10 Best Baldur's Gate 3 Summons You May Have Not Known About

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers its players a ton of options when it comes to summoning help. From conjuring arcane hands to resurrecting skeletons, players can assemble a small army of followers if they wish. There are dozens of spells and items throughout the game that serve this purpose. Some of these summons are harder to find than others. While many are available to characters as they level up or sold by various vendors, some summons are only obtainable through thorough exploration and certain dialogue choices. There are so many in the game that it is likely most players won’t have even heard of many of them.

These rarer summons are often unique to a specific setting or one of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s magic items and provide some variety from the basic summons the game offers, like find familiar and spiritual weapon. Each of the summons listed below can be used more than once and includes some variation from its basic version, if it has one. Some are strong, others are niche, but all of them pose at least some challenge for players to acquire.

10

Connor Vinderblad Is A Unique Zombie With A Troubling Past

A Morally Questionable Choice, To Say The Least

Connor is a rotting corpse players can find behind Auntie Ethel’s Teahouse in Act One. Once married to Mayrina, Connor died before the events of the story, and his wife brought him to Ethel so that he may be revived. Unfortunately, Ethel’s deals never turn out the way people hope, and the way Ethel offers to bring Connor back is as a zombie.

After defeating or making a deal with Ethel, players can use the wand Bitter Divorce found in her back room to resurrect Connor in BG3. If Mayrina is still around, she will request possession of the wand so she may take her husband to Baldur’s Gate and find a way to help him. Players have the option to oblige her, put the zombie out of its misery, or if they are feeling particularly cruel, keep the wand and Connor for themselves.

Doing this grants them the ability to summon this unique zombie using an action and the wand, now called Second Marriage. He isn’t particularly tough or strong, but he can be summoned over and over again indefinitely, and can act as an effective meat shield. The majority of players won’t gain access to this summon because the process needed to obtain him is so cruel, but for those who do, he can be an effective tool.

This Cheeky Quasit Doesn’t Hold Back With Her Insults

Underneath the apothecary in the blighted remains of Moonhaven, players may stumble across a certain coffin containing a variety of strangely-named objects. These included a knife named Poo-Scraper, a shovel named Friend-Finder, and a skull lovingly called Friend. But the most interesting item inside is a spell scroll, a variation of the find familiar spell with the name Cheeky Quasit.

Casting the spell from the scroll will create Shovel, who is not happy that it took so long for someone to summon her. Talking to Shovel, players will find out she once assisted a necromancer with various unsavory experiments, and that the little creature has an appetite for eating babies and causing chaos. Shovel will stick around as a familiar with unique abilities to turn invisible and frighten enemies until the Quasit is killed. Her enthusiasm for helping the player varies depending on their morality, and Shovel is not afraid to let people know when she is bored or upset.

Summoning Shovel need not be a one-off moment, however. Wizards, sorcerers, and warlocks can all gain Shovel as a permanent summon option if they use the scroll. Talking with Shovel a few times after summoning her will prompt her to call the player a “spellshite” and insist they bring her back to wreak more havoc. While certainly not the strongest summon with a measly seven hit points, Shovel is delightfully unhinged and has some funny line deliveries that make her worth keeping around.

8

Lump the Enlightened Brings His Friends With Him

Summon A Squad Of Ogres To Destroy Your Enemies

Technically speaking, Lump and his friends are not a summon, but a group of enemies the player can come across. Still, they are a repeatable and powerful source of aid in Act One, and should absolutely be considered for use by players. The Ogres can first be found in the Blighted Village, and will attack the party if they cannot pass a successful dialogue check. However, those with a silver tongue or a brand of the Absolute can befriend Lump, the intelligent leader of the group, and even convince him to lend the party aid against their foes.

With a good enough Charisma check, Lump will offer players his horn, which can thereafter be blown to summon his troupe of Ogres who destroy everyone that isn’t in the player’s party. Once used, Lump will request payment for services rendered, but offer to come back again and help out should the party blow the horn. Lump is an expensive summon, but packs a punch against anything the party might come across in the early game, and can dominate in certain combats.

Of course, Lump cannot be summoned everywhere. His Ogres can only be brought about when the horn is blown outdoors, and past Act One he will stop showing up. Still, Lump can be a valuable ally early on, and if he happens to die in combat, he drops some useful loot.

7

The Wraith Of The Shadow Lantern Has Some Unique Powers

This Summon Is Hard To Find, But Worth The Hassle

This Wraith from the Shadow-Cursed Lands is hard for players to get their hands on. They must make the journey to Moonrise Towers, enter Balthazaar’s quarters and find his secret lab. Then, they must bring Gale to a specific point in the lab and pick certain dialogue options to convince him to craft the Shadow Lantern rather than serve his old goddess. It’s a meticulous and specific list of steps that many players may miss simply because there are so many requirements to even become aware of the option.

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How To Beat Balthazar In Baldur’s Gate 3

Balthazar is a tough spellcasting boss you can try to beat at two different points in Baldur’s Gate 3, but his summoned undead make it a tricky fight.

Once the Shadow Lantern has been acquired, though, it can be used to summon a Wraith, a powerful undead who wields shadow magic. It is particularly useful in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, and deals moderate damage using unique spell attacks. It can drain the strength of enemies, making it effective against melee attackers, and it can hide in areas of darkness with ease. While its small health bar can leave something to be desired, it makes up for it with debuffs and solid damage.

6

Quothe Is A Powerful And Visually Distinct Familiar

She Also Hates The Player

Another option from the Shadow-Cursed Lands, Quothe is a white raven obtainable from the Shadar-Kai named He Who Was. He can be found out alone in the darkness next to a dead body, and if his request to help exact “justice” on the dead woman’s soul is fulfilled, he will reward the party with the Raven Gloves. These gloves allow the wearer to summon Quothe once per short rest, a mechanic which works the same as the spell find familiar.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much mechanically to differentiate Quothe from his basic counterparts. He has the same AC, health, and action options as a regular familiar raven. He stands out only in that he is stark white and rather large, as well as in his name. If players speak with Quothe before completing the quest for He Who Was, they can learn that the bird hates them and thinks everyone else does, too. Not the cheeriest of companions, but he is a direct reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s work, so that makes sense.

5

Sights Of The Seelie Grants a Unique Version Of A High Level Spell

This Deva Works For Wizards As Well As Clerics

Deep within Ramazith’s Tower in Act Three, players may stumble upon the sorcerous vaults, where Lorroakan keeps his most prized magical possessions. While some are encased in glass and others are behind enchanted doors, a book called Sights of the Seelie is hidden behind an illusory wall, making it difficult to realize that the treasure is even available. For players that do find and read this book, they receive a scroll for a spell called bestial communion.

Despite its name, bestial communion is actually used to summon a deva, a high-level celestial that resembles an angel and wields a holy mace. Typically, this summon is only available to clerics in the form of the spell planar ally. But this spell scroll version means any player could theoretically bring forth this angelic ally, if only once.

However, wizards who read the scroll and learn the spell gain access to it permanently. It is sixth-level and requires a corresponding sixth-level spell slot to cast, but it is one of the more powerful and tanky summons in the game, and having it on a wizard is quite valuable. While the Deva itself is not mechanically or visually distinct from others of its kind, its allegiance to the wizards of Baldur’s Gate 3 makes it stand out.

4

The Infernal Rapier Houses A Powerful Cambion

Gain This Fiendish Follower As Early As Act Two

The Infernal Rapier is a possible quest reward from Mizora that functions as both one of the best weapons in the game and the source of one of the best summons. While wielding this weapon, players can summon a Cambion once per day, a powerful fiend that can shoot rays of fire and take a fair bit of damage. This summon is normally only available through the spell planar ally, much like the deva that can be gained through the bestial communion scroll.

Unlike that deva, however, this rapier is available in Act Two, considerably earlier in the game, lending it much more usefulness earlier on. To get access to this summon, players must free Mizora in the Mind Flayer Colony under Moonrise Towers. This in and of itself is not difficult, as long as Wyll has been recruited and therefore the party has a connection to Mizora in the first place. After freeing her, players must succeed at a dialogue check asking for a reward, at which point the devil grants them the Infernal Rapier.

3

Us Is A Helpful & Kind Intellect Devourer

Keep An Open Mind To Befriend This Creature

Most intellect devourers players encounter are enemies, servants of the Absolute. Us is a welcome departure from that trend, and will gladly help players out, assuming they are kind in return. Us can first be encountered early in the game, and may even be the first NPC players meet. At that point, they are still stuck in the head of the poor soul whose brain they have taken control of, and need help getting out.

Some players may choose to leave Us to their fate, or even kill them to eliminate a potential enemy. Choosing to help Us, however, will result in their gratitude and willingness to follow the player throughout the prologue and assist in escaping the Nautiloid. At that point, Us vanishes from the game, and won’t be seen again until Act Two.

When players reach the Mind Flayer colony, some light exploration will lead them to discover Us trapped in a cage. The player’s time with Us led them to having some modicum of free will, and they will now once again gladly join the player’s party if given the chance. Us is a powerful and surprisingly tanky summon which can be brought into combat once per short rest, and has some unique psychic attacks. Just don’t choose to lobotomize the creature during that first meeting, otherwise they will be much less powerful when they become a permanent summon later.

2

Sethan’s Spiritual Great Axe Is Well Hidden In Act Three

A Certain Companion Will Make Getting This Summon Impossible

The spiritual weapon spell is a powerful option for clerics to bring forth a temporary summon. This unique version of the spell is even better, obtainable by purchasing the great axe called Sethan from a merchant named Ferg Drogher. It always casts at sixth level, doesn’t use a spell slot, and summons the greataxe version of the spell.

The catch is that Ferg, a shady merchant in Act Three, will only sell this item if the player succeeds at a dialogue check to see his rare wares. In addition, if a reformed Shadowheart is present with the party when they meet Ferg, he will refuse to sell them anything and leave, becoming permanently unavailable. This is because he is a Shar worshiper and doesn’t approve of Shadowheart’s refusal to do the goddess’s bidding. Still, if players can get their hands on this weapon, they will find its summon is quite useful indeed.

1

Danse Macabre Makes Four Ghouls At Once

Saving The Necromancy Of Thay Finally Pays Off

Of all the summons, the Danse Macabre ghouls are the most complicated to acquire. First, players must find and hold onto the book The Necromancy of Thay way back in Act One. Second, they must acquire one of two amethysts in the game to unlock the book. Third, they must break into the sorcerous vaults underneath Ramazith’s Tower and read the Tharchaite Codex, after which they must have a curse removed from them by a spell or scroll. Finally, they must crack open The Necromancy of Thay and pass a series of increasingly difficult Wisdom saving throws.

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The prize for all of this is worth it: the ability to cast the spell Danse Macabre once per long rest. Doing so allows a player to summon four ghouls in an area around them, which become allies and fight alongside them during combat. The ghouls don’t have a ton of health, and their damage is not that impressive.

The thing that makes these ghouls so powerful is that they can paralyze foes on a hit. Having four of them in a battle means that at least a few of the player’s enemies will be spending their turns paralyzed and unable to act. This summon lends unparalleled crowd control potential, and is essential in any Necromancer build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.

Platform(s)

PC
, macOS
, PS5
, Xbox Series X

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

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