This document describes techniques and apparatuses for a Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). These techniques include a user device transmitting a request to a base station for a UE-specific PDCCH format. In aspects, the user device transmits an uplink Radio Resource Control (RRC) message or a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). The base station can then grant the user device a particular PDCCH format, based on the request, by using downlink RRC messages or a MAC CE. This allows the user device to identify the UE-specific PDCCH format and an appropriate aggregation level with which to decode messages on the PDCCH. These techniques reduce the amount of power consumed when decoding the messages on PDCCH in comparison to conventional techniques that rely on blind decoding.