School of Abjuration Wizard 5E Guide

The Player’s Handbook introduced all 8 schools of magic as focuses for the Wizard. One school that is traditionally laughed off is Abjuration. You see, Abjuration is a school full of defensive or reactionary spells. Most Wizards know one or two spells from Abjuration – Mage Armor, Shield, Counterspell – but few actually focus on it. The wizards that do focus on Abjuration are problem solvers. They are there to exorcise demons, counter magical catastrophes, and close portals. These abjurers are proud and respected… By normal society. Will you be respected by an adventuring party as much as you are by churches or cities? Let’s find out with our Abjuration Wizard 5E Guide.

Counter the Apocalypse: Abjuration Wizard 5E

The Abjuration Wizard is, unsurprisingly, a strictly defensive wizard school. Surprisingly, this is a really good one. The options you get to defend yourself and your party are vast and potent. They center around an Arcane Ward – a really great health shield – as well as some great anti-magic later on, just when you need it!

Abjuration Savant

Unfortunately, like all of the Player Handbook schools, you start with the School Savant skill.

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an abjuration spell into your spellbook is halved.

This is… Actually not bad.

In most cases, if you manage to kill a Wizard or find a spellbook, you will find Abjuration magic. Spells to look for include Counterspell, Dispel Magic, and Protection from Energy. You could also find situational good spells, like Stoneskin or Remove Curse, both really strong wizard spells in the right campaigns.

Abjuration’s general usefulness is good for you, making this one of the best Savant skills. Even so, you’ll need to learn the basics. Get Mage Armor, get Shield. Consider Protection from Evil and Good, as it’ll be useful later. And, if your GM isn’t too good about getting you spell books or libraries, then ignore this ability’s effects and learn important spells naturally. You do not, under any circumstances, want to lose Counterspell or Dispel Magic by waiting for a spellbook to drop into your lap.

Arcane Ward

At level 2, you actually get a really strong ability to defend yourself with.

When you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spell’s magic to create a magical ward on yourself that lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has hit points equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage.

Okay, so… That’s pretty great.

At level 2, this health shield will probably have 7 HP. If you got unlucky with your rolls and have low Constitution, this could literally double your HP. And it scales well, too; it’s like you have +4 Constitution on top of what you already have. By level 20, you’ll have 45 or 46 health to work with.

The caveat is that you need to cast a 1st level spell on yourself first… How tricky! A lot of Abjuration spells are designed to counter opponents, so you’d normally want to save them for lat-

It’s Mage Armor. You cast Mage Armor and you gain +3 AC and 46 health. That’s kinda easy.

But, I left something out… If this was all the ability had to offer, it’d be pretty great. But, the fact that the ward lasts until your next long rest limits your ability to best cast.

So… They let you heal it.

While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.

You… have healing now. Wow.

After your first abjuration spell increases your health, every other abjuration spell heals you for between 2 and 18. That’s a pretty big range, but because your lower-level spells are more common, you’ll probably be healing for about 6-8 per cast. 

There’s just one problem, with Abjuration itself. Your spells are mostly reactionary, meaning you’ll be wasting spell slots if you just want to heal your barrier. There’s no real “spam spell” for Abjuration, other than Banishment, arguably.

There’s… A caveat, though.

At level 18, you have Spell Mastery, allowing you to cast a 1st and 2nd level spell as many times per day as you want. That means that, after you do combat, you could theoretically spam a level 1 or 2 spell to regain all your Ward’s HP. For level 1 spells, you have some absolutely insane options; Absorb Elements, Protection from Evil and Good, and Shield. We recommend Shield, since Protection from Energy is just better Absorb Elements, and Protection from Evil and Good is less universally useful.

You don’t want to choose an Abjuration spell for your level 2 Spell Mastery slot. That would make you take Arcane Lock. You do not need an infinite number of locks… Hopefully.

Projected Ward

At level 6, you gain a bit of a side-grade as your Ward flies across the battlefield.

Starting at 6th level, when a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to cause your Arcane Ward to absorb that damage. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, the warded creature takes any remaining damage.

30 ft range is perfect; you never want to be more than 30 ft away from your party so they can help you if you get hit.

While Arcane Ward is an incredible ability – able to take hits, and heal you – the Wizard is just not the class that should be taking any hits. You should be far away, spamming spells and cantrips. You just shouldn’t be taking damage.

So… Why don’t you send your Ward to someone else?

There are a few problems here. Firstly, your reaction is kinda important. It’s useful for casting Shield, Counterspell, or Absorb Elements… All really good for keeping you alive. Counterspell is especially good for you, since it heals your for 6 and you get some synergy at level 10 to make it even better.

But, let’s say your monk just got brained for 35 by an ogre two-handing an axe. Abjuration doesn’t have too many AC-based reactions that protect someone else. In order to save your monk friend, you can now just send over your ward to eat some of the crit. Then, spend your future rounds using Shield, Banishment, etc. to build your ward back up.

If you’re not worried about taking damage, then make your Cleric love you by making their job easier.

Improved Abjuration

The most famous spells that Abjuration offers are Counterspell and Dispel Magic; the dynamic duo to shut down any enemy caster. Thank goodness Wizards of the Coast knew that these two spells would be important!

Beginning at 10th level, when you cast an abjuration spell that requires you to make an ability check as a part of casting that spell (as in Counterspell and Dispel Magic), you add your proficiency bonus to that ability check.

Wow! Wowza!

It’s pretty rare that you get a raw, numerical bonus to your ability checks, so this ability is pretty stunning! By level 10, you should have a +5 to your Intelligence. Adding your Proficiency means you roll at a +9 to dispel or counter. That just means you have to roll a 10 and end any spell in the game! That’s crazy!

By level 20, if you’re in a high magic campaign, that becomes a +12. A 7 can end a level 9 spell… using a level 3 one. Counterspell and Dispel Magic was probably already what your party knew you for. Now, you’re superb at ending magical effects with any spell slot!

Unfortunately, this ability does less and less as you lose low-level spell slots; it doesn’t make the automatic success any less automatic. That shouldn’t be an issue, however. With some luck, you shouldn’t need more than 4-5 Counters/Dispels per day!

“Shouldn’t” being the operative word here.

Spell Resistance

Finally, you get an ability that plagued earlier editions. Well, the name plagued earlier editions. This ability is all-new, but…

Starting at 14th level, you have advantage on saving throws against spells.

Furthermore, you have resistance against the damage of spells.

Jeez.

Getting advantage on saving throws against spells would probably be good enough. You get two chances to resist save-or-dies, you get some decent chances to save against Dexterity or Constitution effects. You’ll basically be guaranteed to avoid Wisdom-based effects! And don’t even get me started about spells like Maze! If you’ve ever had advantage on saves before, you know how good it feels to fail miserably on the first dice, and then crit the second. This is a major upside for you.

Now, if that wasn’t enough, you also resist the damage of those spells you have Advantage against. That’s… Bonkers. Considering most spells that deal damage target Dexterity or Constitution (important, common saves that Wizards don’t get proficient in for free!), you’ll love this. Even if you succeed at the save, a lot of those damaging spells still deal some damage. This way, you quarter damage from Fireballs, and halve it if you fail the save. Or, you take half damage against Finger of Death, which kills your character instantly if it does too much damage. It’s like Evasion… If evasion could target the 5 other saves, too!

As with most abilities, there are some downsides. Considering you’re so good at counterspelling, would this be useful against the super-powerful spells? Well… Sure, but you’d still want resistance against a 4d12 Toll the Dead, right? Even against weaker spells that you don’t want to counter, you’ll get mileage from Spell Resistance.

It also isn’t quite as good as Evasion, since you still do take ¼ of the damage from a saved Fireball. Hopefully, that damage shouldn’t matter… but it might.

What’s important here is having the ability to notice a spell being cast at you, determining whether or not you can trust Spell Resistance to save you, and then Counter accordingly. It’s pretty hard to identify whether a spell is worth countering, but… Use your head. You’re level 14, there’s 7th level spells being flung around. Be safe, and then sorry if it ended up being just Scorching Ray or something.

Best Race for Abjuration School Wizards

While Abjuration spells don’t normally care too much about your Spell DC, you still want your Intelligence to be as high as possible. Int is good for your Ward, your Counterspelling, and your other spells. Afterwards, both Dexterity and Constitution are important; your AC, your health, and your saves rely on those two.

Simic Hybrid

See our Simic Hybrid Guide

The Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica offers some strange, strange races. The Simic Hybrid might be the most obviously odd choice amongst them, but there’s a method to the madness. +2 Constitution, +1 Intelligence is perfect for you. Darkvision is always nice, and Nimble Climber is a good substitution for Flight until midgame. Later on, Carapace adds 1 to your AC without impacting Mage Armor – Perfect! It’s a great, scaling race that will work wonders for you.

Githyanki/Githzerai

Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes came with a healthy dose of races to choose from. The Gith are an option that can choose from 2 subraces. The first, the Githyanki, have +1 Int, +2 Strength. Not amazing, but you get free proficiency in Medium Armor. That means you can ditch Mage Armor and instead activate Arcane Ward with Shield or a Protection spell. Githzerai rely on Mage Armor, but give you advantage against mental effects instead. Not bad, if you’re worried about creatures with non-spell charms or frightens!

Best Feats for Abjuration Wizard

Like most Wizards, the Abjuration Wizard must prioritize reaching 20 Intelligence before laying a finger on feats. Improving your chance to survive encounters is so extremely important, and your best way to survive encounters is through magic and high DCs.

However, there are a few feats that work uniquely with Abjuration Wizards that are interesting, as well as a few feats that generally help Wizards a lot. Here are a few examples.

Eldritch Adept

Eldritch Adept is an interesting feat. It simply gives you an Invocation for free, from the Warlock invocation list. 99% of the time, this leads to you taking something simple but defensive, like Armor of Shadows to improve your defense or Devil’s Sight to grant Darkvision while negating dangerous magic like Darkness or Maddening Darkness that can muck up fights.

However, for the Abjuration Wizard, Eldritch Adept goes a step farther. By taking either Armor of Shadows or Fiendish Vigor, you get two options for a first-level Abjuration spell that you can cast at-will: Either granting yourself a base of 13 AC or giving yourself a very small number of temporary hitpoints.

That might seem weak, because it is. However, what is less weak is your ability to use these spells to heal your Arcane Ward without using spell slots. See, because these spells are at-will and both part of the Abjuration School, they both apply for Arcane Ward’s ability to heal twice the level of the spell. So, it’ll take a long, long time, but by spamming Mage Armor or Fiendish Vigor out of a fight, you can get your full Ward back.

Over the course of a day, Eldritch Adept will be responsible for possibly hundreds of hit points, both through the Ward itself and Fiendish Vigor.

We recommend Mage Armor in the early game, as that +3 to AC is a huge buffer that prevents an extra 15% of attacks. However, as you get stronger, Fiendish Vigor will become slightly more useful. Especially if you find magic robes that improve your defenses, like the Robes of the Archmagi. 

Thankfully, this feat also lets you swap your Invocation whenever you level, making it a cinch to swap between options. You could even go for something like Eldritch Mind or Devil’s Sight if you think that’d lead to easier encounters, though we recommend always having an easy method to refuel your Ward. This feat is basically only for that.

Metamagic Adept

Metamagic Adept is one of the better feats for Spellcasters in 5E, though it might not seem like that on the surface. To start, you get 2 Sorcery Points that must be used on metamagic. Thankfully, the feat gives you two metamagic options to work with, so you’re not stranded on something useless.

This feat is okay for Abjuration Wizards for two reasons: Extended Spell and Quickened Spell. During the early game and long-lasting days, being able to make Mage Armor last 16 hours is handy. You can also use it to improve spells like Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum or Nondetection, utility Abjuration spells that last a long time but suffer slightly from taking up spell slots.

Quickened Spell is a more combat-oriented option. The ability to, once per day, spit out a spell as a bonus action is really good. Saving your action for something like Hide or Interact, or even a Cantrip, can save an encounter. Mind Sliver to Hold Monster, for instance, lets you have a higher chance to make the paralysis land. Great for emergency situations.

Overall, this feat is useful once, maybe twice, per day. But, like Action Surge on a Fighter, you don’t need it to be useful more than that to be effective.

Telekinetic

Our favorite feat is Fey Touched, and we think that Wizards have a good use for that. Not Abjuration Wizards, though. Fey Touched is overly defensive, something that the Abjuration Wizard has no real problem with.

Telekinetic, however, is more useful more consistently. To start, Telekinetic grants a +1 to Intelligence, something that every Wizard will at least consider. A 17 start on Intelligence needs a feat to round out to an 18, which is perfect for Telekinetic to sweep in with.

Telekinetic then offers two unique benefits that many Wizards would enjoy. The first is the knowledge of a new version of Mage Hand. This version is invisible and requires no components to activate. That means nobody will know that this hand is creeping around the room until their goods have been stolen. Well, maybe the guard’s floating keys might tip them off to something being odd.

However, that’s not all you get. You also get the ability to shove around creatures. This shove is 5 feet towards or away from you, and targets Strength for the saving throw. Allies can choose to just take it, meaning you can push or pull allies five feet.

This is actually significantly useful. By shoving allies, you can negate most reactions based on movement, since you forced the movement to begin with. Pull the Cleric out of arm’s reach or push the Barbarian towards the Hydra safely; this feat does it all. Targeting enemies means they have the chance to save, which is innately more dangerous. But, you can do this as a bonus action and, maybe, that’ll line up an enemy for a profitable Fireball or Lightning Bolt.

FAQ for the Abjuration Wizard

What is the Abjuration School of Magic?

The Abjuration School of magic refers to largely defensive magic and anti-magic. The tenets of Abjuration focus on canceling the effects of magical abilities and defending its targets from physical threats. That’s why Mage Armor and Counterspell are both in the same school.

Is Arcane Ward Temporary Hitpoints?

Arcane Ward is a separate pool of hitpoints that also stacks with temporary hitpoints. The Ward can never receive temporary hitpoints itself, as it is not a creature but instead is an entity that simply has health. The Ward is not anything in particular, meaning it is impossible to target with any standard effect, including Dispel Magic.

Does Arcane Ward Stop Concentration Checks?

Yes, if the Arcane Ward is the only thing that is damaged, the Wizard (or any caster defended by Projected Ward) does not need to make a concentration check. That is because the Ward is the one taking the damage, not the recipient. However, damage that goes through the Ward does count for Concentration as normal, but with the reduced damage setting the DC. For example, a 30 damage fireball that hits a 23 health Ward – dealing 7 damage to the Wizard – only has a DC of 10, the default for concentration.

Example Abjuration Wizard Build

Before we can sit down and put together an Abjuration Wizard, we need to lay out some rules. Our DM directs how we build, after all!

• No multiclassing. Wizards have very few multiclass options anyways, so we’re not exactly missing too much here. Rest in peace, Fighter Wizard.
• No lineage. A bit harder to swallow. Since we don’t have Lineage, we can’t rock Custom Lineage for 18 Intelligence at level 1. A shame, but nothing we can’t handle. Other races follow the rules much more closely to Lineage, so feel free to follow this guide with other races that have more flexibility.
• Can use any book for background and race. This opens our options significantly. While some races were consumed through lineage in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, there are a handful of +2 Intelligence (or +1 Intelligence) races that we’re interested in.
• Standard Array. This hampers our build options very slightly. But, scores of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 are far from unplayable.
• Standard Equipment. Wizards have next to no need for equipment early on, so we’re not exactly crying about this one.
• Our party is a Paladin, Warlock, and Cleric. Fairly standard set-up, and we’re the dedicated Area of Effect damage dealer. Abjuration is 100% set up for this role, so we’re not exactly crying or anything.

We’ll play a Hobgoblin, from Volo’s Guide to Monsters, a race which gives +2 Con, +1 Int, and proficiency with Light Armor. We also get two martial weapon proficiencies, which we will gladly spend on a Longbow and Rapier. This lets us pretend that our Dexterity matters, and makes our Dexterity matter a little bit in the early game. The Longbow can easily replace Fire Bolt. Our Hobgoblin will have the Investigator background, giving us access to Perception while filling in Investigation, one of the Wizard’s strongest general skills. Arcana and Religion covers the widest variety of monsters, making them reasonable enough for our class proficiencies.

For ability scores, we want to focus on our Intelligence and Constitution, ensuring they are both at high levels. Then, we want to boost Dexterity. All other ability scores aren’t super significant, so they can trail off. Our Dexterity will be at 13, which is not superb. We can patch that with a feat in the future, which will likely be Moderately Armored. We’ll fist-fight the Cleric for that armor pool, but that’s pretty good. A Wizard in a Breastplate with a Shield is definitely something different.

In general, we want our Hobgoblin to be positioned near the center of a conflict, in range for Projected Ward. This lets them be in range for most Counterspells as well. 

5E Abjuration Wizard Build

Race: Hobgoblin Ability Scores: STR 8, DEX 13, CON 16 (14 + 2), INT 16 (15 + 1), WIS 12, CHA 10 Proficiencies: Arcana, Religion, Investigation, Perception, Disguise Kit, Thieves’ Tools Starting Equipment: Dagger, Component Pouch, Scholar’s Pack, Spellbook, Magnifying Glass, Cryptic Note, Common Clothes, 10 gp Languages: Common, Goblin

Level	Class Benefits	Choices
1	-Arcane Recovery -1st Level spells	We’re not quite done yet. Feel free to use Arcane Recovery quite literally instantly every day at this point. All it does is give a 1st-level spell back, after all. As you level, you probably want to save it for 3rd-level spells, since you’ll be spamming Counterspell like it’s your job.  Cantrips. Unfortunately, since we’re going with a quite low Dexterity build out of greed, we can’t really rely on our longbow proficiency right now. So, our three cantrips have to improve at least one damaging option. Mage Hand, Fire Bolt, and Prestidigitation should do. These three cantrips offer safety, communication, and all-around utility. Fire Bolt is going to have to serve as our main damaging option, which is a bit of a shame. But, without at least a +2 to Dexterity we probably aren’t going to be going crazy with damage. Spells. We start with six spells, each of which we want to be able to cast fairly consistently. Our choices will be hugely important for our gameplay, but we can’t offer full-on explanations for each of them. However, our choices are: Alarm for sleeping soundly, Shield for defense and improving our Ward, Sleep for ending early combats relatively quickly, Find Familiar to create an expendable scout, Magic Missile for okay early-game damage, and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter for a consistent answer to monsters at level 1. We cannot recommend enough to prepare spells based on emergencies and then swap them out as the day progresses. Being ambushed while having spells like Alarm prepared can be quite dangerous. We also recommend copying down any spells you can find. We’re not going to assume that we find any scrolls or spellbooks over the course of an adventure. So, we’re going to only get the bare minimum of 2 spells per level. Your spellbook will be much, much more impressive, and you may find some of these spells by default. If so, try to look at your spell list and learn the spells that seem important. And, try to only learn spells like Counterspell or Dispel Magic if you can’t seem to find scrolls of it. They’re fairly popular spells, but you desperately need them if you want to be a somewhat effective Abjuration Wizard.
2	-Abjuration Savant  -Arcane Ward	Abjuration Savant makes learning Abjuration spells much easier. However, it also makes it feel more enticing to be greedy and only learn Abjuration spells via scrolls or spellbooks. Don’t fall for that. Make sure you learn what you need. There are quite a few Abjuration spells that you can just find in the wild, but spells like Counterspell or Globe of Invulnerability are non-negotiable.  Spells. Silvery Barbs works somewhat similar to Shield, but has fundamental strengths – including out-of-combat opportunities – that make it significant. Absorb Elements is a life-saving reaction in battles against dragons or elementals, or even against enemy spellcasters.
3	-2nd Level Spells	With how Wizards work, it’s important to always have options for every level. Especially before we reach higher level spells with fewer slots, having a wide array of options is always great.  Spells. Our options at this level are extremely varied. However, we’re going to end up locking in Misty Step to keep us safe in emergencies and Web for the impressive crowd control option in a multi-person fight context. You might have noticed that neither of those spells is Abjuration. Well, that’s because the only Abjuration spell at this point is Arcane Lock. Not exactly the strongest spell for standard adventurers.
4	-Ability Score Improvement	This is a kinda packed level for us, as many feat levels are for spellcasting.  Feat. Sadly, we’re going to be boring here. Our Hobgoblin is stuck at a simple +3 to Intelligence, so let’s at least get that to +4. +2 to Intelligence leaves us with 18, which is perfect. We can sit on this until level 12 without too much problem, though that’s the latest we can possibly leave that.  Spells. We can use Dragon Breath on our Paladin through our Familiar to give them something to do as a bonus action, since their Greatsword isn’t exactly keeping them busy. Or we can give it to our Familiar at the risk of their life. This gives us area of effect that is honestly extremely efficient, so we can learn Invisibility as an escape tool for if our frontline gets bowled over and we need more than Misty Step.  Cantrips. At this point, Message becomes more and more effective. The ability to silently communicate is shockingly rare across spell lists. This cantrip will solve most of your general out-of-combat communication options. In combat… well, probably should just scream unless you find access to Telepathy.
5	-3rd Level Spells	This is our big level! Unfortunately, without utilizing scrolls or spellbooks, it’s hard to get everything we want. So, let’s pick our priority 4 spells for these next two levels and then circle back.  Spells. Counterspell. Get this spell. Eventually, you are going to dominate counter checks like it’s your job. Any chance that you can get to use a 3rd level spell to counter Wish is worth taking. And you get more than just a chance. Your other spell is unfortunately Fireball. The damage is too efficient, since we are in charge of dealing with smaller creatures. Try to use your lower-level spells wisely to clear enemies, but having a Fireball for when things get bad is worth grabbing.
6	-Projected Ward	This ability is the entire reason that we want to try and stick in between our frontline and backline. Having access to the party for Projected Ward is worth considering. However, our AC isn’t exactly the highest thing in the world, so feel free to hang back and never really inch towards the frontline realistically.  Spells. Dispel Magic is too good to ignore, giving us a lot of possibilities to solve problems outside of combat and recharge our Ward through removing annoying status effects. Fly is beneficial to our allies, letting them chase down annoying wizards or even dragons. While it eats a good spell slot for us, the Paladin being able to smite the Drake over and over again is worth it.
7	-4th Level Spells	Hope you weren’t wanting to dip back to level three too quickly.  Spells. Banishment is a hugely effective and aggressive Abjuration spell that locks someone entirely out of a fight. Targeting Charisma, you’ll be able to often use this to remove hugely dangerous melee enemies that’d otherwise walk over your frontline. Stone Shape is a solid out-of-combat option that can clear dungeon areas, “solve” puzzles entirely, or potentially save your party from dangerous traps.
8	-Ability Score Improvement	Alright, another feat. While most of the time we’d prioritize getting to 20 Intelligence as quickly as possible, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.  Feat. Moderately Armored is too juicy for us. +1 Dexterity, medium armor proficiency, and shield access. We’re as durable as our Cleric with access to spells like Shield and annoying effects like Banishment and Invisibility. We’re going to be exceptionally hard to kill, which is part of the point. Our DCs are going to suffer a bit for this, but what’s a -1 between friends? Just remember that, until we can get War Caster, you’re not supposed to be able to cast with a Grimoire and Shield in hand. You’ll have to choose +2 AC (or whatever the shield offers) or the DC and attack roll increasing Grimoires.  Spells. Wall of Fire is an exceptional area of effect damaging spell that quite literally carves encounters in half. This lets our Paladin have a defensive shield against ranged attacks or spellcasters while also forcing enemies to make the hard choice of eating 5d8 just to engage. We’ll also grab Haste, just because our Paladin benefits quite a lot from it right now. That extra attack means an extra Smite opportunity!
9	-5th Level Spells	With our limited spellbook system, this is the last level that we really need to fill with spells. Level 5 spell slots get to 3 and it’s the last one that gets there. So, focus on getting spells here and lower. Though, if you find spells in the wild of higher spell slots, don’t neglect them by any means.  Spells. Rary’s Telepathic Bond is a great ritual that offers exceptional communication between allies. Summon Draconic Spirit is a good summon that provides high durability and good area-of-effect damage, making it surprisingly effective in combat and very efficient in terms of damage.
10	-Improved Abjuration	Improved Abjuration does little to change our game plan. It’s just a lot more tempting to use low-level versions of Dispel Magic or Counterspell. This is a completely reasonable idea, since you’re already going to be rocking a minimum of +8 to the counterspell check. On an 11, you counter 9th level spells, and we’re not at 6th level spells yet. Feel free to roll those bones.  Spells. Let’s round out our solid options for 5th level. Creation is an exceptionally useful spell to just have in the tank, letting you make a 5-foot square worth of rope, weapons of silver, arrows of cold iron, and much more. Quite literally anything you can think of. Telekinesis is a fairly alright spell that has in-combat utility by making melee warriors useless and out-of-combat ability by moving gigantic objects from an insanely safe distance.  Cantrips. Mind Sliver is a good spell, though not as necessarily effective as it is on a Sorcerer. By casting this before your Cleric’s turn, you can set up a combo where your Cleric’s spell has a +2, on average, to the DC. It’s also very likely to land, as it targets Intelligence rather than commonly higher defenses.
11	-6th Level Spells	Level 6 gets up to 2 slots, so it’s not as important that we have a massive number of options here. Still, three spells should be learned in particular.  Spells. Globe of Invulnerability is an excellent Abjuration spell that keeps you alive against enemy spellcasters without much trouble. Mass Suggestion both doesn’t take our spell slot and is definitely a creative interpretation of our “area-of-effect” role. If used correctly, you can quite literally ask an enemy encounter to go take a walk in a park. 12 creatures clears 90% of encounters in the game.
12	-Ability Score Improvement	Feat. Okay, okay. +2 Intelligence is going to be important. +5 Intelligence is the max for your attack rolls and DCs, the most important parts of the Wizard. Don’t worry, we have two more feats coming up that’ll be more enjoyable.  Spells. Because we don’t have scroll support, we’ll get one more sixth-level spell but then go back to cover holes in our gameplan. True Seeing lets us basically cancel out any illusions, making it critical for campaigns where there are clever spellcasters. Contingency is a fantastic spell which lets us prepare something much, much earlier. We can say something like “when I get incapacitated by a spell, cast Dispel Magic on me” to save ourselves from a bad situation.
13	-7th Level Spells	The 7th level spell options are actually quite limited, but we still have some exceptional options that we need to grab.  Spells. Plane Shift is a great way to get out of a bad situation or quite literally send someone on a one-way trip out of a fight. If something doesn’t seem like it can cast Plane Shift, then you won’t have to deal with them for another week. Simulacrum is a bit too amazing to not pick up as well, giving you another Warlock or Paladin that can just spam. A really, really expensive spell, but one that offers so much value and so much potential that it can’t be ignored.
14	-Spell Resistance	We’re extremely excellent anti-mages at this point. Just try to stop us. We have such a solid chance at quartering damage from magic users. Extremely fun!  Spells. Draconic Transformation gives us flight, blindsight, and a good bonus action every round, which works well for us. Synaptic Static is a weaker area-of-effect than a 5th level Fireball, but gives us a debuff that applies in a massive area that also targets Intelligence. A fairly devastating combination.
15	-8th Level Spells	Another small spell list, but with a handful of good spells that we really should grab.  Spells. Illusory Dragon is a great, efficient combat spell at level 8 to deal with many creatures at once. Maze is an almost guaranteed answer to dealing with a single monster. If you get trapped in a Maze, you have a 25% chance to leave every turn. Imagine what an enemy Sorcerer’s chances might be!
16	-Ability Score Improvement	Feat. War Caster is actually going to come in handy these last few levels. Medium Armor and a Shield is great AC, but we want them to be online while also holding a Grimoire that gives us bonuses to attacks and DCs. With War Caster, we can use our shield hand for somatic components. We can also opportunity attack with Maze, which is just too funny.  Spells. Dominate Monster is a great spell for in-and-out of combat. Complete control over a creature is legitimately very impactful. Going all the way back to level 4, Greater Invisibility gives you a surprising number of defensive or aggressive options, for both you and your allies.
17	-9th Level Spells	Spells. Wish must be immediately scrawled into your spell book. Instantly. And this should realistically be the only spell you ever have to use a 9th level spell slot on. However, situations can get a little bit awkward, and we are an Abjuration Wizard. No spell can quite mimic Imprisonment, a spell that can theoretically deal with creatures that could otherwise never die. This should really only be used depending on your campaign, but we’ll have some fun here.
18	-Spell Mastery	Very few campaigns get to this point. So, congrats! But, now we have some interesting spell choices here.  Spells. Okay, this is going to sound silly, but we are going to legitimately learn False Life. This is exclusively for the next feature we get. And, with any luck, you would have learned this from nine million scrolls anyways. We’ll also learn the Abjuration spell Fizban’s Platinum Shield, a really solid anti-dragon spell and defensive option. Spell Mastery. Free 1st and 2nd level spell. That’s awesome, though a bit hard for an Abjuration Wizard. Assuming we don’t have any other spells in our spell book, then we are going to reluctantly take False Life. It gives everyone in the party temporary hitpoints, few as they are, but more importantly fully charges our Ward between battles. Shame we can’t just spam Shield out of a fight, but we take what we get. We’ll also permanently be able to cast Misty Step, because getting out of jail for free is a bit too juicy to pass up.
19	-Ability Score Improvement	Our final feat of the game will be Lucky. We basically only fail to counter magic on a very, very low roll. So, in the case where the magic is devastating to our party, let’s give ourselves three whole chances to prevent said low rolls. Spells. We’re still shopping around for good utility options in the lategame. Let’s try some 5th level options like Scrying since knowledge is quite powerful and Teleportation Circle to get us from A to B a bit more consistently than Plane Shift.
20	-Signature Spells	Well, these might be a bit obvious.  Signature Spells. Our two third level spells will be Counterspell and Dispel Magic. We’re serious. Being able to have these always ready to rock frees us so much. And we are desperate to cast Counterspell as a 3rd-level option. Dispel Magic isn’t as important… Except it absolutely is. We need an undo button for if Lucky didn’t save us.  Spells. Our last spells of the game. Antimagic Field will keep spellcasters from casting. As long as we’re okay with giving them a hug, that is. We have around 25 AC to work with if we got okay magic items, so hugs should certainly be on the menu. Feeblemind is a single saving throw to absolutely ruin a caster, though it does have some counterplay.

Conclusion – Our Take on the School of Abjuration Wizard 5E

The Abjuration school is shockingly good, but relies entirely on spells to deal damage. That’s not much of a problem as a 5E Wizard; your contribution to the party will be through counterspelling and good utility spells. Just remember to learn the important damage spells if you want to hurt anyone. This is one of the best options for Wizard in general, especially if you want a Wizard who has trouble dying.