Top 10 Artificer Features in DnD 5E

Artificers are one of the most versatile classes in Dungeons and Dragons. Their capability to be any combination of competent spellcaster, front line combatant, and impressive support role is all thanks to the various features Artificers and their subclasses have access to. Today we'll be going over the best features Artificers have, though we'll be ignoring some of the more common place features that lots of classes have like Spellcasting or the extra attack granted by the Battle Smith and Armorer Subclasses.

Video edited by BV
Written by: Two Tone Shoes

├ The List
Intro: (0:00)
10: Artillerist Spells: (0:25)
9: Flash of Genius: (2:14)
8: Magic Item Adept: (4:08)
7: Helm of Awareness: (5:47)
6: Enhanced Defense/Repulsion Shield: (7:39)
5: Eldritch Cannon: (9:41)
4: Steel Defender/Homunculus Servant: (11:40)
3: Spell-Storing Item: (13:33)
2: Arcane Armor: (15:48)
1: Replicate Magic Item: (17:48)

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[iriswav]

I love that replicate magic item messes with the economy and being able to give your party "bag of holdings" is insane

[Kahuutz]

I love playing an Artificer it very quickly became one of my favorite classes to play. And I think this was a pretty good list the only thing is that I would put Flash of genius higher on the list because you can add it to your initiative rolls and it works to boost you teammates counterspell and dispel magic as well.

Also tool expertise is incredibly broken in the right campaign, my DM loves to implement our tool proficiencies whenever she can and having a +13 at level 9 to any tool check I have proficiency in is amazing and stacking flash of genius on top of that for a +18 🤯 I can nearly hit 40 on my checks

[hydromancer]

The big thing about infusions is that a lot of the time, you're better off giving them to your party rather than yourself.
I gave enhanced defense to the party's bladesinger, because being a frontliner with a d6 hit die, he needs all the AC he can get.

[tuseroni]

one thing to add to flash of genius: initiative is an ability check.

take alert and you could give yourself a +10 to your initiative. multiclass swashbuckler rogue and max char too and you can add a +15, with max dex (i know kinda ridiculous) thats a +20 to your initiative, get a luckstone for a nice +21 to your initiative.

also add helm of awareness to get advantage on your initiative roll (effectively another +5...so...+26)

[clarkside]

I can't wait for the new books to come out, not only for the quality of life updates but also more Logs content.

[JeffGraybill-vilo]

You missed the Repeating Shot infusion. +1 to a crossbow of any size, no loading property, infinite ammo, and with a battlesmith can be combined with a shield because you don't need the second hand on it. Take the Sharpshooter feat and/or the crossbow master and combine with the ability to use Intelligence for attacks and damage, and you have one heck of a ranged and melee fighter.

[brianabernethy]

I know it's rare that campaigns last this long, but the 20th level feature, "Soul of Artifice", is mind-blowingly good. You gain a +1 bonus to all saving throws per magic item you are currently attuned to. AND if you’re reduced to 0 hit points but not killed out-right, you can use your reaction to end one of your artificer infusions, causing you to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0. Don't forget, at this level the artificer can hold up to SIX attunements. That's just crazy good, if ever you live so long.

[BLynn]

So, I'm @6:30 minutes in & you mention it is difficult to enhance initiative, but the Bard's "Jack of All of Trades" adds half-proficiency, as does the Champion-Fighter's "Remarkable Athlete", plus a Swashbuckler-Rogue gets to add their Charisma modifier, Warmage-Wizard gets to add their intelligence modifier. Gloom-Stalker-Ranger adds their wisdom modifier, all barbarians, "revised" rangers, the Scout-Rogue plus also an Artificer's Infusion will grant advantage on initiative, plus there are a bunch of magic items that grant advantage on initiative. (I knew many of these off the top of my head, simply because I built my own character sheet using Excel, though I had forgotten the Gloom-Stalker-Ranger & which subclass of rogue granted advantage plus additionally, I never knew about the infusion that artificer's get.)

[kochiyamochiya]

My current DnD character is a Battle Smith and I love my buddy, Steel Defender so much!

[jettblade]

Replicate Magic Item is super busted if you can do any common magic item with it. The most broken thing you can do is make Spellwrought Tattoos, particularly ones that have ongoing effects after the spell is cast. See you don't have to know, see, or be able to cast the spell you want to put into the Spellwrought Tattoo, there is no restriction other then the level of the item you make. So RAW you could make a Spellwrought Tattoo of Find Familiar, this is a common magic item, use it to permanently have that familiar then do this for the entire party because of the weird interaction it has. The Spellwrought Tattoo would end once the Infusion ends however persistent effects of that Tattoo will last because they are tied to the Tattoo not the Infusion, so they basically take a life of their own. I personally would rule that you could only make Spellwrought Tattoos of spells you know and tie any effects to the Infusion so you wouldn't be able to cheese that.

[TonyFunsui]

15:00
An EXTREMELY common misunderstanding but spell storing item is limited to the Artificer's (class) spell list, not an Artificer spell you can cast (class+subclass) that has a one Action cast time.

I've seen people try and put Shield in there or Absorb Elements in there lol, but some DMs are cool with it.

Also the spell you put in is at its lowest level, so no 2nd level Cure Wounds unless your DM is cool with it.

[tabbune]

The #1 answer is Spellcasting but y'all aren't ready for that conversation yet

[khuri]

My armorer artificer made his Spell Storing item a old hammer from his blacksmithing tools that he put Cure Wounds into. Basically smack someone with a hammer and heal them for 1d8+6 hp was great.

[Lordofmoo]

Had an alchemist artificer who kind of became a savior character to desert people by making lots of alchemy jugs and giving them away to towns and villages for alliances

[PeagonPegwald]

The spell storing item is especially scary when you put something like Scorching Ray or Shatter in a non-magical item, like a wand, then give that to a hasted Thief Rogue. They can then use that item up to three times during their turn thanks to their own Fast Hands feature and the haste action to Use Object. Because it is being a non magical item, it is just a normal action to use the object to cast a spell, meaning it bypasses the bonus action spell casting rule since it is not a "casting a spell action", but rather a Use Object action. This has also been confirmed to be the case by Jeremy Crawford over on Twitter.
If you don't have a Thief Rogue, you can still make some good use of it with Haste.

Also worth mentioning, its has no duration limit either, just a once whenever you finish a long rest-use to refill it or put it on another object. This means that if you go an entire day without using it and complete a new long rest, you technically have up to 20 uses with 20 INT. Ten charges from the previous day, then once those charges are spent, you can take an action to refill it for the current day since you have completed a long rest.

[budd]

My Artificer is lvl 9 almost 10. Artilerist. I love this class and sub class. I have lots of dmg, and massive utility. We don't have a wizard and we don't have a rogue in the party. No problem. I do enough of both. I pick all the locks do the investigations. Gloves of thievery from infusion. +5 with flash of genius. I can be a solid upfront dmg or fly around and drop dmg. I can use my cannon to protect the team. I can vortex warp teammates who are in danger to safety. I have a wand sheath to keep my hand empty to hold a shield and my cannon. I have high AC can use up close or ranged cantrip dmg. At lvl 10 I am going to try and get an all purpose tool and start finding what I need to make my party some uncommon magical items.

[googloocraft]

Artificer doesn’t have more AC then others. Technically you can have access to to better magic item in any game and you can’t infuse magic items. But for shure it’s the best if you don’t want to be DM dependent

[chrisg]

You really shouldnt have subclass specific feature in the list of "best Artificer features" list... since its only good if you have access to them....

[majinsole]

And supposedly they’re not gonna be in the new handbook 😞

~_~

[KnicKnac]

Currently playing an Armorer and almost threw the character away, but looking into telekinetic feat to just be a menace on the battlefield