Elephant 5e: Stats, the Charge and Why the 2024 Version Hits Harder

An elephant is a CR 4 Huge Beast with AC 12, 76 hit points, 40 feet of speed and a +8 Gore that deals 19 piercing damage in the 2014 rules. Like the mammoth, it charges, knocks targets prone and stamps on them, but the 2014 elephant's knockdown is only a DC 12 Strength save, so most front-liners stay standing. The 2024 elephant swaps that for two Gores per turn, an automatic knockdown after a charge, and a DC 16 Dexterity save to avoid a bonus-action Trample. Expected damage on a charging turn goes from about 16 to about 29 against a typical fighter.

Table of Contents

• •Elephant Stat Block (2014)
• •The Elephant in the 2024 Rules
• •How Elephants Fight
• •Running an Elephant Encounter
• •How Players Beat an Elephant
• •Elephant Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Elephant Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 elephant has two attacks and uses one per turn. Gore is +8, 19 (3d8 + 6) piercing. Stomp is +8, 22 (3d10 + 6) bludgeoning, only against a prone creature. Trampling Charge links them: 20 feet straight toward a creature, a Gore hit, then a DC 12 Strength save or prone, and a Stomp as a bonus action if it falls.

The Elephant in the 2024 Rules

AC, hit points, speed, CR and XP are all unchanged.

How Elephants Fight

The elephant's reach is 5 feet, unlike the mammoth's 10. That makes it simpler to run: every charge ends adjacent to the target, so the follow-up is always in range.

Charging turn against a fighter (AC 16, Strength save +5, Dexterity save +0). The elephant's +8 hits on an 8 or higher, 65% of the time.

The 2014 elephant should pick on the weak. Against a wizard with AC 12 and Strength −1, it hits 85% of the time and the save fails 60% of the time. The expected charge damage rises to about 27. An elephant that ignores the plate-armored fighter and runs down the robed spellcaster is playing its stat block correctly.

The 2024 elephant can charge anyone. With no Strength save involved, its knockdown works on the strongest character in the party. The Dexterity save on Trample is the only defense, and heavy-armor wearers are usually bad at it.

Use the space. An elephant needs room to charge and 40 feet of speed to get it. In a forest clearing or a city street, it gets a run every other turn at best. On a plain, every turn.

Running an Elephant Encounter

An elephant is 1,100 XP.

Under the 2014 guidelines in our encounter calculator, one elephant is Hard for four level 3 characters and Medium for four level 4 characters.

An elephant with riders turns into a moving fortress. Two archers or a bandit captain on its back add ranged damage while the elephant handles the front line. Count their XP too.

How Players Beat an Elephant

• •Spread out and stand behind something. The charge needs a straight 20 feet. Low walls, wagons and trees break its lines.
• •Strength-save characters, rejoice (2014 only). A DC 12 Strength save is easy for a fighter or barbarian. Let them tank.
• •Charm it. It's a Beast with Wisdom 11. Animal Friendship and Dominate Beast both work. A dominated war elephant charging back through its own army ends a battle.
• •Target the handler. A trained elephant is only as aggressive as its rider wants it to be. Drop the mahout and the elephant may simply leave.
• •Become one. Polymorph can turn an ally of level 4 or higher into an elephant. Animal Shapes can't, because elephants are Huge and that spell allows only Large or smaller beasts.

Elephant Encounter Ideas

The war elephant at the ford. A warlord's army holds a river crossing with one armored elephant carrying two crossbowmen in a howdah. The elephant is the gate. Getting past it, turning it, or scaring it off decides whether the party crosses.

The temple's sacred animal. A city temple keeps a white elephant that's paraded through the streets once a year. This year someone slipped something into its feed. It's rampaging through the market and the priests will pay well for the party to stop it without killing it.

Ivory poachers. A band of bandits is hunting a family of elephants. Helping the elephants means fighting the bandits. Helping the bandits means fighting four very angry elephants.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an elephant in 5e?

An elephant is CR 4 (1,100 XP) in both 2014 and 2024, with AC 12 and 76 hit points.

How does an elephant's Trampling Charge work?

In 2014, if the elephant moves 20+ feet straight toward a creature and hits with Gore, the target makes a DC 12 Strength save or is knocked prone, and the elephant can Stomp it as a bonus action for 22 damage. In 2024, the charging Gore knocks a Huge or smaller target prone without a save, and Trample forces a DC 16 Dexterity save for 17 damage, half on a success.

Can you ride an elephant in 5e?

Yes. Under the SRD mounted combat rules, a willing creature at least one size larger than the rider, with suitable anatomy, can serve as a mount, so a Huge elephant can carry a Large, Medium or Small rider.

Is an elephant stronger than a mammoth?

No. The mammoth is CR 6 with 126 hit points, 10-foot reach and DC 18 effects. The elephant is CR 4 with 76 hit points and lower save DCs.

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.