DnD Artificer Handbook: DnD 5e Class Guide – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

The Artificer has been a popular concept since at least 3rd edition, wherethe Artificer first appeared as a class unique to the Eberron campaignsetting. Since then, the class has reappeared in 4th edition, and was in highdemand when 5th edition was released, but didn’t see a final release untilfully 5 years after 5th edition’s initial release. The concept of a characterwho performs magic by binding it to items and who crafted all sorts oftechnological or magical gadgets is a fun novelty in a game where magic rarelytakes those forms.

The Artificer is a class with a tool for every job and a solution to everyproblem. They excel as a Support character, but make decent Defenders,Healers, and Strikers, too. With the right infusions and spells, they can fillnearly any role in the party, making the Artificer’s versatility rival that ofthe Bard.

However, the Artificer is complicated. This is not a class I would recommendfor new players or for players who suffer from analysis paralysis. TheArtificer has more decision points than any class to date, including theWizard. Every time you finish a long rest you can reset your prepared spells,shuffle where you apply all of your infusions, and pick magic items from alist of some 40+ options. While some of these decisions may remain static forlong periods of time, the intent of the class is that you will tailor yourabilities day-to-day to suit the challenges you expect to face. While thatversatility and adaptability is very powerful, it also requires a great dealof micromanagement of your character.

This is the sort of class that can be rewarding for players who enjoy“crunch” and fiddling with their character’s build, but which will beabsolutely punishing for players who don’t like to spend hours agonizing overthe differences between individual character options. The need to managespells and infusions plus the mental load of trying to make tool proficienciesuseful is often frustrating for many players, but I have always enjoyedexactly those sorts of challenges, so I’ve enjoyed artificers every time I’veplayed one.

Several of the Artificer’s features are related to crafting and to magicitems. If your game does not allow item crafting or does not use magic items,you’re going to miss out on those features. Of course, you may also be theonly source of magic items, which makes you a very popular member of yourparty. Most published games don’t leave space for downtime and crafting andalso provide pre-determined magic items which might not appeal to yourparty.

In those situations I’ve found that changing your infusions to fill gaps for your party is immensely effective, and your party may be willing to trade permanent magic items among the group if everyone ends up happy with whatever items and infusions they’re using at any given moment.

This guide is for the latest version of the Artificer class. The full versionwas originally published in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and updated inTasha’s Cauldron of Everything. If you are currently using the versionpublished in Eberron, I recommend checking theErrata documentfor the latest improvements, as the changes are significant.

After reading this handbook, I encourage you to read our other supportingarticles:

• Artificer Races Breakdown
• Artificer Subclasses Breakdown
• Artificer Infusions Breakdown

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Artificer Class Features
• Ability Scores
• Artificer Races
• Artificer Skills
• Artificer Backgrounds
• Artificer Feats
• Artificer Weapons
  • Weapons for Battlesmiths
  • Firearms
• Artificer Armor
• Multiclassing
• Artificer Magic Items
  • Common Magic Items
  • Uncommon Magic Items
  • Rare Magic Items
  • Very Rare Magic Items
  • Legendary Magic Items
• Example Artificer Build – Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer
  • Abilities
  • Race
  • Skills and Tools
  • Background
  • Feats
  • Levels

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Artificer Class Features

Hit Points: With d8 hit points and mediumarmor, the artificer is not a tank by any means. You’ll probably want toremain at range, but if you find yourself in melee a lot be sure to pad yourhit points with False Life, plenty of Constitution, and as many AC boosts asyou can manage.

Saves: Constitution is great, especiallysince many artificers fight on the front lines where you’ll be repeatedlymaking saves to maintain Concentration. Intelligence saves are exceptionallyrare.

Proficiencies: Medium armor and shieldswill keep you alive in melee, but with only simple weapons your best Finesseoption is a dagger. That’s fine for most artificers since fighting with rangedspells is your best option, but the Battlesmith will eventually take upmartial weapons and use Intelligence for their attacks and damage. TheArtificer’s skills are mostly Intelligence and Wisdom-based, and most areknowledge skills, but Sleight of Hand is an option. You also get three toolproficiencies, which gives you room to tailor your character to the themeyou’re going for. Your Artificer Specialist (your subclass) will grant you proficiency in anadditional set of tools relevant to the subclass at 3rd level.

Magical Tinkering: This is very similar tocantrips like Prestidigitation. The effects are interesting and unique, and ifyou’re clever you can come up with all kinds of uses for Magical Tinkering.You can have multiple objects affected at the same time, so consider carryingaround a few prepared items which you can quickly produce and use.

Spellcasting: Artificers are a 2/3 casterthat prepares and casts spells like a cleric (prepare daily from the fullclass list). You get ritual casting, which is always great, and the spell listis a combination of options from the cleric and wizard spell lists, allowing the Artificerto serve as a Blaster, a Healer, and a Support caster. Notably, the Artificercan retrain a cantrip every level. To the best of my knowledge, the Artificeris the only class with the ability to replace cantrips unless you allowoptional class features.

The Artificer’s spellcasting foci are also unique. Rather than a wand orsomething, you use Thieves’ Tools or a set of Artisan’s Tools. You can wave aset of lockpicks around to cast fireball, which I think will inevitably leadto some laughs at the table and countless goofy characters using weird toolsto perform magic.

You can also use any item that’s the subject of one of your infusions, whichmeans that if you have infused a weapon or a shield you can easily have afocus in hand without dropping your weapon or shield to pull out a wand orsomething. Your choice of subclass will add additional focus options, butthey’re typically no better than what the Artificer gets by default, thoughthey’ll certainly fit the theme of your subclass.

It’s also very important to note that the Artificer must always usea focus when casting spells. Errata and the updated version of the Artificerclass explain that this adds a Material component to all of the Artificer’sspells. Thanks to the core rules for spell components, this means that you canalways use the hand holding your focus to perform somatic components. Thatmakes the Artificer the only spellcaster who can perform every one of theirspells with items in both of their hands. (Typically you can’t perform somaticcomponents with a focus in your hand unless the spell also requires aninexpensive material component. I complain about this rule frequently.)

Artificers get surprisingly few prepared spells (level/2+Int), which can bevery limiting and makes good spell selection crucial. For help selectingspells, see myArtificer Spell List Breakdown.

Infuse Item: This may be the Artificer’smost iconic ability. You get to start with two infused items chosen from fourInfusion known, which is like getting two magic items at 2nd level. Foradvice on Infusions, see myArtificer Infusions Breakdown.

Artificer Specialist: Artificer subclasses are brieflysummarized below. See myArtificer Subclasses Breakdownfor help selecting your subclass.

• Alchemist: Add new support and healing options, as well as bonus healing and bonusdamage with spells which deal certain damage types.
• Armorer: Don a suit of magic armor and smash or blast your foes in combat.
• Artillerist: Emphasize the Artificer’s abilities as a Blaster, and add the ability tosummon magical canons to aid you in combat.
• Battle Smith: Focus on fighting with weapons alongside your new Steel Defender, asturdy pet construct designed for combat.

The Right Tool for the Job: You technicallynever receive a free set of tools except for the Thieves’ Tools included inthe Artificer starting equipment. If you’re short on gold, you might not beable to afford the tools related to your subclass. Instead, you get this. Ithink the expectation is that you can use this to craft the tools for yoursubclass for free, and trade them out for other tools when you need them.

Tool Expertise: There’s a reason WotC iscomfortable granting universal expertise with tools: unless the DM is goingout of their way or you are making a truly impressive effort, most toolproficiencies rarely matter beyond the flavor of your character. I can’t thinkof an instance where a character made frequent checks with Brewer’s Tools overthe course of a campaign, for example. However, the notable exception ofThieves’ Tools means that Tool Expertise has at least one important use casein a typical campaign.

Flash of Genius: A bonus of up to +5 on asave can easily turn a failed save or check into a successful one, and usingthis up to 5 times a day means that it’s a powerful and reliable part of yourskillset.

Magic item Adept: Attuning one additionalitem is typically not a huge difference, but considering many Infusionsrequire attunement, this can be very important in campaigns which includemagic items. The ability to craft your own magic items faster and for lessgold improves this ability further because you can craft items which requireattunement with less concern about the limited number of items you can attune.If you don’t have an All-Purpose Tool yet, build one now. It will take half aweek and 100 gold. Congratulations, you now have a magical tool that grantsproficiency in all artisan tools. Use that to craft more magic items foreveryone.

Spell-Storing Item: It may only be a 1st- or2nd-level spell, but you can cast it up to 10 times per day at 20Intelligence. Obvious options include Cure Wounds, False Life, Invisibility,and other restorative or protective spells, buffs, and utility options whichyou’re going to cast repeatedly throughout a normal day of adventuring.

Unfortunately, it appears that you can’t choose a 1st-level spell cast with a2nd-level slot, but that’s probably fine.

Remember that any creature can use this, so consider passing this off to anally (the Homunculus Servant and the Battle Smith’s Steel Defender could bothsuffice if you need more precise control than letting another player use it)if the spell you choose makes more sense coming from someone else, if thespell targets the caster, or if you chose a spell which requires Concentrationand someone in your party is a non-spellcaster so their Concentration isn’tbeing utilized.

Strangely, the text of Spell-Storing Item doesn’t use the phrase “Cast aSpell” to describe the action, so unlike a wand or similar item, creatures maybe able to use this when they normally can’t cast spells (like when raging).You also notably don’t need to provide components, so you can use spellssilently, without moving, and without providing material components (includingexpensive ones!) so you can get away with all kinds of trickery.

Magic item Savant: One more attuned item,and you can ignore class/race/spell/level requirements on magic items. Thoserequirements are rare, but maybe you want to use a Holy Avenger orsomething.

Magic item Master: One more attuneditem.

Soul of Artifice: You can (and should) beattuned to 6 items, giving you a +6 bonus to all of your saves. Add Flash ofGenius to that, and you can add +11 to any save on top of your normalbonus.

Ability Scores

Artificers live and die by their Intelligence score, but Dexterity andConstitution are just as helpful to the Artificer as they are to everyoneelse. The Artificer has an impressive three total dump stats, allowing you todump all of your points into the abilities which we care about and leave therest at 8. Replicate Magic Item gives you access to ability score boostingitems and items which boost all of your saving throws, so you can often offsetor override incredibly low ability scores with little effort.

Str: Typically a dump stat. You don’t needStrength for anything unless you spend a feat on proficiency with heavy armor,and considering how many AC buffs you can get from your Infusions you reallydon’t need to do that. Only the Battlesmith will invest heavily in fightingwith weapons, and they can rely on Intelligence for attack and damage.

Dex: You’ll want some Dexterity to fill outyour AC and to help with weapons at low levels, but you’ll never need morethan 14. Armorer artificers planning to go all-in on Guardian armor cansurvive with 8 Dexterity, though getting to level 3 will require a great dealof caution if you’re starting at level 1.

Con: Always essential.

Int: Your primary stat. Fuels your spellsand all of your class features.

Wis: Technically a dump stat, but itcomplements many of your skills nicely so it may be helpful to put some pointsinto it.

Cha: Dump stat.

Artificer Races

The most important thing you can get from your race is an Intelligenceincrease. Even front-line subclass options like the Armorer and the BattleSmith are almost entirely dependent on Intelligence for their features. Rangedartificers will need a bit of Dexterity to fill out medium armor, but 14Dexterity is easily achieved by any races, so Constitution is typically yourbest secondary increase. Also look for options which complement theArtificer’s limited spellcasting and for additional tool proficiencies.

For help selecting a race, see ourArtificer Races Breakdown.

For a classic wizard feel, consider the Rock Gnome. For a sturdy front-lineartificer, the Hill Dwarf and the Goliath (MMoM version) both work very well.For a ranged artificer, consider the High Elf or the Fairy.

Artificer Skills

• Arcana (Int): Among the most importantknowledge skills, and you have the intelligence to back it up.
• History (Int): Situational, and howuseful it is is heavily dependent on your GM and the campaign you’rein.
• Investigation (Int): With highIntelligence, you’re a great candidate to use Investigation.
• Medicine (Wis): This skill is useless.Medicine is best done magically.
• Nature (Int): Good knowledge skill, butnot as crucial as Arcana or Religion.
• Perception (Wis): The most-rolled skill inthe game.
• Sleight of Hand (Dex): Sleight of handis neat, but it’s not especially useful in most campaigns.

Artificer Backgrounds

This section does not address every published background, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover the options which I think work especially well for the class, or which might be tempting but poor choices. Racial feats are discussed in the Races section, above.

Look for backgrounds which provide additional Intelligence-based skills. Proficiency with more tools fits the theme of the class very well, but you’ll get at least 4 tool proficiencies from class features alone so you may not need more.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

• Clan Crafter^SCAG: Basically an improved version of Guild Artisan, you still get one Faceskill and one language which you won’t benefit from very much, but Historyis a good skill and the starting gear works great for the Artificer.
• Guild Artisan^PHB: The Artificer is not a good Face, and getting two Face skills doesn’tchange that. Thematically, this makes sense, but mechanically itdoesn’t.
• Sage^PHB: Two Intelligence-based skills and two Languages.

Artificer Feats

Thissectiondoesnotaddresseverypublishedfeat,asdoingsowouldresultinanever-growinglistofoptionswhichdon’tcatertotheclass.Instead,thissectionwillcoverfeatswhichIthinkworkespeciallywellfortheclassorwhichmightbetemptingbutpoorchoices.

• Artificer Initiate^TCoE: You already get an abundance of everything offered by Artificer Initiate.If you want more spellcasting, consider Magic Initiate since it gets you anextra cantrip instead of yet another tool proficiency.
• Cartomancer^BoMT: The card spell effectively lets you choose one spell from your spell list (not from your prepared spells) and quicken it ahead of time. You do still need to spend a spell slot, so this isn’t any better than quickening a spell with Metamagic Adept, and you give up the ability to change which spell you quicken. This isn’t bad, it’s just not as good as Metamagic Adept for prepared spellcasters.
• Chef: Great for front-line buildsto pad their hit points, and easy for back-line builds to turn into asupport ability. Once you hit 20 Intelligence, this is a good choice,especially if you have an odd-numbered Constitution score.
• Defensive Duelist^PHB: A good way to boost your survivability in melee, but a dagger is the onlything you’re proficient with that works with the feat. Also, you can castShield.
• Elemental Adept^PHB: Acid or fire for Alchemist and fire for Artillerist. Sure, you’ve gotways to deal damage with other elements, but those are the easiest elementsfor the subclasses so it makes sense to minimize their weaknesses andmaximize their value.
• Fey Touched^TCoE: Misty step is fantastic on any character, and the Artificer getsalarmingly few Divination spell options. Fey Touched provides some easyaccess to some great spells like Bless and Compelled Duel. Back-rowartificers will find that Bless is a powerful buff at any level, whilefront-row artificers will find that Compelled Duel makes them anexceptionally effective Defender.

  For more advice on Fey Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Fighting Initiate^TCoE: Many artificers use weapons, and something like Fighting Style (Archery)can do a lot to improve your damage output.
• Gift of the Chromatic Dragon^FToD: The Reactive Resistance portion of the feat replicates the importantparts of Absorb Elements, which makes this a tempting option for front-lineartificers who are frequently targeted by spells, breath weapons, and othercommon sources of the affected damage types. Of course, you can already castAbsorb Elements, so this is just more of what you can already do.Regardless, wait to take this feat until your Proficiency Bonus is higherthan +2.
• Gift of the Gem Dragon^FToD: Great for melee artificers. You get +1 increase to put into Intelligence,and when you’re hit with an attack despite your insane AC you can pushenemies out of reach, potentially stopping them from hitting you again ifthey have multiple attacks. If you’ve hit the target with Booming Blade onyour previous turn, they might be stuck in place unless they’re willing totake the extra damage to attack you again. Of course, if that’s the comboyou want you should just take Crusher.
• Gift of the Metallic Dragon^FToD: Protective Wings is similar to Shield, but you can also protect allies.Not essential, but it means that you can prevent many attacks from hittingwithout cutting into precious spell slots.
• Gunner^TCoE: Minimal benefit for the Artificer. The only thing that the Artificercan’t already replicate is ignoring adjacent enemies.
• Healer^PHB: Without a real cleric in the party you may find it helpful to complementyour magical healing with this.
• Heavily Armored^PHB: Strength doesn’t help the Artificer, and +1 AC relative to 14 Dex andHalf Plate is not enough for a feat when you have several Infusion optionsthat provide the same amount of extra AC.
• Lucky^PHB: Good on any character.
• Magic Initiate^PHB: With the additions to the Artificer made by Tasha’s Cauldron ofEverything, there is very little for the Artificer to gain from MagicInitiate. Any spellcasting which you might want from the Wizard is alreadyon the Artificer’s spell list, and there aren’t any great combinations withspells from other classes.

  For more advice on Magic Initiate, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Metamagic Adept^TCoE: Excellent on any spellcaster, even with the Artificer’s 2/3 spellcastingyou can still do a lot with metamagic. For advice on Metamagic Adept, see mySorcerer Metamagic Breakdown.
• Medium Armor Master^PHB: Many races like elves and halflings could easily end up with 16 Dexteritywithout cutting into your Intelligence. If you have 16 Dexterity, this willmake Stealth easier and give you a nice +1 AC bonus. Not essential unlessyou’re playing your party’s Scout, but still good.
• Piercer^PHB: Tempting for artificers built to use weapons (crossbow+shield is a greatcombo), but the Strength or Dexterity increase isn’t helpful. ConsiderCrossbow Expert instead.
• Resilient^PHB: More saving throw proficiencies never hurt, but the Artificer alreadygets proficiency in Constitution saving throws.
• Ritual Caster^PHB: Artificers can already cast rituals, provided that they have the spellprepared. Ritual Caster will broaden your ritual options, but that’sprobably not enough to justify a feat.
• Shadow Touched^TCoE: This is a good feat, but there are few spell options that appeal to theArtificer. Silent Image is likely your best option.

  For more advice on Shadow Touched, see mySpellcasting Feats Breakdown.

• Sharpshooter^PHB: For the Armorer in Infiltrator armor, you can use your first attack tohit a target and grant yourself Advantage on the next attack against thetarget. At that point, use Sharpshooter’s option to take an attack penaltyin exchange for more damage and the Advantage will mostly offset the penaltyto your attack roll.
• Skill Expert^TCoE: Expertise is really nice, but it’s hard to decide what skill to put itinto. Keep in mind that artificers already get to add double theirProficiency bonus with tools thanks to Tool Expertise, so the expertise fromSkill Expert should definitely go into a skill.
• Skilled^PHB: In a small party you need to wear many hats to fill gaps in your party’sskillset. More proficiencies help you do just that. But if you’re looking attool proficiencies, consider getting them from your race instead since youcan trade racial armor/weapon proficiencies for tool proficiencies.
• Slasher^TCoE: Potentially helpful for front-line battlesmiths.
• Spell Sniper^PHB: Many artificers rely on cantrips for their primary damage source, andthis can make crucial spells like Fire Bolt more useful. Unfortunately theAlchemist’s reliance on Acid Splash and Poison Spray (neither of which usesattack rolls) won’t benefit much, so this isn’t as useful as it is for otherartificers.
• War Caster^PHB: If you’re a Battlesmith, you want this. Juggling your weapon to castspells is annoying, but the ability to maintain Concentration even morereliably when you take damage means that you can reliably maintain spellseven while drawing a lot of attacks.

Artificer Weapons

• Crossbow, Hand: Use the Repeating Shotinfusion and grab a shield.
• Crossbow, Light: Until 5th level thedamage will technically beat Cantrip damage, but unless you have 16Dexterity yout cantrips will be more reliable.
• Dagger: Your go-to melee weapon (unlessyou’re a Battlesmith). It works in melee and at range, and since it’s afinesse weapon you can use it with Dexterity. The damage isn’t as good as abow or crossbow, but you can’t make opportunity attacks with rangedweapons.
• Longbow: A great option for a rangedBattlesmith. Your attacks are all made with Intelligence.

Weapons for Battlesmiths

The Battlesmith’s weapon selection resembles that of the Fighter more thanthat of the Artificer. If you want to use a shield (and you should since youhave d8 hit dice) and fight in melee, go for a longsword or something. Ifyou’re fighting at range, go for a Longbow.

If you spend an Infusion on Repeating Shot, a heavy crossbow will deal very slightly more damage, but at level 12 Enhance Weapon will improve to +2 and a +2 Longbow will match the average damage of a +1 Heavy Crossbow and will have +1 higher attack bonus. On top of that, you can get Bracers of Archery, and they don’t apply to crossbows.

However, that doesn’t mean that crossbows are a bad option: you can use a hand crossbow with Repeating Shot while also using a shield. Since you don’t need to reload your crossbow you don’t need a free hand. Cantrips will deal similar damage, but 1d6+Int+1 damage (Repeating Shot adds +1 to attack and damage) with Extra Attack will outdo your cantrip damage for a long time. If you have 20 Intelligence, two attacks at 1d6+5+1 (avg. 19 total) will exceed Firebolt (avg. 5.5, 11, 16.5, and 22 depending on your level) until your cantrips improve for the last time at 17th level. If you instead use a pistol, you’ll average 23 damage instead, and at that point there’s no reason to learn Fire Bolt.

Firearms

The Artificer is the first class to be published with reference to firearms, but firearms canonically do not exist in the Eberron setting from which the Artificer originates. Many groups do not choose to include firearms in their games, but your group might still choose to do so.

Generally groups which choose to use firearms will use the “Renaissance”weapons, as they were historically used in time periods where using a sword ora crossbow still made sense, so you can include these weapons withoutsignificantly changing the fantasy, medieval feel of a typical Dungeons andDragons setting. These weapons also come the closest to existing weaponsmechanically, so you can include them without worrying about unbalancing yourgame because every adventurer suddenly has a revolver.

If your group chooses to use firearms, the Artificer can be proficient withthem if your character “has been exposed to the operation of such weapons”.Check with your DM to see if they’ll let you be proficient. If you’refortunate enough to have access to firearms, compare the pistol to the handcrossbow and the musket to the light crossbow. In both cases, the firearm usesa damage die two sizes larger, but has diminished range. If the range isn’t aproblem, these firearms will deal more damage than bows or crossbows.

• Musket: Basically a better lightcrossbow. The damage compared to the Pistol isn’t much better, so personallyI recommend using a Pistol with the Repeating Shot infusion so that you canuse a shield at the same time.
• Pistol: Basically a better hand crossbow.Use the Repeating Shot infusion and grab a shield.

Artificer Armor

• Studded Leather: Bad choice for startingarmor.
• Scale Mail: Starting armor.
• Half Plate: Your ideal armor.
• Shield: You can hold your spellcastingfocus in one hand and a shield in the other, but if you’re using a bow orcrossbow you won’t have a hand free for a shield, and it takes an action todon/doff a shield so it’s difficult to switch mid-combat.

Multiclassing

The Artificer has an interesting note in its Multiclassing rules: when youmulticlass as an Artificer, you round your Artificer levels up fordetermining spell slots instead of rounding them down like every other classwith Spellcasting.

• Fighter: Starting with a level in fightergets you proficiency in heavy armor so that you can ignore Dexterity and inConstitution saves, which the Artificer gets by default and it would be hardto sacrifice that proficiency for better armor. Keep in mind that you don’tget heavy armor if you multiclass into fighter after first level.
• Rogue: It’s a hard build to play, butthree levels of Rogue can get you the Thief archetype and the Fast Handsability. The ability to use items as a Bonus Action offers a lot ofpossibilities, though you’ll need to spend a lot of time researching items,studying the rules for using items (especially magic items), and managingyour inventory to make it worth three levels.
• Wizard: Most of the wizard’s spells arealready on the Artificer’s spell list, but two levels gets you access to anArcane Tradition. Many traditions have great initial features, andBladesinging is incredibly tempting for battlesmith artificers.

Artificer Magic Items

Common Magic Items

• Ruby of the War Mage^XGtE: Artificers need to use a tool or an infused item to cast their spells,and the Ruby of the War Mage doesn’t remove that requirement. Weirdly, ifyou replicate a Ruby of the War Mage using Infuse Item it will work, (thoughusing an infused weapon or shield is probably a better choice) but if youjust find a Ruby of the War Mage it’s useless for you.

Uncommon Magic Items

• Adamantine Armor^DMG: Use the Enhanced Defense Infusion instead.
• All-Purpose Tool^TCoE: +1 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s, you can turn it into any othertool (including really heavy ones), and as an Action you can give yourselfaccess to a cantrip from any class as an artificer cantrip. For meleeartificers, consider Swordburst or Word of Radiance. For ranged artificers,consider Eldritch Blast unless you have an effect like Alchemical Savantwhich boosts specific damage types.
• Ammunition, +1^DMG: Single-use and expensive. Use the Enhanced Weapon Infusion.
• Broom of Flying^DMG: Easily overlooked, but one of the best ways to get flight for anycharacter. It doesn’t require attunement, and has a fly speed of 50 feet,though many medium characters will exceed the 200 pound limit to reduce thespeed to 30 feet, but even then 30 feet fly speed with no duration cap andrequiring no action after speaking the command word is absolutelyincredible. The only drawback is that you’re using the item’s speed ratherthan giving yourself a fly speed, so things that improve your speed won’tmake the broom move faster, and you can’t Dash with the broom. Even so, Ihonestly can’t justify why this is only Uncommon considering howexceptionally good it is.
• Eyes of Minute Seeing^DMG: Excellent in dungeon crawls. Investigation is typically used for findingthings like traps, and even if you’re not proficient you almosy certainlyhave the highest Intelligence in the party.
• Headband of Intellect: By the time you can getthis, you probably already have 18 Intelligence so there’s little benefit.Give it to the least-intelligent person in the party.
• Mithral Armor^DMG: Use the Enhanced Defense infusion on a Breastplate.
• Pearl of Power^DMG: Useful on any spellcaster.
• Sentinel Shield^DMG: Advantage on Initiative rolls is really nice so you can get a buff or andare control effect running before everyone else starts moving.
• Shield, +1^DMG: +1 AC, no attunement. Nothing fancy, but very effective. You can use theEnhanced Defense infusion, but at low levels an Uncommon item replacing anInfusion can save you a powerful asset.
• Slippers of Spider Climbing^DMG: The next-best thing to flight. Walking up a wall has all the benefits offlying out of reach.
• Stone of Good Luck^DMG: Excellent on literally any character, but if you just want better defensea Cloak of Protection may be more effective. Stone of Good Luck shines ifyou’re heavily reliant on skills and ability checks.
• Wand of the War Mage^DMG: Helpful if you’re heavily reliant on cantrips like Fire Bolt, but anAll-Purpose Tool will be considerably more useful.
• Weapon, +1^DMG: Excellent for the Battle Smith, but you have the Enhance Weapon infusionto provide the same benefit.
• Winged Boots^DMG: A Broom of Flying is better, and you can created Winged Boots with aninfusion if you still want them.

Rare Magic Items

• All-Purpose Tool^TCoE: +2 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See All-Purpose Tool underUncommon Magic Items for more.
• Amulet of Health^DMG: Setting your Constitution to 19 means that you don’t need to put AbilityScore Increases into it unless you’re really certain that you want 20Constitution. Less ASI’s into Constitution means more room for feats.
• Armor, +1^DMG: Use the Enhanced Defense infusion.
• Armor of Resistance^DMG: Excellent, but unpredictable in most games since you can’t perfectlypredict what sort of damage you’ll face. Fire and poison are safechoices.
• Cloak of Displacement^DMG: Among the best defensive items in the game. Taking damage from any source(spells, etc.) suppresses the effect temporarily, so make a point to killanything that can damage you without an attack roll.
• Periapt of Proof Against Poison^DMG: Poison damage is very common across the full level range, so immunity toit is a significant improvement in your durability.
• Ring of Evasion^DMG: A great way to mitigate damage from AOE spells and things like breathweapons which can often be problems from front-line martial characters,especially if you’re not built around Dexterity.
• Ring of Protection^DMG: Cloak of Protection is lower rarity and has the same effect.
• Ring of Resistance^DMG: A fine item in a vaccuum, but a Ring of Spell Storing full of AbsorbElements will be much more effective.
• Ring of Spell Storing^DMG: Fill it with Absorb Elements and Shield and recharge it whenever possibleand this is a spectacular defensive asset on almost any character.
• Shield, +2^DMG: Use the Enhanced Defense infusion.
• Weapon, +2^DMG: Excellent for the Battle Smith, but you have the Enhance Weapon infusionto provide the same benefit.

Very Rare Magic Items

• All-Purpose Tool^TCoE: +3 to your spell attacks and spell DC’s. See All-Purpose Tool underUncommon Magic Items for more.
• Amulet of the Planes: Plane Shift for free, andsince it’s an Intelligence check you’ll be able to pass it without too muchtrouble. If you do fail, you can use it again the next round so long as youdon’t end up somewhere which would prevent you from doing so.
• Animated Shield^DMG: Tempting for anyone not fighting with a one-handed weapon, but a Cloak ofProtection is two rarities lower, works persistently, and arguably providesa better numeric bonus.
• Armor, +2^DMG: Use the Enhanced Defense infusion.
• Lucent Destroyer^GotG: Artificers are the only class proficient with firearms by default, andthe only other way to get proficiency is the Gunner feat, which lets youignore the Loading property, so the Lucent Destroyer logically must beintended for use by artificers. But artificers can remove Loading with anInfusion, and the spellcasting certainly isn’t good enough to justify therarity. Sunbeam just isn’t that good once per day.
• Manual of Bodily Health^DMG: Permanent Constitution bonus and raises your cap by 2. Unless you’reusing a magic item that fixes your Constitution as a specific score, this isexcellent.
• Shield, +3^DMG: +3 AC, no attunement. Enhanced Defense doesn’t go this high.
• Thunderbuss^GotG: A +1 pistol that ignores Loading and deals Thunder damage. Resistance tomagic piercing damage is basically non-existent, so the damage type isn’t ahuge upgrade, and you can replicate the rest with an Infusion.
• Tome of Clear Thought^DMG: Permanent Intelligence bonus and raises your cap by 2.
• Weapon, +3^DMG: Enhanced Weapon doesn’t go this high.

Legendary Magic Items

• Armor of Invulnerability^DMG: Resistance (immunity sometimes) to non-magical damage may protect youfrom most weapon attacks. At high enough level that you might have this itemthere will definitely be enemies with access to magic attacks (spellcasters,magic weapons, natural weapons which count as magical, etc.), but in manyencounters this will still provide a great deal of protection.
• Cloak of Invisibility^DMG: Invisibility is extremely powerful in 5e. Note that this is just theinvisible condition, not the spell spell Invisibility, so you can stillattack or whatever while invisible. Unless you’re playing a Defender andactively trying to draw attacks away from your allies, this is absolutelyamazing.
• Ioun Stone (Mastery)^DMG: Proficiency Bonuses apply to a lot of things and a +1 bonus goes a longway. Attacks, saves, skills, etc. all benefit.
• Ring of Spell Turning^DMG: Given the choice, I would much rather haqve a Mantle of Spell Resistancesimply because the Ring of Spell Turning doesn’t provide any protectionagainst area effect spells. Otherwise, this is a really fun item, and if itprovided Advantage on saves against area of effect spells it would shootstraight up to blue.
• Ring of Three Wishes^DMG: Use this to do one of the things that risks permanently removing theability to cast Wish, such as granting 10 creatures permanent resistance toonce damage type. If you lose the ability to cast Wish, pass this off toanother ally who will never be able to cast Wish by any other means. Repeatuntil the last charge is used.

  For more help with Wish, see myPractical Guide to Wish.

• Ruby Weave Gem^FToD: Artificers don’t get many spells that require an expensive materialcomponent, but you can cast Glyph of Warding, Stoneskin, and Restoration, sothe gold savings isn’t totally wasted. The ability to borrow a spell fromany spell list for a day is more appealing, but since your spells stop at6th level it’s good but not amazing. You can combine the two benefits to getaccess to other spells that require expensive material components and castthem at a discount, such as Raise Dead and Revivify.
• Scarab of Protection^DMG: An upgrade from the Mantle of Spell Resistance, the Scarab of Protectionadds a limited benefit against necromancy and undead creatures, and doesn’ttake up your cloak slot, leaving you free to take items like a Cloak ofProtection or Cloak of Invisibility instead.

Example Artificer Build – Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer

I like making things. Mostly trouble.

Thisisa“StapleBuild”.Thisbuildissimple,andreliesonoptionsfromtheSRDandtheBasicRuleswhereverpossible.Ifyouneedafunctionalbuildwithnothingfancyorcomplicated,thisisagreatplacetostart.

The Rock Gnome doubles down on the Artificer’s theme by adding the RockGnome’s Tinker trait. Beyond the complexity of using Tinker in addition to theArtificer’s class features, this is a very simple build.

This build is available to copy onD&D Beyond.

Abilities

We will assume the point buy abilities suggested above, but we’ll reverse theConstitution and Intelligence scores to work better with our race.

Race

Rock Gnome. The Intelligence increase brings us to 16, and the Constitutionincrease brings us to 16, which makes us effective with your class featuresand reasonably durable.

Tinker is the Rock Gnome’s only particularly complicated trait, but it offersa fun way to embrace the Artificer’s theme.

Skills and Tools

The Artificer gets two skills from their class list, one type of Artisan’stools, and two fixed tools. Guild Artisan will add Insight, Persuasion, anextra set of artisan’s tools. Pick whatever artisan’s tools sound like fun.

Background

Guild Artisan. The skill proficiencies aren’t fantastic for the artificer,but there are few backgrounds which are setting-agnostic and work well. TheFailed Merchant out of Acquisitions Incorporated works well, and starts youwith some very expensive starting equipment.

Feats

This build doesn’t require feats. At high levels you might consider featsonce you reach 20 Intelligence, but it’s not strictly necessary.

Levels