Artillerist – D&D 5e Artificer Subclass Guide (2014)

Rain bullet hell on your foes with this artillery focused artificer subclass.

At a glance

Artillerist features

Tool proficiency – Lv3

You gain proficiency in woodcarver’s tools. It’s a practical buff allowing you to craft your eldritch cannons and your arcane firearm and that’s mostly it.

Artillerist spells – Lv3

How it works

Gain the following as prepared spells at the appropriate levels:

Artificer Level	Artillerist Spells
3rd	Shield, Thunderwave
5th	Scorching Ray, Shatter
9th	Fireball, Wind Wall
13th	Ice Storm, Wall of Fire
17th	Cone of Cold, Wall of Force

Tactics

• There’s a lot of damage dealing spells here which thankfully, addresses a major weakness in an artificer’s spellcasting capabilities. In particular, you now have access to some top AoE damage spells like thunderwave, shatter and fireball.
• Sadly ice storm and cone of cold don’t necessarily upgrade on fireball’s capabilities. Cone of cold can be a good option for a larger area, but cones are harder to make work than spheres and require putting yourself in more danger.
• Your newfound AoE spells will also work nicely with your 5th level feature (arcane firearm) but more on that in a moment.
• Shield is a great defensive option while wall of fire and wall of force are great at separating out enemies and controlling the battlefield.

Eldritch cannon – Lv3

How it works

Create a turret that can either fire a cone of flame, a long range blast or provide temporary hit points to nearby allies.

Tactics

• With just 15ft of movement, the flamethrower is difficult to manoeuvre into the right places for a cone effect. It also makes the cannon vulnerable to attacks unless held (in which case you’re made more vulnerable).
• As such, I’d tend to favour the force ballista for damage dealing purposes. You can use this to push an enemy out of melee range of an ally for instance (as well as obviously getting some extra damage in there).
• But if you can make the flamethrower work, it will usually deal more damage than the force ballista.
• Regular temporary hit points will be great if you expect to have several allies in a close space. I’d hold this so it’s easy to move around and keep safe and you’ll likely want it near the front lines were martials are getting a bit battered.

Arcane firearm – Lv5

How it works

Create an arcane firearm which is a spellcasting focus and add d8 to a damage roll of each spell you cast.

Tactics

• Extra damage on spells is obviously great and encourages you to focus on damage dealing spells more often. Fortunately, you get a bunch of these in your subclass features.
• This is particularly potent on AoE spells as the extra damage will work on all creatures hit, not just one. This means the bonus damage is magnified by the number of creatures hit.

Explosive cannon – Lv9

How it works

Eldritch cannons now deal an extra d8 damage and can be exploded for 3d8 damage in a 20ft radius.

Tactics

• Sadly, there are no improvements for the protector cannon so it lags behind at this point, but does remain a decent option.
• Extra damage is always welcome though.
• The exploding cannon is hard to recommend in most instances though as you’ll often want allies close to the cannon or be keeping enemies away from it or be holding it yourself. This means collateral damage is likely and the damage is unlikely to be much more than you get from simply attacking with it (though the area and save DC would likely cause more enemies to be hit). Still, it remains hard to manufacture a good opening for this.

Fortified position – Lv15

How it works

Your eldritch cannons now provide half cover in a 10ft radius and you can create 2 cannons at the same time.

Tactics

• You’ll want to keep your cannons close to allies to give the benefit of the half cover they provide.
• Having 2 cannons can help here to spread the protection. You can likely hold one of them but not both for this (you’ll need a hand for your arcane firearm).
• 2 cannons also means double the damage with 6d8 per turn or you can throw some temporary hit points in amongst the damage (temporary hit points don’t stack so it’s unlikely to be worth having 2 protector cannons).

How good is the artillerist subclass?

Between powerful AoE spells effects, enhanced damage on spells and fairly strong ranged damage through eldritch cannons, the artillerist a very capable and high damage subclass. It combines this with some utility through the protector cannon with a very regular supply of temporary hit points.

It also manages to scale damage nicely at higher levels. Multiple cannons means a lot more flexibility in what you can accomplish and doesn’t tie all your damage to a single cannon.

It also happens to be one of the easier artificer subclasses to play and make effective. All of this together makes it a top tier subclass.

5/5

Optimising an artillerist

Artillerists are primarily about dealing damage at range through eldritch cannons, spells and even firearms. This does mean you won’t have to build as heavily for resilience, but may still be getting into some danger if you want to be holding a flamethrower cannon.

Below I’ve taken you through the various character options to show you how you can optimise an artillerist.

Ability scores

Recommended options

Intelligence: Your most important ability score by far. You’ll likely want to be using many of your actions for damage dealing spells, and your potency here will rest on your intelligence as it’s your spellcasting ability.

Dexterity: You won’t have access to heavy armor so you’ll want this to be at least 14 to take full advantage of medium armor. If you plan on shooting guns a lot, you can build into this with a higher dexterity that could then make light armor your best choice. However, with just 1 attack and enhanced damage on spellcasting, spells are often going to be your best offensive option so you may not want to invest in this too heavily.

Constitution: Great for maintaining concentration on spells and increasing your hit points. Intelligence remains a priority and then any spare ability points can go here.

Options to avoid

Strength: You have no need for this.

Wisdom: You have little need for this.

Charisma: You’re not built for face skills, leave this for bards, paladins and other charisma-centric classes.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	8	8
Dexterity	14	14
Constitution	15	13
Intelligence	15	15
Wisdom	10	12
Charisma	8	10

Skills

Recommended options

Arcana: Solid knowledge skill and as a rare, intelligence based class, one of the best options for specialising in this.

History: Another decent knowledge skills to take advantage of your intelligence.

Investigation: Investigating things will often come up and it’s also an intelligence based skill.

Nature: Decent enough knowledge skill and uses intelligence which you’ll be strong in.

Perception: Not a great ability score for an artificer, but perception is useful for everyone in the party.

Sleight of hand: You should have a decent dexterity and with thieves’ tools proficiency, you can make a strong burglar option when the party is absent of a rogue.

Options to avoid

Medicine: Just grab a healing potion, cure wounds or something like magic initiate to get healing word.

Races

I’d consider a race that enhances the following kinds of features for an artillerist:

• Spellcasting: As natural spellcasters, any kind of spellcasting enhancements or innate spells are only going to help round out your spellcasting capabilities and give you more options.
• Intelligence-based: Some races will specify certain ability scores you increase. If that’s the case, you’ll want to prioritise an intelligence increase followed by dexterity and constitution.
• Heightened damage: Ultimately, your main job is to deal lots of damage as an artillerist. Increasing this somehow will always be helpful.
• Safety: You don’t need loads of resilience as an artillerist as you’ll mainly be hanging out of danger. However, some safety features to help you remain out of danger aren’t a bad thing. Especially if you plan on using flamethrowers a lot. Things like teleportation and flight are great ways to achieve this.

Recommended races

The races of D&D 5e have gone through various iterations. Below I’ve recommended races that work well with an artillerist using the most recently published version from D&D 5e (2014).

• Astral Elf – Teleport as a bonus action is great for artillerists who may need to get out of danger. Proficiency in perception is useful and sacred flame ensures you always have a damage dealing cantrip.
• Autognome – 2 extra tool proficiencies, easy healing outside of combat, lots of resilience features and built for success stacks nicely with flash of genius. Autognomes feel almost built for artillerists (literally) and their abilities work nicely together.
• Eladrin – Fey step is very handy for teleporting away from danger while trance gives you a couple of extra proficiencies which you can use to fashion yourself into more of a replacement rogue if needed. All very handy for an artillerist.
• Fairy – The big draw here is flight. Get up high and blast away from a distance. Faerie fire is really good too, as is enlarge/reduce for some extra spell options.
• High Elf – +2 to dexterity and +1 to intelligence suit an artillerist quite nicely. Proficiency in perception is always useful and a free cantrip from the wizard’s spell list is handy as you get minimal spell options and will stack with arcane firearm.
• Goblin – Nimble escape is great for keeping an artillerist safe with disengage or hide as a bonus action. Fury of the small is also great as you get extra damage on attacks or spells when attacking something of a size larger than yourself (which most creatures are), and you’ll likely be making quite a few spell attacks.
• Shadar-Kai – Blessing of the Raven Queen lets you teleport out of trouble and gives you resistance to all damage for a turn. Proficiency in perception and a different weapon or tool proficiency each day are handy too.
• Thri-Kreen – The main draw is your extra arms which can be used to carry your eldritch cannon. You might want a shield, arcane firearm and a gun in your arms plus 1-2 eldritch cannons. The Thri-Kreen are the best equipped to manage all these things. Telepathy and advantage on stealth is decent too.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are great for adding a bit of flavour to a character and providing some small skill perks, gear and minor abilities. Generally for an artillerist, you’ll want to focus on intelligence based skills and extra tool proficiencies (as the tool king). With that in mind, below are some of the better background options for you:

• Acolyte – Decent skill proficiencies in insights and religion, 2 languages and perks at temples (like free healing).
• Clan Crafter – History and insight are good skill options for an artificer. You’ll also get proficiency in a type of artisan’s tools and you get an extra language. Plus it’s very thematically appropriate.
• Faction Agent – Insight and the choice of another skill make a great choice of proficiencies. You also get 2 languages and affiliation with a powerful organisation.
• Far Traveler – Insight, perception and a language are decent for an artificer, though you’ll likely rarely use persuasion as artillerists are rarely the best option for a party spokesman. You get proficiency in an instrument too for what it’s worth.
• Sage – Arcana and history are good skill proficiencies for an artillerist and you get 2 languages too.

Feats

When taking an ability score increase or using a variant Human, you can gain access to feats, taking one instead of the ability score increase. Some DMs will also give you a feat when you create your character for added flavour. Just check with your DM that they allow feats.

Feats can add powerful options to a character, but it’s important you pick feats that will complement an artillerist’s skillset nicely. Below I’ve pulled out some of the best options for an artillerist:

• Fey Touched – Increase your intelligence by +1 and get misty step and another 1st level spell with a free use every long rest. Misty step is a great spell for artillerists to get out of danger (and isn’t on the artificer spell list).
• Lucky – Making 3 rerolls a day is powerful for any class!
• Magic Initiate – Get 2 cantrips and a 1st level spell from any spell list. Great for getting top cantrips from other classes like toll the dead.
• Metamagic Adept – Enhance your spells with the metamagic ability from the sorceror class. Careful spell is a good idea for an AoE spell specialist.
• Medium Armor Master – +1 AC if you have at least 16 dexterity (when wearing medium armor) and no disadvantage on stealth checks when in medium armor. A great option for a class that relies heavily on medium armor to make sure they’re not too vulnerable. Especially as you might invest a little more in dexterity for your ranged weapon (but perhaps not enough to make light armor your best option).
• Shadow touched – Not quite as good as fey touched as you can get invisibility through your class list, but a couple of extra prepared spells and free castings remains useful for an artificer.
• Skill Expert – Better at even more skills is great.
• Skilled – 3 more skills to be proficient in is also great.
• Spell Sniper – Double spell range for attack spells, can ignore cover for spells attacks and an extra cantrip. All very handy for an artillerist that might rely on spells for damage dealing and wants to stay out of danger.

Weapons

While you may choose to focus on spell damage, before you get access to arcane firearm, you’ll likely get more out of using certain weapons for your damage, especially if your DM is allowing firearms or you’re using infusions. I’d keep in mind that you’ll likely want your arcane firearm in one hand and either a one handed weapon or a shield in the other. As such, I’d avoid two handed weapons and instead recommend the following weapons:

• Pistol – Your highest damage one-handed, ranged weapon. Wield it alongside your arcane firearm/spellcasting focus. If you’re going for full hands, then you’ll need the repeating shot infusion.
• Hand Crossbow – Decent ranged option that only requires one hand so you can wield your arcane firearm in your other hand. Again, you’ll need the repeating shot infusion for this combination.
• Dagger – Can be used for ranged and melee attacks giving you attacks of opportunity but only does d4 damage.
• Just a shield – You might decide that most of the time, you’d rather just cast spells and have the extra protection of a shield. Especially by level 5, this is very viable and potentially even the stronger option.

Armor

You likely won’t want to invest so heavily in dexterity that light armor is worthwhile. This means going for medium armor. You’ll probably want to start with scale mail and upgrade to half plate once you’re able to.

Artillerists don’t have that many hit points so having a shield (even if it occupies one of your hands) is often worthwhile at the sacrifice of a little damage output. This becomes less of a sacrifice once arcane firearm kicks in at level 5 and you use your spell attacks to do more damage than weapons.

Other class guides

Not sure an artillerist is for you. Why not check out one of our other class guides for more inspiration.