Strongest D&D Villains, Ranked

Dungeons & Dragons boasts many spectacular creatures, such because the brain-devouring thoughts flayers, fearsome dragons with lethal breath weapons, and the Beholders that maintain dying fairly than magnificence of their eyes. However alongside your entire menagerie of monsters gamers would possibly encounter on their travels, there are additionally harmful NPCs which are the true risk of campaigns.

Whether or not it’s the Dread Lord Strahd Von Zarovich cursed the rule over Barovia forevermore, or the Dragon Queen Tiamat searching for to flee her jail within the 9 Hells and lay waste to Faerun, these enemies aren’t ones to take frivolously. Adventurers should take care to arrange for these fights, or they are going to be doomed to hitch the legions that tried to take action earlier than within the afterlife.

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Up to date on December 30, 2025, by Luke Simons: Cheers to a different yr of nice adventures and harmful encounters, with D&D gamers all around the world gathering for one final run of their favourite campaigns. If readers are about to set foot in any of the damaging planes that compose the multiverse of D&D, they higher watch out for the Huge Unhealthy Evil Guys ready on the different facet of the DM’s Display, and most certainly, on the finish of a protracted, lengthy marketing campaign.

However the steadiness of energy within the Realms is consistently shifting, with harmful adversaries, evil wizards and witches, monsters of all type, demons, dragons, and deities ascending within the scale of energy, able to ship a swift and lethal TPK to each social gathering who dares to oppose them. Right here on this listing, some heavyweights of the evil arts had been lacking, so we took the freedom of including them, as no adventuring profession can be full with out an encounter with one in all these masters of evil.

23

Auril

Problem Score: 9

Auril is likely one of the many gods in Dungeons and Dragons pantheons. Her area is of winter and chilly, and her a number of kinds replicate her godly dominion. Smug and useless, she lacks the fundamental empathy wanted to really feel feelings equivalent to love or honor. She takes nice pleasure in all of her kinds, and loves all issues stunning equivalent to artwork and even folks, encasing something that catches her eyes in ice to protect them.

Although Auril shouldn’t be outright sturdy as different villains when she is first encountered, she will develop in energy in her different kinds. Gamers would possibly assume they’ve vanquished her, just for her to return stronger. In spite of everything, gods can’t be slain eternally.

22

Xanathar

Problem Score: 13

Like all Beholders, Xanathar is a extremely mental and crafty creature with 10 magical eye stalks that fireplace off completely different results on the opposing social gathering. These embody the dreaded dying ray, intergration ray, and paralysis ray. Like all bosses, Xanathar has entry to legendary actions and lair actions if his is fought on his dwelling turf, equivalent to with the ability to fireplace off one extra eye ray, and summoning extra eyes on the partitions of his area.

What units Xanathar other than this remainder of his ilk is the bouts of paranoia and rage he succumbs to, typically killing his personal minions in a murderous rage or out of paranoia, suspecting them to be a spy. Xanathar can be extraordinarily possessive of his prized pet goldfish Sylgar, and woe betide anybody silly sufficient to attempt to take it from him.

21

Jarlaxle Baenre

Problem Score: 15

The disgraced son of the Baenre Home, Jarlaxle rose above the fates of outcast males in Drow society, forming his personal band of mercenaries and giving the Houseless males a spot. Whereas this casts Jarlaxle in a heroic mild, this swashbuckling mercenary does not act from the goodness of his coronary heart. His aim behind the formation of Bregan D’aerthe was to create a military he may have energy over, and make some straightforward gold be promoting their providers to the best bidder.

Featured in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Jarlaxle is one in all 4 potential enemies within the journey that the social gathering can achieve. Whereas he could not appear probably the most threatening from first impressions, his talent with a rapier and his agility make him a tricky opponent to beat. And what’s extra, with some alternative phrases delivered by his silver tongue, adventurers won’t even need to combat him.

20

Strahd Von Zarovich

Problem Score: 15

Maybe the most infamous of Lords within the Domains of Dread, Strahd Von Zarovich is the architect of his personal distress, and is hellbent that every one inhabitants and unwilling guests share in his misfortune. Cursed to rule over the misty lands of Barovia, and to be eternally rejected by the girl he loves (who’s trapped in a reincarnation cycle), Strahd has centuries of bags that he’s more than pleased to take out on those that attempt to thwart him.

With his vampiric abilities and magical spellcasting to bolster his pure energy, he poses an intimidating problem to even seasoned adventurers. His undead nature prevents his dying exterior sure conditions, which means gamers might want to strategize of their combat towards him. Stradh is an Historical Vampire Lord who is sort of unbeatable in his personal lair. Solely those that wield the Sunsword can finish his depressing unlife for good.

19

Nintra Siotta

Problem Score: 16

Belonging to the Gloaming Court docket of the fey, Nintra Siotta is an evil Archfey who served beneath the Queen of Air and Darkness. She has taken on many monikers to replicate her connection to royalty and her fey courtroom, equivalent to Princess of the Shadow Glass and Woman of Dread Omens.

She shows excessive vanity and irreverence even in the direction of these in cost, believing herself match for greater than slavish obedience. She believed she would ascend to extra, giving her the proper origin story for a rising villain. Although she does not have the meaty stat block as increased stage beings or deities, she would undoubtedly pose a problem to mid-level adventurers, and will function a BBEG for a marketing campaign that does not run all the way in which as much as stage 20.

18

Lord Soth

Problem Score: 19

Though identified greatest as a Death Knight in service of Takhsis, Lord Soth was really a promising Solamnic Knight whose path to corruption had tarnished his good identify. When the gods supplied Lord Soth an opportunity to redeem himself by stopping the Cataclysm, he refused, inflicting the lack of tens of millions of lives. This damns him to a lifetime of undeath and everlasting servitude to the Dragon Queen. The final fires of the Cataclysm eternally burn inside him, which is mirrored in his potential referred to as the Cataclysmic Hearth.

Being a former Knight of Solamnia and now a Dying Knight, Lord Soth is kind of a talented martial fighter. Not solely that, however he possesses a big selection of skills infused by his corrupted nature. He and his Undead allies are resistant to turning (Marshal Undead). He can launch a fireball that converts killed victims into allies (Cataclysmic Hearth), assault enemies and cease them from regenerating (Forsaken Model), use dominating spells, and even compel a creature to die (Phrase of Dying).

17

Iggwilv The Witch Queen (Tasha)

Problem Score: 20

Thought of the namesake of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Tasha or Natasha is also called Iggwilv the Witch Queen. Initially showing in Greyhawk’s Oerth as a strong archmage who wrote the demonomicon, Iggwilv ultimately strikes into Niflheim in Hades and the Abyss earlier than venturing into the Feywild to ascend into an Archfey and kind her personal Area of Delight. Tasha’s intensive historical past with the planes and magic itself not solely credited her with quite a lot of scholarly works, however even spells equivalent to Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, Tasha’s Thoughts Whip, Dolor, Torment, and Minimus Containment, amongst others.

In her present kind in 5e as an archfey, Iggwilv has an Amulet of the Planes and Gown of the Archmagi. She has a pure ranged assault with an opportunity to Appeal (Bewitching Bolt). She will be able to open a harmful rift that may summon allies (Abyssal Rift), teleport inside 30 toes (Fey Step), counter any spell (Negate Spell), and use a big selection of spells a sure variety of instances a day together with Want.

16

Geryon

Problem Score: 22

Whereas the Frozen Prince Levistus has various enemies, chief amongst them is Geryon. The deposed former ruler of Stygia desires nothing however to say his rightful place that Levistus stole from him. Initially the champion of Asmodeus, a devastating incident compelled the Archduke of Hell to “reconstruct” Geryon and his allies, leading to Geryon’s fairly distorted kind. The “echoes” of his allies’ struggling had pushed Geryon to near-insanity, though his wit and capability for ways remained intact.

In contrast to different figures within the 9 Hells, preferring extra aggressive ways, Geryon prefers scheming and difficult foes from afar. He solely resorts to frontal assaults except completely mandatory — or if it’s towards Levistus. Mordenkainen himself implied that their battle was miserable to have a look at. The freely-moving Geryon couldn’t appear to strike a dent in Levistus, who fairly actually is imprisoned in a mountain of ice. Regardless, Geryon isn’t one to trifle with. His innate spellcasting permits him to vary his kind at will, detect magic, flip invisible, find objects, and even management ice. Geryon can be identified for his life-stealing stinger, though that is extra of a lethal stinger in fifth Version.

15

Halastor Blackcloak

Problem Score: 23

Halaster Blackcloak, also called Hillather or Haalvar the Mad, is an notorious archmage with a fame for madness, dwelling in his lair within the Undermountain. Whereas he stays underground, his moments of lucidity are few and much between, however he nonetheless acknowledges hazard and can react to protect his life. As soon as a beneficiant younger mage that helped other hopefully casters, his dealings with beings from different realms stole his sanity and ultimately eroded his humanity.

Now, he dwells in his Undermountain surrounded by a museum’s value of magic gadgets, together with a Ring of Safety +5, a Cloak of Eyes, and twenty flying daggers. Any adventurers hoping to plunder the magical items, nonetheless, may need to contest with the mad mage himself.

14

Iymrith

Problem Score: 23

Contemplating the secret is Dungeons and Dragons, it ought to come as no shock {that a} honest few BBEGs are the winged tyrants themselves. The chromatic dragons particularly at all times verge on the evil facet of the alignment scale. Iymrith is one such dragon, a storm of wings, scales, and deception, proved by her manipulation of Serissa, the daughter of the storm large King Hekaton.

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Like most villains, Iymrith has lofty ambitions. Hers is to shed her bodily kind and ascend to godhood, and he or she is keen to do no matter it takes. Capable of dish out huge quantities of injury whereas with the ability to soak it herself, any events who search to place a cease to her machinations won’t discover it straightforward, and so they had higher be ready to combat for his or her lives.