Complete Artificer Class Guide for D&D 5E

Author: Richard Tavadon

Welcome to the Artificer class guide on Tabletop Builds! Our class guides are intended to be a comprehensive source for optimization information related to each of the classes in D&D 5E. This one will be focusing on the Artificer class.

Confused about what our star and color ratings mean? Here is the explanation.

Level 1: Magical Tinkering (★★☆☆☆)

Magical Tinkering is a niche but occasionally useful ability. Essentially, this is a variant of prestidigitation/druidcraft/etc. built into the class. Much like those spells, this is mostly a flavor ability, but it has some useful abilities attached to it, especially if one is creative in their uses. For example the magical light can be used to illuminate a darkness spell.

Level 1: Spellcasting (★★★★★)

Spellcasting is the first key feature of the class, spells will be discussed later in the guide. As per the chart, Artificers get 2nd level spells at 5th level, 3rd level spells at 9th level, 4th level spells at 13th level, and 5th level spells at 17th level.

Artificers are required to be holding thieves’ tools, a kind of artisan’s tool, or an infusion as a spellcasting focus when they cast their Artificer spells. Their subclass might also grant them an alternative item to use as a spellcasting focus. Even if an Artificer spell would normally not have a material component, it does have one when an Artificer casts it, and they use their tools to provide this material component. This has several implications for Artificer features we will highlight when talking about them. It should also be noted that Artificer spells that normally have a somatic component, but no material component, like absorb elements, can thus be cast even when the Artificer’s hands are full without the need for the War Caster feat, as long as they are holding something that functions as a spellcasting focus.

Level 2: Infusions (★★★★★)

Infusions make up the second key feature of the Artificer class. Infusions are temporary magical bonuses that the Artificer can add to mundane items. These range from simple things such as turning a normal greatsword into a +1 greatsword, to creating special magic items that only the Artificer can create. For example, a magical shield that repels foes, or armor that can prevent its wearer from dropping concentration. In addition, the Artificer can choose to replicate a specific magical item from a list.

There are some key things to note about infusions:

They can each only be used once. An Artificer may only make a single weapon a +1/+2 weapon at a time when using the Enhanced Weapon Infusion. They may overcome this by using a Repeating Shot infusion and an Enhanced Weapon but they may not use Enhanced Weapon twice.

One big caveat here: they may take Replicate Magic Item as many times as they would like. This allows them to double up on the same item through Replicate Magic Item, since each individual replication is not a distinctly named infusion. We will explain why this is important at the start of the Infusions section, later.

In addition to those on the list, they can also choose any common magical item in the game that is not a potion or scroll. This allows them to take some fun items in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, but also the spellwrought tattoo (see below).

Infusions are like Warlock Invocations: in theory they allow for a lot of varied and interesting builds, but they are unbalanced between themselves and therefore there are some choices that overshadow the rest.

There are some Infusions that have a set number of charges that refresh a number of charges each day based on a die roll (for example, the Armor of Magical Strength regains 1d6 expended charges daily at dawn). Reinfuse them every morning and they have full charges. There is no reason to even roll the dice there.

We will go over each Infusion further below in their own section, including a few tricks we can pull off with them.

Level 3: The Right Tool for the Job (★☆☆☆☆)

The Right Tool for the Job is mostly a ribbon feature as artisan tools are not too expensive. It can come in handy in certain games; even tools you aren’t proficient in have components that can be useful.

Levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 19: Ability Score Improvement (★★★★☆)

The Artificer gains Ability Score Increases at the same rate as most other classes. We will discuss feats later, but for all Artificers, Intelligence is the only ability score that should reasonably be increased to 20.

Level 6: Tool Expertise (★★☆☆☆)

Tools can be a useful addition to any character’s kit. The biggest issue with them however, is that their best use cases are locked either behind downtime, or games where variant tool rules in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything are allowed. This is a feature whose usefulness will vary wildly between tables. You can read more about tools in our Complete Guide to Tools.

Level 7: Flash of Genius (★★★★☆)

This is a unique ability that can make or break some rolls. Unlike Bardic Inspiration or guidance, this allows the Artificer to give a flat bonus equal to their Intelligence modifier to a given ability check or saving throw right as they happen. This feature will provide value consistently even if it doesn’t get many uses in any given adventuring day. As a reaction ability with limited uses, this won’t be game-changing like a Paladin’s Aura of Protection, but it will be complimentary as an additional layer of insurance to really make sure the party can pass that important saving throw.

Level 10: Magic Item Adept (★★★☆☆)

The main benefit of this is the 4th attunement slot. This is a difficult ability to rate, as it will vary depending on what magic items are available. Additionally, it allows for quicker the creation of magic items, which is typically a ribbon feature, but with a permissive DM, this can be potent.

Level 11: Spell Storing Item (★★★★★)

The Spell-Storing Item allows the Artificer to use 1st and 2nd spells more often. In addition, they can pass the item around to familiars, homunculi, etc. to have many of the same effect active at the same time. While not as potent as higher level spells, 4 webs will still severely hamper melee enemies and can completely change the makeup of many battlefields. This is one of their best class abilities. Tiny servants, familiars, homunculi, Steel Defenders, party martials, or NPC’s can all cast spells from the item.

The standout spell to store in the item is web. This spell is not only incredibly effective, it is also very generally useful. This makes it a spell that will find use on nearly any conceivable adventuring day. Other possibly useful spells to store include:

Faerie fire, grease, and magic missile (Armorer) at 1st level, and aid, scorching ray (Artillerist), shatter (Armorer or Artillerist), and vortex warp at 2nd level.

If additional spells are added to the Artificer spell list, for example via their background or race, these could be interesting options as well: fog cloud (Mark of Storm Half-elf), goodberry (Mark of Hospitality Halfling), pass without trace (Mark of Shadow Elf).

Level 14: Magic Item Savant (★★★☆☆)

The Artificer gains a 5th attunement slot. Once again, this can be amazing or useless depending on the availability of magic items. The ability to use magic items for any class or race grants them some interesting options should they appear. Consult our magic item guide to learn about powerful magic items an Artificer could now use.

Level 18: Magic Item Master (★★★☆☆)

The Artificer gains a 6th attunement slot, and now has twice as many as anyone else. This means they can get away with attuning to some more niche items than most characters, though they can also just attune to more of the generally strong items. Getting the right powerful magic items can keep them on the same level as the rest of the party.

Level 20: Soul of Artifice (★★★★★)

This is an excellent capstone. The Artificer gains a potential +6 to all saving throws and the ability to keep themselves from going down by sacrificing an infusion.

The base Artificer class has good defense and its own interesting tools, but also several weaknesses that they want their subclass to cover. Notably, access to the shield spell, and more quality options for 3rd level spells and higher. Being a half caster, they also enjoy having a good staple option outside of casting basic cantrips to make up for the lower amount of spell slots. 

Alchemist (★☆☆☆☆)

Alchemist is often maligned as one of the worst subclasses in the game, and while we won’t go that far, it is disliked for a reason. Most of its features aside from its signature Experimental Elixirs are very weak, and Experimental Elixir itself is mediocre. This makes for an overall very underwhelming subclass that isn’t too far off of having no subclass at all. If you want to fulfill the fantasy of playing a chemist, consider taking the relevant tools and work weaving its theme into your character story instead of using this subclass.

Level 3: Tool Proficiency (★★☆☆☆)

A feature common to every subclass, the Artificer gets an additional tool proficiency. See our tool guide for advice on using these.

Level 3: Expanded Spell List (★★★☆☆)

This spell list only has healing word as a notable spell, which will also gain a minor boost from Alchemical Savant at 5th level. Death ward is a nice spell to rest cast, but it will not have much impact on how this subclass performs.

Level 3: Experimental Elixir (★★★☆☆)

Most of these elixirs are between a 1st level spell and a 2nd level spell in power. Healing for example, is slightly better than cure wounds; Boldness can be compared to bless, which is a 1st level spell, but a very good one; Flight is much slower than the 3rd level spell fly, but any kind of fly speed can trivialize many monsters.

Swiftness, Resilience, Boldness and Flight are all potentially very helpful buffs. Additionally, they take no concentration and have relatively long durations. If the party can drink them before combat or have them administered by a familiar or other minion, they can be quite good. Healing and Transformation should generally be avoided, though they can be useful occasionally. Think of these as additional 1st level spells the Artificer learns, with the benefit that they get a random free casting every day.

Level 5: Alchemical Savant (★★☆☆☆)

This requires the Artificer to use their tools, which can be inconvenient if they want to use something like a staff of power with a shield. Additionally, the damage/healing increase is small. Theoretically this effect would be good on effects that deal damage multiple times with a single roll, but literally the only spells Alchemist Artificer has that can do this are acid splash and cloudkill. A little bit of extra damage and healing never hurts, but this shouldn’t affect their strategy at all.

Level 9: Restorative Reagents (★★☆☆☆)

Additional temporary hit points when drinking an elixir and free lesser restoration. The temporary hit points are helpful, but they’re not providing enough for this level to make this subclass good. Having access to so many castings of lesser restoration is certainly welcome when it’s needed, but unless the DM goes out of their way to inflict conditions, it is unlikely to be a consistently good feature. This will at least alleviate the need for any party members to prepare the spell.

Level 15: Chemical Mastery (★★★☆☆)

As far as capstones go, it could be worse, but it also doesn’t resolve any core problems with the Alchemist. Resistance to a common and an uncommon damage type is good, and poisoned condition immunity is still useful (even with access to lesser restoration), though less so. Greater restoration and heal are useful to be able to cast for free to stop the various debilitating effects that regularly pop up in the highest tiers of play, with heal being one of the few healing spells that can be worth casting during a combat encounter. The fewer encounters you face in a day, the better this is.

Armorer (★★★☆☆)

This subclass is a bit better than Alchemist, but is still weak relative to the other choices. Despite focusing on armor, it does not provide good defense, especially as it lacks shield. The weapons provided are also nothing extraordinary, with one focusing on a suboptimal strategy and the other being worse than a hand crossbow until very high levels. Compared to Alchemist however, the subclass does provide better spells and still has a number of useful features.

Level 3: Tools of the Trade (★★★☆☆)

In addition to the standard tool proficiency from every subclass, this also grants heavy armor proficiency. While this subclass supposedly should make the Artificer feel tanky with the armor upgrade, this is just a 1 AC bump over the base Artificer class once they can afford Plate armor. This tiny boost pales in comparison to shield, which Artillerist and Battle Smith gain access to.

Level 3: Expanded Spell List (★★★★☆)

Magic missile, hypnotic pattern, wall of force. The latter two are some of the best control spells in the game. These spells are obtained rather late, but they are always good at any level. One spell that sadly isn’t here is shield, which is incongruous with what many would imagine about the defensive Armorer. Fire shield can be used to help bolster specific elemental defenses and doesn’t require concentration.

Level 3: Arcane Armor (★★★☆☆)

This lets the Armorer use the heavy armor proficiency granted by Tools of the Trade without pumping Strength and allows them to use their armor as a spellcasting focus. Presumably, that means they can provide the material components for casting their spells by wearing their armor, instead of having to hold their armor in one of their hands, though the rules don’t provide a definitive confirmation in that regard. It also gives the ability to don and doff armor as an action, which might help during nighttime ambushes (though getting someone to cast Leomund’s tiny hut will mostly solve this issue) and allows them to avoid dying from heat metal.

Level 3: Armor Model (★★★☆☆)

Modifies the Armorer’s Arcane Armor with one of two special modes described below, which can be swapped during a long rest. The Artificer also gets to use their Intelligence for weapon attacks and damage when using the weapons from their Armor Model. A good change, though like the Battle Smith, they are forced to rough it through levels 1 and 2.

Level 5: Extra Attack (★★★★☆)

An extra attack. Keeps the Armorer in line with the “real” martials, in this sense at least.

Level 9: Armor Modifications (★★★★☆)

This essentially gives the Armorer two free infusions with the caveat that they have to be things worn by them. The best options are Enhanced Defense for the armor and Radiant Weapon or Enhanced Weapon for the weapon, though Resistant Armor can be better if the Armorer can predict what damage type they’ll be facing. A Mind Sharpener or Helm of Awareness (only available next level) are good, but are probably better on characters other than the Artificer.

Level 15: Perfected Armor (★★★☆☆)

The armor model improves depending on the chosen armor model. These aren’t bad benefits, though they come rather late.

Artillerist (★★★★★)

The Artillerist is the archetypal firearm and explosive specialist that employs guns, cannons and bombs to blast their enemies to bits. Between a solid amount of temporary hit points, decent damage options, and some great spell additions, the Artillerist is a strong choice that allows you to mix in support and damage capabilities. For our Basic Build Series, we created a single-classed Artillerist to show off the specialization’s potent support capabilities.

Level 3: Tool Proficiency (★★☆☆☆)

A feature common to every subclass, this provides an additional tool proficiency. See our tool guide for advice on using these.

Level 3: Expanded Spell List (★★★★★)

Shield, shatter, fireball, wall of fire, cone of cold, wall of force. These are a mix of solid spells. Shatter is a decent spell to put in a Spell Storing Item, though it’s generally inferior to web. Note that familiars cannot make attack rolls, so they can use shatter but not scorching ray. The damage spells are obtained long past the level at which they are most useful, but they remain useful. Shield and wall of force are powerful no matter the level.

Level 3: Eldritch Cannon (★★★★★)

This is the core of the Artillerist. It can either do an area of effect attack for low damage if multiple enemies are hit, do a ranged attack which does mediocre force damage with a 5 feet push on hit, or it can grant 1d8+Int temporary hit points to everyone within 10 feet of it. As far as damage goes, the Flamethrower is the best option, outdoing the Force Ballista even when hitting only a single target. The Force Ballista does provide forced movement, which can definitely be more valuable in a party that optimizes for that. The Protector cannon will probably provide the most value out of the three options. It potentially provides a decent amount of temporary hit points to multiple creatures every turn, and it can be used repeatedly out of combat to give the party the maximum amount of temporary hit points possible before the next fight. Before Twilight Domain Cleric, this was an unmatched option that mightily surpassed other temporary hit point granting options. While Twilight Domain Cleric now overshadows this, this is still phenomenal. Unfortunately, the cannon only lasts an hour before spell slots are required for more, but this is still a good use of first level spell slots as it is much stronger than a typical first level spell.

Level 5: Arcane Firearm (★★☆☆☆)

The Artillerist can stop using their tools or an infused item as their spellcasting focus and instead use a special wand, staff or rod, which might be handy for multiclassing. Each spell cast through this does an additional d8 damage. Similar to the Alchemist ability, it’s not amazing, but at least this isn’t limited by damage type and Artillerist possesses better damage spells. This also works with Wand infusions.

Level 9: Explosive Cannon (★★☆☆☆)

Even with the damage boost, the Protector cannon is still likely the best option. There might be situations where the consistent area of effect damage is useful, like when fighting hordes of weaker creatures. The cannon explosion functions as an emergency blast that can be the solution in desperate situations, or as a fun finisher when you are certain this is the last fight of the day.

Level 15: Fortified Position (★★★★★)

The Artillerist gains two cannons, granting essentially +2 AC to everyone in the party and allowing them to do both temporary hit points AND damage (or damage twice, or grant temporary hit points twice if the party is spread out). Either way it’s additional effectiveness and that is always appreciated. Keep in mind however that double the resources are still required to keep these turrets up.

Battle Smith (★★★★★)

The Battle Smith is a tinkerer that builds themselves a mechanical companion to fight alongside them in combat. Battle Smiths can deal good damage, while also granting them an additional body on the field that can take a decent amount of hits without too much issue. As a ranged Crossbow Expert build, they can apply both ranged and melee pressure when needed between themselves and their Steel Defender.

Level 3: Tool Proficiency (★★☆☆☆)

A feature common to every subclass, this provides an additional tool proficiency. See our tool guide for advice on using these.

Level 3: Expanded Spell List (★★★★☆)

Shield is the standout spell here, and is a major boon to the Battle Smith. A few other spells like aura of vitality and fire shield have some applications as well.

Level 3: Battle Ready (★★★★☆)

Continuing in the tradition of the Hexblade Patron Warlock, the Battle Smith can use their Intelligence for attack and damage rolls with any magical weapon. With the addition of proficiency with martial weapons, the Battle Smith is now much closer to the martial capabilities of the other half-casters, the Paladin and Ranger.

Level 3: Steel Defender (★★★★☆)

This adds another body to the field. Not only that, but it can be healed for free with mending. When it dies, it can be revived for the low cost of a 1st level spell slot (and that’s only if it dies, unlike with Artillerist). It does low damage, but at least its damage type is force, which is very seldom resisted. Its real power is in being able to use its reaction to impose disadvantage once per turn. This small buff allows the Battle Smith to take fewer hits and might be enough to goad enemies into targeting the Steel Defender instead of the party. It doesn’t have an amazing Armor Class or an amazing hit point pool, but it’s solid enough to take a few hits for the party. When using the Steel Defender, don’t be afraid to move it around the field and take opportunity attacks.

Keep in mind the Defender cannot be surprised, and that it can be used to wield magic items and Spell Storing Items much like your familiar. Utilizing the Defender as a mount for small characters allows for great versatility on the battlefield with a mount much sturdier than a typical horse, though how the mount functions as a controlled mount is a bit unclear and it should probably be treated as an independent mount.

Level 5: Extra Attack (★★★★☆)

An extra attack, which is a noticeable damage increase for any character that is attacking most turns.

Level 9: Arcane Jolt (★★★☆☆)

Arcane Jolt adds a little bit of extra damage or healing. It’s best used on critical hits or when it is really vital to kill something right now. Being able to heal on a hit can be an efficient way to bring someone back up.

Level 15: Improved Design (★★★★☆)

The effectiveness of the Battle Smith’s key feature seemingly gets doubled here. The Steel Defender really needs that +2 AC as at this point monster attack bonuses are really high. A bit of extra oomph to smites and 1d4+5 damage on a deflect will start getting enemies to focus on the Steel Defender.

Infusions offer a flexible way for Artificers to create magic items and buff their allies. There is no flat power curve with most features, and since infusions offer a wide variety of options, they are no different. A lot of the power of this class comes from tactical utilization of their infusions.

Replicate Magic Item Infusions

It is important to realize the same option can be chosen more than once.

The Replicate Magic Item infusion specifically lets you learn it multiple times, with no qualifying or clarifying restrictions. The above language originally appeared in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and was reprinted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything unchanged (alongside a number of changes and rewording for various Artificer features). Compare this directly with the final version playtested in Unearthed Arcana (right) to see how it would’ve been worded if the intent was to force Replicate Magic Item choices to be unique.

Each of your infusions can only be in one object at a time. But here, we are selecting the same infusion option twice. We still need two separate mundane items to infuse and each can only hold a single infusion. Pipes of haunting A goes into one bagpipes, and pipes of haunting B into another.

Should you or your DM find this somehow unconvincing, or they understand the argument but wish to houserule it, you can select your own alternative options. One set of pipes of haunting is still better than zero.

There are a ton of feats, only some of which you should consider taking. If something you are interested in is not on the list, refer to our class-agnostic feat guide for more information.

This section rates every spell that’s accessible by the Artificer, including spells gained through subclasses.

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