So booming blade and green flame blade are both on the artificer's cantrip list. Are either of them worth casting over just simply punching with the thunder gauntlets twice? As I assume you cannot cast BB or GFB twice or punch once more after casting.
Situational, I dont use booming blade tried and didnt like it... but kept Green Flame and only use it when another creature will get hit by the fire....
But I dipped one lvl into War Cleric for the bonus action attack....
I found basic attacks reliably do more damage. Booming Blade i believe could do more damage but only if you trigger the secondary damage. but based on team comp you might have another melee adventurer up front which would convince your target to just not bother moving. then at later levels you could get haste which gives your 3 basic attacks which will definitely do more damage than Booming Blade.
I might suggest booming blade if you are the only melee and your group is cool with kiting targets.
Although at VERY late levels i believe booming blade could reliably do more damage
So booming blade and green flame blade are both on the artificer's cantrip list. Are either of them worth casting over just simply punching with the thunder gauntlets twice? As I assume you cannot cast BB or GFB twice or punch once more after casting.
Armorer DPR is garbage; what matters is getting your debuff out to help protect the party. As a result, 2 punches is better - a second chance to debuff 1 target, or a chance at a second target.
Besides, neither spell is legal with your gauntlets without a houserule.
There is also the issue with Booming Blade that on anything tank like. It's not that effective on anything you really want to use it on. Like the BBEG that may not care about moving around all that much or the enemy tank that is there primarily to tie up and be an obstacle for your parties front liners. It also doesn't trigger on forced movements. So this can potentially be of advantage to both your party and the enemy. Have a druid with gust of wind and the rogue has been booming bladed? Use Gust of Wind to move them instead and shove them right into that big enemy when the rogue likely fails their strength save.
There seems to be two sides : One "it isn't on the list, it isn't a weapon" or "it doesn't have a listed value therefor it doesn't meet the BB M requirements" and one "It is part of the armor-> therfor it ahs value and it is a weapon because it is treated as such" fraction. Go with what your guts tell you, the discussion happened in those two threads:
Here's the thing about Booming Blade... The best feature of the spell is the secondary damage that either just deals extra damage or at least locks an enemy in place. So unless you have some means of stepping away from your opponent safely it's probably not worth the effort. If you're going armorer, you might feel comfortable just tanking a hit, since you've got decent odds of your AC protecting you. Or you could grab the Mobile Feat, which is honestly very useful even if you're not using it to boost BB. In those situations, BB pulls double duty as both a strong attack and also battlefield control.
So between BB and the Gauntlets, it's purely situational. If you want to tank a big enemy it's best to get right in their face and keep their attention on you using the Gauntlets. But if you've got a tricky enemy that darts around the battlefield causing trouble it would be worth it to either pin them in place or at least punish them for their mobility using BB.
Artificers scale strangely, meaning the answer to your question depends on your level as well as the situation. Thunder Gauntlets work very well through level 10. However, as with Battle Smith, Armorer gets relatively little to boost their attacks past level 5, whereas Paladins get Improved Divine Smite on each attack at level 11, Fighters get a third attack, etc. This means that the increase in Booming Blade's potential thunder damage from 3d8 at level 10 to 5d8 at level 11 makes it a lot more tantalising - 3d8 thunder damage (with your gauntlets) plus 3d8 if they move may be more potent than two attacks, especially if there is only one target for your distracting pulse anyway. But before then, Booming Blade is situational to only the times you want to 'lock down' an enemy.
Not sure I'd take Booming Blade on an Armorer personally, on an Arcane Trickster it can be great as you can trigger it then Bonus Action disengage, to force an enemy into potentially having to move, plus you only have one attack anyway as a Rogue. For an Armorer you lose the extra attack and don't have an easy way to encourage movement.
Green-Flame Blade is a better option IMO, especially at higher levels once it scales up some more, but it's still quite situational when you'd use it; obviously you want the secondary damage, and you also don't want to use it when imposing disadvantage for tanking will be more important.
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In my experience, I played more of a just-behind-front-liner character and took warcaster and got some good mileage out of booming blade from enemies who tried to run. But on a standard action, I preferred to just extra attack because rolling more dice is fun.
In my experience, I played more of a just-behind-front-liner character and took warcaster and got some good mileage out of booming blade from enemies who tried to run. But on a standard action, I preferred to just extra attack because rolling more dice is fun.
A lot of how many dice you can roll depends on your build and level, since booming blade lets you roll twice if you can make the target run. But honestly, I stand by what I said - if you're an armorer with thunder gauntlets, your main concern is making sure your debuff lands. The only artificer subclass I can envision legitimately being torn between booming blade and extra attack is battlesmith. This might change if we ever get a piercer/crusher/slasher style feat for thunder damage, depending on how the feat is worded.
The recently released Strike of the Giants - Stone Strike feat pairs great with booming blade, plus the extra force damage somewhat makes up for losing an attack.
Personally as a DM I would rule that the extra attack for thunder gauntlets should function with cantrips the same way a bladesinger's does.
So booming blade and green flame blade are both on the artificer's cantrip list. Are either of them worth casting over just simply punching with the thunder gauntlets twice? As I assume you cannot cast BB or GFB twice or punch once more after casting.
Situational, I dont use booming blade tried and didnt like it... but kept Green Flame and only use it when another creature will get hit by the fire....
But I dipped one lvl into War Cleric for the bonus action attack....
I found basic attacks reliably do more damage. Booming Blade i believe could do more damage but only if you trigger the secondary damage. but based on team comp you might have another melee adventurer up front which would convince your target to just not bother moving. then at later levels you could get haste which gives your 3 basic attacks which will definitely do more damage than Booming Blade.
I might suggest booming blade if you are the only melee and your group is cool with kiting targets.
Although at VERY late levels i believe booming blade could reliably do more damage
Armorer DPR is garbage; what matters is getting your debuff out to help protect the party. As a result, 2 punches is better - a second chance to debuff 1 target, or a chance at a second target.
Besides, neither spell is legal with your gauntlets without a houserule.
Please don't start this discussion again.
There is also the issue with Booming Blade that on anything tank like. It's not that effective on anything you really want to use it on. Like the BBEG that may not care about moving around all that much or the enemy tank that is there primarily to tie up and be an obstacle for your parties front liners. It also doesn't trigger on forced movements. So this can potentially be of advantage to both your party and the enemy. Have a druid with gust of wind and the rogue has been booming bladed? Use Gust of Wind to move them instead and shove them right into that big enemy when the rogue likely fails their strength save.
What about them isn't legal with the gauntlets?
This issue has been discussed so much before.
There seems to be two sides : One "it isn't on the list, it isn't a weapon" or "it doesn't have a listed value therefor it doesn't meet the BB M requirements" and one "It is part of the armor-> therfor it ahs value and it is a weapon because it is treated as such" fraction. Go with what your guts tell you, the discussion happened in those two threads:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/artificer/88703-thoughts-on-the-official-armorer
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/artificer/102766-cantrips-teamed-with-thunder-gauntlets
Here's the thing about Booming Blade... The best feature of the spell is the secondary damage that either just deals extra damage or at least locks an enemy in place. So unless you have some means of stepping away from your opponent safely it's probably not worth the effort. If you're going armorer, you might feel comfortable just tanking a hit, since you've got decent odds of your AC protecting you. Or you could grab the Mobile Feat, which is honestly very useful even if you're not using it to boost BB. In those situations, BB pulls double duty as both a strong attack and also battlefield control.
So between BB and the Gauntlets, it's purely situational. If you want to tank a big enemy it's best to get right in their face and keep their attention on you using the Gauntlets. But if you've got a tricky enemy that darts around the battlefield causing trouble it would be worth it to either pin them in place or at least punish them for their mobility using BB.
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Artificers scale strangely, meaning the answer to your question depends on your level as well as the situation. Thunder Gauntlets work very well through level 10. However, as with Battle Smith, Armorer gets relatively little to boost their attacks past level 5, whereas Paladins get Improved Divine Smite on each attack at level 11, Fighters get a third attack, etc. This means that the increase in Booming Blade's potential thunder damage from 3d8 at level 10 to 5d8 at level 11 makes it a lot more tantalising - 3d8 thunder damage (with your gauntlets) plus 3d8 if they move may be more potent than two attacks, especially if there is only one target for your distracting pulse anyway. But before then, Booming Blade is situational to only the times you want to 'lock down' an enemy.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Not sure I'd take Booming Blade on an Armorer personally, on an Arcane Trickster it can be great as you can trigger it then Bonus Action disengage, to force an enemy into potentially having to move, plus you only have one attack anyway as a Rogue. For an Armorer you lose the extra attack and don't have an easy way to encourage movement.
Green-Flame Blade is a better option IMO, especially at higher levels once it scales up some more, but it's still quite situational when you'd use it; obviously you want the secondary damage, and you also don't want to use it when imposing disadvantage for tanking will be more important.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
In my experience, I played more of a just-behind-front-liner character and took warcaster and got some good mileage out of booming blade from enemies who tried to run. But on a standard action, I preferred to just extra attack because rolling more dice is fun.
A lot of how many dice you can roll depends on your build and level, since booming blade lets you roll twice if you can make the target run. But honestly, I stand by what I said - if you're an armorer with thunder gauntlets, your main concern is making sure your debuff lands. The only artificer subclass I can envision legitimately being torn between booming blade and extra attack is battlesmith. This might change if we ever get a piercer/crusher/slasher style feat for thunder damage, depending on how the feat is worded.
The recently released Strike of the Giants - Stone Strike feat pairs great with booming blade, plus the extra force damage somewhat makes up for losing an attack.
Personally as a DM I would rule that the extra attack for thunder gauntlets should function with cantrips the same way a bladesinger's does.
Booming Blade is OP on an artillerist;