Armorer Artificer Builds

 Even though I'm playing in several D&D campaigns, I feel like it's not enough - there are so many characters I want to play!

The armorer is the newest subclass for D&D's newest class. The very short, easy pitch is that if you want to play Iron Man, this is your subclass.

The core to the class is Arcane Armor. As an action, you can turn a suit of armor you're wearing into Arcane Armor (note that this can include heavy armor, as the subclass gives you that proficiency). The benefits to this are multifold: first off, you get to ignore any strength requirement (unlike plate-wearing clerics, no need to invest in strength to use your full movement.) You can also don and doff it as an action (which is pretty awesome, as heavy armor takes forever to get on or take off, which can be a real problem if there's an attack on your campsite and you had to sleep out of your armor to recover hit dice.) The armor also covers your entire body and even acts as a prosthetic for any missing limbs (which could be an interesting RP choice) and cannot be removed from you against your will. Also, you get to use it as a spellcasting focus.

That's only the first bit.

Obviously, flavor-wise, the idea here is that your armor is basically a magical weapons-platform. While Iron Man is the most obvious example, another recent work to look at is The Mandalorian. His "whistling birds," which are tiny target-seeking anti-personnel missiles that fire in big clusters, could easily be the way you flavor Magic Missile (which is one of your specialist spells.)

What I think is particularly cool, and also raises some very interesting questions about how you want to build your character, is that Arcane Armor has two modes - Guardian and Infiltrator.

Guardian is the mode that I think works most obviously with heavy armor, as it's the "tanking" mode. Both modes get a built-in weapon. In the Guardian mode, your gauntlets act as simple melee weapons that deal 1d8 thunder damage. Also, you get to use Intelligence rather than Strength for your attack and damage rolls, which is something I really like to see in any "caster that uses weapons" type of class (part of why I think the Hexblade Warlock is maybe too good compared to any other Warlock subclass for those who want to go Pact of the Blade.)

When you hit with the weapon, the target will have disadvantage on attacks against targets that aren't you until the end of their next turn, which gives you a sort of Ancestral Guardian-style taunt ability.

You can also use a bonus action (PB times per day) to give yourself some temporary hit points.

Naturally, I think that those who want to focus on Guardian mode should use a shield (the gauntlets aren't considered light, so I assume you can't "dual-wield" them. I'd also recommend taking Green Flame Blade as one of your cantrips (and possibly Booming Blade or another melee-cantrip as another) given how well that will complement a melee fighting style. (In fact, Green Flame Blade ought to pull ahead even in single-target damage by the time you get to tier 4).

The only real downside to this "tank" build is that you're going to have lower health on average than the fighters, paladins, and certainly barbarians that often take that role, given your d8 hit die. Granted, you'll also get infusions to your armor and shield that will likely make you a lot harder to hit. If you really want to commit to this tanking style, the Tough feat is something you might consider, as it'll effectively give you a d12 hit die instead.

In terms of infusions, until you hit level 9 (when you get to put different infusions on different parts of the armor) you'll have to decide between a few important ones. Typically, I think the obvious ones to choose between are Enhanced Defense and Enhanced Weapon. Each of these are a +1 bonus to a weapon or piece of armor that upgrades to +2 when you have 10 levels of Artificer. One thing to consider here is that, due to the fact that your Thunder Gauntlets do thunder instead of bludgeoning damage, you can actually get away without making it a magic weapon, as it'll still do full damage to most enemies thanks to its damage type. And if you're tanking, having a bonus to your armor is going to be quite nice. In fact, with Enhanced Defense and a Repulsion Shield, by level 10 if you have full plate, you're going to be at 23 AC (get a Cloak and a Ring of Protection at higher levels to get all the way to 25 - you can get all of this with only mundane items and infusions.)

However, there's a whole other style of armorer, and that's the infiltrator.

In infiltrator mode, you get the following benefits: your movement speed goes up by 5 feet, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and you have a simple ranged weapon: the Lightning Launcher.

First off, we should address the stealth bonus. On one hand, you could go with heavy armor and have this simply cancel out the usual stealth disadvantage. This is actually not terrible - not only does it mean you'll have a straight roll in heavy armor, but any other factors that might make it hard to sneak around - maybe a foe has Faerie Fire on you or you're wearing a "down with Asmodeus" t-shirt among a bunch of infernal cultists - will also be mitigated by your armor.

Also, while you are proficient in heavy armor, that doesn't mean you have to wear it. You could wear a Breastplate and just have actual advantage (or even Half Plate if you invest in the Medium Armor Master feat.)

I should also take this moment to point out that it might depend on how your DM handles this, but if you get your hands on a set of Mithril armor, if your DM considers that sufficiently "non-magic" to infuse, it might make this whole thing moot.

The ranged weapon has a slightly longer range than a Shortbow, which is already pretty good (the short range is 90 feet) and the damage is comparable, but a little better. The damage is 1d6 lightning damage (again, it's a weapon, so you can add your modifier, which in this case can be Dexterity or Intelligence) and once per turn when you hit, you can add 1d6 to that (the wording is a bit fiddly - I'm not sure the damage counts as "part of the attack," so you might not be able to double it up on crits, but as a DM I'd probably allow that.)

If you want to focus on this mode, first off I think you might dispense with the melee cantrips, as you're probably going more for long-range. Given that, though, the need for high AC is kind of lessened. Indeed, if you want to take advantage of the stealth... advantage, you'll want to go with some lighter form of armor. This does mean you'll want to invest at least a +2 in Dexterity to max out any Medium Armor you wear. The good news, though, is that if you're not worried so much about being in melee, you can also put less of an emphasis on Constitution, which frees you up a bit for Dex.

In fact, you might even consider getting considerably high dexterity for two reasons - one to aid with stealth (not to mention what is probably the most common saving throw in 5e) but also so that you can use other ranged weapons. If your campaign is in a setting with firearms, Artificers can use them, but generally only Battle-Smiths are likely to use them. However, with a strong focus on Dex in addition to your Int, you'd be able to use these as well.

The lightning launcher is probably going to be better than most ranged weapons in most situations - if we assume you have a +4 Int by level 5, (and you're hitting all the time,) you're doing an average of 19.5 damage, compared to even a heavy crossbow with comparable Dex (which you probably won't have), which would be 19.

But once firearms enter the picture, the damage can get a lot higher - with renaissance weapons, a musket will do 21 with the aforementioned stats, and if you get into modern weapons, a Hunting Rifle will do 28. (And dear lord, if you have futuristic weapons, it's crazy.)

Now, Infiltrator-focused infusions: naturally, an Enhanced Weapon on your Lightning Launcher is going to be a solid choice. If you go for the high-dex, firearms-wielding build, you could put Repeating Shot on it to never run out of ammo (if firearms are rare in your setting, this is invaluable.) A Homunculus Servant is also, actually, not a terrible option, as their fairly high perception bonus (by level 17 it'll be +12) can make for a pretty good spotter. Personally, for both modes, but especially Infiltrator, I love Winged Boots. You can easily fly out of range of any melee-only foes, nailing them with lightning shots from above. If you're worried about the recharge time on the Winged Boots (which shouldn't be too much of a problem if you aren't always using them) Slippers of Spider Climbing can be an alternative, letting you fire from the walls or ceiling in any indoor space. Bracers of Archery as a replicated magic item could work, but it depends on how liberal your DM is in interpreting its bonus - whether it's just a +2 to all ranged weapon damage or if it only applies to bows.

Now, of course, if you want to take advantage of both modes, you'll need to make some compromises. The way I see it, I think the easiest compromise is to just go with heavy armor but keep a high dex (though still focusing on Intelligence and Constitution - Dex should be your third stat.) If you can get proficiency with stealth and some decent Dex, it'll still mean that you'll be rolling mostly pretty well - though perhaps not quite Rogue levels. And given your long range, along with magic to help evade detection with things like invisibility, you can be pretty sneaky without compromising your capabilities as a tank. If you have the room for a Medium Armor Master feat and +3 Dexterity, you can really commit to having it both ways - half plate granting equivalent AC to plate, but with no stealth penalty. Also, having +3 or more to your Dex will also make you sneakier anyway. However, in order to pull that off, you'll have to roll pretty high stats (or dump Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma if you're point-buying it.)

What's great about all of this is that on top of it, you've got access to all the Artificer Spells. That includes some nice ones for your specialization (including lightning bolt, which might not be as good as fireball thanks to its shape, but does the same amount of damage) as well as the whole toolkit.

I think the Armorer is a really exciting and interesting new subclass, and the one I think I'm most interested in playing.