The Wizard is an enemy in the Castlevania series. He is a magic user who moves via levitation. He attacks with long-range magic and may buff or heal other monsters.
Also known as Sorcerers, Magicians or Warlocks, Wizards are the equivalent of a male Witch. They often control magic with the use of staves and in most cases displace themselves both through levitation as well as teleportation; often using these abilities to escape and/or remain out of the player's reach and attack them from afar, likely due to their usual fragile frame.
Necromancers are wizards with the ability to raise the dead. Some wizards may be related to the gypsies and some are also ghosts.
The malevolent wizard Dark Side controls a gigantic storm cloud. He teleports around the screen, but before he actually appears, he'll first take the form of a floating magical crystal. This is the time to attack. Once Dark Side finally materializes, he cannot be harmed anymore and in return will command a storm cloud to fire lightning bolts down, which will send shockwaves a short distance along the ground. A good way to avoid these is to stay on the edge of the screen, since the attack can't actually reach Christopher there.
The Wizard is the boss of the third stage, the Courtyard. Found at the end of the frozen cave, this fight could prove to be difficult if he's allowed to cast his spells. He initially appears high on the room, out of the reach of Simon's whip, so bringing the Axe could prove to be quite useful in this fight.
His attacks include:
Summons large pillars of ice to rise from the ground.
Summons three daggers that are then sent flying toward the player at great speed.
Conjures three magical dragon-like heads with slight homing capabilities. These travel fast, but can be destroyed in midair. Furthermore, they don't actually inflict any damage, but instead will drain a few Hearts from Simon's supply, or degrade his whip when out of Hearts.
Summons a demon from another dimension which breathes a cloud of harmful gas. The monster is indestructible, so the player must instead endure for the duration of the attack. Probably, the best way to avoid it is by luring him into starting the attack near the middle of the screen and then move toward one of the corners until it (literally) runs out of breath.
The Wizard will usually start the encounter by conjuring large pillars of ice to raise from the ground, apparently in an attempt to impale Simon with the sharp ice shards on the ceiling; however, these pillars actually work against him in this fight and are the key to defeat him, as making contact with the ceiling shards doesn't actually inflict any damage, and the pillars themselves won't rise high enough to smash the player into the ceiling, so they're safe to ride.
Fortunately, every time the Wizard is struck, he'll vanish and be forced to reappear somewhere else, canceling his current casting. If the player is quick enough and attacks him constantly throughout the whole encounter, the battle can be over in a matter of seconds.
The Wizard appears midway through the second stage, the Atlantis Shrine, and acts as a miniboss of sorts. His only attack consists in conjuring copious rain to pour down in an attempt to flood the stage and drown the player. Similar to his Chronicles counterpart, every time he's struck, he'll vanish and reappear on the other side of the screen, so it's just a matter of attacking him constantly until he's defeated.
Unlike previous appearances, the Wizard mainly moves along the ground and only seldomly does he float high up in the air; however, he can use his staff to throw fireballs and heal surrounding enemies injured by the player.
"A magic user who moves via levitation. Attacks with long-range magic and heals other monsters."
There is another variety of Wizard in the game, the Dark Warlock. He can also attack the player, summoning two fireballs or a candle of energy. He cannot heal monsters, but can instead increase their strength and defense to make them more difficult to kill.