BDO Wizard Guide - They Shall Not Pass

Welcome to our Black Desert Online Wizard Guide, traveler!

We will try to bring you the Wizard guide that Black Desert Online Community truly deserves. While this class is quite similar to its female counterpart - Witch, there are some significant differences here and there. Pre-Awakening skills are close to identical. On the other hand, the Awakening skill tree is very much different. And since Awakening will be the state in which you will spend the most of your in-game time - it is where the main difference lies. The playstyle in the Awakening form is very much different. Different tools that Wizard has lead to different approaches and different scenarios that you will encounter and excel at with this class.

Click a link to switch your point of interest, will ya?:

Why Play Gandalf If He Dies In The First 2 Hours Of A Trilogy?

Wizard + Witch Pre-Awakening (This will send you to our Witch Guide, as they've got the same skillset in the preawakening)

Wizard Awakening

Wizard Open World + Large Scale PvP - Comprehensive Guide

Why should you play the Wizard?

Wizard is a caster class with a powerful Area of Effect abilities to burst your enemies. If you are looking for a safe class - this is not a place for you. Wizard is purely a long ranged, control caster, that will die as soon as he makes a mistake. Even though in Large Scale PvP, there will be lots of players waiting for your mistake - the 1v1 PvP is even harder for a Wizard. For in group fights, especially during Node Wars and Sieges - people have a lower chance of noticing you thanks to the density of players per square meter. In duels - you are on your own. As a class without much safe mobility - you are going to have a tough time adapting to enemy playstyle, as you can easily make yourself predictable or vulnerable, or both. 

Wizards will deal vast amounts of damage later into the game, thanks to high-level Flow abilities doubling the damage dealt with Awakening abilities. That’s also thanks to high accuracy and base damage of our abilities (which will allow us to ditch some Accuracy from items for the sake of Evasion). Though it’s not easy to dish out this extra damage due to the nature of this class, as applying Crowd Control requires lots of skill. However, with the correct setup and understanding of the skills available in the Wizard’s skill tree, you will be able to become fast and dangerous. It’s true even in 1v1 duels, but you still won’t be able to call yourself mobile. Wizard can be fast, but he is not mobile at all. 

It’s a caster class, but keep in mind that the character is only as braindead as you allow it to be. It is true - Wizard has a very low skill floor, meaning that you can pick up this character right away and do some great things almost instantly, as the skills are pretty simple. After you go on, you will get rekt more and more in PvP, and you will realize that Wizard may be a very easy class to pick up, but a very hard class to master. Moreover, just like with every other class, gear plays a huge part. Boss weapons (Kzarka, Rosar), armor sets (Grunil) and accessories will go a long way to help you succeed. Every item slot can add significant value. 

As you level up, going further into the end-game, you will find new challenges in the form of more experienced players and classes that are becoming more and more powerful. Expect to lose more and more 1v1 PvP encounters as you level up, but don’t let these losses force you to reroll to other classes. Each failure will allow you to learn the ways of different classes, and you will slowly apply better and better tactics to counter them. Wizard is a highly reactive class. You will not set up plays during duels. You will react to them, creating plays that way. It might be a good idea to have a Steel Dagger as a secondary weapon, just in case. 

In the end, you will see how worth it is to play this class. Of course, it is hard in 1v1 duels, but as you learn the ins-and-outs of every class, seeing yourself succeed in every incoming scenario, with people calling you overpowered on chat, maybe forums or reddit - oh boy it’s a good feeling that is absolutely worth it in comparison to the mid to end-game struggles. You will learn how to duel, how to fulfill your role in Large Scale PvP scenarios, how to react to certain classes, and their engages. You will learn how to trade Super Armor, and Crowd Control moves - you are using the class with the most potential to be the strongest in the entire game. 

You should play Wizard if you like the challenge, high skill-ceiling classes, and calculated gameplay based on knowledge, for every Wizard will need his books.

Wizard Pre-Awakening Skills

Wizard’s Pre-Awakening is the same as the Witch’s. Witch guide is already on our website, feel free to check it out, so you can read about the skills that your character can use: Black Desert Online Witch Guide

Wizard Awakening Skills

Awakening: Godr Sphera of Lord Red

Status: C Swap

It's a classic swap between your Pre-Awakening Staff and Awakening Godr Sphera. Forward Guard will linger through the entire duration of the animation.

Flame Knot

Status: Wizard’s Magic Grab

It is the only spellcasting ranged class that has a grab in the kit. This type of skill is available almost exclusively to melee classes. It can be quite decent at times, as it can catch some people off guard, especially if you can recognize them being in a vulnerable state for a grab. But if you can’t - grabbing someone will be purely random. And it’s tough to pull this off, to activate a bound.

Controlled Madness

Status: Shift + E Buff

Classic E Self-Buff, similar to other classes yet somewhat different. Your MP will be recovered by 700, Casting Speed, and Critical hit rate will increase by 20% for 30 seconds. All DP increased by 15%, Evasion by 12%, Accuracy by 15%, All AP by 20. Also, MP Recovery goes up to +80 if you use this skill while being in an Awakening state. 

Casting this ability will provide the user with a Super Armor state so that you can use it during the fight, as well as before the battle. You can use it in your Super Armor rotation, but you should use it only when you know what you will make use of the buffs that it provides.

Ritardando

Status: Area of Effect Slow

A handy thing to have, as it’s a severe debuff to all speed-related stats: Attack Speed, Spell Casting Speed and Movement Speed of your targets will be reduced by 50% for 10 seconds. It’s useful in both scenarios - PvP and PvE - but it only counts on good hits. Your enemies will see the attack coming if they know the class, so keep in mind that some players will be conditioned into avoiding it.

Commune: Calling

Status: Keeper Command - Follow

Your current Keeper will be ordered to follow you, a good thing if you don’t want to pull aggro.

Commune: Attack

Status: Keeper Command - Attack

Commands your Keeper to attack your designated target.

Aqua Jail Explosion

Status: Stiffness + Uncancellable Super Armor

Large Area of Effect water swirl and explosion. This attack has a quite long starting animation. The caster will gain Super Armor for the entire duration. However, this ability, once initiated, can’t be canceled. So if you manage to cast it by mistake, you can consider yourself a dead guy. This spell causes stiffness, stopping enemies in their tracks. However, if your enemy Superarmors through the Crowd Control or you misplace your Aqua Jail Explosion, they will have an easy follow up on you. And it’s especially true for classes that have a dash with Lingering Super Armor, which can happen mainly against Warriors. So be careful with this ability and use it only when you are sure that your enemy can’t break through it.

Hellfire

Status: Protected Charge Attack + Stiff + Stun

Wizard charges forward with a powerful fire explosion that damages enemies in a cone in front of him. All attacks from the Front won’t be effective as this skill grants Forward Guard. Also, this ability starts with a Stiff, that transitions into a Stun if you get your hits right. Additionally - each hit will net you some Mana, so it’s a great ability to use during grinding when you are short on your resources. It allows you to keep casting your high cost spells. 

Cataclysm

Status: Long-Windup Bound

This ability has one of the most prominent channeling animations in the whole Wizard’s kit. It hits enemies in front of you in a half-circle shape zone. It deals a lot of damage when you combine it with the preceding Flow. You gain Super Armor, it’s a Down Attack so it can be used in a combo, and it can be used as a combo setup since it Bounds enemies if they don’t guard themselves properly. Due to its long windup animation - it can be quite hard to catch someone off-guard. But if someone doesn’t know Wizard class - you can get some lucky CC in.

Water Sphere

Status: No Cooldown Ability + Knockdown

The only Wizard spell that can be cast in Awakening state when it’s on cooldown. When it’s off-cooldown, however, its damage will be reduced, the Knockdown effect won’t take place, and MP will not be recovered for successful hits. You can spam it, but there’s no reason for that, as you can just combo your skills that will be more damaging, more efficient, and Crowd Control will have some chance of application.

Bolide of Destruction

Status: 100% Black Spirit Rage + Long Cast Nuke

After a significant amount of time, Wizard casts this huge ball of fire that engulfs the area around his target with flames. It’s a Super Armor move that completely Nukes people who are already Bounded or Knockdowned, due to its Down Attack capabilities. It will be used as a finisher most of the time, and only when the enemy is grounded. Of course, we are talking about PvP. While killing monsters in PvE - feel free to use it anytime if spot is dying in one hit, as it bounds enemies and deals a lot of damage. In PvP - restrain yourself from wasting this ability, as the damage is something that should not be overlooked. 

Chilling Wave

Status: Keepaway Tool

This ability will push enemies in front of you away and apply a slow to their movement speed. It can also deal some extra hits when used in a combo.

Summon: Keeper Arne + Keeper Marg

Status: Water Summon + Fire Summon

Your Water Summon, that will attack enemies from range when commanded to do so. Summoning a watery or fiery pet will grant you a Super Armor state. And of course - these guys have their attacks that not only deal damage but have a chance of applying Stiffness, which is a shorter version of Stun Crowd Control

Flow: Aqua Bomb

Status: Flow to Water Sphere

Hold RMB after Water Sphere to deal some additional damage. And this damage is significant. There’s no reason not to use that.

Lava Field

Status: Creates Lava Surface

Set Lava on the ground in front of you, dealing a lot of damage over time, as well as applying a burning DoT on top of that. Damage is reduced in PvP, but if you manage to bound or knock your enemy down in that area, your enemy will get kit by 23 ticks from your Lava Field, and additional bonus damage from Burning DoT. It’s amazing. 

Also, there’s a great element of this skill, that will work in PvE. You see - mobs in lava for some reason won’t target you with their attacks, attacking lava itself. It’s a great property that, for some reason, exists in Black Desert Online.

Flow: Arne’s Guidance

Status: Natural Chilling Wave Extension

Natural chain to Chilling Wave that will deal some additional damage

Flow: Fire Fist Marg

Status: Natural Extension to Hellfire

Additional hit with additional animation and some damage — good thing to have.

Flow: Arne’s Stream

Status: Additional damage to Aqua Jail Explosion

Arne appears near your Aqua Jail Explosion to deal some additional damage.

Flow: Fire Breath Marg

Status: Flow to Cataclysm Ability

Cataclysm itself is not a very strong ability. Long Windup animation, mediocre damage, minimal chance of actually applying the CC. This ability somehow fixes it up by granting you a preceding skill that makes the primary ability not necessarily faster, but it uses that time that was wasted before on winding up. 

Wizard PvP Guide

PvP is unavoidable in Black Desert. When you hit those high levels, and the time comes to make some money and level up even further, you head towards high-end spots. And soon, you will realize that these zones are highly contested, and it will be tough to find and maintain a grinding spot, especially when someone rings the experience bell on your server. Even on some spots for levels 57-60, like Gahaz - you will find spots that are already occupied by the players. And in theory, there’s one good solution. Remove them from the spot by engaging on them, forcing them to go back to the closest Node or Town. If you are stronger - you will consistently win fights, and after a few attempts - these guys will give up. In some scenarios, these guys will try to interrupt your newly acquired spot anyway, so you will have to know how to clear it properly, so they don’t get anything. You can also consider using the pre-awakening Witch/Wizard skills like Meteor Shower, Fireball Explosion, Mind Training, Sage's Memory, Spellbound Heart, Magic Arrows, Magical Shield, Residual Lightning, Absolute Meteor, Healing Lighthouse, Blizzard, Ultimate Teleport and more. What about PvP Skill Points? Find them yourself on BDO Witch Discord!

Be prepared to be faced with a similar things from your enemies. You can claim a spot. Bell gets activated, you apply all of your buffs, foods, potions, 200% exp buffs, exp potions, and other bonuses. And at this exact moment - someone might show up, kill you a few times, discouraging you from coming back to the same spot. You will have to find a free one, fight for another one, change a server or give up and waste all of your buffs. That’s how the game works, and this is what makes the PvP have a point.

It comes not only to grinding for money or levels, as there are also guild wars in the form of Node Wars, Sieges, and open-world war declarations. Node Wars and Sieges will be used purely for guild profits and land control. The guild that wins a Node War controls Node’s territory, gaining some amount of taxes accumulated throughout the week from all servers through the transactions players made on Central Market and in NPC Shops. Depending on the Node location, payouts may have a better rate, which will lead to massive rewards for the guild, and for every individual guild member that participated in a Node War.

Wizard 1v1

The truth is, if you master 1v1 scenarios, you will be able to learn every other part of PvP. Single Combat is something that will happen in all PvP parts of the game. Sieges, Node Wars - you will meet some Lone Wolves or flankers in those combat scenarios as well. You can dish out impressive amounts of DPS, but you have to stay safe in order to do so. There's not much innate defense in Wizard's kit, so you have to be smart about it. 

1v1 is very important in BDO. Grinding spots are highly contested, especially those that are either for top-tier players or those that are far away from the nearest spawns. And since people can engage on you out of nowhere - it’s essential to know how you can engage on others, and how to protect yourself from it. 

Number one thing - learn how not to get hit. You can be an expert at dealing damage, finding windows of opportunity to unleash your combos on your opponents, but if you don’t know how to protect yourself - you are a lost cause. Simply because - your enemy will attack you as well, rolling through their Forward Guards and Super Armors. And if those guys know how to defend themselves - they will do so, proceeding with a retaliation, that you won’t be able to counter. 

Wizard doesn’t have that many mechanics that allow him to come out of bad situations. This class can prevent bad scenarios from happening, but these things do happen. It’s not a braindead caster class that stands in place, casting Stuns, Slows, AoE attacks, and Damage over Time abilities like in some other MMORPGs. Right here, Wizard has to work hard to deal PvP damage, and even harder to stay alive. Even Teleport won’t be enough, as people who see it coming can punish that easily as long as they know what they are doing. 

In theory - you will want to kite your enemies as best as you can, casting slows, and hard Crowd Control spells to keep enemies away from you as you deal damage. Teleport away if they try to come close and prepare to deal some more damage from the distance.

Wizard is less reactive than Witch and can do some stuff by himself. The reason is simple - Witch doesn’t have a grab - Wizard has it. So, in theory, Wizard can set up some kills not by reacting, and instead by being on the more aggressive side. 

Wizard Nodewar & Sieges

Wizard’s role is pretty clear, just like for every Mage-like character in an MMORPG game. You’ve got these powerful glass cannon Wizards and Witches, that will control the battlefield with the presence, crowd control, and damage from afar. In theory - surround the base with a team of five good wizards and witches, and they will mow down anything that appears in their controlled area, which will be one of the most important things to you. However - the most important thing that you will constantly have to be concerned about is your safety.

Glass cannons can’t shoot cannonballs if they’re dead. So first and foremost - learn how to protect yourself. This will help you max out your damage output and build advantages. And there are quite a few things that come into that broad guideline.

Proper tactics should be your primary concern. We all know that Berserkers are there to go ham on the enemy. Sorceress will bait out enemies with her iFrames, Musas will go in and out of the fight being annoying to your enemies. And there are Witches and Wizards, that should stay on the sidelines to provide Area of Effect damage and Crowd Control from a significant distance. Every person should know their role and know how to operate in the spectrum of its main tasks. Nobody wants a Wizard that acts like a Berserker unless you somehow manage to sneakily get behind enemies and obliterate a large group of them. Don’t stick to plays like these. You can attempt it once or twice per few node wars or sieges, but you definitely should not base your Wizard around that playstyle, as it’s inconsistent.

Positioning will be another thing. In general, you should be placed somewhere you can do your job - dishing out damage and Crowd Control in a large area from a distance. But where should you position yourself to do that? You can be super aggressive and stand somewhere in the front, so you have easy access to your enemies. However - enemies will also have easy access to you. And if you don’t know your Super Armor rotations, or you don’t know how to counter and outplay certain classes - you are a goner. There is also a very safe position where enemies have to work hard to get to you because you are so far away. But if you are so far away that it’s hard to get to you, you also limit your possibilities of dealing damage in the most populated area, which is a bummer. Therefore, you should keep swapping between being aggressive and being passive. Take them head-on with a few spells and before someone appears to react - back away behind your frontlines. The constant back and forth can be your strategy and the main positioning idea.

Know what you are dealing with. If you know your class and know yourself - you might succeed against other players and their classes. But if you know both yourself and your enemy - you will defeat anyone in your way as long as you don’t make too many mistakes in your gameplay and technique. And to do that properly, you have to know who you’re up against. Study the classes that are present in the game, fight against them in 1v1, create new characters, and see how they play out. Get to know them. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What moves should you look out for? Which skills can catch you off-guard? What are their primary abilities that they will use to bait you, etc.? Learn those moves so that you can adapt to them. 

It will be huge when someone wants to see you dead. It happens to every glass cannon class. You are strong. You dish out devastating damage. Some enemies are dying like flies. You are a mobile artillery. It will draw some attention to you, so prepare to be facing some Ninjas, Musas, Maehwas, Kunoichis, basically, any class that can dive you, meaning - almost every class in the game.

BDO is a highly technical game, where proper execution is necessary if you want to play reliably and eventually succeed. It's strongly recommended to learn your skills, learn your primary combo rotations, and master adapting to the situation. What do I mean by that? You should learn staple combos so you can use your muscle memory to dish them out as quick as possible. What you shouldn’t do - is base your gameplay around them. Instead, you should base your gameplay around adaptability. Macro-play, making decisions about movement and skill use on the go. Not playing by the textbook, not playing with your favorite moves, but playing to win. 

It’s very easy to limit yourself if you’ve just learned some hard technique or a highly technical combo. You will not play to win. You will instead wait for the right opportunity to get that combination in. Maybe for wanting to feel good about it, maybe cause it seems the strongest for you. It’s a major mistake. It’s just like a fighting game. When you try to use one move all the time - you will narrow your opportunities, and you will condition your enemy into reacting to that particular move. You are now even more limited, and you have to try something else. If you have nothing more up your sleeve - your chance of winning the encounter are close to 0%. Don’t play to use your designated combo, play to win.

Learn your Super Armor rotations, so you are protected from Crowd Control “shrapnels” for the majority of the time. In the chaos, where sometimes everyone is just piling up on top of everyone, it’s really easy to get hit with a random CC, that will screw up your combo, leaving you vulnerable and inactive for some time, making you prone to getting jumped on. Learn your Super Armors, how long does it last, and how many skills you can rotate to have Super Armor, or Forward Guard on you as often as you can. Of course, Super Armor won’t do much for you when your enemy comes up to your face with a Grapple Move, so you have to be careful with that.

And of course - you can swallow a large portion of theory, tactics, guides, strategies, combos, and stuff like that. But it will mean absolutely nothing if you don’t put yourself out there and master these things through a series of successes and failures. Join a NodeWar guild, play with your guildmates, practice your class, apply new techniques in fights, and, most importantly - keep failing. Put yourself in hard situations to fail, and slowly - learn to get out of those situations, so you can come out victorious because that’s what heroes do. Eventually, you will be always able to assess what's your best option. 

Summary

It is the end of our Black Desert Online Wizard Guide. As always - use theory found here and put yourself in hard PvP situations and practice, practice, practice. And then - practice even more so you can cancel (unalive) other players. Please take your time and check out our other Black Desert Online guides and content so that you can learn some theories about other classes, crystals, grind, wiz secrets (which you can find on Wizard Discord in a proper box). It will allow you to get into different classes and play as them properly, or you will know how to counter them. Check out the BDO offers posted on MMOAuctions and buy accounts, items or silver coins! Sign up and start trading today!

Black Desert Online is a MMORPG that has been developed and published by Pearl Abyss. It's a very demanding and complicated game that requires both the mechanical prowess and strategic thinking from its players. Besides the Wizard, other interesting BDO classes include: Striker, Mystic, Valkyrie and many others! And if that wasn't enough - go watch a video on youtube (or videos) to sort out those things next. Also - don't thank us, after you get awakened, and you wreck people around you, you can leave some replies (comments basically) and views, for some nonexistant MMOAuctions Points. And maybe someday, two of us will meet on an arena or a ring, and we will see who cannot read (or write) guides posted here properly. Everything will be exposed. Whatever happens - bring a mouse, no sane person would play BDO on a console, and I am not sure if I really want to play against an insane person. See you on the Red Battlefield!