Is there a list of "least chosen" Wizard spells somewhere? I do Google searches and keep getting "Top 10 Best" as search results (which makes me doubt the quality of their search AI). I want to see the Island of Misfit Toys but for Wizard spells because I want the challenge of turning them into useful spells with a bit of imagination. Any help would be appreciated

https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/wizard/spells.html

Take a look at the spells in red.

It's funny that I regularly choose most of the spells in Red. I did notice the list at RPGBOT doesn't have the Acquisitions Inc spells.

The absolute least chosen spell in all of 5e is true strike, mostly because it’s a bowl of reheated, leftover garbage.

Whoever wrote that list has a very narrow view of useful. The elemental utility Cantrips and mending are great, identify is one of the spells I look at for any caster who can do a ritual and it’s an automatic pick for Wizards. Locate object is so useful, the only campaigns I can see it never getting cast in, are ones in which no one took that spell. (Sooner or later, you always have to find something.) Need to track a middle manager back to the BBE’s hot out, no Ranger in the party? “I got this” says the arcane trickster as they cast Mind Spike.

Edits: spelling/typos

The only two spells that I really avoid as a player would be:

(Cantrip) Thunder Clap, it only has a 5ft range, does d6 damage, has a a cons save for no damage and alerts everyone within 100ft that something happened. Even if I was building a "Storm" wizard specialising in thunder and lightning damage I'd leave it off the list and take Shocking Grasp instead.

(lvl 1) Snare, it might be good if it didn't consume 25ft of rope with every casting. Given rope costs 1gp and weighs 10lbs (or 10gp and 1lb weight for silk rope) per 50ft of length, you won't get many uses from your rope and it'll cost you a small fortune at lower levels if you wanted to use it regularly. If it were a ritual spell and didn't consume the rope then it would be a good complement to alarm when setting up your camp.

I agree that some of the spells listed in Red are chosen often and can be good in some situations, there are a few that I believe should be listed as basically useless or too situational to matter. That being said, it is the benefit of being a wizard that you can have all your spells if you have a generous DM along with the time and gold to copy them all into your spell book. And with Tasha's optional rules, you now have the benefit of being able to swap out cantrips nightly too.

So here is 1 spell from the first few levels that I don't believe a wizard should ever take:

1. Cantrips
   • True Strike - This spell has almost no purpose to it what so ever. I have a DM group that have tried to come up with a situation where this cantrip could actually be considered good. We could not come up with anything. The closest thing we came up with was if someone used it to start combat and for some reason the DM didn't consider the casting of the spell as their first turn.
2. 1st Level
   • Witch Bolt - This spell seems like a cool idea (makes me think of Palpatine shooting lightning from his hands), but it has several things that I think goes against it. First, the damage is fairly low that some Cantrips are just about as good at level 1 and most become better at level 5. Second, the range is so short that it can easily be broken even by you if you wanted to get a bit more distance than 30 feet between you. Third, this requires concentration. Not sure about you but if I'm going to cast a concentration spell it won't be something like this. Like I said before, I like the spell but I think that nearly every other first level spell would be better to take than this one.
3. 2nd Level
   • Pyrotechnics - This feels like an attempt to make Prestidigitation a combat spell. Sad thing is, there are far better spells out there that do what this spell does only better. Granted it doesn't require concentration but you'd be better off spending a level 2 spell on something else.
4. 3rd Level
   • Summon Lesser Demons - I don't think this was ever a good spell, but with Tasha's summons now out, this is definitely an almost worthless spell that just creates more creatures in combat. They attack everyone so it's not like they're on your side because they'll attack you and all your allies, basically anyone they feel like attacking.
5. 4th Level
   • Leomund's Secret Chest - I honestly don't get the point of this spell. I mean, yes it lets you hide a chest on the Ethereal plane and summon it back and forth as an action. My problem with the spell is both the material cost and the fact that you can potentially lose it. Also, just because it's not on the Material plane doesn't mean someone can't rummage through it and take what they want. Things exist on the Ethereal plane too.

Quote from EddyJ >>

https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/wizard/spells.html

Take a look at the spells in red.

 I'm generally a fan of that site, but you have to take some of those ratings with a grain of salt. I mean Confusion is red? Really? I've used it more than once to make a complete joke out of an otherwise difficult encounter. It's less predictable, but the effect doesn't break on a hit or ally action the way Hypnotic Pattern does, which is given the highest rating. Similarly Cone of Cold is given the worst rating because they consider its targeting capacity to be inferior to the otherwise equal Fireball which is given the best rating. Or check out Imprisonment for a red rating for something admittedly "interesting" and "effective" but too expensive and it creates story consequences (cause that's a bad thing?).

There's an assumption there that if you already have a solution to a problem, all solutions deemed "lesser" are rated as useless. See the description of Mold Earth which is apparently completely obsolete because shovels exist. It's just a very specific take on spell utility that really doesn't reflect a lot of actual games.

Meanwhile Witch Bolt is bafflingly green as if cantrips couldn't rival it from level 1? If we're making things red based on principle more than anything else, WB should be the first in the fire.

You need to remember as well that spells on RPGBOT are color coded for the class you're looking at - a spell can be one color for one class and another color for another class.  But also, yes, it can easily be wrong - just because Witch Bolt theoretically lets you land it once and then deal incredibly damage over time without needing to heal again doesn't mean it has any practical purpose in real world fights.

Some of the colors are spot on.  Literally the only reason to cast Identify is because you're in a hurry, so it's not worth a precious leveled spell known - remember, what you're looking at is basically a shopping list for what's worth picking up with your free spells as you level.  The site isn't claiming Identify has literally no use in your spellbook - 11 minutes is genuinely shorter than 60 minutes - but the circumstances in which you will need Identify are genuinely absurdly rare compared to how much you'll get out of other choices if you make them.  That's straight-up one of the qualifiers for being red: your use-case is extremely situational.  Red spells 100% are not measured by popularity.

Quote from Yhniwyadw >>

It's funny that I regularly choose most of the spells in Red. I did notice the list at RPGBOT doesn't have the Acquisitions Inc spells.

Yes, it does.  For example, it discusses how Jim's Magic Missile can crit.

Quote from quindraco >>

You need to remember as well that spells on RPGBOT are color coded for the class you're looking at - a spell can be one color for one class and another color for another class.  But also, yes, it can easily be wrong - just because Witch Bolt theoretically lets you land it once and then deal incredibly damage over time without needing to heal again doesn't mean it has any practical purpose in real world fights.

Some of the colors are spot on.  Literally the only reason to cast Identify is because you're in a hurry, so it's not worth a precious leveled spell known - remember, what you're looking at is basically a shopping list for what's worth picking up with your free spells as you level.  The site isn't claiming Identify has literally no use in your spellbook - 11 minutes is genuinely shorter than 60 minutes - but the circumstances in which you will need Identify are genuinely absurdly rare compared to how much you'll get out of other choices if you make them.  That's straight-up one of the qualifiers for being red: your use-case is extremely situational.  Red spells 100% are not measured by popularity.

Quote from Yhniwyadw >>

It's funny that I regularly choose most of the spells in Red. I did notice the list at RPGBOT doesn't have the Acquisitions Inc spells.

 

Yes, it does.  For example, it discusses how Jim's Magic Missile can crit.

 

 

 Yet no Distort Value spell, which is almost broken powerful

That List is definitely very personally biased.   

I'm surprised it doesn't follow the general attitude,  Which Takai basically covers in the whole, about Witchbolt. It's nice to see somebody has rated it above useless. Since in reality it is above useless for various reasons. Like for Example there are only 3 or maybe 4 Cantrips that even get up to 1d12. And of those like two of them are even shorter range than Witchbolt.  And 1 of those is much more widely resisted or things are immune to it. Just as 1 way it's not really what most portray it as.

though I am surprised that it has some useful spells listed as completely useless, Even if some of those spells do not actually work to the extent that most people try to make them work. They still are not useless.  Mending being a fine example. Because Equipment isn't the only reason to use Mending.  Shocking Grasp is another. It's a great one to have for Close Range with a Rider that does a lot for letting a Wizard potentially get away from a threat. it doesn't need excellent damage.

Quote from quindraco >>

You need to remember as well that spells on RPGBOT are color coded for the class you're looking at - a spell can be one color for one class and another color for another class.  But also, yes, it can easily be wrong - just because Witch Bolt theoretically lets you land it once and then deal incredibly damage over time without needing to heal again doesn't mean it has any practical purpose in real world fights.

 

 Where Witchbolt Falls down is not actually in it's primarily "real world" or more correctly it's practical application uses. Where it falls down is in the white room theory crafting which tends to center entirely around being solo against various threats and the ways to counteract it being almost entirely picked to work against it without picking anything that can aid it.

The Value of Witchbolt actually goes up in practical application. Particularly in situations where other party members can do things to help keep a target from moving by various means.  So for a low level spell slot it can get a lot of value out of it even by having it work for just a few turns. It's not a spell you have to get maximum number of turns out of for it it to have Value, which is how many people actually address the spell.  They also almost always ignore various synergies that can take place with it through either teamwork or even solo with things like certain feats.  It works with Spell Sniper for Example which increases it's effective range as just one of them.

Edit: I'd also like to point out one more thing. There aren't a lot of things to Concentrate on at the earliest levels. Though there are a couple useful second spell level ones that are pretty good.  But you won't necessarily always be able to have them up in tier 1 play...

Pyrotechnics can create heavily obscurement environments same way as Fog Cloud, without Concentration, and pairs amazingly well with things like Alert feat and Tiny Servants (who have Blindsight). It’s a top tier choice in the hands of an experienced Wizard.