcs lightning to up to three foes.
• The Emberwyrm flies overhead and breathes fire from range, with a small burning blast where it lands.
• Bone Thralls come in threes: weak alone, a wall together.
• Rimefangs hunt in pairs and pounce like the Ghostfang.
• The Gloam Wisp hangs back and flings motes of cold light from range.

#Where to find them

Summon uniques are rare. Each creature's own unique comes from the bosses of its region, with a much smaller chance from champions in that region:

Unique	Summons	Where it drops
Ghostfang Collar	Ghostfang	Foreman Grisk and The Ashen Warden on the surface; ashlands champions
Saurian Signet	Saurian Warrior	The Tomb King and Gorrash the Raider Chief; Sunscorch Desert champions
Bonecaller's Mask	3 Bone Thralls	The Tomb King; Sunscorch Desert champions
Mossheart Charm	Mossback Bear	Grotmaw the Bloated and The Rat King; Mirefen Swamp champions
Grave Lantern	Grave Knight	Echoes of the Warden from depth 6 of the Ashen Depths; champions down there
Stormcaller Band	Stormhound	The Forgemaster; Cinder Wastes champions
Emberwyrm Pendant	Emberwyrm	The Forgemaster, The Cinder Lord and The Ashen King; Cinder Wastes champions
Rimefang Mantle	2 Rimefangs	Hrimvald, the Rime Jarl; highland champions
Wispwoven Gloves	Gloam Wisp	Morrowthorn the Antlered; Gloamwood champions
Sceptre of the Legion	2 Grave Knights, Dominion aura	The Ashen King (one of his own uniques)
Broodmother’s Locket	Three Broodlings	Mother Cinderweb
Three-Throat Torc	Three Mireling Serpents	Mirelash, the Three-Throated
The Stolen Lantern	Lantern Wisp (mending aura)	Vesper, the Lantern Thief
Slagheart Crucible	Slag Golem (burning aura)	Brakka, the Slag Colossus
Wyrmling Clutch	Two Rime Wyrmlings (chilling aura)	Vaelthrix, the Rime Wyrm
Lantern of the Lost	Three Mourning Wisps	The Weeping Mother
The Drowned Choir	Three Drowned Choristers (mending aura)	Mirelash, the Drowned God (Nightmare only)
Titan’s Anvil	Two Forge Titans (burning aura)	Brakka Reforged (Nightmare only)

The last eight come only from their own boss's drop table, at the same rare chance as its other uniques (see Bosses by Level), not from champions.

#Packs and auras

The hunted bosses' summon uniques often bind two or three creatures of a kind. Some of their summons carry an aura that pulses around them while you fight:

• Burning (Slag Golem, Forge Titans): scorches every monster close to it.
• Chilling (Rime Wyrmlings): hurts nearby monsters and holds them in place for a moment.
• Mending (Lantern Wisp, Drowned Choristers): heals you, and party members near it, a little every couple of seconds while you fight.

Bosses fought in Nightmare are twice as likely to drop their summon unique, and the Ashen King more likely still. Magic Find helps too. A few rune words bind creatures as well.