TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Skill Secrets       9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning            9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Understanding, Using and Benefiting From Familiars                 9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Familiar Analysis, Reference and Rankings

Familiar Quick Reference Guide TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Detailed Familiar Descriptions

You can get a pretty good idea of how I feel about all of the Summoning familiars by looking at their Overall Rating scores in the quick reference guide. Still, I thought that, by way of summary, I’d rank them all from best to worst here, giving you a quick synopsis of how I feel about each one.

Of the ten familiars covered in this guide so far, there are four that I like:

1. Granite Crab: It independently catches fish while you also fish or do something else like alching. The fish it catches give you bonus Fishing XP, which you can also cook for Cooking XP, and then eat during or after combat. The crab even catches seaweed for Crafting, forages iron ore for Smithing, and finds caskets. It is not great in combat, but at least has a decent number of HP, unlike most familiars. And to top it all off, it’s one of the more efficient ways for new players to train Summoning, so you probably have a bunch of the pouches anyway.
   
   
2. Albino Rat: Its special move ability to generate cheese is extremely underrated: it allows you to get 900 of these useful cooking ingredients per hour, along with Summoning XP, or you can use the ability in combat to get food on demand. It is also passable in combat, at least for its level.
   
   
3. Spirit Spider: This familiar requires a Summoning level of only 10, making it easily accessible to even very low-level players, yet can be used to generate large quantities of a very useful Herblore ingredient: red spiders’ eggs. It also represents an excellent way for new players to make money.
   
   
4. Compost Mound: This is the ultimate “farmer’s friend”, providing a boost to that skill while generating large amounts of compost cheaply, along with occasionally creating supercompost and foraging seeds. While I don’t personally recommend using regular compost, lower-level players can get by with it or sell it, and the farming boost is helpful. On top of that, this is the only familiar with a Summoning level below 30 that can do a decent amount of damage in a fight, with a maximum hit of 6.

After this, things go downhill rapidly; the remaining six familiars range from unspectacular to flat out disappointing. Here’s the rest, from best to worst:

5. Thorny Snail: This familiar is a beast of burden, but it carries only one item which makes it not worth the bother. It is anemic in combat, and dies easily with only 12 HP, but is redeemed by its special move that can do up to 8 damage from a distance, making it useful to players who want to engage unaggressive monsters without running after them.
   
   
6. Spirit Kalphite: It looks cool, has a two-item beast of burden capability, and is pretty decent in combat for its level. Unfortunately it is expensive to use (since it requires a blue charm to make its pouch or scrolls) and its special move is not worthwhile.
   
   
7. Dreadfowl: Only level 4 so I didn’t expect much, and I got what I expected. J It does have a useful special move that is similar to that of the thorny snail, only it maxes out at 3 HP instead of 8 HP. It can also provide a 1 point Farming boost.
   
   
8. Spirit Scorpion: No non-combat abilities whatsoever, and a special move that is effectively worthless. To add insult to injury, it’s a crimson charm familiar. It is saved from an even lower score only by its 25 HP, which at least keeps it alive a bit longer in combat than some other followers.
   
   
9. Desert Wyrm: Provides an invisible Mining boost that, appropriately enough, gives no visible benefits; mines iron ore for you in a way that takes more time than doing it yourself. Inept in combat, and has a “stun” special move that doesn’t stun anything.
   
   
10. Spirit Wolf: Provides no non-combat features, and not only is hopeless in a fight, it randomly pushes the monster away from you, making killing it actually take longer than if it weren’t around. Oh, and it dies if the monster so much as looks at it the wrong way.

Familiar Quick Reference Guide TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Detailed Familiar Descriptions