Wizard Class Build Guide for Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024

Wizard is one of 12 classes you can choose from in the 2024 revised Dungeon’s & Dragon’s Players Manual (also known as One D&D, 5.5e, and a few other names). Wizards are (literally) by-the-book spellcasters, and their primary Ability is Intelligence.

Before we begin, a quick disclaimer: There is no “best” in D&D. Classes are generally well-balanced when it comes to damage output. More importantly, D&D is a role-playing game and a combat game, so there’s more to it than just stabbing monsters. And that diversity of situations—from picking locks to kicking goblins to seducing dragons—means that “best” is entirely subjective.

Us Players Manual (2024) The D&D Wizard Guide walks you through the lesson and discusses some of the changes from D&D 5e.

Wizards are a tough class to play, honestly. They don’t have a lot of HP and don’t get armor, so they’re very vulnerable for a long time. That said, Wizards also have access to some of the most powerful spells in the game. If you’re willing to sacrifice brawn for brains, a Wizard can quickly become a force on any battlefield.

Wizards have such a clearly defined image that it’s nearly impossible to tear yourself away from “pointy hats and robes.” But D&D is a game about thinking outside the box when possible, and there are countless other examples you can use to create your magical genius:

Regardless of which class you ultimately choose, One D&D changes the way characters are created. Specifically, the Background you choose now comes with an Ability Score improvement (one point each in three Abilities, or two points in one Ability and one point in another). Additionally, each character gains an Origin Feat. We’ll cover both of these changes below.

One D&D’s Wizard class changes some of your choices as you level up. While in 5e you had to choose an Arcane Tradition at level 2, you now choose a Wizard Subclass at level 3 (which is essentially the same thing). In One D&D, the feature you get at level 2 is Scholar, which gives you Expertise in a skill.

One D&D also streamlines some of the math involved with your prepared spells: instead of a formula with modifiers and levels, you get a fixed number from your class.

You start with six level 1 spells and add 2 more each time you level up. This is the backbone of your class and you will be able to learn increasingly powerful spells at each step of your journey.

Any spellcaster can cast any spell with the Ritual tag, as long as they have the spell prepared. The Wizard’s Ritual Adept feature removes the prepared requirement (as long as the spell is in their spellbook).

When you take a short rest, you can regain some of your spell slots. This ability grows in power as you level up, allowing you to regain multiple low level spells or a single medium level spell.

When you first create your character, you’ll need to assign your attribute points. For Wizards, you want to build an extremely intelligent caster that doesn’t fall over after a single hit, so here’s your priority list:

Backgrounds in One D&D are a way to codify your character’s personal history into their statistics. Backgrounds give you a stat boost, a few skills, tool abilities, and an Origin Feat.

For wizards, we start with anything that will increase your intelligence: Acolyte, Artisan, Criminal, Guard, Merchant, Noble, Sage, or Scribe.

Here, Wise is the best bet if you are just starting out. It is Magical Initiate (Wizard) Origin Feat gives you two extra cantrips and one level 1 spell. Even better, that one spell is always prepared and gets one free cast per day. So if you’re not used to using a magic user, it gives you more options with less prep time.

You don’t choose a wizard subclass until level 3, but you should start thinking about where you want to go from here pretty early on, especially in terms of background and origin feat (above).

As an Abjurer Wizard, you excel in Abjuration magic — who would have thought. This makes you very good at protecting yourself and allies with shields.

At level 3, you can create an Arcane Ward around yourself, which can absorb a fair amount of damage before it depletes. You can even restore the barrier by casting Abjuration spells, otherwise it will fully regenerate with each Long Rest.

At 14th level, you gain Advantage on saving throws against spells and Resistance to spell damage, both of which are very important for staying alive.

Diviner Wizards are one of the coolest subclasses in the game, because of their main feature: Portents. At 3rd level, you roll two d20s at the end of each Long Rest. You can use these two rolls to replace any roll made by you or a creature you see. While you must strike before the roll is made, this means you can guarantee a critical success or failure if you get lucky with your portents. Think Paul Atreides’s foresight ability from Dune.

At 14th level, you can roll a third omen, making this feature even more powerful. If you’ve ever wanted to really piss off your DM, try casting Befuddlement on their big bad guy, then forcing them to fail their saving throw with an omen you rolled earlier that day.

Evoker Wizards excel at using evocation spells, which create large explosions and elemental effects. If you just want to hit enemies really hard with spells, this is the subclass for you.

At 6th level, Evoker Wizards gain the Sculpt Spells ability, which lets you save allies within your spell radius and protect them from harm—the way Doctor Strange might sweep his friends out of harm’s way. Normally, throwing a Fireball will blow everything up, which isn’t so fun for your local Barbarian who’s probably standing toe-to-toe with the big bad you just burned to a crisp. But Evokers can dish out their damage without their friend across the table having to roll a new character.

At level 14, you can even make some of your weak spells do maximum damage by taking some extra damage yourself.

The Illusionist is the deceptive sorcerer’s favorite character, but he seems more like Mysterio from Spider-Man and less like Loki.

At level 3, you can cast enhanced illusions that you can control from much further away. If you’re fighting dumb monsters and have a smart DM, you can use tactics like this to win entire fights for your team before they can even begin.

These illusions become particularly powerful from level 14 onwards, when you can temporarily make them real.