Which Summoning Familiar Should I Be Using?

[Manicgoose]

Is there a guide anywhere for which summoner familiars you should be using in, for example, combat, at any given summoning level?

I'm aiming for an untrimmed slayer cape and haven't been using summoning at all on the way, and think I probably should be. I'm currently 47 summoning - is there a particular familiar that would be good for me to use, or one I should strive for at an achievable level? 

[stealthchris117]

I don't know for sure, but I would recommend a Beast of Burden. If you wan untrimmed you may not want the XP that a combat familiar may generate. But I cannot say for sure.

But either way Beasts of Burden are great for the extra inventory space.

[Major Dash]

Bunyip (68), war tortoise (67), terror bird (52), pak yak (96). Those are about the only familiars I have used during any slayer task.

[Blutters]

If you use a combat familiar, drag the Summoning icon onto your action bar. Right-click it and set the default option to "Attack". This makes it so that your familiar will automatically target the last thing you were fighting if you simply press that key.

 

You could have the familiar fight the same target you are, or you could have it attack your current target and then you yourself could switch to another. Fighting multiple targets at once is only very effective when you have decent combat familiars, however.

In addition to this, combat familiars that do not have an attack "distance" may be clumsy and not reach your target very quickly.

 

I'm not sure what combat familiars are worth using even 30 levels higher than what you currently have.

Familiar "normal attack" damage rises as you go through the levels, but even at 72 Summoning - the Phoenix familiar - a level I feel is "achievable", the damage is only around 300-600 (according to the RSO Wiki).

Depending on what you're fighting and what kind of damage you personally are dealing, this may or may not be worth the extra effort to direct your familiar, and you may just want to use a Bunyip instead for its passive healing.

[Veiva]

As it stands, offensive familiars are hardly worth it. The increased APM to successfully manage an Iron/Steel Titan at Tormented Demons outweighs the benefits, for example, and this is why I use a Bunyip there (rarely ever does the damage I take necessitate me needing to eat, and if that happens, I use sacrifice at the end of a kill)... The only worthwhile familiars are the moment are beasts of burden and the bunyip, in my opinion. Even the unicorn isn't worth it, because its low heal decreases your adrenaline.

[tgf]

At 89 summoning, always use a nihil familiar that matches your combat style.

 

Melee-blood

Range-shadow

Magic-ice/smoke

 

Nothing else really worth using.