Water Elemental — D&D 5e Monster Stats (CR 5)

Q: What are Water Elemental's AC and HP in D&D 5e?

Water Elemental has an Armor Class of 14 and 114 hit points (12d10+48).

Q: What Challenge Rating is a Water Elemental?

Water Elemental is CR 5, worth 1,800 XP — roughly a fair fight for a party of four characters of a similar level.

Q: What type of creature is Water Elemental?

Water Elemental is a large elemental, alignment neutral.

Armor Class14

Hit Points114 (12d10+48)

Speed30 ft., swim 90 ft.

ChallengeCR 5 (1,800 XP)

STR

18

(+4)

DEX

14

(+2)

CON

18

(+4)

INT

5

(-3)

WIS

10

(+0)

CHA

8

(-1)

Resistancesacid, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

Immunitiespoison

Cond. ImmuneExhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Unconscious

Sensesdarkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10

LanguagesAquan

Special Abilities

Water Form. The elemental can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Freeze. If the elemental takes cold damage, it partially freezes; its speed is reduced by 20 ft. until the end of its next turn.

Actions

Multiattack. The elemental makes two slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.

Whelm. Each creature in the elemental's space must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw. On a failure, a target takes 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If it is Large or smaller, it is also grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and unable to breathe unless it can breathe water. If the saving throw is successful, the target is pushed out of the elemental's space.
The elemental can grapple one Large creature or up to two Medium or smaller creatures at one time. At the start of each of the elemental's turns, each target grappled by it takes 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. A creature within 5 feet of the elemental can pull a creature or object out of it by taking an action to make a DC 14 Strength and succeeding.

Running Water Elemental in an encounter

As a CR 5 threat worth 1,800 XP, Water Elemental is a fair challenge for a party of four at a comparable level. With no legendary actions it works best in numbers or paired with support, where its CR 5 rating won't be burned down in a single round. Use the XP value with the encounter builder to slot it into a balanced fight.

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