One of the original classes, and almost always the first in a line of heroes, the Wizard is simple yet very powerful in the right hands. In the earliest days of the Realm, the Wizard fought with a wand and had two ring slots. Build 97 saw the introduction of robe armor for the Wizard, and Build 100 was when he received the staff to replace his wand. Little has changed for the Wizard since then.
Nowadays, the Wizard is considered raw damage-per-second put into pixels. However, as one of the few robe classes without any form of healing ability, the Wizard is, in the truest sense, a “glass cannon,” and is thus very prone to gruesome deaths. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.
Most players will start with only this class unlocked by default.
The Wizard is the only class in the game to have a cap of 75 in both Attack and Dexterity, giving him an extremely potent attack power that few other classes are capable of matching. As a robe class, Wizard also has a high mana capacity which allows him to make frequent use of his spells, and his Wisdom cap of 60 allows him to recover Mana relatively quickly.
However, robe classes like Wizard share the lowest HP capacities in the game, and they usually also have quite low defense and vitality, making them more prone to damage than most other classes. In addition, Wizard is one of the slowest classes in the game, and that can add difficulty to dodging enemy projectiles.
The Wizard uses a staff as his primary weapon. Staves allow the Wizard to fire two or more amplitudal shots at a long range. The amplitudal nature of staff shots allow the Wizard to attack enemies around corners or obstacles while hiding safely behind them, and some untiered staves make this niche strategy even easier. This comes at a slight cost of accuracy. Given his high offensive stats, the staves are particularly potent in the hands of Wizard.
Tiered staves are the bread and butter of any staff class.
The Staff of Astral Knowledge, Staff of the Cosmic Whole, Staff of the Vital Unity, and Staff of the Fundamental Core 
have excellent range and great damage, so are ideal weapons to farm stat potions, gods, bosses, and Oryx himself. There are few UT staves that have comparable damage. The T14 staff is a soulbound Oryx 3 drop, but all other tiered staves are tradable.
These are early UT staves that have great merit with new players.
These staves only really work in specific scenarios, but have extremely high damage.
The Staff of Extreme Prejudice (EP) fires 10 shots in a circle, dealing absurd DPS in its effective range of zero. On enemies that you can safely stand on, such as Pentaract Towers or a staggered O3 (most of the time), there is simply no competition. It drops from a common dungeon, Sprite World, to boot. Make sure you have maxed defense for maximum safety before trying this.
The Staff of Unholy Sacrifice might not have the same damage, but it still outdamages just about any other staff while piercing enemies. The catch is that it fires backwards, meaning you have to aim the opposite of your cursor, making spell aiming next to impossible. It also has a fairly poor range, though generally finds more cases than Extreme Prejudice. Additionally, it is a late-game drop from Malus of the Cultist Hideout.
These staves provide an arrayment of utility to the Wizard.
A very large issue with these staves is that spellblades, the subtype weapon of staff classes, can seemingly invalidate these two UT’s because tiered spellblades can simultaneously ignore defense and hit multiple targets. It can be easier to forge these UT’s if one is unlucky with tiered drop rates, but spellblades are definitely recommended at higher tiers.
The Phylactery is an ST staff dropped by Phylactery Bearers. While outdamaging the T12 Cosmic Whole in terms of damage per hit, the reduced rate of fire makes this staff weaker than the T11 Astral Knowledge. The staff only starts outperforming Cosmic at about 79 DEF, making it very situational.
The Edictum Praetoris is superior to Cosmic Whole until 30 DEF, and regains the top spot by 100 DEF, making good work of enemies within those extremes. It is dropped from Septavius.
While Superior deals massive damage, its only true drawback is its low true range of 5 tiles. If one is comfortable with the reduced range, then this staff is excellent for dealing maximum damage - one of the main selling points of the wizard. As a “superior” staff, it is an endgame item, dropping from Chancellor Dammah.
The Corruption Tether fires a single shot, which is more effective VS defense. It easily rivals the Staff of the Vital Unity, and even beating Superior at ~40 DEF. Dropping from a few minions within The Shatters, it is the current weapon of the Twilight Archmage Set.
The Wizard’s ability is straightforward: 20 shots are fired right from the cursor in a nova. Even the greatest Spell can be used quite a few times before emptying the MP gauge. Spells show their true power when you hit a target’s “sweet spot”, which is usually above their “feet.” Remember that when you see an enemy, no matter how abstract they look, their picture is always a square; learning to find the bottom and center of this square is crucial. By accomplishing this, all 20 shots will hit one opponent for massive damage! Note that spells are always centered on a tile, meaning that it’s often impossible to hit the perfect spellbomb. The vast majority of spells are the same, so learn to anticipate an enemy’s movements and move your mouse quickly to become a force of destruction.
Top Tier Spells are slightly ineffective against dense packs of foes, but Wizards already pack a lot of strength in their staves and are not particularly disadvantaged by their inability to use a spell. There’s truly little variety on spells until you get into lategame items, so it’s perfectly fine to stick to tiered spells.
The Elemental Detonation Spell (EleDet) and Burning Retribution Spell are the most powerful tiered spells available, being spammable abilities that destroy gods in single blasts. The T6 EleDet drops from Oryx the Mad God 2, while the superior Burning Retribution Spell drops from Oryx the Mad God 3.
The Recurring Terror Spell (Para Spell) fires lingering, parametric projectiles. These shots are much more accurate, and end up laying minefields for enemies to run to. As it only fires 8 (highly damaging) shots, it is more effective against high DEF. Its good offense boost (+4 DEX, +2 ATT) also adds hundreds of damage per second, making it very effective for long term offense. It drops from the Nightmare Colony.
The Tablet of the King’s Avatar (Tablet) has the 2nd highest damage of all spells (4,050), one of the best damaging spells, and the best for dealing burst damage all at once. Shots also have a “boomerang” effect, making it easier to hit the perfect spellbomb, but be extremely cautious when using this, as it’s a very rare drop from the Avatar of the Forgotten King.
The Ancient Eminence stays stationary for a moment, but also ignores the DEF of enemies. Enemies with a set path will run over the pre-expanded spellbomb, dealing full damage. While normal spells are generally better for damage, their 20 shots (or 20* DEF) make this one better vs high defense. In addition, this spell can be great for slowing enemies when paired with the Defiled Equilibrium. It’s also a rare drop, from an endgame dungeon, The Shatters, this time.
The Penetrating Blast Spell (Thicket Spell) fires 6, highly damaging shots. While total damage is lower than the T6 spell, the low MP cost (65) and +2 ATT makes this one of the best DPS spells available. As the name suggests, it pierces enemies; and because the shots circle around, it is even more effective at laying “minefields” than Para spell. It drops from Xolotl the Lightning God, from the Secluded Thicket.
The Genesis Spell summons 4 stationary portals that deal up to 2,500 damage over time. It’s less effective against mobile enemies, but requires no effort to aim. It is also massively MP efficent, though the spell itself has a cooldown. It’s an endgame drop from Chancellor Dammah, of Oryx’s Sancturary.
The Wizard wears light robes, which provide vital MP, WIS, and ATT stats, but lack in the defense department. The WIS boosts helps with casting spells, but unfortunately does not increase the power of said spells. As a robe class, it is not recommended to fight close range with the Wizard, and instead stay far away from enemies to damage them safely.
The Robe of the Grand Sorcerer, Robe of the Star Mother, and Robe of the Ancient Intellect are the strongest tiered robes. They provide decent Defense and greatly amplify the Wizard’s damage output with increased MP and boosted ATT. Their versatility cannot be ignored; one can never go wrong with these. Ancient Intellect is soulbound, dropping from 2 endgame dungeons, but the other two are tradable.
The Anointed Robe and Water Dragon Silk Robe provide good DPS boosts, comparable to the T15 robe. They both sacrifice WIS, though WIS is much less effective for Spells. The Water Dragon Silk can heal for +100 HP on proc, which improves bulk a little more. They are squarely mid-game robes, from Oryx’s Castle and Lair of Draconis, respectively.
The Soulless Robe and Shendyt of Geb are tradable ST robes that sacrifice offense for defense. They both don’t boost ATT, but Soulless gives a respectable +60 HP, and the Shendyt gives Vit, Wis, and a smaller (+25) HP/MP boost.
The Diplomatic Robe (Diplo) and the Vesture of Duality (Vesture) sacrifice DEF, MP, and WIS for a massive DPS stat increase. Diplo creates a portal that deals single-target damage to enemies in its range. The portal’s cooldown and duration are both 4 seconds, though you have to take 50+ damage to activate it. The Vesture increases Attack to an insane +20 when using your ability, at the cost of defense. Diplo is arguably the safer option, having more HP, while Vesture is riskier, halving your DEF whenever you use your spell. Wizards may choose Vesture over Diplo if they feel confident in their ability to dodge, while Diplo can be good for more aggressive playstyles.
The Toga Picta is a slightly weaker alternative to the Water Dragon Silk, providing an even larger +10 ATT, though subtracts DEX. It is obtained from Septavius the Ghost God.
Wizards specialize in extreme damage output, and often make up a large portion of the party’s DPS. However, because they are quite fragile, this often influences the kinds of rings that wizards will wear.
The Ring of Exalted Health, Ring of Unbound Health, and Ring of Decades, as with any other class, remain excellent generalist options for increasing endurance. Wizards appreciate the health more, considering their general fragility.
The Ring of Unbound Defense is typically an undesirable option; health on a ring is typically valued more than defense. Considering Wizards have only average defense, it may be worth it on unmaxed characters, though take this with a grain of salt.
The Ring of Unbound Attack is a ring suited for full DPS investment, forgoing all defense. Wizards already have a very high DEX, while staves fire 2 projectiles, making ATT a more valuable offensive stat. Esben’s Wedding Ring is a UT ring which grants the same ATT boost and +60 HP / +60 MP, making it a direct upgrade even if it slightly lowers DEF. The HP boost can be seen as balancing out the DEF loss, especially if one values HP over DEF on a Wizard.
The Snake Eye Ring is a very common ring from Stheno the Snake Queen with very medicore stats. However, the ring gives 
Speedy for 2 seconds (with a cooldown of 5s). It is therefore an amazing swapout for when the time calls for mobility, like with Oryx 3. Remember to swap in another ring afterwards.
The Experimental Ring (Expo) and Ring of the Pyramid are good generalist rings for the Wizard, increasing HP and offense at the same time. The Experimental Ring is much more common (and tradable), but the Ring of the Pyramid offers more HP and attack, as well as Defense.
The Forgotten Crown and its upgrade, the Chrysalis of Eternity, are some of the most prestigious rings available. The Crown provides a decent HP boost and a massive offense boost (+12). The Chrysalis has the highest XP bonus in the game (9%) and only gives more stats. However, the Crown drops from one of, if not the, hardest dungeons in the game - The Shatters - and the Chrysalis from its hardmode variant.
The Magical Lodestone has the exact same offensive boost as the Crown, but trades the Crown’s HP boost for a measly +6 DEF. The Lodestone also has +6 SPD, useful to the sluggish Wizard, and also drops from the easier (but still lategame) Marble Colossus.
The Chancellor’s Cranium and Exalted God’s Horn are both great endgame rings that balance DPS with survivability. Chancellor’s Cranium, while a less popular choice on Wizard, can still bolster DPS as its proc rewards classes that take lots of damage. The Exalted God’s Horn is the more popular choice, as it rewards DPS to classes that can take less damage, which is much easier from afar.
As a Wizard, it is quite easy to do heavy damage, do stupid things, and die. Wizards can quickly spam spells thanks to low MP costs and high WIS. Despite his destructive powers, the Wizard is not a resilient class, and can be killed in a matter of seconds if you play too recklessly. In addition, Wizard lacks in vitality and has no healing abilities; he is thus going to be reliant on healing sources, such as potions, pets, or a healer class.
A fresh Wizard is suitable for a new player looking to gather high level equipment and potions, as his fresh, level 20 stats are enough to take on gods and some higher level dungeons by himself. A capped Wizard can perform the same tasks a fresh one can, but obviously better. As with all classes, be sure to stock on HP and MP potions to restore when you really need it. It is also very beneficial to have a pet that can restore your HP and MP.
A wizard’s equipment and skill setup may seem very solo-oriented at first glance. However, the addition of a Wizard to a group sees a mutual benefit. Wizard’s potent offensive capabilities can bolster a group’s DPS substantially (it’s naturally safer when you spend less time with enemies). Wizard also benefits greatly from being in a group, as he gains access to abilities provided by other classes that increase his own DPS and/or his survivability as well.
Wizards can struggle if they act recklessly against Skull Shrines, Cube Gods, and Lords of the Lost Lands. Due to their low DEF they need to hang back and wait for an opening to be cleared by more resilient classes before they can move in to open fire. Alternatively with decent Defense, they can dip in and spam their spells without much risk. LotLL doesn’t have as many minions, though still more difficult due to a lack of piercing.
Wizards can easily deal with pentaract towers, although large groups of pentaract eyes can be dangerous to a lone wizard given his lower DEF. As long as they stay moving they should never suffer much harm from pentaracts.
Thanks to the wizards long range, it can easily snipe the Ghost Ship and the Grand Sphinx from afar. For the Ghost Ship, they need to avoid sitting on mines, while evading the Sphinx’s Zed Shots is mandatory to survive the latter. Wizards must take extra caution to evade the Sphinx’s horrid reapers which can easily shred through them if given the chance.
Rock Dragons are notoriously deadly to wizards and robe classes who fail to keep track of the eye. While wizards can be effective at pushing these event gods to phase 2, they excel in the second phase as the eye is easily tracked and simple to hit. As long as they stay wary during phase 1 they should be fine.
Hermit Gods can be extremely dangerous to wizards who have unmaxed DEF, due to the sheer number of hermit minions that can dish out large amounts of damage and paralyzes. A DEF maxed wizard however, can often engage a hermit god without any fear at all.
The Jade and Garnet Statues remain a deceptively lethal opponent for any class, not just the Wizard. Thanks to their long range, wizards can often hang back and fire safely on these behemoths without great danger. There are few things these statues can do when they are dragged to the edge of their walkable space, but above all wizards MUST avoid their sliding radial attacks or suffer instantaneous death.
Wizards utterly dominate the setpiece aspect of the battle. They are one of the best classes for destroying lesser nests, and pushing the primary nest into summoning the Beehemoths.
In the second phase, things get trickier. Each bee has a specific attack that is greatly hindering to the wizard: Blue can weaken you, slowing down the kill. Yellow can paralyze you, leaving you a sitting duck. Red can confuse you thus causing you to potentially walk on top of the bees and die horribly.
This battle is very dangerous to wizards who fail to keep track of the beehemoths, but so long as you always keep tabs on their location, a wizard can take on this battle quite well.
The Lost Sentry is an easy battle for wizards, given that they can stand far back and simply fire from a distance. Compared to other classes who must get close to the sentry, wizards primarily need to worry about the Spectral Sentry who often poses a more significant threat. However, never disregard the Lost Sentry’s attacks as they possess more than enough range to reach a wizard. Despite this, wizards can have a fairly adequate time fighting this event boss.
Wizards can farm most Godlands dungeons easily, considering their high range and DPS. Skuld can be a bit tricky if wizards fail to kill her quickly.
Wizards often do not have a hard time with bosses themselves, but the actual dungeons may give wizards some difficulty. Try clearing these with a group if you are uncomfortable.
The Murderous Megamoth is deadly even for a wizard who stays at long range due to its long-ranged attacks and deadly larvae. Keep great distance from this foe when engaging.
The Mermaid Goddess is capable of spreading a young wizards innards all over the seafloor with her deadly armor breaks and numerous pet stasis bombs. Wizards should take caution here.
The Wizard is excellent at getting high damage in on Tomb bosses, and can keep a tomb clean provided he never uses his spell or is very accurate with it. Nut’s rage phase and Geb’s scarabs are the deadliest things to wizards in this fight; being paralyzed can often be the death of any wizard.
The Killer Bee Queen is a death sentance to any Wizard who isn’t bringing his A-game. Due to the confined arena space, wizards are constantly out of their comfort zone and are in extreme peril here. Tread with supreme caution or simply never participate at all. Having another player bring out slow is heavily recommended.
The best defense is a good offense. With their high damage outputs and devastating spells, Wizards can just about eliminate any obstacle in their way. Wizards are effective both alone and in a group. If you want the most powerful class available and can live with the drawbacks, then the Wizard is for you.
