Best Replicate Magic Item Options for the Artificer in D&D 2024

Helping you know which magic item plans to choose for your artificer.

Criteria for replicate magic item

Artificers can choose a number of magic item plans from which they can replicate their magic items. This expands as they gain levels. Below are the criteria for what magic items can be replicated at each level:

• Level 2+ – Any item on the level 2+ magic item plans table and any common magic items that aren’t potions, scrolls or cursed.
• Level 6+ – Any item on the level 6+ magic item plans table.
• Level 10+ – Any item on the level 10+ magic item plans table and any uncommon, wondrous item that isn’t cursed.
• Level 14+ – Any item on the level 14+ magic item plans table and any rare, wondrous item that isn’t cursed.

While below I’ll make some recommendations on some of the best magic item options available, you may find other things useful depending on your circumstances. For instance, a character without darkvision may find goggles of the night to be the most practical solution to this problem. In a seafaring campaign, you may find the cap of water breathing to be really useful so don’t be limited by my list below, but this will highlight the really commonly useful magic items.

I’ve also focused here on items that will be directly useful for you as an artificer. However, I’ve also included a section at the end on items that may not be great for an artificer, but are great for other classes in case you want to share.

Best level 2+ magic items

• Bag of holding – Your benefits from this may depend on your DM a little. If you go for more realistic weight carrying rules, this can be invaluable. You can also use for fun things like smuggling people into places (there’s 10 minutes of air in there) or transporting awkward or suspicious things (like a body).
• Clockwork amulet – Roll a guaranteed 10 on an attack roll once per day. This works well when you have a high attack modifier and you know what you need to hit (based on previous rolls) you can then ensure you definitely do hit. It’s probably better on harder hitting allies like rogues or barbarians though.
• Repeating shot – Equal in power to a weapon +1, but now you can ignore the loading property. Great for battle smiths and armorers that want to use a heavy crossbow, pistol or musket and use their extra attack.
• Returning weapon – Equal in power to the +1 weapon, but when you throw this, it returns to your hand. This enables a one handed ranged weapon of up to 1d8 damage (like a trident) allowing you to use your other hand for something else like wielding a shield. If you try and just use standard thrown weapons, that can be more expensive, weaker and also means you can’t use those weapons as a spellcasting focus so this is a practical solution for that.
• Sending stones – A level 3 spell each day at level 2 is quite appealing and this has an unlimited range for sending messages (including across planes). You can only send 25 words, but that may be enough if the party needs to split up or you need to communicate with a patron.
• Shield +1 – +1 AC on a shield wielding character is always a big buff, especially if you’re on the frontlines like an armorer or battle smith might be.
• Weapon +1 – If you’re a battle smith or artillerist, this is going to be a pretty obvious choice, plus you can use it as a spellcasting focus and it’ll work with true strike.
• Wand of the war mage +1 – If you’re going for a more spellcasting focused character, you can boost your spell attacks with this wand. Artificers don’t have loads of spell attacks, but if you expect to use a lot of cantrips, this might be where you use this a lot.

Best level 6+ magic items

• Armor +1 – A boost to AC will always be useful.
• Boots/cloak of elvenkind – Advantage on stealth checks is great if you intend to sneak around a lot which some artificers will. The cloak is better, but requires attunement. If you have attunements to spare, go with the cloak, if you don’t, go with the boots. You can always change plans if this becomes an issue later.
• Dazzling weapon – Upgrade your weapon +1 at level 6 to one that can cause blinded with reactions and create its own light source.
• Gloves of thievery – +5 to sleight of hand will help you compensate as a replacement rogue.
• Helm of awareness – Advantage on initiative rolls is strong if your plan is to strike fast and hard. Especially great on an artillerist that wants to land a couple of fireballs or shatter (via spells and spell storing item for instance) early in combat before martials get in the way.
• Repulsion shield – Upgrade your shield +1 to this so you can make reaction pushes.
• Wand of magic missiles – Hand to your homunculi servant to give them a decent spell attack. Expending multiple charges at once will do less damage than using them individually each turn if you expect to work your way through all the charges on this.
• Wand of web – Another wand you can hand to your homunculi to give them some useful actions in combat. And web is a really good spell.
• Weapon of warning – Advantage on initiative rolls for the party is really good.

Best level 10+ magic items

• Armor of resistance – If you want an extra resistance, this is a decent way to get it, though you will have to sacrifice +1 armor for the benefit. Technically, the DM chooses the resistance (or it’s random) but I’d personally let the artificer choose since they’re building this. If that’s the case, you could even change your armor for a different resistance if you know you’ll be fighting certain types of creatures. If you don’t know what you’ll be fighting, it’s best to use more common resistances like fire or poison.
• Boots of striding and springing – If you want an extra 20ft of movement per turn by jumping, then this is quite a bit better than the ring of jumping as you won’t need a bonus action each combat to activate it.
• Bracers of archery – A good option for a battle smith that wants enhanced damage with a longbow (+2 to be precise). And it stacks with weapon +2.
• Broom of flying – Always available flight without spending a spell slot. It’s also quick at 50ft move speed. Could be worth using just for the extra speed. Great for ranged artificers that want to stay out of trouble but presumably you’ll need a hand to hold onto the broom while flying.
• Cap of vanishing – Essentially 3 castings of a shortened invisibility spell each day. You don’t have to concentrate on this and you can recharge it with level 1 spell slots if needed which is a great exchange for a level 2 spell equivalent.
• Cloak of protection – +1 to your AC and saving throws is quite a bit of extra durability, and it’ll stack with other AC boosting items too.
• Dust of disappearance – Since you can create a new copy of this magic item, the fact it’s consumed after one use isn’t too big a problem. You can easily turn the whole party invisible for 2-8 minutes without concentration. Enough time to sneak around or create an ambush.
• Dust of sneezing and choking – Another where the item is consumed, but you can just recreate it each day. A 30ft emanation is pretty big and incapacitated is fairly debilitating.
• Elemental gem – Summon an elemental for an hour without needing concentration. It’s expended once used, but you can just recreate it again.
• Gloves of missile snaring – You probably won’t have your reaction occupied a lot normally anyway. If you have a hand free, you can reduce incoming, ranged weapon damage by 1d10.
• Shield +2 – Time to replace that shield +1 with even more AC.
• Stone of good luck – +1 to ability checks and saving throws is great if you’ll be using a lot of skills and pretty good even if you won’t be.
• Wand of the war mage +2 – Upgrade your wand of the war mage +1 you’re playing a more spell-focused artificer for better damage.
• Weapon +2 – Or upgrade your weapon +1 if you’re going for more of a weapon wielder.
• Winged boots – A fly speed is handy. They’re slower than a broom of flying, but won’t occupy a hand while you fly.

Best level 14+ magic items

• Amulet of health – Great if you’ve not got a high constitution at this point. Will give you some extra durability, including improved concentration saving throws.
• Armor +2 – Trade in your +1 armor for an even better AC.
• Bead of force – This is basically an expendable forcecage that’s smaller and a little easier to escape, but also deals damage. You’ll only create one bead at a time, but can keep recreating them when they’re expended. This is really good for keeping a few enemies out of the combat while you deal with others.
• Boots of speed – Double speed means you’re really fast, especially if you’re already a bit faster like if you’re a Wood Elf or Dhampir. You can even give them to a monk for some insane levels of speed.
• Bowl of commanding water elementals/brazier of commanding fire elementals/censer of controlling air elementals/stone of controlling earth elementals – Bring an allied summon into play without needing concentration. Great for getting plenty of support into a combat each day.
• Cloak of displacement – Disadvantage on attacks against you is strong. Moving isn’t overly hard and although it ends until your next turn on a hit, this still likely means a decent number of attacks are less likely to hit. And artificers do really benefit from the extra resilience.
• Cube of force – A great way to pick up shield (which is nice for an artificer) or save on spell slots when using shield. It also gives you access to some strong spells like Otikuke’s resilient sphere and wall of force. 5th level spells aren’t normally available to you until level 17, giving you an early boost here.
• Cube of summoning – A level 5 summon produced without needing to use concentration is a great extra body to throw into the fray. This also means you have a level 5 spell 3 levels early.
• Daern’s instant fortress – Basically cover until something can knock 100HP off the fortress and destroy it. That’s a lot of extra damage to remove your protection, and allies can benefit from this too. It may be gone permanently once destroyed, but that’s not a problem for an artificer that can just recreate the item later.
• Flame tongue – The extra damage here is quite a bit better than the +2 you can get from other magic weapons you can craft (average +7). This is probably a go to melee weapon for a melee artificer.
• Mantle of spells resistance – Some great resilience to spells with advantage on all spell saving throws.
• Necklace of fireballs – A decent supply of fireballs without needing to expend any spell slots (plus many artificers don’t get access to the fireball spell). You can even hand this to a summon to throw. When it runs out, you can just replicate another necklace.
• Ring of protection – So this is equal to the cloak of protection you can get at level 10 (so it’s odd it kicks in 4 levels later, but maybe it’s because you can only wear one cloak, but multiple rings), but it can be worth it, partly as you can take both if you really want to stack up on defence.
• Robe of eyes – The best magic item for dealing with invisibility. You get truesight with a range of 120ft plus darkvision (which can replace goggles of the night). Advantage on perception checks is a nice bonus too.
• Wings of flying – Can replace your winged boots for a faster and longer fly time.

Some great magic items for allies

Most artificers will likely want to use their magic items for themself, but if you’re feeling particularly altruistic, you could share your magic items.

There are some items I didn’t highlight above as they aren’t so great for an artificer, but might be really great for other classes. So below I’ve provided some additions to consider if you want to share your buffs.

• Bracers of defense (lv14+) – These are excellent for a monk or barbarian who probably won’t be using armor and shields but will still probably have a decent AC. Now that AC is 2 better.
• Elven chain – This is a top option for sorcerers and wizards who aren’t proficient in any kind of armor. Elven chain treats it like they are proficient, giving you up to 17 AC.
• Instrument of the bards – A load of great spells for a bard to have in their repertoire. I think the better spells come from the Fochlucan bandore and the cli lyre. Sadly, an artificer can’t use this so you’ll need a bard to benefit from this.
• Iron bands of Bilarro – Restrained is great and the DC is tough and creatures only get one chance to save or it affects them for 24hrs. The problem for an artificer is it relies on a high dexterity to hit initially so not the best option for them. But a high dexterity character is a great option for these.
• Wraps of unarmed power – Artificers don’t do well with unarmed attacks, but a bunch of other classes can. This will boost their attacks while not getting in the way of them using unarmed strikes.

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There are loads of great magic items available to artificers to replicate, but there are even more poor options. Hopefully this highlights many of the best options. Have I missed any that you think are really strong? Let me know in the comments below.

Spotlight on Eberron: Forge of the Artificer