Avowed Wizard build guide: Best spells, stats, equipment, and more

Is there any better way to play Avowed than as a Wizard? Of course, there isn’t. You get easy access to lots of powerful magic, Elemental Accumulation, and you never have to get anywhere near your foes. You can control the flow of battle with summoned weapons, massive aoe attacks, and elemental forces. It’s how I played through the main story, and I have no regrets.

However, it’s worth pointing out that there are lots of different ways to play — you may want to focus on a specific element or a different route than we are offering up.

There are lots of amazing Wizard Skills in Avowed, too. Some of them feel required, and others are just nice to have if you’ve got the extra skill points lying around. From your build to Companions, here’s what we recommend, if you’re looking to channel the raw, arcane forces to do your bidding.

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Pros and Cons of playing a pure Wizard in Avowed

While I personally think the Wizard is the best way to play Avowed, there are some noteworthy drawbacks to it. I found the early game to be incredibly difficult until I started farming enough crafting materials to seriously upgrade my armor. However, I also balanced that with lots of crowd control and plenty of AOE damage for any situation.

If you want to deal tons of damage safely, Wizard is the right path in Avowed for you (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Pros

Long-ranged, hard-hitting elemental damage with wands and grimoires.
Plenty of defensive options and crowd-control abilities.
Easy access to all forms of Elemental Accumulation.

Cons

Very much a glass cannon in most instances — if an enemy gets to you, it can be disastrous.
You will need plenty of Essence Potions alongside Health Potions and food items to restore your health/essence.
Long cast times can be incredibly frustrating in challenging situations/battles.

Avowed Wizard starting stat spread and which attributes to level

Your stat spread may vary depending on gear and circumstances (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

While you can go with any Background you want in Avowed, Wizards do start with the best stat spread in either Arcane Scholar or Court Augur. Personally, I prefer to start with the Noble Scion because they start with quick access to a Sword and a solid stat spread. You can reset your stats whenever you’d like, provided you can afford it.

You do have a preferred order of operations for actually leveling up your stats, though. The priority is Intellect/Perception, Might, Resolve, and then Dexterity or Constitution.

Neither stat is especially helpful, and most of your damage resistance is going to come from your Armor, so Con is especially useless. Heck, you can even go with 0 Constitution, but that’s a little on the dangerous side, I think.

You need Intellect for more Essence, Perception affects Critical Hit, and Might to carry weight/more damage overall. Dexterity is okay for its ability to increase action speed, but I still find it far less useful than the others.

Best Wizard Skills to use in Avowed (Early, mid, and late-game)

Pull of Eora + Blizzard + Meteor Shower solves so many problems (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

The most important skill for any Wizard is Grimoire Mastery. You can start unlocking it at level 5 and you want to get to Rank 4 as soon as possible — preferably around level 11. This will mean for the rest of the game, you have access to all Wizard spells — or at least, can learn them whenever you reach the proper level. You also want at least one rank in Blast and then at least one in Wand Mastery.

Early game skills

Level 2: Minor Missiles
Level 3: Armored Essence
Level 4: Scavenger
Level 5: Grimoire Mastery
Level 6: Wand Mastery
Level 7: Grimoire Mastery
Level 8: Blast (Wizard Tree)
Level 9: Grimoire Mastery
Level 10: Wand Mastery
Level 11: Grimoire Mastery

When it comes to the mid and late-game, the order in which you pick things matters far less. At that point, you’re picking whatever you need at the time. However, there are a few spells I recommend starting in the mid-game.

Blizzard
Harvest Essence (at least one point)
One of the Elemental Accumulation Skills in the Level 15 Wizard Skill Tree

When you’re shifting between the mid-late game, I also highly recommend either a Grimoire with Pull of Eora or learning the skill itself. It can make the hardest fights much easier. Enemies that are floating in the air can’t grant themselves bonus health, after all. Also, make sure to max out Wand Mastery.

In the late game — say, level 20+ — you’re going to want Meteor Shower and max out at least one of the Elemental Accumulation Passives. If you have the space for two, it’s not a bad idea. If you were going to use Medium Armor, I also very much recommend more points in Armored Essence.

Best Equipment for a Wizard build in Avowed

This is easily the best Wand in the game, and you can further upgrade its enchantment to be even more devastating (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Weapon Loadout #1: Wand + Grimoire
Weapon Loadout #2: Sword + Grimoire

It should go without saying that Wand + Grimoire is your go-to weapon loadout. I also occasionally ran Sword+Shield in the early game, but I found I almost never swapped to it. When it comes to weapons, I focused on upgrading the standard wand until it was Superb quality.

Then, when I got to Emerald Stair, I purchased Minoletta’s Conduit and continued to upgrade it as far as I could. It’s available to purchase in the Porrya & Vellino shop in Fior Mes Iverno.

However, the best wand in the game is Whisper of Exiles — especially since I prefer a Frost build. Whisper of Exiles is found in a chest in the Great Sand Sea, in a chest that requires 5 Lockpicks. If you open up the map, it should be right where the “A” is in Great.

Eilara's Grimoire is hands-down the most powerful Grimoire (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Your Grimoires are almost certainly going to vary, as well. In the early game, you'll use a Grimoire of Elements and then a Grimoire of Greater Elements. Then, in the mid-game, probably the Elemental Grimoire of your choice — in my case Rime — or the Grimoire of the Spellblade for a nice assortment of spells.

In the late game, Eilara's Grimoire, which was found in Galawain's Tusks, to the right of the altar in the praying room of the Living Archives.

Frankly, for much of the early game, I used whatever Unique armor I could find — Light/Medium/Heavy — it didn’t matter to me. As long as it had decent defenses. However, below is a list of early/mid/late game armor pieces that you definitely need to have in your collection.

Early Game: Arcanist’s Gambeson — Yellowband Camp, Ruined House in a Treasure Chest.
Mid-Game: Continue to upgrade Arcanist’s Gambeson or your preferred Light/Medium Armor.
Late Game: Robes of Surpassing Brilliance — see this guide while in Shatterscarp

Your clothing options are also pretty flexible. Honestly, I just pick whatever I need at the moment, and swap around. You can’t upgrade these either, so I’ll give you a few options that you might want to consider.

Boots

Boots of the Bricklayer: Pargrun Cache in Dawnshore (+10% Dodge Distance/+15 Carrying Capacity)
Shoes of the Glimmering Merchant: Leave Fior Mes Inverno via north, and go right until you find a hidden door up a series of stairs. Activate a switch on the left to claim the boots. (+2 Intellect, +1 Perception, +5 Maximum Essence)

Gloves

Blackwing Gloves: On top of Aedyran Embassy — climb from the path to the left side of the building (+10% Critical Damage, +1% Critical Hit Chance)
Arcanist’s Gloves: Shrine of Woedica in Dawnshore — break the wall on the right side (+10% Parkour Speed, +20 Maximum Essence)

Accessories

Arcanist’s Ring: Ondra’s Reach in a lockbox next to Captain Trevik (during Precious Light Sidequest) (+1 Intellect)
Ring of Greater Overseeing: Galawain’s Tusks — top floor of Northern Warden Tower, behind the locked gate. You need the Twisted Iron Key to get to this (+20% area of effect damage)

Best Companion combo for a Wizard build in Avowed

Tank and Healer is my preferred way to go (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

The best Companion combo in Avowed for Wizards is really all about what you need help with, but at the end of the day, Kai is a must. He’s the closest thing to a tank that you get in the game. I ran with Kai and Marius until I picked up Giatta. Marius’s ability to crowd control is really quite nice.

For the rest of the game, I recommend Kai and Giatta, unless someone else is required — such as Yatzli. My preferred combo is Kai and Giatta, to have both a tank and a healer in the party to complement my powerful spellcasting.

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Edited by Ripunjay Gaba