[sector24]

All of the early game summons are meat; they exist to take damage and die for your amusement. That can be useful if you have something worth protecting like archers but it is still inefficient. Your best bets are:

Cave Drakes: 22 Protection lets them last a little longer than other meat.
Vine Ogres: High HP but they fall very quickly. Much better if you are an Ivy Lord.
Bane Summons: These are all pretty decent actually, but there's a strong draw to add equipment to them which bumps up their cost.

Most of the time you are better off with a battle summon. Sprites are going to be much more useful as a meat shield than Vine Men or Vine Ogres. An Air Elemental is more cost efficient than a Wyvern, etc.