Ranking Every Blight In DnD

Summary

• The 2025 Monster Manual update introduced new monsters and rebalanced old ones, accommodating for stronger player characters.
• Needle Blight remains largely unchanged, works well in melee and ranged combat, challenges higher-level groups with numbers.
• Twig Blights, weaker but with Pack Tactics, ideal for mid-level player attacks, perfect for swarming and overwhelming opponents.

The Dungeons & Dragons‘ Monster Manual’s 2025 refresh added both new monsters for Dungeon Masters to have their fun with, and old monsters who got updated and rebalanced to accommodate for the fact that player characters are also stronger with the new book.

The book also separates some monsters into groups or families, as they’re all variations of the same creature or the same type of creature. Blights are evil, humanoid plants that tend to act on their own or are awakened by evil creatures related to plants, such as druids or hags.

7

Needle Blight

To Shoot People

With only a tweak to their health and their ranged attack, the Needle Blights are essentially the same creature as they were in previous editions of the Monster Manual.

What makes the Needles shine is that, for their level, they work in both melee and ranged combat and are good options to sprinkle with groups of Twig Blights or even some of the stronger ones. The ranged attack helps since they’re one of the few Blights with ranged attacks, though the others will compensate with their extra range and overall size.

Thus, while you use the other Blights to make hordes of enemies, don’t forget to leave a few Needles spread across the battlefield just to cause extra damage with their ranged attacks. With enough numbers, they can still challenge a higher-level group, too.

It’s also important to note that these creatures are plants, which means they’re immune to spells that target only humanoids, such as Hold Person. This can help you increase the challenge of your game if you want to.

6

Vine Blight

To Trap People

The Vine Blight’s adjustments were a bit more significant (though still mainly numbers, like health and damage), but the creature is still a good pick overall, even if not threatening by itself.

Its Entangling Plants ability is now just a cast of the Entangle spell, and its constrict attack now causes a bit less damage on its strike. However, once someone is grappled by their constrict attack, it’ll take damage on their turns until they’re free.

The Vine Blights are effective choices to mess around with the battlefield and give their allies better opportunities to attack the players, as the Vine’s attacks consist of grappling or restraining its targets, thus giving everyone else an advantage. This is also a monster you may wish to sprinkle around a large group of Blight creatures so they can all help one another.

5

Twig Blight

Perfect For Swarming

Despite being weaker than the previous ones, one interesting tweak made by the 2024 Monster Manual makes these Blights the perfect minions for your tree-related campaigns.

They have decent health and AC, and because of their blindsight, creature type, and natural immunity to being deafened, they can escape quite a few effects. They’re still vulnerable to fire, though, meaning they’ll take double the damage from fire damage.

The biggest upgrade they’ve got, though, is Pack Tactics, allowing them to attack enemies at an advantage if they have an ally within five feet (1.5m) of their target.

Because of that, they have a more decent chance to hit, which also makes them particularly useful against mid-level characters – you just put a whole horde of Twig Blights to attack your players and overwhelm them. That is, unless one player is an evoker wizard who can Fireball without the fear of hitting allies.

4

Razorvine Blight

Gulthias Blight Tutorial

The Razorvine is a stronger version of the Vine Blight, and it works as a solid low-level boss. It can take a level one party by itself, or, if they’re properly balanced, you just need to add some Twigs along with it.

It can attack twice per turn and it also has a rechargeable ability called Life-Draining Vines, which can trap multiple people and cause damage to them, as well as heal the Blight in the process as long as it traps and hurts at least one person.

What’s cool about it is that they’re also a weaker version of future, high-level Blight monsters, so if you intend to use a lot of them, this fight is perfect to teach your players how stronger Blights fight.

3

Astral Blight

Space Plant

The Astral Blight is another good low-level boss who does things similar to the Razorvine. It has the perk of being resistant to both radiant and cold damage, and it glows, which is irrelevant but fun.

It can attack twice per turn, and its attacks grapple enemies when hit – it can only hold two targets at a time, though, meaning you can’t do much once two people are grappled. That said, grappled targets will take damage on their turn, so that’s a good way to hurt people further.

Similar to the other low-leveled Blights, they’ll be significantly better with allies that can attack the creatures the Astral Blight is currently grabbing. Otherwise, your players might have an easy time defeating this one.

2

Tree Blight

Bring Your Enemies Closer

Updated from Curse of Strahd, This Tree is basically a Vine Blight but significantly stronger. It’s also a proper monster by itself rather than a minion, though you can surround this Tree with a combination of the previous ones to make it a true challenge.

The Tree Blight can make three attacks per turn, with one of them being Grasping Root, an attack that grapples the target and brings them closer to the Tree, which allows your following strikes to have an advantage, and the Tree can also use a special bonus action attack on the grappled creature to hurt them further.

Though you can only use Grasping Root once per turn, the Tree is big enough and has enough roots to grapple multiple people, thus not suffering the same limitation as the Vine Blight, which can only constrict one target at a time.

If you manage to grapple multiple targets, you can let your minion Blights have their fun and cause a lot of damage. DM discretion is advised, though, as this can easily cause TPKs.

1

Gulthias Blight

One Tree To Rule Them All

This monster is a new addition for the 2024 Monster Manual, and it comes with lore, as these trees are named after one tree that grew from a simple stake used to pierce the heart of a vampire named Gulthias.

The Gulthias Blight already works well from a narrative perspective, as it is an intelligent creature, and you can use it as the source and leader of all other Blights you present throughout the story. It’s also the only Blight that can talk, and it can even mechanically spread seeds that will create other Blights.

Along with the seeds, the Gulthias Blight can make two attacks per turn, which can be either melee or ranged. Then, it can also use Life-Draining Root, which works similarly to the Tree Blight’s Grasping Root.

This time, however, it causes necrotic damage; it restrains the target along with the grapple, the victim’s maximum health is decreased with the necrotic damage, and the necrotic damage reverts into health for the Gulthias Blight.

If you want to make a whole campaign surrounding evil plants, this monster is perfect to use as one of the final bosses, and rather than use them as minions for hags like in Curse of Strahd, the corruption caused by this tree alone could be the whole story. It’s up to you.