D&D wizard school: School of Evocation wizard guide

A School of Evocation Wizard

A School of Evocation Wizard focuses on raw damage and elemental energy, with a focus on buffing Intelligence and Constitution to help you deal as much damage as possible. If you’re looking for the best wizard build for damage, this is it.

As a School of Evocation wizard, you’ll prioritize raw power over control, buff, and debuff options. You’ll be able to deal incredible damage with spells like Meteor Swarm, but you’ll be quite vulnerable while you’re doing so.

Building a School of Evocation wizard

Your first decision when building a School of Evocation Wizard is whether to go with a Sculpt Spell wizard or an Evocation wizard. Sculpt Spell is an Evocation feature that allows you to make creatures immune to evocation spells, which is great for clearing out dragons or other large creatures. However, it can also lock you out of spells you might want to use, so it’s not perfect. If you’re more comfortable working with the lack of control that comes with Evocation, go with that instead.

Recommended races

You have a lot of good options for School of Evocation wizards, but there are a few races in particular that stand out.

• Human: Humans can go with any wizard build, but if you’re looking to boost Intelligence, Constitution, or Dexterity, it’s hard to go wrong with a human wizard.
• Gnome: Gnomes are great because they allow you to focus on Intelligence and Constitution, but still have a little room to buff Dexterity. This is especially helpful if you’re playing a range caster build.
• Elf: Elves are also good for Intelligence and Constitution, but they have a bit less room to increase Dexterity. This is okay if you’re playing a range caster build or if you want to use some spells that don’t rely on Dexterity checks.
• Tiefling: Tieflings are a great option because they offer a +1 bonus to Intelligence, Constitution, and Charisma. Charisma is a bit of a toss-up, but Intelligence and Constitution are perfect for this wizard.
• Dwarf: Finally, you can’t go wrong with a dwarven wizard because they are the best at boosting Constitution. This is a great option if you’re looking for an Evocation wizard since it’s all about being able to take a hit and still dish out damage.

Ability scores

Prioritize Intelligence, Constitution, and Dexterity for your ability scores. You’ll want to boost Intelligence as much as possible to increase the damage of your spells, as well as giving you more room to use them. Constitution is also important because you’re going to be taking a lot of damage while you’re dealing damage. You’ll want to be able to survive while you’re rampaging across the battlefield, so it’s worth spending some points here. Finally, Dexterity is important because you’ll want to boost your AC as high as you can, so you’re not as easy to hit.

Cantrips

Cantrips are a great place to start for wizards, and you can take any of the following:

For damage, we’d recommend the following:

First-level spells

The following are some great first-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Second-level spells

The following are some great second-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Third-level spells

The following are some great third-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Fourth-level spells

The following are some great fourth-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Fifth-level spells

The following are some great fifth-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Higher-level spells

The following are some great higher-level spells for a School of Evocation wizard:

Contingency

A Contingency spell allows you to set up conditions for casting other spells. For example, you could set up a contingency that if you drop to half health, you cast a healing spell. Contingency offers a wide range of possibilities with a little bit of imagination and DM permission, so it’s worth experimenting with this feature.

Metamagic

When it comes to metamagic, you want to be able to boost the power of your spells as much as possible. For that reason, you’ll want to take Maximized Spell and Twinned Spell as soon as you can get them.