Ranking Wizard Subclasses - Wizard - Class Forums - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

My Rankings are

1. Chronurgy

2. Divination

3. Graviturgy

4. Bladesinger

5.Necromancy

6. Evocation

7. Abjuration

8. Illusion

9. War mage

10. Transmutation

Does this seem correct?

This is your list of what you prefer, so no one can actually tell you it's wrong. However, we don't know what you're ranking them based on, so it's hard to discuss this or provide feedback.

Are you ranking them based on their pure power levels? On their survivability, or ability to contribute to the party? Are you taking into account their power over the recommended adventuring day versus nova-potential, or looking at their thematic flavor?

I'd personally bump graviturgy, necromancy and evocation down a ways and add in Enchantment into the mix, even if it isn't something I'd play myself.

It's really individual. How are you ranking them? What level are you assuming?

I like Evocation and order of scribes and would never take illusion because of dragons, purple worms, and others with blindsight (a wizard with a bat familiar, a ton of underdark and cavern stuff) or tremor sense. For me, scribes and enchantment are and conjuration on the top 10 list but not illusion orbladesinger and graviturgyare not.

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

Did you forget Blood Magic, Conjuration, Enchantment, and Order of Scribes? Or leave them out on purpose?

Looks like OP didn't think they were top ten.

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

Oh, I see. My bad. I sort of misunderstood. Here is how I currently rank the wizard subclasses.

1. Conjuration

2. Illusion

3. Enchantment

4. Divination

5. Abjuration

6. Evocation

7. Bladesinger

8. War mage

9. Chronurgy

10. Blood magic

11. Graviturgy

12. Necromancy

13. Order of scribes

14. Transmutation

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

Order of scribes is good for an OP multiclass combo: 2 levels in tempest cleric and then go order of scribes. Yes, you get martial weapons and heavy armor and also a channel divinity feature that does max damage on lightning or thunder damage combined with the OOS ability to change damage types (as long as have a spell with that damage type in that spell level and some spells have multiple damage types). Also, if you get an amulet of divinity, you get an extra channel of divinity and the spell pluses stack with arcane grimoire or wand of the war caster (you may want war caster feat at that point).

Ok, here is my top 10 order:

1. Chronurgy

2. Divination

3. Evocation (Protecting allies from AEO works really well with spells like Sickening Radiance, upcast fireballs, and other AOE spells, and overchannel is nice and you get a free one. Also, some of the best DPS in the game.)

4.Abjuration

5. Conjuration

6. Necromancy

7. Order of Scribes

8. War Mage

9. Enchantment (Not a huge fan of this or Illusion at high levels)

10. Blood Magic (this one is new to me but not a fan of damaging myself as a wizard)

Here's why I rate Order of Scribes so low:

At 2nd level they get Wizardly Quill which allows for a few gimmicks but the main thing from it is being able to copy spells in 2 minutes instead of 2 hours per level... you still have to pay the gold cost of 50 gp per level... and how often are people copying spells into spellbooks. In most of the games I've played in it's almost never, wizards usually rely on the 2 spells they get every level they advance.

They also get Awakened Spellbook which allows for a few gimmicks but the main thing from it is being able to switch out damage types for a different one providing you have a spell of the same level. For example, I can switch out fire from Burning Hands and have it do thunder from Thunderwave or... I can just cast Thunderwave and do thunder damage.

At 6th level they get Manifest Mind which mostly does what a familiar does, scouting etc. but the main thing from it is being able to cast a spell from it's location. You can do this a number of times equal to your prof. bonus. Sometimes this is going to be great but if the other wizards can get by without it, meh, it adds some new dimensions to what you can do and is mostly a 'when you want to do it' rather than a 'when you need to do it' thing.

At 10th level they get Master Scrivener which allows them to make one scroll that is 1st or 2nd level and counts as one level higher when cast, and they can make scrolls a little faster and cheaper... how often is anyone making scrolls? Plus a lot of campaigns either don't reach this level or don't continue for long after reaching this level.

At 14th level they get One with the Word which allows them to prevent all damage from one source by dismissing the spectral mind and losing 3d6 spell levels worth of spells from their spellbook for 1d6 long rests. No doubt this will save you sometimes but again how often, and only if you reach this level in a campaign.

Overall, it's a fun subclass and can really add flavor, especially to campaigns like Strixhaven or Candlekeep, something geared toward nerdy bookworm wizards, but otherwise there are many other subclasses that just do more, at least in my opinion.

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

I think you guys are underselling scribes a bit, and overselling its m/c value. As far as m/c goes, changing the damage type only applies to wizard spells. So a 2-level dip lets you change damage type on a couple level 1 wizard spells, but that’s all. It doesn’t help with your cleric spells.

As far as why it’s better, you can change the damage type on the fly. No need to have multiple damage type spells prepared, just have them in your book. To go with the above example, you’d need both burning hands and thunderwave prepped. But as a scribe wizard, you only need one or the other, and can freely switch damage type. Or learn chromatic orb, and be able to change any of your first level spells damage to, well, not everything, but lots of things.

Also, ritual spells as an action is sweet.

Manifest mind, unlike a familiar, can’t be damaged, only dispelled. It can’t hide, and is glowing, so not stealthy, but you pop it up and there’s little most enemies can do about it. And it can appear anywhere within 60 feet. Have it appear on the other side of the wall. If anyone is in there, it can fireball the room. Or lightning ball the room. Or thunderball the room. Or bludgeoningball the room.

Agreed people don’t make scrolls, but that’s a little because it’s such a PITA. But with this, you’re basically getting an extra spell slot a day. One free use of shield, thank you. And free upcast is nothing to sneeze at, not that it would help with shield. Though you would lose the ability to switch damage types on the fly. I wonder about the ruling for scribing them. Like scribe an acid arrow but it does fire damage.

Negating all damage against you is huge. At 14th level, it can be a lot of damage. Also at that point, you’ve probably got a few spells you barely use anymore.

btw, thanks for this thread. I’m playing my first wizard since 2e in a campaign next month. Reading everyone’s takes has been helpful.

The Scribes features are interesting. They just seem too situational or niche for me, but maybe I need to play a Scribes wizard a few more times and test out some things.

Having the ability to cast a free ritual once a day gets more powerful the higher level you reach... a free spell slot is nothing to sneeze at, and the higher the more valuable.

Manifest Mind's remote casting can be quite useful, although you do lose the element of surprise half the time... some monsters won't understand what's going on, but some will know a spellcaster is nearby. It prevents certain options but opens up many more.

And yes the 14th level ability will be literally life-saving at times. I would rather be alive and missing some spells for a while than dead.

Maybe I need to bump it up a few spots in my ranking.

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

The Scribes features are interesting. They just seem too situational or niche for me, but maybe I need to play a Scribes wizard a few more times and test out some things.

Having the ability to cast a free ritual once a day gets more powerful the higher level you reach... a free spell slot is nothing to sneeze at, and the higher the more valuable.

Manifest Mind's remote casting can be quite useful, although you do lose the element of surprise half the time... some monsters won't understand what's going on, but some will know a spellcaster is nearby. It prevents certain options but opens up many more.

And yes the 14th level ability will be literally life-saving at times. I would rather be alive and missing some spells for a while than dead.

Maybe I need to bump it up a few spots in my ranking.

I was about to play one in Strixhaven and then realized you need a lot of spells in your spellbook for this subclass and you gain money so slowly in Strix (5G per week per job and you are allowed 1 or 2), so it made more sense to select a class with a discount on scribing (I took Satyr evoker).

Quote from cgarciao >>

I think illusion mage should be ranked towards the lower part, if not bottom of the ranking, because illusions are ultimately the realm of DM fiat and I can't stand the idea that some plan is reliant on my DM's mood.

And, blindsight, tremor sense, and true sight will ruin your day!

Enchantment is pretty busted.

At 2nd level they get Hypnotic Gaze which only allows 1 saving throw or locks down any 1 creature for the entire time you continue to spend your action round after round. This feature can be used all day long against as many creatures as you encounter in a day. Just once on each, and that is usually enough.

At 6th level they get Instinctive Charm which can be used over and over against the same creature if they continue to fail their save round after round, diverting an attack and possibly making them make it against one of their allies if that's the only alternative in range. And can be used against other creatures as needed all day long.

At 10th level they get Split Enchantment which is similar to the Sorcerer's Twinned Spell metamagic, effectively doubling their Enchantment spells power. It can be used over and over all day long so long as you have spell slots to take advantage of it.

At 14th level they get Alter Memories which allows them a sort of free use of Modify Memory. It gets around the drawbacks of Charm and similar spells by erasing the target's memory of ever being charmed in the first place.

This is one of the only wizard subclasses where all 4 features are pretty game altering and useful throughout the wizard's career and advancement in levels. It can be underrated by many but also surprise you with just how powerful and effective these features can be in a game.

"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

The Scribes features are interesting. They just seem too situational or niche for me, but maybe I need to play a Scribes wizard a few more times and test out some things.

Having the ability to cast a free ritual once a day gets more powerful the higher level you reach... a free spell slot is nothing to sneeze at, and the higher the more valuable.

Manifest Mind's remote casting can be quite useful, although you do lose the element of surprise half the time... some monsters won't understand what's going on, but some will know a spellcaster is nearby. It prevents certain options but opens up many more.

And yes the 14th level ability will be literally life-saving at times. I would rather be alive and missing some spells for a while than dead.

Maybe I need to bump it up a few spots in my ranking.