Wizards are the king of spellcasters. They can do everything; kill stuff, charm stuff, solve problems, gather information, travel, whatever. If you can imagine doing it with magic, a Wizard can do it. Wizards also have a longer list of attacks due to their high comprehensive abilities.
Shocking Grasp LvL1
The damage is worse than Fire Bolt and it’s touch range. Advantage against enemies in metal armor is nowhere near enough to make this appealing. If you hit the target, they can’t take Reactions like Opportunity Attacks or casting Counterspell, but I still don’t think that’s enough to justify rushing into melee.
Absorb Elements LvL1
A fantastic defensive option at any level, this will save your life when you encounter an unpredictable source of elemental damage like a trap or a spell. The bonus damage on your next attack is largely useless, but it still feels cool when you use it.
Burning Hands LvL1
The cone is just 15 feet, so it’s unlikely that you’ll hit more than two targets. The 3d6 damage is fine, but it’s not enough to justify rushing into melee unless you have enough movement to retreat to safety after doing so.
Cause Fear LvL1
A decent low-level crowd control option, but it has some drawbacks and it becomes obsolete as other options come online. Frightened foes can’t move toward you, which is great for melee enemies which tend to have poor mental stats like many beasts and many non-caster humanoids at low levels. Still, targets are able to attack (albeit with Disadvantage) and cast spells, and resistance/immunity to fear is common.
Charm Person LvL1
If you can cast this on a target outside of combat without them noticing, this can be a great way to defuse a potentially hostile situation. However, the spell has some complications. Charm Person has no visual effect like a ball of fire, so there’s no visual indication that the spell succeeded or failed. The target doesn’t know that they’ve been targeted by the spell if they succeed on the saving throw, but you don’t know if they succeeded or failed unless your DM decides to tell you (and they are under no obligation to do so). So generally your best bet is to cast this once or twice and hope for the best before presenting yourself to your target.
Chromatic Orb LvL1
Solid damage with good range, and the ability to pick the damage type means that you can always avoid damage resistances if you know what the target is resistant to.
Comprehend Languages LvL1
Cast this as a ritual. Unfortunately it’s a self-targeting spell so your communication will be one-way unless whatever you’re talking to also has a solution.
Detect Magic LvL2
Essential. If you’re not concentrating on anything else, it’s often a good idea to cast this as a ritual and walk around with it.
Earth Tremor LvL2
The difficult terrain effect is the real draw. It only works on “loose earth or stone”, but that covers nearly anything you’ll stand on except wood, so it’s an easy way to create difficult terrain. Unfortunately, it also affects you, so be careful not to trap yourself among enemies.
Feather Fall LvL2
The ability to fall from a great distance and land as soft as a feather.
Cloud Fog LvL2
An excellent way to cover your escape, but you can’t see through the fog any better than anyone else, so don’t expect to fight in this without some other advantage most of the time. Fog Cloud can be a way to negate Advantage if your enemies have the upper hand, so if you’re facing enemies who are invisible, hidden, or have some other source of Advantage, Fog Cloud can take that away, effectively leveling the playing field so that no one can see each other. Such situations are rare, but it’s nice to know that there’s a countermeasure when those situations do arise.
Identify LvL2
Even if you encounter a magic item, this typically isn’t necessary because you can usually identify a magic item by spending a Short Rest in contact with it. Some (but not all) cursed magic items can be identified using the Identify spell.
Magic Missile LvL2
A great option with long range and reliable damage of what is probably the best damage type in the game.
Shield LvL3
Large orb pattern encapsulates you and or your target. The shield will hold against most attacks up to same level once and take several attacks from lesser level attacks.
Darkness LvL3
Situational. Typically you can solve the same challenges with Fog Cloud, and you don’t need to worry about the possibility of enemies being able to see through the effect using magic or by being devils or something. Fog Cloud also has 6 times the duration and a radius 5 feet larger and can be expanded using higher-level spell slots. Darkness’s one unique advantage over Fog Cloud is that it’s portable: you can cast Darkness on a rock and toss it into a room or stick into your pocket to produce in the middle of combat by using your item interaction to take it out of your pocket rather than spending an Action to cast a spell.
Detect Thoughts LvL3
Situational, but a clever player can use this to gather crucial information from enemies unwilling to share it. Wizards are naturally well-equipped to perform the opposed Intelligence checks to continue to read a specific creature’s thoughts, but look for help anyway. If you can, have an ally cast buffs like Guidance or Enhance Ability (Intelligence) on you to give yourself an edge.
Flaming Sphere LvL3
An interesting but sometimes difficult option, Flaming Sphere combines area control and regular damage output, but monopolizes both your bonus action and your Concentration for the 1-minute duration. In small areas where enemies can’t easily get away from the sphere, it can be a reliable source of ongoing damage while also helping control a small area. However, the sphere only applies damage when it rams a creature or when a creature ends its turn; in the intervening time creatures can run past or even directly through the sphere unharmed.
Hold Person LvL3
On/off button for humanoids. Things that you’ll obviously think of as humanoids (goblins, humans, etc.) stop being common threats at low levels, and at high levels generally the only humanoid threads will be powerful NPCs. Humanoids are a tiny portion of the monster manual, so this spell is situational by design.
In encounters with multiple foes, you can up-cast Hold Person to paralyze multiple targets, so when AOE damage spells aren’t a good idea for whatever reason this can still handle groups of enemies. Paralysis is a serious status condition, granting Advantage on attacks against the targets and guaranteeing Critical Hits for attacks made within 5 feet of the target. Send anyone with a weapon into melee to finish off the targets before they manage to succeed on a save.
However, remember that targets get an additional save at the end of each round, so you can’t predict how long this will stay in effect. If you up-cast this to affect multiple targets, you may reach a point where so few of them are still paralyzed that maintaining Concentration may not be worthwhile.
Control Water LvL 4
Until the spell ends, you control any freestanding water inside an area you choose that is a cube up to 100 feet on a side. You can choose from any of the following effects when you cast this spell. As an action on your turn, you can repeat the same effect or choose a different one.
You cause the water level of all standing water in the area to rise by as much as 20 feet. If the area includes a shore, the flooding water spills over onto dry land. If you choose an area in a large body of water, you instead create a 20-foot tall wave that travels from one side of the area to the other and then crashes down. Any Huge or smaller vehicles in the wave's path are carried with it to the other side. Any Huge or smaller vehicles struck by the wave have a 25 percent chance of capsizing.
The water level remains elevated until the spell ends or you choose a different effect. If this effect produced a wave, the wave repeats on the start of your next turn while the flood effect lasts.
Part Water
ou cause water in the area to move apart and create a trench. The trench extends across the spell's area, and the separated water forms a wall to either side. The trench remains until the spell ends or you choose a different effect. The water then slowly fills in the trench over the course of the next round until the normal water level is restored.
Redirect Flow
You cause flowing water in the area to move in a direction you choose, even if the water has to flow over obstacles, up walls, or in other unlikely directions. The water in the area moves as you direct it, but once it moves beyond the spell's area, it resumes its flow based on the terrain conditions. The water continues to move in the direction you chose until the spell ends or you choose a different effect.
Whirlpool
This effect requires a body of water at least 50 feet square and 25 feet deep. You cause a whirlpool to form in the center of the area. The whirlpool forms a vortex that is 5 feet wide at the base, up to 50 feet wide at the top, and 25 feet tall. Any creature or object in the water and within 25 feet of the vortex is pulled 10 feet toward it.
When a creature enters the vortex for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage and is caught in the vortex until the spell ends. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage, and isn't caught in the vortex.
Arcane Eye LvL 4
You create an invisible, magical eye within range that hovers in the air for the duration. You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 30 feet. The eye can look in every direction. As an action, you can move the eye up to 30 feet in any direction. There is no limit to how far away from you the eye can move, but it can't enter another plane of existence. A solid barrier blocks the eye's movement, but the eye can pass through an opening as small as 1 inch in diameter.
Banishment LvL 4
You attempt to send one creature that you can see within range to another plane of existence. The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be banished. If the target is native to the plane of existence you’re on, you banish the target to a harmless demiplane. While there, the target is incapacitated. The target remains there until the spell ends, at which point the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied.
If the target is native to a different plane of existence than the one you’re on, the target is banished with a faint popping noise, returning to its home plane. If the spell ends before 1 minute has passed, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. Otherwise, the target doesn’t return.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 4th.
Confusion LvL4
90 Feet out | Circular Diameter 10ft
This spell assaults and twists creatures' minds, spawning delusions and provoking uncontrolled action. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw when you cast this spell or be affected by it.