You forgot about rituals. Wizards can cast rituals without having the spell prepared, as long as it's in the book. You can essentially double the amount of spells available to you by having lots of utility spells prepared as a ritual only.

Don’t forget a one level dip into Cleric. One level of Life Cleric gets you heavy armor, three new cantrips and tons of great healing and buff options, all without sacrificing caster progression

You have to start as a fighter to get heavy armor. Cleric on the other hand does give you heavy armor prof if you choose the right types

As someone who always plays wizards, I appreciate this.

1 level dip into Cleric is mind-blowingly good for wizards, too, since it gives them armour proficiencies, Bless, and access to healing, along with subclass abilities. It's honestly probably the best single-level dip in the game.

In a twist, JK Rowling reveals that *Avada Kadavra* isn't even a strong spell, it's just that wizards have no armor proficiencies and die to literally everything... EDIT: I should have explained better in the video, but you *START* with the levels in Fighter or Artificer to get the maximum benefits, you don't take them later on!

Damn, the "How not to be Poor" is a brilliant hack for Wizards. If you take anything away from this. It's definitely that move. For those other spells in the beginning, Shield, Fireball, etc. Those should basically be baked into the Wizard class since they're practically required for just about any caster build (almost the same way Eldritch Blast is for Warlocks 🙄)

I disagree with the last one. If you're going to multiclass, go cleric. If you _have_ to have heavy armor (which, in my opinion, is nowhere as good as medium armor), choose a domain that gives you that proficiency. You also get, with only a one-level dip, one of the most powerful 1st level spells in the game; Inflict Wounds. Sure, you have to be in melee... Unless you have a familiar.

Fireball is nice, but give it to an Order of the Scribe Wizard and watch them turn that ball of fire into ice, acid or anything else if they know enough spells with proper elements.

Alright, this is one of your best videos yet. The 'just cast fireball' turn around was awesome and you didn't say anything too wrong (you have to START as fighter to get heavy armor but it also gets you con saves so)

We should get more "5 things that all good (insert class) know" videos

you have to start with fighter to get heavy armor, multiclassing only gives you medium armor. The only way to get heavy armor from a multiclass is to dip into one of the cleric domains that gets it or to take 3 levels in artificer for the armorer subclass.

Cleric is a much better dip for wizards, it gives you healing spells, the one thing you don’t get as a wizard. And you still get heavy armor proficiency if you pick the right subclass.

There's always the 10 minute short rest : using rope trick and catnap when your party is in a pinch to heal up and regain all your short rest features

There is another means to not be poor, and that is two fold: At low levels, spend your off time copying your own spells into spell scrolls or another spell book. While it does take a bit of an investment at first (about 25gp per scroll per level) you can sell them for 50gp a pop and either use them to buy new spells, or double the spell scrolls you can sell later. At higher levels, you can create a simulacrum scribe. As they are a copy of you, they can spend all the time you do "socializing" and going on adventures just copying the same spell over and over. In both cases, there is another hack that I believe would need a DM's approval, and that is to have your mage hand copy spells as well. While it won't reduce the initial investment, you can make 2 scrolls for the time commitment of 1, thus being able to sell more scrolls quicker.

2 level dip in tempest domain cleric is a good choice as well, get heavy armor proficiency and the channel divinity allows you to do max damage with lightning and thunder damage. You can do 80 dmg every time you cast chain lightning!

In the same vein as Shield...MAGE ARMOR

Good wizard trick, have an artificer in the party. Pay them to make spellscrolls (xanathars) and add them to your spellbook.

Ooh! You should do one for each class. I’d love to see the Druid one, because I’m playing a Druid right now. Although this video kinda makes me want to play Wizard…

One correction, up cast doesn't scale well, just damage dealing spells of 4th lvl or higher are bad, so by comparison upcasting fireball seems good, but enemy ho scales much faster than your fireball will, so do yourself a favour and cast better spells with your lvl 4 or higher slots

Multiclassing a wizard into Fighter not only hampers your spell slot progression, but your spell progression. You're an entire spell level behind with two levels in Fighter. That's brutal.

Within all of the books available for D&D 5e there are 61 creatures that are resistant to fire and 108 that are immune. (I grouped the dragon ages as one per color). Fireball is not the best spell and I usually choose to go with spells that do Psychic damage as there are less creatures that are resistant or immune to it (51 and most constructs). I've also had this conversation with a player who believed Fireball was the only damage spell they needed: Player: I cast Fireball. Me (the DM): You're in Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. I'll let you change your action if you want. Player: No, I cast Fireball. Me: Okay, last chance to change since the few creatures in Avernus that aren't Immune to Fire are Resistant. Player: I want to cast Fireball. Me: Okay, fine. Where do you place it? Player (picks spot where some of the party will be affected (I don't remember what their Arcane Tradition was; but it wasn't Evocation). Me: Okay roll damage. You three players have to roll Dex saves. (only player that failed was a Bear Totem Barbarian who was in Rage). Player: 34 damage. Me: Fantastic, your three party members that were caught in the blast take 17 damage each. The devils you just tried to burn with Fireball take nothing since they are Immune to Fire!

You know what two levels of Artificer gets me that a Fighter doesn’t? Bag of Holding.

It would be cool if the mages of a certain Arcana tradition gotted some kind of plus when using their spell type beside a handful more spell slots

Great video! For multi-classing, a very close 2nd (or better depending on party comp/campaign) taking cleric is amazing for wizards. Doesn't slow spell progression, access to healing spells and guidance, some subclasses just give heavy armor, more free prepared/domain spells, access to channel divinity and domain feature. One of the better ones is forge cleric, get heavy armor, extra +1 AC and Artisans blessing you can just make hard to get components that are under 100gp

I thought casters could only cast one leveled spell per turn so even with action surge it could only cast fireball and a cantrip at the most

Look at all this fancy editing! Awesome work!

Remember lore wizards, when the questions “can I see them” and “are they in range” were the same question.

Wizards are amazing! A walking portable inn with feelings.

Are you taking into account that the artificer can up your damage output and your defense with infusions?

Can't believe how effective Fireball is. Playing Vecna and first time as a Level 10 Wizard. Everyone was panicking as we could hear monsters, whom we knew had heard us (Paladin kicking in a door). So I just cast Fireball and killed them both, despite the fact I could only see a gap in their room.

had a laugh with the warlock/sponsor joke, keep uup the amazing work! wish ya the best

Can't cast Wall of Force and Fireball on the same turn even with an action surge. If you can only cast one spell in a turn, anything else must be a cantrip.

I prefer the artificer dip to fighter. I know action surge is great. But id much rather get enchanced Arcane focus, and mind sharpener (which is soooo good)

LOVE this! More of these please!!!!

You are just so bloody amazing. I love this channel.

To be honest, a two level dip into fighter is good for every class. Even more so with the new fighting styles from Tasha's (10 feet of blindsight on anything is powerful).

"Battered like a Glasgow Mars bar" hahhahahahahhahha, oh christ, even as a Scot that's the best joke in this video

Before misty step you can use shocking grasp for a free get-away, since a failed save takes away the reaction. It's also more likely to work on armored oponents, meaning most melee threats, and it deals not too bad damage at a d8, ray of frost can then be used once you gain distance to stay away, both of these spells help you to stay at a safe distance while dealing moderate cantrip dmg each round at the cost of no spell slots.

Thanks for the tips now i will be able to help my party at school a lot better but i am only level 2 at the moment i made sure to bookmark this video so i can rewatch when needed.

6:23 you can only cast one leveled spell per turn so one of them has to be a cantirp. that said action surge on a wizard is still pretty good.

6:15 i thought there was a "you can only cast 1 leveled spell per turn" rule... Mind-sliver into fireball still works though.

Iggy Pop reference got me. Keep up the good work man.

Cast Haste on your rogue! They use the action from Haste to attack and get a sneak attack. Bonus action to cunning action, or whatever, then their regular action to Hold action: Attack. Meaning they get to do another attack+sneak attack as a reaction in the same round of combat, possibly canceling a big bag of hit points subscription to life in a single round by themselves. Haste = Double sneak attack. Option 2 is a barbarian. But you can't as reliably ask them to find you free spell components and stuff to trade for more spells. So get a rogue buddy and offer them the Haste-deal. Edit: Also, I will personally find you and doodle in your spell book if you upcast Fireball. 1d6 extra damage is likely to be +3 damage (or 1 damage if they save). Don't do it! It's a horrible waste! :)

While I agree with most of these, I *have* to say that number 4, the one about "never ever" learning spells of your tradition by level-up is *only* viable if you've already identified a reliable, constant source of spells, such as a magic shop with a variety of spell scrolls. If you have then great, enjoy this little life hack, but I've found after years of playing that in most campaigns, unless you're litteraly always in a huge develloped city like Waterdeep, you just won't have access to such a wide variety. I mostly play wizards, have been playing for years, and the large majority of spells I've learned outside of leveling up were found in ennemy spellbooks, with the rare, occasional shop owner having one or two spell scrolls lying around. In this context, doing your trick would be a terrible idea, because 90% of my wizard's repertoire would be spells outside of their traditions, which is awful for both character flavor and gameplay. I realise this is heavily dependent on your DM ; If you play in a High fantasy game with plenty of magic stuff left and right, then sure, your method is reliable and pretty convenient. But that is the *only* circumstance in which I would advise a fellow wizard to use this trick, in any other circumstance, focus on mastering your tradition (with a couple of spells from a secondary school to compensate for weaknesses), and keep your eyes open for opportunities to find spells as you adventure, but don't hold your breath expecting all of your 'must have' spells to magically fall into your lap at every corner (unless, again, that's the kind of campaign your DM runs, in which case disregard and have fun :3)

2:44 no, fireball is terrible when casted with higher spell slots since it only adds a single d6. If you use any spell slot higher than 3rd on fireball you're not being resource efficient.

2 level dip into warlock is also pretty sick, you can up your cantrip game and get an op af familliar, a cool ability from a patron like telepathy or bonus hp or debuffs, and if you use the pact slots first you will have lots of magic potential.

1:50 I thought it was gonna be so cool when I saw I could cast Tiny Hut to keep my party safe while resting, until I realized my party includes a Centaur and an Arachne, which are both Large creatures, and they can't fit in the Tiny Hut 😫

Dipping 3 levels into Alchemist will give you some healing options as a Wizard. Not to mention allowing you to make some cool potions.

One of my friends and fellow PC’s played a chronagurgy wizard/cleric hybrid in a campaign we were a part of, but recently switched to a new character bc he found it “boring,” (My character is also a Wizard, but he’s an evoker). I have to disagree with him though. Playing a Wizard has helped me be way more strategic. The fact that wizards can also acquire many spells also has lead to some great role play moments, as my character’s greatest fear is not being prepared enough to save his friends and family.

Never thought about multi classing wizard with fighter, some great advise thank you

Keep another damage option beside fireball... in case you encounter an enemy resistant or immune to it. And if it is the only spell you cast you can bet your DM will make a few encounter with them.

To go with the beginning of the video, how come the BBEG never uses an Artificer as a double agent in the party? It's a GENIUS move

Maybe I'm not using my wizards right, but I've never really found a requirement in buying spells. Maybe I just style my wizards too... tunnel-vision... but I always seem to find that levelling up is all I ever need to do when it comes to attaining spells. I've often found that I end up having trouble picking which spells to take at level-ups because there's nothing I need or want! Sure, I HAVE bought/written a spell or two, but it's usually because either I'm given it by the DM (eg, Teleportation Circle), or it's one that only seems occasionally useful as its use barely seems to crop up in the campaigns we play (eg, Identify). As such... and since I don't tend to use a lot of spells that require paid-for materials that are consumed... I tend to find that I have a lot more spare cash as a spellcaster than I do as any other class, since most of my damage/defence comes from feats/features and spells and I don't have to buy expensive magical equipment. Just give me a Ring of Protection and/or a Stone of Luck, and I'm pretty set (as long as I'm not in the thick of melee) Still, I get the logic of your argument. Always best to save money where possible. After all, when I'm super rich at high levels, I can create that "Room of Death" you did a video on (with all the Glyphs of Warning filled with Magic Missiles) >:D

Thank you for being the only D&D commentator on KZfaq who knows how to pronounce artificer. Seriously, thank you.

“Nothing will ever be as good as a two level dip in fighter” Hehehehe ~ laughs in bladesinger

6:17 wasn't the Golden Rule of D&D that you can't cast more than 1 levelled spell per turn *no matter what*?

I've played a Fighter 1 / Abjuration Wizard X, and it is truly awesome, and increasingly so at very high level, to the point that the DM struggles to challenge the party. But my new Artificer 1 / Chronurgy Wizard X is even better, and I'll tell you why: Artificer gets Cure Wounds, which scales on Int, unlike a Cleric dip. Artificer still gives medium armor, shields and the Con saving throw proficiencies. Artificer preserves spell progression if you only take one level of it. Cleric is great but none of the spells you learn from it scale with Intelligence, and it makes you a bit MAD. Even at level 16 I haven't taken the second level of Fighter on my Abjuration Wizard yet. Why? Too much delay of getting 9th level spells. Action Surge is amazing but better than Wish? I think not. No, Artificer is the greatest first level dip for any Wizard out there, and it's not even close.

Spells other than Fireball? *Jocat has entered the chat*

I often cast haste on my wizard's pony, Mr. Ned for extra speed in mounted combat! Nice Video!

"Fireball is all you need." Sure, if you don't mind starting a forest fire or burning down your employer's house.

As per main rules, you can only ever cast 1 spell and 1 cantrip in a single round. Action Surge won’t change that.

I love the picture of the fly when he was talking about the wizard flying

Just hitting things with fireball (or another aoe spell) is a solid move. I remember in one fight against a savage looking boss, our wizard, sorcadin and eldritch knight all just used our opening rounds to dump a fireball into the enemy. The dm just stared at us, the little helpers bad guys were dead or dying and the boss was hurt. It was fun.

"Shield and Misty step are essentials!" Me who never used either with 3 wizards: Wha? Seriously tho, just dont get hit OMEGA LUL

I thought you only got medium armor proficiency from a fightet multiclass. Unless your first level ia fighter. Any cleric that gives you heavy armor proficiency through domains can work though

3 level dip into battle smith is the best, especially for blade singers, who now get to attack and damage with weapons using intelligence. Also you get a pet that while it’s scaling is bad the more wizard you take can still give your opponent disadvantage as a reaction. And if you start as artificer at level 1 you have proficiency in con saves, making your concentration saves which blade singers rely on so much, so much stronger

A note about multiclassing into fighter: if you start wizard and then go fighter, you do not get heavy armor proficiency. You have to start fighter and then go wizard.

If we're going with the RAW -- you can't cast two spells, even with Action Surge. You can only cast one spell, requiring a spell slot, per turn and that's PHB in the Cast a Spell Action. You can, cast a Spell, and cast a cantrip, or take the dodge action, or disengage, or search, or help, so its still useful, but the best thing you get from Fighter Start, is the Proficiency in CON Saves for Concentration... but Artificer gives you that, AND Guidance.

You can't actually cast wall of stone and fireball on the same turn. You can only cast 1 leveled spell per turn as a hard limit, regardless of how many actions you have. This has been confirmed by Jeremy Crawford. However if you wanna house rule it go for it but RAW that's a no go

My character is a Forest Gnome with Minor Illusion cantrip and the Inheritor Background with Arcana and Survival skill proficiencies. He starts as Artificer 1 with the Investigation and Perception skill proficiencies, Guidance and Mage Hand cantrips plus five interchangeable 1st-level spells prepared. He then became a Divination Wizard 5 (going all the way to Wizard 17 or 19) with 4 interchangeable Cantrips (Cantrip Formulas from Tasha's Cauldron) and 9 prepared spells + various rituals. As a 6th-level caster, he has 4×1st-level, 3×2nd-level, and 3×3rd-level spell slots. Armor Class is 19 using Chain Mail + Shield with 43 hit points and Constitution 14. His Spell Save DC is 16 and his Spell Attack Bonus is +8. He also has the War Caster feat and will be taking either Alert, Lucky, or another ASI at Wizard 8. No Fireball but has Summon Shadowspawn (1-hr duration concentration) instead (it can be upcast as a 4th-level spell to have 2 attacks per round) while he hides inside his Minor Illusion boulder or crate, if needed. As a Gnome, he has advantage on Int, Wis, and Cha saves versus magic.

Counter point to the how to not die section use Illusion magic to create cover for you giving you a hiding spot (pro tip take the warlock Invocation feat so you have at will silent image funnier if you play a kenku who's heard a dangerous creature's roar so you can pretend to be said creature with the spell possibly scaring the enemy off

"SPONSORS! Wait that's a Warlock thing!" Damn! your adds are so funny.

"Battered like a Glasgow (Glaswegian) Mars Bar" hahah brilliant!

For "How not to be poor" It is literally, Oh, no I am going to teach myself this I don't need the college class!"

Wow I don't think I've ever been here right at posting. Cool! This should be interesting

Melf's Minute Meteors is a great alternative to fireball if you want to be "not like the other wizards". It deals more damage to a smaller number of people over a few more turns. In most fights, you don't get the money fireball shot anyway, because most DMs aren't going to surprise you with a twenty foot radius sphere of enemies all clustered together, each with 20 HP or less. At least, it probably won't happen often.

I had to pause and look up “battered like a Glasgow Mars Bar”. Sounds excellent.

I recently discovered Steel wind strike. 5th level spell that has the potential to deal 6d10 force damage against 5 enemies. You have to make attack rolls against each enemy which means you could crit with it aswell doubling the damage to target. Sure the range is only 30ft but if a group of enemies are huddled together imo its totally worth getting a bit close.

The Fireball transition was hot

If you don’t want to multi class for proficiency in armor go mountain dwarf, if your dm allows tasha’s do you can change the +2 for con and str to a +2 for dex and int. I could be wrong on the ruling with Tasha’s. Mage armor is also good cus it’s 13+dex so doing the build above you can get an armor class of 16 (with standard array) then with shield it’s 21. Using one spell slot and a different race is better than one level in another class imo. Edit: it could be worth because of the class abilities from cleric like inflict wounds and healing spells. Picking the right domain could also give heavy armor if you don’t want medium armor.

SPONSORS! That had me laughing after a moment of “-wait what?”

I've gotten to high levels in wizard without Shield or Fireball. I initially did it to flex but it ended up being way more fun and I discovered so many really cool spells and cool combos.

Excellent edits lol.

Bring lightning bolt too. You can use it as a single target fireball for big single monster fights (which a huge number of are resistant/immune to fire anyway)

Please do a video on Bards and Rogues! Thanks. Your channel is awesome!

You forgot my favorite option. Took this 38 levels in 3.5 and it was crazy. Have a 5e version of it that is currently level 6. And it is great. Barbarian wizard. Unarmored defense means you don't have to buy all that heavy armor. And if you do happen to get sucked into melee, you can rage. Half damage is always a fun option.

Cone of cold is a huge aoe. Despite only being 60 range. That 60 range is a freaking cone effect. Meaning it goes from you, to 60 feet. Hitting everything.

"Sponsors, that sounds like a warlock thing" is absolutely brilliant

I think a three level dip into artillarist artificer would be the best, you can buff your ac and dmg with a wand and eldritch cannon (which takes a bonus action to fire). They also use intelligence for spellcasting.

I look forward to seeing this foreshadowing Goblin Microwave video

If your DM doesn't mind the planeshift material, I highly recommend a 2 level dip into Zeal Cleric from Amonkhet. Heavy armor proficiency and Channel Divinity to max fire damage rolls. It's beautiful

another option other than fighter is multiclassing into sorcerer and using the draconic bloodline. You get elemental resistances and a constant mage armor. You also can (although it requires more levels and you might as well go to 4 and take that ability score improvement.) use metamagic to cast two spells per turn (at level 4 you can use this twice per long rest) You also don't fall behind in spell slots.

Also if you take fighter at lvl 1 you get a bit more health and proficency in con saves for concentration

3-level dip in Artificer. CON save proficiency, INT-based spells (including Guidance and Cure Wounds), medium armor and shield proficiency. If you're a Bladesinger, choose Battle Smith or Armorer as your Artificer subclass and attack with INT instead of STR/DEX.

Other tip for a good Multi dip: knowledge domain cleric. You get healing spells, expertise in arcana and nature, practically insuring you know every spell cast and every creature you encounter.

In our current campaign I'm playing a wizard and we have a monk in the group. I took haste when I reached level 5 basically just for him. No regrets. (It's amazing)

"Battered like a Glasgow mars bar"!! Hilarious

A level 1 dip into peace domain cleric for emboldening bond and the other cleric prof. is also great

3:05 - Party being constantly set on fire by the party wizard...? Yeah, that's me. It's turned into a running gag in the group. I -character, my paladin has threatened the wizard with bodily harm if it keeps happening, but out-of-character it's hilarious.