Aasimar Great Old One Patron Warlock Build Guide

Levels 1-4

Start with 15 Charisma, 14 Dexterity, and 13 Constitution. Your Aasimar racials will bump your Charisma to 17. At Level 1, take Eldritch Blast and Hex. Level 3 is where your subclass comes online. The Great Old One grants you Awakened Mind for silent, telepathic communication, and a suite of Psychic Spells. Immediately pick up Dissonant Whispers; forcing enemies to flee triggers opportunity attacks for your melee allies. At Level 4, take the Telekinetic feat to round your Charisma to 18. This gives you a reliable bonus action shove to push enemies back into your area-of-effect spells.

Levels 5-10

At Level 5, you gain access to Hunger of Hadar via your expanded spell list. Combine this with your Aasimar Celestial Revelation to fly above the blinding void, dragging enemies back inside with the Repelling Blast invocation. Level 6 brings Clairvoyant Combatant. This feature completely changes your skirmishing game: hit a creature with an attack, gain advantage on attacks against them for the turn, and completely shut down their opportunity attacks against you. At Level 10, you receive Thought Shield for psychic resistance, and the incredible Eldritch Hex. You can now use a bonus action on a cursed target to give them disadvantage on saving throws against one ability—a devastating setup for your control spells.

Levels 11-16

Level 11 unlocks your 6th-level Mystic Arcanum. Mass Suggestion is the premier choice, requiring no concentration and synergizing flawlessly with the flavor of an alien mind-controller. At Level 12, take Resilient (Constitution) to bump your CON to 14 and protect your concentration on Evard's Black Tentacles. Level 13 brings 7th-level spells; take Forcecage to trap enemies while you safely pelt them from your Aasimar flight. By Level 16, maximize your Charisma to 20 if you haven't already, ensuring your Psychic Spells have the highest possible save DC.

Levels 17-20

At Level 17, your 9th-level Mystic Arcanum should be Foresight or Psychic Scream. Psychic Scream fits the GOOlock theme perfectly and targets Intelligence saves, which most monsters fail. Level 19 is your final Ability Score Improvement; pick up Alert to ensure you can drop your battlefield control spells before the enemy team disperses. By Level 20, your Eldritch Master feature ensures you can recover your spell slots, keeping your Eldritch Hex and Hunger of Hadar combinations ready for back-to-back boss fights.

Cantrips

Take Eldritch Blast as your primary damage engine. Mind Sliver is non-negotiable for a GOOlock; targeting Intelligence and subtracting 1d4 from the target's next saving throw perfectly sets up your devastating Psychic Spells.

Level 1-2 Spells

Your GOO spell list gives you Dissonant Whispers and Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Keep Hex prepared purely to activate your Level 10 Eldritch Hex feature later. Phantasmal Force is an excellent Level 2 option that targets Intelligence and can completely neutralize a low-INT brute.

Level 3-5 Spells

Hunger of Hadar is your signature Level 3 control spell. At Level 4, swap out lower-level options for Evard's Black Tentacles. At Level 5, Synaptic Static acts as a psychic fireball that also debuffs enemy attack rolls, heavily mitigating incoming damage alongside your Celestial Resistance.

High-Level Spells

For your Mystic Arcana, rely on Mass Suggestion (Level 6), Forcecage (Level 7), Maddening Darkness (Level 8), and Psychic Scream (Level 9). Maddening Darkness creates a massive sphere of magical darkness and psychic damage that you can safely hover above using your Aasimar flight.

Telekinetic

Take this at Level 4. It provides a +1 to Charisma and a bonus action 5-foot shove. Because you rely on stationary hazards like Hunger of Hadar and Evard's Black Tentacles, pushing an enemy back into the hazard on your turn is a massive boost to your sustained damage and control.

Resilient (Constitution)

Take this at Level 8 or 12. As a Warlock, you have very few spell slots. Losing concentration on Hunger of Hadar because you took a stray arrow is devastating. This feat secures your concentration checks and rounds out an odd Constitution score.

Fey Touched

If you don't take Telekinetic, take Fey Touched. The +1 Charisma is vital, but getting a free casting of Misty Step saves you from wasting your precious Warlock slots on mobility. Silvery Barbs is the ideal 1st-level spell choice to force rerolls on your powerful GOO enchantment spells.

Tier 1 (Levels 1-4)

Seek out a Bloodwell Vial +1 or a Rod of the Pact Keeper +1 immediately. The Rod increases your spell save DC, which is critical since GOOlocks rely heavily on saving throw spells like Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Dissonant Whispers.

Tier 2 (Levels 5-10)

Upgrade to a Rod of the Pact Keeper +2. Look for Winged Boots; while your Aasimar Celestial Revelation grants temporary flight, Winged Boots provide sustained aerial superiority, letting you save your racial ability for emergencies. A Ring of Protection pairs nicely with your Celestial Resistance to keep you alive.

Tier 3 (Levels 11-16)

Try to acquire Illusionist's Bracers. By this tier, your Eldritch Blast fires three beams. The bracers let you cast it again as a bonus action, effectively doubling your single-target damage and fully capitalizing on the advantage granted by Clairvoyant Combatant.

Tier 4 (Levels 17-20)

A Robe of the Archmagi is the pinnacle of Warlock gear, boosting your AC, spell save DC, and granting advantage on saves against spells. Pair this with a Staff of Power to become an untouchable, flying psychic god.

The Aasimar Great Old One Warlock is a premier Controller. Your job is not to deal the highest burst damage, but to dictate the flow of the battlefield, stripping away enemy agency with Psychic Spells and punishing terrain.

You desperately want a Paladin or Rogue in your party. When you cast Dissonant Whispers, the target must use its reaction to flee, provoking opportunity attacks. A Rogue can apply Sneak Attack on this reaction, and a Paladin can drop a Divine Smite, turning your 1st-level spell slot into massive party-wide burst damage.

You also pair beautifully with forced-movement martials like a Swarmkeeper Ranger or a Fighter with the Crusher feat. You drop Evard's Black Tentacles or Hunger of Hadar, take to the sky with Celestial Revelation, and let your allies push enemies back into the meat grinder whenever they manage to escape.

Aberrant Mind Sorcerer 3

Taking a 3-level dip in Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is a thematic slam dunk that also provides mechanical gold. You gain the Shield spell to stack with your Celestial Resistance, and low-level spell slots to cast Hex or Dissonant Whispers without burning your precious Warlock Pact Magic slots. Font of Magic also lets you convert unneeded low-level slots into sorcery points.

Fighter 2

Starting as a Fighter at Level 1 gives you heavy armor and Constitution saving throw proficiency. Taking the second level grants Action Surge. You can cast Evard's Black Tentacles with your first action, Action Surge, and immediately cast Eldritch Blast to push enemies into the tentacles using Repelling Blast.

• Misunderstanding Eldritch Hex: At Level 10, Eldritch Hex lets you give disadvantage on saving throws against one ability. Players often choose the ability the monster is best at. Instead, target the ability of the next spell you plan to cast. If you plan to cast Dominate Beast, give them disadvantage on Wisdom saves!
• Wasting Misty Step to escape melee: Don't forget your Level 6 Clairvoyant Combatant feature. If you deal damage to a creature, they can't make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of the turn. Just hit them with an Eldritch Blast and walk away safely.
• Ignoring Healing Hands: Warlocks lack innate healing. Your Aasimar Healing Hands is a free pool of d4s. Don't hoard it for yourself; fly over with Celestial Revelation and use it to stand up a downed Cleric or Paladin.
• Assuming Awakened Mind is a universal translator: Your Level 3 telepathy lets you speak to creatures, but they must understand at least one language. You cannot use it to give complex commands to a mindless beast or a construct that speaks no languages.