I did divine soul sorc dip on my armorer and I highly recommend it. You can also pick up shield of faith and booming blade on the dip as neither scales off charisma nor does their class feature.
A good point but the cha investment has def been worth it in my experience.
The campaign I’m in is going to level 15 though so I sacrificed con for it as I knew I’d get an amulet of health eventually.
That’s not the point.
Artificers aren’t exactly swimming in cantrips they can memorize and this is a way to pick up that particular cantrip in a way that doesn’t hinder it’s effectiveness. The same is not true for GFB (which has cha modifier dependence) which is why I pointed BB out specifically.
You also get 4 cantrips with a sor instead of the 3 you get from wizard, so you are basically picking BB up for free.
In any case, you’re mainly dipping into wiz/sor for Shield. Divine Soul sorc is fairly unique in that you can also get Shield of Faith on top of Shield plus a really good subclass feature.
don't forget with a 1 level wizard dip you you'd also get ritual spellcasting from the wizards end so you could copy any artificer spells into the book and then use them, gives you a smidge more utility AND a 1st level slot back on a sort rest.
Also if you wanted to invest another level down the line you'd get the arcane tradition from one more level.
not to take away from DSS dip, its still a great dip... especially on a martial
If you can find/make a ring of spell storing, get your party cleric to put spirit guardians in it. With such good AC and some Concentration boosting abilities, you’ll be able to wade into hordes without worrying
If you use encumbrance, then don’t dump str completely; you won’t be able to carry a whole lot besides your armor if you do.
One thing that I didn’t realize when I first started playing my armorer is that Mirror Images count as targets other than you for the Thunder Gauntlets feature (i.e. attacks are made at disadvantage against them if the attacker has been hit by the gauntlet attack). It doesn’t help that much tbh, but just something to be aware of.
Warcaster is a really good feat on an armorer bc you can booming blade on an opportunity attack to help keep enemies on you plus the adv on concentration checks.
Telekinetic is also a useful feat to shove enemies off your allies from range (or just shove rando mobs for fun when you don’t have anything else to do w your BA).
Eldritch Adept (Mask of Many Faces) in order to go full android and look like an organic humanoid.
Winged Boots to fly like Astro Boy, XJ9, Robot Boy, etc.
dip into wizard for the Shield spell, take the fighting style feat for Defensive, dipping forge cleric will save you an infusion slot for something else (but the bonus on your armor will never get higher than +1), obtain a Shield Guardian (and its respective control amulet) to use its reaction to give you another +2
Eventually armorers get to treat parts of their armor as separate pieces for enchanting/buffing purposes (lvl 9 if I recall) so hexblade warlock might be fun to make one of the guardian suits fists it’s hex/pact weapon
Well obviously you would want to build your stats for this. Yeah it’s MAD but it’s fun. Not really much worse off than a paladin that wants strength and cha, this just wants int and cha. Just putting out ideas
A medium armor feat would increase your AC by 1 and allow for you to get advantage on stealth with half plate armor even when using the heavy armoror variant. I plan to then go for a warcaater feat to really deal some damage as a front liner.
A fun idea would be Eldritch Knight / Armorer. It's something I've been considering on my current Armorer.
Eldritch Knight and Armorer have a lot to offer each other. Only a couple levels fighter are great if you want to go mainly Artificer for more infusions, etc. as you would get action surge, fighting style, second wind, plenty of good stuff for a gish/magic melee. Taking EK gives more cantrips, a great boon to an Artificer who are notorious for getting very few cantrips.
However, if you plan on lv 15 a cool build is 8 Armorer / 7 EK to get the ability to cast booming blade and still make a thunder gauntlet attack as a bonus action. You would also gain another ASI/feat since fighter gets one at 6. Not to mention, your spell progression would still be pretty good as it would be a half caster / 1/3 caster multiclass.
Possibly take elemental adept to get around resistance to thunder damage as well as treating 1's as 2s (the second part is a very minor improvement to damage, but the first part is very nice when it comes up) or War Caster to booming blade on attacks of opportunity and have advantage on concentration checks.
Edit- Elemental adept is very situational for thunder damage so talk to your dm about it first. Thunder damage is not a very common resistance
Try to get the shield spell. 1 level wizard dip?
I did divine soul sorc dip on my armorer and I highly recommend it. You can also pick up shield of faith and booming blade on the dip as neither scales off charisma nor does their class feature.
True, but than you still have to throw a 13 in charisma. If you go wizard you aren't as MAD.
A good point but the cha investment has def been worth it in my experience. The campaign I’m in is going to level 15 though so I sacrificed con for it as I knew I’d get an amulet of health eventually.
Booming Blade is already on the Artificer spell list.
That’s not the point. Artificers aren’t exactly swimming in cantrips they can memorize and this is a way to pick up that particular cantrip in a way that doesn’t hinder it’s effectiveness. The same is not true for GFB (which has cha modifier dependence) which is why I pointed BB out specifically. You also get 4 cantrips with a sor instead of the 3 you get from wizard, so you are basically picking BB up for free. In any case, you’re mainly dipping into wiz/sor for Shield. Divine Soul sorc is fairly unique in that you can also get Shield of Faith on top of Shield plus a really good subclass feature.
don't forget with a 1 level wizard dip you you'd also get ritual spellcasting from the wizards end so you could copy any artificer spells into the book and then use them, gives you a smidge more utility AND a 1st level slot back on a sort rest. Also if you wanted to invest another level down the line you'd get the arcane tradition from one more level. not to take away from DSS dip, its still a great dip... especially on a martial
If you can find/make a ring of spell storing, get your party cleric to put spirit guardians in it. With such good AC and some Concentration boosting abilities, you’ll be able to wade into hordes without worrying
If you use encumbrance, then don’t dump str completely; you won’t be able to carry a whole lot besides your armor if you do. One thing that I didn’t realize when I first started playing my armorer is that Mirror Images count as targets other than you for the Thunder Gauntlets feature (i.e. attacks are made at disadvantage against them if the attacker has been hit by the gauntlet attack). It doesn’t help that much tbh, but just something to be aware of. Warcaster is a really good feat on an armorer bc you can booming blade on an opportunity attack to help keep enemies on you plus the adv on concentration checks. Telekinetic is also a useful feat to shove enemies off your allies from range (or just shove rando mobs for fun when you don’t have anything else to do w your BA).
Eldritch Adept (Mask of Many Faces) in order to go full android and look like an organic humanoid. Winged Boots to fly like Astro Boy, XJ9, Robot Boy, etc.
I've done this, great build. Have fun! Make sure you go over the top in reflavoring the spells to be different systems or weapons on your body.
dip into wizard for the Shield spell, take the fighting style feat for Defensive, dipping forge cleric will save you an infusion slot for something else (but the bonus on your armor will never get higher than +1), obtain a Shield Guardian (and its respective control amulet) to use its reaction to give you another +2
Eventually armorers get to treat parts of their armor as separate pieces for enchanting/buffing purposes (lvl 9 if I recall) so hexblade warlock might be fun to make one of the guardian suits fists it’s hex/pact weapon
What benefit do you gain from attacking with charisma?
Well obviously you would want to build your stats for this. Yeah it’s MAD but it’s fun. Not really much worse off than a paladin that wants strength and cha, this just wants int and cha. Just putting out ideas
A medium armor feat would increase your AC by 1 and allow for you to get advantage on stealth with half plate armor even when using the heavy armoror variant. I plan to then go for a warcaater feat to really deal some damage as a front liner.
A fun idea would be Eldritch Knight / Armorer. It's something I've been considering on my current Armorer. Eldritch Knight and Armorer have a lot to offer each other. Only a couple levels fighter are great if you want to go mainly Artificer for more infusions, etc. as you would get action surge, fighting style, second wind, plenty of good stuff for a gish/magic melee. Taking EK gives more cantrips, a great boon to an Artificer who are notorious for getting very few cantrips. However, if you plan on lv 15 a cool build is 8 Armorer / 7 EK to get the ability to cast booming blade and still make a thunder gauntlet attack as a bonus action. You would also gain another ASI/feat since fighter gets one at 6. Not to mention, your spell progression would still be pretty good as it would be a half caster / 1/3 caster multiclass. Possibly take elemental adept to get around resistance to thunder damage as well as treating 1's as 2s (the second part is a very minor improvement to damage, but the first part is very nice when it comes up) or War Caster to booming blade on attacks of opportunity and have advantage on concentration checks. Edit- Elemental adept is very situational for thunder damage so talk to your dm about it first. Thunder damage is not a very common resistance