Combat summons

In contrast with ritual summon spells, temporary combat summoning spells are combat spells that summon temporary units for the duration of the battle. Battle summons generally cost many fewer gems than equivalent combat strength in ritual summons; this is balanced by their generally costing a great deal of fatigue for the mages who cast them.

Like province defense, temporary combat summons disappear at the end of combat, and cannot be turned into permanent units by spells like Charm.

Fire

Spell	Units	Description
Summon Lesser Fire Elemental Conjuration 3 1 1 Combat	Fire Elementalx1	Fire Elementals are Ethereal bags of HP that do decent amounts of Fire Damage to entire squares in melee range. They project a Heat Aura that dampens incoming traffic, and they also have a Fire Shield that punishes enemies who reach it. Last but not least, they do better in Heat Scales and worse in Cold Scales. This one technically has 24 HP, and it's the default use of Fire Gems for your off-script 1 & 2 Mages.
Summon Fire Elemental Conjuration 5 3 1 Combat	Fire Elementalx1	Technically this thing has 75 HP. It's also the default use of Fire Gems for your mages with three levels of Fire beneath their attributes, once they go off-script.
Will o' the Wisp Conjuration 5 2 1 combat	Will o' the Wispx2	Size 1 Ethereal Floaters with a decent amount of power behind their attacks. Fragile but with very high stats, they do well against enemy chaff in groups.
Living Fire Conjuration 7 4 2 Combat	Fire Elementalx4+	The "Living" spells summon a group of Size 4 fire elementals. This is generally better than creating one large Elemental, especially if your Summoner is above the minimum path requirement. On the other hand, the power difference between Size 6 Elementals and Size 4 Elementals is pretty great, and giving 1 Gem to four Level 3 Mages is generally better if you can do it.

Air

Spell	Units	Description
Summon Lesser Air Elemental Conjuration 3 1 1 Combat	Air Elementalx1	Elementals SHRINK instead of dying when their HP is depleted, making them weaker but keeping them alive; Lesser Elementals are Size 3, and can therefore do this twice. Air Elementals have the dangerous combination of Ethereal, Flying, and Trampling, allowing them to scramble enemy ranks; at Size 3, though, they won't do much damage against armored humans. Air Elementals electrocute enemies that are too big to trample, hitting a single target at a time in melee.
Summon Air Elemental Conjuration 5 3 1 Combat	Air Elementalx1	This spell summons a Size 6 Fire Elemental, which can SHRINK instead of dying 5 times. This is an excellent mid-game use for Air Gems, as the Size 6 elementals can trample most targets for heavy damage. They're also very hard to hit in a storm, with their Storm Power bringing their Defense up to 20.
Living Clouds Conjuration 7 4 2 Combat	Air Elementalx4	The "Living" spells Summon a group of Size 4 Elementals; they can each SHRINK instead of dying 3 times. This is generally better than creating one large Elemental, especially if your Summoner is above the minimum path requirement. On the other hand, the power difference between Size 6 Elementals and Size 4 Elementals is pretty great, and giving 1 Gem to four Level 3 Mages is generally better if you can do it. Still, you might find an enemy Size 4+ Supercombatant who doesn't have Shock Resistance, and a bunch of Size 4 Air Elementals may make quick work of it.
Phantasmal Warrior Alteration 2 1 Combat	Phantasmal Warrior	Temporary battle summon; extremely weak chaff. Their ethereal nature gives them a bit more longevity than standard troops in some circumstances, but each of their attacks require the target failing an MR check on top of failing a Defense roll in order to deal damage.
Ghost Wolves Alteration 3 3 Combat	Phantasmal Wolf	Temporary battle summon; extremely weak chaff. Their ethereal nature gives them a bit more longevity than standard troops in some circumstances.
Phantasmal Army Alteration 5 4 1 Combat	Phantasmal Warriorx25 + [5/lv]	Temporary battle summon; extremely weak chaff. This spends a gem to produce a great many of these; they can hold a line or a castle gate against mundane attackers for a while, but die in droves to things with magic weapons, particularly ones that are AoE. Their ethereal nature gives them a bit more longevity than standard troops in some circumstances.
False Horror Alteration 6 3 Combat	False Horrorx1	Like Phantasmal Warriors but spooky. Generally if you are at alt6 you have better things to do with 3 mages.

Water

Spell	Units	Description
Summon Lesser Water Elemental Conjuration 3 1 1 Combat	Water Elementalx1	Elementals SHRINK instead of dying when their HP is depleted, making them weaker but keeping them alive; Lesser Elementals are Size 3, and can therefore do this twice. Water Elementals take only half damage from most non-magical strikes, and their attacks are physical but Armor-Piercing. They also Regenerate lost HP, but only Underwater. If summoned in Cold Scales, a Water Elemental is instead an Ice Elemental, which has its Physical Resistances exchanged for standard Protection that gets better in Cold and its Armor-Piercing attacks downgraded in exchange for the ability to Trample. At Size 3, you may want to save your Gems, regardless of Temperature.
School of Sharks Conjuration 4 2 1 Ritual Underwater Only	Small Sharkx10+[2 lv]	Underwater Summons Animal Summons
Summon Water Elemental Conjuration 5 3 1 Combat	Water Elementalx1	This spell summons a Size 6 Fire Elemental, which can SHRINK instead of dying 5 times. Full-sized Water Elementals are the kings of underwater combat, thanks to their Regeneration and their four high-damage AP attacks. They are also useful above-ground, able to beat up most things. The Size 6 Water Elemental might even flatten more in a single burst of attacks than its Icy counterpart can flatten in a turn! The Ice Elemental might be tougher, though.
Shark Attack Conjuration 6 3 3 Combat Underwater Only	Small Sharkx	Underwater Summons
Living Water Conjuration 7 4 2 combat	Water Elementalx4	Sometimes used for raiding.

Earth

Spell	Units	Description
Summon Lesser Earth Elemental Conjuration 3 1 1 Combate	Earth Elementalx1	Elementals
Summon Earth Elemental Conjuration 5 3 1 Combate	Earth Elementalx1	Elementals
Living Earth Conjuration 7 4 2 Combat	Earth Elementalx4	Elementals

Astral

There are no generic Astral combat summoning spells.

Nature

Spell	Units	Description
Howl Conjuration 5 3 3	Wolf	A battle enchantment that frequently summons wolves from the corners of the map. Wolves are weak units, but can be very distracting for enemy archers and mages.

Swarm Alteration 4 1 1	Swarm bug (Large Spider, Frog, Giant Scorpion, Dragonfly, Large Beetle, etc.) x 20 + 2	Swarm Summons a large number of size 1 insects and animals. Most of these tiny creatures generally have sting attacks, which are armor piercing attacks capped to 1 damage that inflict an additional 5 armor negating poison damage if they roll high enough to pierce protection. A few have flying. Most bugs have decent poison resistance, making these spells combine well with Foul Vapors.
Creeping Doom Alteration 7 3 1	Swarm bug (Large Spider, Frog, Giant Scorpion, Dragonfly, Large Beetle, etc.) x 70 + 5

Death

Spell	Units	Description
Summon Lammashtas Conjuration 4 2 1 May use underwater	Lammashtax2	Summons powerful flying units with Ethereal, fear, high invulnerability, a life stealing wraith sword, and good stats. The catch is that they are independent and will attack your own forces as well as the enemy.
Animate Skeleton Enchantment 1 1 May use underwater	Longdeadx1	Summons a single longdead for 30 fatigue.
Animate Dead Enchantment 1 1 May use underwater	Soultrap GhostX1	Summons a single soulless for 20 fatigue.
Raise Skeletons Enchantment 3 2 May use underwater	Longdeadx3	Lower research version of Horde of Skeletons producing fewer skeletons with the same path requirement and fatigue costs.
Raise Dead Enchantment 4 2 May use underwater	Soultrap GhostX10+2	Raises a large number of soulless if there are corpses available in the province; produces more units than Horde of Skeletons (and each has more hit points), balanced by soulless having perhaps the worst combat stats of any unit in the game.
Horde of Skeletons Enchantment 5 2 May use underwater	Longdeadx5+1/2	The signature spell of death mages, raises several undead for a modest fatigue cost. Can be used with a communion to flood the battlefield with longdead.

Cross Fire & Death

Spell	Units	Description
Corpse Candle Conjuration 5 11 1 Combat	Corpse Candlex3	Size 1 battle summon with extremely high attack/defense stats, blindfighter and an attack that inflicts Decay, but only a few hit points.

Blood

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Shadow Imp Blood 1 1 1 Ritual	Shadow Impx1	descrip
Summon Imp Blood 1 1 1 Combat	Impx5	descrip
Bind Spine Devil Blood 2 2 3 Ritual	Spine Devilx1	descrip
Bind Fiend Blood 2 2 5 Ritual	Fiend of Darknessx1	descrip
Bind Serpent Fiend Blood 4 1 2 Ritual	Serpent Fiendx1	descrip
Horde From Hell Blood 5 4 44 Ritual	Devilx1 Devilx1 Impx25	descrip
Bind Succubus Blood 5 4 66 Ritual	Succubusx1	descrip
Ritual of Five Gates Blood 6 5 39 Ritual	Devilx1 Frost Fiendx1 Storm Demonx1 Demon Knightx1	descrip
Plague of Locusts Blood 7 5 88 Ritual	Demonic Locustx1	descrip
Bind Heliophagus Blood 8 5 111 Ritual Unique	Mastema - Heliophagusx1 Amaimon - Heliophagusx1 Gorilon - Heliophagusx1 Mabakiel - Heliophagusx1	descrip
Forces of Darkness Blood 9 6 50 Ritual	Fiend of Darknessx14+	descrip
Bind Demon Lord Blood 9 8 150 Ritual Unique	Pazuzu - Lord of the Plague Windx1 Belphegor - Lord of Hellx1 Belial - Lord of Corruptionx1 Buer - Goat Sunx1 Geryon - Monster of Fraudx1 Ashmedai - Prince of Lustx1	descrip

Cross Blood & Fire

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Fiery Imp Blood 1 11 6 Ritual	Fiery Impx5+1/2	descrip
Bind Devil Blood 3 22 7 Ritual	Devilx1	descrip
Bind Arch Devil Blood 7 42 99 Ritual	Buriol - Arch Devilx1 Ethanim - Arch Devilx1 Furcas - Arch Devilx1 Magoth - Arch Devilx1 Igarak - Arch Devilx1	descrip
Infernal Forces Blood 9 52 50 Ritual	Devilx7+ Impx20	descrip

Cross Blood & Air

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Storm Demon Blood 4 22 10 Ritual	Storm Demonx1	descrip
Infernal Tempest Blood 9 52 50 Ritual	Storm Demonx7+	descrip

Cross Blood & Water

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Frost Fiend Blood 3 22 8 Ritual	Frost Fiendx1	descrip
Bind Ice Devil Blood 6 33 88 Ritual Unique	Nycafor - Ice Devil Oriax - Ice Devilx1 Gaap - Ice Devilx1 Bifrons - Ice Devilx1 Cimejes - Ice Devilx1 Bune - Ice Devilx1	descrip
Forces of Ice Blood 9 52 50 Ritual	Frost Fiendx8+	descrip

Cross Blood & Earth

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Demon Knight Blood 5 22 15 Ritual	Demon Knightx1	descrip
Summon Illearth Blood 5 22 2 Combate	Illearthx1	descrip
Father Illearth Blood 6 33 105 Ritual Unique	Pedoseion - Father Illearthx1	descrip
Infernal Crusade Blood 9 52 50 Ritual	Demon Knightx10+	descrip

Cross Blood & Nature

Spell	Units	Description
Cross Breeding Blood 3 11 15 Ritual	Cross breedingx20+	descrip
Awaken Dark Vines Blood 5 13 12 Ritual	Dark Vinesx2	descrip
Improved Cross Breeding Blood 8 22 20 Ritual	Cross breedingx40+3	descrip

Cross Blood & Death

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Bone Fiends Blood 2 11 5 Ritual	Bone Fiendx5+1/2	descrip
Blood Rite Blood 7 22 11 Ritual	Vampirex1	descrip
Curse of Blood Blood 7 34 77 Ritual	Vampire Lordx1	descrip

Cross Fire & Earth

Spell	Units	Description
Bind Scorpion Beast Conjuration 3 11 2 Ritual	Scorpion Beastx1	descrip
Iron Dragon Construction 9 42 30 Ritual	Iron Dragonx1	Durable fire-breathing unit with full elemental resistances, trample, fear, and a fire breath attack. mindless and thus immune to spells like soul slay, but the low MR for a late game summon means it will be targeted by spells like Disintegrate.
Terracotta Army Enchantment 4 11 10 Ritual	Terracotta Soldierx10+	descrip

Cross Air & Earth

Spell	Units	Description
Watcher Enchantment 5 31 5 Ritual May cast underwater	Watcherx1	Durable immobile unit with a high damage lightning attack and very high Patrol bonus. A unit with magic leadership must lead this for its patrol bonus to be used.
Enliven Gargoyles Enchantment 9 31 10 Ritual May cast underwater	Gargoylex5+1/2	descrip

Cross Earth & Astral

Spell	Units	Description
Golem Construction Construction 7 32 30 Ritual May cast underwater	Golemx1	descrip

Dominions 5 Wiki

Table of Contents

Combat summons

Fire