Wizard

''This article is about the player class. For the powerful enemy, see Wizard of Yendor.''

The wizard is one of the classes in NetHack. Wizards can be either neutral or chaotic, and can be humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, or orcs.

Wizards are relatively poor fighters with low HP and strength, but are the best spellcasters in the game. All categories of spells are unrestricted to them. They can also write unidentified scrolls and spellbooks (with a magic marker) more easily than any other class. Wizards with high intelligence are granted reduced-hunger casting. The wizard rank titles are: Evoker (xplvl 1-2), Conjurer (3-5), Thaumaturge (6-9), Magician (10-13), Enchanter/Enchantress (14-17), Sorcerer/Sorceress (18-21), Necromancer (22-25), Wizard (26-29), Mage (30) Wizards gain the Warning intrinsic at level 15 and intrinsic Teleport control at level 17. If a wizard has teleportitis, then he is capable of teleporting at will at level eight, a lower level than most classes gain this ability. Wizards can get Expert in the weapon skills of dagger, quarterstaff, and dart, as well as the attack, divination, escape, and matter spells. They can also become Skilled at Cleric, Healing, and Enchantment spells.

Strategy

 * Wizards should dump their quarterstaff as soon as they find any kind of dagger.
 * They can and should reach expert in dagger. They need not enhance even their attack spell till this is done.
 * They should sacrifice as soon as they find an altar, as their first guaranteed gift is Magicbane which is an excellent weapon, and in addition is an athame with which you can engrave Elbereth in the stone in one move, without dulling. It is also great as wielding it catches 95% of all curses, great when confronting a spellcaster. Actually at high levels and after the quest, spells are much better for attack than any weapon. So keep the magicbane wielded at all times, and use spells for attack.
 * They should try to read any non-cursed spellbook as soon as they find it. They will be warned of any chances of failure. They also have higher intelligence which makes it easy to read spellbooks. Combining the two they can start reading uncursed level 1 spellbooks at XL1.

Starting equipment

 * quarterstaff
 * cloak of magic resistance
 * three random scrolls
 * two spellbooks. The first is always force bolt, the other is random.
 * three random potions
 * two random rings
 * random wand
 * 20% chance of magic marker
 * 20% chance of blindfold

Because there can be so much variation in the starting equipment, it makes them a common class for reroll scummers.

When sacrificing at an altar, Wizards receive Magicbane as their first gift.