Wizard subclasses ranked

Not all Wizards are created equally, however. There are plenty of subclasses of Wizards, both official and unofficial.

Every class in Baldur's Gate 3 has several subclasses to choose from, but Wizards are unique in that they have eight of them, with each one centered around a different type of magic. The number of options here makes it hard to pick one, especially since the bonuses offered by several of the subclasses are quite substantial. To help you choose, we've ranked each Wizard subclass from best to worst below. Additionally, we've also provided a detailed overview of each one so that you have a full understanding of the value that each one brings to the table. Something to keep in mind is that you can succeed no matter which subclass you use, so ultimately, play with what you think sounds the most fun. Here's our rankings for all eight of the Wizard subclasses in Baldur's Gate 3 , along with descriptions for each one. Note that every subclass allows you to learn spells from scrolls of the corresponding school of magic for half the price once you reach Level 2.

Wizard subclasses ranked

Mollie Russell. Published: Dec 20, With a ranked list of Wizard subclasses 5e, of course. A School of Transmutation Wizard is cursed with mediocre abilities — many of which are simply done better by other classes at lower levels. And Shapechanger is a tenth-level ability that just feels like Wild Shape 5e but worse. While literal power over gravity sounds magnificent, the Graviturgy Magic subclass is too situational to really recommend. Adjust Density can give a nice speed boost or buff a grapple 5e , but its concentration requirement makes this much less appealing. Gravity Well lets you move the target of a spell five feet, and Violent Attraction can add extra damage die to falls or DnD weapon attacks. Both, however, trigger in quite specific situations, so their benefits are neither consistent nor guaranteed. Get a hostile target close enough and get it to fail its Strength saving throw, and you can reduce its speed and deal 2d10 force damage. The School of Conjuration lets your Wizard summon increasingly useful objects and allies to make fighting and adventuring easier.

Finally, level ten Evocation Wizards gain "Empowered Evocation," allowing them to add their intelligence modifier to damage rolls with any evocation spells. Fortunately, Expert Divination dramatically reduces the cost of casting divination spells.

Wizards are characteristically glass canons who have low hit points and defenses but can dish out devastating damage through their spells. In the Player's Handbook, the wizard's Arcane Traditions were divided up into schools of magic, but subsequent publications have introduced new subclass options as well. Every wizard subclass gains access to unique spells and abilities that can be quite distinct from each other, allowing two wizards within the same party to play completely differently. People looking to make a truly unique wizard have plenty of Arcane Traditions to choose from. As such, we've updated this list with some more information about the best wizard subclass options in 5e. Introduced in Critical Role's Explorer's Guide to Wildemount , wizards who practice Graviturgy are capable of altering the forces of gravity with their magic.

Drannith Magistrate by Kieran Yanner. Last time, I wrapped up my warlock subclass rankings. Since the wizard has thirteen subclasses, this is a three-part post, starting with the bottom five. Given the relatively low gold cost to copy spells and the limited reduction given, these features are uniformly terrible. Before we dive into the Illusion wizard, I want to highlight that any subclass built around the often open-ended illusion school will vary wildly in power depending on how the player tries to use it and whether or not the GM allows such usage. I personally take a rather strict stance on vague spells. This stricter view has informed where I place this subclass on the ranking chart.

Wizard subclasses ranked

That means that even with the worst Wizard subclass, you can still select the best spells and be an amazing character. Still, some are definitely better than others. Minor Alchemy definitely has to have some potential, but I for the life of me cannot figure anything out.

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Later, Focused Conjuration makes it easier to concentrate on Conjuration spells, and Durable Summons gives your conjured creatures 30 temporary hit points. There's Improved Minor Illusion at Level 2 that allows you to cast the spell when you're Silenced and as a Bonus Action, See Invisibility at Level 6 that allows you to spot cloaked enemies, and Level 10's Illusory Self, which creates a phantom image of yourself you can force an enemy to "whiff" on once between Short or Long Rests. However, the number of times you can do this per day is small so look for other ways to solve the same problems if you can. The Evocation, Conjuration, and Abjuration School subclasses are what you'll find the most success with, as the benefits they provide are extremely powerful and the types of magic they're for are generally considered to be the best. Much of the Graviturgy mage's abilities are highly situational. They will remain as a Bluejay for five turns, or until the bird's hitpoints drop to zero. Should You Spare Ketheric Thorm? I am working on some new builds that do include both ranger and monk. Should You Evolve or Not? You want to throw fireballs at people. Uh wow way to personally attack my build! Song of Defense needs a 3rd-level slot to accomplish the same thing, and the gap only widens as damage gets higher.

Wizards are characteristically glass canons who have low hit points and defenses but can dish out devastating damage through their spells.

By learning a huge number of spells, you can accumulate enough spell levels worth of unused spells that you may be able to use this numerous times in succession. Whether you want to slow down enemies with crowd control, afflict them with status effects, create familiars, or reposition yourself, Conjuration spells come in handy often. Mollie is constantly playing Dungeons and Dragons, but she's still on her quest to try every tabletop RPG she can get her hands on. The biggest problem with relying heavily on divinations is that they can quickly eat your spell slots, often with little tangible effect. This will earn players a powerful new ability, summoning a squad of Ghouls to assist them once per long rest. You can read any language. The Bladesinging Wizard Handbook. The second issue is that the Portent roll must be used before a roll is made. The usefulness of a Transmutation wizard's main ability fully hinges on the player's creativity and the DM's willingness to allow unconventional solutions, making it a difficult subclass to recommend in a vacuum. This causes the incoming attack to automatically miss, and the double is instantly destroyed. Illusory Self lets you create distracting clones of yourself at level ten, and Illusory Reality eventually gives you the power to create illusions that feel really real. The second use case is combining this feature with Magic Missile. Much like the School of War Magic, the School of Abjuration is focused on keeping a wizard alive through wards as they cast their spells. When you use Arcane Deflection, you need to be ready to spend your next turn using cantrips or something. Steve Ferguson Old enough to have watched the initial airing of the original Star Trek series.