Call Canine Familiar

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Call canine familiar.png Call Canine Familiar
Level 3
School1 Summoning
Source(s)
Casting noise 3
Spell noise 0
Summons a canine to the caster's aid.
You can sustain at most three creatures summoned by this spell.

Call Canine Familiar is a level 3 Summonings spell which summons one "h" glyph monsters to fight for you. Higher spell power results in better canines and more duration. Possible summons include:

Strategy

At low spell power, this spell is too expensive and weak to be worth it; you will probably only get a jackal or at best a hound early on. However, at middling spell power you can often get wolves, and by the time you meet your first orc warrior or ogre, you should be able to summon one to your aid reliably. Wargs deal as much damage as war dogs with their primary attack, get two extra attacks, and are immune to poison.

Even though you expend 3 mana points for each summon, and you still get jackals even at very high power, Call Canine Familiar is a surprisingly powerful spell that can single-handedly take a summoner all the way through the bottom of the Lair. The only trouble you might face are packs of war dogs (you can't get enough friendly wolves consistently to fight them), death yaks, and hydra. However, both death yaks and hydra can be defeated with a pack of about 5-6 dogs if you have a good mix of wolves, and wargs. Alternatively, you could upgrade to Summon Scorpions if you have it, but the creatures this spell summons may appear hostile.