The Artillerist Artificer - D&D: Optimized #70

[@nimbus8610]

Not sure who else would like this but I would really like a video explaining the process of optimizing a character build. Maybe for an episode, you could do a behind-the-scenes where you explain each decision you made and how you came to that decision.

[@DnDDeepDive]

I'll put that on the to do list :).

[@lost-in-fantasy6504]

I think this is a pretty excellent idea. Even though everyone probably mostly has their own way to go about things I would love to take a peek inside your head for your builds! I really like the direction you take your builds in to stay both within theme and also round out your characters!

[@jalapenoburger7114]

I really like this idea, I’ve been gathering ways to optimize characters and create big excel sheets for each one of my characters calculating damage, putting stuff they can do, utility, out of combat stuff, etc, I would really like watching what he does for optimizing

[@TheRobversion1]

i'll share my general approach here as well: 1. identify a good class ability/abilities and spells/spells that i would like to build around. or perhaps a way of fighting like a crit-fisher, forced movement, etc. 2. decide what's the function of this character based on the 8 party roles: striker, (burst or sustained) tank, blaster (burst or sustained), healer, controller, support, skill monkey, summoner. 3. define where does this character operate: melee or ranged? 4. define if this character is a martial, caster or gish? 5. look through the early abilities and spells of each classes for stuff that supplements/strengthens/combos with your build around ability/spell. I typically exclude all abilities and spells gained at 9-11+ as by that point most games are done, more than halfway done or ending. 6. define what level you want to theorycraft for like colby typically theorycrafts for 17 while i typically theorycraft for 10 (as my table never plays tier 4). 7. build the character within the multiclassing limits of your DM. 8. check the action economy of the character. ideally you want to be using up your action, bonus action and reaction for at least the 1st 2-3 rounds. more action economy is also nice which is why 99% of my builds incorporate fighter 2 for action surge. i also like good at will spells for pre-combat stuff like guidance, magic stone, misty visions and spells with long durations like aid, tiny servant, death ward. remember action economy advantage is king in 5e. 9. check if your character has some sort of way to gain bonus to initiative (and ideally have decent dex if you aren't choosing to wear heavy armor). this is tied to the above. going 1st is action economy advantage. initiative is important. 10. polish by planning out your typical actions for the 1st 2-3 rounds of combat. this should help you identify if there are certain stuff you multiclassed for but really arent using like bonus action clog, redundant spells, etc.

[@Birramannen]

Perfect Idea. I am a total noob to DnD But a starter set is Top of my santa wish list. Then i am going to start dming for my kids and wife and see How that goes so stuff like This helps alot to understand the game :)

[@DnDDeepDive]

Errata: Force Ballista does 2d8 not 1d8! Dragon's Breath is a Bonus Action to cast not an Action!

[@Homebrewin]

3d8 as of level 9. And you eventually get 2 of them. So a total of 6d8

[@Olav_Hansen]

I thought that in the initial artificer, the ballista did 2d8 and the flamethrower did 1d8. Not sure if I misread or if it was a stealth buff.

[@MrVolkBRA]

@@Olav_Hansen as far as i know it was 2d8 since the UA version i think?

[@cherry_buzzsaw]

So, what about caster level rounded up instead rounded down, if you are half or third caster? I think it's important, and maybe get artificer's lvl 4 at first is good idea?

[@Olav_Hansen]

@@cherry_buzzsaw Rounded up or down only matters if the half caster has uneven levels. Besides artificer, all half casters are rounded down. Third casters have 1/3 and 2/3, yet even at 2/3 they are rounded down. If you take 4 levels of half caster that is equal to 2 levels full caster.

[@BLynn]

Level 1:(see above) [artificer 1 & race] Level 2:(see above) [artificer 2] Level 3:(@13:20) [artificer 3 & sub-class] Level 4:(@18:16) [wizard 1] Level 5:(@21:03) [wizard 2 & sub-class] Level 6:(@22:49) [wizard 3] Level 7:(@34:35) [artificer 4 & ASI] Level 8:(@35:17) [artificer 5] Level 9:(@37:05) [artificer 6] Level 10:(see above) [artificer 7] Level 11:(@40:24) [artificer 8 & ASI] Level 12:(@41:05) [artificer 9] Level 13:(@43:12) [wizard 4 & ASI] Level 14:(see above) [wizard 5] Level 15:(@48:01) [wizard 6] Level 16:(@48:41) [cleric 1 & sub-class] Level 17:(@51:30) [wizard 7]

[@Lloydy1916]

Just had a great thought, the hawk flies around carrying the tiny flamethrower and do the dragon's breath and flamethrower attack at the same turn. That would look incredible!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Love.

[@michaelguth4007]

As a DM, pets will be targeted by sufficiently tactical thinking enemies if they consider it worth it. Most times, they won't. But if a squishy hawk rains down fire every turn, they might use one attack on it instead of a much beefier target.

[@jiminkpen9750]

Agreed. As a pc i would consider it worthwhile so no reason an npc wouldn't. Equally, as a dm I'd mix it up and try to give everyone great moments, even through their familiar if that's what they enjoy.

[@alistairclough674]

A mob attacking a familiar is equivalent to a heal. Usually worth it for the party.

[@FallstarFL]

I was in a oneshot where somehow it was an "Oops! All Artificers!" party. Some multiclassed, all 4 of us different subclasses. It was so cool.

[@theblindbuildergrandminuti5648]

I mount the tiny canons on the armorer, helps pull Agro and really sells the power armor idea.

[@Schmeethe88]

@@theblindbuildergrandminuti5648 Put a force ballista on his shoulder and play it like the Predator with his shoulder cannon! :D

[@Nihongofreak]

I bet it was the weakest party ever made lol

[@FallstarFL]

@@Nihongofreak my character had an absurd AC and did solid damage. One did the sneaky sneak and caused an absolute disaster through sabotage, pulling guards away from where we had to go. One was a healer, but could also make explosions and odd effects. One was a different kind of tank with better damage than I could do but not quite as high AC. Functionally: Barbarian Rogue Ranger/druid Fighter (Battlemaster functions)

[@ODDnanref]

@@FallstarFL Two armorers a battle master and an alchemist?

[@gdoggy121]

Quick tip about Find Familiar: one of your infusions can be Replicate Magic Item. You can touch a mundane object and copy any magic item, so long as it is level appropriate for your Artificer level. For example, we could touch a backpack and turn it into a Bag of Holding. With this in mind, you can touch a needle to replicate the Spellwrought Tattoo 1st Level. In this case, we would me a Spellwrought Tattoo of Find Familiar. You can then cast Find Familiar as an action should your ritually casted familiar ever die.

[@gdoggy121]

@@jiminkpen9750 No it does not. But it can also be any common magic item at early levels, uncommon later, rare even later, etc. Tasha’s is what released the Spellwrought Tattoos to begin with, so I’m pretty sure it checks out. If it doesn’t work that way, you can always make a Spell Scroll of Find Familiar.

[@jiminkpen9750]

@@gdoggy121 cool, thanks. It does seem an odd oversight as you can't use it to replicate potions or scrolls.

[@gdoggy121]

@@jiminkpen9750 Technically a basic “Potion of Healing” is considered a common magic item. So one free 2d8+4 heal a day if you have an empty bottle to enchant.

[@jiminkpen9750]

@@gdoggy121 it definitely says specifically no potions or scrolls with the replicate magic item infusion.

[@phelps6205]

@@jiminkpen9750 Yeah, Jim is wrong about the potions and scrolls, and while the tattoo is also a "consumable Magic item", and that was most likely the intention of the limitations, RAW, you can replicate the magic tattoo, and over time give it to anyone, now your whole party has familiars, and your familiars have familiars, and so on....

[@MrMokrar]

And here I was wondering when this would drop. I'm about to play an artificer, and I'm pumped you're doing this.

[@timovandervalk679]

With access to magic Items, one should be able to get oneself an All-Purpose Tool, allowing oneself to take Toll the Dead as an Artificer Spell.

[@afroskeleton8001]

That's actually an awesome idea, it would provide an early way to get that cleric/artificer sinergy.

[@liamkelly5774]

Eldritch blasttttttttttt

[@dragonhearthx8369]

@@liamkelly5774 EB is not that good unless you can get the evocation for it.

[@giovannifiorini5108]

Shillelagh + booming blade

[@danielpriest1142]

Note you can also gain access to toll the dead simply by choosing a high elf as your race

[@RalphusAdolphus2]

I smiled to myself when you said "Dragon's Breath". I think this is a unique and highly underutilized spell. I actually started building an Artificer/Wizard that uses Dragon's Breath a while ago and I think it's a really fun build. However, I decided that the Familiar is far too fragile to count on it. Instead, my build used the Battle Smith's Steel Defender for Dragon's Breath. It's still pretty fragile but I countered that by mounting the Defender and using Mounted Combatant to take hits for it and Abjuration Wizard for the Arcane Ward. I also did some fun stuff with Dissonant Whispers, War Caster, and Booming Blade. But the Dragon's Breath part is my favorite since it's very light on resources and over time deals some quite substantial damage assuming you can hit at least 2 enemies in the cone. Admittedly, the Familiar is going to do more damage because it requires no action instead of a bonus action for the Defender. But I seriously doubt a DM will let you constantly strafe enemies with a fire-breathing familiar and not do something about it. Unless the enemies can't fly and have no ranged attacks. Then I say go nuts!

[@juamibenito2558]

I feel like you're risking yourself with the mounted combatant feat tanking for your steel defender when in reality your steel defender can regen infinitely in between battles with mending or get resurrected cheaply for level 1 spell slots, as if you're using level 1 spell slot to heal 25/30+ hp compared to a cure wounds on your actual character, not gonna say you shouldn't go mounted combatant cuz you should play the way you want but how deadly are your adventures? hahaha

[@RalphusAdolphus2]

​@@juamibenito2558 You're right that it could easily be healed or revived between battles but the key here is to keep the Dragon's Breath active on it. If it goes down that spell is gone. Same reason I said I don't want to cast it on my Familiar. My character only puts three levels into Artificer so the HP of the Defender is low. The rest of the levels are in Abjuration Wizard which gets an Arcane Ward which is essentially bonus HP. On top of that, I have a much higher AC than the Defender, can cast Shield, and the defender can use its reaction to give an attack disadvantage against me. None of those things are true for the Defender. I also have a +1 infusion on my shield and half plate so I have 20 AC before casting Shield. I'm not very likely to be hit and quite durable besides. If I really am worried that I'll go down from a big hit, there's no reason I can't just let my Defender take the hit anyway. I get to choose every attack. Meanwhile, I can use the Dragon's Breath ability for a bonus action while keeping my own action for myself. As I mentioned, I also can use Dissonant Whispers and if that lands and I don't need to keep my reaction for Shield, I can use Booming Blade from War Caster leaving my enemy away from me and have to choose whether to move and take damage or sit there and do nothing (assuming they're melee). If I'm up against a spellcaster or someone who is going to hit my Defender anyway, none of that really matters because any AoE will hit us both.

[@zcollins860]

Problem with this build is Dragon's Breath is a BONUS action to cast. It's an action to use the breath. And the Eldritch Cannon takes a bonus action to command. Meaning no Cannon on round 1.

[@RalphusAdolphus2]

@@zcollins860 That's one advantage to using Battle Smith instead of Artillerist. Your bonus action is always spent either casting Dragon's Breath or commanding your Steel Defender to activate it. The only downside there is that you don't get Dragon's Breath on the first round because you can't cast it and also command your Steel Defender to activate it. But it's a quick setup and you still have your action on the first round.

[@fatewalker]

Tools Expertise is great when you use it for skill checks that are listed in XGtE. So long as your descriptive with how your using tools the Artificer gains Expertise in several skills. I'm a fan of using brewers supplies to gain Expert Tease and advantage to persuasion checks while drinking with NPCs at Pubs.

[@MrHerky61]

The exploding cannon is nice for if you had to change your cannon type anyways, like if the tactical situation has changed and you need your protector turret because the plan is for the fighter and paladin to hold a corridor two shoulder wide, just get the extra value and then grab the protector turret

[@boydkleen5730]

If Death Cleric isn't allowed at your table, Order Cleric + Evoker is hilarious.

[@poryjahn2]

you know I just spent like 20 minutes trying to check whether or not this works and I'm pleasantly surprised it does. I was afraid that the area you chose would be the target of the spell and not the creatures. luckily that's not the case at least not for fireball. seriously considering making a build for this now.

[@jonathanrich9281]

Why?

[@boydkleen5730]

If you include your Front liners in your Fireball, they take no damage but count as targets of your spell. Order Cleric means one of them gets to attack as a reaction. Especially nice for a rogue.

[@jonathanrich9281]

@@boydkleen5730 Ah, now I see.

[@andrewpaul8732]

Why wouldn't a death cleric be allows at a table 🤣

[@gabrielseller6434]

I super love seeing the artificer builds as its thematically one of my favourite classes. However, I feel like making builds for artificers is really tough as I believe that some amount of the real power of the artificer is their versatility. Being able to swap spells, infusions and sometimes subclass features on a long rest is an amount of versatility that few other classes can match. But this is a very difficult quality to quantify and so it is hard to make builds that really incorporate it. Just my two cents, love the vids and keep up the good work

[@lotondlegovachy1791]

I'm trying out your Spore druid/beast barbarian. i decided to make her into a succubus that became a delinquent in this netherworld Academy called Evil Academy. (is a reference to a video game. bonus points to those who know.) I flavored the spores to be Strong perfume, and i'm curious how it's going to go. haha.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Love it!

[@czcrossman]

Very cool idea!

[@ZerrickkMTG]

Is that a disgaea 3 reference I see!? Love it!

[@reneeseance5367]

Sounds like a Disgaea reference- great games and funny as hell (pun intended) by flipping the script on good/evil. Love the concept! I just may steal it :P

[@gerbie42]

Nice! This build should be called Acid Burn. I like the multitarget approach. When you started talking about hitting multiple targets with artillerist, my honest first thought was just you hitting them and then your little force ballista hitting another target. Then you mentioned the flamethrower and I went... "Oh right, that exists!". That shows how easily my mind shoves something out if it doesn't seem interesting at first glance.

[@merlannin2108]

I had a build idea for a "walking plague/living swarm" build that is some combo of swarm keeper ranger and spores druid kinda melee character. I don't know if that is "viable" but I'm going to do a bunch of number crunching and watch a few videos here to help out!

[@adamkaris]

Shilelelelelelegh from druid, dueling fighting style from ranger and just go around bonking people with your walking stick! (Get it? Like the insect? Walking stick? Okay i'll leave)

[@DvirPick]

I would take 3-5 levels of ranger and the rest in druid. Swarmkeeper's kit is a skirmisher, which helps protect your temporary hitpoints for Symbiotic Entity. Take class levels based on what you're lacking: Ranger for offense, Druid for defense and spell progression.

[@DvirPick]

@Professor Thinker but less spell progression than druid and access to worse spells. Besides, Spore druid needs levels for the temp hp that fuels Symbiotic Entity. It's absolutely a skirmisher in terms of attacking and disengaging for free thanks to being moved by the swarm (since this is a melee character)

[@lukelloyd8976]

I might look at a Barbarian dip, thanks to the interaction with rage & temp HP I think Zealots mean you're going plenty of necrotic damage too, and they're not spells re Rage

[@dragonhearthx8369]

5 levels into warlock (Yes a bit MAD) to pick up Cloak of flies would be interesting.

[@relariis_the_paradox]

42:02 I'm fairly certain the purpose of the exploding cannon is for when your cannon has been targeted and damaged enough that it won't survive another turn and you'd have to remake a new cannon anyways. It's the same damage that it would do anyways, it affects a larger area and potentially more targets than it could affect otherwise, and it's the flavor of a self destruct when things go wrong, which is perfectly artificer

[@tomraineofmagigor3499]

I actually used the explosion to switch from the flamethrower to the ballista without having a completely wasted turret against fire immune enemies

[@jkchannel3149]

As a wizard, i usually tell my owl to fly in and out of my bag of holding to safely use dragon's breath but if your DM decides that your familiar has to die, there is just no way of going around this

[@phonepolice]

I haven’t tried this. My current wizard doesn’t have a bag of holding but I’ll be sure to use this when I do. I’ve used a dragons breath familiar twice and have maybe gotten three rounds before the owl got targeted.

[@Schmeethe88]

That's an interesting thought concept. Can you hold concentration on a spell affecting another creature that's on a different plane of existence?

[@under20over40]

@@Schmeethe88 i know you posted this a month ago buuut, if you couldn't concentrate on spells targeting things in other planes then banishment wouldn't be a very good spell lol

[@Schmeethe88]

@@under20over40 Aha! Good point, though then you'd have to still work around the rules regarding bags of holding. Does a creature moving *itself* into or out of a bag of holding just use movement? Retrieving an item from a bag of holding uses an action, which would prevent them from using dragon breath on that turn... I guess it's up to the DM how that'd interact? Good catch on the concentration though, I hadn't thought about banishment.

[@Raoul9753]

Getting anything out of the bag requiers an Action, and there are no special rules for sentient creatures getting out of the bag, that say it doesnt take an action for them. So unless your owl has Action Surge, it cant leave the bag and use Dragon Breath in the same turn.

[@prestonjones9167]

I would be interested to see an eldritch knight/Bladesinger build that takes advantage of the Dragon Breath Familiar with the eldritch knight ability that gives disadvantage on your spell saves if you have hit the creature. Could be pretty good for getting to just be a fighter but also take advantage of an ability that doesnt necessarily work super well to focus on from a sustained damage standpoint

[@hunterbeach9941]

Late to the party but, some minor things that can boost this. You can get toll the dead as an artificer by using the magic item "All Purpose tool" it grants 1 cantrip from any list. And at one point you were uncertain of a feat to take, Might i suggest Mage slayer. You're going to be dealing area damage multiple times per turn so that "disadvantage on concentration checks" can really add up quickly when you are pinging 2 enemies that often.

[@chuckplaysgames]

I have a gunslinger/artillerist Artificer build and I absolutely love the combo. No ammo or reload for gunslinger is incredibly powerful. I made her an archaeologist as a background and she basically is a female fantasy Indiana Jones. Super fun game play in RP and in combat. Loved this work up!

[@michaeledwards2052]

You can get Toll the Dead as an artificer cantrip with the All Purpose Tool magic item. Not guaranteed, but works.

[@DvirPick]

The explosive cannon damage bump also bumps the explosion's damage to 4d8, so I guess that's a plus, and I think you undervalue the sphere AoE (40ft diameter sphere) over a 15ft Cone which is more than double. Even if you have 2 adjacent enemies for Acid Splash, blowing up the cannon and creating it again on the following turn is better than acid splashing 2 turns in a row. Also, while the cannon's speed is 15 feet, you can make it tiny (still with legs) and throw it to get it further away from you, just maybe not on the same turn...

[@jonasandersen7280]

not to mention you could in the round you blow it up both use the turret first, and move it into position to explode!

[@Vielden]

I don't think this follows. If you have 2 targets for acid splash for two rounds you deal (2d6+1d8)X4 (two targets, two actions/spell casts) vs (4d8)X2 (two targets) for the explosion. Acid splash is 46 average vs 36 explosion in same two actions. Acid splash is save or suck but it doesn't take spell slots. Edit: Scales even better towards acid splash at lvl 11.

[@DvirPick]

@@Vielden yes. Sorry. My math was off. Save for half on the explosion does count for some damage but not a lot. But against more than 2 enemies cannon explosion wins (with a better chance to get them within its area), especially when none of them are adjacent.

[@garion046]

This might be true, but creating it again costs a resource. Having played an artillerist I can say that the cannons lasting only 1 hour makes your 1st level slots extremely valuable. And a half caster has fewer slots to begin with overall, so I think the resource cost here is too significant to be worth it. That's not to say it will never be worth it, but it's very situational.

[@DvirPick]

@@garion046 good point

[@sammylett3335]

I have an Artillerist (12) Arcane Trickster (3). He's the tactical leader of the group. I took arcane trickster for invisible mage hand and the extra bonus action movement for survivability. He's a glass cannon but really fun to play. I love using the cannon and arcane firearm and diving for cover.

[@colinmorrison5119]

I've been enjoying Colby's videos, but this is the first one I had serious objections to. First, it's barely an Artificer! Much of what an Artificer brings is outside of combat - Elves and Dwarfs can swap out weapon proficiencies for tool proficiencies, which a good DM can really allow them to use (see Xanathar's for expanded tool use). It's arguably the most versatile class in the game, without multiclassing. If there's an abusable thing in the Artificer locker, it's the spell storing item. With a Ritual Caster feat or Replicate Magic Item infusion (Spellwrought tattoo, mentioned elsewhere) to access Find Familiar, you could be - wielding your SSI, with - your familiar sitting on it, with - a big red button they're trained to press while - you're concentrating on Haste = Your normal cantrip/spell attack (benefits from Arcane firearm, unlike below) + an extra Hasted action activating SSI (Scorching Ray or Shatter) + your familiar doing the exact same thing (there are 10 charges on an SSI at this level, so this can go on for five rounds + Your Force Ballista or Flame Thrower on bonus action. And no multiclassing. I suspect it's a little less damage, uses resources faster (albeit resources the build in the video never gained access to), but preserves the utility of a higher level Artificer, and doesn't hinge as much on the DM ignoring the familiar. It's a shame the Homunculus Servant competes with the Eldritch Cannon for your bonus action, as that would have replaced the familiar.

[@eastonnida8213]

Am I the only one amazed at the quality of the thumbnail? Lighting, quality, the smile. It’s all perfect lol

[@cory849]

My experience with my Artillerist is that you save your meager spell slots to bring your cannon. The "lasts an hour" rule is awkward. Every short rest costs you a spell slot and you get very very few spell slots.

[@shikichaos]

It is for reasons like this that I would say a dip in Warlock is really strong for Artillerist just so you can get the 2 spell slots that come back on a short rest to dedicate to your cannon.

[@InconspicuousNessMan]

@@shikichaos thats an interesting point, though you're losing 2 levels pretty much only to get repeatable cannons. I am not sure if thats worth it, maybe one for a free cannon per SR?

[@shikichaos]

@@InconspicuousNessMan I mean you do also get some other nice bonuses with the invocation and whatever frontloaded abilities that the subclass gives you but I can understand the issue with delaying 1-2 levels.

[@serpentsembrace782]

I think this build actually captures the flavor of the artillerist better than the base class does! Very well done!

[@logancuster8035]

Silvery Barbs, if allowed, could be a solid pick over Bane for Fey Touched.

[@williamturner6192]

Especially with guidance being an artificer cantrip. On the off chance you will be able to use it outside combat.

[@phonepolice]

The issue at least early on is the Artificer's lack of spell slots. Barbs will very quickly eat up your reactions and 1st level slots if you're freely using it.

[@dragonhearthx8369]

@@phonepolice agrees with the artificer you want to choose lingering effects for early levels

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

Crossover idea: Eldritch Cannon = The Luggage (from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series) Since The Luggage has 100 legs that magically sprout from it, and is frequently described as knocking everyone out of its way, the Force Ballista is perfect for this! And Two-Flower (the perennial tourist of Discworld and initial owner of The Luggage) is all about having nifty gadgets, so there's your Artificer!

[@Murrshack]

5th Level Ash: Evil Dead - 3 Levels Artificer: Artillerist 2 Levels Warlock: Hexblade - Stats: Intelligence Charisma - Infusions: Enhanced Defense Repeating Weapon (or enhanced weapon) Homunculus Replicate MI(Dealers choice, I have an alchemist jug, magic rope or bag of holding work too) - Invocations: Fiendish vigor Repelling Blast - Take spells that are either enhancements to his weapon or blasting abilities. Next level up, Pact of the Blade. Groovy

[@maxwellwelch3717]

An artillerist combo I found fun was booming blade + crusher feat and eldritch cannon. Use BB as your action and push them 5 feet away with crusher then bonus action to eldritch cannon them for another 5 feet. If they want to hit you they have to move 10 feet toward you and trigger BB. Pretty basic and simple but I liked it

[@SereinRend]

Loved the video! Really enjoyed the insight and I'm definitely taking a lot of this on board for the artificer I'm going to play. If the build were to go more single target focused I like the thought of taking shadow touched as the level 1 feat for invisibility and also inflict wounds. If your DM lets you do the spellwrought tattoo: find familiar trick with your infusions then at level 2 you could go find familiar > invisibility > fly to creature > inflict wounds. I just like the thought of essentially stealth bombing an unsuspecting enemy. Of course the invisibility gets cancelled after the first hit but I find the concept entertaining. Also, if one were to lean more towards utility, the protector cannon could be a nice way make your familiar a bit more durable and just have them spam the help action. This video really got me thinking of all the possibilities with an artillerist, thanks for the the inspiration!!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@Whimzy74]

Terrific video. I'm currently playing an artillerist and was about to multiclass into Chronurgy Wizard. I really like your use of Find Familiar, dragons breath, and sculpt spell so that's something I need to consider more before I make the jump.

[@bennettpalmer1741]

One of my favorite campaigns, I was using artillerist. One encounter, we were fighting a bunch of animated plants. Weak to fire, it was awesome. A few encounters later, the party barbarian held a chokepoint for something like ten rounds without ever dipping past his constantly refreshing temp hp. The shield projector combined with damage resistant allies is an absolute powerhouse.

[@camsill342]

I see you Colby, showing off your +5 to STR at 57:26, that's the real reason you included this outtake

[@DnDDeepDive]

Ha! I really hesitated but the deprecation balances out the flex/stretch, right?

[@lordro256]

@@DnDDeepDive High charisma mod too?!?

[@Dirtrider795]

That Dscryb, description was awesome I totally imagine this character as a small statured, explosives' connoisseur like Ziggs from League of Legends

[@jonathanrich9281]

I’d actually go one more level in Artificer, I think, because at level 10, Artificers get an additional cantrip and an infusion upgrade. Specifically, they can replicate Winged Boots, allowing you to fly essentially at will. This means that even if your familiar gets KO’d a lot, you can still use Dragon’s Breath fly-bys, just at half the fly speed and sacrificing the cantrip. You can also pick up Firebolt, which has a range of 120 feet-just like your Force Ballista, allowing you to be either a long-range sniper or a mid-range AoE blaster, especially if you make your Cannon tiny and hold it or mount it to your armor (I like the idea of having it mounted on your shoulder). It just gives you more versatility.

[@stephendavis7327]

I had a lot of doubts about the consistency of multi-target damage, so I went with an artillerist focused around dueling with a whip+booming blade. I dipped 3 levels in fighter for the battle master tricks, like pushing attack, hoping small cantrip combos will work out. Pushing attack, the force ballista, thorn whip, booming blade, and the create bonfire cantrips all share a hybrid control/damage element. Fingers crossed!

[@phelps6205]

Just FIY, RAW you need the feet spell sniper that doubles the range on spells since booming blade only has a 5ft range and wouldn't work while using the whip at 10ft, unfortunately.

[@MachineWraith]

I love the artificer as a class, it's got such a cool flavor, it's incredibly versatile, and it has pretty unique mechanics. A lot of people seem to dislike it though, and I'd really like to see it get some love in the form of some more subclasses. Great video as always!

[@blamheresy1140]

Options for the 13th level feat could either be Metamagic Adept, picking twin spell and whatever other one strikes your fancy, and taking the homunculus as an infusion. just to get a little more juice out of a second level spell slot for dragons breath. the other option would be war caster to help with concentration and be able to use that shield in your off hand for your wizard spells.

[@sandorfalusi3486]

The one situation where I would consider using the Explosive Cannon’s explosion feature is if I for some reason want to change my cannon type out mid fight. For example the party decides to run away, and from damage I switch to defence. So I blow up my frontline cannon with my action, and I create a defensive one in my hand with a bonus action. Basically this would be like a 3d8 damage 1st level spell, which is decent considering the area of effect and that this is force damage.

[@daithi1966]

The new Silvery Barb 1st level spell from Strixhaven is an enchantment spell and it is really powerful. For a reaction, you can require a target within 60' that you can see to reroll a save, ability check, or attack roll. Pus, you get advantage on your next save, ability check, or attack roll. The spell also stacks with Heightened Spell or the Yuan Ti Pureblood magic resistance, so basically screwing anything that tries to cast a spell on you or tries to save against your spells or hits you with a crit. I'd take this over Bane any day of the week and twice on Sundays. For an infusion, creating a common magic item is the way to go --- and create the Spellwrought Tattoo.

[@TheRobversion1]

yup. i'm waiting for the day colby starts using spellwrought tattoo for his artificers. it's such untapped potential in the artificer class.

[@Scaphism36]

Unless I’m reading it wrong, the level 11 feature will let you cast scorching ray 10 times per day with no cost. That’s pretty decent sustained damage and you can focus the damage one a single creature or spread it out as needed. Also your familiar can use it if you’re concentrating on something else like web. Might be worth the level investment

[@zacharydavis8665]

I love my artillerist! Such a good blaster. Also took a dip into wizard!

[@the_ceeman]

Best character art so far IMO, perfect mix of mad scientist and battlefield commander

[@DnDDeepDive]

Agreed!

[@clintjohnson1045]

You can get toll the dead and eldritch blast with an all purpose tool. Also At Level 11 Hasting yourself Allows you crazy amounts of damage Say a firebolt, 2nd level catapult in the item, with a force balista 8d8+2-20d6 depending on your dm and your alchemy jug For a 3rd level spell? Pretty good

[@obergfamily9049]

I'm playing a Barbificer. Zealot Barbarian and Artillerist Artificer is some of the coolest roleplay I've ever had. It was also a blast figuring out what spells were good for him, it gave me the chance to take the lesser known spells for utility like Jump and Magic Mouth.

[@rickyfast1]

One thing I did that was fun I strapped a tiny ballista cannon to my shoulders (had to make a skill check) then I had my arcane firearm in one hand so I was able to attack on my action and on my bonus while keeping a hand free

[@argaveus101]

Use the detonate feature for your machine as an assassins tool. One use I got out of it was in a Star Wars oneshot. I deploy the sentry while we were confronting the tactical droid and had it sneak around and inside his energy shield. Kept him talking whilst my sentry snuck around, and once it made it inside I detonated it, destroying the tactical droid.

[@jbw065]

@colby Detonate your cannon when it is near the end of it’s life perhaps? Distraction benefits and a radius damage rather than cone is helpful. A tiny Eldritch cannon with legs would be harder to notice before it detonates…

[@clintjohnson1045]

Just played a 20th lvl Artillerist. While I loved the artillerist I was more impressed with the base Artifcer. I will say the biggest draw back to the Artifcer is the spelllist. For me it lacked damage buffing spells like the only one on there was elemental bane and maybe haste not sure if that was base. But out side of that, they feel great soul of Artifcer just won’t let you break concentration, and the 14th lvl ability is real clutch allowing you to pick up staff of magic and staff of power, helping with spell economy but again not with damage buff, what could be cool if you can get some of your party’s spells in the spell storing item, like dragons breath for you servant or something, could be awesome. Flash of genius is also a life saver

[@benpauls7851]

So pumped to make an artificer and have struggled between making the Armorer and Artillerist. Great videos as always and thank you for these optimized builds!

[@JDuel100]

It occurs to me that if you keep your Familiar within 10 feet of you and use the Eldritch Cannon Protection option, it would make your Familiar a lot less squishy. Less DPR, but... I can see an Artillerist with this and their familiar on their shoulder (with Dragon's Breath) wading into a fight, being hard to kill due to constantly getting their little damage shields. A redheaded Dwarf with an Almaj familiar named Pepper pops into my head for this. ...Dang it. Time to make another character I'll never get to play. lol

[@zcollins860]

One issue:Dragon's Breath is a bonus action to cast, and an action to use. Eldritch cannon is an action to summon, bonus action to command. Meaning you can cast and summon both one round 1, but won't be able to fire off the cannon that turn. And depending on if the familiar rolls a higher initiative than you, it may not get to fire off the breath weapon until the next round, by which time it may already be neutralized.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Right, forgot Dragon's Breath was a BA to cast. And yes, the familiar could be killed. But... that's true of any round. If it's consistently a major risk in round one... better go with a different build :). Or make yourself a bag of holding and have it hide inside between rounds.

[@SuaveNerd2000]

I had an idea of a pirate artificer due to the artillerist’s eldrich cannon, I really like this build and I kinda want to reflavor the familiar as a parrot now, thanks a lot for this build

[@fasterpet]

Love this! this is the best way to deal extra damage with familiar! I'm glad that the familiar got some love! Now, on to the find steed spell.... Vampiric touch battle mastiff!!!!

[@TheRobversion1]

this is interesting. i wonder if this works RAW as sharing spells as find steed is wonky when you aren't the end target of the effect.

[@SelwynClydeAlojipan]

Have you thought of using an infusion to make a flying/hovering Homunculus Servant in the shape of a drone-copter or jetpack? Then you can have the tiny Eldritch Cannon latch on to its underside similar to a gun underneath a helicopter gunship? This could be more effective when the Artificer has two Eldritch Cannons. Thus you have two flying shooters/blasters because of the Familiar and the Homunculous Servant. If your DM agrees, you could make the Homunculus Servant in the form of a flying chair that could carry your Gnome artificer-wizard and make it hover at any height above the ground. If so, the Artificer could get off the chair at any time and just let the chair+cannon do damage or give temporary hitpoints while doing other things (like hiding or healing).

[@Morganwrath]

If you can get Phantom Steed cast before combat it can be a good option for dragons breath because once it takes damage it still exists for 1 minute and iss effectively invincible for that 1 minute. Also has a 100ft speed.

[@TheRobversion1]

should be able to since it's a ritual. imo this is the better combo for dragon's breath compared to a familiar. only issue is it comes online a little bit later. find steed is another option if the dragon's breath caster isn't a wizard.

[@batteredknight1]

Arcane rocked. Now I have to go watch the Armorer Artificer build you did.

[@saeravi]

Love your videos! I've been playing 2 person campaigns for the last few years, me as the player and my girlfriend as the DM. I play four characters and role play them all, it's a lot of fun! I have an elven bladesinger that I built like your 2.0 video, a moon druid who rakes faces through the spike growth as a grappling bear, a genie warlock who pushes and pulls them through the spike growth, and a dark fairy twilight cleric who heals like a pro. It's so much fun!!! Thanks for your vids, love them so much!

[@mrkay4757]

I’ve dropped off of D&D builds recently with Arcan, Wheel of Time, and Halo coming out and keeping up with them, but holy crap, coming back to the sultry tones of optimization has been lovely.

[@dhaas4698]

Since you are really utilizing your familiar, it got me thinking about alternatives to that 1 hp target in the sky. Right off the bat you have the option of a homonculus which has 1 + INT bonus + Artificer level in hp. If you cast Aid on it, you add an additional 5x spell slot used to it's hp. You could also use your turret to give it temps each round. Assuming your DM allows you to use Strixhaven feats and backgrounds, you could use the mascot which all start out with way higher hp. Actually, you could give your turret to your familiar and have them use their action to breath and bonus to blast fire LOL.

[@LanceorTC]

A friend and I combo to do the Familiar/Dragon's breath trick, I have the improved familiar from Chain pact, Dao Genie Warlock, He has the choose your damage type ability of scribes wizard. The combination is great, Dragons breath does not break invisibility so the familiar is pretty survivable, and, of course, Dao Warlock can do the cheese grating thing.

[@merlannin2108]

I'm excited to see a new video every Tuesday! Thanks for making these a fun part of my week!

[@SecularMentat]

I use my tool proficiencies all the time (along with enhance ability) to craft magical items. Especially once you get 4th level spells, if you've got tool proficiencies you can craft items out of raw materials with 'Fabricate'. (Which you can get access to even with wizard).

[@humanname1458]

In my artificer guide I wrote for my players next campaign, I told them that they could take the magic item infusion for the same item more than once to duplicate it's utility. As the infusion only comes available when the item is destroyed, that taking bag of holding infusion as one slot means you can only have one bag. That's just RAW imo. There's nothing saying you can't just use both slots to make 2 bags of holding. Add that to a VHuman with magic initiate for a wizard/other class that gets find familiar.. and then teaming up with another person with find familiar to create the Hawtal. 2 spell casters each taking a hawk familiar. Have them hold the bags of holding and hold their action to be readied before the enemies attack. Have one open bag of holding being held by one hawk positioned next to you enemy and use the held action for the other hawk to fly into that bag of holding, holding its own bag of holding and voila a very repeatable way to send any living thing to the astral plane.

[@humanname1458]

I'll add that I'm aware you can achieve the familiars via the one use spellwrought tattoos, but you'd have to either give up the plan to planar portal enemies till you get your third slot, or just hold out in general till you get it and have familiars that way if you would rather take a fun feat

[@TheRobversion1]

while this is definitely RAW, i think most tables ban this combo. spellwrought tattoo: find familiar is common enough though as long as the DM doesn't let the player abuse it to create armies of familiars.

[@ericpeirce5598]

As an option for Wizard 4, choosing Spell Sniper would be useful. Many of the evocation spells you have access to can benefit from the increased range, and the fact that the Force Ballista option is a ranged spell attack, the feat would allow it to ignore half and three quarters cover. If you are playing in a game that is RAW about how cover works, then this may be a nice benefit for the cannon in certain situations.

[@KayKayLemur]

Magic missile is also great on an artillerist, since it is only one damage roll, and if cast through and arcane firearm, each missile will add a 1d8 to it, which is crazy good since it auto hits unless counterspelled or shielded

[@googloocraft12]

"You can use your arcane firearm as a spellcasting focus for your artificer spells. When you cast an artificer spell through the firearm, roll a d8, and you gain a bonus to one of the spell's damage rolls equal to the number rolled. " First of all magic missile is not in the artificer spell list. Secondly the wording makes it that you will only add 1d8.

[@theblindbuildergrandminuti5648]

It’s very fun to put two tiny eldritch cannons on your armorer/rune knight friend’s shoulders to help pull Agro toward them Actually a multi classed rune knight/armorer allows you to make a mecha suit character. The artillerist mounting the canons on them really helps sell the idea though.

[@Synamint87]

Chilled Touch is a nice necrotic cantrip and can be gained as an artificer cantrip if you are a Witherbloom Scholar from strix haven. Deals 1D8 Necrotic and no healing for them. Downside is this is an attack roll.

[@DesignatedHealer]

I think artificias are a highly underrated class, not necessarily for super optimized play but absolutely for super consistent play. There's not a lot of things that you can be really bad at if you build your artificer well.

[@ericl7828]

Artificer's are a great multiclass dip for bladesingers for the int attack imo

[@jameskochans605]

Something i'd love to see you build is an arcane trickster rogue/armorer (infiltrator) artificer. The concept of a rogue who built their armor to be the perfect sidekick for their crimes seems so fun.

[@pasqualecirone9755]

I'm making a similar character right now. My plan though is to take a monkey familiar (allowed at my table). The idea is that it'll have opposable thumbs that can apply a healing potion to anyone that drops.

[@djcothra4201]

YES, this is my favourite class, and the subclass I have played the longest, so this will surely be a treat 😍

[@willtuttle1617]

My artillerist has become one of my favorite characters. I went Simic Hybrid (tentacles), and made him a sniper with a Predator shoulder cannon. I also worked out with my DM energy type bullets, and energy type grenades.

[@adamelalouf3600]

Another really good tactic here, is having your familiar carry the Eldritch cannon, which would let you position the cannon really well pretty easily, and reduce the chance it will get destroyed

[@Aaron-from-BroTrio]

I'm sure someone else has already said this, but I've come up with a good use for detonating my artificer's cannon. If it's low on health or about to run out of time, it goes out with a literal bang!

[@cosmicfungi5829]

It's a slow day at work so this is a God send to keep me from being bored. Thank you!

[@ryanbritt4459]

The find familiar trick is good but I like the upgrade of flock of familiars and if you take cleric to twenty spirit guardians would add a bit of damage

[@alexmoran8662]

Hey, new here fromdnd shorts. Love the build and hawkie breathing fire is amazing. However I think the execution of this build can be inconsistent. Getting the aoe on acid splash may happen once per battle maybe, twice if your lucky. Also with this style of play it would be quite difficult to not damage your ally’s haha I did an artillerist who focused on the force canon. I did custom lineage and took magic initiate pick eldritch blast and hex. I was rolling a lot of dice and had good fun with it!

[@rcschmidt668]

I am having fun with an artillerist. At level 11, we get the spell-storing item, so for the cost of 1 spell slot, we have invisibility for the entire party twice, or just drop scorching ray 10 times. Note with the arcane focus infusion, all spell attacks are +2 and ignoring half cover. (+13 to hit at the present)

[@edwardflores6604]

Name the Hawk Reko and get a Death From Above tat, a legally distinct one

[@larstollefsen1236]

Cool concept. The Artificer class os underpowered so its cool to see it improved on. Your first damage report is wrong however as casting Dragon's Breath and firing your Eldritch Cannon are both bonus actions. You can however Acid Splash as an action on turn one as it is a cantrip. So turn one is Dragon's Breath and Acid Splash, turn two is create cannon and fire cannon while familiar uses Dragon's Breath, turn three is when you can finally use all three assuming you didn't have the cannon out.

[@satsunada]

One thing to note, disguise kits and Forgery Kits also are affected as "tools".. so you can become an absolute master of concealing things.

[@MisterDiceGuy]

I feel like Artificer is the strongest class when played correctly. Battlesmith is a complete monster. Armorer is a hidden gem multiclass. Alchemist is actually much better than people give it credit for, it's just not built directly for combat. Artillerist strong to take on groups and capable of being Michelle Branch...Everywhere.

[@renzonunez6046]

I'd agree if they were fullcasters, but one gets out of fuel pretty quickly playing an artificer, with any of the subclasses.

[@jiminkpen9750]

It seems like a good class but really needs to be able to make the most of items at higher level as a half caster.

[@TheRobversion1]

agreed. it's the only class in the game a DM will consider banning at level 2.

[@MisterDiceGuy]

@@TheRobversion1 Absolutely. In a level 2 or 3 one shot I wouldn't even focus on spells. If make them more weapon centric because they essentially have the stats of a level higher than what they are.

[@TheRobversion1]

@@MisterDiceGuy I wouldnt focus on spells either. i'd just make a bunch of bags of holding and familiars.

[@wreckedgamerqq5001]

Saw the short and immediately began looking for this video. Realized it hadn’t dropped yet so waited in anticipation. Was not disappointed. Another solid build delivered. Cheers mate! Curious if you’re got a special Christmas build stashed away somewhere under the tree for all the good lil KZbin viewers?

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! Hm... the Santa!? Maybe they hand out coal to all the naughty girls and boys with, like... Catapult or something? Mounted on a reindeer... lol

[@genseven4616]

I'm a HUGE artificer fan but I agree, they are severely underpowered next to most other classes, especially in a magic item rich environment.

[@matunusdonnerhammer3423]

I don't think artificers in general are underpowered. Armorers and battlesmiths are quite powerful, but artillerists and alchemists are significantly weaker in comparison.

[@DnDAnalysis]

The force Ballista does 2d8+INT damage, not 1d8. With 120ft range it pairs amazingly well with firebolt, making you a mortar specialist out of range of most enemies. Edit: You do not add INT to force ballista damage, that is a mistake.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Good catch. Will post an errata.

[@dragonhearthx8369]

If you are going to level dip into wizard and not planing to go past 5th level in it. War Magic Wizard is the best one to get. Aside from the initiative increase, the boost to AC and saving throws is to good to pass up. Keep this in mind especially if you are a martial class. The cantrip restrictions do not apply to weapon attacks.

[@jeremiahcunkle5938]

I think, rather than having a hawk, I might go with a snake. then I'd have the artillerist's cannon also take a snake form, and both of them would wrap around my forearms, and I'd travel the battle field as a dual-wielding flamethrower maniac. My friends would quickly grow weary of my cackling laughter, but my foes would be too busy sizzling!

[@DnDDeepDive]

love it!

[@chacepassmore6474]

Man, I never thought I'd see a decent artificer! Nice one bro!

[@TigerKirby215]

If you can get the multitool from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything it would let you take one cantrip of your choice and make it an Artificer cantrip. But that obviously depends on your DM.

[@speeodle9520]

I love this character concept. Could you potentially do an optimized arcane trickster build? I would appreciate it a lot, also I love your content keep up the good work!

[@TheRobversion1]

I think you can go into his swashbuckler nova build, sub out swashbuckler for arcane trickster and instead of taking magic initiate take the mobile feat and you essentially have an optimized arcane trickster. they play the same anyway.

[@beetlejuss]

I am playing with an Artillerist 3 / Bladesinger 6, because we are playing in a pirates scenario with fireguns, so I have a pistol in one hand using the +1 repeating shot infusion, and a tiny force ballista (eldritch canon) in the other hand, while levitating and using elven accuracy. Finally I have the other infusion for AC. Now I am going to try the dragon's breath trick!

[@yodaleiaheehoo9960]

The outtakes segment was 👌I got a kick out that.

[@DnDDeepDive]

[@bradprutzman4460]

I really enjoy your work, Colby thank you. My first comment to you... and it comes with a build request! I'd love to see what you can do if you center a build on the new Ashardalon's Stride spell from Fizban's. Weaponized MOVEMENT!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! This is on my to do list!