Loreify

    The Most Searched D&D Monsters (2026 Data)

    Mimic is the most searched monster in D&D 5e, at about 6,800 US searches a month. We pulled US search volume for 302 SRD monster families, ranked the 286 whose names belong only to the monster, and grouped them by creature type, challenge rating and dragon color.

    Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US search volume.

    Last updated October 4, 2026. Methodology

    Key findings

    • Mimic is the most searched D&D 5e monster, at about 6,800 US searches a month for "mimic 5e". Tarrasque and Zombie tie for second at 6,500.
    • The top 10 monsters take 17.4% of the 336,920 monthly searches across all 286 monsters we ranked. The median monster gets 600.
    • Undead monsters average 2,674 searches each, the most of any creature type with five or more monsters. Beasts have the most searches in total (70,850) but average only 779 across 91 monsters.
    • Among monsters with a single stat block, those of CR 0 to 1 take 38% of searches. The 7 monsters of CR 17 or higher average 3,000 each, but Tarrasque and Lich account for 12,600 of their 21,000.
    • Red Dragon is the most searched chromatic dragon (2,900) and Silver Dragon the most searched metallic one (1,700). Chromatic dragons get 1.9 times the searches of metallic ones. Pseudodragon (3,300) outranks every true dragon.
    • Beholder (5,100) and Mind Flayer (4,400) are not in the SRD, so they are not ranked here. Their volumes would place them 11th and 12th.

    The 50 most searched D&D 5e monsters

    The top 50 take 53% of all searches for the 286 monsters. Monsters with the same volume share a rank. A "+" after the CR means the family has several stat blocks (dragon ages, for example) and the CR shown is the lowest.

    Top 50 most searched D&D 5e monsters by US monthly search volume
    RankMonsterCRMonthly US searches
    1Mimic26,800
    2Tarrasque306,500
    2Zombie1/46,500
    4Lich216,100
    5Skeleton1/45,800
    6Dire Wolf15,500
    7Vampire13+5,400
    8Aboleth105,300
    8Cat05,300
    8Owlbear35,300
    11Giant Spider15,000
    12Shambling Mound53,900
    13Gelatinous Cube23,800
    13Giant Ape73,800
    13Minotaur3+3,800
    16Bandit1/83,700
    17Ghost43,600
    18Animated Armor13,300
    18Ghoul13,300
    18Gnoll1/2+3,300
    18Hill Giant53,300
    18Pseudodragon1/43,300
    18Troll5+3,300
    18Warhorse1/23,300
    25Brown Bear13,200
    25Hydra83,200
    27Air Elemental53,100
    27Wight33,100
    29Owl02,900
    29Red Dragon4+2,900
    29Succubus / Incubus4+2,900
    29Vampire Spawn52,900
    29Wyvern62,900
    34Werewolf3+2,800
    35Giant Constrictor Snake22,700
    36Basilisk32,600
    36Night Hag52,600
    36Ogre22,600
    36Rakshasa132,600
    36Specter12,600
    36Wraith52,600
    42Shadow1/22,500
    43Bandit Captain22,400
    43Frost Giant82,400
    43Green Dragon2+2,400
    43Griffon22,400
    43Imp12,400
    48Giant Eagle12,300
    49Wolf1/42,200
    50Black Dragon2+2,100

    Search demand by creature type

    Types with many monsters win on total, so the average per monster is the fairer comparison. Bars show the total.

    Search demand by creature type
    TypeMonstersTotal searchesAvg per monster
    Beast9170,850779
    Monstrosity3960,4401,550
    Undead1848,1302,674
    Humanoid2926,330908
    Fiend2326,1001,135
    Dragon1324,7001,900
    Giant1020,2002,020
    Elemental1613,100819
    Construct912,7501,417
    Aberration58,1501,630
    Plant67,4501,242
    Fey56,0001,200
    Ooze45,7501,438
    Celestial74,900700
    Swarm112,070188

    Search demand by challenge rating

    This table uses the 244 monsters with a single stat block. Families like Red Dragon span many CRs, so they have no single CR and are left out. Bars show the average.

    Search demand by challenge rating band
    CR bandMonstersTotal searchesAvg per monster
    CR 0–1111110,040991
    CR 2–45765,3301,146
    CR 5–105274,9501,441
    CR 11–161716,050944
    CR 17–30721,0003,000

    Chromatic dragons

    Chromatic dragons by US monthly searches
    RankDragonMonthly US searches
    1Red Dragon2,900
    2Green Dragon2,400
    3Black Dragon2,100
    3Blue Dragon2,100
    5White Dragon1,500

    Metallic dragons

    Metallic dragons by US monthly searches
    RankDragonMonthly US searches
    1Silver Dragon1,700
    2Bronze Dragon1,600
    3Gold Dragon1,400
    4Brass Dragon500
    4Copper Dragon500

    Monsters that share a name with a player option

    For these stat blocks, "<name> 5e" mostly measures searches for the playable species, class, subclass or background with the same name, so they are not ranked above. "druid 5e" is the same keyword whether you want the class or the monster.

    SRD monsters whose name is also a player option
    MonsterMonthly US searches
    Druid23,000
    Bugbear12,000
    Goblin8,600
    Kobold7,000
    Drow5,900
    Lizardfolk5,600
    Duergar4,900
    Hobgoblin3,100
    Satyr2,900
    Acolyte2,500
    Assassin2,200
    Orc2,000
    Berserker1,500
    Noble500
    Scout450
    Deep Gnome (Svirfneblin)0

    Methodology and limitations

    Source. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, United States database. Each number is Ahrefs' estimate of the average monthly search volume over the last 12 months for one keyword. Monster volumes come from a snapshot taken on October 4, 2026; the Beholder, Mind Flayer and an Owlbear cross-check were pulled on October 12, 2026 (Owlbear returned 5,300 both times).

    Keywords. One keyword per monster, in the form "<monster> 5e" ("mimic 5e", "lich 5e"). Searches phrased other ways ("mimic dnd", "mimic stat block") are not counted, so real interest is higher than shown. Dragons are counted by color ("red dragon 5e"), not by age.

    Monster list. The 302 monster families from the D&D System Reference Document that have a guide on Loreify, grouped so that, for example, all four red dragon ages are one row. 16 share their name with a player option and are listed separately, leaving 286 ranked. Monsters outside the SRD (Beholder, Mind Flayer, Displacer Beast and others) are not included, apart from the two mentioned in the findings.

    Estimates. Search volumes are modelled and rounded by Ahrefs, so small gaps are not meaningful. Monsters named after common words (Cat, Shadow, Ghost) may pick up searches that are not about the stat block. Search volume shows how often people look a monster up, not how often it appears at the table. The "5e" keyword does not separate the 2014 and 2024 rules.

    No player data. Everything here is public search data. It does not use any data from Loreify users or their sessions.

    Cite this data

    You are free to use these numbers in articles, videos and posts. Please credit Loreify and link to this page.

    Suggested citation

    Loreify, "The Most Searched D&D Monsters (2026 Data)", https://loreify.ai/data/most-searched-dnd-monsters (Ahrefs US search volume, pulled October 4, 2026).

    Embed the top 10 table

    <table style="border-collapse:collapse;font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;max-width:420px;width:100%">
<caption style="text-align:left;font-weight:bold;padding:4px 0">Most searched D&amp;D 5e monsters (US, monthly)</caption>
<thead><tr><th style="text-align:left;border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding:4px">#</th><th style="text-align:left;border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding:4px">Monster</th><th style="text-align:right;border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding:4px">Searches</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">1</td><td style="padding:4px">Mimic</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">6,800</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">2</td><td style="padding:4px">Tarrasque</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">6,500</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">2</td><td style="padding:4px">Zombie</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">6,500</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">4</td><td style="padding:4px">Lich</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">6,100</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">5</td><td style="padding:4px">Skeleton</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,800</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">6</td><td style="padding:4px">Dire Wolf</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,500</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">7</td><td style="padding:4px">Vampire</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,400</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">8</td><td style="padding:4px">Aboleth</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,300</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">8</td><td style="padding:4px">Cat</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,300</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding:4px">8</td><td style="padding:4px">Owlbear</td><td style="text-align:right;padding:4px">5,300</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12px;margin:4px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://loreify.ai/data/most-searched-dnd-monsters">Most searched D&amp;D monsters</a> by Loreify (Ahrefs US data, October 4, 2026)</p>

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