One of the sad truths about Dungeons & Dragons is that it's very hard to keep a game going until it reaches a satisfying conclusion. Life has a tendency to throw responsibilities that get in the way of your leisure time and Dungeons & Dragons has the added complication of needing to line up the schedules of several different people on a regular basis, which is something that is often easier said than done.

It's a shame that many Dungeons & Dragons groups are never given the chance to see their story through to the end, as it means that many players will never have the chance to be devoured by some of the most powerful monsters in the game.

The epic level monsters that have appeared across the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons were all created by the most sadistic writers that TSR and Wizards of the Coast had working for them at the time. These creatures exist for the sole purpose of grinding your favorite characters into the dirt, with their range of high-level abilities and amazing stat blocks that far outstrip anything you could earn for yourself.

We are here today to rank the most powerful monsters that have appeared across the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons. This list will be excluding individual characters (like Ashardalon or Strahd) and the gods, as the former are tied into specific adventures, while the latter are meant to be intentionally impossible to beat.

Here are The 20 Most Powerful Creatures In Dungeons & Dragons, Ranked!

Atropal

The atropal might not be the strongest monster on this list, but it's easily the most disturbing. An atropal is a stillborn god that rises up as an undead abomination. It's due to its divine nature that an atropal retains some of its incredible powers and becomes one of the most dangerous monsters in existence.

You don't want to try and take on an atropal in melee combat, as it constantly projects an aura of negative energy that drains ten levels from anyone who approaches it. All creatures with ten hit dice or less are instantly transformed into spectres under the atropal's command when they enter its presence.

You may think that you can protect yourself from the negative energy aura with magic, but the atropal can cast greater dispelling at will.

This means that you have to fight the creature from a distance and hope that you can overcome its incredible spellcasting ability before it transforms you into one of its undead servants.

Elder Brain

Mind flayers are some of the most feared enemies in Dungeons & Dragons, due to the fact that they can instantly paralyze the party with their psionic attacks and pull their brains out for a midday snack.

The mind flayers all live in service to an elder brain, which is a gigantic brain in a tank of liquid. The elder brain may not be particularly mobile, but it doesn't need to be, as it is served by an entire society of powerful monsters and their slaves.

When prompted to fight, an elder brain can create and control brain golems, which are some of the most powerful golems in the game, to act as its bodyguards. In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the elder brain can access psionic powers as if it were a level twenty character, giving it access to an incredibly wide variety of powers, all of which are practically impossible to resist.

Dream Larva

One of the most annoying creatures that you can encounter in a Dungeons & Dragons game is a medusa. The dungeon master has a tendency to drop one out of nowhere, meaning that you quickly need to think up a reason as to why you weren't looking it in the eye. If you survive this initial petrification, then you have to fight with your eyes closed or risk being turned to stone.

The ultimate "screw you saving throw" comes from the dream larva monster, which can be found in the Epic Level Handbook. The dream larva is meant to be a nightmare giving form, which means that looking at it requires a Will save with a DC of 43. If you fail this save, then your character perishes on the spot.

The dream larva itself is no slouch in the combat department, especially as it can summon several nightwalkers (some of the most powerful undead creatures in the game) to aid it in combat, but it's that initial use of its Worst Nightmare ability that will make you throw your dice at the dungeon master.

Elder Titan

Sorcerers and wizards have access to the most powerful magic spells in the game, which is balanced out by the fact that they are physically weak. Arcane spellcasters tend to have low hit points and can't wear armor without it affecting their spells, so they need to use magic to bolster their defenses, as well as surrounding themselves with healers and meat shields.

The Elder Titans have no such fears, as each one possesses the powers of a 29th level spellcaster (either cleric or wizard) as well as being able to use a wide range of spell-like abilities.

These powers are contained within the body of a mighty giant, who has over a thousand hit points and possesses epic-level feats in the use of its colossal-sized warhammer, which is big enough to flatten buildings.

Beholder Ultimate Tyrant

Beholders are some of the most feared creatures in Dungeons & Dragons. This is due to the fact that they project a cone of antimagic out of their central eye, whilst being able to blast creatures with their individual eye rays, some of which can instantly destroy you with a failed save.

The most powerful form of the beholder is the ultimate tyrant version from the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. This is due to the fact that its eye rays work as bursts, rather than single shots, meaning that it can affect the entire party if they are foolish enough to stay close to each other.

The beholder ultimate tyrant possesses a wide range of attacks, some of which can be used for free each turn. It can be a nightmare to keep track of all of the ways that this creature can hurt the party each turn, which means that it should be saved for a climactic encounter of a campaign.

Genius Loci

When a landscape is left undisturbed for long enough, there is a chance that the Earth itself will become possessed by a spirit known as a genius loci. The party won't know that they are treading on the face of a genius loci until it's too late.

A battle against a genius loci is a battle against the land itself, as it possesses the ability to make ten attacks per turn and each one with a high chance of achieving a grapple, which causes 4d10+30 points of damage on a successful check.

The genius loci can also cast the epic level enslave spell for free once every round, meaning that you will also have to deal with fighting one of your own party members whilst also trying to beat the ground around you. The genius loci is easy to hit, but it has almost two-thousand hit points that you will need to shave down before it will be put to rest.

Iron Colossus

The ability to use magic beyond that of what most standard characters can accomplish is essential when fighting any of the creatures on this list, either by being able to cast spells beyond 9th level in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or using the epic level spells of the later editions.

The spellcasters of the group will have to sit out the battle against the iron colossus, as it's immune to all forms of magic, save for spells that create electricity, which heals it.

The iron colossus is a gigantic iron statue that dwarfs even the tallest tower. You will need characters who can hit its AC score of 60, otherwise, you will just be stomped on every round and be crushed by its slam attacks, which are backed up by its 80 points in Strength.

Zodar

The Spelljammer campaign was an attempt at mixing the fantasy setting of a Dungeons & Dragons world with spaceships, as people were able to create their own interstellar vehicles using the power of magic.

One of the most mysterious and powerful creatures in the Spelljammer universe are the Zodar, who resemble giant suits of armor. In their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons appearance, they had the maximum Strength score that was allowed in the game and they were immune to almost all forms of damage. Even if you possess a weapon that can hit them, you would still need to be able to hit their -8 AC, which was very difficult in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The other aspect of the Zodar that makes them so scary is that they can cast the wish spell for free once in their lifetime, which gives them an easy escape from any party that possesses the power to harm them.

Living Vault

As a wizard becomes more powerful, they will acquire or create many different magical items. Owning these items is the same as painting a giant bullseye on your back, as less scrupulous adventurers may decide to steal all of your gear and sell it.

There are some epic level spellcasters who used their magic to create the ultimate in home security - the living vault. The living vault is exactly what you would think it is - a giant sentient vault. The living vault is almost impossible to damage (due to its various immunities, including almost every magical spell and supernatural ability) but it can still defend itself in a highly effective way.

The living vault can fire off a beam made up of the imprisonment spell, which means that you are one DC 58 Will save away from being trapped inside the living vault. You better hope that the wizard who made the living vault decided to keep some food and water inside of it.

Phaethon

In the center of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign world, there may be some incredibly deadly creatures locked away.

These beings are known as the Phaethon and they are gigantic beings made of magma, which were created by the fire gods in case they want to cause a Ragnarok.

Phaethons are lava elementals of tremendous power. They simply need to move over the party in order to swallow them whole and deal 20d6 fire damage each turn. This is before they actually use any of their attacks or summoning abilities.

A lot of the creatures on this list are powerful but slow, so as to give the players some semblance of a fighting chance. This isn't the case with the Phaethon, which has a lightning fast Initiative score and movement speed, meaning that you won't be able to outrun this creature anytime soon.

Primal Elementals

Elementals are a common foe in Dungeons & Dragons due to how easy they are to summon with magic. A frail wizard might want to summon a huge rock monster or a living wall of fire in order to create a barrier between himself and his foes.

The ultimate form of elemental (with the exception of the elemental princes who rule each realm) is the primal elemental. These are the purest and most dangerous forms of each of the four elements, with each one being a colossal-sized engine of destruction.

The primal elementals are all frighteningly powerful, but the air and water primal elementals may be the most dangerous of the group due to their ability to trap people within their bodies. How do you fight a tornado or a whirlpool when you're already inside of it?

Ancient Red Dragon

The game may be called Dungeons & Dragons but dragons didn't get much respect in the older editions of the game. This was partly due to inexperienced dungeon masters not running them to the best of their abilities. Dragons possess a wide range of powers, yet most dungeon masters were content to have them sitting around in their lair, waiting to be ganged up on by adventurers.

In the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the dragons were given a much-needed boost in power, to the point where they were outmatched by only a few creatures. The ancient red dragons in the fourth edition were some of the most powerful creatures in the game.

Ancient red dragons lacked spellcasting abilities in this edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but they made up for it with a ton of new combat options, some of which were always active or could be used for free. The most dangerous ability the ancient red dragon possessed was its breath weapon, as it had the power to strip away the player's fire resistance, leaving them wide open to the rest of its attacks.

Xixecal

The xixecal might look intriguing to fans of the Shadow of the Colossus video game, as the player could imagine themselves scaling this colossal ice monster while fighting his white dragon buddies on the way up.

You won't get very far trying to engage the xixecal in melee range, or even long range, as it's constantly surrounded by the effects of a dire winter spell.

Dire Winter is the second most powerful spell in the Epic Level Handbook and has a Spellcraft check of 319. The spell has a radius of one-thousand feet and deals 2d6 damage every round to those inside of it. The conditions within the dire winter are classed as being a blizzard, meaning it's almost impossible to move or cast spells inside of it.

Before you can even think about taking on this mountain-sized ice titan and its amazing powers & stats, you need to be able to break the effects of the second most powerful spell in the game.

The Devastation Insects

Goblins and skeletons are seen as low-tier creatures that will pose a middling threat to a first-level party of adventurers, but wild animals and insects are often considered to be even lower in terms of their strength. The lowly wizard with his three hit points and no attack bonus could easily take down a few giant centipedes in a brawl.

The insects of the universe have a champion in the form of the devastation insects from the Epic Level Handbook. These mindless engines of destruction are the Final Fantasy WEAPON monsters of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, as they are so huge that they will roll over a city in about five rounds.

The devastation insects (which come in centipede, spider, scorpion, and beetle varieties) are unstoppable behemoths with some of the highest stats in the game. You better be able to deplete around two-thousand hit points worth of damage, while taking 25d10 points of damage for every hit that you take when you try and take on one of these big bugs in battle.

Hecatonchires

One of the benefits of playing a melee or ranged character is that you will eventually gain the ability to perform multiple attacks per turn. The rules for this change depending on the edition, but you will generally be able to use more attacks in a single turn, with the to-hit bonus decreasing with each one.

The hecatoncheires has the single most attacks of any creature in the game. A hecatoncheires is essentially a giant abomination that is made up of hundreds of sword-wielding torsos. If you engage a hecatoncheires in melee combat, then it can potentially hit you one hundred times, depending on your size.

If your character is a small or medium-sized creature, then the hecatoncheires can only hit you twenty times per turn. If your character has transformed into a huge-sized creature (such as with using polymorph or a similar spell) then you can say hello to all one-hundred attacks. The hecatoncheires has a +71 to hit with each arm and all those that hit you will deal 2d6+20 damage.

Tarrasque

The tarrasque has appeared in almost every edition of Dungeons & Dragons and has always been one of the most powerful creatures in the game.

The tarrasque is essentially the godzilla of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, where it is said that only one exists on each world and its arrival will bring about the apocalypse. The tarrasque will resist most forms of damage and can heal so quickly that most attacks won't do it any lasting harm. In the older editions of the game, you needed to reduce the tarrasque to -30 hit points and cast the wish spell in order to dispose of it, which was a tall order.

The tarrasque is currently the most powerful creature in the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, where it is matched only by Tiamat in terms of its combat prowess.

The only creatures that can equal the tarrasque in battle are the gods themselves, the most powerful of dragons, and a party of epic level player characters, all of which would struggle to defeat the living embodiment of destruction that is the tarrasque.

Dragon Of Athas

In the world of Dark Sun, there is no natural source of magic for wizards to call upon. Instead, they must drain the life force of living creatures and plants in order to fuel their powers.

There are some wizards who don't care about destroying life in order to power their spells. These are referred to as defilers.If a defiler/psionicist reaches level twenty in both classes, they can begin the transformation into a dragon. This process takes years and involves numerous sacrifices in order to accomplish.

The Dragon Kings supplement gave stats for a level thirty Dragon of Tyr, which already possesses the powers of a fortieth level character before the transformation began. A fully-formed dragon of Athas becomes practically indestructible and has access to some of the most powerful psionic powers & spells in the game. There is only one thing on Athas that could stand up to a dragon in combat...

Avangion

There are some wizards in Athas who refuse to take the life of animals & plants when casting spells and only take what energy they need. These wizards are referred to as preservers and they are the mortal enemies of the defilers. When a preserver/psionicist reaches level twenty in both classes, they can begin the transformation into an avangion.

An avangion looks like a mixture between a grey alien and a huge butterfly. While it may look frail on the outside, a fully-formed avangion is one of the most powerful spellcasters in the series. The natural magical defenses given to an avangion make it almost impossible to harm with magic. Evil beings who attempt to approach the avangion for melee combat will have their Strength stat reduced to 5 by its powerful magical aura.

While at least one dragon stalks the world of Athas, there has never been a fully-formed avangion. If one did exist, then it would possess the power to save the doomed world of Athas from its fate.

Great Wyrm Force Dragon

There are several different energy types that are used for determining damage in Dungeons & Dragons, such as cold and fire.

The most effective energy type is force, which refers to pure telekinetic energy. Force damage is very hard to resist, which is why so few spells use it.

The force dragon is made up of raw magical energy. This is a beast that is made up of sheer force, which means that it hits hard and is almost impossible to damage.

As a force dragon grows older, it becomes totally invisible (as if constantly under the effects of improved invisibility), it gains 50% concealment from its Displacement ability, is immune to all force effects, and can fire a breath weapon made of sheer energy. This isn't even including the fact that it's a powerful dragon with the abilities of a 36th level spellcaster.

Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon

The third edition of Dungeons & Dragons introduced the concept of challenge ratings to the series. A challenge rating is meant to tell the dungeon master than a monster will pose an adequate threat to a party of adventures at the same average level as the challenge rating.

The person who created the prismatic dragon in the Epic Level Handbook decided to screw with the minds of the players and create a creature with such a high challenge rating that no one could ever achieve a level high enough to defeat it.

That creature is the great wyrm prismatic dragon, which has a challenge rating of 66. The great wyrm prismatic dragon has over two-thousand hit points, an armor class score of 106, an attack bonus of +101, a spell resistance of 86, has five stats that over sixty, and casts spells like a 38th level caster.

The only way your party will ever defeat this creature in battle is if the dungeon master throws the fight in your favor. It would take Paris Hilton levels of free time in order to play enough sessions to gain enough experience points to reach level sixty-six and most players would become bored of the game long before that happened.

---

Can you think of any other powerful Dungeons & Dragons creatures that we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments!