It might seem like we’re just overflowing with ideas for articles but sometimes we writers either can’t think of a good topic or have writer’s block on a certain topic at the time so we need another one. Recently I was out of ideas and got a suggestion from a regular reader, Spoc77. He suggested I do an article about Summoning, so here I am.

Some people don’t like Summoning because it’s ‘too hard’, ‘too long’, or ‘just to dang annoying’ to train. I find it fairly easy, albeit either expensive or tedious to get some ingredients. This article however isn’t about training Summoning(that’s another article 😉 ). Today we’re here to talk about 10 familiars which I think are quite useful.

Skill Helpers

These three all help expedite the training of skills.

Spirit Kyatt
Almost invaluable when training Summoning after level 57, the Spirit Kyatt is not only a pretty good ally in combat but can also teleport its summoner to the Piscatoris Hunter area. This teleport lands very close to the Piscatoris Summoning obelisk. When combined with a ring of dueling this makes for an extremely fast way to get to a Summoning obelisk and then to a bank by teleporting to Castle Wars, getting your materials, teleporting with the Kyatt and then going to the obelisk and making the pouches and teleporting back to Castle Wars.. Aside from the teleport it also gives an invisible +5 boost to the Hunter skill. When called directly into combat it’s first attack can do 3 times normal damage(Its normal max damage is 10, its Pounce/Ambush max is 30).

Granite Lobster
Perhaps not the most useful familiar in this list, the Granite Lobster is still quite useful for fishers as it gives an invisible +4 fishing levels and can forage for swordfish and sharks while its summoner is fishing. The summoner receives 10% xp for each fish the lobster catches and the fish are stored in the lobster’s inventory. When the summoner banks they can empty their lobster’s inventory to allow it to continue to fish. It can also fight as a level 129 NPC with 418 hitpoints and a max hit of 14 giving defence experience.

Spirit Terrorbird
Definitely a widely used familiar, the Spirit Terrorbird’s special attack Tireless run gives the summoner 1% of run energy for every 2 levels of their agility and gives a +2 boost to agility. This allows players to continually run for very long periods of time. It’s also widely used for its 12 inventory spaces as a beast of burden because it’s fairly cheap to make and requires a relatively low summoning level(52). It can fight as a level 62 with 233 hitpoints and gives controlled experience.

Beasts of Burdens

These two familiars are mostly used for storing items when one must be away from a bank for awhile.

War Tortoise
Mostly just a beast of burden, the War Tortoise can carry 18 items and lasts for 43 minutes. It’s a decent mid level familiar (67) that can also fight well being level 86 with 348 hitpoints that fights controlled. It’s special attacks boosts the summoner’s defence by 8, but does not stack with other defence boosting items.

Pack Yak
Unquestionably one of the most useful familiars, the Pack Yak is the best Beast of Burden being able to hold 30 items. It’s special scroll ability, Winter Storage, will bank the selected item instantly. Since the Yak can stay around for nearly an hour (58 minutes) it makes for a very useful familiar to have when fighting creatures that drop alot of stuff and are near a summoning obelisk. When forced into fighting it fights as a level 175 with 710 hitpoints and a max hit of 18.

Combat

These two gives hefty bonuses in combat, which is the primary reason why they’re used(although they do deal decent damage also).

Steel Titan
A steel construct, this familiar gives a 15% boost to your stab, slash, and crush defences continuously while it’s summoned. It’s level 230 with 750 hitpoints a max hit of 24, as well as a four hit special scroll ability able to hit a total max of 96!

Fire Titan
Not the most dangerous titan but still a hot one, the Fire Titan primarily for it’s special scroll ability Titan’s Constitution which temporarily increases the summoner’s defence by 12.5% and their hitpoints by 8(which can be 8 of max if cast at max hitpoints). At level 139 combat with 476 hitpoints and a max hit of 15, it’s a decent comrade for multi-combat.

Aid

These three are invaluable in certain circumstances.

Fruit Bat
Seemingly useless, the Fruit Bat is widely used when healing is continuously required but can be used in small amounts. Its special attack, Fruitfall drops up to 8 fruits ranging from Oranges and limes up to coconuts and watermelons, though papayas are common. The fruits fall on the ground thus requiring the summoner to have a few inventory spots. Because the special ability only requires 6 special points this makes for a fairly god way to get continuous food. When on Karamja the bat can ‘fly’ for free which is almost the same as using fruitfall except that the fruit go in its inventory instead of on the ground. The bat also enhances light and stays around for 45 minutes, making it a decent familiar.

Unicorn Stallion
Living up to its mythical legend, the Unicorn Stallion has the innate ability to cure all poison and disease, making it very useful in certain situations. Its scroll ability, Healing Aura, heals up to 15% of the summoner’s hitpoints. For someone with 99 hitpoints that’d be about 15 hitpoints which is almost equal to a monkfish, however since the scrolls stack it’s almost infinite healing (aside from the special bar of course). The Unicorn stallion is only level 70 combat with 100 hitpoints and a max hit of 8, so it’s not always best for it to fight.

Bunyip
Arguably the most useful familiar, the Bunyip heals 2 hitpoints about every 15 seconds. That means it heals 8 hitpoints every minute for a total of 352 hitpoints. That’s the equivalent of 17.6 sharks or 22 monkfish. Granted that’s over 44 minutes, but considering you may want to or need to have other stuff in your inventory the hitpoints healed by the bunyip can easily compensate for lost food in the right conditions. It’s special scroll ability, Swallow Whole, is very useful when fighting creatures that drop raw fish often as it allows the summoner to eat the fish raw if they have the required cooking level. The Bunyip can also turn raw fish into water runes. This can be useful when powerfishing as it allows you to turn usually useless fish into sellable water runes.

Ofcourse like I always say, the equipment you use (in this case, the familiar you use) all depends on what situation you’re in. With good planning your familiar can be very valuable.