I have been playing an elf bladesinger for 6 months and am becoming a bit disheartened.  The character is built around getting into melee and attacking with upcast shadow blade and a cantrip, often booming blade or toll the dead.  The problem is that I've found this model can be shut down pretty easily.  My owl helps to provide advantage on the first attack... until an enemy targets it with AoE or magic missile.  We face a lot of monsters with resistance to psychic damage in our campaign, and even with the mobile feat, I get hit a lot and expend a lot of resources (shield, silvery barbs, luck points) to prevent forced concentration saves.  If a monster takes to the air, I am stuck slinging firebolt.  On top of this, I feel the bladesinger is underwhelming when compared to other melee in the party.  For instance, we have an eldritch knight who has nearly twice as many HP as me, can take huge amounts of damage with stone's endurance and second wind, and routinely outdamages me (albeit he has a magic weapon).  

To be fair, I recognize the bladesinger does not come online fully until level 14.  I also joined our game about 9 months in.  However, after playing with the group for 6 months, I am way behind on magic items and gold and have not come across a lot of new spells.  My spellbook was tailored to support the bladesinger's strengths (i.e., melee combat) and to avoid overlap with another wizard who has since left the game.  Accordingly, I have no CC other than hold person and frequently find there is nothing I can do but spam shadow blade.

Recently, some other players in our group have discussed rolling a new character in case their main dies, and this has got me to thinking if I should reroll.  I feel a bit committed to play a wizard as no one else is planning to do so.  However, I am not "feeling" any of the other wizard subclasses.  The main selling point of wizards is their spell list as opposed to their subclass abilities.  I am having a hard time thinking of another wizard character idea that would be any better off than my bladesinger.  The biggest problems I have right now include a lack of a sufficient number of spells, variability in spells, and gold to purchase material components for spells (e.g., Tasha's summons) to allow me to do things other than melee.  I could envision a few neat tricks with an evoker contingent on how our DM rules on empowered evocation affecting magic missile and overchannel affecting concentration spells.  Necromancer could also be combat capable while able to do other things, though the need to expend spell slots to maintain control of minions could make it a bit of a one-trick pony like my bladesinger, and it is likely the party would not accept a necromancer given one member is aligned lawful good.  

Anyone have suggestions for wizard ideas I could consider that are interesting and leverage synergies of the subclass abilities with spells/racial abilities/etc.?   

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm playing a level 8 bladesinger and it's now one of my favorite classes to play even at lower levels.

Bladesingers are designed for combat, but they're never going to deal as much damage as a straight martial class. A bladesinger isn't going to do as much DPR as a fighter since fighters have access to better weapons. It's not a fair comparison, especially since it sounds like you're playing catch up. The tradeoff for lesser damage is that you get wizard magic, which IMO, is the best in the game. 

You should consider taking resilient con as a feat. That will help with concentration saves. There are plenty of other feats that could help you too. Also, I love the green-flame blade cantrip; you can damage 2 targets at once.

"I am way behind on magic items and gold and have not come across a lot of new spells."

That's your DM's fault. You should discuss it with them. Even though you started late, you shouldn't be that far behind the rest.

Thanks for your reply.  You are right about needing to discuss with my DM.  I am going to miss this week's game due to PTO but will plan to talk to him next week.

It's great that the bladesinger can do something that other wizards really can't.  Certainly, being able to dish it out in melee is great when fighting a mob with LR.  However, I feel the bladesinger is overhyped.  Influencers like the guy on D&D Optimized promote the heck out of it, but in practice I find that I have to play way more defensively/reactively than the martials, and this is what makes me think perhaps I should be doing something else.  

Regarding the Con saves, it's actually infrequent that I am forced to make them since I use my resources to avoid being hit.  

I agree that bladesinger is perhaps a bit overhyped, but I really enjoy playing one. It helps that mine's eladrin and can skedaddle with fey step. Still, when bladesong is active, he has the highest AC in the party. Talk to your DM. It's their responsibility to make it fair and fun for everyone.

Bladesinger is super overrated. It’s a good class, but it falls down against the powerful behemoths like Diviner, Chronurgist, Illusionist and optimized Abjurers.

Having said that, if you want play a melee Wizard, I strongly recommend an Abjurer with Armor of Agathys spell (that can be obtained by multiclassing Warlock or by being a Mark of Warding Dwarf). You’ll be able to do all sort of regular Wizard things (Sleep, Web, Hypnotic Pattern, Polymorph and several useful rituals) with additional durability provided by your Arcane Ward which is triggered and refilled with your best defensive spells (Shield, Mage Armor, Absorb Elements, Counterspell, Dispel Magic). The Armor of Agathys combination just adds even more protection with THP and a very effective way to cause damage thanks to the retributive mechanics of the spell.

This would be my recommendation.

Since I don't know what level your bladesinger is, it's kinda hard to say what might be wrong... but I think some choices could have been made better. For example, you mention taking the mobile feat. I don't know if your INT is maxed out, but if not, that should've been your priority since almost everything about bladesong scales off it. But one choice I know for sure stinks is the choice to waste concentration on shadowblade of all things. 

I love my bladesinger and have been absolutely happy with his performance in AL. I built mine by starting as a lvl 1 fighter, and going straight bladesinger until unlocking extra attack, then going back for another level of fighter. Currently, he's sitting at lvl 10, 2/8 split. He's a high elf who started with 17 INT, 16 DEX, and 14 CON, and I took telekinetic as my half-feat, then later took a +2 to INT. With bladesong active, he's got 20 AC and +11 to concentration checks. At no point am I concerned with using the shield spell or not, because arcane recovery can get me enough slots to last me a day. 

When combat starts, I usually begin with using my bonus action for bladesong, and then using a concentration spell for things like web, or hypnotic pattern, or maybe help out a team mate with polymorph, or whatever. If there's a LOT of enemies, I'll just use fireball twice in my first round with action surge. But one thing's for certain, I've just put a huge dent in the enemy team with my first round's spell selection. It's only after using those spells that I wade into melee afterwards. And I don't do half bad either, as when I attack with my sunblade, dueling fighting style, extra attack and 16 DEX, I'm pumping out an average of 28 damage when both attacks land. This isn't accounting for the secondary proc damage from Booming Blade of Green Flame blade, which would add another 9 damage, and thanks to my telekinetic feat (which doesn't proc it but does make it more likely) I usually get the secondary damage quite frequently one way or another. 

Even if the other wizard was into control spells, you could have selected significant choices that matter just as much. 

It sounds like there are some problems here that definitely need to be discussed with your DM:

Firstly, starting with lesser gear than the rest of the part means your character is effectively under-levelled; unless their goal is to have you catch up soon they should really have given you starting gear in line with where you're entering the story. Just because you weren't with the group when they got their gear doesn't mean your character couldn't have obtained some elsewhere. A decent magic weapon would help a lot when it comes to conserving your uses of shadow blade for lesser fights.

Secondly, if your bread and butter spell is shadow blade, then the DM shouldn't really be saturating you with creatures immune or resistant to psychic damage; encountering the occasional such enemy is fine because it provides challenge and forces you to adapt, but if it's happening too often they're basically nerfing you even further. It's unlikely to be intentional, as they might just be picking enemies for the theme and those happen to be immune/resistant, but you should talk to them about that. While there's no good direct alternative to shadow blade, there are plenty of other useful spells you could spend your concentration on if you want to.

These issues aside, the first and most important thing to learn about the Bladesinger is that it is not a martial fighter; while it can absolutely more than hold its own in bursts, as you've already seen that can come with a steep resource cost. A Bladesinger is a Wizard first, warrior second (it's not an Eldritch Knight), so you shouldn't be relying too heavily on melee IMO.

Also, one thing to note about the Bladesong feature is that it's actually purely defensive; aside from the speed (which is more utility) it doesn't actually boost your offence at all, so it's really the Extra Attack feature that does the heavy lifting in terms of offence. While green-flame blade with one weapon alongside a shadow blade can be a brutal combo, and decent value for the resource cost, it's not always going to be the thing your party needs most from a Wizard during a battle. So it's often best to think of the actual bladesinging as just one of several options in your toolkit.

Despite the martial focus, a Bladesinger should usually still have some solid ranged spells, some utility options, and probably some control and/or support depending upon what your party is lacking; without knowing more about what your party is like it's hard to say what you might need. For utility spells on a Wizard I personally like to try and cover as much as I can by adding rituals to my spellbook, since you can always cast these as a ritual even if you don't have them prepared. On my current (scribes) Wizard literally half of his spells are rituals (though there aren't any 4th-level ritual spells for wizards so that will need to change soon) and this is great because it means that when time isn't short there are a tonne of extra things I can do out of combat without spending a single spell slot.

Lastly, for conserving resources you might want to consider whether there are other ways of protecting yourself than burning shield and silvery barbs a lot; a Bladesinger with mage armor and Bladesong active can easily have AC 20 at tier 1, and a boost or two to Dexterity and/or Intelligence will take that even higher. You might think about whether you could be using cover more to boost your AC against ranged attacks. There's also the matter of what your party could be doing to support you. If you're the only front-liner then you need at least one ally supporting you with healing, and/or buffing you (e.g- with shield of faith), if you're not the only one then there may be ways you could support each other. A weapon + shield fighter for example could be using the protection fighting style to keep the heat off you while you focus on raw damage etc.

Sorry that none of this is really specific advice it's more just general thoughts; it's hard to say exactly what's right for your Bladesinger without knowing more about your build, and your party make-up.

Problem with Bladesinger is...at higher levels, your melee options aren't generally going to be as good as your spell options.  At that point, the Divination, Chronurgist, etc are just better imo.  But you should still be strong, since you are still a full wizard and that's a high floor among the player class options.  

This is very spelljammer of me, but (for next time) have you considered Autognome as your race? Has natural armor class of 13 + dex and can heal at level one (with hit dice) with the mending cantrip. Built for success is good, and you have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or poisoned. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe. You are alert while resting.

Oh, and there is a spelljammer background (Wildspacer) that gives you the tough feat (+2 HP per level) for free.

part of the problem is you are viewing a bladesinger as a melee class.  It's not.  It's a spellcaster that can survive in melee, and thrive there at low levels.  It's something of a trap for players looking to be a real melee gish.

As you advance in levels, less of your power translates in melee.  you say that you're trying to play to it's strengths (melee) but there's the rub:  It's strength is spell casting, not song of defense.  By ignoring your spellcasting to focus on shadowblade, you're ignoring the true power of a wizard.  You even point this out: The main selling point of wizards is their spell list as opposed to their subclass abilities.

Your AC will be hard to hit, but when you /do/ take hits, you're going to be hit HARD.  You only swing twice.

What you need to do, is put bladesinger to work for you as a spellcaster.  You need to pick up those better spells that you're missing.  Talk to your DM.  Tell him look man, I need more spells to make this character work.  Bladesinger is fantastic at range.  Adding your int score to conc checks?  That is amazing when you're concentrating on something like haste for someone to be bringing the pain.  Avoding the conc check by having improved AC?  Great.  Extra speed to position on the battlefield?  Great.  being able to wear studded leather to pick up a bit of an always on AC bonus?  Nice.  These are all things your bog standard evoker for example doesn't get.

Spell selection and tactics are your primary problem right now.  imo, bladesinger is one of the strongest wizards in the game.  You just have to adjust tactics a bit I think.

You can still be a bladesinger with all the normal wizard spells. You will be very hard to hit when you aren't in melee, and your concentration is super safe. 

Summon undead spirit with a necromancer is a pretty good build. It gets extra damage for every level, and an extra attack for every other level. It does about the same damage as a sharpshooter fighter when cast at lvl 4 which is no small feat considering you can still fireball every turn or cast other spells

That abjurer build seems interesting, but it doesn’t seem like it’s very good at melee combat.

Quote from Colbyjack9 >>

That abjurer build seems interesting, but it doesn’t seem like it’s very good at melee combat.

 Bladesinger is the wizard subclass for melee.  Abjurer is more about protecting yourself and others.

My wizards are always back of the party casting spells from afar. As far as wizards, mainly I run Evokers (damage dealers), but I'm working on an 18 level scribes wizard for a oneshot where switching damage types will be useful. 

Bladesinger is one of the best wizard subclasses as long as you don't play it like a bladesinger. Just play full wizard, forget melee entirely and get boss AC and other defenses. If you want to run into melee, that is fine you will just be weaker because what makes a wizard powerful is their spells not swinging a sword, even a shadow blade.

Any suggestions for anything to do with that level 6 feature at range?

Or is it better to take another subclass for a more beneficial level 6 feature do you think. Im exploring a cleric dip into knowledge for expertise and the armour and then going into war magic or evocation.

Use a light crossbow.  With a 16 dex, your damage will be 4.5+3=7.5 damage on a hit.  You can't reload the crossbow, so you use the second half of the feature and replace your second shot with a firebolt.  It's still adjusted for level, so you get the full 2d10 (11 avg) damage on a hit.  You're basically casting the cantrip every other wizard gets, but you're ALSO getting a free crossbow shot.  It's at no cost other than the bolt, so why not use it?

Did you mean hand crossbow? Light is twohanded.

I mean the lights range would be better but beggars cant be choosers lol.

Still i might explore the cleric dipped evoker/war magic options too, although i can picture the bladesinger as a orchestra director with his sword casting and controlling the battle from behind.

No, I did not.  Wizards are not proficient with a hand crossbow.  Two hand is only a problem if you're running bladesong, which you will not be every fight.  You can still use a sling though, if you're running bladesong.  Generally though, the level 6 feature isn't something I'd worry too much about.  I view the value of bladesinger's level 2 feature as being the good stuff.  I'd not drop it to get a better level 6 in another subclass.

I'm not sure a single wizard sub class has banger features at each of its sub class levels.  they all have dud levels.

Evoker's features are all useful.