Summoning Guide

Summoning - The Basics

Summoning is a members only skill which enables players to summon familiars to help them out in both combat and skilling for a period of time. As you progress through the levels you are able to summon more useful and powerful familiars which generally stay with you for a longer duration. Summoning utilises summoning charms which are dropped by the majority of monsters found in Gielinor however they are untradable so collecting them can be very time consuming.

It is not only charms that are required to make pouches as each pouch requires a pouch, a number of spirit shards and a secondary ingredient to make. Most secondary ingredients are tradable and therefore can be purchased in bulk from other players although this can be quite costly, particularly at higher levels.

The only viable way of training Summoning is through making the familiar pouches as that is where the bulk of the experience is. Players summoning familiars and using their scrolls will receive a small amount of experience but not enough to consider it a means of training the skill. Pouches can be sold to other players to try and recoup some of the cost of training the skill or pouches may be exchanged for shards (70% of the pouch's shard cost) by speaking to Bogrog or Lord Amlodd.

Summoning Aides

There are a number of items in the game that help with Slayer, many of them making it quicker to complete tasks or helping with drops.

In addition to these aides, there are two potions which allow you to restore your Summoning points. These are summoning potions and super restore potions. You can also use obelisks which can be found all over Gielinor to restore your points.

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Getting Started

Players who have completed the Wolf Whistle quest will have at least level 4 in Summoning and will have received enough gold charms to get them to level 18. The table below shows how many of each pouch you need to make to maximise the amount of experience you will gain from the 275 charms rewarded to you. To create the pouch you need to have a blank pouch, some spirit shards, a gold charm and the required secondary in your inventory and then click on the obelisk.

The pouches you have made to get to level 18 can be turned into scrolls by clicking on the obelisk once again and selecting the "scrolls" option however the XP gained from this is minuscule and generally the scrolls are less valuable than the pouches used to create them.

Upon reaching level 18 you should have exhausted all the charms you received from Wolf Whistle and will be in need of some more. The main source of charms is through killing monsters across Gielinor and obtaining them as a drop although it is worth noting that in most cases they are not 100% drops so you will need to work for them. It is also possible to get charms from hunting charm sprites which requires 72 Hunter to do. Finally you can also gain charms from thieving chests in Dorgesh-Kaan.

Gathering Charms

There are four different colour of charms that act as the primary component of creating a pouch, however there are a number of other charms that act as a secondary. The pouches that require both types of charm generally give large amounts of experience but obtaining the secondary charms can be slow.

Below is a table of summoning charms (both primary and secondary) and the best ways to obtain them. This is not a comprehensive list and only lists monsters that have a particularly high drop rate of a certain colour of charm. In most instances monsters that drop one colour of primary charm will drop them all. As a general rule gold are the most common charm drops with blue being the rarest however it depends on what monsters you usually hunt.

Monsters with a number in brackets after their name drop more than one charm at a time.

Summoning Obelisks

Summoning obelisks are where the majority of training takes place as it is where pouches are created. There are currently 7 obelisks located in Gielinor that have enough power to allow players to infuse pouches there. In addition there are a large number a small obelisks across Gielinor where players can recharge their Summoning points. All the obelisks are found as follows:

Familiar Interface

There are two ways in which you can issue commands to your Familiar. The first and most commonly used way is by right-clicking on the Summoning icon on your ability bar which will bring up a menu of commands.

The second method is through the Familiar Interface which can be accessed by right-clicking the Summoning icon in the ability bar and selecting "follower details".

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Summoning Pouches

There are a large number of Summoning pouches that can be created all of which have some benefit when training skills, engaging in combat or even doing treasure trails. This table lists all pouches that can be created and the items needed to create them. For the secondary items hover over the image to see quick information about them and click on them to go to their item database entry.

*Meercats are only obtainable as a reward from treasure trails or by purchasing them from the Grand Exchange.
**Pig familiars are only available after completing the Bringing Home the Bacon quest.
***Ghasts are rewards from the Temple Trekking minigame.

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Familiars & Their Scrolls

Familiars are summoned using pouches. The table below lists familiars, their innate abilities, and their special move activated by the related scroll. The xp for creating a scroll and using a scroll is the same amount in most cases (a small fraction). The initial summoning point cost to activate the familiar is listed, along with the number of minutes it will remain. (Summoning points will continue to drain while it is used.) The bolded words show the familiar's best ability, but carrying abilities are also bolded for convenience.

If a familiar's time expires, it will drop whatever it is carrying on the ground. You get a one minute and a 30 second warning when its time is about to expire.

If your familiar is within two and a half minutes of expiration, you can press the "Renew Familiar" button (if you have another pouch in your inventory) to restore the timer to full. This is especially helpful for beasts of burden.

Using a right-click ability costs some summoning points. If your summoning points get down to zero, the familiar will still function, but you cannot invoke the right-click ability.

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Exchanging Pouches & Scrolls

Instead of selling pouches and scrolls on the Grand Exchange it is possible to exchange them for shards by visiting Bogrog or Lord Amlodd. The amount of shards you get back is 70% of the amount of shards required to make the pouch which is often greater than the hi-alch value of the pouch however it works differently for scrolls. Players who have completed the Hard Tirannwn task set will receive approximately 10% more shards for exchanging with Lord Amlodd.

The table below lists the exchange rates for all pouches and scrolls however some cannot be exchanged due to their secondary ingredients being untradable (these are marked with a *). The level required to exchange the pouches and scrolls is not the same as the level required to make them. The exchange levels are located in parenthesis in the tab headers e.g. "Level 1 to 25 (21 to 35).

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Pets and Followers

Pets are non-combat followers that can be raised by players with the required Summoning level. There are many ways to obtain pets such as obtaining eggs from drops, catching baby animals using the Hunter skill or buying them from the pet shops in Yanille and Taverley.

Most pets start off as babies and require raising into adulthood by having them follow you around and by feeding them. Unlike familiars, pets have little use beyond cosmetic although there are a few exceptions and they are allowed in areas the familiars are not. For more information about pets and followers see our Pet Care guide.

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Summoning Activities

In addition to the traditional means of gaining Summoning experience, there are a few repeatable activities that can help with the training:

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Summoning Tips & Tricks

• The charming imp can be purchased from the rewards trader at Daemonheim for 100,000 Dungeoneering tokens. This imp will automatically collect any charms dropped by monsters you are killing and place them in your inventory. He can also destroy certain charms if you ask him to for a small amount of Summoning XP.
• Crimson and blue charms offer vastly more XP than their gold and green counterparts so try to save them for higher levels. Additionally most pouches made with green charms offer the lowest return on your investment so you may want to skip using them altogether at higher levels.
• There are various areas in Gielinor where Familiars are not welcome however you will be warned if you try to enter such an area with a Familiar or try to summon one there. Certain minigames such as Barrows and Barbarian Assault do not allow Familiars. The Corporeal Beast will eat any Familiars taken into its lair.
• Beasts of Burden cannot carry higher value items, however the Pack Yak Familiar can still send items to a player's bank regardless of their value.
• Exchanging pouches for shards is a good way to recoup some money on some of the harder to sell pouches, even more so if you have completed the Tirannwn Hard Task set as Lord Amlodd gives you 10% more shards than Bogrog.
• Some Familiars have useful teleports such as the spirit kyatt's teleport to just south of the Piscatoris obelisk, the lava titan's teleport to the lava maze and the spirit larupia's teleport to the Nature Altar.

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Skill Mastery & Beyond

Upon reaching level 99 Summoning it is possible to purchase a summoning cape from Pikkupstix in Taverley. As with all skill capes the cost is 99,000 gp. Players who already have 99 in another skill will instead receive a trimmed summoning cape.

After obtaining 99 Summoning it becomes possible to obtain a summoned shard randomly which can be combined with other shards from the other combat skills (Attack, Constitution, Defence, Magic, Prayer, Ranged and Strength) to create a combatant's cape. It has the same stats as a trimmed skill cape.

True Summoning Mastery

Achieving 99 is the ultimate goal for many players, however the skill does not stop there. For players wanting to show off their dedication to a skill it is possible to obtain "True Mastery" by obtaining "120 Summoning" which is 104,273,166 XP. The Summoning master cape can be purchased from Pikkupstix for 120,000 gp.

It is worth noting that beyond level 99 there is no additional content for Summoning as the level increases are invisible so training the skill gets no faster. To work out your theoretical Summoning level check out our XP table.

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Credits

Original Guide by: Tip.It Crew

Special Thanks to: chenw

Thanks to: 001hayden1, 1stArcher00, Artemis1330, asianboy7o7, Baffler, bakura18, bluehooloovo, Brainymidget, bums500, CookMePlox, Cowman_133, Croaticus985, Danqazmlp, Ddraiggoch06, deezy, Edofighter, Eyehawk78, essiw, Foodfight13, Fudgy999, Ginger Warrior, GOJIRUH, Helios_ Gamos, Hollandowner, howlin1, Huge Brain, jaa_master, Jaffy1, Jiboney, JoeDaStudd, k3nny12, Kaphias, Kevin, kingmickez25, Komodo_Jo, Lady_elenasg, Laikrob, Le_Fay, liddic, linkzelda30, Lood333, Lord_Kain1, lotrking1010, manoman, matanui12321, Mc90123, mchainmail, Mensch, metoo1000, mugged99, nateofark, nirvana05, Normanbiggs, n_odie, Ollyc3, ooglebrain, Paw_Claw, Philip_kolar, Pionex40, pokemama, rainbowbody, Raphman, Rcty, Rien_Adelric, Rodskaeg, runecid11, Seer, Shasta_Sms, sheep455_is_the_best, SirHemen, Sirlonewolf, Sy_Accursed, Smellysocks, Speedyshel, SportsGuy, Sunli, tc267, thekiller308, TheLeonardo, Thrawn JL, Tim9724, tryto, unknowz, Vhellcat, vlad the old, Wachtwoord, Warriormonkx, wioneo, WoodenFruit, Xena Dragon, Y2g2003, Zalok, Zou_Lou

Last updated by: BloodAngel

Last updated on: 24-May-2015

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