Arcane scholars and magic wielders with a plethora of spells at their fingertips.
The scholars of the spellcasting classes in D&D, wizards study the art of magic, making them more knowledgeable of the arcane than any other class.
This studious nature grants wizards the biggest range of spells known of any class and more spells that can be cast in an adventuring day. This means they are more versatile in their spellcasting than even other full casters like sorcerers and druids. High level wizards have a spell for just about any task (though they might need to browse their spell book to find it).
Despite the great power at their fingertips, wizards are not typically known for their durability or combat prowess. More accustomed to libraries and universities, many wizards do venture out of these places of learning into ancient ruins and diverse places in search of greater knowledge and magical artefacts. But this means they lack the kind of endurance wielded by a barbarian or a paladin, but this is more than made up for with their magical prowess.
While the core wizard class remains very familiar, D&D 2024 brings with it some changes that alter the class a bit. Below I’ll take you through how to optimise and build a strong wizard.
At a glance
Choose a wizard if you want…
- To play a full spellcaster
- More spells than any other class
- A character skilled in arcane knowledge
A wizard might not be for you if…
- You don’t want to cast spells
- You want to be durable
- You like to supplement spells with other functions
What’s changing for wizards in D&D 2024?
The wizard was already a strong class in D&D 2014 so we’ve seen much smaller changes to the core class. But there have been some tweaks. These include:
- Spells known – Spells known are just based on your level, not your intelligence modifier as well.
- Swapping spells – This is a bit more fluid now and streamlined too.
- Spellcasting focus – You can now use your spell book as a spellcasting focus.
- Expertise – You can gain expertise in a knowledge skills of your choice.
- Memorise spell – At level 5, you can now swap 1 level 1+ prepared spell with one from your spell book. This lets you adapt a bit more to new situations that come up.
- Spell mastery – Now can only use this for spells with a casting time of an action.
Tactics
It’s almost all about spellcasting for wizards! I’d suggest using the tactics below when playing a wizard:
- Spells for every occasion – As the class with more spells than anyone else, you’ll be expected to pick up the slack in the spell utility department. This means having the likes of detect magic, dispel magic, mage hand, minor illusion, fly and other utility spells prepared. This comes alongside your more combat-focused spells. Even with so many spells, this can be a hard balance. You can expand your spellcasting repertoire with something like the ritual caster feat or even fey-touched, shadow-touched and magic initiate. You can also expand your spellbook’s spells by scribing scrolls too. For advice on what spells to take, you can check out my wizard spell guide.
- Choosing the right prepared spells – While your spellbook can hold more spells than can be prepared by other classes, you can’t necessarily cast these spells at will, so choosing the right prepared spells is important. This can be helped a bit as ritual adept allows you to cast spells with the ritual tag directly from your spellbook without preparing them, so you can just ignore preparing most spells like this. You can also swap in one spell on a short rest and any number on a long rest. As such, I’d mostly save more situational spells for your spell book, ready to be swapped in when needed with more commonly required spells remaining as prepared spells.
- Maximise your spellcasting ability – Wizards rely on intelligence to capably cast spells. Maximise this to ensure your spellcasting is strong.
- Scholar – Wizards are best at knowledge skills, filling a rarer niche for skills that most classes don’t possess. Only artificers compare when it comes to intelligence with eldritch knights and arcane tricksters your next best options. As such, their skills in the likes of arcana, history and religion can come in handy with few others offering the depth of capability here. Expertise in one of these will extend this capability further.
- Increasing your durability – Wizards, alongside sorcerers, are the least durable class in the game. With just a d6 hit dice and no armor proficiency, they are likely to be the most vulnerable member of the party. This can be compensated for to some extent by grabbing the mage armor spell, increasing dexterity and constitution and/or grabbing the lightly armored feat for light armor and shield proficiency. You could also consider protective spells like mirror image or more evasive techniques like a species with flight or spells like misty step for quick escapes.
- Picking the right spell mastery and signature spells options – At higher levels, you’ll get some spells you can cast for free or at will. But these are lower level spells with these options kicking in at levels 18 and 20. This means you’ll want to choose spells that remain useful at high levels and that you might want to cast regularly. This is easier for level 3 spells which tend to still perform well at this level (consider the likes of fireball, hypnotic pattern or fly). At levels 1 and 2, I’d look to things like web, invisibility, augury, mage armor, longstrider, see invisibility, mirror image and silent image which can easily be cast regularly and will be less impacted by the high levels being played at. You could do something like grant everyone in the party an extra 10ft movement speed by casting longstrider every hour. Mage armor could replace standard light armor for yourself and allies like rogues and sorcerers. You could also gain a constant foil to invisibility with an always on see invisibility spell through recasting for the whole party.
How to optimise a wizard
Below I’ve provided some advice on how to build an optimal wizard:
Ability scores
Recommended options
- Intelligence: Your spellcasting ability and the one you’ll use for a lot of your skill proficiencies. This ability should be your priority.
- Dexterity: With no armor proficiency, you’ll need to increase this to have any kind of decent AC. It works alongside mage armor and the lightly armored feat which are the other options for increasing AC. I’d increase dexterity as well as taking one of those options.
- Constitution: You’ll likely want to increase your durability a bit and this is the best way to increase hit points (though the tough origin feat or being a dwarf can both help here). This is also important for constitution saving throws to maintain concentration.
Options to avoid
- Strength: Dump, you’ve got no use for strength.
- Wisdom: Only useful for some skills and saving throws, otherwise, not worth investing in.
- Charisma: This is mostly for face skills and these don’t come naturally to a wizard so I wouldn’t invest much here.
| Ability score | Point Buy | Standard Array |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 8 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 14 |
| Constitution | 15 | 13 |
| Intelligence | 15 | 15 |
| Wisdom | 8 | 12 |
| Charisma | 8 | 10 |
Skills
Recommended options
- Arcana: Common knowledge skill and you have the intelligence to back it up.
- History: Another common intelligence skill.
- Investigation: Investigation comes up a fair bit and as one of the few intelligence based classes, you’re in a good place to help here.
- Nature: This feels like the domain of rangers and druids, but as an intelligence skill, this is another that a wizard is well placed to focus on.
- Religion: Unless you have a cleric in the party, religion proficiency can be useful for all that religious lore you need to know.
Options to avoid
- Insight: Not a bad skill, but it’s based around wisdom and works alongside face skills, both of which, you’re poor at. So I wouldn’t bother with this on a wizard.
- Medicine: Another wisdom based skill and tends to be inferior to a healing spell. I’d prefer either taking a species with light healing like an Aasimar, grabbing some potions or taking the magic initiate cleric origin feat to grab healing word (or just leave healing to others).
Species/race
As a dedicated spellcasting class, I’d focus on the following traits:
- Resilience: Make yourself tougher or more evasive through things like more hit points, resistances or flight.
- Innate spellcasting: You’re the go to class for a range of spells that can be used. Having a few extras in your repertoire remains very useful, especially as these will add to your prepared spells.
Recommended options
- Aasimar (2024): Damage resistances as well as some light healing for recovering allies are solid. But you’re mainly here for temporary flight which will keep you a lot safer in nasty battles.
- Elf (2024): An extra skill and darkvision are both helpful. You’re mainly here for the innate spellcasting though. High Elf is a good option for misty step and an extra cantrip. Drow is good for buffs and debuffs with the likes of faerie fire and darkness.
- Gnome (2024): Extra magic resilience is great as you’ll undoubtedly be the target of some spells. Minor illusion and speak with animals are better options than the Rock Gnome gives.
- Human (2024): If you need to boost your skill proficiencies to take full advantage of all those knowledge skills, then Human’s a good option. The consistent supply of heroic inspiration is useful too. However, the extra origin feat is probably the trait you want most, especially if you want to grab something like the tough origin feat, which is normally only available with backgrounds that don’t work for the wizard.
- Tiefling (2024): 4 extra spells known is mainly what you’re after here. I’d favour the infernal legacy.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds are much more important now with D&D 2024 with ability score increases, origin feats and skills all now linked to your background.
For a wizard, I’d prioritise intelligence and then one of dexterity or constitution with the below being your best options:
| Name | Ability scores | Origin feat | Skill proficiencies | Tool proficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artisan | Strength, dexterity, intelligence | Crafter | Investigation, persuasion | One kind of artisan’s tools |
| Criminal | Dexterity, constitution, intelligence | Alert | Sleight of hand, stealth | Thieves’ tools |
| Merchant | Constitution, intelligence, charisma | Lucky | Animal handling, persuasion | Navigator’s tools |
| Sage | Constitution, intelligence, wisdom | Magic initiate (wizard) | Arcana, history | Calligrapher’s tools |
| Scribe | Dexterity, intelligence, wisdom | Skilled | Investigation, perception | Calligrapher’s tools |
I’d say that sage and scribe are probably your best options. I might have preferred magic initiate from another class for a better range of spells, but more spells from the plentiful wizard’s spell list is not bad thing.
Choosing your subclass
Like all classes in D&D 2024, wizards get their subclass at level 3. The subclasses below are the ones that have been released for D&D 2024, but you can also choose 2014 subclasses too that haven’t had a refresh for D&D 2024. My wizard subclass guide has more advice on picking the right subclass for your character:
Abjurer
Wizards specialising in the school of abjuration, they are capable of blocking or banishing magical effects or creatures. They also focus on protective magic.
Bladesinger
Elegant blade-wielders that merge weapon attacks with spellcasting.
Diviner
Able to unfold the veil of time and space, diviners specialise in divination magic, granting them an amount of foresight and knowledge not normally available through mundane means.
Evoker
Evocation magic is focused on harnessing elemental powers. This can be used both to destroy and protect, making evokers particularly adept in combat.
Illusionist
Capable of creating the impression of reality, Illusionists use their illusory powers to trick and misdirect.
Feats
Origin feats
I’d say the below are your best origin feats for a wizard:
- Alert: Wizards will often want to use their first turn in combat blasting off a nice big AoE spell while martials are safely out of the way and before enemies start to split up. This means going early in combat and alert will help with this.
- Lucky: Advantage on d20 tests and disadvantage on your aggressors is universally useful. Especially as avoiding getting hit is one of the best ways to not lose concentration.
- Magic initiate: Grab some extra spells known from another spell list (or from your own). A good way to make yourself even more flexible with spellcasting.
- Musician: A generally excellent origin feat for helping your allies out with some heroic inspiration (kind of like a slightly better lucky, you give to your friends).
- Skilled: If the party needs a bit more proficiency in knowledge skills, you’re a good candidate for that. This can bump up your number of skill proficiencies a decent bit.
- Tough: Really valuable extra hit points for a class lacking so much in durability.
General feats
At level 4, you can start picking up general feats. These are some of the better options for a wizard:
- Fey touched: Misty step is great for staying safe. Plus you get more spells known. You can read my fey-touched guide for more advice.
- Lightly armored: If you don’t want to keep spending spell slots on mage armor, then you could invest in this, especially as studded leather and a shield will give you better AC than mage armor.
- Mage slayer: Great for disrupting spellcasters and gives you something similar to legendary resistance.
- Resilient: You don’t naturally have proficiency in constitution saving throws, but these are important for maintaining your concentration. You could grab the constitution increase to help here.
- Ritual caster: If you feel like you’re struggling to have enough of the spells you want available to you, then this is the best way to boost your utility with more spells gained through this feat than any other. You can check out my full guide to ritual casting for more tips.
- Shadow touched: Invisibility and an illusion spell are great for a caster class.
- Spell sniper: Great for bypassing cover and getting some extra range on your spells.
- War caster: Mainly great for better concentration, but there’s a few other benefits here too.
Epic boon feats
At level 19, you can choose an epic boon which will grant you a super feat and an ability score increase that also allows your ability scores to go above the usual maximum of 20!
Recommended options
- Boon of the night spirit: Great for keeping safe with invisibility and resistances.
- Boon of fate: Universally useful for ensuring crucial d20 rolls are passed or failed.
- Boon of fortitude: More hit points for the lowest HP class in the game will help you survive longer.
- Boon of dimensional travel: Free uses of misty step every turn keeps you safe or allows you to move easily between targets.
- Boon of recovery: Good option if you want to boost your durability, which remains miserly, even at high levels.
- Boon of truesight: Never let invisibility or illusions trouble you again.
Weapons
If you’ve got a decent dexterity, a light crossbow may do more damage than your cantrips early on. Once you hit level 5 though, cantrips will certainly be outperforming weapon attacks.
Really, the only reason to go with weapons over spells is if you happen to be caught in an anti magic field, a silence spell or something similar. Grab a light crossbow and dagger just in case.
Alternatively, you could use true strike with a light crossbow which would allow you to benefit from using intelligence for the attack, the damage increases from cantrips cast when you’re at higher levels and a better damage type while still getting the damage bonus from your ability score modifier.
Armor
You don’t have any armor proficiency, but if you do want to buff your AC, the mage armor spell is a great option. You can also grab the lightly armoured feat for light armor and shield proficiency.
Wizard quick builds
If you’re looking for an easy, optimised build, I’ve got a couple of examples for you below with options for a level 3 wizard:
Damage dealer
Good for
Dealing lots of damage from spells.
Creating a damage dealer
Ability Scores (Point Buy/Standard Array)
- Strength: 8/8
- Dexterity: 15/13
- Constitution: 15/14
- Intelligence: 15/15
- Wisdom: 8/12
- Charisma: 8/10
Skills: Arcana (expertise), religion, investigation (scribe), perception (scribe), history (skilled), nature (skilled), stealth (skilled)
Species: Aasimar
Background: Scribe – Add +2 to intelligence and +1 to dexterity
Subclass: Evoker
Spells known
- Cantrips: Minor illusion, toll the dead, true strike
- Level 1: Burning hands, chromatic orb, detect magic, mage armor, magic missile (evoker)
- Level 2: invisibility, shatter (evoker), web
Weapons: Light crossbow, dagger
Armor: None
Disuptor
Good for
Managing combat by debuffing enemies and causing obstacles for enemies.
Creating a disruptor
Ability Scores (Point Buy/Standard Array)
- Strength: 8/8
- Dexterity: 15/13
- Constitution: 15/14
- Intelligence: 15/15
- Wisdom: 8/12
- Charisma: 8/10
Skills: Arcana (expertise), religion, investigation (scribe), perception (scribe), history (skilled), nature (skilled), stealth (skilled)
Species: Drow
Background: Scribe – Add +2 to intelligence and +1 to dexterity
Subclass: Abjurer
Spells known
- Cantrips: Minor illusion, mage hand, mind sliver, dancing lights (drow)
- Level 1: Chromatic orb, detect magic, mage armor, protection from evil and good (abjurer), shield (abjurer), sleep, faerie fire (Drow)
- Level 2: Blindness/deafness, web, darkness (drow)
Weapons: Light crossbow, dagger
Armor: None
Other classes guides
Not sure a wizard is for you. Not to worry. Why not check out one of our other D&D 2024 class and subclass guides.
