For Science! A Guide to the Revisited Artificer

[Languid_Duck]

The Artificer

Art by Bryan Syme

Bringing a unique steampunk element to the realm of DnD, the Artificer was the first class introduced to 5e through Unearthed Arcana. A relatively recent class heavily associated with the popular Eberron setting, the Artificer introduces a class with unique features, combining elements of the Rogue and the Wizard, with an emphasis on the relatively underdeveloped crafting mechanics. This guide aims to discuss the Artificer and how building it can be approached. I will discuss optimization where possible, though less munchkin-y players may find helpful information for their own characters. The conventional coloration will be observed.

This guide will be discussing the updated Artificer released with Eberron: Rising from the Last War. If you are interested in the prior iteration of the class released in Unearthed Arcana, please refer to the earlier iteration of this guide.

Gold indicates top options within their niche. These should always be, at the absolute minimum, strongly considered.
Blue indicates very strong options.
Green indicates reasonable options. They may have areas to improve, but will be a fine choice.
Purple indicates poor options that have better alternatives.
Red indicates an option that ranges anywhere from unhelpful to actively detrimental.

Class Features

Hit Dice: D8 isn’t bad for a class that prefers the back lines.
Armor Proficiency: No heavy armor, but far better than most classes get. Medium armor + Shields is very nice, providing fine protection with the lowest stat investment requirement.
Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons and both martial crossbows. Could be better. The subclasses that care about weapons will end up getting the
Saving Throws: Constitution is commonly called for, and it’s what you need to maintain concentration on your spells. Intelligence is the least likely saving throw to come up, but saves you from some NASTY effects (Feeblemind, Intellect Devourers…) at least.
Skills: We get 2 from Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Sleight of Hand. Perception and Investigation are two of the most important skills in the game, and the options are just given to us!

Spoiler: Class Skills

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• Arcana: The most widely applicable knowledge skill, and ties in well with our whole deal.
• History: Another knowledge skill, but less applicable than Arcana.
• Investigation: Plays off a stat we will be making use of and determines our ability to find traps and loot.
• Medicine: We can already cast healing spells.
• Nature: We’re likely to be decently smart, but this is a rarely called for skill that offers little in the way of valuable information.
• Perception: Be the ambusher, not the ambushee. The overwhelming majority of tables will use this a lot. Wisdom is not likely to be an emphasized stat for us, but any bonus helps.
• Sleight of Hand We have some good tools for subterfuge. You might be able to easily work this in.

Spoiler: Non-Class Skills

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• Acrobatics: Helps with mobility and escaping grapples.
• Animal Handling Our pets are not an animal, and we are not Rangers.
• Athletics: Much more widely applicable than Acrobatics, but tied to a worse stat.
• Deception: Leave this to the people who leave the workshop, Charisma is not our forte.
• Insight: Think of it as social perception. It does carry the notable perk of not requiring you to be the one engaging in the conversation, so even non-faces can see use of this.
• Intimidation: Another social skill, and the most likely to worsen the situation, even if successful.
• Performance: Limited in scope, even for the charismatic classes.
• Persuasion: A social skill, but the most useful of the lot.
• Religion: See Nature, though a good bit more applicable.
  
• Stealth: Helps you to put yourself in advantageous situations.
• Survival: Helpful enough that it makes a reasonable filler once more desirable options are spoken for.

Tools: Thieves’ Tools are the best in the game. Artisan’s Tools are campaign dependent, but Herbalism Kit or Alchemy Kit can see extensive use, even for Artillerist.
Magical Tinkering: Purely ribbons, but you can have a ton of goofy fun here, up to and including a magical whoopie cushion.
Spellcasting: We have the best spellcasting mechanics of the half casters, between preparing spells, ritual casting, focus use, and cantrips. We compensate with a spell list more focused on utility and support than combat effectiveness, but that’s still some nice option flexibility. The use of tools as a focus gives you the option to be covert, a handful of quills are far less conspicuous than a big ol’ staff or talisman. We also have the unique (unless your DM uses the UA class revisions) ability to trade out out cantrips. Being able to swap in/out something helpful yet niche like Light is quite nice.
Infuse Item: Right off the bat we can make a Bag of Holding , at 2nd level. You get a ton of cool options and can swap them readily, both which infusions you can choose from and which ones you can have active. The options will be discussed on a later segment.
Right Tool for the Job: Most casters are completely and utterly shut down if they lose their focus/component pouch, while we could create our own. In reality this has little practical use, since you would need to have your tinker tools with you… which you can use as a focus anyway. Some of the components of the supplies are honestly useful for adventuring, if you ever find yourself needing a saw (carpenter’s tools), a compass (cartographer’s tools), or a large glass jug (brewer’s supplies), you can whip those up no problem.
Ability Score Improvement: We get the standard 5.
Tool Expertise: Double proficiency on Thieves’ tools alone is amazing. We also get it on any other tools we picked up, such as through subclass or background. Do note that this applies to any tool, not just artisan tools. One could become the perfect captain by getting proficiency with water vehicles or out Bard a Bard with expertise with an instrument.
Flash of Genius Adding 4-5 to someone’s saving throw or critical ability check can easily push them into success territory, preventing or allowing crucial moments on the battlefield. Even works perfectly fine outside of combat, for something like a particularly troublesome lock or stopping the Paladin from ruining a group stealth check.
Magical item Adept/Savant/Master Coming at 10th, 14th, and 18th levels, these abilities beef us up by allowing us to attune more items than any other class in the game. Some of those more useful but niche Replicate Magical Item options can easily be justified and put to use. The eventual ability to ignore attunement restrictions is also great, letting you grab powerful items like staves robes for the caster subclasses or Dwarven Thrower for the Battle Smith.
Spell-Storing Item: A thematically fitting equivalent to Signature spell, giving you up to 10 more slots if you choose a spell you use a lot, though limited by our utility-focused spell list. Note that the homunculus, steel defender, familiars, and Tiny Servants can all trigger the spell, letting you cast something strong like Faerie Fire or Enlarge/Reduce without needing to personally concentrate on it.
Soul of Artifice: You’re probably acquired 6 attunement items by level 20, meaning this would result in us getting a +6 to all saving throws, which is huge and stacks on top of proficiency and other buffs like Aura of Protection. You can even get a cheat death option by breaking a utility infusion, useful in a pinch. A worthwhile capstone, for campaigns that go this far.

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Subclasses

Art by Artus Treffner

Alchemist

The Alchemist is a spell-focused subclass that emphasizes support, gaining healing spells and a bonus to them.
Tools of the Trade: Unfortunately, useful consumables like healing potions and poisons are governed by entirely different tools. Alchemical Fire and Acid do less damage than our cantrips and aren’t too tempting to bother making.
Alchemist Spells: A mixture of utility and solid target damage spells. Raise dead is cool, and this is the only way for us to get a long time period res.
Experimental Elixir: Similar to many 1st level spells, so the ability to create a potion that emulates said spells can save you some spell preparations. The Healing Elixir is almost identical to Cure Wounds, though it does fall behind in output once we reach 5th level. Swiftness is literally Longstrider. Resilience is Shield of Faith that trades 1 AC to lose the concentration requirement, which is a pretty favorable trade. Boldness is great, though the relatively short duration makes it harder to use if ahead of time. 10 feet of flight is better than 0, and is a great early option. Transformation is Alter Self with a shorter duration but a lower spell slot and no concentration, a highly favorable tradeoff. Some free potions every day is another very nice boon.
Alchemical Mastery: A bonus to healing and some widely applicable damage types with good presence on our spell lists. More limited than the damage bonuses that Artillerist gets, however.
Restorative Reagents: Our potions get some temp hit points added, always a nice thing. Free uses of Lesser Restoration cement this subclass as a strong party supporter.
Chemical Savant: Damage resistances are always nice, but at 15th level we aren’t going to see as much poisoning as the first 10 levels and acid is a rather uncommon type. A free use of two powerful healing spells is tough to complain about though.

Artillerist

While the Alchemist had a lot of utility, the Artillerist is almost entirely about killing things dead. It adds some handy defensive features, cementing it as the more combat focused option.
Tools of the Trade: One of the better crafting tools, since with it you can create wands easily and cheaply. You can also cast Fireball through your subclass. Hint hint.
Artillerist Spells: What a list! Shield? Fireball? Cone of Cold? Wall of Force? All high power spells, and we get to have them always available.
Eldritch Cannon: With an AC of 18 and the solid health pool, this can take a beating before you snap your fingers and summon it back at full health or simply Mend it back up. Flamethrower is probably the least outstanding, since it needs to be close up, but 2d8 that does half on a save for a 1st level slot is pretty good. Force Ballista has considerable range and hits hard as a bonus action, it's basically Spiritual Weapon with much better range and some crowd control that can be cast with a 1st level slot but doesn't scale and requires an action of setup. Protector gives a good amount of temp HP, buffing the entire party, at no cost, making it handy any time you can live without damage or just to buff everyone up before a fight. It’s more temporary hit points than Aid and requires a 1st level slot instead of a 2nd.
Arcane Firearm: Basically a free 1d8 damage to all of our spells. Doesn’t work with non-artificer spells or periodic damage, but does with our cantrips.
Explosive Cannon: Yet enough free 1d8 damage, boosting the cannons to 3d8 every turn. The explosion is hard to justify using, since it takes our action to do it and it kills the cannon, not to mention it being hard to get something with a speed of 15 to a suitable location. That said, 3d8 in a 20 foot radius is pretty good for the equivalent of a 1st level slot, if the cannon is going to be destroyed imminently anyway. If you made your cannon arm-mounted, see if your GM could let you throw it before detonating.
Fortified Position: Mobile half cover is great, as is the ability to deploy a second cannon. Two Force Ballistae or a Ballista and a Defender are likely the best combinations. The Flamethrower has fallen behind by now, especially since Dexterity saves are especially likely to be met at this level. Temporary hit points don't stack, so two Defenders would just step on each others toes. The power is offset by the fact you need a second spell slot before your bonus action damage can come fully online, but the hour duration of the cannons means it could comfortably be set up before combat anyway.

Battle Smith

The Battle Smith is the most martially focused subclass, with a clear emphasis on weapon attacks and some healing support. It can work as competent melee, fighting side by side with its Defender, or as a ranged attacker.
Tools of the Trade: Armor crafting is great on paper, but depends on how generous your DM is and how well you two are able to navigate/compromise on the crafting rules.
Battle Smith Spells: Combat, combat, and more combat. We steal an awful lot from the Paladin, but the smites aren’t that crazy. The defensive/healy spells are quite nice though.
Battle Ready: While other gishes have to split between Strength/Dexterity and Intelligence, Battle Smith gets to hang out in the SAD kids’ corner with Hexblade. Proficiency with all martial weapons lets you pick any playstyle, and whatever you choose will scale off your casting stat, greatly simplifying your ASI decision-making.
Steel Defender: The Mechanical Companion returns as the most combat-capable subclass pet. Similar to Beastmaster Ranger, if you’re a small race, you can ride on it, opening the possibility of kiting or practical lance use. Defensive Pounce makes it well suited as a mount or as a frontline tank to help out your beefy friends. The damage scaling is fairly poor, but only requires your bonus action to trigger, and you can always just let it Dodge instead, giving it better survivability.
Extra Attack: Hello, hi, yes, I would like to double my damage output, thank you very much.
Arcane Jolt: Free damage 5x per rest. It’s best used like a Paladin’s smite, with the notable advantages of ranged usability and not requiring spell slots. The healing is also nice, basically being Healing Word that doesn't expend a spell slot or even any type of action.
Improved Defender: Arcane Jolt gets a lot more oomph, letting you put some serious pain on a critical. The Defender gains more AC and adds some damage to its tanking, keeping it more relevant as its (lack of) scaling begins to let it down. Certainly not bad, but not overwhelming.

Armorer

If Iron Man is your favorite avenger, this is the subclass for you. The Armorer has a unique ability to switch between two different styles- either a frontline tank or a beefy ranged combatant.
Tools of the Trade: Armor crafting is great on paper, but depends on how generous your DM is and how well you two are able to navigate/compromise on the crafting rules. I don’t know why heavy armor proficiency is here instead of in Power Armor, so I’ll factor it into that feature’s rating rather than this.
Armorer Spells: Surprisingly solid for a subclass focused on attacking over casting. Wall of Force and Hypnotic Pattern are outstanding control spells and Greater Invisibility is a welcome addition, especially with the sneaking capabilities the subclass can offer. Lightning bolt gives you some welcome AoE, albeit in the worst shape for hitting groups.
Arcane Armor: Heavy armor gives you the highest AC available to players, with the downsides of requiring Strength and imposing disadvantage on stealth. The first downside is immediately negated here by removing any stat requirement for maximum AC, a min-maxxer’s dream as this keeps Strength a dump stat, while also making Dexterity low priority. A more subtle advantage is turning your armor into a focus, meaning you can cast material spells regardless of what’s in your hands.
Armor Model: … Oh, there’s a 4th initial feature? Each rest you can completely change your fighting style. Both styles use personal weapons that scale off Intelligence, further cementing this as the most single-stat focused of all the subclasses. The Guardian is a frontline tank, combining both durability and a semblance of an aggro drawing ability. Your melee attacks will discourage enemies from attacking other targets and Defensive Field can give you replenishing hit points to ensure you can take the hits you now attract. The Infiltrator makes you sneakier. It removes the stealth disadvantage of heavy armor or gives you the option of advantage on stealth with lighter armor, and takes on a ranged attacking role. It offers slightly higher damage potential than the Guardian thanks to the added lightning damage on one hit, as well as the advantages of range, though the mobility increase is little match for Defensive Field. You can also switch between the two styles each day, depending if you’ll need stealth or defense, or just if you feel like it. The major downside is that both have their specialized weapon separate from any normal loot, and getting an improvement to either would require homebrew. The Armorer gets no martial weapons and has no features to boost its casting, so this is all you get. You’ll likely not be an offensive powerhouse without feat support- Dual Wielder for the Guardian or Sharpshooter for the Infiltrator.
Extra Attack: It’s Extra Attack, of course it’s going to be great.
Armor Modifications: The first part is basically a ribbon, formalizing something any reasonable DM would allow. Added infusions are nice, but most compatible infusions are low impact for the Armorer or require Attunement that we aren’t likely to have to spare for a while yet. Your weapon is at least considered part of the armor, so you can give it one of the basic +1 infusions for essentially free, which is quite helpful.
Perfected Armor: Some fun party support bonuses. The Guardian’s new toy lets them both defend allies and potentially give an extra bonk while they're at it. The infiltrator instead gives a party member a significant offensive boost. Rogues and Paladins in particular will appreciate it. Both have a damage component that’s frankly far from amazing at this level, but they're nothing to sneeze at considering they come in a solid bundle.

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Inner Workings

Art by Aienai

Strength: None of the subclasses have any real reason to pursue strength, unless interested in multiclassing. It’s just hard to justify pushing it over its sister stat below. Maaaaaybe if you wanted to multiclass for heavy armor or pick up the Heavily Armored feat, though the best heavy armor requires more stat investment than medium armor would.
Dexterity: We get medium armor, so aim for a 14 here. Boosting a more important save, better skills, and initiative tend to make this preferable over Strength as an armor stat, not to mention saving a feat. Can optionally be dumped by an Armorer.
Constitution: Hit points are a good thing to have, especially for Battle Smiths or Armorers intending to melee. We already have constitution saves, meaning no Resilient: Constitution, so aim for 14 or maybe even 16.
Intelligence: Our spellcasting stat, making it the priority for the casting-oriented Alchemist and Artillerist. Battlesmith and Armorer use this as their attacking stat, so it also has every reason to max Intelligence.
Wisdom: Provides very useful saves and skills, but little mechanical benefit. Avoid outright dumping it if you can, but don’t prioritize it either. With standard array, this is a fine place for your 12 or 10.
Charisma: Primarily applicable for faces. Scientists are not meant to be faces. Can also be safely dumped, though it’s less unlikely to be relevant than Strength. Put your 10 here if doing standard array or a second 8 if doing point buy.

Race Selection

You want a race that boosts Intelligence, by either 1 or 2, depending on if you placed an odd or even base score in that stat, so as to bump up the modifier. Even putting an even score for an odd number opens up feat or ASI splitting options that never hurt. Dexterity and Constitution are also welcome if it lets you round off an odd score. Spells, skills, and other forms of utility are also desirable. As this is an optimization guide, races that do not boost Intelligence will not be discussed, as they would put you an ASI/feat behind, in terms of your effectiveness as an Artificer. Those that are discussed are rated relative to each other. Anything that boosts your primary stat will be close in terms of combat, so you aren’t shooting yourself in the foot is that race you really like is rated purple.

Changeling: Gives a +1 Intelligence, so it’s workable right off the bat, if not overly statistically compelling. It gives skills and a bunch of social benefits, which Artificers are unlikely to capitalize upon. That said, it throws the door to play that way wide open, and this also offers another tool, with expertise in it and an extra language. Unsettling Visage can definitely save your bacon as well.

Dwarf: Base features include a welcome +2 to Constitution, poison resistance, and removal of the strength requirement for heavy armor, which would remove one of the biggest downsides of such a path.
Mark of Warding: The only subrace that offers relevant stats for us, and it’s a good one. A bump to Intelligence on top of the +2 constitution make it desirable. Add in a bonus to Thieves’ Tools and Investigation for some nice out of combat utility. And even if you botch the Thieves’ Tool check despite expertise + intuition, you still can still get Knock from the added spells. The rest of the added spells are either limited in utility or already on our list, unfortunately.

Elf: Right away we see 2 Dexterity and proficiency in the most important skill, so we’re off to a great start. You may also appreciate the chance to pick up Elven Accuracy, though it’s challenging to get advantage.
High Elf: The only subrace to boost Intelligence. The cantrip gives you options unavailable to the spell list- grab a utility spell since our features that interact with cantrips only apply to Artificer cantrips.

Genasi: 2 Constitution is always welcome. All racial features are in the subclasses, and it’s unfortunately a bit light in that regard.
Fire Genasi: Fire is an extremely common element, making resistance to it handy, though the spells are obsoleted by our access to Fire Bolt and the fact that they scale off Constitution instead of Intelligence.

Gith: 1 Means either can be more desirable, though neither subclass boosts our preferred secondary stats. All nonstandard features are in the subcraces.
Githyenki: The strength is irrelevant for most and medium armor is redundant, but a free skill, tool and language are nice. Toss in the free Mage Hand and neat mobility spells and we can work with this. If you want a heavy build, this becomes far more relevant as the only option with fixed ASIs in both Strength and Intelligence.
Githzerai: Wisdom is more relevant than strength if you don’t plan to pursue heavy armor. Charm/Fear resistance is decently likely to be helpful. It gets free Mage Hand once again and Shield is quite cool. The loss of the additional utilities is a shame though.

Gnome: One of the few races to give+2 Intelligence. Gnome Cunning is also excellent. It shouldn’t be surprising that Gomes are well suited to be inventors. Small size is only relevant if you want to use heavy weapons for some reason, and can actually be beneficial in many cases. The best option for Battle Smiths who want to use their pet as a mount, as the only Small race that boosts Intelligence.
Deep: A Dexterity bump on top of the intelligence. Superior Darkvision is always good for ranged classes. The unique feat is also quite useful.
Forest: Another Dexterity bump, this time adding the most widely applicable cantrip in the game.
Mark of Scribing: I hope you like languages. The intuitions are unlikely to come up, but the subrace is kind enough to hand proficiency in them to let you rock the check if it does. The spell list is a solid meh, with Silence being the only interesting offering.
Rock: A Constitution bump to make this good for either style. Artificer’s Lore is quite likely to come up in our line of work. The clockwork devices can let you do some unique things out of combat, emulating various cantrips, with more options available via a feat.

Half-Elf: You can grab a bonus to Intelligence and Dex/Con AND bonus skills AND useful resistances AND access to both human and elf racial feats. As always, the race offers far too much to ignore, even when the Charisma goes to waste.
Mark of Detection: Trading Charisma for Wisdom while keeping +1 Int is an upgrade and a bonus to Investigation can be nice. We can already ritual cast Detect Magic, though this at least lets us to so without needing to prepare the spell, and Detect Poison and Disease is not overly helpful. The added spells are more utility than practicality, but only one of them is already on our spell list, and new options are welcome.
Variants: High Elf variant gives you the cantrip and Drow gives you the best part of the race without its downside. Both come at the cost of two skills, which may be a worthwhile trade to you. Wood Elf and Aquatic offer less.

Hobgoblin: The stats are cool, as is Saving Face. The armor proficiency is wasted, as are the weapon proficiencies, since the only subclass with any business using a weapon already has proficiency.

Human: Bonuses across the board play to your strengths and shore up your weaknesses. Shame it doesn’t offer much else.
Variant: Of course, the only thing better is keeping the most relevant bonuses while adding in a skill and, most importantly, a feat. The world is your oyster here, and the lack of darkvision is of little consequence since we get the spell and can even make Goggles of Night.
Mark of Handling- 2 Wisdom and 1 Intelligence are okay stats. The spells are not otherwise available to us, but are underwhelming, with the very notable exception of Conjure Animals. Granted it’s a strong spell, but probably not enough to compensate for an otherwise underwhelming choice.
Mark of Making: Just look at the name. The subrace is meant to be an Artificer. A +2 to your primary ability score and +1 your secondary of choice are good right off the bat. An extra tool proficiency (and later expertise) is fitting is for our class, plus an intuition bonus to all artisan’s tools AND the important Arcana skill. Mending is used to patch up their pets/cannons, saving us a cantrip pick. AND a concentration-free Magic Weapon every long rest. The only weak feature is the added spells, since all of them except the debatably useful Tenser’s Floating Disc and Conjure Barrage, which Battle Smiths get anyway, are already on our list. Having so much to offer makes it a genuine contender to Variant Human.
Mark of Passage: Dexterity is a welcome stat. Speed doesn’t hurt, though is relevant for a ranged subclass. The intuitions could be better, as neither subclass is likely to invest in Acrobatics and land vehicles rarely come up. Free Misty Step is cool. The added spells are actually pretty handy, adding the incredibly helpful Pass Without Trace, Dimension Door, and Teleportation Circle spells to our repertoire.


Simic Hybrid: Oh hey, that’s quite an alphabetical jump. 2 Constitution and 1 Intelligence make for one of the better boosts. The first level enhancements are all utility, but the Carapace option at 5th level is rather nice.

Tiefling: With the abundant variants that have been released, the stat bonuses and racials are all over the place. Sadly, many of them have the unhelpful Charisma stat.
Baalzebul/Mammon/Mephistocles/Vanilla: Intelligence, fire resistance, and the helpful cantrip offset the lackluster Charisma-based spells. Mammon has it a bit better, in that neither of its racial spells actually use Charisma.
Feral: Dexterity and Intelligence boosts are awesome. The Devil’s Tongue and Hellfire options are inferior to the regular version that they optionally replace, so you should keep Infernal Legacy. The winged option trades those lackluster spells for flight. GM dependent as always, but strong if somehow allowed.

Veldaken: It takes the two best things about Gnome (and actually improves the saving throw advantages by making them global), adds in an extra skill and an extra tool, with intuition. Certainly a competitive option.

Warforged: Unsurprisingly, a race of automata is quite suitable for a master of technology. Everyone likes constitution, the protection from various hazards is very nice, and you get a bit more AC. Also, Pants is a canonical name for a Warforged.


Yuan-Ti Pureblood: Appropriate for an alchemist and also offers an int bump. Once you get it, Suggestion can help once in a blue moon. The real prize is in the advantage to save against ALL magic and outright immunity to poison, making it extremely powerful defensively.

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Custom Built

Art by Shinsen

Arcane Propulsion Armor: Requires attunement and can't be made until a high level, at which point you'll almost certainly have magical armor and/or 3 better things to attune to. For your attunement slot, you get the least possible boost to movement speed and the ability to do ranged damage that, at level 14, is going to be pathetic. Only really should warrant consideration for flavor or if your character is missing multiple limbs, as this lets you replace all of them for a single attunement slot instead of attuning individual prosthetics.
Armor of Magical Strength: Strength checks and saving throws aren’t too common and generally low-impact. Good if you don’t have anybody at all in your group with a Strength modifier so you can handle the bashing and lifting that adventuring can call for. An Artificer or Wizard can also make use of this to grapple/shove, though those are among the least likely classes to have picked up Athletics to capitalize on it. Avoiding prone is more interesting, and you’ll likely always have a free charge for it. Attunement is a major pity though.
Boots of the Winding Path: The fact that you an only return to a previously occupied space means this is closer to Disengage as a bonus action than Nightcrawler.
Enhanced Arcane Focus: Artillerists, Alchemists, and Warlocks will love this, as the primary users of spell attack rolls. Attunement is a downer, but necessary for balance. Artillerists can apply this to their Arcane Firearm to boot.
Enhanced Defense: Due to the way AC scales, this adds quite a bit of staying power. Ranged and melee alike can enjoy this, especially with no attunement requirement. The ability to throw it on either armor or a shield gives it more flexibility than the other Enhanced X infusions.
Enhanced Weapon: Adding a +1 and later a +2 weapon to your party is never a bad thing. It doesn’t even require attunement! Note that ranged and thrown weapons have strictly superior options before level 10, so this is better suited to melee stuff.
Helm of Awareness: This can make a major difference in the hands of a full caster. Proverbially, of course, helms don’t go on your hands, silly. Anyway, at this level, a full caster will have a litany of gamechanging spells, and the sooner those go out the smoother everything becomes. Doesn't even require attunement!
Homunculus Servant: Essentially a souped up familiar. Mostly intended for the Alchemist or Armorer, as the other two subclasses have inbuilt pets to use their bonus action with. Flight and a ranged, albeit weak, attack make this more suited for annoyance or exploration that combat. That said, it’s still free and safe damage.
Mind Sharpener: Automatically succeed on a concentration check. Doesn’t have a level or attunement requirement. Requiring your reaction is well worth it to retain a key concentration spell, and even with the limited charges it's still hugely powerful.
Radiant Weapon: We can already cast pseudo-Light through Magical Tinkering, so the only thing this offers over Enhanced Weapon is the reaction blind, while requiring attunement. If you’ve chosen Enhanced Weapon previously, you might consider swapping Radiant in between levels 8-12, if the blind at the cost of attunement is worthwhile to you. Swap it back out when Enhanced improved at level 12.
Repeating Shot: Crossbows can now use Extra Attack without needing to pick up Crossbow Expert, and it even comes with a +1. Magic Crossbows are rare in most campaigns and this knocks out both downsides of the weapon class in one infusion. The description seems to imply that this also negates the Ammunition property, meaning you would be able to use a hand crossbow with a shield.

Spoiler: Level 2 Magic Items

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Alchemy Jug: Unless your character is obsessed with alcohol (or mayonnaise), this will only see use in gritty survival type campaigns, where infinite water or nourishment can be great.
Armblade: A flavor option, and even then offers nothing for the attunement slot other than the ability to be hidden. If you’re in an intrigue campaign and have a Warforged Rogue or another assassin type they might appreciate it. Otherwise, you just waste the attunement slot and any ability to otherwise improve or infuse the weapon. Once you later get the ability to ignore attunement restrictions, any race of Artificer could have the option to weaken themself with this.
Bag of Holding: One of the most iconic and helpful items in the franchise. Any campaign will want one in the party.
Cap of water breathing: Water breathing is situational, and this is almost entirely outclassed by a later item. The notable upside is that this lets you speak, meaning you can cast spells underwater.
Goggles of Night: A lot of desirable races lack Darkvision, and this is an easy way to remedy that downside
Prosthetic Limb: If someone in the party is missing a limb, this puts them back on the same level as anatomically-intact people. For those who would rather lose an attunement slot than any flavor whatsoever.
Rope of Climbing: Stronger than your average rope, and the ability for it to help you climb is nice. It’s still situational, but a less uncommon situation.
Sending Stones: A free use of Sending is nice. Being able to use it only once a day is not.
Wand of Magic Detection: We can already cast Detect Magic as either an action or a ritual. A poor choice for us.
Wand of Secrets: Finding traps is already something the party will be looking for us to do and resolve. This will help us and by extension the party.

Spoiler: Level 6 Magic Items

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Boots of elvenkind: Give to your Rogue for some overkill stealthing. Doesn’t even need attunement!
Cloak of elvenkind: An even more overkill version of the Boots of Elvenkind. Unfortunately requires attunement.
Cloak of the manta ray: Water breathing and a high swim speed, with no attunement is rather nice. Rare will be the situation that calls for this, but this lets you dominate it.
Eyes of charming: A low DC with few charges and requiring attunement. For a 1st level spell that’s already fairly limited in use.
Gloves of thievery: Your rogue or rogue equivalent will love this.
Lantern of Revealing: The illumination is secondary to the ability to see invisibility, but we can cast See Invisibility already. At worst can save us a spell choice.
Pipes of haunting: Fear isn’t as crippling as one would hope, and is a fairly low DC, buuuut it doesn’t require attunement. Hopefully you have someone who happened to take the requisite instrument proficiency for flavor.
Ring of water walking: We can already cast Water Walk as a ritual, but this at least has the decency to not require attunement.
Wand Sheath: Flavor item that offers similar stealth benefits to the Armblade, but for casters this time. It makes you essentially immune to Expelliarmus, once again at the cost of an attunement slot and the ability to turn the wand into a +1 or 2.

Spoiler: Level 10 Magic Items

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Boots of Striding and Springing: The primary benefit is the jump distance, so it’s primarily useful for melee allies.
Boots of the Winterlands: Resistance to cold on top of some marginal exploration benefits. A resounding meh.
Bracers of Archery: ) If you would specifically prefer to use a Longbow over a Heavy/hand Crossbow and don’t have martial weapons, this is a way to get it. Also desirable if you have a bow-using ally. Otherwise, you can safely ignore.
Brooch of Shielding: Resistance to a rare damage type and protection from a spell you are very unlikely to come across at this level. Barely worth the attunement slot, let alone a limited number of magic item options.
Cloak of protection: A slight but welcome improvement to all your defensive capabilities.
Eyes of the Eagle: Advantage on the most important skill in the game is an excellent benefit.
Gauntlets of Ogre Power: Anyone who cares about strength would likely have invested in it. The classic exceptions are a Cleric gish, who may have prefered to bump their Wisdom, or a Barbarian, who wanted to increase their AC or grab feats with their ASIs.
Gloves of Missile Snaring Since most Artificers stick to the back lines much of the damage we’ll actually be taking is from ranged weapons. We have so little opportunity to use our reaction that this will be a solid boon for survivability.
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing: We’re better at swimming and climbing! When we can already fly!
Hat of Disguise: Disguise Self is a handy spell, but the attunement requirement is a major downer.
Headband of intellect: Seeing as this is our main stat, we won’t/shouldn’t need this ourself. Of course, if you’re grouped with an Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight, they might appreciate their spell capabilities being catapulted to relevance.
Helm of telepathy: A rather versatile item that would prove highly desirable in intrigue-based situations.
Medallion of thoughts: A strictly worse version of Helm of Telepathy, with limited uses of the exact same spell but none of the additional options.
Periapt of wound closure: This stabilizes you, but it doesn’t revive you, which gives your party more time to scoop you back up. It does NOT prevent you from failing death saves due to hostile attacks, meaning that you’re still two smacks away from death, but it at least protects you from rolling yourself to death.
Pipes of the sewers: Swarms of Rats just aren’t dangerous at 12th level, not that you can even consistently get them to cooperate with the pipes’ mechanic. Limited charges, a poor effect, AND attunement ensure that this is a poor infusion investment.
Quiver of Ehlonna: Not only is the effect limited in scope, but Repeating Shot and Returning Weapon accomplish the same thing with the added benefit of making the items magical and +1, AND being available 10 levels earlier.
Ring of Jumping: It’s the Boots of Striding and Springing, but with fewer benefits and at the cost of your bonus action.
Ring of Mind Shielding: A fine gift for your party’s face. The soul capturing aspect can actually be very interesting if you’re facing an evil sorcerer, so as to deny the capture or destruction of the soul.
Slippers of Spider Climbing: While Wall Walking can be cool, we can Fly at this level. :
Ventilating Lung: More practical than the other robo-parts, but still extremely niche. We could make a Cap of Water Breathing 8 levels ago, which achieves the same primary benefit without requiring an attunement slot or the sacrifice of organs.
Winged Boots: Flight is a powerful tool and these guys offer a lot of it yet don’t require concentration, a spell slot, or anything other than the attunement slot. Definitely consider these as your attunement slots begin to outstrip the number of useful magic items you own.

Spoiler: Level 14 Magic Items

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Amulet of Health: Suddenly rocket up to a +4 Con modifier. Every class benefits from Constitution, so you will certainly have someone interested in this
Arcane Propulsion Arm: Absolutely dripping with flavor, but that’s all. At this level, a Cleric or Druid in the party can easily Regenerate any lost limbs. As is, it requires an attunement slot for a returning thrown weapon that can’t be otherwise enchanted or improved.
Belt of hill giant strength A straight upgrade to Gauntlets of Ogre Power. If you picked that up for yourself or a buddy, swap it for this at level 16.
Boots of levitation: Levitation is cute, but not action-and-attunement-slot-at-level-16 cute.
Boots of speed: Bonus action dash and pseudo-disengage all in one. Melee can easily enjoy this. You have 100 rounds worth of time, which you will rarely run into between rests.
Bracers of defense: We get medium armor and shields, but your resident Monk, Barbarian, Sorcerer, etc., can benefit from this.
Cloak of the bat: Mostly obsoletes Cloak of Elvenkind with a lighting-limited but resource-free flight. AND you can transform for flight in well-lit situations. Too much packed into one item to not recommend.
Dimensional shackles: Can only be used on an incapacitated monster, making it hard to apply. At least it doesn’t require attunement and the DC 30 strength check once per *month* is likely enough to put the creature away for a long, long time.
Gem of seeing: Truesight is certainly powerful, but for only a maximum of 30 minutes per day and requires attunement.
Horn of blasting: Very little is likely to fail a measly DC 15 Constitution saving throw at this level. Even if they do, 5d6 isn’t great at all. AND it has a 1/5 chance to blow up and hurt the user for probably more damage than it would have done to our enemies. Pass.
Ring of free action: There are a good amount of situations this ring lets you straight up laugh at.
Ring of protection: Just like it’s earlier cousin the Cloak of Protection, anyone appreciates a defensive boost and this gives your party a second one.
Ring of the ram: A good amount of damage… if it hits with a measly +7, at a level when your proficiency bonus alone is a +5 . Requires attunement to boot.

Repulsion Shield: If a creature is in melee already, the knockback is of little use. You might be able to save yourself against a creature with multiple attacks… unless it has a paltry 15 feet of movement remaining.
Resistant Armor: You can change the damage type each time that you reapply the infusion, which would be every long rest. A great pick to swap in before attacking a dragon, necromancer, or any other source of predictable damage, and you can always not infuse it otherwise.
Returning Weapon: If you or anyone in your party is the type to use thrown weapons heavily, this will be a godsend. Doesn’t require attunement either. That said, thrown weapons are generally weaker than alternative fighting styles.
Spell-Refueling Ring: Basically a Pearl of Power. Sadly nerfed from the UA state, which was disproportionately powerful in the hands of an Artificer.

UA Infusions

Armor of Tools: Artisan’s tools are rarely called for, but it can be cool to switch to this during downtime for better crafting. You can also integrate Thieves’ tools to make those checks even better, and locks are both common and good to safely unlock.

[Languid_Duck]

You Got Magic in my Science!


Art by zoestead

Spells

Spoiler: Cantrips

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• Acid Splash: Poor damage and limited splash radius make it undesirable for Artillerist. Better : in the hands of Alchemst, who adds damage to both targets hit.
• Booming Blade: In an interesting place. If you have War Caster, Armorers and Battle Smiths can use it for opportunity attacks, though for a staple attack, Extra Attack generally inflicts more damage unless you can trigger the cantrip’s bonus damage. Artillerist however might seriously consider this, as you can use a staff as your Arcane Firearm as well as to attack for the spell, meaning the Booming Blade would get an extra 1d8 damage is cast through the staff. If you’re interested in playing more of a gish style, it’s the highest damage option available to you, though it would require you shift your stat priority to Strength.
• [COLOR=“#008000”] Create Bonfire: [/COLOR] Fire is quite a helpful tool for adventuring, and this is a solid way to provide it. Concentration limits its applicability in battle, though it can be used to block chokepoints and deter enemy approaches.
• Dancing Lights: It takes concentration and is practically obsoleted by our Magical Tinkering feature, which gives better illumination (5 feet bright + 5 feet dim light vs 10 feet dim) and doesn’t cost a limited number of options.
• Fire Bolt: As good as it gets for damage. Attack rolls are generally easier to hit with than saving throw abilities, and the range is good.
• Frostbite: The damage is poor, but the effect is extremely handy. Being a constitution save is unfortunate, since most things using weapon attacks will have some Constitution
• Green-Flame Blade: Similar to Booming Blade, it can be used with War Caster, but is worse for it due to the worse damage type and more situational trigger. An Artillerist gish can use it similar to Booming Blade if so inclined. Alchemist can as well, and the damage type means it gets the bonus from Alchemical Savant. However, you’d need to not use a shield since the feature requires you use Alchemist’s Supplies as the focus, and since the feature scales with Intelligence, which an Alchemist has no way to use for the attack roll at time of writing, you’d need to split your stats to an unfortunate degree.
• Guidance: 1d4 on any ability check. If you have nothing else to concentrate on, its great to keep this rolling on yourself or a party member about to go scouting or into an important conversation.
• Light: A much better choice for illumination purposes, between higher radius of effect and no concentration
• Mage Hand: Situational, but fun.
• Magic Stone: Can be helpful early on, since 1d6 damage + Int will marginally outclass early cantrips, but lack of scaling causes it to fall behind and anyone with Extra Attack gets more damaging weapons that can already attack with Intelligence.
• Mending: The ability to heal our pets for free instead of expending a spell slot to resummon them is great. Also has some applicability in general upkeep, if your table goes into depth in that area
• Message: Cool for exploration and intrigue, but more of a swap for such situations.
• Poison Spray: Our highest damage option, but Poison is a very widely resisted damage type, most monsters will have good Constitution modifiers/saves, and the range is dismal. Still, it’s Alchemist’s best raw damage option, since it benefits from the level 6 feature.
• Prestidigitation: Situational in the strict definition of the word, but you will get tons of opportunity to use it.
• Ray of Frost: A reasonable alternative to Fire Bolt, with slightly less damage (1 less on average) and much lower range, but a better damage type and a neat rider.
• Resistance: Fine to throw on a party member before a fight, but concentration means it might not last long enough to be used.
• Shocking Grasp: Handy for getting out of bad situations, since our kit leans more toward ranged friendly.
• Spare the Dying: A healer’s kit or medicine check can obsolete this. Or just cast Cure Wounds on them.
• Thorn Whip: Some control in a cantrip is nice, but we rarely want to pull something closer to us. Magical Piercing damage is exceedingly rarely resisted, so an Artillerist might consider it for when fire and/or cold are resisted (IE all fiends).
• Thunderclap: Lackluster damage, Constitution save, and melee range requirement ensure that this remains limited in use.
  

Spoiler: 1st Level Spells

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• Absorb Elements: Laugh in the face of a dragon’s breath. The added damage is more of a rider, since it only applies in melee and most creatures using elemental attacks are resistant/immune to their element.
• Alarm: A highly situational spell, but at least it can be ritual cast.
• Catapult: Outstanding range and reasonable damage for this level. The advantage of this spell is you can easily line it up for multiple possible targets. It only hits one, but if you can line up multiple enemies, you greatly improve your chances of the spell hitting.
• Cure Wounds: Healing is always a good thing, even for Alchemists.
• Detect Magic: Very handy spell, and we can even ritual cast it.
• Disguise Self: More for social types, but always opens the door for a lot of opportunity.
• Expeditious Retreat: Mobility doesn’t hurt, but as ranged characters it’s less influential.
• Faerie Fire: Great use of a low level spell, potentially providing advantage for your entire party. Just be careful not to drop it on anyone friendly.
• False Life: Temp HP are never bad, and it doesn’t require concentration. The number could stand to be bigger though, especially considering our limited slots and spell picks.
• Feather fall: Situational, and kind of hard to justify with how few spell picks we get.
• Grease: The relatively small area of effect is a letdown, but as our only low level control spell it remains a feasible use of 1st level spells throughout the levelling process.
• Identify: Thematically fitting and practical, since we get to ritual cast it.
• Jump: We have little to gain from this as rangd characters. Might be considered if you have a good amount of melee in your posse and your DM likes having some dragons in their Dungeons and Dragons.
• Longstrider: Long duration and no concentration are points in its favor. Also better cast on party members than our backlining asses.
• Sanctuary: A really nice concentration-free buff. We can make do without spells, so we’ll have no issue throwing this up between rounds.
• Snare: The long casting time means you need to set it up ahead of time. If you do, then they still have to fail a dex save to be affected. If they are, they still can save every round.

Spoiler: 2nd Level Spells

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• Aid: 15 more HP for your group is nothing to sneeze at, especially when this lasts so long and doesn’t require concentration.
• Alter Self: Disguise Self, with more options but a higher spell level. Might be worthwhile if you didn’t pick up its little brother.
• Arcane Lock: If you do a lot of dungeoning, this is always a nice way to set up a safe rest. We have another spell that accomplishes similar, though.
• Blur: Comparable to Sanctuary for us, since we don’t get Mirror Image. Concentration is unfortunate but we can at least attack with it up.
• Continual Flame: The only thing this brings to the table is that, if cast at 3rd level or higher, it negates Darkness. Likely not worth the spell choice.
• Darkvision: Its value depends on if you managed to not choose one of the many races with natural darkvision. If you didn’t, we can always make Goggles of Night. At most this can save you an infusion choice, though you can always pick it up for a party member.
• Enhance Ability: Nice to throw on your scout in a dungeon crawl, or a Counterspell user before a boss fight.
• Enlarge/Reduce: A flexible spell, though Enlarge is generally more helpful.
• Heat Metal: Famously underrated, the spell offers fair, guaranteed damage. While the description seems niche, it applies to pretty much any humanoid. Target their armor for damage or their weapon to disarm them. Not likely to come into play if you aren’t fighting humanoids though, so feel free to swap it in and out depending on the current story beats.
• Invisibility Easily one of the best spell options for us, a great spell for either defense or utility.
• Lesser Restoration: Lets you take care of some nasty effects.
• Levitate: Limited, but early “flight” and crowd control in one spell.
• Magic Mouth: Situational, but it’s at least a ritual. Outfit your entire party with weapons that scream every time you hit an enemy! Or just constantly!
• Magic Weapon: The value varies based on the frequency of magical items in your campaign, though we can already make a couple free magic weapons through infusions.
• Protection From Poison: Poison is a common effect, but there are ample ways to remove it, including Lesser Restoration up there.
• Pyrotechnics: The effects are useful and don’t require concentration, unlike comparable spells. The limitation of a non-magical flame is a downer though, meaning something generally has to be set up ahead of time.
• Rope Trick: A safe opportunity for a short rest is a pretty sweet opportunity. If you have a Fighter, Monk, or Warlock, it becomes even more valuable.
• See Invisibility: Prepare it if you’re going to be tangling with ghosts or illusionists in the near future, but it’s too rare to advise for regular use.
• Skywrite: Highly situational, but ritual casting saves it from the red.
• Spider Climb: A reasonable substitute for Levitate, helpful for a ranged class.

Spoiler: 3rd Level Spells

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• Blink: A very good defense that doesn’t even require concentration.
• Catnap:
• Reduce a short rest to 10 minutes, compares to the hour standard. A big deal if you have a fighter, monk, and/or a warlock, since they appreciate a quick restock of their resource/s.
• Dispel Magic: Great spell. If your Fighter just can’t break out of that pesky Hold Person, you can simply end it. Can also be used on magical traps, improving our dungeoning ability.
• Elemental Weapon: Similar to Magic Weapon, at 3rd level. Faces some serious competition at this level and is harder to justify using.
• Flame Arrows: It’s Elemental Weapon, but worse, since it only applies to 12 attacks (not hits, attacks) at most and can only be one damage type. 1d4 + 1 to attack rolls is far better than 1d6.
• Fly: You’d be hard pressed to find a person who wouldn’t appreciate the mobility and protection this offers.
• Gaseous Form: Fly is right there.
• Glyph of Warding: Expensive and limited in utility for the level we get it at.
• Haste: More attacks are good, but this is even better on a frontliner to enjoy the increased bulk, and boy will they appreciate it.
• Protection From Energy: Useful if your campaign is likely to come across dragons or hostile spellcasters.
• Revivify: Bringing people back from the dead is a good thing, but it’s appropriately priced.
• Tiny Servant: Incredibly fun and flavorful, but 3rd level spells are when the big guns come out, and that’s a pretty big price to play for flavor. With some finagling, works very well with Magic Stone and/or Spell-Storing Weapon. Use your bonus action to command them to trigger the weapon or enchant the stones for them to throw every turn for devastating effect (Credit to Damon_Tor)
• Water Breathing: If you're going to be exploring underwater in the near future or otherwise exploring in/around a lake or ocean, you'll want to prepare it . It can even be ritual cast! Otherwise, feel free swap it out at the first opportunity, since it's limited in day-to-day practicality.
• Water Walk: Slightly less niche than Water Breathing, not that this is saying much. Can also be ritual cast and readily swapped in when it's relevant and back out.

Spoiler: 4th Level Spells

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• Arcane Eye: Put your Rogue out of a job by scouting entire dungeons safely.
• Elemental Bane: Piling on damage is nice, but they have to fail a Con save for it to take, and if it does it’s still only 2d6 a turn.
• Fabricate: Flavorful for our class and offers a lot of creative opportunities.
• Freedom of Movement: Nice if you’re likely to face spellcasters in the near future, as it protects from some nasty effects, notably the Hold spells, without even requiring conentration.
• Leomund's Secret Chest: We have had a Bag of Holding since 2nd level, and it didn’t even require a 5050 g investment.
• Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound: Sadly the doggy can’t move, so it’s a glorified Alarm spell.
• Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum: Can make your rests more secure, but this likely not enough to justify us picking this.
• Otiluke's Resilient Sphere: Lets you take an enemy out of the fight or protect an ally in a perilous situation.
• Stone Shape: Turn a wall into a door. Assuming it’s mineral based. Notably, it’s permanent.
• Stoneskin: Potentially expensive, but a nice buff for a melee ally.
• Vitriolic Sphere: That’s a lot of damage, and Acid is a great damage type. It’s better than the already powerful Fireball would be upcast.

Spoiler: 5th Level Spells

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• Animate Objects: Ridiculous damage potential and practical since you can turn anything into lethal weapons. 10 Tinys is generally the best option, having the highest AC, hit chance, and damage potential.
• Bigby’s Hand: Comparable to Animate Objects. Less damage potential than the tiny animated objects, but more flexibility and far more survivability.
• Creation: Situational, but really cool for a crafter.
• Greater Restoration: Great but situational spell. You’ll be very glad t have it in such situations though.
• Skill Empowerment: Expertise is great, but a 5th level spell is a heavy price to make a buddy a little better in a skill they’re already proficient in.
• Transmute Rock: The rock/mud stipulation is a limitation, but control that doesn’t require concentration or action economy is well worth consideration.
• Wall of Stone: Opens the door for a lot of cleverness. Separate a large group of enemies into more manageable sizes, put up a defensive perimeter, make a (small) maze to slow your enemies, cross a canyon…

Spoiler: Alchemist Spells

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• Healing Word: Makes a case for being the best healing spell in the game, due to being a low level slot and a bonus action to cast. Perfect for getting an unconscious character back up. Becomes even better at level 5, letting you add your Int an additional time to its healing.
• Ray of Sickness: Mediocre damage and a chance to inflict a (solid) status effect for a single turn. This also ignores the facts that poison resistance and immunity are common and that Constitution is the worst saving throw to target. Does benefit from the level 6 feature, giving it some more prospective oomph.
  
• Flaming Sphere: A fine source of ongoing damage that only requires your bonus action to use. Concentration is a downer, but a 5 foot AoE and 30 feet of movement make it quite flexible. Do note that, due to the phrasing of Alchemical Savant, you don’t get the added damage each time you trigger the damage, so it’s less devastating than it may seem.
• Melf’s Acid Arrow: 6d4 (average 15) + Int damage against a single target for a second level spell and no rider. Damagewise it’s barely beating out cantrips at the level we’re getting it, though it does have the advantage of Acid being a good damage type.
  
• Gaseous Form: Too bad it can’t be used on unwilling targets, because turning an enemy into a fart would be hilarious. As is, it’s a strictly utility/exploration spell, which are harder for a half caster to justify using. At least it’s always prepared so it’s there if you happen t need it.
• Mass Healing Word: Healing Word, but to multiple targets and for a higher cost. Similarly awesome, offset by the fact that most things doing AoE damage at this level would inflict so much that this healing ends up fairly meager and at a high price for a half-caster. Don’t forget that Alchemical Savant applies to a single roll, not target, so all recipients would receive the +Int to healing.
  
• Blight: A lot of damage, boosted by alchemical Savant, albeit only to a single target. Granted we don’t have the most compelling list of 4th level spells, so well worth using.
• Death Ward: Save a life without using up your concentration. Very cool.
  
• Cloudkill: The most Alchemist gets for AoE damage, and rather meh. Poison is again a poor damage type and Constitution is a poor stat to target, especially with how late we’re getting this.
• Raise Dead: Can never go wrong with a literal life saving spell.

Spoiler: Artillerist Spells

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• Shield: We don’t have many options for our reaction, and this is one of the better ones. We have decent AC through our class proficiencies, and this can let us pump it high enough to shrug off some serious assaults.
• Thunderwave: The damage is decent at best, but the push is quite handy, especially if you’re surrounded.
  
• Scorching Ray: Good damage, and being an attack roll means it has a good chance of inflicting said damage.
• Shatter: Decent low level AoE. But made less compelling by the fact that we also get
  
• Fireball: Large area of effect and packs a whallop. It’s famous for a reason.
• Wind Wall: The big area of effect is nice, but the damage pales in comparison to Fireball and control aspect is highly limited in what is can actually effect. Additionally, it shuts down our turrets.
  
• Ice Storm: Less damage than Fireball, but adds a control element. 20 foot of difficul terrain means that if you place it right you either waste a creature’s action on a dash or delay their approach by a turn, both of which are nice for our ranged emphasis.
• Wall of Fire: A very nice blend of damage and deterrent.
  
• Cone of Cold: Another high damage AoE spell, with a massive affected area.
• Wall of Force: The best wall spell in the game. No save and can only be undone by high level spellcasters with a specific spell.

Spoiler: Battle Smith Spells

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• Heroism: That seemingly small amount of health every round is a huge deal early on, though creature damage outstrips it later.
• Shield: Just as awesome as it is for Artillerist.
  
• Branding Smite: A worse version of faerie fire, with a marginal amount of damage added.
• Warding Bond: Lets backliners take some heat off the front line, and also well suited for people riding their iron defender.
  
• Aura of Vitality: You can get a ton of mileage out of this, since it only requires a bonus action.
• Conjure Barrage: Affects a massive area and gives you a choice of damage types. But 3d8 damage on a failed save is awfully low for this spell level, about half as much as Fireball and Lightning Bolt.
  
• Aura of Purity: That’s a ton of nasty yet common effects both to protect yourself and your nearby buddies.
• Fire Shield: A fair buff that doesn’t need concentration. Unfortunately, the damage is only on melee hits, and with a d8 hit dice, even a Battle Smith would rather avoid getting hit by melee attacks. The resistance is more helpful, and the situational nature of it is compensated by the fact that this is always prepared.
  
• Banishing Smite: That’s a lot of damage, and if you do it on someone weak enough, they’re banished with no save.
• Mass Cure Wounds: Mass heals can easily turn the tide and undo heaps of damage. 6 x (3d8 + Int) is a solid chunk of healing.

Spoiler: Armorer Spells

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• Magic Missile: meager damage, but perfect accuracy is absolutely nothing to scoff at.
• Thunderwave: A passable low level AoE/escape spell. The damage isn't stellar though, and Constitution is the worst save to target.
  
• Mirror Image: Guardians can already make it harder for enemies to hit allies, this lets them gain a comparable benefit. Doesn’t even require concentration.
• Shatter: Decent low level AoE. A bit more compelling for the Armorer, who doesn’t get Fireball.
  
• Hypnotic Pattern: One of those spells that can change the face of an encounter.
• Lightning Bolt: Strong, but generally less effective as an AoE attack. Still, it fills a hole that would otherwise remain empty
  
• Fire Shield: A fair buff that doesn’t need concentration. Unfortunately, the damage is only on melee hits, and with a d8 hit dice, even a Battle Smith would rather avoid getting hit by melee attacks. The resistance is more helpful, and the situational nature of it is compensated by the fact that this is always prepared.
• Greater Invisibility: A fantastic buff. While invisible all your attacks are at advantage. Works fantastically for an Infiltrator using Sharpshooter or a Guardian imposing disadvantage while remaining invisible themselves.
  
• Passwall: Situational but helpful. You’d be glad to have it when it comes up, so it’s nice to have it always prepared.
• Wall of Force: The best wall spell in the game. No save and can only be undone by high level spellcasters with a specific spell.

[Languid_Duck]

Fine Tuning



Art by Mates Laurentiu
Feats

Actor: Social situation are not our wheelhouse, unless you picked Changeling I suppose.
Alert: Helpful though since we aren’t full casters or Rogues, not likely to be a priority.
Athlete: Meh. I guess a weapon user could conceivably put it to use, though there are better stat boosting feats.
Charger: Only for melee attackers, and okay at best for them.
Crossbow Expert: Crossbows have been functionally designated to be the Artificer Weapon, and this is suited for them. Tempting for Battle Smith, as the only subclass with any inclination toward weapon usage and a fantastic. That said, Repeating Shot accomplishes the key effects, and the remaining benefits (bonus action attack with hand crossbows, melee usage) are mitigated by inherent bonus action usage to command the Steel Defender the and proper positioning, respectively. This does offer higher DPR than the Defender, and lets you focus it on, well, defending rather than attacking.
Defensive Duelist: Good for melee types, rare though they may be.
Dual Wielder: Not too compelling for 3/4 subclasses, since we already have ample uses for our bonus action without the additional need to be in melee. It could be of interest for a Guardian Armorer, as it lets you do two-weapon fighting with your fists, giving you another attack you wouldn't get otherwise and an extra chance to impose disadvantage on an enemy. It's that or the temporary hit points, so either is a valid call.
Dungeon Delver: If serving as the substitute Rogue, you might be called upon to do this, as we tend toward decent to great Dexterity and Intelligence.
Durable: Aside from racial feats, this is the best option to round off an odd Constitution score, if so inclined.
Elemental Adept: Alchemist could like this, since it’s damage bonus is limited to specific types. Artillerist might choose fire for Fire Bolt/Ball.
Grappler: You probably don’t even meet the Strength prerequisite.
Great Weapon Master: 2/3 subclasses have to go out of our way to get proficiency in compatible weapons, and would have to be melee and strength focused. Battle Smiths however might be tempted, if they favor 2h weapons.
Healer: We can already restore hit points, though the ability to do so without using a limited spell slot warrants consideration.
Heavily Armored: We get medium armor, so we could actually take this. If you meet the strength score for high end heavy armor or are a Dwarf, it might be worth serious consideration.
Heavy Armor Master: You’d need the armor to get this, and as backliners we are unlikely to encounter nonmagical physical damage.
Inspiring Leader: You are probably not charismatic, but it’s a solid pick if you happen to be.
Keen Mind: Potentially round off an odd Intelligence. More importantly, annoy your DM with it.
Lightly Armored: You already have the benefit.
Linguist: We already can get Comprehend Language and can make an item for it anyway.
Lucky: Always worth it to help out on a saving throw
Mage Slayer: We are typically backliners and unlikely to be able to capitalize on most of this feat.
Magic Initiate: Choose Wizard for some cool new toys that even match our casting stat. You may appreciate Find Familiar for a little extra Help in combat.
Martial Adept: Only worth it if you’d be going into Battlemaster anyway, since 1d6 per rest is hard to justify spending an ASI on.
Medium Armor Master: A caster that has an excess of Dexterity might make use of this. If you’re a weapon user, save the feat and stick with light armor.
Mobile: We are typically backliners and unlikely to be able to capitalize on this.
Moderately Armored: You already have the benefit.
Mounted Combatant: A Battle Smith could put this to tremendous use. In addition to the usual benefits, you and your Defender can now both impose disadvantage on attacks against the other, improving staying power.
Observant: The best feat for rounding off an odd Intelligence score, thanks to the additional perks.
Polearm Master: There's no lack of options for the Artificer to do with their bonus action, but this can provide higher damage for the melee inclined similar to Crossbow Expert.
Resilient: We already have Constitution saves, but you may wish to pick up Dexterity or Wisdom as well, especially if you could round off an odd stat number.
Ritual Caster: We can already cast rituals, but options from other classes are welcome. This is another option for Find Familiar. Even better if you're grouped with or know a Wizard or can sweet talk your DM into generosity with scrolls/spellbooks, giving you access to ritual spells like Tiny Hut you can't get otherwise.
Savage Attacker: We are typically backliners and unlikely to be able to capitalize on this. Even frontliners get minimal impact.
Sentinel: We are typically backliners and unlikely to be able to capitalize on this.
Sharpshooter: Very cool for ranged Battle Smiths or Infiltrator Armorers. Unfortunately without Archery Fighting Style or consistent ways to get advantage on multiple attacks, the damage/accuracy tradeoff is less favorable to Battle Smiths. Armorers do get Greater Invisibility at a higher level for easy advantage, though.
Shield Master: Though most artificers will not be in melee range and those that are will generally have better uses for their bonus action, it's a practical option and the defensive benefits are pretty cool.
Skilled: 3 skills is nice, though I don’t know if it’s “give up a limited resource” nice.
Skulker: Unfortunately no subclass really has the means to benefit from this, unless you are a goblin or dip Rogue.
Spell Sniper: Wizard gives some cool options or attack roll spells, and caster builds can enjoy the ignoring of cover.
Tavern Brawler: We are typically backliners and unlikely to be able to capitalize on this.
Tough: Hit points are a good thing to have.
War Caster: We don’t have as many concentration options as full casters, but it’s still nice to be able to maintain what we can. Combines with our natural Constitution proficiency to make us very, very good at it.
Weapon Master: A rather wasteful way to get better weapon options, for those interested.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything Feats

Bountiful Luck: The effect is decent, but the range is short and it doesn’t come bundled with a +1 to any stat.
Drow High Magic: Nothing that we don’t already have access to. We can ritual cast dispel magic too, so being able to do it at will just saves time.
Dwarven Fortitude: Spend your action to regain 1d8 + Con hit points. Pass unless you need to round off an odd constitution score.
Elven Accuracy: Great, but not quite as powerful for us as might would be a for more martial classes, though Alchemist and Battle Smith can easily trigger the advantage through their pets taking the Help action.
Fade Away: A nice panic button once per rest and an ideal choice of stat boosts. Great for rounding off an odd Intelligence score at level 4, since the race gives a +2.
Fey Teleportation: Note the wording- you learn Misty Step AND can cast it once for free. The spell isn’t naturally on our spell list, and learning it in this way gives you the ability to cast it with a slot. Add in an Intelligence boost and this is a great pick if you have an odd score.
Flames of Phlegethos: Fire Bolt is a staple for caster artificers, and Artillerists can also enjoy the rerolling on Fireball. The boost to Intelligence narrowly edges it into the blue, in my book.
Infernal Constitution: Some okay defensive benefits, resistances are hard to come by and this grants two against fairly common types. The Constitution boost is welcome, but I hesitate to recommend this for general use.
Orcish Fury: No range restriction on the attack or melee requirement for the weapon, so you can make use of this with a crossbow just as effectively. Strength is useless to us, but Constitution isn’t, so another solid option to round off an odd.
Prodigy: A ton of small, but helpful bonuses. Another tool means another expertise for us, and you can grab actual expertise in an important skill like Perception. No stat boost is unfortunate though.
Second Chance: Undo a natural 20 once per rest. Or at least undo one 95% of the time. The added Dexterity bonus bumps it into blue for me.
Squat Nimbleness: Speed is helpful, but not as important for ranged attackers, and the only subclass with any business in melee already deemphasizes Dexterity. Still, speed AND a skill AND help escaping AND a Dexterity bump all make for a solid investment.
Wood Elf Magic: Druid has a lot of cantrips that we don’t have access to, and this lets us rectify that somewhat, grabbing something fun like Druidcraft or one of the elemental bending spells. Pass Without Trace is great and not something we can usually access, even only once per rest. If it had a Dexterity bump it would be in the blue.

Multiclassing

Barbarian: As we are unlikely to prioritize strength, it may be a hard fit. Shutting a half caster out of spells is also less than ideal.
Bard: Skill shenanigans and more spells can be nice, but do you have the Charisma to even multiclass this?
Cleric: Actually a fair option. Wisdom is a helpful stat and you may well have enough to pursue this. Forge Doman is a flavorful choice and quite practical, giving heavy armor access and a +1 weapon, which may be difficult for you to come across otherwise. Shares a lot of spells with Artificer to boot, freeing up or replacing some choice options.
Druid: The absolute antithesis of the artificer, unsurprisingly, doesn’t synergize with us at all.
Fighter: About as good as it gets. Archery fighting style applies to ranged attacks, making even a 1 level dip worthwhile for Battle Smith. Casters may consider starting here to get heavy armor proficiency and defensive fighting style. Of course, you can continue with the class and the good stuff just keeps coming.
Monk: Monk is a very self-contained class and as such offers us nothing.
Paladin: Those stat requirements are very unfortunate, and there are better ways to get heavy armor. We can’t even get Archery fighting style here.
Ranger: Expands our utility with an additional skill and exploration features. A second level gives a fighting style and a third, an archetype.
Rogue: More skills, expertise, possibly Cunning Action. Consider placing your starting level here if pursuing the multiclass, as this gives you an additional skill.
Sorcerer: Offers little over Bard, while lacking the skill benefits. If you want expanded spellcasting, there’s a far more synergistic option further down.
Warlock: No, not this one.
Wizard: There it is. Wizard shares a casting stat and expands our spellcasting capabilities with more spells. Can be worthwhile for casters and anyone can appreciate Find Familiar access.

[Foxhound438]

It all looks like pretty sound assessment to me so far.

[*] Haste: Neither subclass personally benefits from this, as Gunsmith is limited by reloading and Alchemist isn’t able to make effective use of the hasted action. Your lucky groupmate will strongly appreciate you throwing this on them, however.

I noticed this one looks like it's been pulled from a previous version without checking the assessment, probably should check through to make sure none of the other spells suffer from that

[Languid_Duck]

Gah. I think I nipped all the references now.

[Dungeon-noob]

Okay, first, great that you're making a guide. Kudos to you.

Now for a few things i do disagree on: mending sees most use ever on the artificer, since either your minion or turrets can be effectively healed with it, and you're a gear specialist anyway, so fixing up tools or matirials is very much appriciated. Almost a no-brainer pick in my opnion. Second, in your analysis of Ray of frost you mention that nothing resists both fire and cold. .....have you read the monster manual, let alone the other splatbooks? Basicly all fiends resist both, Remorhazes do as well, and that's just of the top of my head. Plenty of critters are resistant or even immune to both. I don't disgree that it's a good cantrip, but that analysis is inaccurate.

[Contrast]

You keep saying the alchemist doesn't have a use for their bonus action.

Their familiar does still have a bonus action ranged attack (albeit worse than the turret) and it can also be commanded to use the help action with a bonus action.

[follacchioso]

Great guide, thanks!
Could you add a link to the UA materials at the beginning of the post? It would make the reading easier.

[Naanomi]

From a historical perspective, technically 2e had an artificer class as a wizard school specialization; in the Spells and Magic book

[Damon_Tor]

Magical Tinkering: Purely ribbons

Niche use: Pre-cast the light effect on crossbow bolts. Shoot a guy with them and bam, no more hiding in the shadows.

EDIT: Another note-

Spell-Storing Item: A thematically fitting equivalent to Signature spell, giving you up to 10 more slots if you choose a spell you use a lot, though limited by our utility-focused spell list. Aid is probably the coolest possibility.

Neither the artificer nor end-user is described as "casting" the spell in question, which according the magic item rules in the DMG, means no concentration is required by anyone to keep these spells running. Further, your party can pass around the SSI before a battle and buff everyone in turn. Arcane Weapon seems to be the most obvious use for this, but other spells that would normally require concentration, like Shield of Faith, are also viable options.

[Languid_Duck]

Okay, first, great that you're making a guide. Kudos to you.

Now for a few things i do disagree on: mending sees most use ever on the artificer, since either your minion or turrets can be effectively healed with it, and you're a gear specialist anyway, so fixing up tools or matirials is very much appriciated. Almost a no-brainer pick in my opnion. Second, in your analysis of Ray of frost you mention that nothing resists both fire and cold. .....have you read the monster manual, let alone the other splatbooks? Basicly all fiends resist both, Remorhazes do as well, and that's just of the top of my head. Plenty of critters are resistant or even immune to both. I don't disgree that it's a good cantrip, but that analysis is inaccurate.

Hmm, I think I blindly copied my Mending rating from the Gunsmith section of the previous version of the guide and didn't think to touch on it.

I actually didn't do enough research before making that blanket statement, thank you for catching it. I've removed the inaccurary.

You keep saying the alchemist doesn't have a use for their bonus action.

Their familiar does still have a bonus action ranged attack (albeit worse than the turret) and it can also be commanded to use the help action with a bonus action.

I don't say that it doesn't have a bonus action, but that the built in one is weak for damage. It pales in comparison to weapon attacks (lower accuracy and damage, due to lack of ability score scaling, probably poorer range, and acid damage instead of magical weapon damage). Not requiring feat investment or a racial is a major advantage, but if you can get either the homunculus can fall to the wayside.

Great guide, thanks!
Could you add a link to the UA materials at the beginning of the post? It would make the reading easier.

I'm not 100% sure how UA material plays with the forum restrictions on sharing content. I'll be happy to add it in if it's kosher.

Neither the artificer nor end-user is described as "casting" the spell in question, which according the magic item rules in the DMG, means no concentration is required by anyone to keep these spells running. Further, your party can pass around the SSI before a battle and buff everyone in turn. Arcane Weapon seems to be the most obvious use for this, but other spells that would normally require concentration, like Shield of Faith, are also viable options.

Nice catch, and the wording does seem to support that. I'll add discussion along those lines.

[Damon_Tor]

In my opinion, Ritual Caster should be rated as highly as magic initiate. Your class comes with most of the cantrips you would want anyway. Ritual caster's ability to learn new rituals as you adventure is quite strong, giving you access to excellent spells like Phantom Steed and Tiny Hut.

It's worth considering Tenser's Flying Disk as a mobility boost for your turrets. Barring major pits/walls in your way, it basically turns your speed (or your mount's speed, see "Phantom Steed") into the turret's speed. With Ritual Caster, you can pick this up for free at level 4 right alongside find familiar.

[jaappleton]

IIRC, Mark of the Sentinel Human is actually once per SHORT rest. You have it as once per long rest.

[Sception]

I'd say you're slightly under-rating water breathing. Never worse than purple on a class that comes with ritual casting, especially one that can swap out all their spells known each morning. Yeah, it's situational, and most days you won't want to bother preparing it, but the situation where it's relevant (adventuring near or in a large body of water) comes up often enough, and the spell is good enough in that situation, that you should always keep in mind that you have access to it. You shouldnt just disregard it as 'a bad spell that someone else will handle anyway if the party needs it'.

If you're the only ritual caster with access to it, which will be the case in plenty of parties, then you should absolutely be the one handing it out on any day where the party happens to be adventuring in or near water.

[Damon_Tor]

In my opinion, Ritual Caster should be rated as highly as magic initiate. Your class comes with most of the cantrips you would want anyway. Ritual caster's ability to learn new rituals as you adventure is quite strong, giving you access to excellent spells like Phantom Steed and Tiny Hut.

It's worth considering Tenser's Flying Disk as a mobility boost for your turrets. Barring major pits/walls in your way, it basically turns your speed (or your mount's speed, see "Phantom Steed") into the turret's speed. With Ritual Caster, you can pick this up for free at level 4 right alongside find familiar.

On using the Flying Disk for turret mobility: a major limitation to the flying disk is that you don't directly control its movement, it simply follows to stay within 20 feet of you. So if you have a particular location in mind for a turret the disk might not able to get it there easily. But the good news is, there's nothing that stops you from using both the disk's auto-follow movement and the turret's direct (but slow) movement controls on the same turn. As long as you guide your disk to withing 15 feet of where you want your turret on that turn, you can easily dismount the turret and have it walk to the desired location.

[Languid_Duck]

I'd say you're slightly under-rating water breathing. Never worse than purple on a class that comes with ritual casting, especially one that can swap out all their spells known each morning. Yeah, it's situational, and most days you won't want to bother preparing it, but the situation where it's relevant (adventuring near or in a large body of water) comes up often enough, and the spell is good enough in that situation, that you should always keep in mind that you have access to it. You shouldnt just disregard it as 'a bad spell that someone else will handle anyway if the party needs it'.

If you're the only ritual caster with access to it, which will be the case in plenty of parties, then you should absolutely be the one handing it out on any day where the party happens to be adventuring in or near water.

I must have overlooked updating those spells when I copy + pasted that section from the previous guide, before the class gained ritual and prepared casting. Thank you for catching it

[Fiskco]

Great guide! I like the artificer class and I think you touched on the important aspects of the class.
I look forward to seeing how you grade the infusions, as those are a pretty big part of the artificer identity.

Just a note on the kenku race for anyone role-playing one, remember that the same kenku feature that robs them of
their wings and voice also robs them of their creativity:

By the same token, kenku have no ability to invent new ideas or create new things. Kenku can copy existing items with exceptional skill, allowing them to become excellent artisans and scribes. They can copy books, make replicas of objects, and otherwise thrive in situations where they can produce large numbers of identical items. Few kenku find this work satisfying, since their quest for the freedom of flight makes them ill-suited to settle into a routine.

now, you don't have to follow this exactly, but i think it's an interesting character idea to play an uncreative artificer who's claim to fame is being really good at forging magic items.

[Mitchellnotes]

I'd like to throw a shout out to using darts. They are simple weapons, can be used with a shield, can benefit from sharpshooter (unlike daggers), and returning weapon mitigates their largest downside (adherance to 1 free item interaction a turn with multiple attacks). Biggest issue is lack of archery style to mitigate sharpshooter. Plus, either path can use this strategy.

[Citadel97501]

I'd like to throw a shout out to using darts. They are simple weapons, can be used with a shield, can benefit from sharpshooter (unlike daggers), and returning weapon mitigates their largest downside (adherance to 1 free item interaction a turn with multiple attacks). Biggest issue is lack of archery style to mitigate sharpshooter. Plus, either path can use this strategy.

Those are kind of a cool idea, although the damage dice is pretty awful, but I can see that working to deal with those who rule you need a hand free to load hand crossbows.

[Contrast]

I don't say that it doesn't have a bonus action, but that the built in one is weak for damage. It pales in comparison to weapon attacks (lower accuracy and damage, due to lack of ability score scaling, probably poorer range, and acid damage instead of magical weapon damage). Not requiring feat investment or a racial is a major advantage, but if you can get either the homunculus can fall to the wayside.

Which still makes it one of the best consistent uses any class except gets for its bonus action outside of feats. Hell you're probably using your bonus action more than the Artillerist as they only get to summon their turret once a day for 10 minutes without spending spell slots, whereas the Alchemist should have theirs up 100% of the time generally.

I'm not saying that Crossbow Expert isn't better, I'm saying it seems odd to me that your comments on the class with one of the best consistent use of its bonus actions is that it lacks a consistent bonus action feature. It does +2+prof to hit and 1d6+prof damage at will as a bonus action. Unless you're using Sharpshooter or have a spell up to improve weapon damage the difference is pretty marginal from a hand crossbow which is likely to make the opportunity cost of taking it much different. In your 'general gameplay' section both of your suggestions for Alchemist revolve around taking feats (Crossbow Expert or Polearm Mastery) to find another use for the bonus action which I'm not convinced is your primary concern in the same way it is for other classes.

If you have arcane weapon up and are using a hand crossbow for the bonus action Crossbow Expert changes your damage from 5d6+(2*Dex)+2+Prof with a shortbow to 6d6+(3*Dex)+3. Assuming 16 Dex and level 5 that's 28.5 to 33. Without Arcane weapon up its only a difference of 1 damage (though the actual expected damage will be slightly lower again due to the comparative -1 to hit).

You've also rated shortbows as better than daggers/darts which I'm not sure is correct as a general statement. -1 damage and shorter range for +2 AC and being able to use your infused weapon in melee seems more of a decision rather than one being intrinsically better to me.

I'm really advocating that the General Gameplay section probably needs a tweak.

[Trustypeaches]

I think you are overvaluing the Artillerist’s turrets and devaluing the Homunculus.

Deploying the Turret Costs an Action.
This is the biggest and simplest problem with the turrets that keeps it from being ranked gold IMO. Spending an action is pretty costly, when most combats only last about 3 rounds. Yes, you can set it up before combat, but the turret’s 10 minute duration means this can be tricky. The turret can still be a strong, efficient source of damage unless...

The Turrets are outclassed by bonus action Weapon attacks
I wouldn’t bring this up if you hadn’t mentioned it in your reasoning for the Homunculus’s ranking. You talk about the Acidic Spittle bonus action attack falling to the wayside if players acquire BA weapon attacks from feats, but the Turrets suffer from the same problem. The extra attack from Crossbow Expert or Polearm Expert is going to outdamage the turret with Arcane Weapon up and proper stat investment. Sure, Arcane Weapon costs a spell slot, but so do your turrets after the first use of each day, and Arcane Weapon lasts substantially longer while improving your standard weapon attacks.

You can technically deal more damage with turrets once you reach level 14 and can have two of them active at once; but harkening back to my first point, this requires TWO turns to set up and can only be done once a long rest.

Think of the Spell Slots
Because the turrets don’t scale with spell slots, they're most efficient when deployed with a 1st level spell slot. Unfortunately, the most 1st level spell slots you'll ever have is 4 (without multiclassing anyways). This puts the turrets in competition with the Artillerist's other 1st level spells, most notably Shield and Arcane Weapon. While you can certainly deploy the turrets using higher level spell slots, using anything higher than 2nd level spell slot is a pretty big waste when compared against a Fireball. Again, this isn't a problem the homunculus suffers from, as you're not expected to resummon it often.


Now that I'm done talking about the problems with the Turret that should lower it to Blue rank IMO, let's talk about the incredible utility the Homunculus offers that should bump it up to Blue rank as well.

The Homunculus
I feel as though the Homunculus's utility isn't done justice in this guide. It's a beefy familiar with stats almost as good as the Pact of the Chain familiars. The Homunculi can produce some pretty powerful effects for cheap costs, and have many unique qualities that separate them from other familiars/summons outside of combat.

• can provide limited flight
• can provide flexible advantage on ability checks (skill checks, grapples/shoves, counterspell)
• can Fly itself
• has very high hit points (far less risk when performing the Help action)
• capable of using most objects, with moderate dexterity and an adaptable form that can include limbs and fingers (judging by the art)
• has moderate strength for carrying up 60 lbs
• has average intelligence, capable of understanding and performing complex commands
• is proficient in stealth and can be disguised as a normal object, based on the examples provided in the flavor text (an animated cauldron)
• is proficient in perception, and doesn't need to sleep (immune to exhaustion, unlike familiars), perfect for keeping watch

In combat, it has a lot of flexible uses, between performing the Help action to give a character advantage on an attack roll to using its Inspiring Alchemical Salve to provide a character advantage on other crucial rolls such as grapples, counterspell ability checks, perception to find invisible enemies, or other situation-dependent actions.

It has the dexterity, strength, and intelligence to perform more complicated free object interactions. It is really unfortunate though that 'Use an Object' is not among the listed options for Actions to command a Homunculus to perform, though. I hope that's just an oversight, and I would totally ask your DM to overlook it.

[Dungeon-noob]

Whole lot of analysis

Okay, so great that you go so in depth. I just want to point a few things out. Deploying the turrets always only costs one action, when you have more turrets you just deploy more at once. Second, the turrets provide more then just pure damage, like forced movement or easy temp HP. That makes it harder to compare them to BA attacks. Third, you don't need to deploy them that often, so spell slot costs are likely to be minimal. Though that obivously depends on your tactics and DMs campaign, so YMMW.

I mostly agree on the Homonculus analysis, except that i feel it isn't quite sturdy enough to really be safe at the front lines, more like a melee rogue in terms of safety.

[Sception]

Okay, so great that you go so in depth. I just want to point a few things out. Deploying the turrets always only costs one action, when you have more turrets you just deploy more at once.

That is not at all clear from the ability description, and my first read is also that summoning two turrets is two actions. Unless I'm missing something, nowhere in the text does it explicitly say that you can summon both with the same action, in fact the text allowing two simultaneous turrets only tells you what happens if you summon the daily turret while another "is still active", strongly implying that you need to have summoned the first turret with a previous action in order to summon the second.

[Talderas]

One thing I didn't see mentioned in this guide at all, perhaps overlooked for a good reason, is firearms. I'm not sure how that would change up some of your assessments.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Man, it's a shame that Alchemical Mastery only triggers once per casting of a spell, otherwise the synergy with Arcane Weapon would be absolutely glorious.

[Ortho]

I think you left out the Centuar and Loxodon races from GGtR

[Waterdeep Merch]

-snip-

I completely agree with this. You simply can't use the artillerist's turrets to accomplish anything a familiar could, while the homonculus is decisively better at everything any familiar that isn't a Pact of the Chain familiar can do. And I wouldn't call a PoC familiar necessarily superior, they're just better at different things.

They're ungodly scouts with incredible utility. You don't even really care if they die, so you can intentionally throw them into the kind of dangerous situations you wouldn't want your rogue walking into.

Speaking of, they're excellent backup for a proper party scout if you've got one. Buoyancy and Inspiration are great clutch abilities when traveling into the unknown, as is simply having a flying helper that might be able to have hands and thus use certain magic items. Immunity to poison's also an excellent toy for circumventing a very common sort of trap. For Absolute Shenanigans, grab Magic Initiate at some point and find familiar to make a small scouting squad.

By comparison, the turrets are only helpful in combat. I'd say they're out-and-out worse for most games due to their lack of relevancy in wide swaths of gameplay.

EDIT: Homonculus's having hands is technically not mentioned anywhere in the rules whatsoever, so it's difficult to say if they have them and can thus produce the somatic components needed for magic items.