Best Summons in RLCraft: What to Know Before You Choose

RLCraft transforms vanilla Minecraft into one of the most punishing modpacks ever created. Among its many added systems, the summoning mechanic — powered by the Lycanites Mobs mod — gives players the ability to call creatures into battle as personal minions. Choosing the right summon can mean the difference between surviving a dungeon and getting eviscerated in seconds. But "best" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, because what works for one player's build and playstyle can be completely wrong for another.

How Summoning Works in RLCraft

Summoning in RLCraft is handled primarily through the Lycanites Mobs system. You use Summoning Staffs combined with Soulstones to bind creatures you've encountered in the world. Once bound, those creatures can be summoned as pets or minions that fight alongside you.

There are two main categories to understand:

• Pets — Persistent companions that follow you and act more independently
• Minions — Summoned via specific staffs, often temporary, and controlled through commands

Your ability to summon and maintain creatures is tied to your Level, your Summoning Level (a skill in the Baubley Heart Canisters / Levelz system), and the Soulstone quality you use (Lesser, Regular, Greater, Legendary).

The higher your Summoning skill, the more powerful and numerous the creatures you can maintain simultaneously.

The Most Commonly Valued Summons

Rather than a single definitive winner, experienced RLCraft players tend to gravitate toward a handful of creatures depending on what they need:

🔥 Amalgalich

Often cited as one of the strongest endgame summons, Amalgalich is a powerful demon-type creature from Lycanites. It deals high damage, has significant health, and applies threatening effects to enemies. It requires considerable progression to access and bind reliably, making it a late-game option rather than something you'll lean on early.

Concavenator

Concavenator is a dinosaur-type mob that many players rate highly for general combat support. It's more accessible than some endgame demons, hits hard in melee range, and holds aggro well — useful when you want a summon that draws fire while you deal damage from a safer position.

Raiko

Raiko is a flying mount and summon hybrid that provides both aerial mobility and combat utility. For players who invest in flying and ranged builds, Raiko's speed and aerial positioning make it a strong pick in situations where staying grounded is dangerous.

Ioray

Ioray functions as both a mount and a summon, useful in aquatic environments and certain dungeon configurations. Players who spend time in water biomes or need reliable underwater mobility tend to keep one bound at all times.

Tremor / Gorgomite

These creatures show up frequently in discussions around early-to-mid game summoning. They're easier to encounter and bind early on, provide decent crowd control or damage, and help bridge the gap while you grind toward more powerful options.

Variables That Determine Which Summon Is Actually Best for You

This is where individual situations diverge sharply.

A player still gearing up with basic armor running a sword-and-board style has completely different summoning needs than someone fully decked in Tide Guardian or Dragon armor running a ranged enchantment build. The summon that carries you through your first dungeon won't necessarily be the one you want when you're fighting bosses like Rahovart or Asmodeus.

🗡️ Endgame vs. Early Game Summoning

This distinction is worth calling out explicitly.

Early game summoning is largely about availability. You bind what you can find, prioritize creatures that are easier to encounter, and use summoning as supplemental support — not your primary damage source.

Endgame summoning opens up access to powerful demon-class and ancient-class creatures that dramatically change combat. Amalgalich and similar endgame summons can serve as genuine front-line fighters, not just distractions.

The jump between these two phases is steep. Many players underestimate how much Summoning Level and Soulstone quality affect a creature's real-world performance. A Legendary Soulstone version of a good creature will substantially outperform a Lesser Soulstone version of the same one.

The Role of Your Build 🛡️

RLCraft's skill system (via Levelz) means your character development choices directly shape summoning viability. Players who haven't invested in Summoning as a skill will find their summons die quickly and deal minimal damage regardless of which creature they're using.

If summoning is central to your strategy, your skill point allocation has to reflect that from the start. Players who spread points too thin across combat, mining, and crafting skills often find their summons feel underwhelming — not because the summons are bad, but because the underlying stats don't support them.

Conversely, a dedicated summoner build that stacks Summoning levels early and acquires quality Soulstones can make creatures like Concavenator and Amalgalich carry fights that would otherwise be brutal.

What "Best" Actually Depends On

The honest answer is that no single summon is universally best across all RLCraft contexts. Amalgalich is widely considered the strongest pure combat summon at endgame, but it's inaccessible to most early and mid-game players. Raiko is exceptional for exploration but limited in tight underground spaces. Tremor-type creatures punch above their weight early but fall off later.

Where you are in your run, how you've allocated skills, what Soulstone quality you've managed to acquire, and what you're actually trying to accomplish in a given session — those are the real determining factors that no tier list can fully account for for your specific situation.