The Wizard is famously one of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition‘s most powerful subclasses. Its vast spell list, almost limitless spells known, and straightforward class features make it an arcane powerhouse in a game where spellcasting rules the roost.

Most D&D 5e Wizards could hold their own even without subclass features. However, they get to add even more power to their toolkit. Some Wizard subclasses in D&D 5e are lower-power and lower-impact, reflecting the base class’s prowess.

Not all of them. The best D&D 5e Wizard subclasses take immense spellcasting power and add even more. They either get powerful new abilities that don’t use spell slots or enhance certain spells in ways any other party member would be jealous of.

Either way, some Wizard subclasses stand out from the pack as among D&D 5e‘s best spellcasters.

School of Divination Rewrites Luck

The School of Divination D&D 5e Wizard subclass isn’t content to power through the adventuring day with the Wizard’s generous allotment of spells. Almost every one of its features is a major game-changer that rewrites the game’s rules.

The signature feature, Portent, is a major reason why. Twice per day, a School of Divination WIzard in D&D 5e can choose to replace any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with a d20 they rolled at the beginning of the day.

This is one of D&D 5e‘s best and most flexible subclass abilities. Replacing an ally’s hit roll with a Natural 20 or an enemy’s saving throw with a Natural 1 is the dream, but it’s invaluable beyond that. Give high rolls to allies during precarious ability checks. Low rolls exist to save your party. Average rolls guarantee mundane tasks succeed.

Taking the randomness out of D&D is significantly powerful indeed. The School of Divination in D&D 5e becomes even more powerful at 14th level with Greater Portent, which gives three dice to use.

Expert Divination also upends D&D‘s most basic resource conservation. Any Divination spell of second level or higher refunds a lower level spell slot. This doesn’t give much mileage in combat but allows a character to use almost endless utility and break the normal limits on spell slots. It stacks with Arcane Recovery as well.

The Third Eye is the only D&D 5e Divination Wizard that isn’t eye-watering for a DM. Even then, it’s still good. Reading all languages, seeing invisibility, or spying on the Ethereal Plane are ideal for day-to-day adventuring, whether in a combat-heavy campaign or not.

War Magic is Straightforward and Reliable

The War Magic Wizard subclass in D&D 5e lacks the game-changing abilities or spectacular features of its fellow subclasses. Instead, it takes a different approach to durability than the School of Abjuration and adds offensive features for good measure.

The result is a powerful D&D 5e Wizard subclass that doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Instead, it provides immense value in almost every single combat.

Tactical Wit gets things off to a good start. Higher initiative lets a Wizard open combat with a powerful buff, crippling debuff, or devastating area-of-effect spell before characters take turns or battle lines become muddled.

Arcane Deflection is another reliable, straightforward War Wizard ability in D&D 5e. A +2 bonus to Armor Class is only occasionally worth casting cantrips for the next turn, particularly at higher levels. However, a +4 bonus to a saving throw is the perfect way to maintain Concentration on the best Wizard spells in D&D 5e.

Durable Magic reinforce this focus. A War Magic Wizard in D&D 5e wants to cast a powerful Concentration spell on the first turn of combat and maintain it. You can get value every turn with the right spell by stacking Concentration save bonuses, with a +6 bonus from subclass features.

The offensive features for D&D 5e the War Wizard are more low-key but still good. Arcane Surge encourages Counterspell and Dispel Magic, two of the best ways to shut down magical foes. The reward for neutering an enemy is even more damage with your magic.

Likewise, Deflecting Shroud adds up to 30 damage every round for a high-level Wizard in the thick of combat, with no spell slots required or saving throws allowed. You don’t want to use it every turn, due to Arcane Deflection’s limitations. However, it makes the feature feel even better to use and ruins many enemies’ days.

School of Necromancy Upends the Action Economy

D&D 5e shares some unwritten rules with real-world combat. One of the most significant is that the bigger side has a significant advantage. More bodies on the battlefield means more attacks, more bodies to absorb damage, and more tactical options.

No Wizard subclass in D&D 5e can put more bodies (literally) on the battlefield than the School of Necromancy subclass. Conjurers can try, but it’s not a close competition.

Unusually for a D&D 5e subclass, it revolves primarily around one single spell. Undead Thralls buffs Animate Dead as the primary means to make an army. The D&D 5e Necromancy Wizard gets more undead, tougher undead, and stronger undead in combat. It’s enough to outshine almost any other summons-based playstyle.

Command Undead doubles down on this ability for the School of Necromancy Wizard in D&D 5e. It requires a simple Charisma save to bring any undead creature under your control. Target something low-Intelligence and powerful (a Nightwalker is the infamous example) to effectively control a second character in combat alongside your army.

Even better, Undead Thralls buffs the Summon Undead spell from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. You can control more of your team in combat than the rest of your party put together if you stack these spells.

Really, the School of Necromancy is such a good Wizard Arcane Tradition in D&D 5e because of how much action economy rules the roost. However, this advantage shouldn’t be underestimated. It also gets useful durability-boosting features, invaluable with low AC and a d6 hit die.

School of Bladesinging Pushes the Boundaries

Most Wizard builds in D&D 5e are ill-served anywhere near the front line of combat. They should hang back, Concentrate on spells, and demolish their foes from range.

The School of Bladesinging Wizard subclass in D&D 5e tries to change that. It gets light armour, melee weapons, magical Extra Attack, and a Rage-like Bladesong that provides durability (and later damage) bonuses in combat.

All in all, this makes the D&D 5e Bladesinger Wizard a competent gish and reasonable melee combatant. However, it becomes one of the best Arcane Traditions in D&D 5e if you forego melee combat and simply embrace the durability bonuses.

Nothing forces a Bladesinger Wizard to fight in melee. Instead, they can enjoy Bladesong’s bonuses to Armor Class, Concentration, and defence while focusing on Concentration spells, cantrips, blasting, and whatever else they like.

Played this way, the D&D 5e Bladesinger can match the Abjurer or War Wizard for defence while having melee combat as a high-damage option should the situation call for it. For pure combat bonuses, it’s hard to find a better Wizard subclass than the School of Bladesinging.

Chronurgy Magic Warps Time and the Game

Every subclass in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount has some infamy due to their high-concept and powerful nature. However, none stand out so much as the D&D 5e Chronurgy Magic Wizard subclass.

At its most basic, the Chronurgy Wizard in D&D 5e has a solid stable of reliable features, many of which borrow from other schools. For players willing to push the envelope, it breaks the game in many ways.

Temporal Awareness is the War Wizard’s Tactical Wit, repackaged wholesale. Chronal Shift operates similarly to Portent with more randomness, forcing a reroll on any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw twice per day. The D&D 5e Chronurgy Magic subclass also gets Momentary Statsis, a Concentration-free crowd-control option that doesn’t cost a spell slot.

These are its good features. Alone, they would make it a very powerful Wizard subclass in D&D 5e.

Arcane Abeyance and, to a lesser extent, Convergent Futures are what make the Chronurgy Wizard so powerful.

Arcane Abeyance lets a Chronurgist trap a spell in a mote of time that another character can use. However, there simply aren’t enough limitations on this feature. The spell can have any casting time and only requires an action for the bearer to cast. The most infamous trick of the D&D 5e Chronurgy Magic subclass is to produce a Tiny Hut in a single action for a mid-combat rest.

On top of that, it doesn’t require the Wizard’s Concentration. With how easy Find Familiar is to learn, a Chronurgy Wizard can effectively have two Concentration spells active whenever they want. This is especially true as Arcane Abeyance can be used every short rest with no other costs.

Convergent Futures doubles down on the D&D 5e Chronurgy Magic Wizard’s theft from the School of Divination (itself already a top-tier subclass). Rather than needing the right roll for the best outcome, you can simply decide if you want a creature to succeed or fail, whenever you want. It costing Exhaustion is the only thing that makes it even slightly balanced.

These have been five Wizard subclasses in D&D 5e that stand head-and-shoulders above the competition. Whether they’re simply very good or outright game-warping, they’re an easy way to make a good character and have fun doing it.

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For more tips on building a D&D 5e Wizard, check out ‘The 7 Best Wizard Races in D&D 5e‘.

If you want to flex your spellcasting repertoire even more, instead consider ‘Underrated Spells in D&D 5e‘.