Best Wizard Spells in 5E Ranked | Wizard Spells 5E Guide

Welcome to our top ten Wizard spell list! Wizards have an insane number of choices between apprenticeship and godhood, so it can be nearly impossible to comb through it. However, our list chooses a good mix of problem-solving and roleplaying, which is a great start for any enterprising spellcaster. Wizard spells, much like with Druid spells, offer a variety of powerful options. So, let’s check those options out in our Wizard Spells 5E Rankings.

10. Counterspell

• School: Abjuration
• Level: 3rd
• Casting Time: Reaction to another character casting a spell within range
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: Somatic
• Duration: Instantaneous

The first entry on our Wizard Spells 5E List is Counterspell. Counterspell interrupts another caster’s attempt to cast. If the spell’s level is equal to or below the level you cast this at, then the spell is ended. Otherwise, you roll d20 + Intelligence against a DC of 10 + the target’s spell level. Great for ruining a spell that would otherwise decimate your party, like an incoming fireball. However, it suffers a bit from being only useful against casters.

9. Find Familiar

• School: Conjuration
• Level: 1st
• Casting Time: 1 Hour
• Range: 10 feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material (10 gold worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You summon a spirit that takes one of these forums: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Your familiar acts independently of you, but it will listen to your commands via telepathy. Also, as an action, you can see through the familiar’s eyes, leaving all of your bodily functions behind. You can only have one familiar at a time; if you attempt to summon a new familiar, instead, your current familiar changes to a new forum. You can dismiss the familiar into a pocket dimension, where it will wait for you to call for it. And lastly, you can cast a spell through the familiar, essentially extending your reach.

The familiar offers too many benefits to count. It’s a great, expendable scout which you can handily send into combat without issue. It has surprising health and can be an actual distraction. The Familiar is legitimately strong, and it’s smart to have one around as a Wizard.

8. Haste

• School: Transmutation
• Level: 3rd
• Casting Time: 1 Action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material (a shaving of licorice root)
• Duration: Instantaneous

A willing target doubles their speed, gets a plus two to their AC, has an advantage with Dexterity saving throws, and gains an additional action per turn. That additional action can be used to Attack, Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action. When the spell ends, the target loses their next turn. Great to buff your melee allies, and still okay to buff your ranged friends. 1 minute of bonus attacks, with a 10% chance to avoid getting hit? That’s quite strong no matter who has it!

7. Telekinesis

• School: Transmutation
• Level: 5th
• Casting Time: 1 Action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

You unlock your ability to manipulate reality with your mind. You can target a creature or object in range. If you target a creature, you roll d20 + Intelligence, and they roll d20 + Strength. On a fail, you lock them down and get to move them wherever you choose. If you choose an object, you can move one that weighs up to a half-ton 30 feet. When the object’s worn by a creature, you do the same Strength contest as before and can steal it from them. You can do fine motions with Telekinesis as well, such as opening doors. Extremely versatile, great crowd control, and lasts so dang long. Really good spell, but at a high spell level. Pretty interesting, on the list of 5E Wizard spells, thanks to its sheer utility.

6. Light

• School: Evocation
• Level: Cantrip
• Casting Time: One Action
• Range: Touch
• Components: Verbal, Material (a firefly or phosphorescent moss)
• Duration: One Hour

The item that you touch glows like a torch – 20 feet of bright, 20 feet of dim. You can touch an object in a hostile creature’s hand, but that gives them a Dexterity save. Creative use of light can solve problems that nobody would expect; maybe your Paladin can walk into a room of Goblins with glorious light and scare them off. Or, maybe you can trick a village to evacuate from an eerie glow in the woods. Don’t doubt the power of a creative Wizard!

5. Shield

• School: Adjuration
• Level: First
• Casting Time: One Reaction to when you are targeting by an attack or spell
• Range: Thirty Feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic
• Duration: One Round

You spend a reaction to add 5 to your AC. This +5 lasts for a full round, making you 25% less likely to take damage from an attack roll. Super good use of this can make you nearly invincible… and it makes you completely invincible to Magic Missile! If you’re worried about your Wizard getting blasted by a random melee opponent, it’s hard to beat Shield as a defensive option.

4. Invisibility

• School: Illusion
• Level: 2nd
• Casting Time: One Action
• Range: Touch
• Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material (an Eyelash encased in Gum Arabic)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch someone, and they fade from reality… at least, an easily noticeably reality. Invisibility allows a person to hide in any place, gives them advantage on attacking creatures that can’t see them, and attacks on them have disadvantage. Any offensive attacks reveal you, but you at least can escape. It’s fairly versatile in the right hands, and it’s at least easy advantage on an attack roll in the wrong ones.

3. Mage Hand

• School: Conjuration
• Level: Cantrip
• Casting Time: One Action
• Range: Thirty Feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic
• Duration: One Minute

A spectral hand appears that can do the following actions:

• Manipulate lightweight objects.
• Open an unlocked door or container.
• Pour contents out of a vial

The Mage Hand can’t do much – no attacks, no lifting above 10 pounds, or interact with magic items. It’s a wonderful problem-solving spell, and you’ll get mileage out of it, since it can solve quite a few problems outside of fights. But, make sure you have good combat cantrips as well.

2. Hold Person

• School: Enchantment
• Level: 2nd
• Casting Time: One Action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material (small, straight Piece of Iron)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Near the top of our Wizard Spells 5E List is Hold Person. You can only target Humanoid-type creatures, but they become fully paralyzed. They get a Wisdom save to negate it, and a Wisdom save every round, but paralysis at this low of a spell level is devastating. And, every spell level above this, you can paralyze another humanoid! That’s insane! Great for most enemies, who tend to be humanoids.

1. Fireball

• School: Evocation
• Level: Third
• Casting Time: One Action
• Range: 150 Feet
• Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material (a tiny ball of bat poop and sulfur)
• Duration: Instantaneous

Fireball is the bread and butter spell of the Wizard. A 20 foot radius explosion occurs up to 150 feet away from you, and everyone better make a Dexterity save. Otherwise, they’ll take 8d6 damage. Even if they save, they take half 8d6 damage. Not bad, for a little bit of bat guano. Great damage for the level that you’re at, and perhaps the best spell level to damage spell in the game!