Giant Ape 5e: Stats, Polymorph and Fighting a Huge Ape

A giant ape is a CR 7 Huge beast with AC 12, 157 hit points, a 40-foot walk and climb speed, and two fists that each hit for 22 bludgeoning damage at 10-foot reach. It has no special traits, no resistances and no immunities. It's a pile of hit points that hits very hard, which is why it's both a straightforward mid-level brute and the go-to form when a level 7 party casts Polymorph on an ally. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) raise it to 168 hit points, replace its thrown rock with a Boulder Toss that knocks a group prone, and give it a bonus-action Leap.

Table of Contents

• •Giant Ape Stat Block (2014)
• •The Giant Ape in the 2024 Rules
• •How Giant Apes Fight
• •Running a Giant Ape Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Giant Ape
• •Polymorph Into a Giant Ape
• •Giant Ape Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Giant Ape Stat Block (2014)

This is the SRD 5.1 giant ape, the same as in the 2014 Monster Manual.

Three numbers tell you how it plays. AC 12 means almost every attack hits it. 157 hit points means that doesn't matter for a while. +9 to hit for 22 damage, twice means anyone it reaches loses a big share of their hit points every round. The Rock attack (+9, range 50/100 feet, 30 damage) is a single ranged attack used instead of Multiattack, so the ape only throws when it can't reach anyone.

It has no darkvision, Intelligence 7 and Athletics +9. It isn't clever, but it climbs as fast as it walks.

The Giant Ape in the 2024 Rules

What changes at the table:

• •It closes distance faster. Leap costs 10 feet of its 40-foot speed and carries it 30 feet. Add the remaining 30 feet of walking and the 2024 ape covers 60 feet in a turn, over pits, walls and the party's front line.
• •Its ranged attack hits a group. The 2014 rock targets one creature with an attack roll. The 2024 Boulder Toss hits everyone in a 10-foot-wide circle with a Dexterity save and knocks them prone. It only recharges on a 6, so expect it once per fight, usually as the opener.
• •Its mind is simpler. Intelligence drops from 7 to 5. That matters for Animal Friendship, covered below.

How Giant Apes Fight

The giant ape is a brute without tricks. Its job is to get into reach and swing. The DM's job is to make that happen in the most dangerous order.

Damage per round. Against AC 18, +9 hits on a 9 or better, 60% of the time. Two fists at 22 each:

A level 7 wizard with Mage Armor has AC 15 and around 44 hit points. Both fists hit that wizard 56% of the time, for 44 damage: roughly a coin flip to drop the wizard in one turn.

Open from range (2024). The 2024 ape starts the fight with Boulder Toss from up to 90 feet. Against a group of three standing together with +2 Dexterity saves, each fails the DC 17 save on a 14 or lower, 70% of the time, so the toss deals about 20 damage to each and drops most of them prone. Then it Leaps in. Characters who spend half their movement to stand up have less left to get away.

Choose the ranged target (2014). The 2014 ape's rock deals 30 to one target, more than a single fist. If the party splits across a ravine or the ape is up a cliff, throwing at the archer is better than climbing down.

Use reach and verticality. Ten-foot reach lets the ape hit characters on a ledge, behind a low wall or around a front-liner. A 40-foot climb speed puts it on cliffs, temple walls and treetops where the party can't follow. A smart table fights the ape in the jungle canopy only if it has to.

Retreat like an animal. A giant ape guarding territory doesn't fight to the death. At around 50 hit points (a third of its total), have it climb away, roaring. If it's defending young, it fights to the end.

Running a Giant Ape Encounter

At CR 7, a single giant ape is a solid boss for level 5 and a standard fight for level 7. Under the 2024 rules, the XP budget per character is 500 / 750 / 1,100 at level 5, 750 / 1,300 / 1,700 at level 7 and 1,300 / 2,000 / 2,600 at level 9 (Low / Moderate / High).

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, used by our encounter calculator, rate one giant ape as Medium for four level 5 characters (party thresholds 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,400) and only Easy for level 7 (1,400 / 3,000 / 4,400 / 6,800). Two giant apes against level 7 characters are 5,800 XP, multiplied by 1.5 for a pair to 8,700: Deadly.

The XP number undersells the ape against a party of low-AC casters and oversells it against a party that can fly or fight from range. Ask one question before you use it: can the party keep out of 10-foot reach? If yes, the ape is a big target. If not, it's a killer.

How Players Beat a Giant Ape

• •Hit it. A lot. AC 12 means a +7 attack hits 80% of the time. The ape has no resistances, so everything works. A level 7 party dealing 40 damage a round kills it in four rounds.
• •Stay out of reach. It has no flying or ranged attack except the rock or boulder. A party that fights from a ledge more than 10 feet above it, from across a river, or from flying mounts takes one ranged attack a round from a 2014 ape, and in 2024 one Boulder Toss per recharge.
• •Spread out (2024). Boulder Toss only covers a 5-foot-radius sphere. A party that keeps a gap of a couple of squares between its members gives up one victim per toss instead of three.
• •Pin it in a tunnel. Under the 2014 squeezing rules, a Huge creature in a 10-foot-wide passage moves at half speed, has Disadvantage on attacks and Dexterity saves, and attacks against it have Advantage. Fighting at a cave mouth turns the ape into a much easier fight.
• •Target its mind. It has no saving throw proficiencies and Intelligence 5 or 7. Its Charisma (−2) is low, so Banishment removes it on a failed save. Dominate Beast works on its +1 Wisdom, though it has Advantage on the save while you're fighting it.
• •Make friends instead. Animal Friendship works on the 2024 ape (Wisdom save) but fails automatically on the 2014 ape, because the 2014 spell doesn't affect beasts with Intelligence 4 or higher. Speak with Animals works in both editions and can turn a territorial ape into a negotiation.

What doesn't work: Suggestion needs a target that can understand you, and the ape has no language.

Polymorph Into a Giant Ape

Polymorph is a 4th-level spell that turns a creature into a beast with a CR no higher than the target's own CR or level. A giant ape is CR 7, so a level 7 or higher ally qualifies, and a level 7 wizard (the earliest that can cast 4th-level spells) can turn the party's fighter into one. The rules differ a lot by edition.

Either way, the target gets AC 12, two 22-damage fists, a climb speed and a huge pool of extra hit points. For a level 7 fighter with around 60 hit points, 157 or 168 more hit points is well over triple their durability.

Why the giant ape over other forms? The tyrannosaurus rex (CR 8) deals more damage per round (33 bite + 20 or 25 tail) but needs an ally of level 8 and has 136 hit points. At level 7 the giant ape is the highest-CR beast in either SRD a target can become (the next step down is the CR 6 mammoth), and it climbs. Its weakness is AC 12: the ape-shaped fighter gets hit a lot, which is fine while the temporary pool lasts.

Protect the caster. The spell is concentration. Enemies that know what's happening go after the wizard, not the ape. A failed concentration save ends the transformation instantly.

Wild Shape? No. The SRD's Wild Shape tops out at CR 1 (druid level 8). A giant ape is a Polymorph or True Polymorph form, not a Wild Shape.

Giant Ape Encounter Ideas

The temple guardian. A jungle temple's stepped pyramid has a giant ape living on its upper tiers. It isn't guarding the temple; it's guarding its young in the shrine at the top. The party can fight up the steps under Boulder Toss, sneak up the far side during its afternoon sleep, or bring enough fruit and patience to get past with Speak with Animals.

The arena. A gladiator pit in a desert city pits a captured giant ape against the party's champion. The crowd wants a show. The ape has been starved for three days. The party's friend on the inside has slipped the champion a scroll of Polymorph: ape against ape.

The broken wall. Something has been knocking stones off the city's outer wall at night. It's a giant ape climbing the wall to reach the garbage pits behind the butchers' quarter. The city guard wants it dead. A druid in the party might notice it has a collar mark: someone's lost pet, and that someone may want it back.

If the party ends up adopting the ape, or meets its owner three sessions later, Loreify can record the session and track every NPC and creature the party has met.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a giant ape in 5e?

A giant ape is CR 7 (2,900 XP) in both editions. It has AC 12, and 157 hit points in 2014 or 168 in 2024.

What level do you need to Polymorph into a giant ape?

The target's level must be 7 or higher, because the new form's CR can't exceed the target's level (or CR). The caster also needs 4th-level spell slots, which full casters get at level 7.

How much damage does a giant ape do?

Each fist deals 22 (3d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage at +9 to hit, and it attacks twice per turn, for 44 if both hit. The 2014 rock deals 30 to one target; the 2024 Boulder Toss deals 24 to everyone in a 5-foot-radius sphere on a failed DC 17 Dexterity save.

Can a druid Wild Shape into a giant ape?

Not under the SRD rules. Wild Shape in both SRDs maxes out at CR 1. The giant ape is CR 7.

What is the difference between an ape and a giant ape?

An ape is a Medium CR 1/2 beast with 19 hit points. A giant ape is a Huge CR 7 beast with 157 or 168 hit points and 22-damage fists. They share a climb speed and Athletics, and the ape works as a giant ape's troop.

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.