It really depends on what you're planning to do. My two favorites (on paper) are bladesinger and diviner. I used to really like the looks of war magic, but my current party has one right now, and the features of war magic have been...not impressive.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I'll second what crazyhawk said. I don't really think there is a best wizard subclass. Different wizards are better at different things. I will say that war magic is underwhelming. It definitely requires the DM throwing lots of magic effects and spell casters at the party for it to be remotely useful.
If you're looking for damage, the answer is Evocation. If you're looking for shenanigans, illusion is a lot of fun. Portent is arguably the best subclass feature and makes divination wizards very powerful. Abjuration is the best at being defensive. Conjuration is best at summoning pets. Bladesinger is best at being a melee spellcaster.
I think that all except for War Mages are good and relatively balanced. Here's my Tier List: (I am a little biased as I am currently playing a yuan-ti diviner though)
I think evocation is largely overrated and tied to a magic missile gimmick. Its not bad its pretty good actually, but I wouldn't put it 1st tier. Enchantment I think used to be pretty meh, but now that they have filled out their spells a bit its a good choice.
Illusion is only solid if you make it to 14th level, so in most campaigns it might be bottom tier. Its 6/10 level abilities are pretty damn weak.
I think what people like most about evocation is dropping fireballs right on the party and not doing damage to your friends. The level 2 ability is extremely powerful. Combine that with their level 14 ability and you just blew up a room full of bad guys without hurting your group. When it comes to dealing damage, I don't think anything compares to Evocation. The magic missile gimmick is pretty silly but I don't think that the tradition depends on it.
I think evocation is largely overrated and tied to a magic missile gimmick. Its not bad its pretty good actually, but I wouldn't put it 1st tier. Enchantment I think used to be pretty meh, but now that they have filled out their spells a bit its a good choice.
Illusion is only solid if you make it to 14th level, so in most campaigns it might be bottom tier. Its 6/10 level abilities are pretty damn weak.
I do think that evocation is a little bit overrated, but you can deal 240 damage to anyone and anything within the range of meteor swarm at 14th level. It may be a one trick pony, but evocation is still the best at raw power. Oh, and with the EGW, you can now create black holes...
I think evocation is largely overrated and tied to a magic missile gimmick. Its not bad its pretty good actually, but I wouldn't put it 1st tier. Enchantment I think used to be pretty meh, but now that they have filled out their spells a bit its a good choice.
Illusion is only solid if you make it to 14th level, so in most campaigns it might be bottom tier. Its 6/10 level abilities are pretty damn weak.
I do think that evocation is a little bit overrated, but you can deal 240 damage to anyone and anything within the range of meteor swarm at 14th level. It may be a one trick pony, but evocation is still the best at raw power. Oh, and with the EGW, you can now create black holes...
Meteor swarm is a 9th level spell and requires level 17
I think evocation is largely overrated and tied to a magic missile gimmick. Its not bad its pretty good actually, but I wouldn't put it 1st tier. Enchantment I think used to be pretty meh, but now that they have filled out their spells a bit its a good choice.
Illusion is only solid if you make it to 14th level, so in most campaigns it might be bottom tier. Its 6/10 level abilities are pretty damn weak.
I do think that evocation is a little bit overrated, but you can deal 240 damage to anyone and anything within the range of meteor swarm at 14th level. It may be a one trick pony, but evocation is still the best at raw power. Oh, and with the EGW, you can now create black holes...
Meteor swarm is a 9th level spell and requires level 17
I do know that. Evokers still do get to save their allies from their fireball with sculpt spells though.
Chronurgy combines good bits of diviner and warmagic.
I'm playing a Diviner right now and he is wicked fun to play without being OP.
Illusion completely depends on how your DM rules with regard to illusion effects. With a strict DM, they suck. Flavorwise it's my fave, but my DM bluntly said "I hate illusion magic" early on, so that option went out the window :/
If your GM lets you, Necromancy is definitely the best. You can choose the tiefling race and select the Infernal Constitution feat at 4th level to have very good damage resistance against other spellcasters. If your DM doesn't let you play a necromancer, try conjuration. Being a conjurer improves your focus on conjuration spells making them much easier to use and much more effective.
It’s important to reinforce that the basic chassis of Wizard is really powerful. You are the master of spells and can abuse it just by being a Wizard.
However, there are some unique things that can increase your effectiveness big time. First and foremost, the ability of influence dice rolls, like Portent for Diviners. Initiative is also super important for any kind of Wizard, that’s why Alert feat or War Wizard bonus are so good.
Having said that, today the Chronurgist is largely considered the best school by far.
It’s important to reinforce that the basic chassis of Wizard is really powerful. You are the master of spells and can abuse it just by being a Wizard.
However, there are some unique things that can increase your effectiveness big time. First and foremost, the ability of influence dice rolls, like Portent for Diviners. Initiative is also super important for any kind of Wizard, that’s why Alert feat or War Wizard bonus are so good.
Having said that, today the Chronurgist is largely considered the best school by far.
I would love to argue with you about Chronurgist being the strongest, but I am unable. While every other school as abilities that tend to be lacking compared to all their other ones, every single one of the Chronurgist's subclass features are very useful. At 2nd Level, they get to add their Intelligence Modifier to all initiative rolls which is amazing and they practically gain the Lucky feat but with only two uses instead of three. At 6th, Chronurgist's get the ability to inflict a 1 round shut down on any creature that fails the save and can use this multiple times a day (This in my belief is their weakest feature, but still really good). At 10th, they basically have a ring of spell storing for an hour. So make a Haste Mote give it to your fighter or really any control spell and give it to someone else so you can combo without the need for another spellcaster. Lastly their 14th level ability. You can make anyone auto succeed or auto fail any roll (aside from them using some ability to increase the number after the roll). While this does give you a level of exhaustion, it has been pointed out that if you have some way of becoming immune to Exhaustion (Eg. Using Shapechange to become a creature that has immunity), then you can cast this at will without having to worry about exhaustion. Now for this last point I've spoken to other DMs about this and most of us agreed that we would either say the feature ignores Immunity, or the wizard still gets the exhaustion, they just won't feel it until after Shapechange wears off or however they are able to have Exhaustion Immunity.
Now that my rant for the Chronurgist is over. I would be happy to add my list to which Wizard subclasses I believe to be the best and a brief commentary on their features. I'll use the tier system as someone else already did this and I'd like to keep it going. These Tiers are based on their combat ability and the over all utility of their features.
Tier 1
Chronurgy - See above for my review on abilities.
Bladesinger - I'll admit, this might be a more biased choice as I love the idea of being a melee spellcaster and this does is best.'
2nd Level: Bladesong is an amazing feature and the ability to wear light armor is good. Wish that the Performance skill was replaced with Acrobatics.
6th Level: Extra Attack - With Tasha's change, this is an amazing feature that allows the Bladesinger far more damage as a melee fighter.
10th Level: Song of Defense - Worst feature of the subclass. It has uses but I wished it would have been changed in Tasha's
14th Level: Song of Victory - Increase damage is great, though I wish this was dropped to 10th and they gave it a different feature. Though this comes from my desire to make BS OP.
Divination - Honestly very tempted to put this in Tier 2 because aside from portent, this subclass is lacking.
2nd Level: Portent is so good and the fact you get this at 2nd Level is why this tends to get multi classed so often.
6th Level: Ok feature. Part of the problem is that there aren't very many divination spells that you'll use so often this will be very useful.
10th Level: Another ok feature. Utility only and not all that useful most the time.
14th Level: A third use of Portent, so that's good, but other than that Meh.
Tier 2
Abjuration - The best defensive subclass. If you're in a campaign with lots of enemy casters, this would be Tier 1
2nd Level: Arcane Ward is good defense ability and if you take Eldritch Adept, you can cast Mage Armor at will to keep the ward up.
6th Level: Good way to help out allies using your Arcane ward. Not an amazing ability but useful to be a good teammate.
10th Level: Probably my favorite feature for this class. The fact that you can counter 9th level spells with a 3rd level spell 55% of the time is amazing.
14th Level: Great for being the bane of other casters. Resistance to all spell damage and advantage on saving throws is great.
Enchantment - This is an ok class, but in general I don't like features that mainly depend on saving throws.
2nd Level: Don't like this ability. Yeah it stun locks someone, but you're also trapped their to keep it going. You can use a bonus action still, so there is some potential activity.
6th Level: Keeps you from getting hit but only if there is someone else that can take the hit. Can be good if the only other target is an enemy.
10th Level: So this is probably the only really good feature since let's you Twin Spell any enchantment spell that targets 1 creature.
14th Level: This is solely a Roleplay feature. I'm not saying roleplay is bad in anyway, but that is all this is good for and it's only good for situation roleplay.
Evocation - If all you want is damage, this is the class that you can do that with. Aside from that, this class doesn't offer much. Still good enough for Tier 2
2nd Level: Sculpt spells is insanely good. It only works on Evocation spells, but it means you can fireball away without worrying about hurting Allies.
6th Level: Ok feature. If anything it means you'll always deal damage on saving throw cantrips. So take "Toll the Dead" and get that damage every turn.
10th Level: Bonus damage to Evocation spells. I know people tend to spam Magic Missile once they get this feature.
14th Level: Once a day max damage for a spell. Great feature, sadly using more than once might just kill you.
War Magic - Might get a lot of gruff for this one, but honestly I think it's a good class. Could have been better, but still good.
2nd Level: Add you Int to initiative rolls is always great. As for Arcane Deflection, I would never use it to increase your AC (Shield is just so much better) but using it to make that critical save is why I think it's a good feature. Though I'll admit it sucks that it limits you to cantrips only during your next turn.
6th Level: Crappy feature. It's just so conditional and offers so little benefit that I wouldn't even worry about using this for the most part.
10th Level: This is a great feature (I wish it was the BS 10th Level), increased AC and Saving throws whenever you're concentrating on a spell.
14th Level: I like this feature because it has no limit. You can use your reaction to save yourself and deal damage to 3 creatures within 60 feet. So not bad.
Scribe - Because of the versatility of this class is why it's getting put into this tier. Not as overpowered as some might think, but still very good.
2nd Level: So there are some nice abilities for this, but the one that I truly want to mention is the feature that let's you change a spells damage type (I'm speaking only of direct damage from a spell). It's a great feature. There an entire thread that has been basically devoted to going over this feature so I won't spend too much time on it.
6th Level: Basically a better version of the Find Familiar spell. Good feature, lots of versatile uses for this.
10th Level: Free 1st or 2nd spell once a day cast at one level higher. Nice feature and not game breaking. And if you have time to craft, making spell scrolls is easier.
14th Level: A good emergency use feature. Honestly don't see this being used often because of it's downside, but in an emergency, it's nice to have.
Tier 3
Graviturgy - While not nearly as good as the Chronurgist, but it has some nice feature. Sadly most of them are too situational for my taste.
2nd Level: Only having one feature at this level, you'd hope it would amazing. It's not terrible because if you're creative, you can do some good things with it.
6th Level: If you're focused on controlling a battle field, this can be a nice feature to have. Make anyone you hit with a spell move 5 feet can be very useful.
10th Level: At the cost of your reaction, you can increase damage to a creature. It's limited and sort of very straight forward in it's use.
14th Level: This is a good battle field control spell with damage as it can give your enemies 0 speed or make movement cost twice as much. Only downside is that it does take concentration so you can't combine it with the 2nd Level feature and can't cast other concentration spells while using it.
Transmutation - A good class with some versatility to it and features that are definitely unique and very useful.
2nd Level: honestly nothing here that is very good. The ability to change certain material into other certain materials is ok, but very limited.
6th Level: I honestly believe this a great feature. Ignoring the first two points, you can give someone Prof on Con saves or resistance to certain damage types.
10th Level: Basically a worst version of the Druid's Wildshape feature, though you might get a free spell out of it (just a few levels late)
14th Level: This allows the Wizard to act like a Cleric once a day. Panacea and Restore Life a great to be able to do once a day.
Necromancer - I know some above put this higher on the list, but the major reason I put this here is because of how annoying it can be for combat.
2nd Level: Nice feature that keep you standing by healing you every time you kill something (aside from constructs and undead).
6th Level: So free spell, yay. Sadly this is the feature that annoys me. Any spell or feature that increased the creatures in combat just slows down combat. It is only because that the control of undead seems to be a main point of Necromancer that they were dropped to this tier instead of being in Tier 2.
10th Level: Damage resistance and unable to have your HP lowered is good. I know of a combo that makes great use of this feature, but it adds creatures to combat, so blah.
14th Level: This was much more powerful before, but it is still good, just niche. How often do you fight undead in your campaign?
Tier 4
Conjuration - You'd think this would be a fun powerful class, but nearly all the abilities seem very lack luster to me.
2nd Level - so half the time of copying spells, like every other class, and you get a cantrip that is slightly better.
6th Level - so this takes an action when misty step is a bonus action, same distance though I guess it saves a spell slot. It's not bad but overall, it could be better.
10th Level - This is a very useful ability if you like to summon creatures often. With the new summons from Tasha's, this is pretty good.
14th Level - An ability to keep your summons alive. So good if you actually summon creatures often.
Illusion - So I may get some hate on putting this one so low, but honestly the abilities of this class weigh heavy on DM interpretation.
2nd Level: Free cantrip and it's slightly better than before. With Tasha's, it another cantrip you can swap, but why would you when the rest of the feature enhances it.
6th Level: This is a good feature for roleplay purposes and can be strong when you get to 14th level depending on DM allowance.
10th Level: Good emergency escape, but by the time you get to this level, missing one attack doesn't mean they won't get to attack again. Save it for a critical hit
14th Level: A good ability, but I don't believe it to be as amazing as some make it out to be.
So this is my list and quick review of the many Wizard subclasses. Be happy to discuss any changes someone would like to make to this list.
Although I mostly agree with everything you posted, I have just one objection — Enchantment.
Enchanters are Tier 1, at least Tier 2. Why? Hypnotic Gaze is not a spell and it doesn’t use your Concentration slot. The enemy doesn’t even need to see you, he just needs to hear you! This means you can get Invisible and simple lockdown the BBEG without too much hurdles. Later on the ability to split Enchantment spells and etc. Charm resistance is not that uncommon, but Enchanters can be really effective.
I would give an honorable mention to Evokers as well. Sculpted Sickening Radiance is crazy good!
I can see your point, but even with that combination it still keeps you locked down so you can't do anything else as long as you're keeping them incapacitated. And the moment they get dealt damage, you move away from them or something prevents them from hearing you (with your combo), they're free and now immune to the feature for . Your argument is sound enough that I might bump it up to Tier 3, maybe Tier 2 considering some of the Enchantment spells you could twin, but I don't believe it is a good enough to be in Tier 1.
Evokers are great, the only reason their Tier 2 not 1 is because they really have a focus on dealing damage with spells and not much else. Sculpt spells is definitely an amazing feature for what the Evokers suppose to be.
About Enchanters: that’s why you should always cast your big gun concentration spell first and then lockdown any remaining enemy with Hypnotic Gaze. But I got your point.
About Evokers: just because you are an Evoker, it doesn’t mean you should specialize in damage only. A well placed Web followed by a sculpted Fireball can change the game. Sculpt Spell can totally support battlefield control. A sculpted Thunderwave will push only your enemies, for example.
About Enchanters: that’s why you should always cast your big gun concentration spell first and then lockdown any remaining enemy with Hypnotic Gaze. But I got your point.
About Evokers: just because you are an Evoker, it doesn’t mean you should specialize in damage only. A well placed Web followed by a sculpted Fireball can change the game. Sculpt Spell can totally support battlefield control. A sculpted Thunderwave will push only your enemies, for example.
Oh I know that Evokers don't have to focus or specialize on damage. I'm speaking specifically to the features of the subclass. The wizard in general is very versatile with great utility, control, social and damage spells. Aside from healing, a Wizard can be a great support or amazing damage dealer.
My entire review of the subclasses is meant to focus solely on the features of the subclass, ignoring the large spell list and other Wizard class features as all the subclasses have access to those.
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What is the best arcane tradition that a wizard can select at level 2? Why?
It really depends on what you're planning to do. My two favorites (on paper) are bladesinger and diviner. I used to really like the looks of war magic, but my current party has one right now, and the features of war magic have been...not impressive.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I'll second what crazyhawk said. I don't really think there is a best wizard subclass. Different wizards are better at different things. I will say that war magic is underwhelming. It definitely requires the DM throwing lots of magic effects and spell casters at the party for it to be remotely useful.
If you're looking for damage, the answer is Evocation. If you're looking for shenanigans, illusion is a lot of fun. Portent is arguably the best subclass feature and makes divination wizards very powerful. Abjuration is the best at being defensive. Conjuration is best at summoning pets. Bladesinger is best at being a melee spellcaster.
That a bit like asking whats the best tool in the hardware department................ It really depends on what you want to do.
I think that all except for War Mages are good and relatively balanced. Here's my Tier List: (I am a little biased as I am currently playing a yuan-ti diviner though)
1st Tier: Bladesinger, Diviner, Evoker
2nd Tier: Necromancy, Illusion, Abjuration, Chronurgy, Enchantment
3rd Tier: Conjuration, Transmutation, Graviturgy
4th Tier: War Mages
-Anders
I too think that divination and evocation are among the best
I think evocation is largely overrated and tied to a magic missile gimmick. Its not bad its pretty good actually, but I wouldn't put it 1st tier. Enchantment I think used to be pretty meh, but now that they have filled out their spells a bit its a good choice.
Illusion is only solid if you make it to 14th level, so in most campaigns it might be bottom tier. Its 6/10 level abilities are pretty damn weak.
I think what people like most about evocation is dropping fireballs right on the party and not doing damage to your friends. The level 2 ability is extremely powerful. Combine that with their level 14 ability and you just blew up a room full of bad guys without hurting your group. When it comes to dealing damage, I don't think anything compares to Evocation. The magic missile gimmick is pretty silly but I don't think that the tradition depends on it.
I do think that evocation is a little bit overrated, but you can deal 240 damage to anyone and anything within the range of meteor swarm at 14th level. It may be a one trick pony, but evocation is still the best at raw power. Oh, and with the EGW, you can now create black holes...
-Anders
Meteor swarm is a 9th level spell and requires level 17
I do know that. Evokers still do get to save their allies from their fireball with sculpt spells though.
-Anders
Chronurgy combines good bits of diviner and warmagic.
I'm playing a Diviner right now and he is wicked fun to play without being OP.
Illusion completely depends on how your DM rules with regard to illusion effects. With a strict DM, they suck. Flavorwise it's my fave, but my DM bluntly said "I hate illusion magic" early on, so that option went out the window :/
If your GM lets you, Necromancy is definitely the best. You can choose the tiefling race and select the Infernal Constitution feat at 4th level to have very good damage resistance against other spellcasters. If your DM doesn't let you play a necromancer, try conjuration. Being a conjurer improves your focus on conjuration spells making them much easier to use and much more effective.
Dang... This is a perfect explanation for someone, like myself, playing a wizard for the first time. Thank you.
It’s important to reinforce that the basic chassis of Wizard is really powerful. You are the master of spells and can abuse it just by being a Wizard.
However, there are some unique things that can increase your effectiveness big time. First and foremost, the ability of influence dice rolls, like Portent for Diviners. Initiative is also super important for any kind of Wizard, that’s why Alert feat or War Wizard bonus are so good.
Having said that, today the Chronurgist is largely considered the best school by far.
I would love to argue with you about Chronurgist being the strongest, but I am unable. While every other school as abilities that tend to be lacking compared to all their other ones, every single one of the Chronurgist's subclass features are very useful. At 2nd Level, they get to add their Intelligence Modifier to all initiative rolls which is amazing and they practically gain the Lucky feat but with only two uses instead of three. At 6th, Chronurgist's get the ability to inflict a 1 round shut down on any creature that fails the save and can use this multiple times a day (This in my belief is their weakest feature, but still really good). At 10th, they basically have a ring of spell storing for an hour. So make a Haste Mote give it to your fighter or really any control spell and give it to someone else so you can combo without the need for another spellcaster. Lastly their 14th level ability. You can make anyone auto succeed or auto fail any roll (aside from them using some ability to increase the number after the roll). While this does give you a level of exhaustion, it has been pointed out that if you have some way of becoming immune to Exhaustion (Eg. Using Shapechange to become a creature that has immunity), then you can cast this at will without having to worry about exhaustion. Now for this last point I've spoken to other DMs about this and most of us agreed that we would either say the feature ignores Immunity, or the wizard still gets the exhaustion, they just won't feel it until after Shapechange wears off or however they are able to have Exhaustion Immunity.
Now that my rant for the Chronurgist is over. I would be happy to add my list to which Wizard subclasses I believe to be the best and a brief commentary on their features. I'll use the tier system as someone else already did this and I'd like to keep it going. These Tiers are based on their combat ability and the over all utility of their features.
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
So this is my list and quick review of the many Wizard subclasses. Be happy to discuss any changes someone would like to make to this list.
Although I mostly agree with everything you posted, I have just one objection — Enchantment.
Enchanters are Tier 1, at least Tier 2. Why? Hypnotic Gaze is not a spell and it doesn’t use your Concentration slot. The enemy doesn’t even need to see you, he just needs to hear you! This means you can get Invisible and simple lockdown the BBEG without too much hurdles. Later on the ability to split Enchantment spells and etc. Charm resistance is not that uncommon, but Enchanters can be really effective.
I would give an honorable mention to Evokers as well. Sculpted Sickening Radiance is crazy good!
I can see your point, but even with that combination it still keeps you locked down so you can't do anything else as long as you're keeping them incapacitated. And the moment they get dealt damage, you move away from them or something prevents them from hearing you (with your combo), they're free and now immune to the feature for . Your argument is sound enough that I might bump it up to Tier 3, maybe Tier 2 considering some of the Enchantment spells you could twin, but I don't believe it is a good enough to be in Tier 1.
Evokers are great, the only reason their Tier 2 not 1 is because they really have a focus on dealing damage with spells and not much else. Sculpt spells is definitely an amazing feature for what the Evokers suppose to be.
About Enchanters: that’s why you should always cast your big gun concentration spell first and then lockdown any remaining enemy with Hypnotic Gaze. But I got your point.
About Evokers: just because you are an Evoker, it doesn’t mean you should specialize in damage only. A well placed Web followed by a sculpted Fireball can change the game. Sculpt Spell can totally support battlefield control. A sculpted Thunderwave will push only your enemies, for example.
Oh I know that Evokers don't have to focus or specialize on damage. I'm speaking specifically to the features of the subclass. The wizard in general is very versatile with great utility, control, social and damage spells. Aside from healing, a Wizard can be a great support or amazing damage dealer.
My entire review of the subclasses is meant to focus solely on the features of the subclass, ignoring the large spell list and other Wizard class features as all the subclasses have access to those.