I really dig this build. I like the flavor of having a Ranger that uses technology.

Another reason to use a longbow: at 10th level you can get an infusion for Replicate magic item: Bracers of Archery for +2 damage.

I hear and see a lot of emphasis on the damage of the Artificer. But, even when built for damage, the Artificer is a HUGE boost to the rest of the group. The infused items are non-con buffs, and the spell list is really useful. If the Artificer merely meets the average, he's still a big boost to the performance of the group. Every point over average is just icing on the cake.

What a great video. Just made my first battle smith and I can't tell you how much help this and the one on the techno knight were even though I went with a hand crossbow expert warforged. One thing I found was that Bracers of Archery only work with longbows and shortbows so that's another way they have an advantage over crossbows even though I prefer to keep the shield on my build for the added AC and Repulsion Shield. It's very nice that you don't have to have the spell prepared for the spell-storing item so you can have something like Heat Metal in your back pocket at need even if you don't usually cast it. Also, thanks to changes made in the text, if you gave your Steel Defender the spell-storing-item charged with Enlarge/Reduce then it could still act as your mount in combat even if your character was medium size and probably also get increased damage too.

Been following your work since the original God Wizard for 3.5. Great stuff!

Enhance Ability is really underrated for skill-type characters. Assuming that skills are important enough to justify the spell slot, the impact can be huge, and it's very flexible.

Hi Chris, thank you for posting this. regarding the Artilerist build for 2 weeks ahead, I'd like to mention the idea I came up with sometime back: I really like the idea of having the capacity to both create "distress" zones on the battle field (any spell that affects the battle map in a way that makes the map itself affect characters on the map, like wall of fire or grease) and move enemies forcefully ontop the map. usually I found it impossible to access a zone effect, a push effect AND a pull effect, but the Artilerist can have them all. thorn whip allows for pulling, Eldritch cannon's Balista has a pushing effect (and thunderwave has a mass push for a longer distance), and starting from 5th level you can cast web (grease is also an option before that). it should also be noted the cannon can occupy a different space than your's, so effectively you can alternate the push and pull effects to some level. at higher levels you get wall of fire, which turns this heavy control playstyle towards dealing more damage. fireball can also be used to "detonate" the webs for a big finisher (along with exploding your cannon, this seems to give a non-insignificant aoe burst option).

Cool thing is Branding and Banishing Smites work with range weapons. Seem like that was the intention, pretty cool if you shoot someone with a firearm and banish them.

I love this concept. I’m tempted to take Magic Initiate at 1st level just to get a filigree owl familiar on top of the other beasts

Hello Optimancer, thank you for all the inspiration in this video! Keep up the great works.

I Love Charts and Data Analysis! Thank You!

The polearm master, sentinel battlemaster was a ton of fun. Controlled such a huge chunk of the battlefield

Doctor: This is a silly timeline. Come, K-9, we'll see what the next one holds. K-9: Affirmative! Affirmative!

I'm playing Soundwave from Transformers. warforged artificer battlemage. steel defender (ravage) and humonculus servent (lazerbeak). and i store them in a bag of holding so i can deploy them in battle. multiclass into mastermind rogue for extra damage with crossbow. steel defender helps with advantage for sneak attack damage. so fun

Never forget you can craft spell scrolls. And Artificers have a fair number of lower level spells that are useful throughout that you might not always want to have prepared. And at 10th level you can scribe up to 3rd level spells at an accelerated rate for what is essentially pocket change at that level.

Mark of passage human with phantom steed ritual artillerist could have insane mobility. Adds teleport options that the artificer lacks. Pass without trace too.

Infuse your weapon, with battle smith you get battle ready so you're using your int forever thing, you also can use it as a spellcasting focus.

How to build Fl4k in D&D!

I wonder what the stats are on this with firearms, or if the much smaller range of firearms would affect it

I play Battle Smith very differently. I am our party's "Tank". Have Half Plate with Enhanced Defence (15AC +2 Dex + 1 ED) for 18AC and a Shield with Repulsion Shield (+2AC +1 RS) for +3AC, so 21AC total. I then cast Blur at the start of combat meaning most things are rolling disadvantage against me. Then if they some how get through all that I have the Shield spell to boost my AC to 26. Then being a Hill Dwarf with 16 Con means I have great HP as well. Then I just smash everything with my hammer on the front line and my Steel Defender can help me either by Attacking or Dodging. It's great, I almost never get hit.

I know this video has been up awhile and alot of things have changed with tasha's.. just want to say thnx for the vid. Super helpful. Im actually about to start a campaign in icweind dale rime of the frost maiden. Unfortunately we will only have two players. So the dm has decided to raise the leveling rate of our characters. We will end somewhere between lvl 16-18 depending on how things go. The other player is doing a barbarian/drake warden melee build. Im doing a multiclass battlesmith. The hard part for me is figuring out the brst levels to multi class, since it slows progression and takes hp from pet. Icewind dale is in darkness so unless i go drow or something with gloom stalker, sharpshooter doesn't help me much. So i decided to do custom lineage (Goliath/gnome...dont ask). I dont have darkvision. I built more for skills. My pet is actually a living wolf that i...er...healed. So my steel defender loses some if its resistances, but gains keen senses and pack tactics. So it will fight in tandem with the drakewarden pet and or the other player giving advantage as a reaction and getting advantage from tactics. Out of combat its keen senses help me not being able to see. Because of the added complexity, my Artificer has to make medicine rolls to heal pet. Artificer will make goggles of night but that's only out to 60 ft. So for my feat i took "gunner". It fits the character and ups my damage (musket 1d12). Build is as follows: Fighter 1(heavy armor prof, second wind, str and con saves. Helps with cold saved, concentration saves, and saves against avalanches.) Artificer to lvl9 (feats skilled for medical expertise and arcana and magic initiate two cantrips and probably a once per day thunderwave) Wizard 2 (war magic for int to initiative, and a nice +2 ac as a reaction that doesn't use a spell slot. More soell slots. Also gets one higher level spell slot so i can up cast buff spells higher then normal) Then back to artificer the rest of the way. I was torn about slowing down spell progression. Might be better to do it at lvl 13 for the wizard dip. But the initiative boost, higher level slots really come in handy and lvl 5 spells dont happen till lvl 17, and lvl 4 around 13?... So i figured more spell slots which actually gain to higher levels might actually be better then higher lvl spells with fewer casts. We rolled for stats and i rolled higher then point buy, so my int will actually be 20 at lvl 5. Feats are gunner, skilled, magic initiate, then probably war caster. So i have decent ac from heavy armor 6 cantrips, Higher lvl spell slots and more of them Pet is a little weaker, but i can put all defensive infusions on him and get ac around 20 for pet with mine being 18-19. With archery weapon style and enhance weapon, with +5 from int at lvl 5.. my attacks hit regular. Pet is giving and getting advantage. Should make a very survivable character in this setting even without darkvision.

Two levels in blood hunter make crosbow expert really good in this build. 3 d6 + 3 d4 + 3(proficiency + intelligence) is a LOT of damage. Plus, you get the archery fighting style as well. (I know not all tables allow blood hunter)

Since this build uses Haste to get 3 attacks per round wouldnt it be beneficial to take the fighting initiate archery feat to boost our to hit chance?

I love how none of us could possibly have seen the whole video at the time of posting this..

Spell sniper feat has several bonuses for the artillerist. -Doubles the range of spells cast that have a range and attack roll. it can be used on fire bolt, Thornwhip, ray of frost, and scorching ray. -ranged spell attacks ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover. Since it says ranged spell attacks it not only works for ray of frost, firebolt, and scorching ray but also works for your force Balista. it’s a little bit of over lap but works in conjunction with an enhanced arcane focus -you get an attack roll cantrip probably from the wizard list, chill touch is nice to take away healing. Booming blade/green flame blade are available but will rely on strength or dex.

When you get around to the Artillerist, one combination I'm so excited to try is to load the spell-storing item with Scorching Ray or Shatter and give it to the Homunculus. For extra street cred, mount it in the back of its mouth and make the homunculus look like a mechanical dragon. :D

Now I'm interested in playing a Phileas Fogg-esque character who wants flount his wealth to travel the world. He has proficiency in nature from his reading, but 8 Wisdom and no actual experience in the matter

Now that Fighting Initiate is a thing and we can benefit from the fighter dip without dipping fighter, what level do you think that’s appropriate? 12, pushing off Crossbow Expert, or 16, pushing off Lucky?

Would you recommend Custom Lineage now? That way u could have an 18 int at lvl 1.

What is the max CR for the Iron Defender...I want to make. Kobold Battle Smith with an alligator as an Iron Defender

I think the big advantage of the fighter dip comes in tier 3 play. I would agree that its marginal in tier 1 and 2, but once you get to tier 3 the extra 10%(+2) chance to hit is huge. I would take the fighter dip at or around level 13 for that. Furthermore, if you take 3 levels so you can get eldritch knight, you gain quite a bit of flexibility in what you can do for the party. By that point, you wont be slowing down your progression that much anyway. All your core components are there.

This is a little bit of a tangent, but... do you happen to have a good throwing character weapon build?

In terms of light you could also us one of your magical tinkering to make a flashlight

Why the three thumbs down?? Some people are never happy :( Thanks TM another great vid

I'm glad my DM allows firearms.

Can a animal companion use an action for Dragon's Breath...per the spell:" the creature can use an action to exhale energy of a chisen type in a 15ft cone." It doesnt specify an attack or any other action. It just says "Use an ACTION"

How does he have warforge and artificier?

Dwarf mark of warding seems like a good fit for artillerist. Starts with good stats, can sacrifice dex and strength first few levels, pick up heavy armored feat at 4 for plate without movement limitations. Anti life shell at 17th level is perfect for artillerist and Eldritch cannons since they are objects and not creatures. Arcane lock could be nice for a free occasional barricade. Armor of agathys could be great to use for deterring melee combatants from advancing on you. Spell storing item could be used with the knock spell to make a skeleton key :)

I have a question regarding the Steel Defender and Homunculus. I know they both use a bonus action to issue commands, but can this be done simultaneously? I guess the heart of the question, is can you have both and use them both effectively? I’ve been looking at this class wanting to make something of a minion-mancer, with a familiar, homunculus, and steel defender. Does this bonus action command also affect spells like Tiny Servants or Animate Objects? Is this more a DM fiat?

I did like the idea of finally using a rock gnome for something other than a wizard! How much do you think damage would suffer having a small character as the heavy trait on the heavy crossbow and longbow would make them impractical? How detrimental would it be to use a light crossbow instead?

Great build as always Chris. Artificer is rapidly becoming my favourite class. Question, how would you split the difference between your two builds. I am thinking of a gnome archer who rides his steel defender, either bow or crossbow. Basically a tec version of a horse archer. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I was the hero last Sunday because I made a bag of holding. Artificer utility is key.

If I were to go Battle Smith Beastmaster, it would 100% be modeled after the hunter in Alita Battle Angel.

What do you think of the artillerist subclass in terms of combat vs the battle smith?

Currently playing a Battle Master/ Assassin rogue He’s a mercenary sniper who used his steel defender spider as a a spotter/ It calculates wind speed, and range of the target. His homunculus servant is also a mechanical spider but it’s legs turn into propellers and flys like a drone to recon an area.

I know I'm late, but I had a quick question. I'm making a Warforged version of this build and I'm torn between Sharpshooter or +2 Int for the level 4 ASI. What would you pick if you changed the race to any non variant human race? Sharpshooter is what my gut says but after doing a calculation against the baseline to hit roll, +2 Int tied with Sharpshooter for DPR by level 5. But I didn't take into account possible Advantage from Faerie Fire or Web which would benefit Sharpshooter or the fact that its more effective against lower AC targets. I also didn't account for the other benefits of Int such as higher spell save DC for Faerie Fire or Web, an extra spell preparation and better skills! Quite a toss up. Just hoping for some input and opinions on the matter. Hope you see this even though this video came out awhile ago!

Chris, the steel defender can't be a scout. it can't speak to you and you can't see through its eyes. However if you choose message as your cantrip all this is solved. Message is exactly 120 ft and has no intelligence requirement. Otherwise you have to teach it sign language.

NORMALY yes you cant switch cantrips (dms make that call) but your a artificer just make a common or uncommon weapon to give yourself more cantrips :) thats what i do and my group loves when i pass out spell magic items also great vid my guy i do great damage with this build

I know the spell storing item says it requires a action to use, but what if I wanted to use sheild or another spell that uses a reaction or bonus action? As a dm I think I would let PC's use the item as if they were casting the spell normally, any thoughts?

how is an extra +1 to attack and damage better than being able to shoot twice a turn with repeating?

I assume that the archery fighting style that fighters can get at 1st level is what you are accounting for, since I don't see anything else it could be. Arcane Jolt is an either/or type of thing; you can heal or harm, not both.

Artificer can take Perception as a class skill, TM. Might alter your racial skill. Would make it so you don’t need to customize a background.

Hey! I am a Goblin Battle smith level 3 who is kinda using this Guide as a guideline. However I dont get a feat at first level.. Is it more beneficial to take the sharpshooter feat at 4th level or 2 points in my intelligence

The exploit for Alchemist seems to be a 2+ level dip into Warlock on an Elven character, so they can take 3-4 extra short rests per night and create extra potions.

I am sure this has been mentioned before but the artificer can build an item to emit ligh why get the light cantrip?

Did they change the interaction between hand crossbows and shields so you can wield both?

I am also thinking about making a battlesmith, mine is definitely going to be melee though, probably using a maul. Making variant human also with +1 armor, +1 weapon, goggles of night, and bag of holding infusions to start with, definitely using the +1 weapon on the maul, and for second active infusion by default would probably be the goggles, unless I know wont have to go into dark places in which case can use the +1 armor instead. I am not sure though if I want to take great weapon master already as the first level feat as I imagine missing a lot at low levels with it, though I guess I want to spend the first couple ASIs on increasing my int so probably should take great weapon master just so I don't need to spend an ASI on it later.

I actually think Mark of Warding dwarf is a better racial choice. They get +2 con and +1 int. They can also wear heavy armor even without proficiency for added AC. Their bonus known spells are alright but nothing special. As for spell storing item, I prefer Warding Bond which significantly buff our steel defender.

Great video Chris, did you factor in Bracers of archery when doing your damage calculations? I know typically you wouldn’t factor in equipment but since the Artificer can give themselves equipment you could do it.

I did a multiclass Kobold Artificer/Fighter, 15 INT, 14 DEX, 12 CON, A lot the rest how you want but I recommend Wisdom, you only do the fighter dip to level 4. You go 5 artificer taking sharpshooter first, 4 fighter and pick up Champion, and get Observant so you can +1 to INT, then at 8 artificer you grab +2 Int, then at 12 Artificer you grab Crossbow Expert, then your final +2 INT at 16. You crit on a 19 or 20, have your pet run up on all the enemies and stay with them and then you have advantage on all attacks as long as no one is in direct sunlight or else it’s a regular attack, this means you can use sharpshooter essentially for free each turn as the advantage basically negates the -5. So assuming all 4 hit without Crits you will do 4d6+60 average an average of 74 damage that’s not including Arcane Jolt either which can be used on a crit to double the damage.

the problems I hate about anything without darkvision is HARD to play as most games I am in "need" it to make it easier as the Dm's use dynamic lighting on roll20 and carrying a torch is a pain.

hello mnnn in the damage if yo do at lvl 5 with 18 in int the feat of sharpshooter the infusion of de REPEATING SHOT and using a brading smith you can do much more damage if before start your combat yo use this spell y your next turn you will do 2 attacks 2d8+9+20+2d6 from de smith and 1d8+3 of the attack of your robot

you can buy 10 silver daggers and 10 cold iron daggers for animate object. those are common items. Heck 5000gp will give you 10 adamantine daggers

My DM will cringer if I ever get to run the Battle Smith. Take 1 level of Fighter for all of the weapon and armor proficiencies early. I clank around in full plate and my Steel Companion looks like a darker version of me. Iron Man and the War Machine in D&D buddy!

This may be my 'defensive' mindset, but I never feel great with a character until I have options for both range and melee, mostly because while you can't plan for every eventuality, you can plan for the basics. 'If surrounded by enemies what do I do? What if the enemyis a flier?' That kind of thinking. To contrast, I kinda have this idea for a battle smith Artificer that doubles up on shields during combat... but it's too niche for me to feel comfortable using.

I'm still sleepy, but I didn't see how you got tinker's tools...? Good video, Chris, I just stated a small Battlesmith and will prob use some melee advice from the previous video.

what about sling + magic stone artificer build. I would like the sling to be useful for a change

I was just checking the artificer spell list. Did WotC really drop arcane weapon as a spell?

Are you not suppose to have 2 hand crossbows ? one in each hand, repeating shot gives you the ability to just keep poping.

what feat did you choose for the human racial feat ? You forgot to mention it

Are you thinking about optimizing a single classed alchemist or are you accepting a dip if you come across a good combo? If you choose some of the marked house races they have access to healing and utility spells not offered on the artificer spell list. the level 1 and 2 spell choices would would also add different options for spell storing items since they become artificer spells for you. Some of these spells on these lists are great rituals that would help the artificer immensely while conserving slots. A dip in life cleric while being a halfling mark of hospitality would add good berry to both artificer and cleric lists. I believe Spell storing item could be used in that case on good berry, and since the spell seems to be “used” it may stack with disciple of life for a possible 400hp healed between battles.

Chris, great content as always, but my D&D group only meets every couple of weeks. You can't keep putting out builds I want to play every week. I get addlepated from wanting to play them all. In seriousness, it looks like the Artificer learned a lot from the mistakes of a number of other classes. It managed to be a new class without just being a jumbling of other class' features, and all 3 sub-classes have a different feel. Well done, WoTC.

Quick question on - why do we need crossbow expert for the hand crossbow option (looking at the chart around 8 minutes)? Is that in order to be able to wield the shield, while with heavy crossbow, you're not worried about a shield anyway so it doesn't matter?

Am I missing something? Seems like Artificer is simple weapon only proficiency... so you’re burning feats for long bow and heavy cross bow unless you take a multiclass for martial proficiencies

Returning weapon? But I am a Grenadier!!!

So, an important note about the hand crossbow, is that you can have a shield in your off-hand, meaning you can double dip on your defense Infusions. Meaning, a level 3 Battlesmith (assuming 14 dex), could have an AC of 21, with only the +1 AC infusion. (15 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1) Which is great if you intend to be in the Thick Of It.

Could reimagine it as a rifle and play a marksman.

Unless I'm reading something incorrectly, I was under the impression that you couldn't swap out Cantrips until 10th level.

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It would be hilarious if you just straight up reflavored it as a vanilla beast master and made no acknowledgement of the flavor of the artificer at all haha. Just straight up describing everything as primal magic and natural beasts XD

beep

“I don’t want to do the same thing as everyone else.” *picks variant human*

Factor in pistol and a shield…

Should you really be comparing damage to the amount of times a fighter can attack? No you shouldn't. That damage table is useless with an artificer build.