Which artificer subclasses are best and what are they good at?
Artificers are the inventors and technomancers of the D&D universe and I’ve been running deep dives into each of their 5 subclasses, recently released for D&D 2024. These are:
- Alchemist – Create potions and elixirs to provide healing and enhancements.
- Armorer – Create enhanced armor that enhances their combat capabilities.
- Artillerist – Specialise in firearms and explosives, including the use of an eldritch cannon.
- Battle smith – Battle-trained with combat and medical skills. They’re supported by a robotic companions.
- Cartographer – A teleport and transportation specialist that can easily navigate the battlefield.
In this article, I’m going to dive into the capabilities of each subclass, what they’re good at and which are the best.
Alchemist
What are they?
Artificers that can brew powerful elixirs to enhance themselves and allies. They are able to buff and provide support healing.
Key abilities
- Tools of the trade (lv3) – Proficiency with alchemist’s supplies and the herbalism kit. Also have half crafting time on potions.
- Alchemist spells (lv3) – Gain additional spells known including the likes of healing word, mass healing word, vitriolic sphere and raise dead.
- Experimental elixir (lv3) – Produce random potions each day that can do things like heal, speed up movement and grant flight. You can expend spell slots to produce even more elixirs.
- Alchemical savant (Lv5) – Enhance your healing and spell damage from acid, fire and poison damage.
- Restorative reagents (Lv9) – Cast lesser restoration a few times each long rest without using spell slots.
- Chemical mastery (Lv15) – Resistance to acid and poison damage, immunity to the poisoned condition, more damage from acid, fire and poison spells once per turn and cast Tasha’s bubbling cauldron once per long rest without spell slots or material components.
What are they good at?
Alchemists work best as support casters. They can produce a lot of potions that you can spread round the party and can easily be consumed with a bonus action. They also make decent support healers and between all this, can do decent spell damage.
How effective are they?
Alchemists are fairly good up until level 11. Their elixirs are better than level 1 spells and scale up to something around the power of a level 2 or 3 spell. This makes them a great trade off for your lower level spells and means alchemists can be distributing a lot of really solid healing and buffs each day that can all be granted on a bonus action.
A modest damage boost means they’re also decent enough in the damage department. All of this is quite good, but they are hampered by one issue. When spell storing item kicks in at level 11, it’s a really powerful artificer feature, but the core artificer class doesn’t have great level 3 spells to store in the item and use repeatedly. This makes the artificer reliant on strong level 3 subclass spells. Unfortunately, the alchemist gets mass healing word (which is ineligible with its bonus action casting time) and gaseous form which you won’t use enough to make full use of your spell storing item.
Sadly, this one issue with the subclass is a big issue at mid to high levels. At lower levels, the alchemist is a solid 4, but their poor options for spell storing item drag them down to a 3.
Score: 3/5
Armorer
What are they?
Can create a powerful suit of armor with substantial enhancements. This allows them to become capable warriors along with a few other benefits. There are 3 different armor types available, each with different capabilities that you can swap around.
Key abilities
- Tools of the trade (lv3) – Gain proficiency with heavy armor and smith’s tools and half the time for crafting armor.
- Armorer spells (lv3) – Gain additional spells known including the likes of thunderwave, shatter, hypnotic pattern and lightning bolt.
- Arcane armor (lv3) – Turn a suit of armor into arcane armor. It now doesn’t have a strength requirement, can be donned and doffed with a utilise action and can be used as a spellcasting focus.
- Armor model (lv3) – Turn your arcane armor into one of 3 armor models with a built in weapon; dreadnaught, guardian or infiltrator. The special weapon of these armor models uses your intelligence for attacks and damage rolls.
- Extra attack (Lv5) – You gain an extra attack.
- Improved armorer (Lv9) – Gain a new replicate magic item plan that must be in the armor category. Your special weapon from your armor model gains +1 to attack and damage rolls.
- Perfected armor (Lv15) – Your armor models gain extra damage and enhanced capabilities.
What are they good at?
Dealing damage. The exact capabilities depends on your armor model. Some will help you with hit and run tactics, others will make you an attack drawing, minor tank, others give you ranged attacks and stealth capabilities.
How effective are they?
Armorers are perhaps your most adaptable option as an artificer. Need to be stealthing, use infiltrator armor. Party needs more of a tank option, use the guardian armor. Got plenty of frontline martials so it’s more important to keep your artificer surviving in melee combat, use the dreadnaught armor.
The damage and durability are all quite decent, but not as good as typical martials, and that can make survivability and impact a little challenging, but there is enough here to make this work reasonably well.
Importantly, they have a decent option for spell storing item at level 11. Lightning bolt is a good choice to cast over and over for plenty of damage. Hypnotic pattern is a better spell and a decent option here too, but it’s the kind of thing you cast maybe once per encounter at most making lightning bolt a better option for spell storing item.
Overall, the armorer is good, but not remarkable, making a decent martial option for an artificer.
Score: 4/5
Artillerist
What are they?
Specialists in firearms and explosives. They can create cannons that can fire projectiles, engulf in flame or provide protection.
Key abilities
- Tools of the trade (lv3) – Gain proficiency in firearms and woodcarvers tools and craft wands in half the time.
- Artillerist spells (lv3) – Gain spells known including shield, fireball and wall of force.
- Eldritch cannon (lv3) – Create a cannon you can fire with a bonus action that can shoot projectiles, exhale fire and protect with temporary hit points.
- Arcane firearm (lv5) – Turn a rod, staff, wand or martial ranged weapon into an arcane firearm which can be used as a spellcasting focus and grants a damage bonus to your spells.
- Explosive cannon (Lv9) – Your eldritch cannon becomes more powerful and can be detonated as a reaction.
- Fortified position (Lv15) – Eldritch cannons provide half cover to nearby allies and you can now create and use 2 at the same time.
What are they good at?
Dealing ranged damage and providing protection. Artillerists have a fairly substantial damage output with strong AoE spells and multiple ranged attacks.
How effective are they?
Artillerists are relatively easy to use compared to other artificer subclasses. You’ll want to fire off cantrips and spells with your arcane firearm and use your bonus action for your eldritch cannon. There’s obviously a lot in between this when it comes to positioning (do you get your cannon closer to danger to use the higher damage flamethrower or fire from a distance.for instance). The spells you use will be important too. But primarily, artillerists are damage specialists.
In fact, he damage output of an artillerist is quite high. You’re at range so relatively safe and eldritch cannons are now really versatile as you can choose which cannon option you use each turn.
On top of all of this, they have one of the best options for your spell storing item in fireball. This means you can hand a homunculus servant a spell storing item with up to 10 fireballs stored in it for loads of high damage explosions.
Score: 5/5
Battle smith
What are they?
Melee trained artificers with a robotic companion known as a steel defender that can attack and protect.
Key abilities
- Tools of the trade (lv3) – Gain proficiency with smith’s tools and can craft weapons in half the time.
- Battle smith spells (lv3) – Gain some more spells known including shield, shining smite and conjure barrage.
- Battle ready (lv3) – Can use intelligence for attack and damage rolls instead of strength or dexterity. Also have proficiency with martial weapons and can use a weapon as a spellcasting focus.
- Steel defender (lv3) – Gain a robotic companion that you can command with a bonus action to make attacks. It can also use its reaction to provide protection.
- Extra attack (lv5) – Gain an extra attack.
- Arcane jolt (Lv9) – Some attacks can deal extra damage or healing.
- Improved defender (Lv15) – Arcane jolt becomes more powerful and your steel defender deals some damage when it uses deflect attack.
What are they good at?
Battle smiths tend to excel in close combat. With a robotic companion, they also have an extra bundle of hit points for enemies to deal with and some extra protection giving them just enough protection. Combine that with some spells for damage dealing, protection and healing and they’re also quite versatile combatants.
How effective are they?
Battle smiths are really good. Their damage output is fairly substantial, their steel defender means they have some decent protection and another load of hit points for enemies to tackle and they have some strong spell options, including shield.
They can also be used as a partial healer with the likes of aura of vitality or deal area of effect damage with conjure barrage.
On that note, they also have one of the best spell options for spell storing item in conjure barrage. This has a huge area of effect that doesn’t damage allies making it a prime candidate for repeated uses by a homunculus servant or some other ally for loads of extra damage output.
Score: 5/5
Cartographer
What are they?
Masters of navigation and transportation. They are able to move easily through the most hostile and challenging environments, particularly through the use of magical maps and teleportation.
Key abilities
- Tools of the trade (Lv3) – Gain proficiency with cartographer’s and calligrapher’s tools and scribe scrolls in half the time.
- Cartographer spells (Lv3) – Learn spells like faerie fire, healing word and banishment.
- Adventurer’s atlas (Lv3) – Create magical maps that can be shared with allies. All map holders gain enhanced initiative rolls and always know where each map holder is and can target them with spells regardless of cover and sight.
- Mapping magic (Lv3) – Cast faerie fire without using spell slots and teleport by using half your movement. This will take you 10ft or up to 30ft if next to a map holder.
- Guided precision (Lv5) – Your spells cause a bit more damage if they’re one of your cartographer spells or the target is affected by faerie fire. You also can’t lose concentration on faerie fire by being hit.
- Ingenious movement (Lv9) – When you use flash of genius, you can also cause yourself or an ally to teleport up to 30ft.
- Superior atlas (Lv15) – Cast find the path without using a spell slot and map holders can destroy their map when knocked to 0HP to instead have HP equal to twice your artificer level.
What are they good at?
Moving around the battlefield and helping allies move around. They also have some minor buffs to things like initiative for allies.
How effective are they?
Unfortunately, the cartographer falls a bit flat. Their teleportation is decent enough and is kind on your action economy leaving bonus actions free for other things. The problem is, they end up a bit situational with you reliant on ally positioning or times when you need to use flash of genius.
When it comes to guided precision, their extra damage is really limited by some subpar spells and the features try to tie you down to a faerie fire build that’s maybe only decent at low levels, and kind of poor beyond that.
Sadly, it gets worse when it comes to spell storing item. They have no spells that properly take advantage of a consistently repeated spell. Call lightning is a spell you use when you want to preserve spell slots, but aren’t really there for high damage, repeat castings. Clairvoyance you also don’t need to use often. This leaves you reliant on spells from the core artificer class that also aren’t ideal.
Unfortunately, all of this leaves the cartographer feeling underpowered and poorly implemented.
2/5
Which artificer subclass is best?
Of all the classes in D&D 2024, artificers probably have the biggest gulf in quality. The cartographer is unfortunately a bit dull and lacking in power with some weak features and situational abilities.
At the other end of the spectrum are the artillerist and the battle smith. Both are top tier subclasses with a strong damage output and a good range of utility. They both also have the strongest spell storing item spell options of all the artificers.
For me, I think the artillerist just beats out the battle smith. Partly this is because artificers aren’t naturally the most durable, even with a steel defender protecting them. This means an artillerist on the back lines is more likely to survive and make an impact. I also think that their eldritch cannon now has a lot more versatility allowing them to be even more adaptable, but it is a close one.
Which artificer subclass do you think is best? Let me know in the comments below.
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