My take on Armorer is that it's a combination Tank and Battlefield-control focused class, and I would take feats that feed into that.
Mobile is always a useful feat for Tank characters because it makes it easier for them to position themselves in defensive positions to maximize protecting their allies. You're able to move 10 extra feet (which, if you have your armor in Infiltrator mode, boosts your movement by 15), and gives you a means of moving past enemies without triggering opportunity attacks. You'll have the speed of a monk and the armor of a Paladin.
In that same vein, Sentinel is probably the best Tank feat in the game. The ability to pin down foes and force them to deal with you is unprecedented, especially since it lets you ignore the Disengage action. It can get a little tricky because it competes with the Reaction feature you get at level 15, but I figure it's better to have too many options instead of none.
If you'd rather focus primarily on the Infiltrator Armor, then it might be worth grabbing Sharpshooter. It gives a massive boost to range, lets you ignore cover, and according to a lot of math I've seen online, accepting the -5 to-hit for a +10 to damage, on average, results in overall higher damage across the board.
Shield Master is a great feat... you have no reason to carry a two-handed weapon, since your gauntlets function as your weapons and you really only need one. Getting the ability to shove an enemy prone can put them at a huge disadvantage... its' an easy way to get advantage on your opponent. The tricky thing is, as an Artificer, you might not have the STR necessary to reliably shove opponents, but if you take the Armor of Magical Strength infusion you can dramatically boost your ability to knock enemies prone, since the Shove Action is a Skill Check, and not an attack. Will be more useful, though, for an Artificer who still has good STR, so you don't have to spend your charge each time.
In a similar vein to Shield Master, Telekinetic is a great battlefield control ability that gives you a great use for your Bonus Action round-after-round. If you're focused on Tanking with Guardian Armor, you can use the Telekinetic shove to pull enemies closer to you, or even pull allies out of range of a melee opponent so you can interpose yourself instead. If you're focused on Ranged fighting as an Infiltrator, you can use it to push enemies away from yourself or, if your allies are cool with it, pull a melee fighter into AOO range of an enemy to make sure they can't freely chase you.
Tough isn't super exciting, but it's a damn useful feat for an Armorer because, despite all your tanky options, you're still only getting a d8 of HP at each level up, so boosting that will add a subtle, but important amount of additional health for you to rely on when things get heated.
Finally, there's Warcaster, which is generally useful for all spellcasters, but Artificers on average focus a lot on Concentration-based Battlefield control spells, and if you're going to be running into the middle of combat and are expecting to get attacked round-after-round, that boost to concentration checks really helps. I'm not sure if the ability perform somatic components is much of a factor, since you can already use your armor itself as a spellcasting focus. But the ability to cast a spell instead of an AOO is great, especially since you can use it to Booming Blade and basically guarantee a little extra damage from their movement, but there's still plenty of other spells you could dish out.
Whew. Got a little more in-depth than I thought I would, but once I got into the list of feats I got thinking more and more. I thought Elemental Adept would be super useful for this build, since the gauntlets deal elemental damage, but the feat only applies to spells, not magical weapons.
This is very helpful, thank you. I'm curious, for an Artificer who does have decent Strength, do you think Sentinel or Shield Master would be a better pick for a first feat?
Infiltrator: you're out of melee range anyway, but if anyone gets close you don't gain disadvantage. Additionally, with the RS Hand Xbow, you can shoot them with lightning, shoot them again with advantage (Lvl 15+), then shoot them with your HXbow with advantage, dealing 2d6+Int Lightning + 2d6+Int Lightning + 1d6+Dex Piercing + 2d6 Lightning.
Checking math:
Attack - 1d6 + Int + 1d6 extra for the first hit (+1 for Enhanced Weapon)
Attack - 1d6 + Int (+1d6 at level 15) (+1 for Enhanced Weapon) for the second hit
Crossbow Expert is bad on an Armorer because you partially defeat the purpose of choosing Armorer over Battle Smith when you lean into a weapon you have to use Dexterity on instead of Intelligence.
I'd loosely arrange the best Armorer feats as:
Fey Touched ([Tooltip Not Found])
Sentinel or Skill Expert (Stealth), depending on which armor model you want to lean into.
Shadow-Touched is potentially the second best feat if you want to lean hard into Infiltrator mode. Free invisibility once per day and access to a 1st level illusion spell that’s probably not otherwise available to you. What’s not to like if you like to sneak?
If you are a fan of feats and start with a 17 INT, it’s not crazy to take an INT half feat for three of your ASIs. All the INT half feats are good for Armorers in some way.
Although TK and Shield Master are solid feats, remember that Guardian mode Armorers will probably need to replenish their defensive field THP every few rounds, so there’s some mild bonus action competition. Shield Master is more useful after you get Flash of Genius so you can more reliably save completely on DEX saves. Likewise, the bonus action competition from Defensive Field makes Misty Step from Fey-Touched just a little worse than it normally is, though it’s still great.
War Caster is not as useful on Armorers as it is on other casters. You don’t need the concentration advantage as much because you have proficiency in CON saves and likely have a decent CON. You are less likely to want to use a cantrip over your arcane armor weapons, particularly if you also have Sentinel. I wouldn’t even include it in the Armorer list, though I would for Artillerist and Alchemist.
Infiltrator: you're out of melee range anyway, but if anyone gets close you don't gain disadvantage. Additionally, with the RS Hand Xbow, you can shoot them with lightning, shoot them again with advantage (Lvl 15+), then shoot them with your HXbow with advantage, dealing 2d6+Int Lightning + 2d6+Int Lightning + 1d6+Dex Piercing + 2d6 Lightning.
Checking math:
Attack - 1d6 + Int + 1d6 extra for the first hit (+1 for Enhanced Weapon)
Attack - 1d6 + Int (+1d6 at level 15) (+1 for Enhanced Weapon) for the second hit
Bonus - 1d6 + Dex +1 (Repeating Shot Infusion)
Where does the final +2d6 come from?
My mistake, it should be +1d6 lightning. This is due to the level 15 ability that causes the next attack to be made with advantage, and if it hits it deals an additional 1d6 lightning damage:
Infiltrator. Any creature that takes lightning damage from your Lightning Launcher glimmers with magical light until the start of your next turn. The glimmering creature sheds dim light in a 5-foot radius, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls against you, as the light jolts it if it attacks you. In addition, the next attack roll against it has advantage, and if that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d6 lightning damage.
That is how you get 2d6 on the second LL shot, as you can only add the 1d6 once per turn, but the glimmer from level 15 is any creature you hit, no limit per turn.
For me, I do try to make sure that my feats are thematically driven, and not just for min-maxing. I have played Artificer Armorers twice now, one ended at L5, one hit L5 in an ongoing game. Here's what I've considered
Skilled / Skill Expert / Prodigy / Keen Mind / Observant - Artificers are Int based and if you played them more like the bookish smart type, these all fit in that theme nicely while bumping Int
Magic Initiate (Wizard) / Ritual Caster / Strixhaven Initiate - If your Artificer is focused on increasing their Magic Knowledge
Dungeon Delver / Skulker - If you don't have a Rogue and are filling that position in your party
Spell Sniper / Sharpshooter - If you're primarily ranged, pick the one that matches what you've focused on (magic or weapons)
Shield Master / Crossbow Expert - If you use either of these the Feat can boost them nicely.
Telekinetic - Control during battle + mage hand fits nicely with Artificers for range tinkering/slight of hand. In my game we encountered a creature that psychically bonded with me for a bit and gave me minor powers.
Fey Touched - Elf in my 2nd game, this gives Misty Step which can get you out of a jam if you're primarily ranged + an additional spell. I took Hunters Mark for even more damage, but lots of good choices.
Edit: Oops... I reread the OP and realized it was focused on Armourer. Oh well.. here are my takes on the other subclasses.
Well... I am a fanboy of Aberrant Dragonmark on any character. Con is always good, Sorc cantrip and 1st level, free damage and THP. , and Epic boons at level 10 (if allowed in-game).
The second Fav is Eldritch Adept. It basically a feat that can replace itself per level. It can be RP'ed as the Artificers "project of the month" above and beyond Infusions.
For the Alchemist the Healer feat is great (duh). use your action to patch them up and interact action to pass them an Elixir for more healing (or buffs). Also using the healing kit instead of burning off spell slots for Cure Wounds or Healing elixirs, allows for more versatility.
Armour, I found good use with Heavy Armor Master if you wear heavy armour. The +1 Strenght is meh for the class, but a good way to make the stat even. But the secret is the -3 damage from BPS. See there is no limit to how many attacks this reduces, and when you have a high AC (because you infused the +1 Ac right?) and are rocking min +3 THP. Effectively you can take 4 damage three-time (12 total) before even dipping into your real HP. This also stacks with BPS resistance (as this is damage reduction, not resistance) if you can get it.
Battlemaster, try out Mounted Combatant if you are a small creature riding your Steeldefender. You can create a feedback loop where if something attacks your SD, you can cause it to attack you instead, which then procs the SD deflect attack against the foe. Also giving the SD Evasion is sweet. If you are not mounting your SD then Inspiring Leader worked for me. Now you can give your SD and (team) THP. (This gets a little MADD as you need CHA at 13)
Artillest is a little tough but, going with the idea of a blaster, Spell Sniper. The range is cool (which can get some spells around the same 120ft range of the Eldritch Cannons) but it the "ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover" that I am after, because the Force Ballista you "Make a ranged spell attack, originating from the cannon". Now you have armour piercing rounds on your Eldritch Cannons :) Finally, you can pick up the dread Eldritch Blast cantrip, but my preferred pick for this is Thorn whip which results in a 60 ft range, 20ft pull (and then blast then with the Force Ballista for a 5 ft push, 10ft with 2)
The Healer Feat becomes redundant once you have Spell Storing Item, as you can store 10 charges of Cure Wounds or Healing Word per day for free. Plus, you don't have the drawback of only being able to heal a character once per short/long rest, like you have with the Healer Feat. Otherwise, I like your list!
You can store 10 charges of Cure Wounds but not Healing Word. Spell-Storing Item states that the spell must have a casting time of an action and Healing Word is a bonus action spell.
Infiltrator: you're out of melee range anyway, but if anyone gets close you don't gain disadvantage. Additionally, with the RS Hand Xbow, you can shoot them with lightning, shoot them again with advantage (Lvl 15+), then shoot them with your HXbow with advantage, dealing 2d6+Int Lightning + 2d6+Int Lightning + 1d6+Dex Piercing + 2d6 Lightning.
Checking math:
Attack - 1d6 + Int + 1d6 extra for the first hit (+1 for Enhanced Weapon)
Attack - 1d6 + Int (+1d6 at level 15) (+1 for Enhanced Weapon) for the second hit
Bonus - 1d6 + Dex +1 (Repeating Shot Infusion)
Where does the final +2d6 come from?
My mistake, it should be +1d6 lightning. This is due to the level 15 ability that causes the next attack to be made with advantage, and if it hits it deals an additional 1d6 lightning damage:
Infiltrator. Any creature that takes lightning damage from your Lightning Launcher glimmers with magical light until the start of your next turn. The glimmering creature sheds dim light in a 5-foot radius, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls against you, as the light jolts it if it attacks you. In addition, the next attack roll against it has advantage, and if that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d6 lightning damage.
That is how you get 2d6 on the second LL shot, as you can only add the 1d6 once per turn, but the glimmer from level 15 is any creature you hit, no limit per turn.
Thats LL hit (1d6 + Int + 1d6 extra damage from a hit )+ LL hit (1d6+ Int +id6 from glimmer) + Crossbow hit (1d6+dex) + ??? (2d6)
Its that final one I don't get, since the extra d6s from hits are already built into the. lightning launcher attacks you showed.
Appreciate your responses, just wondering if I'm missing something and short-changing myself.
Yeah, the 2d6 lightning on the crossbow hit was supposed to be 1d6 lightning because the glimmer applies eachtime you hit with LL. That is why your second lightning launcher attack and crossbow attack are both made with advantage and get an extra 1d6 lightning damage (assuming all of your LL attacks hit).
Hope that helps!
That fixes it and makes sense, I totally didn't think about that it was every time. Thank you!
The Healer Feat becomes redundant once you have Spell Storing Item, as you can store 10 charges of Cure Wounds or Healing Word per day for free. Plus, you don't have the drawback of only being able to heal a character once per short/long rest, like you have with the Healer Feat. Otherwise, I like your list!
You can store 10 charges of Cure Wounds but not Healing Word. Spell-Storing Item states that the spell must have a casting time of an action and Healing Word is a bonus action spell.
Thanks. The main reason I picked healer with the kit is it is much cheaper and easier to acquire then Healing potion. The short long rest is less of an issue for most parties as a short rest happen after every other encounter (first battle I heal you with band aid, second battle elixers and spells). Having "Aid" in a spelling storing item is more useful as I can increase the party whole with HPM which does stack with the THP the elixers give later on.
The Healer feat and with the kit is basically a discount healing potion and spare the dying cantrip (5gp for 10 or 1 potion for 50g)
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Refresh this one and post what feats work and why.... and.... here.... we..... go!
My take on Armorer is that it's a combination Tank and Battlefield-control focused class, and I would take feats that feed into that.
Mobile is always a useful feat for Tank characters because it makes it easier for them to position themselves in defensive positions to maximize protecting their allies. You're able to move 10 extra feet (which, if you have your armor in Infiltrator mode, boosts your movement by 15), and gives you a means of moving past enemies without triggering opportunity attacks. You'll have the speed of a monk and the armor of a Paladin.
In that same vein, Sentinel is probably the best Tank feat in the game. The ability to pin down foes and force them to deal with you is unprecedented, especially since it lets you ignore the Disengage action. It can get a little tricky because it competes with the Reaction feature you get at level 15, but I figure it's better to have too many options instead of none.
If you'd rather focus primarily on the Infiltrator Armor, then it might be worth grabbing Sharpshooter. It gives a massive boost to range, lets you ignore cover, and according to a lot of math I've seen online, accepting the -5 to-hit for a +10 to damage, on average, results in overall higher damage across the board.
Shield Master is a great feat... you have no reason to carry a two-handed weapon, since your gauntlets function as your weapons and you really only need one. Getting the ability to shove an enemy prone can put them at a huge disadvantage... its' an easy way to get advantage on your opponent. The tricky thing is, as an Artificer, you might not have the STR necessary to reliably shove opponents, but if you take the Armor of Magical Strength infusion you can dramatically boost your ability to knock enemies prone, since the Shove Action is a Skill Check, and not an attack. Will be more useful, though, for an Artificer who still has good STR, so you don't have to spend your charge each time.
In a similar vein to Shield Master, Telekinetic is a great battlefield control ability that gives you a great use for your Bonus Action round-after-round. If you're focused on Tanking with Guardian Armor, you can use the Telekinetic shove to pull enemies closer to you, or even pull allies out of range of a melee opponent so you can interpose yourself instead. If you're focused on Ranged fighting as an Infiltrator, you can use it to push enemies away from yourself or, if your allies are cool with it, pull a melee fighter into AOO range of an enemy to make sure they can't freely chase you.
Tough isn't super exciting, but it's a damn useful feat for an Armorer because, despite all your tanky options, you're still only getting a d8 of HP at each level up, so boosting that will add a subtle, but important amount of additional health for you to rely on when things get heated.
Finally, there's Warcaster, which is generally useful for all spellcasters, but Artificers on average focus a lot on Concentration-based Battlefield control spells, and if you're going to be running into the middle of combat and are expecting to get attacked round-after-round, that boost to concentration checks really helps. I'm not sure if the ability perform somatic components is much of a factor, since you can already use your armor itself as a spellcasting focus. But the ability to cast a spell instead of an AOO is great, especially since you can use it to Booming Blade and basically guarantee a little extra damage from their movement, but there's still plenty of other spells you could dish out.
Whew. Got a little more in-depth than I thought I would, but once I got into the list of feats I got thinking more and more. I thought Elemental Adept would be super useful for this build, since the gauntlets deal elemental damage, but the feat only applies to spells, not magical weapons.
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Thanks this is super usefull!!
This is very helpful, thank you. I'm curious, for an Artificer who does have decent Strength, do you think Sentinel or Shield Master would be a better pick for a first feat?
Checking math:
Where does the final +2d6 come from?
Crossbow Expert is bad on an Armorer because you partially defeat the purpose of choosing Armorer over Battle Smith when you lean into a weapon you have to use Dexterity on instead of Intelligence.
I'd loosely arrange the best Armorer feats as:
Shadow-Touched is potentially the second best feat if you want to lean hard into Infiltrator mode. Free invisibility once per day and access to a 1st level illusion spell that’s probably not otherwise available to you. What’s not to like if you like to sneak?
If you are a fan of feats and start with a 17 INT, it’s not crazy to take an INT half feat for three of your ASIs. All the INT half feats are good for Armorers in some way.
Although TK and Shield Master are solid feats, remember that Guardian mode Armorers will probably need to replenish their defensive field THP every few rounds, so there’s some mild bonus action competition. Shield Master is more useful after you get Flash of Genius so you can more reliably save completely on DEX saves. Likewise, the bonus action competition from Defensive Field makes Misty Step from Fey-Touched just a little worse than it normally is, though it’s still great.
War Caster is not as useful on Armorers as it is on other casters. You don’t need the concentration advantage as much because you have proficiency in CON saves and likely have a decent CON. You are less likely to want to use a cantrip over your arcane armor weapons, particularly if you also have Sentinel. I wouldn’t even include it in the Armorer list, though I would for Artillerist and Alchemist.
Your original statement was:
(dealing 2d6+Int Lightning) + (2d6+Int Lightning) + (1d6+Dex Piercing) + (2d6 Lightning)
Thats LL hit (1d6 + Int + 1d6 extra damage from a hit )+ LL hit (1d6+ Int +id6 from glimmer) + Crossbow hit (1d6+dex) + ??? (2d6)
Its that final one I don't get, since the extra d6s from hits are already built into the. lightning launcher attacks you showed.
Appreciate your responses, just wondering if I'm missing something and short-changing myself.
For me, I do try to make sure that my feats are thematically driven, and not just for min-maxing. I have played Artificer Armorers twice now, one ended at L5, one hit L5 in an ongoing game. Here's what I've considered
Edit: Oops... I reread the OP and realized it was focused on Armourer. Oh well.. here are my takes on the other subclasses.
Well... I am a fanboy of Aberrant Dragonmark on any character. Con is always good, Sorc cantrip and 1st level, free damage and THP. , and Epic boons at level 10 (if allowed in-game).
The second Fav is Eldritch Adept. It basically a feat that can replace itself per level. It can be RP'ed as the Artificers "project of the month" above and beyond Infusions.
For the Alchemist the Healer feat is great (duh). use your action to patch them up and interact action to pass them an Elixir for more healing (or buffs). Also using the healing kit instead of burning off spell slots for Cure Wounds or Healing elixirs, allows for more versatility.
Armour, I found good use with Heavy Armor Master if you wear heavy armour. The +1 Strenght is meh for the class, but a good way to make the stat even. But the secret is the -3 damage from BPS. See there is no limit to how many attacks this reduces, and when you have a high AC (because you infused the +1 Ac right?) and are rocking min +3 THP. Effectively you can take 4 damage three-time (12 total) before even dipping into your real HP. This also stacks with BPS resistance (as this is damage reduction, not resistance) if you can get it.
Battlemaster, try out Mounted Combatant if you are a small creature riding your Steeldefender. You can create a feedback loop where if something attacks your SD, you can cause it to attack you instead, which then procs the SD deflect attack against the foe. Also giving the SD Evasion is sweet. If you are not mounting your SD then Inspiring Leader worked for me. Now you can give your SD and (team) THP. (This gets a little MADD as you need CHA at 13)
Artillest is a little tough but, going with the idea of a blaster, Spell Sniper. The range is cool (which can get some spells around the same 120ft range of the Eldritch Cannons) but it the "ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover" that I am after, because the Force Ballista you "Make a ranged spell attack, originating from the cannon". Now you have armour piercing rounds on your Eldritch Cannons :) Finally, you can pick up the dread Eldritch Blast cantrip, but my preferred pick for this is Thorn whip which results in a 60 ft range, 20ft pull (and then blast then with the Force Ballista for a 5 ft push, 10ft with 2)
You can store 10 charges of Cure Wounds but not Healing Word. Spell-Storing Item states that the spell must have a casting time of an action and Healing Word is a bonus action spell.
That fixes it and makes sense, I totally didn't think about that it was every time. Thank you!
Thanks. The main reason I picked healer with the kit is it is much cheaper and easier to acquire then Healing potion. The short long rest is less of an issue for most parties as a short rest happen after every other encounter (first battle I heal you with band aid, second battle elixers and spells). Having "Aid" in a spelling storing item is more useful as I can increase the party whole with HPM which does stack with the THP the elixers give later on.
The Healer feat and with the kit is basically a discount healing potion and spare the dying cantrip (5gp for 10 or 1 potion for 50g)