DnD 5e Artificer Spells Breakdown – RPGBOT (2024)

Introduction

The Artificer’s spell list takes a lot from the Wizard’s spell list, but also includes several excellent options from the Cleric spell list. Similar in many ways to the Bard, but artificer spells include more of the non-hp healing options than the Bard does.

With fewer spells prepared than a wizard and only 2/3 spellcasting progression, the Artificer is much more dependent on low-level spells than full spellcasters. When selecting spells, it’s often more important to look for utility and support options than to grab damage options.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Disclaimer
• Artificer Spells
  • Cantrips
  • 1st-Level Spells
  • 2nd-Level Spells
  • 3rd-Level Spells
  • 4th-Level Spells
  • 5th-Level Spells

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

• Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
• Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
• Green: Good options. Useful often.
• Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Artificer Spells

Optionalspellsaremarkedbelowwith(Optional)followingthespell’sname.Thesespellsareconsideredoptionalrules,asdescribedinTasha’sCauldronofEverything.ConsultyourDMbeforedecidingtousethesespells.

Cantrips

• Acid Splash^PHB: The ability to affect two enemies with this is really tempting, but thecreatures need to be adjacent so you can’t always rely on being able toaffect two targets. In most cases, you’ll get more damage out of FireBolt, and you have a strict limitation on how many cantrips you know soit’s hard to justify taking Acid Splash instead. Still, for the Alchemistthis may be your go-to offensive option since it works with AlchemicalSavant. Like most other multi-target spells, you roll damage just once andeach creature makes its own saving throw, so you can apply the damagebonus to both targets.
• BoomingBlade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Excellent for the Armorer and the Battle Smith, but most other artificers should never bein a position to use this.

  Note that Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything published an updated version ofBooming Blade.

• Create Bonfire^EEPC: A low-budget area control spell. It does as much initial damage as mostcantrips, but the ongoing damage only applies when a creature enters thearea or ends their turn there, so you can only get extra damage if you canforce an enemy into the space or if you cast it on them and they remain intheir space. If you have an ally who likes to grapple enemies, or if youneed to block a narrow space like a hall or doorway, this is extremelyuseful if you’re not already commiting Concentration to something else.

  However, Create Bonfire’s reliance on Concentration can become a problemas you gain levels because Concentration is such a precious resource, andmany of the best spells require Concentration. If your game doesn’tinclude an option to retrain cantrips, I would skip Create Bonfireentirely. If you have a way to retrain cantrips, consider taking CreateBonfire at low levels, but be prepared to replace it if you find thatyou’re not using it consistently.

• Dancing Lights^PHB: An amusing distraction, but you can usually accomplish the same thingusing Mage Hand and a candle or torch.
• Fire Bolt^PHB: The go-to damage option for everyone except the Battlesmith.
• Frostbite^{EEPC / XGtE}: Low damage for a cantrip (d6-based), but the big appeal is Disadvantageon the target’s next weapon attack. Unfortunately, it works on Constitutionsaving throws, and those tend to be relatively high compared to other savingthrows.
• Green-FlameBlade^SCAG: Excellent for the Armorer and the Battle Smith, but most other artificersshould never be in a position to use this.

  Note that Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything published an updated version ofGreen-Flame Blade.

• Guidance^PHB: As long as you’re not concentrating on something with a long durationbetween fights, you should be constantly throwing this on your allies. YourRogue should have Guidance for every skill check they make while searching,sneaking, handling traps, etc. If you’re not already concentrating onsomething, someone in the party should walk into every fight with Guidancerunning so that they can use it on their Initiative roll (remember: it’s aDexterity check!).
• Light^PHB: Disposable magic light is fantastic, but if you don’t have room for thecantrip you’ll do fine with torches.
• Lightning Lure^{SCAG / TCoE}: Situational, but potentially useful for melee artificers to pull enemiesinto melee. Despite the 15-foot range, this can be a great option for meleeartificers. Against enemies with poor Strength (like many enemyspellcasters), you can use this to drag them into melee with you and forcethem to teleport or Disengage in order to get away from you unharmed. Ifyou’re flying, you may even be able to pull enemies into the air to cause asmall amount of falling damage.
• Mage Hand^PHB: The ability to move objects at a safe distance is profoundly useful. Useit to pull levers, open doors, sort your laundry, and all manner of otherimportant but potentially hazardous tasks where you wouldn’t want to riskyour own hands.
• Magic Stone^PHB: 1d6+Int is an average of 6.5 at first level (assuming 16 Intelligence).That’s 1 more than Fire Bolt’s 5.5 average, and it improves when yourIntelligence improves. However, once cantrip damage starts to improve MagicStone falls behind unless you get Extra Attack. If you do get Extra Attack,Magic Stone’s average damage will exceed that of Fire Bolt until level 17.Even then, if you enhance a sling with Enhanced Weapon, the +2 bonus toattack and damage will keep your Sling+Magic Stone combination equal to FireBolt’s damage output. The combination of benefits makes this an enticingoption for the Battlesmith until you gain Battle Ready at 3rd level becauseit allows you to attack using your Intelligence modifier in a way whichtransitions nicely into using another weapon like a crossbow or pistol.

  However, you need two hands to use a sling (you need a free hand to loadit), and Repeating Shot won’t load your enchanted pebbles for you. Themost likely case for this is for artificers to use this at levels 1through 4, then switch back to Fire Bolt (fortunately, artificers canretrain cantrips unlike most spellcasters). For the Battlesmith, you’lllikely use Magic Stone at levels 1 and 2, then switch to using a weapononce you can use Battle Ready. The 1d6+Int from a hand crossbow will dealthe same damage, but you won’t need to spend Bonus Actions to constantlycharge pebbles.

• Mending^PHB: The Artillerist and the Battlesmith need this cantrip by 3rd level. Youget too much out of Mending to live without it. Unfortunately, it takes afull minute to cast so your party might need to get accustomed to keepingthemselves busy while you magically glue your constructs back together. If you’re playingSpelljammer, you’ll want this to repair your ship.
• Message^PHB: Situational. Use this to send messages without revealing your position.Of course, the spell requires Verbal components and it’s not clear how loudverbal components are intended to be, so take precautions if possible.
• Poison Spray^PHB: Constitution saves are frequently high, and the range is short enoughthat it’s basically only usable in melee. Poison resistance and immunity arealso common, so the damage type doesn’t help either.
• Prestidigitation^PHB: Versatile and fantastic, a creative rogue can do a lot between this andMinor Illusion. For suggestions on how to use Prestidigitation to itsfullest, see myPractical Guide to Prestidigitation.
• Ray of Frost^PHB: You have a limited number of cantrips, Frostbite is much better, and theneed diversifying the damage types you can deal is too important to take twocold damage cantrips.
• Resistance^PHB: Considerably more difficult to use than Guidance. Your best bet is tothrow this on an ally before going into combat, but if you have that luxuryyou should be casting a better Concentration spell.
• Shocking Grasp^PHB: The damage is worse than Fire Bolt and it’s touch range. Advantageagainst enemies in metal armor is nowhere near enough to make thisappealing. If you hit the target can’t take Reactions like OpportunityAttacks or casting Counterspell, but I still don’t think that’s enough tojustify rushing into melee to use this.
• Spare the Dying^PHB: Buy a Healer’s Kit instead. You don’t need proficiency to use it tostabilize a creature and it takes the same Action.
• Sword Burst^{SCAG / TCoE}: Excellent for handling crowds in melee. Melee artificer subclasses likethe Battle Smith will find this very effective, but even the Artillerist mayfind it tempting since Arcane Firearm’s damage bonus applies to all of thetargets.
• Thorn Whip^PHB: Potentially fantastic for the Battlesmith. You can use this to pullenemies away from frail allies, or to pull them into your melee reach. Thedamage is unremarkable, so this likely isn’t your primary source of damageoutput.
• Thunderclap^EEPC: Thunder damage is worse than Sword Burst’s force damage, and Thunderclapuses Constitution saves, which tend to be high.

1st-Level Spells

• Absorb Elements^XGtE: You get spellcasting later and slower than anyone else, so you have veryfew options for protecting yourself from non-weapon damage. This will handlethat issue, but it will eat your spell slots quickly so be sure to eliminatethe source of the elemental damage as quickly as possible so that you don’trun through your spell slots too quickly.
• Alarm^PHB: Not worth a spell slot, but it’s great to cast this at least once as aRitual any time that you take a long rest. But you may want to wait untilyou’re high enough level that you don’t mind spending one of your preparedspells to keep it handy.
• Catapult^EEPC: Where Catapult shines is its reliability: If a target passes their savingthrow, the object continues moving until it hits something or runs out ofrange. If you can line up two or more targets, you odds of hitting anddealing damage improve considerably. If your DM allows it, you might be ableto Catapult items like Acid or Alchemist’s Fire to add additionaldamage.
• Cure Wounds^PHB: Unless you’re an alchemist, this is your best way to restore hit pointsin combat. The ability to bring dying allies back into a fight is toopowerful and important to forgo, so you absolutely want this. If you’re analchemist, you get Healing Word prepared for free, and that’s a betteroption in combat so you can typically skip this.
• Detect Magic^PHB: Someone in the party needs this, and ideally it should be someone withthe ability to cast rituals. Unless there’s a wizard in the party, that’sprobably you. Unfortunately, that creates a near-permanent tax on yournumber of prepared spells, but this is simply too important in DnD to gowithout it.
• Disguise Self^PHB: Learning a single spell is cheaper than proficiency in a DisguiseKit.
• Expeditious Retreat^PHB: Situational and poorly named. Expiditious Retreat is great for chases andfor running long distances, but those situations aren’t common enough tojustify preparing this unless you know it’s going to happen. The duration isgood and Dash as a bonus action offers a lot of extra speed, but since thisrequires Concentration you’ll almost always want a different buffinstead.
• Faerie Fire^PHB: The lowest-level option to deal with invisible creatures, and Advantageon attacks against creatures which fail their save means that this remains apowerful support option well into high levels, especially against bug bulkyenemies with high AC but poor Dexterity saves. Hopefully you won’t run intoany invisible creatures at 1st level, but but it’s important to have someway to deal with invisibility just in case.
• False Life^PHB: A great defensive buff. This can close the gap in hit points between theArtificer and more durable classes like the Fighter. If you can, save FalseLife for a Spell-Storing Item, and pile it on top of Aid if you can sparethe spell slots to do so.
• Feather Fall^PHB: Someone in the party needs to have this at all times, and you’re someone.Falling damage is a silly, embarassing way to die.
• Grease^PHB: Even if creatures fall prone, that only eats half of their movement, andwith a radius of just 10 feet most creatures can walk out unimpeded oncethey’re no longer prone.
• Identify^PHB: Even if you encounter a magic item, this typically isn’t necessarybecause you can usually identify a magic item by spending a Short Rest incontact with it.
• Jump^PHB: Too situational.
• Longstrider^PHB: A helpful buff for highly-mobile characters, and with an hour-longduration it can be a great use of low-level spell slots once your 1st-levelspells start lagging in combat.
• Purify Food and Drink^PHB: Cast this as a ritual and you’ll never need to worry about spoiled foodagain. One of many reasons that Dungeons and Dragons makes a terriblewilderness survival game.
• Sanctuary^PHB: Potentially forcing enemies to give up an attack is great, and thisdoesn’t prevent you from attacking. Sanctuary also has a Bonus Actioncasting time, so you can attack or cast a cantrip in the same turn. However,since Sanctuary allows the attack to retarget their attack, Sanctuary isn’tas effective against ranged attacks.
• Snare^XGtE: Good for setting a trap, or if you’re resting somewhere dangerous with aconvenient choke point like a narrow halway. Targets are restrained for atleast one round, which is hopefully enough for you to fight your way out ofyour bedroll and grab a weapon.
• Tasha’s Caustic Brew^TCoE: This is a challenging spell, but it’s very effective and the Artificerdoesn’t have another 1st-level AOE damage option. With a 1-minute durationand 2d4 damage each round, you can deal a total of 20d4 damage to eachtarget (average 50) which is enough to kill many creatures up to CR 2 or 3(ignore the table in the “creating a monster” rules in the DMG; real monsterstats tend to have high “offensive CR” and low “defensive CR” so very few ofthem have hit points which line up with those rules).

  However, you’re almost certainly not going to get the full damage, andthat’s probably fine. If you spend an Action and a spell slot to cast thisand a target spends their Action to remove the effect, you have tradedyour Action for theirs and probably also did a bunch of damage. Inencounters where your party outnumbers your enemies, that’s a winningtrade for you. In encounters where your enemies outnumber your party,you’re in a target-rich environment and may be able to hit 3 or moretargets, in which case trading your own Action for one Action from severalenemies is a great way to offset your enemies’ numerical advantage.

  Lines are a difficult AOE because it’s often difficult to catch more thantwo enemies in a straight 5-foot wide line. It’s also all-or-nothing, socreatures which pass the save are totally unharmed. This requiresConcentration, so if you don’t affect multiple targets you may need toweigh the benefits of whatever ongoing damage you’re getting against theability to spend your Concentration on a different spell instead.

2nd-Level Spells

• Aid^PHB: With an 8-hour duration and three targets, this is a staple buff that’sworth casting literally every day. Keep in mind that this actually increasesthe targets’ hit point maximum, so temporary hit points can be added, too.

  Aid’s casting time allows it to be used in combat, which is unusual butoffers an interesting option. With three targets and a 30-foot range, youcan cast it to both buff and heal your allies during combat. Targetscurrent hit points and hit point maximum both increase, so allies at 0 hitpoints are healed in addition to having their hit point maximum raised,thereby allowing Aid to serve a similar function to Mass Healing Word.However, since spells don’t stack with themselves, it’s hard to repeatthis trick. You’ll need to cast Aid again using higher-level spell slots,which can get expensive quickly, so Mass Healing Word is probably betterif Aid is already running and if Mass Healing Word is an option for yourparty.

• Alter Self^PHB: Two situational effects and a combat buff. Alter Self allows you tohandle breathing underwater and can replace the benefits of Disguise Self.While it’s not especially powerful, but benefits are great on a class likethe Artificer where you get new options slowly.
• Arcane Lock^PHB: Easy to overlook and definitely situational, but surprisingly good. Witha permanent duration and the ability to designate creatures who can passunimpeded and a verbal password, if your party has a permanent base youshould consider putting this on every door and window. If you’re restingsomewhere dangerous like a dungeon, try to find a room with a door and putthis on the door to make it harder to break or unlock. However, beware ofthe 25gp material component cost.
• Blur^PHB: A good option if you’re drawing a lot of fire in combat and your AC isn’tdoing the job. It has a range of “self” so you can’t share it, which meansthat most spellcasters who can cast this are too frail to be drawing attackseven if they have this running.
• Continual Flame^PHB: Having reliable, constant light is really nice. Cast this on a shield, anecklace, a weapon, or maybe a whole bunch of different things to guaranteethat you always have adequate light without casting light or lighting atorch.
• Darkvision^PHB: Crucial if your group does anything in the dark and if not everyone hasDarkvision from their race.
• Enhance Ability^PHB: Fantastic and versatile. Eagle’s Splendor on your party’s Face makesocial interactions much easier, and Bull’s Strength provides a huge edgewhile grappling. Enhance your spellcasting ability (or that of an ally) toget Advantage on the ability checks to counter spells and to dispelmagic.
• Enlarge/Reduce^PHB: Enlarging your party’s Defender (possibly yourself) is a great way todraw fire toward them and away from everyone else.
• Heat Metal^PHB: Situational by design, but against nearly any humanoid in metal armor,this spell is a death sentence. The damage will be slow, but disadvantage onattack rolls and ability checks makes martial characters (the ones typicallyin metal armor) basically useless. Upcasting the spell is suprisinglyefficient since the additional damage applies every round, so if you’refortunate enough to encounter a suitable enemy, use this to its fullest.
• Invisibility^PHB: An essential scouting and infiltration tool, and as you get higher-levelspell slots you can affect more of your party.
• Lesser Restoration^PHB: Crucial, but you probably don’t need to bring it every day.
• Levitate^PHB: A low-level substitute for both telekinesis and flight, but somehowalso a save-or-suck spell.

  Getting 20 feet off the ground doesn’t feel safe, but it’s high enoughthat you can’t be reached by most creatures which rely solely on meleeattacks, a surprising number of creatures. If you’re happy fighting atrange, you can comfortably snipe at your foes from relative safety.

  You can also use this to lift heavy objects, allowing you to bypasssome obstacles by moving them out of the way temporarily. If your partyis light enough, you could levitate a suitable object such as a tableand have your allies sit or stand upon it like an elevator. You can alsouse to rescue allies from things like pit traps, pools of acid, or otherunpleasant things which can’t fly.

  Used offensively, this allows you to raise foes off the ground, makingmelee-only creatures essentially harmless so long as the spell persists.They’re basically piñatas at that point.

  The 10-minute duration means that you can easily use this to ascendcliffs or tall walls, or raise targets high enough into the air that youmight not be able to see them. In 10 minutes you can raise the target2,000 feet.

  Levitate’s big challenges are its Action economy, Concentration, andthat it allows a Constitution save. In combat, spending an Action toraise the target an additional 20 feet into the air is rarely worth theAction cost, though enemies using ranged weapons might be forced tosuffer Disadvantage on their attacks if you can put them at long range.Constitution saves are more of aproblem since Constitution saves are frequently high, and enemies withrelatively poor Constitution save bonuses tend to be spellcasters orother creatures well-equipped to fight at range.

• Kinetic Jaunt^SCoC: This makes opportunity attacks a non-issue, but it’s not necessarily a go-to option for everyartificer. However, the Artificer doesn’t get access to Misty Step, and Boots of the WindingPath don’t help if you start a turn in your enemy’s reach, so Kinetic Jaunt is a great choicefor melee artificer builds, especially if you can combine it with Booming Blade. As you gainlevels, you might consider replacing this with Ashardalon’s Stride, but if you’re not frequentlyin encounters with numerous enemies, Ashardalon’s Stride may not be worth the higher-level spellslot.
• Magic Mouth^PHB: Very situational, but it’s cast as a ritual so it’s easy to keep handy.This more useful if you have a permanent base, but you can also place theeffect on portable objects (like a piece of paper) in order to performvarious shenanigans. Honestly, the most fun part of this spell is coming upwith silly ways to abuse it. For example: if you can cast Thaumaturgysomehow, Magic Mouth still recites the message in the volume at which youoriginally spoke so you can turn a piece of paper into an extremelyunpleasant (though harmless) surprise.
• Magic Weapon^PHB: While certainly a fine spell, Magic Weapon monopolizes your Concentrationfor an hour at a time, and you can get the same effect from the EnhanceWeapon Infusion.
• Protection From Poison^PHB: Situational, but poison is common across the full CR range, so this is afantastic defensive option at any level. The 1-hour duration means that youcan get a lot of mileage out of a single spell slot even if you cast itahead of time.
• Pyrotechnics^PHB: Only situationally useful, slightly annoying to set up, and when it doeswork the effects aren’t good enough. The flame doesn’t need to be especiallylarge, so a torch or even a candle will suffice. Drop a torch on the ground,run out of range, and cast the spell. The blinding effect isn’t spectacularbecause it only lasts on round and it’s on a Constitution save. Thesmoke cloud option is objectively worse than similar options like Fog Cloudor Darkness, but it doesn’t require Concentration which allows you to moreeasily combine Pyrotechnics with other powerful spells.
• Rope Trick^PHB: In previous editions, this was a cheap option to create a magically safeplace to rest overnight. The duration has been reduced to one hour, butthat’s still sufficient to take a Short Rest. Tragically, this can’t be castas a ritual, so unless your party has some other way to make Short Restssafe, you may want to keep this prepared while traveling anywhere dangerousin case you and your party need to suddenly vanish somewhere safe.

  Note that the rope can be up to 60 ft. long, and that the portalappears when the rope is perpendicular to the ground, so its full lengthruns straight up and down. No mention is given to what happens if the ropehits a ceiling, but I imagine that the spell would simply fail.

  Unless you relish the idea of your wizard with 8 Strength climbing a60-foot rope, I recommend carrying a much shorter length of rope for justthis purpose. 10 feet at most is typically sufficiently tall that none ofyour party members need to duck, and any medium sized creature in partycan lift any small or frail allies nearly to the top of the rope. 10 ft.of rope should also reach its full length before hitting a ceiling in mostlocales, but if you’re worried you can always shorten the rope beforecasting Rope Trick.

• See Invisibility^PHB: A great way to handle invisible foes, though you might prefer FaerieFire.
• Skywrite^EEPC: Only useful as a novelty. Still, it’s hard to resist the ability toinsult someone by writing nasty things about them in the sky for everyone tosee for miles around.
• Spider Climb^PHB: Even when flight becomes an option, Spider Climb remains an inexpensiveand reliable way to get off the ground, to sneak into places, and to managemany other problematic obstacles.
• Vortex Warp^SCoC:Basically Misty Step but for anyone but you. The tactical benefits of teleporting an ally adjacentto a frail enemy or teleporting a frail enemy into a dangerous location are numerous. Keep in mindthat this is a Constitution save, and those tend to be high, so choose your targets carefully.
• Web^PHB: Excellent combination of area control and crowd control, but if yourenemies have a good way to set fire to the webs don’t waste your spellslot.

3rd-Level Spells

• Ashardalon’s Stride^FToD: Bonus action casting time, and the damage doesn’t allow a save. Cast thisearly in a fight against multiple opponents, then start every turn byrunning around to apply the damage to every enemy in the encounter. Justremember that it applies to your allies and to unattended objects, so bemindful of your surroundings or you might find that you’ve burnt down yourown house. If you just need to get out of melee, Misty Step will workfine.
• Blink^PHB: 1-minute duration, cast an Action, it only has a 50% chance to work onany one turn, and you find out the results at the end of your turn when youno longer have the ability to do anything about it. I would prefer Blur orsomething similar over Blink, though admittedly Blink doesn’t requireConcentration.
• Catnap^XGtE: A Short Rest is typically one hour. In most campaigns, that will be finemost of the time unless the DM is deliberately creating a time crunch whichprevents resting or otherwise sitting about wasting time. In those cases youmight be able to squeeze in a Catnap, but more than likely the 10-minuteduration will still be problematic. If danger is the driving concern, castRope Trick instead and spend an hour in a pocket dimension.
• Create Food and Water^PHB: Rations are cheap, but it’s good that you can prepare this if you somehowfind yourself somewhere without food for extended periods. This also letsyou create 30 gallons of water, which is enough for a nice bath but notenough to fill a 5-foot cube.
• Dispel Magic^PHB: Essential in any party, and while you’re just as good at the AbilityCheck as anyone else, you don’t have the spell levels or spell slots toautomatically dispel a spell by casting Dispel Magic at a higher level.
• Elemental Weapon^PHB: If you have a weapon that’s worth casting Elemental Weapon upon, it’sworth the Enhance Weapon infusion which will mean that Elemental Weaponcan’t target it.
• Flame Arrows^{EEPC / XGtE}: At a glance, the artificer may be the first class that can justify usingthis spell. Since the Artificer doesn’t get AOE damage spells like EruptingEarth or Fireball which are available to other spellcasters at this level,there’s more room for this to be effective. However, Flame Arrows needs tocompete with Elemental Weapon. Elemental Weapon uses a smaller damage die,but allows you to pick the damage type. That alone is enough to makeElemental Weapon better but Elemental Weapon also adds a +1 bonus toattacks and doesn’t have the infuriatingly small cap of 12 pieces ofammunition. The one advantage that Flame Arrows has is that it works withweapons that are already magical, and as an artificer it’s likely that yourweapon is the target of one of your Infusions. Even then, if you need firedamage grab a spare weapon, hit it with Elemental Weapon, and you’ll likelydo better than using Flame Arrows.
• Fly^PHB: Winged Boots are too good to waste spell slots on Fly. You get access to Fly one level before you can get Winged Boots,but aside from that very tiny window of time, go for the boots.
• Glyph of Warding^PHB: Depending on how your DM handles it, this is either a situationally useful defensive measure or a reality-bending way to break the game from the comfort of your own home. See our Practical Guide to Glyph of Warding.
• Haste^PHB: An excellent buff for nearly any martial character.
• Intellect Fortress^TCoE: Technically situational, but an absolutely spectacular defense againstenemies which rely on spells or common effects like charm and fear effects.Unlike racial traits like the Gnome’s Cunning or the Satyr and Yuan-TiPureblood’s Magic Resistance, this applies to all Intelligence,Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws, providing broad and effective protectionagainst many of the most dangerous save-or-suck effects in the game. Youalso get resistance to psychic damage, which is nice if you’re fighting mindflayers, aboleths, or bards who enjoy Vicious Mockery. With a 1-hourduration, the Concentration requirement can be problematic, but it alsomeans that you can carry this through multiple encounters at low cost, so insituations where you need this it’s not going to eat all of your spellslots.
• Protection From Energy^PHB: An important, staple defensive option, but it’s single-target andrequires Concentration so you can’t afford to keep it running constantly.Keep in mind that you can also use Infusions to provide resistance to somedamage types, so this isn’t as crucial as it is for other spellcasters.
• Revivify^PHB: Everyone who is capable of casting this should keep it handy. It’s simplytoo good to forgo.
• Tiny Servant^XGtE: With an 8-hour duration, Tiny Servant is in many ways a temporaryfamiliar. Unlike a familiar it has fixed stats and it can attack, butattacking is definitely not its intended function. With 60-foot blindsight,it’s a portable sentry. It’s not smart enough to follow complex commands andit can’t see, so it can’t discern invisible foes from visible ones, but youcan command it to inform you of approaching creatures, or you could commandit to chase a specific foe which you know to be present but can’t see. Irecommend casting this on something small, portable, and loud like a handbell so that the servant can communicate by ringing itself. Still, as goodas this spell is I would wait until you’ve got plentiful 3rd-level spellsbefore you consider it.
• Water Breathing^PHB: Situational, but crucial when you need it. It’s a ritual so it won’t eat a spell slot, but artificers do needto prepare spells to cast them as a ritual..
• Water Walk^PHB: Usually flight is a better option than walking across a liquid.

4th-Level Spells

• Arcane Eye^PHB: One of the best scouting spells in the game.
• Elemental Bane^{EEPC / XGtE}: A great way to overcome damage resistance to your favorite spells. Notethat the extra damage is per turn, so if your allies can deal thesame type of damage you can pile up a lot of damage very quickly.Unfortunately, the save is Constitution-based and Constitution saves tend tobe high.
• Fabricate^PHB: I really wish that this spell was better, but it’s simply toosituational. It only works on raw materials, so you can’t pull tricks liketurning a door into toothpicks or something equally useful.
• Freedom of Movement^PHB: This is a great buff with a 1-hour duration, but you don’t have enoughspell slots to use this frequently. If you need this effect, use yourInfusions to create a Ring of Free Movement.
• Leomund’s Secret Chest^PHB: Extremely situational. The best case I can think of to use this item isif you need to sneak a chest of items into a place. Unfortunately, thelimited size of the chest makes it difficult to bring weapons or armor ofany great size. A longsword could fit if placed diagonally (they’retypically up to 4 feet long, including the hilt), but longer weapons like agreataxe or a quarterstaff like would not.
• Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound^PHB: The primary appeal of this spell is to watch for invisibile foes whileyou rest, but you can use Tiny Servant as a ritual with double the radius ofdetection. Faithful Hound does have one advantage, in that it’s meaningfullyuseful in combat, but the hound takes up one square, can’t move, and canonly attack creatures within 5 feet so unless you can pin a foe in on placethe hound is going to spend most of its time barking and doing nothingelse.
• Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum^PHB: This is hard to justify. It’s great for protecting a “home base” of somekind if you have magically-inclined enemies, but it doesn’t block passage soenemies can still walk right into it. If you’re going to rely on this, youlikely need to combine it with some other form of protection like a buildingor Leomund’s Tiny Hut.
• Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere^PHB: Single-target save or suck on a Dexterity save. Your spell DC will bejust as good as a wizard’s, and Dexterity saves tend to be low for manyenemies, so you can often take a target out of a fight for the durationwhile you deal with its allies or set up unpleasant traps for it.
• Stone Shape^PHB: This is one of the must useful spells in the game. Castles, dungeons,caves, mountains, and all manner of other locales include an abundance ofstone. The ability to reshape that stone to your purposes in an instant isimmensely useful. This is a spell limited only by your imagination. A 5-footcube is plenty of space to wreak all kinds of havoc if you’re clever..
• Stoneskin^PHB: A decent buff, but at this level magic attacks are common.
• Summon Construct^TCoE: Summon a pet Defender. Since summon spells depend heavily on spell levelthis won’t be as good for you as it is for the Wizard, but it’s still a bigbag of hit points and its attacks will still be effective so your summonedconstruct can still contribute meaningfully in combat.

  For more help, see myPractical Guide to Summoning Spells.

5th-Level Spells

• Animate Objects^PHB: By the time that you can cast this it’s obsolete.
• Bigby’s Hand^PHB: Versatile and very powerful, even though you get it very late compared tofull spellcasters.
• Creation^PHB: This spell is limited by its maximum volume and by your creativity. Ittakes a full minute to cast so it’s not going to be useful in combat, butit’s an amazing utility option. A 5-foot cube may not sound like a lot, butthat’s enough to get up to all sorts of mischief. Need to block a hallway?How about a 5-foot cube of wood or stone? Need a quick trap? 5-foot sphereof something heavy, roll it down a hill. Short on ammunition? Enough arrowsto fill a 5-foot cube. Food? 5-foot cube of non-living vegetable mattersounds a lot like food to me. Fancy clothes for a party? The finest cotton.Need to bribe someone you hate? Gems only last 10 minutes, so make itfast.
• Greater Restoration^PHB: If you don’t have a Cleric in the party, you need this.
• Skill Empowerment^PHB: This is great, but it competes for space with Enhance Ability. Advantageon a check isn’t as mathematically beneficial as doubling your ProficiencyBonus at high levels, but Enhance Ability is a considerably lower-levelspell. If you have allies who can cast Enhance Ability, try combining thetwo to spectacular effect.
• Transmute Rock^PHB: Turning rock into mud is a great way to restrain a group of targets, butthe ultimate goal is to transmute that muck back into rock while the targetsare still inside the area. This is incredibly difficult to do because itrequires that the targets fail two saves and that they don’t climb out ofthe mud on their turn, which may be easy despite the movement cost becausethe 40-foot cube only requires that targets move 20 ft. at the absolutemost. Creatures near the edges are nearly guaranteed to escape. Then, oncetargets get caught in the stone, the DC to escape is only 20, so creaturesaren’t guaranteed to be stuck unless their Strength is below 10. That’s alot of points of failure to turn two spell slots into a single AOEsave-or-suck.
• Wall of Stone^PHB: While not so broadly useful as Stone Shape, this is still a great way tosolve many terrain problems, and you can use it to split encounters so thatyour party can focus on a few enemies at a time.