The highest level ward in vanilla is Greater Ward, an Expert spell. I find them of some marginal use, but they're not great, which is why there's a decent section of mods that adds better wards or adds improvements to wards. I have a Master level ward that reflects spell damage and KBs melee attackers, for ex.
I've always assumed they were much more useful with a game controller, since holding down a trigger is easier than keeping a key depressed while you click a mouse button with the other hand. (Or it is for me, anyway.)