The best DnD monsters to battle or befriend in D&D 5e

What would Dungeons & Dragons be without the malevolent menagerie of ghastly foes you encounter during your adventure? It would be rather dull, we think. A good quest requires a certain amount of danger, and a proper balance of risk versus reward. Some of this undoubtedly comes from the elaborate underground caverns, dungeons, and other locations that are visited during a campaign. But even more, it comes from the cruel and cunning enemies faced along the way.

Monster mobs can evoke feelings of power and superiority, such as when higher-level characters effortlessly dispatch a group of skeletons or goblins. On the flipside, a terrifying encounter with a dragon can teach the party that, even with all their victories, they are still just mortals.

With D&D only a few years shy of its 50th anniversary, there is a vast range of D&D monsters to pick from. Between the five main editions, each with additional supplemental books, and homebrew material, it can be an overwhelming task sifting through them all, to pick the perfect monsters for each encounter. We’ve picked out some classic monsters that have been ruining adventurers’ days for nearly five decades, and can always make for an exciting fight!

Right up top, here are our completely objective, 100% accurate, expert picks for the very best D&D monsters of all time:

The best D&D monsters

Displacer Beast

First Appearance: Dungeons & Dragons – Greyhawk Supplement (1975)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E) pg. 81

Known for their sleek appearance – and sleeker cloaks made from their hide – a Displacer Beast is a wily creature that can serve as great ‘teachers’ for lower-level parties.

Coming in at a challenge rating (CR) of three, these majestic prowlers have the handy ability “Displacement”, which causes attacks made against them to be taken at a disadvantage.

Roll ’em up: The best online D&D character creators

However, if you do manage to hit one, that effect goes away until the start of the monster’s next turn.

Being hard to hit, paired with the Displacer Beast’s natural Multiattack feature, can give new heroes a taste of  scarier battles to come, and start them down the path of cooking up cannier strategies, to survive those deadlier encounters!

Black Pudding 5e

First Appearance: Dungeons & Dragons Whitebox (1974)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E) pg. 241

Do you have that one melee-focused character that likes to just run in without thinking, and hit things? Well, do we have the perfect enemy for you, to help teach that player a little planning and patience can go a long way – Black Pudding.

Build a battle: A D&D encounter builder 5e guide

This malleable opponent will not only corrode any non-magical weapon that hits it – which can result in destroying the weapon outright – it can also split into two independent, smaller monsters, when hit with either lightning or slashing damage (both of which it happens to be resistant to, for good measure!) Now your overzealous fighter is surrounded by goo, and their weapon is slowly wasting away. That will teach them to run in without thinking!

Beholder

First appearance: Greyhawk (1975)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E), pg. 28

The Beholder is a monster that’s so iconic, it’s on the cover of multiple D&D books, and it’s been present in every edition of Dungeons and Dragons to date. A large aberration you’d typically find in the Underdark, the Beholder is a floating orb with many tentacles and a single, enormous eye.

They’re highly intelligent (albeit cruel and greedy), and a CR of 13 means a Beholder is a meaty mid-tier challenge for your party. A Beholder’s lair also has some tricks up it’s sleeve, meaning this beastie could make a great ‘big bad’ relatively early on in a long-term campaign.

Plane to see: Check out our D&D planes guide

In particular, adventurers will want to watch out for the Beholder’s eye rays. These fiendish floaters can shoot a ray which can cause a wide range of conditions for a character – fear, paralysis, sleep, you name it. A Beholder even has the ability to turn opponents into a pile of dust – and they’re cruel enough to do it, trust us.

For more on this creature, be sure to check out our Beholder 5e guide.

Mind flayer

First appearance: Monster Manual (1E) (1977)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E), pg. 222

Ah, the Mind Flayer – another evil aberration that makes for a great D&D encounter. An original creation of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax, the tentacle-faced Illithid (as they’re also known) uses its psionic abilities to control, attack, and eat the brains of other creatures.

While a CR of seven doesn’t pose the most terrifying threat, Mind Flayers can still make a good foe for players – particularly if there’s more than one of them.

Up next: A D&D 6e release date speculation guide

It’s rare to see a lone Mind Flayer, as this is usually a sign that they’re an outcast from typical Mind Flayer society. Instead, you’ll most likely find Mind Flayers living in colonies – so adventurers will likely need to take them on in numbers.

As well as spellcasting abilities, Mind Flayers have the ability to deal psychic damage using Mind Blast. They can also use their tentacles for melee attacks if the party are getting up close and personal. Perhaps worst of all, though, is the Mind Flayer’s ability to extract the brain of an incapacitated humanoid during combat.

MIMIC 5e

First Appearance: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E) pg. 220

The Mimic is the premier devious and dangerous trickster of Dungeons & Dragons. This creature’s innate ability to disguise itself as an inanimate object of its choice has no doubt given a player or two serious trust issues when it comes to their furniture.

Custom monsters

You can tailor encounters against these monsters by tweaking the number of them you throw at players, or customising their stats.

If your beasties are going up against larger or higher-level parties, you can increase core stats like AC, or even add new abilities!

It is also one the most enjoyable creatures to throw at an unsuspecting group, regardless of their level, serving as a great addition to any spooky dungeon or mysterious mansion. The Mimic’s claim-to-fame, of course, is that they can shape-shift into any unassuming object, from a rocking chair, to a treasure chest – or, if you’re feeling like an especially tricky DM, a pagoda. Because no one ever suspects a pagoda.

At a challenge rating of only two, we’d advise customising and improving a mimic if your party is at higher levels. Still, a well-placed mimic can cause the group to second guess every mundane-looking knick-knack for the rest of the campaign – and that’s priceless.

Owlbear

First Appearance: Dungeons & Dragons – Greyhawk Supplement (1975)
Find it here: Monster Manual (5E) pg. 249

No creature better personifies “hangry” than the classic Owlbear. This mammal-bird hybrid was hangry long before such a meme-era term even existed. While the owlbear is a touch more “vanilla” than some of the other monsters featured on this list, it’s no less a hallmark of Dungeons & Dragons.

Sporting a CR of three, this beast’s advantage on perception checks makes it very good at finding characters if they try a sneaky approach – and when (not if) it gets its beady eye on your characters, it’ll swipe and peck until all that’s left is a particularly messy dinner for its chicks (cubs? chickubs?)

Starter set: This is how to play Dungeons and Dragons

But hey, maybe if you roll really, really highly on Animal Handling, you could tame the beaky behemoth? Just don’t forget to have a Snickers on hand at all times…

Picked out your beasties, but desperate for some tiny plastic facsimiles to represent them on the tabletop? These are the best D&D miniatures around. Or go back to party-building basics with our roundup guide to D&D classes.

Source: Wargamer