Players looking to amass incredible amounts of power over the course of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign should look no further than the Wizard. These studious mages spend their lives gathering knowledge of the arcane, copying spells into their personal tomes to learn the nature of their magic so they can wield it. However, because they focus so much of their effort on acquiring more knowledge, there are other aspects of Wizard builds that suffer.
Wizards tend to be incredibly squishy, and though they may be able to throw up incredible magical walls of wind or rain fire down upon their enemies, maintaining the concentration to hold their magic in place can be a real challenge. Fortunately, there are feats that empower their resolve and all but guarantee they can withstand the heat of battle.
Enemy fire can do a lot of damage in battle, and if a spellcaster takes too much damage, they can lose concentration on a spell that may very well be keeping the rest of the party alive. A feat like War Caster grants advantage on Constitution saving throws that help to maintain concentration -- and sometimes that advantage is just enough to keep a powerful spell going.
Additionally, War Caster grants the ability to cast without using somatic components. When a Wizard has their hands full, being able to cast spells without wildly drawn symbols and frantic hand gestures is a huge advantage. They can also cast spell attacks during an attack of opportunity, so long as the spell only targets the individual trying to move away.
Maintaining distance in battle is tantamount to the Wizard's survival, but not all spells have the range to make that feasible. Spell Sniper allows the caster to double the range on spells that require an attack roll. Ranged spell attacks also ignore half-cover and three-quarters cover, which comes in handy when the Wizard knows where the enemy is, but can't see all of them well enough to ensure the attack will hit. Spell Sniper also allows the Wizard to learn an additional cantrip that requires an attack roll from any one of the other classes, and the spellcasting ability is the same as the other spells and cantrips in their repertoire.
Because Wizards sometimes have the most powerful attacks and abilities, having the opportunity to go first in combat can get the party off to a strong start. Alert grants an extra +5 to initiative rolls, meaning the Wizard gains a pretty decent shot of getting to go first, potentially putting down enemies before the battle really gets started.
Alert also ensures the Wizard is never surprised (so long as they are conscious), and hidden enemies don't gain advantage on attacks against them simply because they're hidden. This could really put a powerful Assassin's plans out of commission and ensure the Wizard stays alive.
There are a host of powerful feats, like Wood Elf Magic, Fey Touched, Shadow Touched and Eldritch Adept that grant access a welcome Intelligence score boost, as well as access to new cantrips and spells that don't require a spell slot to cast once per long rest. Tough can grant a squishy Wizard access to a larger hit point pool so they're less likely to be taken out early on, while Resilient is another opportunity to improve that important Constitution stat.
Elemental Adept increases the power behind a specific element, while ignoring an enemy's resistance to that same type of magic. There are so many great options for Wizards when it comes to feats, many of them enhanced by the player's style and subclass, but all of them designed to make sure Wizards don't get snuffed out before they have a chance to power up those incredible spells that keep the party alive and the enemies dead.
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