D&D 5e Wizard Subclasses Ranked Worst to Best
by Prince Phantom
As the best class in the game, Wizard really doesn’t need much help from its subclasses, and you’ll notice that the bonuses provided by these are a bit less impactful on average than the subclasses of something like the Warlock or Ranger. These are mostly small boosts and bonuses to certain types of spellcasting, and that’s fine. 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.
To note, a lot of these get a “savant” feature that makes learning certain spells easier. This is a ribbon feature, so it won’t be considered when ranking these. Also, the margins on this ranking are potentially the smallest of all class subclass rankings, especially towards the middle of the pack, so the exact ordering of this list was quite difficult and you’ll probably disagree with me.
13: Transmutation
Minor Alchemy definitely has to have some potential, but I for the life of me cannot figure anything out. Transmuter’s Stone gives Con save proficiency, which is definitely its best mode, but the damage resistance may come up if you can predict what you’ll be facing. Shapechanger is only useful for out of combat utility, and Major Transmutation is definitely a good capstone, particularly the ability to turn an object into a different object.
Still, you’ve probably noticed that these are all relatively small features and most are strictly out of combat. Transmutation isn’t bad, the floor of Wizard subclasses is quite high compared to most classes, but it’s definitely the one that interests me least.
12: Enchantment
You’ll notice quickly that most all Wizard subclasses have at least one amazing feature that works really well with what the subclass is advertising. Split Enchantment is the candidate for Enchantment, and it’s genuinely amazing.
Getting a free Twin Spell on every enchantment spell you cast is crazy good, but it doesn’t come online until level 10. That’s just a bit too high for my taste, and Hypnotic Gaze and Instinctive Charm are not enough to motivate me to get to that point. Still, if you get to level 10, this will be amazing.
11: Illusion
Illusion is home to one of the strongest capstones in the entire game in Illusory Reality. Combining it with the Misty Visions Warlock Invocation makes it even more busted, in fact this entire subclass appreciates that invocation.
That being said, the path to that capstone is somewhat underwhelming. We get a buffed Minor Illusion, the ability to change our illusions without recasting the spell used to create them, and a defensive reaction. These are all nice things, but nothing to be excited about. This is highly dependent upon where your campaign starts and how long it will go for.
10: Evocation
Don’t be mistaken for me thinking that Evocation sucks, it’s great! It’s just up against stiff competition. Sculpt Spells is incredibly useful, but only if your party is playing suboptimally. If you are all playing smart and keeping the enemies at range, you will have no issue placing your Fireballs.
Even in normal play, you still don’t typically have much problem placing AoE spells most of the time. Potent Cantrip is fine, though Empowered Evocation is ripe for abuse. Thanks to how Magic Missile works RAW, each missile gets the damage boost, meaning a 1st level magic missile now does 3d4+3+15 damage, and can upcast really well. Through on a Hexblade’s Curse and you add an additional proficiency bonus damage to each missile.
Outside of that interaction, it’s still a good feature. Overchannel is sweet, though the drawbacks on subsequent uses makes it very limited. If you want to blast, this subclass does deliver, but that’s about all it does.
9: War Magic
War Magic gets this high just on its multiclassing potential alone. If you’re playing a martial, or just want a few levels of Wizard for the spells and don’t know what subclass to choose, War is almost always a great choice.
The 2nd level feature giving a reaction for +4 to saves is one of the biggest and most consistent saving throw bonuses in the game, and the +2 AC reaction is nice for when you’ve run out of slots for Shield. The bonus to initiative is great too, but past that this subclass is very lacking.
The 6th level feature is incredibly complex for no reason and barely does anything, level 10 is a fine defensive feature, and the capstone is just a bit of inconsequential damage when we use our 2nd level feature. Save this one for the multiclass builds.
8: Abjuration
The main draw of Abjuration is the huge pool of additional HP you get through your ward, and that’s certainly notable. The question is, how useful is that for a Wizard? It can be very useful for a Wizard build such as the one I did for this site that took advantage of the ward’s interaction with Armor of Agathys, but for a normal Wizard? Honestly, I think if you play correctly, you shouldn’t be getting hit very often to begin with.
That doesn’t make this feature bad, just that it isn’t amazing. Getting a bonus to Counterspell and Dispel Magic checks is very nice, but might not come up often in certain campaigns. Spell Resistance is a pretty lame capstone, as damaging spells are the least of your worries at this level. Still, this is a good subclass, and even if we aren’t using the ward ourselves, we can always give it to someone else.
7: Graviturgy
I have a soft spot for forced movement features, and tacking it on to every spell we cast is really cool. Adjust Density has a ton of amazing, if DM dependent uses. Note that we can target objects being held and worn, so what happens when you make a knight’s Greatsword double in weight? I’d say disadvantage, as would most people who have actual training with a sword.
What happens when you double the weight of a building? We can target huge objects at 10th level, so small structures should be on the table. There’s a lot of fun stuff in Graviturgy, and the higher tier features are quite good too, enabling you to add damage to people falling or being hit, and creating an area of death and restricted movement around you. This gets better if you have a plan to use the forced movement, but it’s good no matter what you do with it.
6: Divination
Some of you will be appalled to see Divination so low, and it’s all thanks to Portent. Listen, Portent is great, but it’s only effecting two rolls throughout an entire day, and the impact of those rolls varies greatly depending on what you have saved for the day. Portent is great, but it is not the overpowering force that so many people think is ban worthy.
Additionally, Portent is the only truly great feature here. The ability to recover slots when we cast divination spells is misleading, there just aren’t many good divination spells. The higher level abilities aren’t great either, and the capstone is just a third Portent die. If Portent is all you want, go for it.
5: Bladesinger
Time for another controversial take! Played straight with no multiclassing, Bladesinging is great, but not amazing. Wizards do not need weapons, and adding them doesn’t really help much. Being able to attack with our action is nice at low levels when we don’t have a ton of slots, but becomes less worth it as time goes on.
Also, the fact that this tricks people into playing in melee automatically makes this worse. Grab proficiency in a hand crossbow somehow and stay at range. You may have good AC, but it’s not amazing, and you will get hit. Song of Defense is a waste of spell slots, unless it literally keeps you from dying.
The multiclassing potential is what makes this rank so highly. Pairing this with a few levels in various different classes such as Artificer, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, or anything else your heart desires is a great way to make an awesome build.
4: Order of Scribes
The ability to very easily put every spell you come across in your campaign in your book shouldn’t be underestimated. Additionally, being able to swap damage types comes in really handy, and having your Manifest Mind basically serve as an unmanned drone scouting ahead and tossing out Fireballs is a great way to clear a dungeon room.
Master Scrivener gives you a scroll for free each day and makes scribing scrolls (something all wizards should be doing) faster and cheaper. The capstone is a neat defensive feature, and the whole subclass comes together neatly to feel almost like what should be the default Wizard subclass option. You want to play the most Wizardy Wizard to ever Wizard? Order of Scribes is your subclass.
3: Necromancy
Some have called Necromancy the weakest of these subclasses, and if you play it fairly, I’d be inclined to agree. But isn’t the whole point of an evil necromancer that we don’t play fair? The absolute hoard of undead that can be controlled by this subclass all at once numbers in the hundreds, not to mention adding numbers through Wight commanders.
All this starts with our level 6 feature, and keeps scaling into the stratosphere all the way to 20. Plus, with the level 10 feature we can create a super powerful army through the Create Magen spell without any downside. The damage potential for the army we can create breaks all spreadsheets and completely warps the game into an unrecognizable state.
It isn’t that I don’t recommend doing this, there’s a ton of ways to make this playstyle work at a table and keep it from bogging things down, but you need to have a plan and work with your DM. Oh and also you can gain permanent control of a Nightwalker. If you don’t know what those are, you are fortunate.
2: Chronurgy
I used to believe Chronurgy to be the strongest subclass in the game, but I’ve mellowed a bit on it over the years. It’s still this high, so it’s got to be amazing, but there is something that has superseded it. The big draw of the subclass is Arcane Abeyance at level 10, which allows you to store a spell inside of a bead to be cast later by any creature.
The reason this is overpowered is because that spell takes an action to cast, regardless of how long it would normally take to cast. This allows you to deploy spells like Tiny Hut in the middle of combat, creating an indestructible dome that is completely obscured and impossible for enemies to enter. That’s just the start what is possible with this feature.
That being said, the 2nd and 6th level features are also good, but not nearly as broken. This means that we are just a really good subclass until level 10, at which point we become broken. The difference between this and #1 is that the latter takes much less time to break the game.
1: Conjuration
Minor Conjuration seems unassuming enough at low levels. You can conjure in your hand or near you any small object that you have seen before, one object at a time, and it is obviously magical in nature, so you can’t fool any shopkeeps with this.
If you’re not familiar with the massive amount of game breaking mundane objects that can be conjured with this feature, might I recommend our Thief Rogue build that multiclasses with this and takes full advantage of it. I detail some of the best stuff to conjure in that guide, but here are some quick examples. Purple Worm Poison (12d6 damage on a DC 19 Con save for half damage), Catapult Munitions (thrown explosive that deals Fireball damage), Tangler Grenades (same as the Web spell but no concentration), acid vials, holy water, various plants that can provide a ton of benefits, any key you’ve ever seen, and so much more.
This is an ability that scales with your knowledge of what’s in this game. The rest of the subclass is amazing too, giving us tons of teleports, concentration immunity on conjuration spells (the best spells in the game anyway), and a ton of temporary HP on creatures we summon. Conjuration takes the least levels to completely break the game, and it doesn’t slow down after it gets to that point. That’s why it’s the best of the best.
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