The Custody Battle - Tav
“I’ve got a lot on my mind. And, well… in it.”
Various forces are staking their claim on Tav’s soul, who is a Great Old One Warlock with a brain riddled with tadpoles. No weapons are required to shred through a battlefield when you’ve got Illithid powers and Eldritch Blast at the ready.
Gameplay Notes
At its core, this is an Eldritch Blaster build with as many unlocked Illithid powers as possible. Great Old One’s physic damage resistance and general vibe make for a strong Warlock build to pair with powerful abilities like Cull The Weak, Black Hole, Psionic Overload, etc. — you’ll end up with an arsenal at your disposal. This build assumes you get the Awakened buff from the Zaith'isk in Act 1, so Illithid powers are less costly! Also, it does not itemize towards Reverberation or Radiating Orb, because I think that’s boring and irrelevant to the theming here.
Stats and Leveling
Final build: Level 12 Great Old One Warlock
Tav’s stats: STR 10 / DEX 14 / CON 15 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 17
Level 1 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 1
- Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Friends
- 1st Level Spells [Hex is a classic]
Level 2 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 2
- Eldritch Invocations: Agonising Blast and Repelling Blast
Level 3 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 3
- Pact Boon: Pact of the Chain [mostly just for a lil friend]
- 2nd Level Spells [Cloud of Daggers is very strong]
Level 4 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 4
- Feat: ASI+ CHA>18, CON>16
- Cantrips: add Minor Illusion [I guess]
Level 5 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 5
- Eldritch Invocations: add Mask of Many Faces [weird pick, but fun!]
- 3rd Level Spells
Level 6 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 6
- Entropic Ward
Level 7 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 7
- Eldritch Invocation: add Armour of Shadows
- 4th Level Spells
Level 8 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 8
- Feat: ASI+ CHA>20
Level 9 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 9
- Eldritch Invocation: add Whispers of the Grave
- 5th Level Spells [Dominate Person feels right for this build]
Level 10 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 10
- Thought Shield
Level 11 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 11
- Mystic Arcanum [Eyebite fits the theme]
Level 12 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 12
- Feat: Spell Sniper or Lucky [for funsies]
- Eldritch Invocation: add Book of Ancient Secrets
Illithid Powers
Eat as many tadpoles as possible, and be sure to get the Awakened buff from the Zaith'isk in Act 1! In the spirit of transparency, I personally hate using Illithid powers in most playthroughs and tend to ignore them entirely, so I am not the expert here and plenty of other people have done great analyses of which powers to take first, etc. That being said, my favorite Illithid Powers for this build are:
- Luck of the Far Realms
- Psionic Overload [especially after level 10, when you have Psychic Resistance]
- Cull the Weak
- Psionic Dominance [Counterspell is really expensive for Warlocks, so use this instead]
- Black Hole [so fun]
- Mind Blast
Items
Armor - Potent Robe (2 Last Light/Alfira)
Melee Weapon -
- Caitiff Staff (3 Devil’s Fee)
- Shield of Shielding (3 Stormshore Tabernacle) [if you have racial proficiency in shields]
Ranged Weapon - Bow of the Banshee (2 Grymforge) [why would you ever use a ranged weapon though]
Amulet -
- Amulet of Misty Step (1 Goblin Camp) [helpful, but not important]
- Fey Semblance Amulet (3 Hag) [offsets Risky Ring]
Helmet - Birthright (3 Sorcerous Sundries)
Ring 1 - Risky Ring (2 Moonrise Towers) [offsets Spellmight Gloves]
Ring 2 - After Death Do Us Part (3 Lady Jannath’s Estate) [this is a bit of a meme pick, but does fit the vibe of the build… so…]
Gloves - Spellmight Gloves (3 Circus)
Boots - Disintegrating Night Walkers (1 Grymforge) [or something random like Mystra’s Grace (1 Arcane Tower) if another party member needs the good boots]
Cloak - Cloak of the Weave (3 Devil’s Fee) [not necessary for the build, just nice to have]
Lore and Flavor
Tav is, of course, a blank slate lore-wise. But that just means we get to write our own! For this build specifically, something about the idea of having a warlock patron and the threat of ceremorphosis looming being flavored as a custody battle for Tav’s soul makes me absolutely enthralled. [somewhat sorry for the pun] Whenever I play this build, I also make sure to sell Tav’s soul to Raphael as well, just for a bit of extra credit. It helps that it’s a super strong build that itemizes well in game, so you never feel underpowered even though it’s prioritizing story.
I picked Great Old One because I didn’t want to step on Wyll’s toes and have another Fiend Warlock, but also because I think the Psychic damage resistance pairs well thematically with the Illithid powers.