Best Spirit Summons in Elden Ring

With the power of the Spirit Calling Bell given to you by “Renna” near the beginning of Elden Ring (or in the Roundtable Hold if you missed her), you can call up the restless spirits of fallen warriors and beasts from their ashes to aid you in battle. These AI-controlled buddies can only be summoned during big encounters like boss fights, but they can be absolutely invaluable in supporting you. There are lots of summon options to choose from, but here are some of the best Spirit Summons in Elden Ring.

Best Spirit Summons in Elden Ring

The Spirit Summon you get the most use out of will depend heavily on your playstyle and where you choose to allocate your resources, but there are three in particular that I think are worth highlighting:

• Skeletal Militiamen
• Mimic Tear
• Black Knife Tiche

Skeletal Militiamen

The Skeletal Militiamen are a duo of skeletons wielding long spears. While not the strongest Summon in the game, they are a fantastic Summon for early game encounters, making them worth mentioning.

The cool thing about the Skeletal Militiamen is that, like the skeleton enemies you encounter in crypts sometimes, they are able to resurrect themselves. If their health bars are emptied, they’ll get back up in a few moments with full health. As long as their central cores aren’t destroyed they can get back up infinitely. With a little coordination, they can keep enemy attention away from you, and then you can keep it off them while they’re resurrecting.

Mimic Tear

When it comes to allies, few are as good as a second Tarnished by your side. If there aren’t any players available, though, the Mimic Tear is the next best thing. When summoned, the Mimic Tear will duplicate your character right down to your equipment, effectively giving you a fully-capable shadow of yourself with the same basic stats. It can even heal itself!

The Mimic Tear was unfortunately nerfed in the 1.03 patch, but it’s still a great workhorse summon, especially if your combat strategy revolves around the use of particular weapons or spells. Just remember to have the right stuff equipped when you summon it.

Black Knife Tiche

For one-on-one fights, it doesn’t get any better than Black Knife Tiche. Tiche zips around the battlefield, letting loose wide slashes and lunging stab attacks. These are plenty powerful in their own right, but the best part is when she uses her slashing wave attack. This attack launches an edged projectile at enemies that not only deals major damage but inflicts them with a damage-over-time effect that swiftly burns off large chunks of health.

Tiche is an excellent choice for any single-combatant boss fight, especially since her fancy footwork can draw enemy aggro without getting her killed too quickly. She’s a little weak against AoE attacks, though, so keep that in mind.

For more related best-of lists and guides, check out our Elden Ring section!