Air Elemental 5e: Stats, Whirlwind and How to Run It

An air elemental is a CR 5 Large elemental with AC 15, 90 hit points, a 90-foot fly speed with hover and two Slams at +8 for 14 damage each. It is the fastest of the four classic elementals and the one that rearranges the battlefield: its Whirlwind (Recharge 4-6) hurls creatures 20 feet and leaves them prone. In the 2014 rules Whirlwind hits every creature in the elemental's space and can throw them into walls or each other. In the 2024 rules it hits one Medium or smaller creature, but for 24 thunder damage, and the elemental's Slams become 10-foot-reach thunder attacks. Weapons do half damage to it in both editions, though in 2014 a magic weapon gets past that.

Table of Contents

• •Air Elemental Stat Block (2014)
• •Air Elemental in the 2024 Rules
• •How Air Elementals Fight
• •Air Elemental vs Fire, Water and Earth Elementals
• •Running an Air Elemental Encounter
• •How Players Beat Air Elementals
• •Air Elemental Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Air Elemental Stat Block (2014)

SRD 5.1's air elemental, the one most published 5e adventures use.

Points that shape the fight:

• •It only flies. Its only speed is fly 90 feet, with hover. It never touches the ground, can't be knocked prone (it's immune) and doesn't fall.
• •Air Form. It can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there, and it can pass through a gap 1 inch wide without squeezing. Arrow slits, keyholes and the gap under a door are all open roads.
• •Whirlwind (Recharge 4-6). Every creature in the elemental's space makes a DC 13 Strength save. On a failure: 15 (3d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage, flung 20 feet in a random direction and knocked prone. A creature that hits a wall or the floor takes 1d6 bludgeoning per 10 feet it was thrown; a creature thrown into another creature forces that one to make a DC 13 Dexterity save or take the same damage and go prone. On a success, half damage and no throw.
• •Defenses. Resistance to lightning, thunder, and bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks. Immune to poison, and to eight conditions: exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained and unconscious.

Air Elemental in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 keeps the CR, AC, hit points and ability scores and changes how it deals damage.

What changes in play:

• •Magic weapons stop helping. The 2014 elemental only resists bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks, so a +1 sword hits it at full strength. The 2024 version resists all bludgeoning, piercing and slashing. Every weapon attack against it deals half damage unless the damage is of another type.
• •Thunder is out. Thunder damage goes from resisted to immune. Thunderwave and Shatter do nothing to a 2024 air elemental.
• •Its Slams reach 10 feet. It can hit from a square away and leave without provoking from anyone with normal reach.
• •Whirlwind becomes a single-target spike. No more bowling the party into each other, but one Medium or smaller creature takes 24 on a failed save and is shoved up to 20 feet directly away from the elemental, not in a random direction. Large creatures are immune.

How Air Elementals Fight

The air elemental has the speed to be anywhere and the Whirlwind to put enemies where it wants them. It shouldn't stand still and trade blows.

Slam damage. Two +8 Slams against AC 17 hit on a 9 or higher, 60% each: 2 × 14 × 0.60 = about 17 damage a round. That's the baseline.

When to Whirlwind (2014). Whirlwind is an action, so it replaces the Slams. Against one creature with Strength save +0 (fails DC 13 on a 12 or lower, 60%), it averages 0.6 × 15 + 0.4 × 7.5 = 12 damage, less than the Slams. It pays off in two cases:

• •Two or more creatures in its space. The elemental is Large, so its space is 10 by 10 feet. Air Form lets it move into a cluster of characters standing shoulder to shoulder in a corridor and catch two to four of them at once. Two creatures make it 24 expected damage; four make it 48, plus every throw.
• •Throws into hazards. Flinging someone 20 feet into a wall adds 2d6 (7). Flinging them off a ledge, a bridge or a tower top adds falling damage. A random direction makes this unpredictable in 2014; roll a d8 for the eight compass directions.

When to Whirlwind (2024). The 2024 version averages 0.6 × 24 + 0.4 × 12 = 19.2 damage against that same target, slightly more than the Slams, and the target lands Prone 20 feet away. Use it on the creature you want out of the way: the cleric holding a concentration spell, the fighter between the elemental and the wizard, or anyone standing near a drop. The target ends up Prone, so the elemental's allies get Advantage on melee attacks against it.

Hit and fly. With a 90-foot fly speed, it can strike the back line and return to the sky in the same turn. In 2014 its 5-foot reach means leaving provokes an opportunity attack. In 2024 its 10-foot reach lets it attack and fly off without ever entering a melee character's reach.

Go where they can't. It can flow through a 1-inch gap. In a fortress, it comes through an arrow slit, hits the archer and leaves through the chimney. Players can't follow.

Don't fight to the death unless bound. An elemental summoned and abandoned, or bound to guard a place, keeps fighting. A free one with no reason to stay simply leaves at half hit points; nothing on the Material Plane is worth dying for to it.

Air Elemental vs Fire, Water and Earth Elementals

The four classic elementals share CR 5 and a lot of defenses, but they play very differently.

The air elemental has the fewest hit points and the most mobility. Use it when the threat should be about position and terrain, not about damage soaked.

Running an Air Elemental Encounter

An air elemental is worth 1,800 XP. The 2024 SRD budgets for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (which our encounter calculator uses) rate one air elemental against four level 5 characters as Easy, since 1,800 XP sits below the 2,000 XP Medium threshold. Two count as 5,400 XP after the ×1.5 multiplier, Deadly at level 5 and Hard at level 7.

Those numbers understate it when the terrain is on its side. An air elemental over a chasm, at the top of a tower or on a ship's deck is a harder fight than one in a flat room, because Whirlwind turns into falling damage or drowning. Price the terrain in and use one step lower difficulty than you want the fight to feel.

How Players Beat Air Elementals

• •Use the right damage type. Fire, cold, acid, force, radiant and necrotic all deal full damage. Fireball, Cone of Cold and Magic Missile are reliable. Avoid lightning (resisted) and thunder (resisted in 2014, immune in 2024).
• •Magic weapons, 2014 only. In the 2014 rules a magic weapon ignores its resistance. In 2024 all weapon damage is halved. Martial characters should switch roles: Help, ready actions, protect the casters.
• •Banishment. Its Charisma save is −2. A DC 15 Banishment lands 80% of the time. Because it's an Elemental, holding Concentration for the full minute means it doesn't come back: it's sent to its own plane in 2014 and to a random location on a plane associated with Elementals in 2024.
• •Protection from Evil and Good. It covers Elementals in both editions, giving the elemental Disadvantage on attacks against the warded creature. Cast it on whoever is holding Concentration.
• •Don't bunch up (2014). Whirlwind hits everything in its 10-by-10 space. Spread out at least 10 feet and it catches one person at a time.
• •Stay away from edges (2024). Whirlwind pushes straight away from the elemental. Keep a wall, not a cliff, at your back.
• •Don't bother with grapples, nets or webs. It's immune to Grappled, Restrained, Paralyzed, Prone and Unconscious. Hold Person (Humanoids only) and Hold Monster (Paralyzed) both fail.

Air Elemental Encounter Ideas

The broken summoning. A court wizard casts Conjure Elemental (2014 version) at a cliffside garden party to show off. A rival's hired thug throws a dagger and breaks the wizard's Concentration. Under the 2014 spell, the elemental turns hostile, can't be dismissed, and only disappears an hour after it was summoned. The party has to keep twenty nobles alive on a terrace with a 300-foot drop, where every Whirlwind is a potential death. In 2024 rules (where Conjure Elemental summons a spirit, not this stat block), run it as a bound elemental whose binding failed.

The becalmed ship. A merchant captain keeps an air elemental bound to fill the sails of her ship. Three days out, the binding wears thin and the elemental wants to go home. It will attack the crew unless someone figures out how to release it properly, which the captain refuses to do because her ship would be stranded. Fighting on a rolling deck with the open sea 20 feet away gives Whirlwind real teeth.

The tower with no stairs. A wizard's tower has no stairs, just a hollow shaft running up the middle. An air elemental bound to the shaft lifts creatures that speak the password to the floor they name. Without the password, it treats them as intruders. The party fights inside a 30-foot-wide vertical shaft. Missed Whirlwinds slam people into stone walls, and a 50-foot fall is 5d6.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an air elemental in 5e?

An air elemental is CR 5 and worth 1,800 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 15, 90 hit points and a 90-foot fly speed with hover.

How does the air elemental's Whirlwind work?

It recharges on a 4-6. In 2014, every creature in the elemental's space makes a DC 13 Strength save or takes 15 bludgeoning damage and is flung 20 feet in a random direction and knocked prone, with extra damage if it hits a wall or another creature. In 2024, one Medium or smaller creature in its space makes the save or takes 24 thunder damage, is pushed 20 feet straight away and has the Prone condition.

Can you summon an air elemental with Conjure Elemental?

In the 2014 rules, yes: Conjure Elemental summons an elemental of CR 5 or lower, and the air elemental is the standard choice. In the 2024 rules, Conjure Elemental creates an intangible spirit that deals lightning damage for air and restrains creatures; it doesn't use the air elemental stat block.

What is an air elemental resistant to?

In 2014 it resists lightning and thunder damage plus bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks, and it's immune to poison. In 2024 it resists all bludgeoning, piercing, slashing and lightning damage and is immune to poison and thunder.

Can an air elemental be grappled?

No. It's immune to the Grappled, Restrained and Prone conditions in both editions, so grapples, nets, Web and similar effects don't hold it. If you're tracking several elementals and their summoners across a campaign, Loreify records each session so you remember who bound what.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.