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TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Summoning and Managing Familiars Familiar Summoning, Interaction and Chat

With the introduction of the Summoning skill, Jagex created a new tab for the standard set of controls residing in the lower right-hand rectangle of the screen. There are actually two interfaces that can appear in this spot, which appear similar but have some important differences: one is for Summoning familiars, and the other for pets. Obviously, we’ll be looking at the familiars interface here.

As with most other aspects of this new skill, Jagex provided only a rudimentary explanation of how the interface works. You need to fully understand how it operates to get the most out of your familiars, so read on for all the juicy details. (Okay, interface details are actually a bit boring, but you still need to know them, so read it anyway! J)

The Summoning interface is accessed by clicking the wolf icon that appears in the far lower left corner of the controls area of the screen; it’s right next to the smiley face icon that brings up your friends list. This interface often causes confusion for new users, because unlike all of the other control tabs, it only appears when you actually have a familiar active. If you don’t have a familiar around, you’ll just see a gray space where the button would be.

Note that under some circumstances the Summoning interface button may disappear even when you have a follower active. I’ve noticed that it will temporarily go away when using the special abilities of certain familiars, such as sending a macaw or fruit bat off to fetch items; this is nothing to worry about.

Figure 234 shows a typical picture of the Summoning interface when a familiar is active. Here are the major sections and associated controls, listed roughly from top to bottom:

• Special Move Bar: This bar is the Summoning version of the special attack bar used for combat special attacks. When full, the bar is completely blue; as you use special moves, the blue will drain out from right to left. To see an exact indication of how many special move points you have left (out of the normal total of 60), hover your mouse over the bar. For more on the special move bar, please see the page on that topic later in this section.
  
  Note that unlike the special attack bar, you do not click this bar to activate a special move; you use the special button described below.
  
  
• Picture of Familiar: The bulk of the Summoning interface is taken up by an animated picture of your familiar (usually just its face, actually). This lets you see at a glance what familiar is active.
  
  
• Special Move Activation Button: In the upper left corner of the familiar picture is another Summoning (wolf) icon, which activates the current familiar’s special move. If you have scrolls of the appropriate type in your inventory, this button will be highlighted with a yellow fringe around it, indicating that you can use the familiar’s special move; the number of moves/scrolls you have left will appear just under the icon. If you don’t have any of the right type of scroll, the button will be grayed out.
  
  Hovering your mouse over the button will bring up a display that overlays the bottom half of the interface, showing you key information about the special move: the name of the scroll, its level, the number of special move points required, and a brief description of what it does.
  
  
• Familiar Name: Directly below the familiar’s picture is its name; this is non-interactive.
  
  
• Summoning Points and Familiar Timer Display: Proceeding down the interface, we see two icons with numbers under them. On the left is yet another wolf icon, this time showing you how many Summoning points you have (current/maximum). On the right is an hourglass icon that indicates how many minutes remain in your current familiar’s timer.
  
  See topics later in this section for more on summoning points and managing the familiar timer.
  
  
• Familiar Control Buttons: Last but certainly not least, at the bottom of the interface are three control buttons for managing your familiar. On the left is a button with a whistle icon, which calls your familiar to you; it is used both to bring your familiar to your location when it is stuck, and to prompt it to engage in combat. In the middle is a button with two circular arrows, which is used to renew the current familiar; hover over it to see the number of Summoning points required. And on the right, using the standard international “none of that” symbol, is the button to dismiss your familiar.
  

  Figure 234: The Summoning Familiar Interface

  This image shows what the Summoning interface looks like with a bloated leech familiar active and 10 of its scrolls in my inventory, with all major controls and areas annotated.

  
  

Note that any special move scrolls you may have used to charge a headdress or similar item won’t be shown in the main display, since they can’t be activated manually.

I also want to issue a bit of a warning about the renew familiar button: sometimes it doesn’t seem to register when you click it. I’ve lost many familiars because I quickly clicked that button with less than 30 seconds left, and then found that the game didn’t recognize the click. When renewing a familiar, always be sure to check that the timer has been reset to maximum (renewing also causes the visible circle of rotating blue spiky things to appear around your follower, just like when it is first summoned.)

In addition to the main interface described above, there are a few other controls and displays related to Summoning that you may notice as you use the skill.

First, when Jagex introduced Summoning, it also revamped the minimap display to include four very handy status displays. Located around the right hand of the minimap, these show your current hitpoints, prayer points, run energy and Summoning points; each is indicated by the appropriate icon. It’s unfortunate that Jagex chose to show Summoning points rather than the current level of the familiar timer or special move bar, either of which would have been more useful; even so, the display that’s there may help you remember when you need to recharge your Summoning points.

Another way to check your Summoning points is to open your skills interface. As the newest skill, Summoning is in the bottom right-hand corner.

Finally, I should mention that you’ll occasionally get Summoning-related status updates in your chat box. The most important of these is the pair of messages that warn you when your familiar’s timer is running out and it is about to disappear—you’ll get the first of these with one minute remaining in the timer, and the second when 30 seconds are left. If you’re using a familiar in a busy area, I recommend setting public chat to “Hide” so you don’t miss these notifications (which are easy enough to miss anyway!)

TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Summoning and Managing Familiars Familiar Summoning, Interaction and Chat