Optimizing Character Builds with Conjure Minor Elementals for Max Damage

For years, the promise of unleashing a torrent of damage through clever character builds has captivated D&D players. Few spells embodied this potential quite like Conjure Minor Elementals (CME), a humble 4th-level enchantment that, in the right hands, could scale to truly terrifying levels of sustained damage per round (DPR). Tales of builds like "El Bardio" achieving 350+ DPR with CME circulated among optimizers, demonstrating a mastery of multiclassing, feats, and spell synergy that felt both brilliant and, frankly, a little broken.
However, the landscape of D&D optimization shifts, and sometimes, a powerful errata wave crashes down, reshaping the very foundations of what was once possible. The April 17, 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook errata delivered just such a wave, significantly altering the power ceiling of many 'Conjure' spells, Conjure Minor Elementals among them.
This guide isn't just a nostalgic look back at the glory days of CME; it's a deep dive into optimizing character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals for max damage in the current D&D ecosystem. We'll explore the legendary builds of the past, meticulously break down what changed, and most importantly, equip you with the knowledge to adapt, innovate, and continue pursuing potent damage builds, even if the path has changed forever.

At a Glance: Conjure Minor Elementals Optimization Post-Errata

Pre-Errata Powerhouse: Conjure Minor Elementals (CME) was a 4th-level spell, scaling by 2d8 damage for every spell slot above 4th, making it a cornerstone for high-DPR builds like "El Bardio" (350+ DPR).
The Errata Hammer: The April 2024 errata halved CME's upcasting damage increase from 2d8 to 1d8, drastically reducing its direct damage potential. Similar nerfs hit Conjure Elemental and Conjure Fey.
The "El Bardio" Legacy: This pre-errata build leveraged Valor Bard's Extra Attack for a cantrip, Warlock levels for Eldritch Blast (EB) and Agonizing Blast, and various damage buffs to create a consistent damage machine. Its pre-errata numbers are no longer achievable.
Post-Errata Reality: While CME can still provide battlefield presence, distraction, and some supplementary damage, it is no longer the primary engine for "max damage" builds. Its utility has shifted.
New Optimization Focus: Max damage builds now need to explore alternative spell synergies, strong cantrips like Agonizing Blast, powerful direct damage spells, and other multiclass combinations to achieve high DPR. The core principles of action economy and concentration management remain vital.

The Golden Age of Conjure Minor Elementals: Before the Errata

Before the errata's thunderous arrival, Conjure Minor Elementals (CME) held a special place in the hearts of damage-focused spellcasters. It was a 4th-level spell that, for an action and 10 minutes of concentration, summoned an emanation of spirits in a 15-foot radius. These spirits dealt 2d8 damage to creatures inside when the spell was cast, and the real magic happened with upcasting.
Pre-errata, using a spell slot higher than 4th increased that damage by an additional 2d8 for each slot level. This seemingly simple scaling was incredibly potent. A single 9th-level spell slot, for instance, would grant an extra 5 levels of scaling (9-4), adding 10d8 damage on top of the base 2d8. That’s 12d8 total just from the upcast effect on top of any other damage, creating a phenomenal damage output potential from a single spell, especially when combined with other synergistic abilities. This made CME a prime candidate for builds obsessed with optimizing character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals for maximum output.

Deconstructing the Damage Legend: The "El Bardio" Pre-Errata Build

To truly understand the impact of the errata, we need to examine what was once possible. The "El Bardio" build, designed around the 2024 rules (pre-errata), was a masterclass in stacking synergies to achieve astronomical sustained DPR against high AC targets. While the specific damage numbers are now largely historical, the build's ingenuity offers invaluable lessons in optimization principles.

The Core Concept: Synergy and Multi-Attack Madness

The "El Bardio" build focused on maximizing the number of attacks per turn, each benefiting from multiple sources of additional damage. The Valor Bard's unique Extra Attack feature, which allowed one attack to be replaced with a cantrip, was the linchpin. This opened the door to combining powerful cantrips with melee attacks and the scalable damage of Conjure Minor Elementals.

El Bardio's Journey: A Step-by-Step Breakdown (Pre-Errata)

Here's how the build came together, level by level, illustrating the powerful combination of class features and feats:

Level 5 (Bard 5): You gain access to 3rd-level spells, laying the groundwork for your magical arsenal.
Level 6 (Bard 6, Valor Bard): This is where the magic truly starts. As a Valor Bard, you gain Extra Attack, but with a crucial twist: one of your attacks can be a cantrip. This allows you to integrate potent cantrip damage into your attack action. You'd pick up True Strike, not necessarily for its traditional use, but as a mechanism to apply your Charisma modifier as an attack modifier and gain extra radiant damage. Additionally, Fount of Moonlight became a key component, adding +2d6 radiant damage to every attack made within its aura. The core combination was taking the Attack action, replacing one attack with Eldritch Blast (soon to be acquired), and casting Conjure Minor Elementals (CME) on subsequent turns to benefit from its upcast damage.
Level 8 (Bard 8): You acquire the Spell Sniper feat, extending the range of your spell attacks and making it easier to land those crucial hits.
1 Warlock Level: A single dip into Warlock dramatically elevates your damage. You gain access to Eldritch Blast (EB), the most iconic damage cantrip in the game. Now, your Extra Attack allows you to cast EB (which scales with character level, not just Warlock level) within 5 feet of an enemy without disadvantage, dealing 3d10 damage across multiple attacks at higher levels. Each of these EB attacks would benefit from Fount of Moonlight or the lingering effects of CME.
Another Warlock Level (Warlock 2): This second Warlock level is where your damage potential truly explodes. You select Pact of the Blade (allowing you to use your Charisma modifier for attacks with your pact weapon) and Eldritch Mind (granting advantage on concentration checks for CME and other vital spells). Crucially, you gain Agonizing Blast, adding your Charisma modifier to the damage of each Eldritch Blast beam.
Weapon Choice: While Shillelagh on a club was an option, the Vex property on a scimitar often offered a slightly higher DPR (107.47 vs. 106.5), further illustrating the meticulous optimization involved.
Subsequent Levels: From this point, the build typically continued as a pure Bard, focusing on gaining higher-level spell slots to upcast CME and other powerful spells.
Level 20: At the pinnacle of your power, accessing 9th-level spells, you could use a spell like Foresight to gain Advantage on all D20 Tests, including attack rolls. This consistency pushed DPR even higher.

The Numbers (Pre-Errata)

The calculated damage per round for this build, before the errata, was staggering:

Pure 2024 Build: Reached a sustained 311.66 DPR.
With Elven Accuracy: For races that could utilize it, the DPR soared to 350+.
These figures represented some of the highest achievable sustained damage in the game, highlighting just how impactful Conjure Minor Elementals' pre-errata scaling was when combined with a well-oiled machine of synergistic abilities.

The Errata Drops: A Seismic Shift for Conjure Spells

Then came April 17, 2024. Wizards of the Coast released an errata for the 2024 Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook, a routine update that, for many summon-focused spellcasters, felt like a meteor strike. While it included various wording tweaks for equipment, feats, and the glossary, the primary target was a specific group of spells: the 'Conjure' family.

Conjure Minor Elementals: A Halved Potency

The most significant change for our discussion on optimizing character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals was direct and impactful:

Pre-Errata: Conjure Minor Elementals increased damage by 2d8 for every spell slot above 4th used.
Post-Errata: The upcasting damage increase is now 1d8.
This isn't a minor tweak; it's a fundamental rebalancing. The engine that powered those 300+ DPR builds was effectively running at half power. The multiplicative nature of damage scaling means that this 50% reduction in upcast damage had a cascading effect on overall DPR, making those legendary numbers all but impossible to achieve in the same way.

Other Conjure Spells Feel the Impact

The CME nerf wasn't isolated. Other powerful summoning spells received similar treatment:

Conjure Elemental: Upcasting damage changed from 2d8 to 1d8.
Conjure Fey: Upcasting damage changed from 2d12 to 1d12.
This indicates a clear design philosophy shift from Wizards of the Coast: to reign in the damage potential of these summons, making them less of a "fire and forget" damage button and more of a tactical resource.

Collateral Changes

While less central to CME optimization, it's worth noting other relevant errata:

Polymorph, True Polymorph, Animal Shapes, Shapechange: These spells now explicitly state that temporary hit points vanish when the spell ends. Animal Shape and Shapechange also grant temporary HP only on the first transformation. This impacts the survivability aspect of certain shape-shifting builds.
Stat Blocks: All stat blocks in the Player's Handbook were replaced with versions from the 2024 Monster Manual, ensuring consistency across publications.
The message was clear: the era of stacking massive damage through highly scalable summon spells was largely over.

Re-evaluating Conjure Minor Elementals in the New Landscape

With the errata, the fundamental question for any player looking to optimize character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals becomes: Is Conjure Minor Elementals worth casting post-errata? The short answer for "max damage" purposes is: not in the same way, but it's far from useless.

The New Math: A Different Value Proposition

The 1d8 upcasting damage fundamentally changes CME's value. Using a 9th-level slot, you now gain an extra 5d8 damage (from 1d8 per level) instead of 10d8. This roughly halves the spell's direct damage scaling, making it significantly less efficient as a primary damage engine. Those El Bardio numbers are now largely out of reach if CME is expected to contribute a similar proportion of damage.

Shifting Roles: From Damage King to Tactical Piece

Instead of being a primary source of sustained, burst damage, CME's role shifts. It's now more akin to a tactical asset:

Battlefield Presence: Even with reduced damage, summoning multiple creatures creates bodies on the field. These elementals can provide flanking opportunities (if using optional rules), block enemy movement, or simply serve as additional targets for enemy attacks, soaking up damage that would otherwise hit your party.
Distraction: Enemies often prioritize visible threats. Swarms of minor elementals can draw fire away from more vulnerable party members or concentrate enemy attacks in a specific area.
Supplementary Damage: While no longer the main course, 1d8 per upcast level still adds some damage. For low-level upcasts (e.g., a 5th-level slot for an extra 1d8), it can be a decent way to add minor consistent pressure without burning your most powerful spell slots on other primary damage spells.
Utility & Control: The spirits can engage multiple foes, potentially forcing saving throws or drawing attention from specific targets. Their sheer numbers can be more valuable than their individual damage output.

When to Consider Casting CME Post-Errata

You need bodies: If your party is low on frontline combatants or you need to control space.
You want distractions: To draw aggro away from squishier party members or set up escape routes.
You have extra spell slots: If you have higher-level spell slots you're not using for other critical spells and want to add some consistent (if not massive) damage and presence.
Specific synergies: If your build has unique ways to empower summoned creatures beyond their base damage (e.g., granting them extra attacks, buffs, or utilizing their form for specific environmental effects), CME might still find a niche.
Ultimately, while Conjure Minor Elementals is no longer the go-to spell for "max damage" in the same way it was, it still holds utility. Its value has simply shifted from raw damage per round to a more balanced contribution of battlefield presence, distraction, and supplementary damage.

Optimizing for Max Damage in the Post-Errata Era

The errata hasn't eliminated the pursuit of "max damage," it has simply changed the rules of engagement. The "El Bardio" build, while no longer achieving its legendary numbers with CME, still offers crucial insights into what makes a damage-focused character tick. You just need to look for new engines.

Lessons from El Bardio That Still Apply

Many core principles of the pre-errata build remain highly effective for damage optimization:

Multiclassing Synergy: The combination of Bard and Warlock, or other caster/martial mixes, is still incredibly potent. Warlock's Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast remains one of the most reliable and scalable damage cantrips in the game. Bard's support and spell slot progression are invaluable.
Extra Attack + Cantrip: Valor Bard's unique Extra Attack feature is still a fantastic way to integrate cantrip damage into an attack action, especially when those cantrips scale well (like EB).
Agonizing Blast: This Warlock Invocation is non-negotiable for any EB-focused damage build. Adding your Charisma modifier to each beam makes it a top-tier damage source.
Concentration Protection: Spells that require concentration are often the most powerful. Feats like Eldritch Mind (from Warlock), War Caster, or proficiency in Constitution saving throws (e.g., from Resilient (Constitution)) are vital for maintaining your key damage-boosting spells.
Advantage Generation: Generating Advantage on your attack rolls is one of the most effective ways to boost DPR. Foresight (at high levels), Faerie Fire, grappling, prone conditions, or other spells and abilities that grant Advantage are gold.

Alternative Damage Sources for Bards, Warlocks, and Other Casters

If CME isn't the primary damage engine, where should you look now?

Eldritch Blast (Still King): Seriously, if you're multi-classing a Warlock for damage, Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is your bread and butter. It provides consistent, force damage that scales incredibly well with character level. Combine it with other damage buffs like Hex or Hunter's Mark (if applicable to your build).
Powerful Direct Damage Spells:
Spirit Guardians (Cleric Dip): For a Bard/Warlock, a 1-level dip into Cleric can net you Spirit Guardians, a phenomenal AoE concentration spell that deals radiant or necrotic damage, halves enemy speed, and scales incredibly well. This spell alone can be a primary damage source.
Animate Objects (Bard/Wizard): This 5th-level spell can create a swarm of tiny objects, each making an attack. While requiring concentration and a high-level slot, it can provide massive single-target or multi-target damage.
Wall of Fire/Evard's Black Tentacles/Sickening Radiance: These are strong concentration spells for Bards and Warlocks (depending on subclass/pact) that can control the battlefield and deal significant, sustained damage.
Melee/Ranged Weapon Prowess: If you're building a Pact of the Blade Warlock or a Valor/Swords Bard, don't forget the power of well-optimized weapon attacks. Feats like Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter, combined with a Charisma-based pact weapon, can lead to impressive damage, especially when you can generate Advantage.
Non-Nerfed Summon Spells: While the main Conjure spells were hit, other summoning options might still be viable depending on your class list. Conjure Animals (Druids/Rangers) can still bring a swarm of creatures for utility and some damage, though its specific utility and effectiveness are highly dependent on the DM's interpretation of what you can summon.

Building a "New Max Damage" Character

To achieve high damage in the current D&D landscape, focus on these principles:

Prioritize Consistent Damage: Look for abilities and spells that reliably contribute damage every round, without excessive setup. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is a prime example.
Optimize Action Economy: Maximize what you can do with your action, bonus action, and reaction. Valor Bard's Extra Attack + Cantrip is excellent for this.
Concentration Management: Choose one powerful concentration spell (like Spirit Guardians, Animate Objects, or a strong battlefield control effect) and protect its concentration at all costs.
Synergize Abilities: Look for how your class features, feats, and spells interact to create more than the sum of their parts.
Target Weaknesses: Whenever possible, choose damage types that bypass resistances or exploit vulnerabilities.
The pursuit of max damage is an evolving art. What was once the pinnacle has been rebalanced, opening doors for new builds and strategies to claim the crown.

Debunking Myths & Common Questions

The errata can be confusing, and misinformation can spread quickly. Let's clarify some common questions and misconceptions about optimizing character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals and other conjure spells.

"Can I still build a 350 DPR character with Conjure Minor Elementals?"

No, not reliably with the errata. The El Bardio build's 350+ DPR was critically dependent on CME's pre-errata 2d8 upcasting damage. Halving that to 1d8 fundamentally changes the math. While you can still build a powerful character that uses CME, it will no longer be the primary engine for those extreme damage numbers. You'll need other sources to make up the difference.

"Is Conjure Minor Elementals useless now?"

Absolutely not, but its role has changed. It's no longer the king of direct damage scaling, but it retains significant utility for battlefield control, distraction, and adding consistent (though not overwhelming) pressure. Think of it as a tactical tool rather than a damage-per-round monster. It can still be a valuable part of your spell list, especially if you have spell slots to spare or need to manage enemy positioning.

"What's the best way to get high damage as a full caster now?"

There's no single "best way," but strong contenders include:

Agonizing Blast-focused Warlocks: The consistency and scaling of Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is still top-tier.
Cleric/Bard/Wizard spellcasters focusing on powerful AoE/Concentration Spells: Spirit Guardians, Animate Objects, Wall of Fire, Sickening Radiance, and similar spells that deal consistent damage over time or affect multiple targets remain incredibly potent.
Metamagic Sorcerers: Using Twin Spell or Quickened Spell to maximize impact from powerful single-target or area-of-effect spells.
Bladesinger Wizards or Pact of the Blade Warlocks: Combining powerful melee attacks with spellcasting buffs and extra attack features.
The key is finding synergies that reliably increase your damage output every round, not just in a single burst.

"Should I avoid all Conjure spells now?"

Not necessarily. You should, however, carefully re-evaluate their damage output, utility, and spell slot cost. Compare them against other options available to your class. Some Conjure spells might still be excellent for specific tactical situations, even if their raw damage has been reduced. For example, Conjure Animals (if available) can still swamp an enemy with multiple attackers, providing great tactical advantage even if the individual damage isn't sky-high. Always read the updated spell descriptions and consider your party's needs.

Forge Your Own Path: Practical Steps for Post-Errata Optimization

The dynamic nature of D&D means that optimization is an ongoing journey. With the recent errata, the path to optimizing character builds with Conjure Minor Elementals for max damage has undeniably changed. But the thrill of discovering powerful combinations remains.
Here's how you can continue to forge effective, high-damage characters in the current environment:

Always Review Official Errata: D&D is a living game. Make it a habit to periodically check official sources for rules updates. What's powerful today might be tweaked tomorrow. Understanding the most current rules is the foundation of effective optimization.
Clearly Define Your "Max Damage" Goal: Is it single-target burst? Sustained AoE? Control with damage? The answers will guide your spell and feat choices. "Max damage" might now involve leveraging tactical advantages or setting up allies for big hits, rather than solely relying on a single character's DPR.
Re-evaluate Your Spell Choices: Look critically at your spell list. Which spells still offer the best damage-per-spell-slot efficiency? Are there new options that have risen in prominence? Don't be afraid to swap out spells that are no longer performing as expected.
Focus on Powerful Synergies: The El Bardio build taught us the power of synergy. Look for features, feats, and spells that amplify each other. Does your cantrip benefit from your class features? Do your attacks get extra damage from your spells? How do you protect your concentration?
Test and Adapt: Theorycrafting is great, but actual playtesting reveals a build's true strengths and weaknesses. Be prepared to adapt your character as you learn what works best at your table and against your DM's challenges.
Engage with the Community: The D&D optimization community is vibrant and constantly exploring new ideas. Websites, forums, and content creators are excellent resources for discovering new builds, discussing strategies, and understanding the latest meta. Learn from others, share your findings, and continue to push the boundaries of what's possible.
The quest for maximum damage is an exciting one, full of discovery and creative problem-solving. While Conjure Minor Elementals may no longer be the undisputed king of damage scaling, the game of D&D offers countless other avenues for building powerful, effective, and incredibly fun characters. Embrace the challenge, adapt to the changes, and let your optimized character shine!