Wizard

"Wizards, lead your followers in battle. Take enough devastation to feed your worm, and a little more to grow, and take the tithe of your followers. Then take another portion, as much as you dare, and use it for your own purposes. But if it is too much, your peers will kill you and take it. Then tithe the remainder to the Ascendant you serve."

- Oryx, the Taken King

Wizards are a powerful caste of Hive. They wear long, crumbling robes and fly overhead to unleash their spells, drawing on the power of the Darkness to fuel their powers.

Overview
"The only word for what we saw is sorcery."

- Grimoire description.

While the lesser Hive monsters carry out the Hive's will through overwhelming force, the Wizards plan the Hive's conquests and carry out the unspeakable rituals that create its menagerie of abominations. In addition to fueling the Hive's might through sorcery, the Wizards also serve as its reproductive caste. A Wizard becomes fertile either from a mate or on her own, whereupon she will produce the pupae that give rise to the Hive's legions of Thralls.

Gameplay
Wizards are often frustrating opponents on the battlefield, being able to unleash long range darkness blasts in rapid succession while swiftly flying around. The higher the Wizard is ranked, the faster they fire them. In addition, they can plant down poison clouds that deal damage over time, blur the player's vision, and slow them down. The vast majority of wizards come with Solar shields, except for Omnigul, who comes with an Arc shield. But once the shield of any Wizard is picked apart through concentrated fire, their defenses are effectively shut down, leaving them fully vulnerable to Guardian attacks.

In Destiny 2, Wizards on Titan appear largely the same along with their abilities. Most appear with Solar Shields but a special few, such as Savathûn's Handmaiden, have Void Shields.

Known Wizards

 * Gotra, Eir Spawn
 * Heart of Crota
 * Ir Anûk, Deathsinger
 * Ir Halak, Deathsinger
 * Ir Yût, the Deathsinger
 * Mormu, Xol Spawn
 * Nokris
 * Omnigul, Will of Crota
 * Savathûn
 * Umra, Xol Spawn
 * Verok
 * Vurok, Eir Spawn
 * Xyor, the Unwed

Variants

 * Abyssal Sorceror
 * Ascendant Wizard—Epic difficulty Wizard
 * Chosen Wizard—Heroic difficulty Wizard
 * Conjurer
 * Deathsinger—these Ultra wizards are encountered exclusively in Raids (apart from Story mission Last Rites), and will kill the entire party after a certain time limit if they are not killed beforehand.
 * Hallowed Wizard—Major Wizard
 * Hollow Wizard
 * Profane Wizard
 * Rite Wizard
 * Ritual Witch
 * Siphon Witch
 * Soaring Keen
 * Waker of Crota—encountered exclusively in Siege of the Warmind and The Wakening. Wakers of Crota glow green and are capable of summoning traps called Vestiges. Vestiges damage players who walk over them. Killing Wakers will prevent more Vestiges from appearing.
 * Watcher of Crota
 * Wormkeeper

Trivia

 * The phrase "That Wizard came from the Moon!" (as uttered by the Ghost) has become an infamous line among the Destiny community. Bungie has released a shirt and a poster in recognition of the meme.
 * All Wizards are females capable of reproduction, either sexually or asexually through parthenogenesis, besides Nokris, who is the only known male Wizard.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * Destiny 2
 * Curse of Osiris