Wizard

“The most awesome man to ever set foot in the arena, the Wizard will blow you away with his handsomeness... and/or fireballs.”

Summary

The Wizard is unlocked from the Spell Valley (Arena 5).
He is an area damage, medium-ranged troop with both moderate hitpoints and damage.
A Wizard card costs 5 Elixir to deploy.

Strategy

Due to their area damage, Wizards are extremely effective at killing large swarms of low-hitpoint troops such as Minion Hordes, Spear Goblins, Goblins, or Skeleton Armies.
Wizards can be effectively used to help your higher hitpoint cards, such as Giants, eliminating enemy troops in their way. He also acts as a powerful defense against high hitpoint troops supported by other melee troops, such as a Giant supported by a Mini P.E.K.K.A. or a Valkyrie.
The Wizard is best used against swarm troops, such as Barbarians, Minion Horde, and the Skeleton Army.
To deal with big swarms, you must place him at a good range since he has a low fire rate.
The Wizard is very good at taking down Balloons due to his high damage per second.
When defending against a Wizard that has locked on to your tower, do not place your unit behind the tower as the Wizard's splash radius will splash the unit as well.
Due to their low amount of hitpoints, Wizards are very vulnerable to moderate to high damaging spell cards such as the Fireball. A higher level Fireball will always destroy a Wizard.
When trying to counter a Wizard, deploy moderate to high hitpoint troops to eliminate him, such as the Mini P.E.K.K.A. or a Knight.
The Wizard deals moderate area damage, so it is not advised to use multiple-unit cards such as Minions or Barbarians unless it is absolutely necessary since your troops will be destroyed or critically weakened, allowing the opponent to take the better end of the trade. Despite having area damage, it is still possible to eliminate a Wizard by surrounding him with troops with low or moderate hitpoints such as Barbarians or even Skeletons due to his relatively small splash radius.
The Wizard is very similar to a Bomber, so use him in most situations where you would use a Bomber, plus with air troops. However, surrounding the Bomber with low or moderate hitpoint troops is not advised, as the Bomber has a bigger splash area than Wizard, and will be able to hit most or all of the troops you surround it with.
One cheap way to counter the Wizard is the Musketeer due to her fast hit speed and decent damage, making a 1 Elixir profit easily. An equal level Wizard will leave the Musketeer with a sliver of health left, enough to do some damage if a tank is placed in front.
The Wizard pairs excellently with the Tornado, as the Tornado sucks troops into the middle while the Wizard splashes the units in the center of the tornado.
The Wizard is a great counter against the Lava Hound since he has high damage per second and deals with swarms (the Lava Pups). If timed perfectly, the Wizard's fireball will launch before the pups have a chance to spread out, killing all of them before they can do any damage. However, the chances of this occurring are very low.

History

The Wizard was added with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16.
On 2/2/16, the February 2016 Update decreased the Wizard's damage by 7%.
On 3/5/16, the May 2016 Update fixed the "range bug" and decreased the Wizard's range to 5 (from 5.5) but his effective range is unchanged.
On 4/7/16, a Tournaments Update increased the Wizard's attack speed to 1.6 sec (from 1.7 sec). This update also revealed that the Ice Wizard is his cousin.
On 15/12/16, a Balance Update increased the Wizard's hit speed to 1.4 sec (from 1.6 sec) but delayed his initial attack by 0.2 seconds.
On 23/1/17, a Balance Update increased the Wizard's range by 0.5 tiles, to 5.5 (from 5).

Trivia

Despite both the Ice Wizard and Wizard being wizards, his hit speed is 0.1 seconds faster.
His description is a reference to the Clash of Clans commercial, Hype Man.
Occasionally when attacking and during his deploy time, the Wizard exclaims "Magic!", "Fire!", "Showtime!", or "Fireball!", references to the Clash of Clans commercial, Magic.
- He shouts "Showtime" or "Legend" when he is spawned but only if another card is NOT selected immediately after, otherwise only his spawn noise will play.
- His cousin the Ice Wizard does something similar but saying icy things in Finnish instead.
- One of the Loading Screen Hints says "The Wizard can control all elements, except his hair", which is also a reference to the same commercial.
The Wizard has the same hitpoints as a Musketeer of equal level.
The Wizard has the highest damage per second out of all three wizard cards, including the Ice Wizard, himself, and the Electro Wizard.