How to Dominate Combat as an Artificer: D&D 5e

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I’m the kind of person who loves my bells and whistles. Features that add functionality, comfort, and enhanced experience always catch my attention. This is definitely the case with the new Eberron: Rising from the Last War class, the Artificer. As a player who loves tactical advantage and unconventional skills, I was immediately in awe of 5e’s newest content.

How does this class fare in combat? The Artificer is quite robust with proficiencies in armor and shields, infusions that can boost armor or add bonuses to weapons, an arsenal of magic items attuned to them, and, eventually, high bonuses to saving throws. Does the answer to this question depend on which archetype is chosen? We’ll show below that each specialty can hold its own in battle.

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Alchemist

Much like Druids, Alchemists shine with utility as supports in battles to buff, heal, and protect their allies. Alchemists will, like other Artificer specialists, have access to damage-dealing spells, but the bulk of their abilities should be focused on preparing weaponry and buffing allies, healing in-combat, finding clever in-battle utility, and healing mid- or post-battle. But don’t let this fool you—Alchemists can still pack a punch in combat.

Specialist’s Skills

One of the crowning features of the Alchemist is their Experimental Elixirs, taking the form of a buffing brew, a restorative remedy, a disguising drink, or a philter of flying. An Alchemist can create one without cost at level 3, two at 6, and three at 15, plus an additional elixir per spell slot level they are willing to expend (one per level). 

Additionally, Alchemists have extra healing and damage bonuses in spellcasting, and Alchemists may cast a few healing spells at will by level 9. Alchemists also have access to a few unique damage-dealing spells that activate these damage bonuses. 

Pre-Battle Preparations

Experimental Elixirs: Create and distribute Experimental Elixirs, as well as weapons or items you have stored level 1 or 2 spells in, as per the level 11 ability Spell Storing. At 9th level, friends who drink any of your Experimental Elixirs will also gain temporary hit points.

Craft Magic Items: Use the level 10 ability Magic Item Adept to craft common and uncommon magic items at a quarter of the time and half the cost, so 25 gp and 10 hours for common and 100 gp and 20 hours for uncommon, according to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Recall that these amounts may again be halved for consumable items like potions and spell scrolls. 

Infusions: Infuse items to assist you in healing or be wily in battle. 

• A Homunculus Servant may deliver a spell you cast with a range of touch if it is within 120 feet of you as its reaction, and you may command it immediately after your turn as a bonus action. 
• Replicate a myriad of magic items, such as a bag of holding (or craft one yourself!) for material components to craft magic items; Headband of Intellect boosts your Intelligence to 19 (must be level 10 to infuse) which determines your healing and dealing bonuses; Winged Boots allow you to fly over your foes to reach your allies.
• Choose an item such as a shield or armor to keep you alive in battle while you enact your schemes.

Cast Buffing Spells with Long Durations. At level 13, an Alchemist has access to the spell Death Ward, which doesn’t count against the number of spells prepared. Cast this buff before entering battle. Other Artificer long-duration buff spells that need to be prepared to use before battle include Aid, Enhance Ability (concentration), Magic Weapon (concentration), Protection from Poison, Spider Climb (concentration), Elemental Weapon (concentration), Protection from Energy (concentration), Stoneskin (concentration), and Skill Empowerment (concentration). 

Cast spells that give your allies and yourself advantage on the battlefield such as the magical trap Snare (XGTE level 1), Glyph of Warding, and Transmute Rock.

Combat Abilities

Assist Your Allies: Use your Flash of Genius feature to boost nearby allies’ saving throws and ability checks (such as for grappling).

Buff your allies with spells like Haste, Resistance, and Sanctuary.

Use your Artificer spells cunningly in battle:

• Gaseous Form. Protect your ally who is safeguarding a vital item, such as a wizard’s spell book she stole or a key to a prison door foes wish to steal, by ensuring she can’t drop any object she was holding and has resistance to nonmagical damage.
• Give your allies advantage and illuminate invisible foes for one minute (concentration) with Faerie Fire.
• Force enemies to drop items or suffer in their armor with Heat Metal (with a damage bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier at level 5 with Alchemical Savant).
• Grease may cause your enemies to fall prone, giving your allies in melee combat advantage against them.
• Boost allies’ damage types with the XGTE spell Elemental Bane. This is only recommended if your party is going to spam a single damage type.
• Protect allies or create a bottleneck area using Wall of Stone.
• Many Druid spells overlap with Artificer spells. See how we rank Druid utility spells, levels 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9.

Alchemical Savant: Deal additional acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage with Alchemical Savant when you cast a spell with these damage types, or heal extra with this same ability. Remember that your Homunculus can deliver spells with a range of touch, such as Cure Wounds and Mending (if on itself, it will restore hit points, and you can apply your bonus).

Alchemist Spells that deal these types of damage: Acid Splash, Create Bonfire, Fire Bolt, Poison Spray, Absorb Elements, Heat Metal, Elemental Weapon, Flame Arrow, Glyph of Warding, Elemental Bane, Ray of Sickness, Flaming Sphere, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Blight, Cloudkill.

The bonus damage can only occur once per spell. This means Heat Metal, for example, will only deal bonus damage once during the spell’s duration.

Example Round of Combat as a level 11 Alchemist Dealing Damage:

Let us assume you have the Headband of Intellect replicated magic item infusion, raising your Intelligence to 19. You also have a Homunculus Servant on the battlefield as one of your infusions. You used one of your Ability Score Improvements. You infuse a non-magical wand with Enhanced Arcane Focus. Using Alchemist’s Tools as your spellcasting bonus, and while holding the wand, and with the Alchemical Savant feature, a Fire Bolt cantrip will have the following damage in one round:

• Roll to hit: D20 + 10 (4 proficiency bonus + 4 Intelligence modifier + 2 Enhanced Arcane Focus). Damage: 3d10 fire damage + 4 Intelligence modifier for Alchemical Savant.
• Maximum Damage: 34 fire damage. Average Damage: 21 fire damage.

Using the method above but with Melf’s Acid Arrow (level 2), the spell attack modifier would still be 10, and damage would be 4d4 acid damage + 2d4 acid damage on its next turn + 4 Alchemical Savant.

• Maximum Damage: 28. Average Damage: 19. On a miss, half of the 4d4 + 4 damage is taken immediately. Upcast this spell at higher levels for additional damage.
• Note that we don’t necessarily think Melf’s Acid Arrow is the best use of your spell slots. Here’s how we would improve the spell to make it worth the spell slot. Talk to your DM about using our improved version.

Then, as a bonus action, you may command your Homunculus to Force Strike, dealing 1d4 + 3. Maximum damage: 7, minimum damage: 4. 

Conclusion: Total maximum damage: 41, average about 25. This may be a meager amount compared to other classes at this level, but it is definitely not unhelpful. Focus your battle efforts on utility, and attack when nothing else is useful.

Post-Battle Duties

• Pick up your allies’ pieces with spells like Raise Dead, Spare the Dying, Revivify, Mass Healing Word, Cure Wounds, and Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum. Cast Catnap (XGTE) on three players who gain back spell slots and abilities during short rests (Warlock, Fighter, Monks, Moon Druids).
• Hide the valuable loot you won in battle with Leomund’s Secret Chest.
• Mend your Homunculus Servant if needs be. This little helper can also distribute healing potions you’ve created, scout around the area, look for loot, and so forth.

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Artillerist

There has never been a subclass quite like the Artillerist. A sentinel with a powerful arcane companion, this Artificer specialty is a good mix of utility defense and impactful attack. With particular spells like Thunderwave, Shatter, and Wind Wall, and control of powerful eldritch cannons, the Artillerist is the commander of the constructs, the sentry of the century.  

Specialist’s Skills

At level 3, this class may create magical artillery in their hand or at their feet (and it may also have feet!). With AC 18 and hit points five times your class level, you may choose from three types: Flamethrower, Force Ballista, or Protector. Taking a bonus action to command it to move and activate its abilities, you’ll have a powerful weapon or beacon of healing by your side in battle.

An Artillerist is encouraged to use spellcasting to predominantly attack and defend in battle. Therefore, preparing for battle should not expend any spell slots. Let another role buff and prepare your team.

Pre-Battle Preparations

Most of your abilities will be used during battle, but you can do a few things beforehand to assist in your efforts.

Eldritch Cannon: Craft your cannon(s) before you go into battle. The cannon stays present for one hour or until it is destroyed or dismissed, and it can either walk/climb on its own (15 ft) or ride upon you.

Craft Magic Items: Craft any magic items you would use in battle, such as healing potions. Note that you cannot infuse a magic item, so your wand/staff/rod will have to be non-magic to be your arcane focus. See the Player’s Handbook pg. 150 for details.

Infusions: Another Infusion worth your while would be Repulsion Shield, which pushes away melee attackers using 1d4 charges per day. Consider taking the War Caster feat to perform somatic components when both hands are preoccupied holding a shield and a wand. 

Spellcasting: Choose a good combination of utility spells and damage-dealing spells. With your Arcane Firearm ability, you’ll want good damage spells. Make sure you prepare Mending, as this will allow you to repair (heal) your Eldritch Cannon.

Spell Storing: Store a spell from the Artificer spell list in an item for your own use, or to distribute to an ally. We doubt that Artillerist spells count as Artificer spells (they count as Artificer spells to you but technically aren’t on the Artificer spell list) that can be stored, but speak to your DM about this. Since you can use this stored spell up to two times your Intelligence modifier, storing Cure Wounds is a great choice—you won’t have to expend those spell slots, and you can heal multiple times.

Combat Abilities

Artillerists are an inspiring combination of protector and conqueror. We will provide tactics for utility as well as examples of in-battle combat. When deciding strategy, focus on preventing enemies from utilizing the battlefield by affecting their movement. You can also manipulate the battlefield to set your cannon up for success.

Eldritch Cannon: Until level 15, you can create one cannon. Give your cannon and allies within 10 feet temporary hit points, attack with a short-range cone of fire, or snipe from 120 feet with force damage.

By level 15, you can create two cannons, which provide half cover to you and your allies within ten feet. 

Flamethrower is great for attacking a grouped-together horde of enemies. Force Ballista can make a dent in enemies charging from a distance. Protector is useful if your party is forced to clump together.

Useful Artillerist-Specific Utility Spells That Don’t Count Against Spells Prepared:

Thunderwave: Position foes advantageously in front of your cannon by pushing them with Thunderwave. Activate your damage-dealing cannon as a bonus action immediately after. 

Wind Wall: Prevent your enemies from attacking you and your friends for at least one round by casting Wind Wall. Create a bottleneck that allows your allies to snipe off hordes easier, especially in combination with your cannon. Wind Wall also deals a nice amount of damage. These tactics also apply to Wall of Fire and Wall of Force.

Ice Storm: Slow enemies in difficult terrain while dealing a helpful amount of damage.

Useful Artillerist-Specific Damage-Dealing Spells That Don’t Count Against Spells Prepared:

Scorching Ray: Deal multiple rays of damage with your wand spellcasting focus. This is a good spell to combine with Hex if you take the Magic Initiate feat. Keep in mind that Hex requires a bonus action to cast, and your cannon also requires a bonus action to activate, so your cannon will not be activated for one round while you cast hex. We’re unsure if this spell will benefit from the Arcane Firearm ability, adding in 1d8 additional damage, as it is not on the Artificer spell list, but is on the Artillerist’s spell list.

Shatter, Fireball, and Cone of Cold each have their use and effectiveness in battle.

Utility Artificer Spells:

Most Artificer spells focus on utility, so here are some less-obvious ideas.

Mending will heal your cannon (this is stated if you read the Eldritch Canon feature, but we’re mentioning it anyway).

Enlarge your cannon and give it an extra 1d4 damage, also bolstering its strength. This spell requires concentration for 1 minute, so it may not be the best use of your time, but keep it in mind for when the situation may benefit from it. You can also Reduce it to a 1.25-ft size if you need to hide it.

Catapult your canon (classified as a “magical object” and not construct) into an advantageous position 90 feet away. So long as it doesn’t hit a target, it shouldn’t take damage, as per the spell’s description, but this is ambiguous in the spell description and unclarified by Jeremy Crawford. Speak to your DM before you attempt such a maneuver.

Reduce opponents’ speed by 10 feet per round with Ray of Frost.

See the Alchemist’s In-Battle Utility section for more ideas.

Damage-Dealing Artificer Spells:

These are our top-recommended scaling spells that will benefit from the Arcane Firearm ability. We don’t recommend only preparing these spells, but choosing a few with different damage types and inherent utilities: Acid Splash, Firebolt, Frostbite, Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, Thorn Whip, Thunder Clap, and Heat Metal. 

Example Round of Combat as a Level 11 Artillerist Dealing Damage

We will calculate a second or third round of combat. You have taken the Magic Initiate and War Caster feats, gaining Hex. Your Intelligence modifier is +4, you have already cast Hex on a previous turn, and you have created a Force Ballista cannon. You have infused a wand with Enhanced Arcane Focus.

• Cast Scorching Ray and hurl your rays at the foe you’ve hexed.
• With a +10 to attack rolls, deal 9d6 (3 rays, 3 hexes) damage. Use your Bonus Action to activate your Force Ballista, dealing an additional 3d8 damage (increased by 1d8 at level 9). The description states that YOU make a ranged spell attack originating from your cannon, so I believe you will still have that +10 to hit.
• Maximum Damage: 78. Average Damage: 46.
• On subsequent rounds, you may cast Scorching Ray at a higher spell slot. Or, you can cast Firebolt as a cantrip, adding in the 1d8 Arcane Firearm damage.

Post-Battle Utility

Most of the Artillerist’s abilities are useful in combat. Though there is nothing Artillerist-specific to note in this category, your Artificer will have healing/mending spells and good Investigation skills.

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Battle Smith

Combining fighting skills with tinkerer, this is the subclass for you if you like clever tactics and powerful damage in combat while expressing creativity in crafting magic items in downtime.

Specialist’s Skills

Reap the rewards of experimenting with magic weapons by utilizing Intelligence in attack and damage rolls (level 3 feature Battle Ready) and an Extra Attack (level 5). Alongside you will fight your Steel Defender, who can deflect attacks or make melee weapon attacks. 

Pre-Battle Preparations

Infusions: Turn your normal weapons into magic weapons with the following infusions: Enhanced Weapon, Radiant Weapon, Repeating Shot, and Returning Weapon. Each of these infusions grants your weapon a +1 (some +2 at level 10) to attack AND damage rolls, and some imbue extra abilities, like blinding an opponent as a reaction, or returning to you after it is thrown. With proficiency in martial weapons, unique to the Battle Smith, these infusions are an absolute must. Recall also that these infused weapons can be your spellcasting focus.

If you infuse Repeating Shot into a longbow and take the Fade Away (Gnome-specific) and Sharpshooter feats, you can snipe from afar and change positions invisibly when discovered.

Steel Defender: Create your Steel Defender at the end of a long rest. Prepare the Mending spell so that you can repair your companion post-battle. Note that you must use a bonus action to command it to attack or repair.

Spell Storing: Store a level 1 or 2 spell in an item to use or give to a friend. As mentioned above, Cure Wounds is a great option so that you don’t have to expend spell slots in order to heal multiple times. Having this stored item on hand is just as good as having common healing potions.

Buffing: The Battle Smith has access to unique warding and buffing spells that don’t count against the number of spells known: Warding Bond (1 hour), Aura of Purity (Player’s Handbook, Concentration, 10 minutes), and Fire Shield (10 minutes). These may be helpful to cast right before battle, if possible.

Combat Abilities

The Battle Smith excels at weapon combat facilitated by magic. Like a Fighter, one-on-one combat is their bread and butter.

In-Combat Utility: The Battle Smith does not have many specialist-specific utility spells. This should not be the focus of a Battle Smith, either. Nevertheless, the Battle Smith always has options.

• When necessary, buff your team with Heroism (Concentration, 1 minute) or Aura of Vitality (Concentration, 1 minute).
• Wall of Stone often has benefits in battle.

Weapon Buffing: Most of your spellcasting abilities should cater to buffing your magical weapon.

• Branding Smite (Concentration, 1 minute) and Banishing Smite (Player’s Handbook, Concentration, up to 1 minute) are available at level 5 and 17 respectively. However, both of these spells are cast as a Bonus Action, which is necessary for commanding the Steel Defender, thus not most advantageous.
• One of our favorite level 1 spells, Absorb Elements, is also available to Artificers, and works nicely with weapon attacks. This is cast as a reaction when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, so it does not take up your bonus action. You can cast this spell at a higher spell slot to deal more damage, too.
• Haste will also give you an additional attack, though it requires Concentration and therefore cannot be combined with the above smites.

Arcane Jolt: At level 9, you can channel an Arcane Jolt through your magic weapon, dealing extra damage. This feature improves still at level 15. Note that you can only apply Arcane Jolt once per turn, and it can occur when your Steel Defender hits a target. You have a number of uses for this between long rests equal to your Intelligence modifier. Since your Steel Defender shares your initiative but has its own turn, I would argue that you can Arcane Jolt with your weapon hit, then again on your Steel Defender’s weapon hit in the same round.

Feats: Choose feats that give your weapon attacks additional bonuses, like Great Weapon Master, Savage Attacker, or Sharpshooter.

Example Round of Combat as a Level 11 Battle Smith Dealing Damage

We will calculate a round of combat after Branding Smite was cast, and after a turn when Absorb Elements was cast as a reaction. With an Intelligence modifier of 4, the Great Weapon Master feat, and Enhanced Weapon infused into a battle axe, assuming you hit, you and your Steel Defender can deal the following damage:

• With a +10 to hit and a -5 penalty for Great Weapon Master, deal 2d6 Great Axe + 2d6 Branding Smite + 1d6 Absorb Elements + 2d6 Arcane Jolt + 6 Intelligence Modifier/Enhanced Weapon + 10 Great Weapon Master damage. Extra attack would give you 2d6 Great Axe + 16 modifier/feat damage. 
• Your Steel Defender will attack with 1d8 + 3 force damage + 2d6 Arcane Jolt.
• Total: 11d6 + 1d8 + 35
• Maximum Damage: 109. Average Damage: 79.
• You could also cast Branding Smite at 3rd level for an additional 1d6 damage or Absorb Elements for an additional 2d6.

Post-Combat Duties

Assuming you still have spell slots available, you can always cast Cure Wounds or Spare the Dying within Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum and distribute healing potions you may have created prior to battle. You may also search with your great Investigation bonus and store things within Leomund’s Secret Chest, or hide your party from additional enemies with Rope Trick.

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Artificers and Spell Scrolls

Artificers love spell scrolls because several of their class features synergize with them. An Infusion named Enhanced Arcane Focus (from level two) gives Artificers a +1 bonus to spell attack roll spells. The bonus rises to +2 at level ten. Activating a spell scroll means the user is casting a spell, so spell scrolls apply with Enhanced Arcane Focus.

Flash of Genius at level seven can grant you or an ally a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier when making an ability check to use a spell scroll of a higher level. This ability helps you and your allies to use spell scrolls that require ability checks. It’s a great way to make sure your team succeeds when using spell scrolls.

Magic Item Adept at level ten allows you to craft spell scrolls with up to third-level spells (uncommon rarity) in a quarter of the time and half the cost. Since spell scrolls are consumable (time and money halved to craft), an Artificer with Magic Item Adept crafts low-level spells scrolls in 1/8th of the normal time and 1/4th of the normal cost.

Finally, Magic Item Savant at level fourteen grants you the same ability as the Thief rogue to use any magic item regardless of class, race, spell, or level requirements. You can use any scroll (any magic item) without needing to meet any of the requirements. Artificers are so versatile! You can read more about spell scrolls here.

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Conclusion

Whether your goal is to express your creativity by crafting magic items, create perfect battle scenarios with in-combat utility, or deal deadly amounts of damage, the Artificer is a powerful class with versatile abilities in and out of combat. When you focus on your strengths in the specialty you choose, you can provide great value to your team in unique and innovative ways. How else would you use the Artificer? What creative ways have you played this top-notch class? Message us in the footer or comment below to share your ideas!