Official Concept Artwork of four of the Familiars.
Familiars, also known as Special Summons or Mighty Summons, can be summoned by all Vocations using a Spell that is available for players above level 200. These summons are very strong and have some key differences when compared to those created using the Summon Creature spell. They used to be called just Summons until the Winter Update 2020, when players became able to obtain multiple "outfits" for them.
The new spells were the target of a Dev Note on March 02, 2017, but the Dev Note did not reveal details about the spells, only that they were considering making it cost Soul Points.
If they get too far behind their master, they teleport themselves to him/her.
They automatically go up and down ramps, stairs, etc., as well as travel together when their master uses any travel system or teleport.
When they are not in battle, their health regenerates very quickly.
Your summon will only remain active for 15 minutes. This timer doesn't run when your character is offline or while they are Swimming. However, while you're Swimming, the cooldown for your summon spell does indeed decrease.
They are not allowed in fights against Lever Bosses.
Creatures
The Familiars do not exist as wild creatures in the game, but only in summon form.
Different Mighty Summons for the same vocation are denominated Familiars. The only difference between familiars is their names and outfit sprites. The first four familiars were implemented with the Summer Update 2017. Additional familiars were implemented in the Winter Update 2020. The familiar that will be summoned can be viewed and selected in the "Customize Character" dialog.
Each Familiar has its own exclusive spell that can only be learned by the corresponding vocation. The spells have a Cooldown of 30 minutes, meaning it's not possible for a character to have their summon all the time. Because of that, knowing when to cast the spell is very important to maximize its use.
