10 Deadliest Monsters In D&D's 2025 Monster Manual

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have released the 2025 edition of their Monster Manual, which contains a menagerie of the deadliest creatures a party could encounter. From horrific monstrosities to cunning devils, the 2025 Monster Manual sees returning favorites come back with new abilities alongside brand-new monsters to face. The strongest stat blocks in this book are only for the strongest heroes who can take down the greatest threats to the world.

Every monster in has a Challenge Rating (CR) tied to their stat block. This determines a recommended level at which your party of at least four characters should be before taking on a monster. However, some monsters are so strong that they have a CR higher than 20, the highest player character level. These are the apex creatures who can shake worlds by their mere presence alone.

One of the strongest new creatures in the 2025 Monster Manual is the Arch-Hag, the wicked leader of hag covens. These monsters are the apex of hags, wielding multiple powerful spells when fighting alongside at least two hag allies. Hags are already hard enough to kill permanently, but the Arch-Hag makes this task even more difficult with certain spells at its disposal, including:

Furthermore, an Arch-Hag can use the Spiteful Escape ability to flee to a demiplane instead of dying in battle. While it can't return to the plane it was defeated on for 2d6 days, anyone within 60ft of its Escape becomes cursed during that time. While a creature is cursed this way, they have disadvantage on Ability Checks and Saving Throws while the Arch-Hag knows its location anywhere in the multiverse to plot its revenge.

With the release of the 2025 Monster Manual for Dungeons and Dragons, the groups of monster types have been redefined in alignment with other changes.

Any cursed creature that tries to fight the Arch-Hag again also takes lightning damage if they get within 60ft of it, courtesy of the hag's Witch Strike ability. The Arch-Hag can also use its Reaction to cast Counterspell against a