Wizard 5e - D&D Class Optimisation Guide

Tap into the weave with this magical spellcasting class

Wizards are the magical scholars of the D&D universe. They’re educated in the ways of magic using spells as a tool to further their own pursuits. Unlike sorcerers (who inherit their magical abilities) and warlocks (who are gifted it in a pact), wizards dedicate themselves to endless study to access the powers of magic. As such, wizards are capable of hugely powerful feats of arcana, but are rarely prepared to go toe to toe in melee combat.

Weirdly, wizards in popular culture are often named something different. For example, the sorcerer supreme, Dr Strange, is in fact a wizard by D&D standards. Harry Potter on the other hand, is not a wizard but a sorcerer (as his magical gifts are innate). With such differing definitions though, the lines can often become blurred with even the likes of Gandalf who appears to have his magical abilities more innately, likely being a sorcerer too.

If you’re looking for a powerful and highly specialised spellcasting class, then a wizard is a great option. Our guide below will take you through the steps of creating a highly optimised and powerful wizard.

At a glance

Evoker wizard DnD 2024 — Elf Evoker wizard: Wizards of the Coast

Choose a wizard if you want…

To cast lots of spells
Want more spell options than any other class
To be great at most facets of spellcasting

A wizard might not be for you if…

A martial class
A durable character
Don’t want to play a spellcaster
Want to play a healer

For a more detailed look at a Wizard’s capabilities, I’ve put together the scoring matrix below. This rates wizards on different features and abilities to give you a clear idea of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. For a full comparison of all classes and their capabilities, you can check out our class guide:

Class ratings (out of 5)

Combat

Armor class: 1
Weapon damage: 1
Durability: 1
Mobility: 3
Combat abilities: 2

Spellcasting

Spells known: 5
Spell slots: 4
Spell damage: 4
Spell buffs: 4
Spell debuffs: 4
Spell healing: 1
Battlefield control spells: 5
Out of combat spells: 4

Out of combat

Face abilities: 2
Skills: 2
Out of combat abilities: 1

How have we worked out these scores?

We’ve reviewed and played all the officially released D&D 5e classes and looked at a typical build for these class types. Because subclasses offer a lot of variety, we’ve had to exclude these from our considerations.

There is an exception here as the artificer is shaped hugely by their subclass. When it comes to something like weapon damage, we’ve had to take into consideration the fact that most artificers are decent with weapons, but an alchemist would probably only score a 2, even if the other artificer subclasses would score a 3.

We’ve scored each attribute out of 5 with a score of 5 reserved for classes that are the very best at that attribute. There’s some judgement required here. For example, a druid is typically a 3 in mobility (average mobility), but with wildshape, they can fly and swim quicker (and just travel faster). This elevates their score in our minds, even if they don’t consistently have these levels of mobility.

It’s important to understand though, that these scores are not hard and fast. Obtaining feats and pumping more into certain ability scores can turn any class into a decent face, for example. Different subclasses will also make a class better at different things (like an eldritch knight gaining spellcasting) but we feel that these scores represent most typical versions of their class.

Strengths

Wizards are a highly specialised class, possibly more so than any other class. They’re there to cast spells and that’s about it. Thankfully, spells have wide and varied uses in D&D so there’s plenty for you to do. However, unlike sorcerers, with access to strong face skills or clerics that can operate as a bit of a tank, wizards really are just spell-focused. Below are the main strengths you’ll want to rely on as a wizard:

Huge repertoire of spells: Wizards are magical scholars, learning a vast array of spells. In fact, their number of spells learnt is the highest of any class and they can change their spell list during each long rest allowing you to adapt to the demands of the following. Ritual casting also gives you even more options for spells if you have the time.
Spells for any situation: While some spellcasters are highly focused in the spells available to them, like clerics with their healing or bards with their buffs, wizards can fill just about any spellcasting need with the exception of healing.
Control the battlefield: With such an array of spells, and a class that wants to stay firmly away from the enemy, you can focus on influencing the battlefield with concentration spells to aid your allies and thwart your enemies. Consider the likes of darkness on some enemy archers or web on a group of melee specialists so your martials can focus on dealing with less enemies at a time. It’s not all about blasting your enemies to smithereens with a fireball.
Or just use fireball anyway: Of course, it very much can be about blasting your enemies with a fireball if that’s what the situation needs. Wizards are capable of high levels of damage and fireball is a great example of this. It can be an effective, early combat spell to thin the crowd before your martials get in the way. There are loads of other ways to dole out the damage too from basic cantrips (to preserve those precious spell slots) to the likes of finger of death or disintegrate.

Weaknesses

Wizards are a highly specialised class. What they do well, they do really well (spellcasting), but what they don’t do well, they do really poorly:

Durability: With just d6 hit dice and no armor proficiency, wizards, alongside sorcerers, are the least durable class in the game. A good saving throw proficiency (wisdom) only make up for this shortfall by a small amount. A bit of dexterity and some spells that enhance your AC (like mage armor and shield) will help, but let’s be honest, wizards aren’t very tough and your party will need to protect them.
Weapons: Wizards are pretty rubbish when it comes to any kind of armed combat. About your only decent option is a light crossbow (as long as you’ve invested a bit in dexterity, which you really should). At low levels, it can do more damage than your best cantrips. But once your cantrips get more powerful at level 5, light crossbows become relatively redundant unless you get caught in an anti-magic field.
Reliant on spell slots: When spell slots dry up, wizards become much less effective. This means a lot of resource management to unleash your power during important moments.

The above tackles a typical wizard build, but with subclasses and multi-classing, there are some interesting and unique wizard builds available to allow you to excel in different areas.

If you think a wizard isn’t for you, not to worry, there are 12 other classes for you to pick from, just check out our class guide to find out about all of them. Some great alternatives to the spell-focused wizard include; bards, clerics, druids, warlocks and sorcerers.

Getting the most out of a wizard’s features

Halfling Illusionist wizard DnD 2024 — Illusionist wizard: Wizards of the Coast

Party Role	Utility, Spell Damage Dealer, Control
Main Ability	Intelligence
Saving Throws	Intelligence, Wisdom
Hit Dice	1d6 + Consitution modifier per level
HP at 1st Level	6 + Constitution Modifier
Spell Casting Ability	Intelligence
Armour Proficiency	None
Weapon Proficiency	Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows

Wizards don’t really get any features outside of spellcasting. Even their features not called “spellcasting” are about spellcasting. I’ve outlined below how you can properly take advantage of these features, but much of the mileage you get from this class is going to come from the spells you choose.

Spellcasting – Level 1

For wizards, it’s all about their spellcasting, but there are so many options to choose from, especially for a wizard. Thankfully, I’ve picked out some of the best options at each level for you to use.

Cantrips

Toll the dead – Your best option for a pure damage cantrip.
Mage hand – Really versatile and often useful to get the things you can’t easily reach otherwise.
Mind sliver – Lower damage than firebolt, but usually more reliable at dealing damage as it requires an intelligence saving throw (which are typically low). Combine it with your friends as they try and impose conditions on the target as it makes their saving throws worse.
Minor illusion – Great utility spell if you’re creative enough to take advantage of it.

Level 1

Absorb elements – Great defensive spell and it’s a reaction which helps your action economy.
Find familiar – A useful asset for you to just keep around and provide ongoing uses of the help action. You can also send it out scouting or skulking in places others can’t reach.
Magic missile – Solid damage and extremely reliable for hitting your target.
Shield – Excellent defensive spell.
Silvery barbs – Simultaneously grant disadvantage on an enemy and advantage on an ally as a reaction is very powerful.

Level 2

Enhance ability – Very versatile buff that can help with social encounters, grappling tactics, endurance and a bunch of other things too.
Earthbind – Great foil for flying enemies that can otherwise be very problematic.
Invisibility – Excellent for scouting, sneaking and escaping.
Misty step – Great spell for escaping your enemies or getting to hard to reach places.
See invisibility – Great way to tackle invisible foes.
Vortex warp – Teleport your enemies and make things awkward for them.
Web – Great crowd control spell to keep your enemies from moving around or getting too close.

Level 3

Counterspell – Essential defence against magic.
Dispel magic – Crucial for any party.
Enemies abound – Excellent way to both nullify a big scary enemy and have it cause damage to your other enemies.
Fireball – AoE spell with big damage! Practically a no-brainer.
Haste – Brilliant buff to help your allies out.
Hypnotic pattern – Manage a large group of enemies by disabling them in combat.

Level 4

Banishment – An excellent save or suck spell that can completely remove an enemy from the mix for an entire encounter.
Greater invisibility – Powerful way to tackle invisibility in combat.
Phantasmal killer – Great save or suck spell that also damages at the same time. Target burly, low wisdom enemies for maximum impact.
Polymorph – Great way to take an enemy out of combat or enhance an ally.
Wall of fire – Great for crowd control and some potential damage to boot.

Level 5

Bigby’s hand – Great source of continuous damage and grappling at the cost of a single spell slot.
Hold monster – Great way to disable a single nasty enemy.
Wall of force – Great way to separate enemies allowing you to tackle a few at a time.
Wall of stone – A great big wall can be very effective for battlefield control.

Level 6

Chain lightning – Lots of damage and you can throw it into a big crowd of enemies and allies and only hit your enemies.
Disintegrate – Devastatingly high damage on a single enemy.
Eyebite – Continuously putting enemies to sleep is great and just costs a single spell slot.
Mental prison – Great option for keeping a particularly deadly enemy out of combat.

Level 7

Draconic transformation – A breath weapon as powerful as a fireball every turn with your bonus action, plus flight and blindsight.
Forcecage – Hugely powerful spell for trapping enemies (or protecting allies within its walls).
Reverse gravity – A hugely problematic AoE spell to effectively take multiple enemies out of combat.
Plane shift – Travel to another plane with the casting of a spell.

Level 8

Clone – Create another version of you (or someone else). It’s not only a wonderful insurance policy (in case you die) but also a combat asset too.
Dominate monster – Bend a powerful monster to your will to not only take an enemy out of the mix, but have it fight for you.
Illusory dragon – Causing frightened to many enemies and AoE damage is hugely powerful!
Maze – No initial save allowed so it always works for a turn. An intelligence save is required to escape and any creature with less than 10 intelligence simply can’t escape! Great for tough but stupid monsters.

Level 9

Psychic scream – Stun up to 10 creatures in a big area and force intelligence saves (which most creatures are low on).
Time stop – 2-5 turns in a row allows you to do a lot while your enemies just stand there.
True polymorph – Turn yourself or an ally into something really deadly (make sure you read the monster manual and pick something really tough to polymorph into). You can also polymorph an enemy into an object deal with them that way instead.
Wish – Incredibly powerful spell with a huge amount you can accomplish.

Arcane recovery – Level 1

A great way to keep your stash of spells topped up. Just remember to use it when you take a short rest.

Spell mastery – Level 18

A first and 2nd level spell you can cast at will elevates 2 of your spells into higher level cantrips. This is obviously great but remember that they must be cast at their base level. If you go for damage dealing spells, make sure that they’ll still do more damage than your cantrips which will likely be dealing 4d6-4d10 damage at this level (most won’t).

It’s easy to find ways to abuse this ability to your benefit. for example, take invisibility and cast it on the entire party, not only making you excellent at stealth, but also allowing you to surprise your enemy in the first round of combat most of the time (unless they have truesight for instance).

You could also go for something like shield or absorb elements for endless defensive reactions. If you do want to go for something damaging, an AoE spell like shatter can overcome the damage ceiling set by your cantrips making it one of your better options.

Signature spells – Level 20

You get a couple of extra spells known and a free casting of each spell every day. It’s handy, but not ground-breaking and only likely to be of much use in games that have multiple encounters each day. Just make sure you pick spells that you’ll need on a regular basis or you’ll waste your free spell uses.

Wizard tactics

Wizard 2024 — Abjurer wizard: Wizards of the Coast

What they lack in toughness, wizards make up for with a wide repertoire of spells. But choosing the right spells and making a wizard that won’t crumble at the first sign of danger can be challenging. Below I’ve outlined some approaches and tactics to consider when playing a wizard:

Protect yourself

Wizards are the epitome of a glass cannon; high damage, but low durability. This means that protecting yourself is crucial as you won’t withstand much damage.

Part of this comes down to positioning. You should rarely be at the front of the party. Instead, keep yourself as far from enemies as possible while still being able to use your spells effectively.

Without any kind of armor proficiency, you’ll also need to make sure you have some form of magical protection to help you last. Mage armor is a good option giving you slightly better AC than light armor (albeit temporarily), shield is a great spell to reactively boost your AC for a turn while mirror image will cause some attacks to hit illusions of yourself.

You could also go for avoidance spells too. Levitate and fly will let you float/fly away from danger, misty step is a short-range teleport to get you out of trouble fast and invisibility lets you pass unseen. You could also consider taking a race with flight, like an Aarakocra or a Fairy. Drow can also innately cast levitate.

Action and spell economy

Action and spell economy is crucial to manage as a wizard for a few different reasons:

Preserving spell slots: You’re only as good as the spells you’ve got available to cast, and if you blast through all your spell slots early on, you’ll quickly run out of usefulness! Where possible, cast spells as rituals. It’s also worth considering how much you need to use levelled spells for certain combats. Sure it’s fun to incinerate all the goblins with a fireball, but how much damage were they really going to do to your paladin anyway? Toll the dead will probably work just fine.

Action economy: You can cast multiple spells each turn, though there are some important rules to understand around doing so. You do this by having spells that can be cast as actions, bonus actions and reactions. Spells like misty step require a bonus action, allowing you to cast a cantrip with your action while reactions, like shield and counterspell, can be used outside of your turn. Ensuring you have a few bonus action and reaction spells available will allow you to really maximise what you accomplish on your turn.

Casting time: Most spells can be cast quite quickly, using an action, bonus action or a reaction. However, some spells take longer. Make sure you don’t start casting a spell in combat that will take a minute to complete.

Concentration: It’s important to be aware that many spells require concentration to maintain. This means you can only use 1 concentration spell at a time, otherwise the effects of the original concentration spell wear off. Many concentration spells appear more powerful, just don’t fall into the trap of picking too many concentration spells, preventing you from using other high powered options.

Fulfilling party roles

With the great versatility of spells at your fingertips, it’s important to work with your party to help determine what spells you should take. Consider what roles can already be easily filled within the party and those that aren’t being fulfilled. If you lack anyone with much stealth in the party, invisibility might be a useful spell. If you lack anyone with crowd control spells, consider hypnotic pattern or web. If you lack a good party face, you could use enhance ability to grant advantage on charisma checks. Faerie fire can be used to handle invisible creatures, knock for locked doors and so on.

You might also consider spells that complement your party. For example, if you have a fighter with blind fighting, consider taking darkness and unleashing your fighter on their blinded foes.

Which subclass (arcane tradition) should I choose?

wizard leomund DnD 2024 — Leomund the wizard: Wizards of the Coast

There are lots of great wizard subclasses to choose from (known as a arcane traditions) so much of this decision comes down to the kind of character you’re trying to build. Arcane traditions tend to make up the magical discipline you adhere to most, whether that be divination, necromancy or war magic.

I’ve popped some guidance below on which subclasses are useful for different types of wizards.