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The '''Wizard''' is a pure [[caster|spellcaster]], harnessing arcane and elemental magic to do his/her bidding via a devastating array of offensive spells. While the Wizard is thought to be quite similar to the [[Sorcerer]] and [[Sorceress]] of previous Diablo games in design, the play style is quite different. Diablo 3's [[end game]] Wizard play puts a much greater emphasis on defensive skills and crowd control spells, and has much less movement speed due to the cooldown limitations on [[teleport]].
Other major gameplay differences stem from equipment changes (weapon damage and [[Critical hit Chance]] / [[Critical hit Damage]] matter for all classes), the removal of skill points, and especially the fact that monsters do not have varying resistances to different types of elemental damage.
The Wizard is a fast-action, fast-casting, primarily-ranged attacker. The class is not really a "glass cannon," despite having a Passive skill actuall called actually [[Glass Cannon]]. In fact, that's is one of the main complaints about the class; that they are more of a mage tank than anything else, who must rely on defensive skills or strong [[crowd control]] and enemy [[debuffs]] to survive.
This is in stark contrast to the Sorcerer and Sorceress from previous games in the series, who could be a bit tanky with the right gear, but who mostly relied on speedy attacks and evasion (mostly via unlimited use of the Teleport skill). (The [[Demon Hunter]] actually plays much more like the glass cannon fast-movement mage seen in previous Diablo titles.)
Like all of the characters in Diablo 3, the Wizard has a unique in-game backstory that gives insight into the character's personality and mannerisms. The male and female versions of each class are essentially interchangeable in these non-gendered fictions.
The Diablo III Wizard hails from the far northern island of [[Xiansai]], which lies in a region culturally and ethnically similar to Asia. The Wizards are anything but aged Dumbledore types; in the game fiction the Wizards (male and female) are portrayed as rebellious, impudent, headstrong, and cocky young mages who were too impatient to follow the rules and wait to learn slowly from the elders at the mage academny academy in [[Caldeum]].
[[Abd al-Hazir]], the scholar and historian responsible for most of the in-game lore released pre-game, wrote about the wizard's time in a mage academy in [[Caldeum]] in his [[Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0007|seventh entry]].
