Guide:Summoning

• Work in progress*

Introduction

This is a collection of items I've found in Baldur's Gate 3 that either allow you to summon creatues or improve the performance of creatures you summon. I wanted to put all of these items in one place for my own benefit, but also for the benefit of anyone else trying to create a "Summoner" character. You do not need all of these items or spells to be an effective summoner, nor are all of these items or spells necessarily good on a summoner character.

In a full party, you may be able to use most of this equipment spread across four characters, but in a solo playthrough a combination of items listed in this guide combined with other equipment will most likely be optimal; the list is meant to be mostly exhaustive, rather than "best practice".

The following entries should be organized by the acts in which they first appear. Visit the page for each of these entries for more information.

General Party Utility

While these items and spells are not specific to summoned creatures, they can be used to benefit some--if not all--summoned creatures in the same way they they benefit companions, and are worth considering for any characters or builds that plan to use summons.

Act 1 Equipment

•  Phalar Aluve can debuff nearby enemies with a  Bane-like effect and an extra 1d4 Thunder on hit or, alternatively, buff nearby allies with a  Bless-like effect. As of Patch 3, the Sing or Shriek effects persist even when Phalar Aluve is un-equipped.
  • Location: The Underdark, near the three Minotaur.

•  Hellrider's Pride provides  Blade Ward when healing a character or creature. Will not effect undead summons.
  • Location: Obtained from Zevlor, can be pick-pocketed.

Act 2 Equipment

•  Shield of Devotion allows you to cast a version of Aid on nearby allies once per Long Rest.
  • Location: Purchased from a vendor in Last Light Inn.

Act 3 Equipment

•  Duke Ravengard's Longsword grants nearby allies temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier when you land a killing blow.
  • Location: Obtained from Duke Ulder Ravengard, either after he has been killed, or if he drops his weapon during the prison break.

•  Devotee's Mace provides turn-based healing in an AoE around the wielder. Will not effect undead summons.
  • Location: Obtained from Divine Intervention.

•  Bhaalist Armor makes most nearby enemies vulnerable to piercing damage, particularly good with Skeleton Archers.
  • Location: Obtained from a merchant in the Murder Tribunal.

Spells

•  Globe of Invulnerability can be used to protect summoned creatures.

•  Slow can greatly diminish the effectiveness of enemy units, and can make it easier for summoned creatures to hit them, which is important because summoned creatures tend to have pretty underwhelming attack rates.

Equipment

These are items that, when worn, provide passive benefits to summoned creatures, allow the wearer to actively buff summoned creatures, or allows the wearer to summon creatures. Many pieces of equipment can be replaced with better gear once the active effect has been used, typically once every Long Rest.

Equipment that Summons Creatures

Act 1

•  Second Marriage can be obtained if you choose to keep the  Bitter Divorce wand at the culmination of the Save Mayrina questline, and allows you to summon Connor Vinderblad as a zombie. Mayrina must survive the fight with the Hag in order to complete the quest.
  • Location: In the Hag's workshop, past the Hag boss fight arena.

Act 2

•  Shadow Lantern can only be obtained by interacting with the broken Moonlantern located in Balthazar's study in Moonrise Towers while Gale is in your party. Allows you to cast  Conjure Shadow Lantern Wraith. The wraith only persists while the lantern is equipped, unfortunately.
  • Location: Balthazar's study in Moonrise Towers.

•  Infernal Rapier can be obtained through Wyll's questline after the point of no return in Act 2, assuming the player chooses the right dialogue choices. Allows you to cast  Planar Ally: Cambion once per Long Rest.
  • Location: The Mind Flayer Colony at the end of Act 2.

Act 3

•  Sethan allows you to summon a  Spiritual Weapon.
  • Location: Purchased in Rivington.

•  Crypt Lord Ring grants a cast of Create Undead once per Long Rest.
  • Location: Received from Thrumbo if he survives the Find Mystic Carrion's Servant quest.

Equipment that Enhances Summoned Creatures

Act 1

•  Abyss Beckoners provides resistance to *all* damage types to *all* summoned creatures while the effect is active, but will cause the creatures to go mad if they fail a Wisdom Saving Throw. While you can get this item in Act 1, I would recommend that you start using this probably after you enter Act 3, once you have enough summoned creatures that the madness debuff isn't super debilitating, and possibly only if your summoned creatures really need the durability boost. You can turn the passive effect on and off without consuming an action, so use the  Abyss Beckoners to prevent big AoE damage, and then turn the effect off once enemies have exhausted their spell slots. Ghouls and Flying Ghouls are immune to Madness status. Making this the go-to for Necromancer builds.
  • Location: Zhentarim Hideout, behind a locked door in the back of the cave.

Act 2

•  Circle of Bones provides permanent physical resistance to all nearby allied undead as long as the circlet is equipped. The cast of Raise Undead it provides doesn't benefit from the Necromancer Wizard passive, so I would only use it in a pinch.
  • Location: Looted from Balthazar in either the Gauntlet of Shar or the Mind Flayer Colony.

Conditional or Miscellaneous

The "Conditional or Miscellaneous" part of this guide is reserved for both items and spells that are either temporarily available, or only available to players who make minor but specific choices during their playthrough. As such, these tools will not be available to all players in the same way that previous entries will be.

Act 1

•  Scroll of Summon Quasit or  Find Familiar: Cheeky Quasit summons a unique NPC, Shovel. Spellcasters can gain access to this spell permanently once per Short Rest by choosing the right dialogue options.

•  Find Familiar:Scratch if you have Scratch in your camp. I think you may need to speak with him using  Speak with Animals at least once.

Act 2

•  Flesh only works in the Gauntlet of Shar, and seemingly only if Balthazar is alive.
  • Location: Balthazar will loan Flesh to you in the Guantlet of Shar if you pass a persuasion check.
•  Summon Us can only be obtained after the point of no return in Act 2 if Us was freed during the prologue and once again in the Mind Flayer Colony. Summons Us as an intellect devourer NPC.
  • Location: The Mind Flayer Colony at the end of Act 2.

Act 3

•  Staff of Cherished Necromancy
  • Only works with Necromancy spells, but allows you to potentially cast Raise Dead without consuming a spell slot. Almost certainly better with other Necromancy spells, but this is a list for summoning so I get to mention the summoning synergy.

•  Find Familiar: Boo can be used by Minsc only.

•  Danse Macabre can be learned in Act 3 only if you followed the  Necromancy of Thay questline starting in Act 1. This spell requires a minimum of a level 5 spell slot.
•  Sights of the Seelie: Summon Deva can only be learned in Act 3 by a single wizard character that has scribed the  Scroll of Bestial Communion found in the Sorcerous Vault. This spell requires a level 6 spell slot.

Summoning Spells or Cantrips

Organized by minimum spell slot required to cast spell under normal conditions. Scrolls exist for some summoning spells.

Spell Slot Level 1

•  Mage Hand is a Cantrip that can be learned natively by every spellcaster save for Clerics.

•  Find Familiar is a  Ritual spell.

Spell Slot Level 2

•  Flaming Sphere can be learned by a  Druid,  Wizard, or Light Domain  Cleric at class level 3, and can by learned by an Arcane Trickster  Rogue or Eldritch Knight  Fighter at class level 8. Requires Concentration.
•  Spiritual Weapon

Spell Slot Level 3

•  Animate Dead can be learned by a  Wizard,  Cleric,  Circle of the Spores Druid, or Pact of the Tome  Warlock.
  • A  Necromancy School Wizard will automatically gain  Animate Dead at class level 6, even if they learned it previously at class level 5.

Spell Slot Level 4

•  Conjure Minor Elemental can be learned by a  Wizard or a  Druid.

•  Conjure Woodland Being can be learned by a  Druid.

•  Guardian of Faith can be learned by a Cleric.
  •  Globe of Invulnerability can be used to prevent the automatic loss of hit points that occurs when the  Guardian of Faith lands an attack.

Spell Slot Level 5

•  Conjure Elemental can be learned by a  Wizard or  Druid starting at class level 9, as well as by a  Bard or  Warlock through Magical Secrets and Minions of Chaos respectively.

Spell Slot Level 6

•  Create Undead can be learned by a  Cleric,  Warlock, or  Wizard.

•  Planar Ally can be learned by a  Cleric.

Miscellaneous

•  Fungal Infestation is learned automatically by  Circle of the Spores Druid at class level 6, and can be used as a reaction up to four times per Long Rest. Does not require or consume spell slots.
•  Control Undead is learned automatically by  Oathbreaker Paladin at class level 3, and costs an action as well as a Channel Oath Charge. Does not require or consume spell slots.