I'd say Prodigy is a better investment that Skilled. You get an extra bit of everything, Expertise (most likely in Arcana, or Stealth, if you are an Armourer that want to build the Advanced Stealth Suit from Fallout: New Vegas), another tool and another language. Especially fitting if you take it at level one as Variant Human. :)
Prodigy is fantastic, but also race locked. I would've absolutely taken Prodigy on my own artificer...if she wasn't a tiefling. The artificer class tends to naturally lend itself to weird species selections, if the "Introduce Your Artificer!" thread is anything to go by, so Prodigy is generally going to be a luxury. If you qualify for it though, then absolutely take the hell out of it.
Prodigy = Humans, Variant humans, half-elves, half-orcs. Especially good for variant humans imo.
If I am playing a gnomish artificer (especially if I take 2 levels of wizard (School of Conjuration), I love Keen Mind.
Artificer (Battlesmith), Hand crossbow, Crossbow Expert, hand crossbow (Repeating shot infusion) is a fantastic combo, especially once you can add Sharpshooter. Plus you can still use a shield. :)
Edit: I forgot about Magical Initiate (Wizard) for Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, and Find Familiar.
Shield Master. You get good saves from various artificer features including the ability to get a ring or cloak of protection on top of the lvl20 capstone. Admittedly this is *most* effective if you know you are going to 20 or further, but evasion is always a nice thing to have. Even if you dont go to 20, you can couple this with Resilient Dexterity to benefit in the lower levels, leaving your Flash of Genius to help you on Wisdom saves.
Elven Accuracy. You get faerie fire and it is one of your best combat buffs for a lot of the early to mid game. Being an artillerist able to roll with EA on a Scorching Ray cast is pretty satisfying, especially when you follow it up with your cannon.
Healer. Alchemists are good support and being able to get more healing out can accentuate that.
Warcaster. Not technically required, as any infusion counts as a focus (including the magic weapon/shield ones) but considering you are a half caster you REALLY dont want to drop concentration unnecessarily. It also allows you to cast as a reaction which is quite nice.
Ritual Caster (Wizard). Artificers are great problem solvers but they dont have a lot of spell slots, so having a set of good rituals can really pump up their utility.
My alchemist really liked Abbarent Dragonmark (the original version not the new version).
1 cantrip and 1 level 1 from sorcerer list, at CON stat. Which is the second best stat on my Alchemist. I snaged Green Flame Blade and Chaost Bolt. The latter for flavor, the former for actual battle usage with a Spear. ( Hope to get Spear UA feat later. Or Shield Master. Or Spell Sniper-useful for firebolt range and GFB bosted range). I am biased though, in that my GM allows you to use Spell Focuses for any spells (whether they have material or not), allowing you to add a focus if one wants. And allows the Artificer's Tool Focus's Spell focuses to work as a normal focus. So, I get the benefit of Green Flame Blade getting extra damage... Which honestly is super needed for Alchemists. Works fantastic to GFB with a weapon. Though not the best two hit admitidly.
I'm facing this choice with a level 8+ Human Armourer. He already has Keen Mind, which brought him to Int 20 (he rolled max on creation), which I now realise severely restricts his choices, as he can't effectively take any more feats that boost Int. He has operated as the mobile DPS (Winged Boots, Robe of Stars).
The options catching my eye are:
Sharpshooter - boosts Lightning Launcher damage well beyond that of the Robe's Magic Missiles and unlike the Robe can be used with Haste to cast and attack the same turn.
Resilient (Dex or Wis) - to improve saves against higher level spells. Note Flash of Genius helps out with these too.
Alert - he crafted his own Sentinel Shield to improve his odds of going early, and more of that wouldn't hurt.
Lucky - so good because it's versatile.
Magic Initiate (Wizard) - two more cantrips are always handy. I did discuss crafting custom items with cantrips imbued, but (I think wisely) were vetoed.
Elemental Adept - Armourers tend to be lightning users. Lightning Bolt is in there, and Shocking Grasp is potentially useful. Unfortunately, Infiltrator Lightning Launcher is an attack, not a spell, so doesn't benefit.
Mobile - I didn't think the 5 yards per turn advantage of the Infiltrator armour was much, but was quite wrong. Would also help Winged Boots flight speed.
Armorers are restricted in that, unless they invest as heavily into ST or DX as they do IQ, they can only really attack with their integrated armor weapon - the Lightning Launcher, in your case. The LL is a 1d6 weapon, and Armorers don't get to do much of anything to boost that. Not the greatest. Given that your role is specifically called out as high-mobility damage, I would consider Sharpshooter primarily. You can't readily upgrade your lightning launcher, and you can't swap it out at all. Sharpshooter is one of the only ways left for a single-class artificer to try and get better round-over-round damage from their lightning launcher.
Armorers are restricted in that, unless they invest as heavily into ST or DX as they do IQ, they can only really attack with their integrated armor weapon
And all of their spells and cantrips, of course. They are in no way hindered by not having a high Strength or Dexterity as long as their Int is high.
@colmoni What are his other stats? All of the feats you mention can be more or less useful depending on what the character actually needs.
Not so much on the spells and cantrips, for Armorers.
The Armorer gets Extra Attack instead of a spell bonus at fifth level, which strongly inclines it towards attacking. Unlike the battlesmith, which gets auto-gishing on any magical weapon, the Armorer ONLY gets to use its Intelligence with its its default integrated weapon. The lightning launcher, assuming two hits and even just basic +3 Int, deals 3d6+6 damage per turn. That easily outstrips most any combat cantrip prior to level 17. The thunder gauntlets are a bit less hurty, but still easily outdo any cantrip prior to level 11.
The only reason to take a shooty cantrip, for Armorers, is because you stick strictly to the Guardian mode and want a ranged poke. Otherwise you just lose damage for free by focusing on spells over weapons. Since that's the case, upgrading your default weapon however you can becomes very important
Not so much on the spells and cantrips, for Armorers.
The Armorer gets Extra Attack instead of a spell bonus at fifth level, which strongly inclines it towards attacking. Unlike the battlesmith, which gets auto-gishing on any magical weapon, the Armorer ONLY gets to use its Intelligence with its its default integrated weapon. The lightning launcher, assuming two hits and even just basic +3 Int, deals 3d6+6 damage per turn. That easily outstrips most any combat cantrip prior to level 17. The thunder gauntlets are a bit less hurty, but still easily outdo any cantrip prior to level 11.
The only reason to take a shooty cantrip, for Armorers, is because you stick strictly to the Guardian mode and want a ranged poke. Otherwise you just lose damage for free by focusing on spells over weapons. Since that's the case, upgrading your default weapon however you can becomes very important
Are you sure you're reading the current version of Artificer and Armorer? Because the Armorer gets the same spells and cantrips as every other Artificer, plus the bonus spells from its subclass. Shatter for example, is an excellent AOE spell that is more useful against multiple targets than the LIghtning Launcher. And at level 9 you get Lightning Bolt. Also, damage versatility is nothing to frown upon. Even if it does mean you might do slightly lower damage. So my point still stands.
Armorers are restricted in that, unless they invest as heavily into ST or DX as they do IQ, they can only really attack with their integrated armor weapon - the Lightning Launcher, in your case. The LL is a 1d6 weapon, and Armorers don't get to do much of anything to boost that. Not the greatest. Given that your role is specifically called out as high-mobility damage, I would consider Sharpshooter primarily. You can't readily upgrade your lightning launcher, and you can't swap it out at all. Sharpshooter is one of the only ways left for a single-class artificer to try and get better round-over-round damage from their lightning launcher.
Integrated armour weapons are fine. Once per turn 'LL gives 2d6 damage, that is great for a single handed weapon. TGs are good for protecting your squishy friends. Sure they are not as good as a ful martial class but they are probably better than say a pally who uses spells rather than smites and smiling I would regard as full martial.
You learn how to use your artificer infusions to specially modify the armor enhanced by your Power Armor feature. That armor now counts as separate items for the purposes of your Infuse Items feature: armor (the chest piece), boots, bracers and a weapon. Each of those items can bear one of your infusions. In addition, the maximum number of items you can infuse at once increases by 2, but those extra items must be part of your power armor.
There's only one reason they would include weapon in that list, and that's if Lightning Launcher or Thunder Gauntlets are to be treated as infusable items. Thus, I've added the Enhanced Weapon infusion to my Lightning Launcher. Stacked with Sharpshooter, that makes them very creditable.
Which is absolutely true. It's also the only way to improve your weapons as an Armorer. Pretty much the only way to make them better is Enhanced Weapon, or Radiant Weapon if you use the Guardian and want to play reindeer games. That holds up until lategame D&D, where people are getting +3 Flametongues or Holy Avengers or exalted Vestiges, and you're sitting there with a basic +2 and remembering a time when you were counted amongst your party's DPS.
To the best of my knowledge, Enhanced Weapon, or Radiant Weapon can only be used on non-magical weapons which a weapon that produces Lightning damage or force damage is not.
To the best of my knowledge . . .
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
To the best of my knowledge, Enhanced Weapon, or Radiant Weapon can only be used on non-magical weapons which a weapon that produces Lightning damage or force damage is not.
To the best of my knowledge . . .
The Armorer's armour weapons are simple melee/ranged weapons, so infusions work perfectly fine. B) I agree with Yurei1453 that we might be veering off-topic, though. :)
•Alert: universally an incredible feat. Unable to be surprised while conscious. Creatures don’t gain advantage on you from being blinded or them attacking from heavy obscurity. +5 to initiative to be able to consistently do anything you’re planning a lot sooner in any combat encounter.
•athlete: maybe good for gorilla tactics for going prone to impose disadvantage vs ranged combatants. Climb speed to potentially get an advantageous spot to attack from high defensible positions. Probably artillerist focus?
•crossbow expert: no disadvantage on ranged attack rolls when foes are within 5ft of you. Taking this feat may free up repeating shot since it’s more powerful and allow for other infusion use.
•Defensive duelist: not quite as good as the shield spell, but also doesn’t require spending an artificers precious few spell slots. Some artificers don’t gain access to the shield spell anyways.
•dungeon delver: if your DM is all about traps, this could be great for an artificer. Since you don’t get evasion this may give a lot of mileage in dungeons. Might also help when you start trying to be a trap smith and your own traps go off while you’re working.
•elemental adept: can be very effective for an artillerist and also make an impact with the alchemist since they each rely on specific damage types to be potent.
•Great weapon master: can be very impactful on a battlesmith
•healer: can be useful on any of the artificer classes, but also seems to supplement the alchemist the most. Great way to heal while conserving precious spell slots.
•Heavily armored: if starting at higher levels, you may be able to dump dex to be able to use effectively and use strength boosting infusions. Or just invest in STR. Probably not super effective for amount of investment, but is an option.
•heavy armor master: too much for regular artificers, but could be great on an armorer. Damage reductions potentially reduce Constitustion save DCs and also mitigate required healing.
•inspiring leader: unlikely you have the Charisma to make full use of this feat, but the potential of temp hitpoints gained and given multiple times per day make this feat better than Tough in almost every circumstance. Pump up yourself, the homunculus, the rest of the party, familiars, steel defenders...
•keen mind: a half feat that increases INT, the rest of the feats mileage may vary.
•linguist- another half feat for INT, languages can be great. The DC to decode your ciphers could potentially make it impossible for most creatures to break your codes. It’s Intelligence SCORE + Proficiency, most creatures lack intelligence, and since the check is a straight Intelligence check, few creatures can use proficiency on Their check to break it. Practically requires magic to decode.
•Lucky: 3 1d20 rerolls per longrest is pretty awesome, especially since you have flash of genius to stretch out its uses for when it matters.
•mage slayer: causing disadvantage on concentration saves can save your whole party. The reaction melee attack is a bit of a waste since even the melee artificers usually have more effective uses for their reactions, but it’s still a potentially good use. Advantage on the saving throw effects vs those casters if you rush them is great too, mages usually want you anywhere but right next to them.
•magic initiate: poach some great cantrips to shore up your at will magical tricks, utility, or combat. 1st level spell recommendations are wizard for int based if utilizing a save or attack. Other lists for non spellcasting stat based effects.
•mobile: 10ft increase to all speeds is great for positioning. Dashing to ignore difficult terrain synergizes well with expeditious retreat spell. Shocking grasp and thornwhip seem to be the only spells that interact with the melee attack portion preventing attacks of opportunity, but the battlesmith can potentially attack multiple creatures with weapons via extra attack and two weapon fighting to get away if necessary.
•mounted combatant: somewhat counter intuitive since the steel defender is meant to be a damage sponge, but giving it evasion is pretty cool.
•observant: another Intelligence half feat. +5 passive perception and investigation can be amazing. Reading lips can be pretty cool too if you d gotten a familiar to spy through or are watching creatures converse from distance.
•polearm master: replicates two weapon fighting effectiveness but makes better use of your probably single infused weapon. Spear/shield is pretty great and also reliable opportunity attacks from creatures entering your reach is nice.
•Resilient: wisdom or dex is usually a great way to go. Dex is a lot of damage, but you have access to absorb elements. Wisdom throws can remove you from the fight.
•ritual caster: wizard is probably the best list for you. A simply amazing feat for the artificer as not only can it thematically represent your magical tinkering, it can save you a ridiculous amount of spell slots. While the wizard spell list may have some overlap, every ritual in the feat book is a precious preparation slot for the artificer to gain more versatily for their actual slots.
•Sentinel: can be great on a battlesmith as the features almost guarantee use of either the sentinel reaction attack or your defenders defensive pounce. This is because with proper positioning, the triggers are mutually exclusive.
•sharpshooter: great for almost the same reasons as great weapon master.
•shieldmaster: very good defense vs dex saves, and the artificer has the ability to use infusions to further boost the bonus to single target Dex saves against you.
•skilled: gain proficiency and expertise because of the level 6 artificer feature with 3 more tools. Maybe talk to your DM about training g for tool proficiency first.
•Skulker: opens up all kind of chances to hide in lots of situations. Sneaky artificers can use infusions to further increase their odds of hiding. Combine with sharpshooter to take high damage potshots if you want.
•spell sniper: can drastically increase spell effect range, great for thornwhip shenanigans. Ranged spell attacks ignore half and three quarters cover, this includes your Eldritch cannons. Wizard cantrip would be a good choice to incorporate attack rolls, chill touch is at least a choice not on your original spell list.
•Tavern brawler: niche use but being able to accurately throw flasks of oil for fire damage bonuses can be a very effective way to increase damage.
•warcaster: advantage on constitution saves for concentration caused by damage is pretty good, works great with battlesmith a and the heroism spell to soak up damage and keep going.
•dwarves fortitude: Constitution half feat. can be used in conjunction with some defensive spells like heroism to make an artificer very resilient.
•elven accuracy- half feat, can be great since the artificer can easily generate advantage for itself and allies with faerie fire.
•fade-away: int half feat and a decent defensive boost. Can prevent spells requiring sight until the end of your next turn. Can also be used to set up offensive actions and spells.
•fey teleportation: int half feat, and gain a potent short rest dependent source of teleportation. Not only does this conserve precious spell slots, it provides a utility the artificer spell list doesn’t have.
•flames of Phlegethos: int half feat, spells using fire damage Can reroll 1s regardless of spell level, generates light for the rest of the party when casting those fire spells, and also damages creatures that attack you within melee. Incredibly synergistic with an artillerist.
•infernal constitution: con half feat, gives a number of resistances that may allow you to stop preparing absorb elements and save you slot of spell slots.
•Orcish fury: oddly enough, even though the racial trait requires a melee weapon to proc on crits, this feats extra weapon die bonus makes no such stipulation. As such it works with ranged weapons too, and is short rest dependent. The reaction weapon attack can also be used with a ranged weapon. The battlesmith can make great use of these features since they can use intelligence on melee and ranged weapons to support their versatility.
•prodigy: get that expertise you need to specialize in that skill youve noticed you’ve carved out for yourself in your party. Also, all those other awesome benefits.
Has anyone tried out a Great Weapon Master Battle Smith? Since you use Int you could theoretically also use Elven Accuracy, giving another path to this combo besides Hexblade.
Coupled with always having one (maybe two) creatures that can give you the help action whenever you want, this is a truly terrifying combination.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Bark side up, bark side down, it really, truly does not matter.
Oddly, I'm finding that I need to invest into Medium Armor Mastery for my Artificer. Initially allocated the stats towards being stealthy, playing it as a tinkerer driven to be a thief. Turns out the campaign had little need for stealth.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'd say Prodigy is a better investment that Skilled. You get an extra bit of everything, Expertise (most likely in Arcana, or Stealth, if you are an Armourer that want to build the Advanced Stealth Suit from Fallout: New Vegas), another tool and another language. Especially fitting if you take it at level one as Variant Human. :)
Prodigy is fantastic, but also race locked. I would've absolutely taken Prodigy on my own artificer...if she wasn't a tiefling. The artificer class tends to naturally lend itself to weird species selections, if the "Introduce Your Artificer!" thread is anything to go by, so Prodigy is generally going to be a luxury. If you qualify for it though, then absolutely take the hell out of it.
Please do not contact or message me.
Prodigy = Humans, Variant humans, half-elves, half-orcs. Especially good for variant humans imo.
If I am playing a gnomish artificer (especially if I take 2 levels of wizard (School of Conjuration), I love Keen Mind.
Artificer (Battlesmith), Hand crossbow, Crossbow Expert, hand crossbow (Repeating shot infusion) is a fantastic combo, especially once you can add Sharpshooter. Plus you can still use a shield. :)
Edit: I forgot about Magical Initiate (Wizard) for Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, and Find Familiar.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Shield Master. You get good saves from various artificer features including the ability to get a ring or cloak of protection on top of the lvl20 capstone. Admittedly this is *most* effective if you know you are going to 20 or further, but evasion is always a nice thing to have. Even if you dont go to 20, you can couple this with Resilient Dexterity to benefit in the lower levels, leaving your Flash of Genius to help you on Wisdom saves.
Elven Accuracy. You get faerie fire and it is one of your best combat buffs for a lot of the early to mid game. Being an artillerist able to roll with EA on a Scorching Ray cast is pretty satisfying, especially when you follow it up with your cannon.
Healer. Alchemists are good support and being able to get more healing out can accentuate that.
Warcaster. Not technically required, as any infusion counts as a focus (including the magic weapon/shield ones) but considering you are a half caster you REALLY dont want to drop concentration unnecessarily. It also allows you to cast as a reaction which is quite nice.
Ritual Caster (Wizard). Artificers are great problem solvers but they dont have a lot of spell slots, so having a set of good rituals can really pump up their utility.
My alchemist really liked Abbarent Dragonmark (the original version not the new version).
1 cantrip and 1 level 1 from sorcerer list, at CON stat. Which is the second best stat on my Alchemist. I snaged Green Flame Blade and Chaost Bolt. The latter for flavor, the former for actual battle usage with a Spear. ( Hope to get Spear UA feat later. Or Shield Master. Or Spell Sniper-useful for firebolt range and GFB bosted range).
I am biased though, in that my GM allows you to use Spell Focuses for any spells (whether they have material or not), allowing you to add a focus if one wants. And allows the Artificer's Tool Focus's Spell focuses to work as a normal focus.
So, I get the benefit of Green Flame Blade getting extra damage... Which honestly is super needed for Alchemists. Works fantastic to GFB with a weapon. Though not the best two hit admitidly.
Crossbow expert. Who wants disadvantage?
I'm facing this choice with a level 8+ Human Armourer. He already has Keen Mind, which brought him to Int 20 (he rolled max on creation), which I now realise severely restricts his choices, as he can't effectively take any more feats that boost Int. He has operated as the mobile DPS (Winged Boots, Robe of Stars).
The options catching my eye are:
Armorers are restricted in that, unless they invest as heavily into ST or DX as they do IQ, they can only really attack with their integrated armor weapon - the Lightning Launcher, in your case. The LL is a 1d6 weapon, and Armorers don't get to do much of anything to boost that. Not the greatest. Given that your role is specifically called out as high-mobility damage, I would consider Sharpshooter primarily. You can't readily upgrade your lightning launcher, and you can't swap it out at all. Sharpshooter is one of the only ways left for a single-class artificer to try and get better round-over-round damage from their lightning launcher.
Please do not contact or message me.
And all of their spells and cantrips, of course. They are in no way hindered by not having a high Strength or Dexterity as long as their Int is high.
@colmoni What are his other stats? All of the feats you mention can be more or less useful depending on what the character actually needs.
Not so much on the spells and cantrips, for Armorers.
The Armorer gets Extra Attack instead of a spell bonus at fifth level, which strongly inclines it towards attacking. Unlike the battlesmith, which gets auto-gishing on any magical weapon, the Armorer ONLY gets to use its Intelligence with its its default integrated weapon. The lightning launcher, assuming two hits and even just basic +3 Int, deals 3d6+6 damage per turn. That easily outstrips most any combat cantrip prior to level 17. The thunder gauntlets are a bit less hurty, but still easily outdo any cantrip prior to level 11.
The only reason to take a shooty cantrip, for Armorers, is because you stick strictly to the Guardian mode and want a ranged poke. Otherwise you just lose damage for free by focusing on spells over weapons. Since that's the case, upgrading your default weapon however you can becomes very important
Please do not contact or message me.
Are you sure you're reading the current version of Artificer and Armorer? Because the Armorer gets the same spells and cantrips as every other Artificer, plus the bonus spells from its subclass. Shatter for example, is an excellent AOE spell that is more useful against multiple targets than the LIghtning Launcher. And at level 9 you get Lightning Bolt. Also, damage versatility is nothing to frown upon. Even if it does mean you might do slightly lower damage. So my point still stands.
Integrated armour weapons are fine. Once per turn 'LL gives 2d6 damage, that is great for a single handed weapon. TGs are good for protecting your squishy friends. Sure they are not as good as a ful martial class but they are probably better than say a pally who uses spells rather than smites and smiling I would regard as full martial.
Note that Armour Modifications states that:
There's only one reason they would include weapon in that list, and that's if Lightning Launcher or Thunder Gauntlets are to be treated as infusable items. Thus, I've added the Enhanced Weapon infusion to my Lightning Launcher. Stacked with Sharpshooter, that makes them very creditable.
Which is absolutely true. It's also the only way to improve your weapons as an Armorer. Pretty much the only way to make them better is Enhanced Weapon, or Radiant Weapon if you use the Guardian and want to play reindeer games. That holds up until lategame D&D, where people are getting +3 Flametongues or Holy Avengers or exalted Vestiges, and you're sitting there with a basic +2 and remembering a time when you were counted amongst your party's DPS.
Please do not contact or message me.
To the best of my knowledge, Enhanced Weapon, or Radiant Weapon can only be used on non-magical weapons which a weapon that produces Lightning damage or force damage is not.
To the best of my knowledge . . .
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
This is veering way off topic for a general feats discussion for artificers. Armorer discussion probably belongs in its own thread.
Please do not contact or message me.
The Armorer's armour weapons are simple melee/ranged weapons, so infusions work perfectly fine. B) I agree with Yurei1453 that we might be veering off-topic, though. :)
Artificer feats
•Alert: universally an incredible feat. Unable to be surprised while conscious. Creatures don’t gain advantage on you from being blinded or them attacking from heavy obscurity. +5 to initiative to be able to consistently do anything you’re planning a lot sooner in any combat encounter.
•athlete: maybe good for gorilla tactics for going prone to impose disadvantage vs ranged combatants. Climb speed to potentially get an advantageous spot to attack from high defensible positions. Probably artillerist focus?
•crossbow expert: no disadvantage on ranged attack rolls when foes are within 5ft of you. Taking this feat may free up repeating shot since it’s more powerful and allow for other infusion use.
•Defensive duelist: not quite as good as the shield spell, but also doesn’t require spending an artificers precious few spell slots. Some artificers don’t gain access to the shield spell anyways.
•dungeon delver: if your DM is all about traps, this could be great for an artificer. Since you don’t get evasion this may give a lot of mileage in dungeons. Might also help when you start trying to be a trap smith and your own traps go off while you’re working.
•elemental adept: can be very effective for an artillerist and also make an impact with the alchemist since they each rely on specific damage types to be potent.
•Great weapon master: can be very impactful on a battlesmith
•healer: can be useful on any of the artificer classes, but also seems to supplement the alchemist the most. Great way to heal while conserving precious spell slots.
•Heavily armored: if starting at higher levels, you may be able to dump dex to be able to use effectively and use strength boosting infusions. Or just invest in STR. Probably not super effective for amount of investment, but is an option.
•heavy armor master: too much for regular artificers, but could be great on an armorer. Damage reductions potentially reduce Constitustion save DCs and also mitigate required healing.
•inspiring leader: unlikely you have the Charisma to make full use of this feat, but the potential of temp hitpoints gained and given multiple times per day make this feat better than Tough in almost every circumstance. Pump up yourself, the homunculus, the rest of the party, familiars, steel defenders...
•keen mind: a half feat that increases INT, the rest of the feats mileage may vary.
•linguist- another half feat for INT, languages can be great. The DC to decode your ciphers could potentially make it impossible for most creatures to break your codes. It’s Intelligence SCORE + Proficiency, most creatures lack intelligence, and since the check is a straight Intelligence check, few creatures can use proficiency on Their check to break it. Practically requires magic to decode.
•Lucky: 3 1d20 rerolls per longrest is pretty awesome, especially since you have flash of genius to stretch out its uses for when it matters.
•mage slayer: causing disadvantage on concentration saves can save your whole party. The reaction melee attack is a bit of a waste since even the melee artificers usually have more effective uses for their reactions, but it’s still a potentially good use. Advantage on the saving throw effects vs those casters if you rush them is great too, mages usually want you anywhere but right next to them.
•magic initiate: poach some great cantrips to shore up your at will magical tricks, utility, or combat. 1st level spell recommendations are wizard for int based if utilizing a save or attack. Other lists for non spellcasting stat based effects.
•mobile: 10ft increase to all speeds is great for positioning. Dashing to ignore difficult terrain synergizes well with expeditious retreat spell. Shocking grasp and thornwhip seem to be the only spells that interact with the melee attack portion preventing attacks of opportunity, but the battlesmith can potentially attack multiple creatures with weapons via extra attack and two weapon fighting to get away if necessary.
•mounted combatant: somewhat counter intuitive since the steel defender is meant to be a damage sponge, but giving it evasion is pretty cool.
•observant: another Intelligence half feat. +5 passive perception and investigation can be amazing. Reading lips can be pretty cool too if you d gotten a familiar to spy through or are watching creatures converse from distance.
•polearm master: replicates two weapon fighting effectiveness but makes better use of your probably single infused weapon. Spear/shield is pretty great and also reliable opportunity attacks from creatures entering your reach is nice.
•Resilient: wisdom or dex is usually a great way to go. Dex is a lot of damage, but you have access to absorb elements. Wisdom throws can remove you from the fight.
•ritual caster: wizard is probably the best list for you. A simply amazing feat for the artificer as not only can it thematically represent your magical tinkering, it can save you a ridiculous amount of spell slots. While the wizard spell list may have some overlap, every ritual in the feat book is a precious preparation slot for the artificer to gain more versatily for their actual slots.
•Sentinel: can be great on a battlesmith as the features almost guarantee use of either the sentinel reaction attack or your defenders defensive pounce. This is because with proper positioning, the triggers are mutually exclusive.
•sharpshooter: great for almost the same reasons as great weapon master.
•shieldmaster: very good defense vs dex saves, and the artificer has the ability to use infusions to further boost the bonus to single target Dex saves against you.
•skilled: gain proficiency and expertise because of the level 6 artificer feature with 3 more tools. Maybe talk to your DM about training g for tool proficiency first.
•Skulker: opens up all kind of chances to hide in lots of situations. Sneaky artificers can use infusions to further increase their odds of hiding. Combine with sharpshooter to take high damage potshots if you want.
•spell sniper: can drastically increase spell effect range, great for thornwhip shenanigans. Ranged spell attacks ignore half and three quarters cover, this includes your Eldritch cannons. Wizard cantrip would be a good choice to incorporate attack rolls, chill touch is at least a choice not on your original spell list.
•Tavern brawler: niche use but being able to accurately throw flasks of oil for fire damage bonuses can be a very effective way to increase damage.
•warcaster: advantage on constitution saves for concentration caused by damage is pretty good, works great with battlesmith a and the heroism spell to soak up damage and keep going.
•dwarves fortitude: Constitution half feat. can be used in conjunction with some defensive spells like heroism to make an artificer very resilient.
•elven accuracy- half feat, can be great since the artificer can easily generate advantage for itself and allies with faerie fire.
•fade-away: int half feat and a decent defensive boost. Can prevent spells requiring sight until the end of your next turn. Can also be used to set up offensive actions and spells.
•fey teleportation: int half feat, and gain a potent short rest dependent source of teleportation. Not only does this conserve precious spell slots, it provides a utility the artificer spell list doesn’t have.
•flames of Phlegethos: int half feat, spells using fire damage Can reroll 1s regardless of spell level, generates light for the rest of the party when casting those fire spells, and also damages creatures that attack you within melee. Incredibly synergistic with an artillerist.
•infernal constitution: con half feat, gives a number of resistances that may allow you to stop preparing absorb elements and save you slot of spell slots.
•Orcish fury: oddly enough, even though the racial trait requires a melee weapon to proc on crits, this feats extra weapon die bonus makes no such stipulation. As such it works with ranged weapons too, and is short rest dependent. The reaction weapon attack can also be used with a ranged weapon. The battlesmith can make great use of these features since they can use intelligence on melee and ranged weapons to support their versatility.
•prodigy: get that expertise you need to specialize in that skill youve noticed you’ve carved out for yourself in your party. Also, all those other awesome benefits.
Coupled with always having one (maybe two) creatures that can give you the help action whenever you want, this is a truly terrifying combination.
Bark side up, bark side down, it really, truly does not matter.
Oddly, I'm finding that I need to invest into Medium Armor Mastery for my Artificer. Initially allocated the stats towards being stealthy, playing it as a tinkerer driven to be a thief. Turns out the campaign had little need for stealth.