The Artificer is both Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition‘s newest class (the only new class introduced in the entire edition) and my personal favourite. It breaks the (excellent) mould of fantasy swords-and-sorcery to put a new spin on things.

Now, you don’t need to play your Artificer as an Iron Man-esque, steampunk mad scientist. They can easily be a magician who prefers to imbue objects with magic rather than use it directly. Nonetheless, it opens up brand-new thematic and mechanical doors.

In particular, the D&D 5e Artificer has a unique form of modularity and party support that no other class gets. Artificer Infusions in D&D 5e are magic items the class gets innately. A player chooses a selection of Infusions from a list, and then a smaller selection of those to have each day.

This can be overwhelming for new players, particularly as an Artificer in D&D 5e can either wield infusions themselves or give them to party members. Nonetheless, there are some standouts that any Artificer player, new or veteran, should consider building.

Mind Sharpener Protects Invaluable Spells and Slots

Concentration is one of the few limits D&D 5e puts on powerful spellcasting. Naturally, then, the edition comes with plenty of ways to warp that mechanic. I often recommend spellcasters take the War Caster or Resilient: Constitution feats (or both), but this is an expensive tax. Furthermore, it doesn’t always work.

D&D 5e‘s Concentration spells are almost always its most powerful crowd control effects, buffs, or debuffs. They can swing entire battles unless a poor Constitution saving throw ends them early. This wastes the slot, the spell’s potential, and potentially an action to recast it.

The Mind Sharpener Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e bends the Concentration mechanic like no other tool. Up to four times per day, a spellcaster can simply choose to pass a Concentration check they should have failed. This even applies in situations where other bonuses would be useless – such as immense damage that means even a Natural 20 would fail.

This isn’t only one of the best D&D 5e Artificer Infusions for the Artificer themselves. It’s also a powerful tool for other party members. An Artificer might enjoy the extra security for their scarce spell slots. However, it might be even better for a Wizard, Cleric, or other spellcasting party member who lacks a good Constitution save.

Helm of Awareness Prevents One-Sided Fights

The Helm of Awareness is easy to overlook as an Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e. However, its twin benefits are both worth having – one to make everyday fights easier and one to prevent disaster.

Advantage on Initiative checks is both rare and powerful. Going first in combat is ideal for any character, whether it’s so a Fighter or Rogue can take out powerful threats before they take a turn or so a spellcaster can drop a devastating AOE before battle lines become muddied.

Artificers have plenty of reason to want to go early in combat as well, whether it’s dealing damage, rewriting the battlefield, or buffing allies before they take a turn. Any party member benefits from this day-to-day.

Immunity to surprise is a much more situational benefit for a D&D 5e Artificer Infusion to give, but pays for itself in one go. Surprise is a devastating tool in combat, particularly when leveraged against the players. It can easily result in defeat, character death, or worse.

The Helm of Awareness isn’t as powerful as the Weapon of Warning magic item. However, it fights for a less competitive slot, being a helmet instead of a weapon. Besides, even a weaker version of the item’s benefits makes the Helm of Awareness one of the most powerful Artificer Infusions in D&D 5e.

Enhanced Defense Helps Make You Unbreakable

Armor Class bonuses are invaluable in D&D 5e. The system has fairly flat maths compared to previous editions. Any bonus to AC remains impactful throughout the entire campaign.

The Enhanced Defense D&D 5e Artificer Infusion can go on any piece of armour and increase its AC bonus by +1, later increasing to +2. Shields double in effectiveness. Half-Plate exceeds regular plate. Plate Mail becomes eye-wateringly powerful.

Any frontline warrior benefits from this Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e. Any Fighter, Paladin, or even Barbarian will relish even more attacks missing them.

Even better, an Artificer can almost abuse Enhanced Defense by stacking other, similar items. Due to how the dice maths works, Armor Class is more valuable the more a character has of it. Add Enhanced Defense on top of a shield, Cloak of Protection, Ring of Protection, Defense Fighting Style, and more, and you have a character the DM will tear their hair out trying to hit.

On its own, Enhanced Defense can seem plain and unremarkable. However, it’s one of D&D 5e‘s best Artificer Infusions for how many tank builds it enhances or enables. Things don’t have to be flashy for the party to love them.

Homunculus Servant is More Than a Pet

The Homunculus Servant is a unique Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e. Rather than making a shiny sword or a magical item, it creates life itself. The implications of this aren’t well-examined.

The mechanical benefits are, however. Homunculus Servant is an invaluable Artificer Infusion for D&D 5e, a game where action economy and utility are paramount.

It’s far from a powerful combat pet. It isn’t the Battle Smith’s Steel Defender. However, it adds an impressive amount of flexibility to an Artificer.

For one thing, the Homunculus Servant, like all familiar-esque creatures, can take the Help action. Advantage is always welcome, particularly in out-of-combat skill check situations where few restrictions exist.

On top of that, the Homculus Servant can deliver touch spells for the Artificer from a distance of 120 feet. Ranged healing, buffs, crowd control, even damage.

One somewhat unexpected feature that makes the Homunculus Servant one of D&D 5e‘s best Infusions comes from Spell-Storing Item. The Homunculus Servant can take any action if the player uses a bonus action to command it.

Suddenly, whatever spell the player put in their D&D 5e Artificer’s Spell-Storing Item takes only a bonus action, doesn’t conflict with other spellcasting, doesn’t cost their Concentration, doesn’t use spell slots, and can come from elsewhere on the battlefield.

There are only two real downsides to the Homunculus Servant as a D&D 5e Artificer Infusion. One is that it’s quite fragile. The other is that it clashes with subclass features like Steel Defender and Eldritch Cannon. Even then, there are ways around these.

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Repeating Shot Opens Up Unique Builds

Artificers are heavily associated with guns in D&D 5e, even getting automatic proficiency in them if they’re present in the campaign. Conveniently, the Repeating Shot Artificer Infusion makes firearms (and crossbows) significantly better weapons.

With the Repeating Shot Infusion in D&D 5e, ranged weapons no longer need ammunition. You no longer need a free hand to reload them with the Ammunition feature, and the Loading property no longer limits how many attacks you can make in a turn.

On top of all that, it gives a +1 to attack and damage rolls.

At its most basic, the Repeating Shot D&D 5e Artificer Infusion prevents the feat tax of Crossbow Expert or Gunner (although Crossbow Expert’s bonus action attack might still tempt some characters).

At its most impressive, it opens up ranged attack builds no other D&D 5e character can enable. Wielding a pistol and a shield makes for a dangerous ranged damage dealer who is far better protected than any other gunner.

Repeating Shot is a very good Infusion for a D&D 5e Artificer to put on themselves. It’s also invaluable for any party member who wields a crossbow or firearm and wants to hold off on taking the feat.

Note: Firearms like those found in Critical Role‘s homebrew rules, which use Reload instead of Loading, don’t technically benefit from this by the rules as written. Discuss with your DM to avoid disappointment.

Spell-Refueling Ring Refunds D&D 5e’s Best Resource

Spell slots are one of D&D 5e‘s few limitations on powerful spellcasting. Naturally, then, the game is full of ways to work around them.

The Spell-Refueling Ring Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e effectively gives an extra spell slot per day. For just an action, a spellcaster can refund an expended spell slot of up to third level (you pretty much always want to choose third level).

This doesn’t allow for truly sickening spells to be repeated, falling well short of giving spellcasters bonus Walls of Force or Disintegrates. Nonetheless, third-level is enough for Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Sending, and many other powerful D&D 5e spells.

The Spell-Refueling Ring in D&D 5e stacks with other ways to regain spell slots, such as Arcane Recovery, Sorcery Points, and more. Give it to the right party member and they’ll be able to cast powerful spells all day, every day.

Or, an Artificer can keep the D&D 5e Spell-Refueling Ring Infusion for themselves and alleviate some of the burden of their limited half-caster spell slots.

No spellcaster has ever complained about having more spell slots to play around with. If nothing else, the Spell-Refueling Ring is one of the best Artificer Infusions in D&D 5e for making your party members love you.

Replicate Magic Item is Exactly What it Says on the Tin

Most Artificer Infusions in D&D 5e are one-offs that give something close to magic items without your DM getting any input.

Replicate Magic Item drops the plausible deniability and just lets you outright create magic items from the Dungeon Master’s Guide to wield or give to your allies.

Now, this isn’t unlimited. You choose from level-gated lists for what you can create. However, it’s also repeatable. You can take Replicate Magic Item as many times as you like (although I do recommend checking out other items).

Replicate Magic Item is far and away the best Artificer Infusion in D&D 5e for how much versatility it has. Even though you have to choose a specific item each time you take it, you can still cover a vast breadth of evergreen or situational options whenever your party needs.

Anyone who has played D&D 5e knows how good magic items are. I don’t need to tell you how good a party member who can produce them at the drop of a hat is.

There are too many options for the Replicate Magic Item Infusion in D&D 5e for me to go through all of them. Instead, have a handy table of some of the standout options at each level.

Artificer Level	Best Replicate Magic Item Choices
2	Bag of Holding, Sending Stones, Wand of Magic Detection
6	Cloak of Elvenkind, Gloves of Thievery
10	Cloak of Protection, Gloves of Missile Snaring, Winged Boots
14	Amulet of Health, Belt of Hill Giant Strength, Boots of Speed, Ring of Protection

These have been seven of the best Artificer Infusions in D&D 5e, despite there being many other great options. If you’ve enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and check out other Artificial Twenty content, like the suggestions below.

Like Artificers as much as I do? Check out ‘The Best Artificer Races in D&D 5e‘ for even more of the best build options available.

For more esoteric D&D 5e build advice, instead try ‘How to Multiclass in D&D 5e: Mistakes to Avoid‘.