Marilith 5e: Stats, Six Swords and the Math Behind Them

A marilith is a CR 16 Large demon (15,000 XP) with AC 18, 189 hit points and six arms that make its Multiattack the busiest in the SRD: six longsword attacks plus a tail that grapples and restrains. Two traits make it hard to pin down in melee. Reactive gives it a reaction on every turn, not just once per round, and Parry spends that reaction to add 5 to its AC against a melee hit. The 2024 marilith trades AC 18 for AC 16 but has 220 HP, adds necrotic damage to every blade, and teleports as a bonus action.

Table of Contents

• •Marilith Stat Block (2014)
• •Marilith in the 2024 Rules
• •How the Marilith Fights
• •Running a Marilith Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Marilith
• •Marilith Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Marilith Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 marilith.

Each longsword is modest: +9 to hit, 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing. There are six of them. Add the tail and the full Multiattack is 93 damage if every attack lands, spread across as many targets as are within 5 feet. The tail is the piece that changes everything. It has 10-foot reach, and a Medium or smaller creature it hits is grappled (escape DC 19) and restrained. Until the grapple ends, the marilith hits that creature with the tail automatically every turn.

The defenses are the 2014 demon package plus extras: resistance to cold, fire and lightning and to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks, poison immunity, Magic Resistance, truesight 120 feet, and save proficiency in Strength, Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma. Its unproficient saves are Dexterity (+5) and Intelligence (+4).

Marilith in the 2024 Rules

Two changes matter most. Damage per Multiattack went from 93 to 117 if everything lands (102 from blades plus 15 from Constrict). And teleport became a bonus action, so the 2024 marilith can jump 120 feet onto the wizard and still swing six blades the same turn. The 2014 marilith has to spend its whole action to teleport.

The grapple got easier to escape (DC 14 instead of 19) but harder to avoid: Constrict is a Strength save, so it can't miss on a bad attack roll, and a wizard with a -1 Strength save fails DC 17 about 85% of the time.

How the Marilith Fights

The Multiattack in numbers. Against AC 19 (a well-armored level 15 character):

Restraining the target is worth 25 to 40 extra damage a turn. In 2014, make the tail attack first. If it hits, the six blades get advantage. In 2024, resolve Constrict first for the same reason.

Split the blades when it helps. Six attacks don't have to go at one target. A marilith surrounded by three characters can put two blades into each, or finish off a wounded one with two blades and spend the rest on someone healthy. Concentrating casters within 5 feet face up to six separate concentration saves in one turn.

Reactive plus Parry. A normal creature gets one reaction per round. The marilith gets one on every turn, so in a round with four characters it can Parry once on each of their turns. Parry adds 5 AC against one melee attack that hits. Against a +11 attacker and the 2014 AC 18, a hit on 7 or more becomes a hit on 12 or more, so Parry turns about 36% of the hits it's used on into misses. Use it on the attack carrying the smite, the sneak attack or the critical.

Reactive also means a reaction for opportunity attacks every turn. A character who walks away from a marilith will get hit by one, unless the marilith already parried that turn.

Use teleport as a weapon. The 2024 marilith should teleport onto whoever is casting from range, especially anyone concentrating. The 2014 version teleports to escape: when it drops below a third of its hit points, it vanishes 120 feet and rejoins its minions.

Climb (2024). A climbing speed of 40 lets the 2024 marilith fight from walls, pillars and ceilings in a temple or fortress, staying out of reach of characters who can't climb or fly.

Running a Marilith Encounter

A marilith is 15,000 XP. For four characters under the 2024 budget:

At level 13, the vrocks give the marilith what it lacks: area control. Vrocks' Stunning Screech can't stun demons, so the marilith fights inside it, and a stunned character gives the marilith advantage on every blade.

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), one marilith against four level 13 characters is Hard (13,600 to 20,399) and against four level 15 characters is Medium (11,200 to 17,199). Adding two vrocks doubles the group XP to 39,200, far past Deadly for level 13.

How Players Beat a Marilith

• •Fight it from range. Parry only works against melee attacks. Arrows, Eldritch Blast and attack spells ignore it, and characters more than 10 feet away (5 feet in 2024) can't be grabbed by the tail.
• •Grow out of the grapple. The tail and Constrict only grab Medium or smaller creatures. Enlarge makes a Medium character Large and immune to the grab. Freedom of Movement prevents the Restrained condition and lets a grappled creature escape with 5 feet of movement.
• •Target Dexterity and Intelligence. Its Dexterity save is only +5. Disintegrate uses a Dexterity save and deals force damage, which it doesn't resist. Fireball and Lightning Bolt also target Dexterity, but it resists fire and lightning, so they deal half.
• •Bait the reaction. Reactive gives one reaction per turn, not unlimited. The first melee hit on a character's turn may get parried. The second won't be. Attack with a weaker hit first, then use the big one.
• •Clear the minions first. The marilith with vrocks and dretches around it is much stronger than one alone. Banishment on the marilith (Charisma +10 with advantage) rarely works, so use it on a vrock instead and focus the marilith with damage.

Marilith Encounter Ideas

The general's tent. A demon army camps in a dead forest. The marilith commands from a ruined watchtower, with vrocks circling overhead and dretches dug in around the base. The party's mission is to reach the tower and end the fight before the vrocks notice and dive. Every round of noise brings one more vrock.

The temple of pillars (2024). A marilith coils around the top of a 30-foot pillar in a flooded temple, attacking characters who wade past. It climbs and teleports between pillars faster than the party can wade, and it can drag anyone it constricts up the pillar, out of the party's reach. The fight is about getting a character with a climb or fly speed up there before the restrained one drops.

The duel. A marilith offers to let the rest of the party walk away if their best fighter beats her in single combat. She fights fair, by her own definition: Parry and the tail are both "her own weapons." The rest of the party is free to watch, or to break the deal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a marilith in 5e?

A marilith is CR 16 and worth 15,000 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

How many attacks does a marilith get?

In 2014, seven: six longsword attacks and one tail attack. In 2024, six Pact Blade attacks plus Constrict, which forces a Strength save instead of making an attack roll.

How does the marilith's Reactive trait work?

Reactive lets the marilith take one reaction on every turn of combat instead of one per round. It can Parry or make an opportunity attack on each creature's turn, though only once per turn.

How much damage does a marilith do per turn?

If every attack hits, 93 damage in 2014 and 117 in 2024 (102 from blades plus 15 from Constrict). Against AC 19, expect about 51 (2014) to 61 (2024) on an unrestrained target and 77 to 100 on a restrained one.

What changed for the marilith in 2024?

AC dropped from 18 to 16, HP rose from 189 to 220, the blades add 2d6 necrotic, the tail became Constrict with a Strength save, teleport became a bonus action on Recharge 5-6, and it gained a climb speed of 40 feet.

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.