Blob Of Annihilation: Absorbing To Oblivion With This New D&D 2024 Ooze

Absorb, engulf, annihilate, repeat with this brand new, high level ooze from the 2024 Monster Manual.

Oozes haven’t had much love in D&D so far. True, the gelatinous cube is pretty iconic and can often be found lurking in dungeons, absorbing hapless adventurers and slowly digesting their living bodies. But apart from that, there’s only a handful of options for DMs to chuck at you.

That doesn’t change dramatically in the 2024 Monster Manual. The good news though is you do get a CR23 titan of an ooze in the form of the blob of annihilation. This is a cosmic terror of a blob, the kind of thing that entire cities evacuated from.

Capable of literally oozing along and consuming just about everything in its path, this slimey gargantuan is an absolutely terrifying foe! It’s said that only items of great magic and the bodies of gods can possibly survive being absorbed by a blob of annihilation, though this has led foolhardy treasure hunters to seek fortunes untold from within these blobs.

Thankfully, blobs of annihilation tend to travel from cosmos to cosmos in the multiverse, rarely happening upon inhabited worlds. Normally when they do find civilisation, it’s due to the meddling of ambitious spellcasters, summoning one of these creatures for their own purposes. Of course, they are in the Monster Manual, so there’s every chance you might encounter one in your games, meaning you’d best be prepared!

What abilities does the blob of annihilation have?

Below I’ve outlined the blob of annihilation’s main capabilities:

Immune to almost all conditions – It’s immune to almost every condition in the book! There are only 4 exceptions; blinded, deafened, incapacitated (because there’s got to be some way to defeat it) and invisible (in case you want that city to get destroyed and not know what was coming…). I imagine any Spellcaster capable of summoning a blob of annihilation is also capable of casting greater invisibility… So beware, and sorry I put that idea in your DM’s mind!
High initiative – +16 initiative means these guys will often be going early in combat, so beware some first turn devastation!
Resistance to weapon attacks – They’re resistant to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, so you’ll want to use more than just standard weapon damage.
Some damage immunities too – They’re completely immune to acid, necrotic and poison damage (sorry necromancers).
They see all – With blindsight, they can sense you whether you’re hiding or invisible, but only up to 120ft. Beyond that and you can hide just fine.
Great against saving throws – Even if you can avoid their condition immunities, the blob of annihilation has magic resistance (so advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects) and legendary resistance 4 times a day.
They’re quick – Don’t let that 30ft move speed fool you, with engulf, they can move 60ft each turn (while engulfing all in their path).
Perma-death! – If you get engulfed and can’t escape in time, then you are dissolved into ash and your remnants dispersed into the astral sea! There ain’t no resurrection spell that’s going to bring you back from that! So don’t get engulfed! And If you do, get out quick!
Long distance lobbing – The blob can lob parts of itself up to 600ft to catch enemies and roll them back towards itself. So while deadlier at close range, it’s capable of causing you trouble at long range too!
Legendary actions – Be aware of out of turn attacks, especially as the blob can focus on decaying creatures even more or lob even more blobs!

Tactics for fighting the blob of annihilation

The blob of annihilation is a nasty foe, but with the right tactics, a high level party and a bit of luck, you can survive!

Range is your friend – You want to avoid getting engulfed at all costs. This is where the blob of annihilation is at its most deadly! The challenge here is between 60ft of movement and restraining blob, it can engulf you if you’re within 120ft! So you want to keep at least 125ft away at the end of your turn!
Split up – Engulf can affect every creature in the blob’s path, so don’t stand together enjoying the paladin’s aura! Split up so it can only engulf one of you at a time.
If you do get caught, not all is lost – It may be a DC23 saving throw, but you can escape. Anything that enhances your saving throws will help. This means things like bardic inspiration or blessing. Failing that, you can use teleportation, but be aware that engulfed creatures are suffocating so can’t cast spells with verbal components so misty step is out. But there are many other ways to teleport.
Don’t bother with saving throws – Yes, you could try blinding the thing and that could be slightly handy (though it does have blindsight), but between magic resistance, legendary resistance and condition immunities, you’re better of with spell attacks than spell saving throws. If you must use a saving throw though, intelligence, wisdom and charisma are your best options.
Use the right damage types – You’ll want your weapon attacks firing on all cylinders so try and get some different damage types on them (like force). Just avoid acid, necrotic and poison damage entirely!
Get your allies out before you kill it – When the blob of annihilation goes down to 0hp, it implodes, sending everything engulfed within it into the astral sea. So don’t leave your friends inside while you’re busy killing it!

The blob of annihilation is a truly gargantuan foe capable of consuming entire cities and decimating them through absorption. What do you think of this new boss level ooze? Let me know in the comments below.