The Elemental Royalty are personifications of fire, air, water and earth and the pinnacle of elemental magic available to every nation. The Royalty consist of three unique summons for each element. Like other unique summons, their respective spells will do nothing if all of them are currently summoned, but when killed they are made available for any player to summon again. They also retain any experience they have gained over the course of the game when resummoned.

Most of the Elemental Royalty have 5 in their respective magic path and make powerful ritual/battlefield casters. They can be useful as heavy thugs and supercombatants, but players who know how to counter thugs and supercombatants can very quickly make your 50 gem investment disappear! Conversely, with sufficient protection from single-target spells like Soul Slay, the Elemental Royalty can be made very difficult to kill as part of a larger army and are eminently suitable for casting the big buffs and army killers that dominate the late game. Consider using them to lay down battlefield wipes (Fire Storm, Wrathful Skies) and big army-wide buffs (Fog Warriors, Army of Gold/Army of Lead) to unlock the full potential of your late-game armies.

Due to their high paths, Elemental Royalty are one of the few ways to boost to high-path elemental rituals and globals outside of pretenders. However, their substantial cost makes availability heavily dependent on gem income, meaning that you may not be able to rely on them as boosters in the Late Ages where gems are much more scarce.

The two uncorrupted Fire Kings are summoned with King of Elemental Fire, a Conjuration 8 5 spell for 50. They are characterized by their huge fire shield and heat aura, which somewhat offset their general squishiness. Their signature move is to nuke the battlefield with Fire Storm, a spell which can destroy entire armies if your opponents come unprepared. The Fire Kings are perhaps the least versatile kind of Elemental Royalty, lacking the mobility of air and the durability of earth, focusing instead on pure evocation power. All the same, fire gems are not usually in high demand once you have made all the Lightless Lanterns you need, and a big fire caster isn't the worst way to dump 50. Just make sure to keep them far away from any units or commanders who you do not want to catch fire!

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Pyriphlogos - King of Flames	5 Fire Resistance (69) Poison Resistance (15) Darkvision (100%) Heat Aura (15) Fire Shield (20) Fire Power (2) Underwater Damage (100) Summon Allies: Fire Elemental×1 Unique Magic Being Ethereal Need not Eat Spirit Sight	Although Pyriphlogos is ethereal, becomes more powerful in heat scales, and has a very nice amount of fire resistance, he is still pretty squishy and it takes a lot of gear to make him suitable for killing armies solo. Consider using Pyriphlogos as a big army caster rather than sending him out on his own. He is incidentally the only King of Elemental Fire that cannot go underwater without taking a tremendous amount of damage, not that fire magic is particularly useful underwater.
	Rhuax - King of Magma	51 Fire Resistance (34) Poison Resistance (15) Heat Aura (15) Fire Shield (17) Fire Power (1) Summon Allies: Magma Child×1 Unique Magic Being Need not Eat Spirit Sight	Rhuax is not ethereal, but the minor earth magic he gains instead more than makes up for it. The single earth path makes Rhuax much more capable as a solo operator than Pyriphlogos, allowing him to cast survivability buffs before he drops Fire Storm and simply exists as everything around him burns to death. His children have been seen dancing in the caves of Agartha.

Of the three original Kings of Elemental Fire, Catharsis was corrupted by the King of the Underworld and now serves as the Underworld's night-light when he isn't being summoned to participate in the Ascension War. Antrax, as he is now called, is summoned with King of Banefires, a Conjuration 8 34 spell for 50. He supplements high fire with moderate death, as well as a nifty banefire shield and fear. Death gems tend to be more valuable than fire gems, however, so consider what you are foregoing to drop 50 on Catharsis.

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Antrax - King of Banefires	43 Fire Resistance (32) Poison Resistance (25) Heat Aura (9) Banefire Shield (15) Fear (8) Unique Undead Magic Being Ethereal Need not Eat Spirit Sight	The crosspath notably gives Antrax the Soul Vortex-Phoenix Pyre combo, which when combined with Fire Storm can absolutely delete armies that are not prepared for him.

The Air Queens are summoned with Queen of Elemental Air, a Conjuration 8 5 spell for 50. They are the most strategically flexible Elemental Royalty, being able to magic phase with Cloud Trapeze in addition to having ludicrous flying map move. Air itself is an exceptional magic path for combat - Mass Flight, Fog Warriors and Wrathful Skies are all very powerful spells that can be difficult to cast without high air access to begin with, and the Air queens can deliver it all in an incredibly mobile package. They can even kill supercombatants with Living Clouds!

The three Air Queens have very similar capabilities and none really stand out from each other, but this is a blessing in disguise. They are all powerful and unpredictable threat vectors to add to your arsenal and are very difficult to trap given their mobility.

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Aella - Queen of Storms	5 Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (24) Storm Power (5) Underwater Damage (100) Summon Allies: Air Elemental×1 Unique Magic Being Ethereal Flying Flies-in-Storms Need not Eat Female Spirit Sight	Air Elementals that can be summoned out of combat are pretty cool but mostly an incidental benefit, as is Storm Power 5. Most of Aella's power comes from being a Queen of Elemental Air.
	Nephele - Queen of Clouds	5 Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (24) Storm Power (3) Underwater Damage (100) Summon Allies: Sylph×1 Unique Magic Being Ethereal Glamour Flying Flies-in-Storms Need not Eat Female Spirit Sight	Glamour is a fantastic ability for such a powerful mage to have, and makes Nephele even more difficult to catch.
	Thuella - Queen of Thunder	5 Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (24) Storm Power (4) Underwater Damage (100) Unique Magic Being Ethereal Flying Flies-in-Storms Need not Eat Female Spirit Sight	The saddest Air Queen, with slightly lower Storm Power than Aella and lacking the glamour of Nephele. Still incredible simply due to being a Queen of Elemental Air.

The Water Queens can only be summoned underwater with Queen of Elemental Water, a Conjuration 8 5 spell for 50. If Water Elementals are the kings of underwater combat, the Queens of Elemental Water take it up to eleven. They have an obscene amount of regeneration underwater (Bathusma can regenerate 59 hitpoints per turn!) but are largely restricted to operating there due to being aquatic and losing their regeneration above water. Nevertheless, their regeneration, suite of physical resistances and recuperation make them very hard to kill and they might be worth considering as a supercombatant for any land nation looking to march on the normally inaccessible underwater realm.

Water magic's applications in combat tend to be less glamorous than fire, air and earth. If you do decide to use a Water Queen as a combat caster rather than a standalone thug/supercombatant, they could cast Wave Warriors or Frost Fend to bestow their resistances upon your armies. Also, do not underestimate the power of just dumping a huge number of Water Elementals with Living Water.

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Bathusma - Queen of the Deeps	5 Cold Resistance (24) Poison Resistance (15) Underwater Regeneration (90%) Summon Allies: Water Elemental×1 Unique Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Magic Being Aquatic Need not Eat Recuperation Female Spirit Sight	Water Elementals that can be summoned out of combat are pretty cool, and Bathusma also has the highest regeneration of all the Water Queens. She is otherwise unremarkable outside of the traits common to her and her sisters.
	Limne - Queen of the Lake	5 Regeneration (50%) Cold Resistance (24) Poison Resistance (15) Waterbreathing (75) Unique Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Magic Being Amphibious Need not Eat Recuperation Female Spirit Sight	Limne is the only Water Queen who is naturally amphibious. She can even bring land troops underwater with her using her Waterbreathing ability! She has the lowest regeneration of her sisters, but hers works above ground as well was underwater.
	Thalassa - Queen of the Sea	5 Cold Resistance (24) Poison Resistance (15) Underwater Regeneration (70%) Summon Allies: Undine×3 Unique Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Magic Being Aquatic Need not Eat Recuperation Female Spirit Sight	Thalassa is Bathusma with worse regeneration.

The two uncorrupted Earth Kings are summoned with King of Elemental Earth, a Conjuration 8 5 spell for 50. They are exceptionally durable, with 130 hitpoints and high natural protection that can be brought even higher with armor, as well as innate regeneration. These traits make them potent turn-timer thugs, especially if their regeneration can be brought even higher with items or point buffs. Alternatively, they make preeminent army buffers and can cast the excellent earth buffs from turn one as well as spam Earthquake when the situation calls for it. Their only weakness is that they are quite slow, not moving much faster than ordinary human light infantry. Since the Earth Kings lack feet, this can only really be remedied with a Flying Carpet.

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Barathrus - King of Deeper Earth	5 Generate gems: 1 per month Regeneration (10%) Poison Resistance (15) Summon Allies: Earth Elemental×1 Unique Poor amphibian Magic Being Need not Eat Stone-Being Spirit Sight	Barathrus has slightly less protection than his brother, but in return generates 1 per month and has twice the regeneration. The gem generation in particular allows him to support armies longer without needing to refuel. His ally summon is also arguably more useful, not that you'll want him to be sitting around summoning allies too much!
	Oreigenes - King of Mountains	5 Regeneration (5%) Poison Resistance (15) Summon Allies: Earth Gnome×3 Unique Poor amphibian Magic Being Need not Eat Stone-Being Spirit Sight	Oreigenes is better protected than his brother, but lacks the gem-gen utility and has lower regeneration. Still, any earth king is a good earth king and he will lay down the big earth spells like nobody's business.

Pedoseion - Father Illearth is a brother of the other Earth Kings who was tainted by sacrificial blood. He is summoned using Father Illearth, a Blood 7 34 spell for 105. Although he is one path lower in earth, he gains three levels in blood. Moderate blood combined with high earth makes Pedoseion a much more flexible caster than his brethren, and 105 can often be amassed far more quickly than 50 for dedicated blood nations.

Image	Name	Abilities	Comments
	Pedoseion - Father Illearth	43 Regeneration (15%) Poison Resistance (15) Fear (5) Summon Allies: Illearth×1 Unique Poor amphibian Magic Being Need not Eat Stone-Being Spirit Sight	4 is still plenty for casting the big earth spells and the earth globals remain well within reach, and 3 opens up some interesting options. At high levels of research he can thug with Damage Reversal, turning the massive damage output of counterthugs against them. He can also cast Rush of Strength and Blood Rain for extra buffing and morale plays.

Dominions 5 Late-game Strategy: Conjuration by Perun, 13:37 onwards