A Comprehensive Guide for Every Artificer Spell in DnD 5e

Forge Arcane Wonders

Artificers in Dungeons & Dragons 5e are masters of magical invention, blending arcane spellcasting with mechanical ingenuity to produce magic-like effects. Drawing power from their Intelligence, your Artificer doesn’t just wield magic—they engineer it.

Artificers channel magic through their tools, making their spellcasting uniquely tied to their craftsmanship. When casting spells, imagine how your tools shape the effects—Cure Wounds might involve crafting a salve or deploying a mechanical spider to mend injuries, while Poison Spray could be a vial of chemicals or a venom-spitting device. Similarly, preparing spells involves adapting your tools to produce the desired effects, like modifying a healing device to channel heat for Heat Metal. This creativity sets artificers apart from other spellcasters.

As half-casters, Artificers lack access to high-level spells and expansive spell slots compared to full casters. However, what they lose in raw magical power, they more than make up for with their Infusion abilities and unique spell list tailored to utility, defense, and clever problem-solving.

Unlike some spellcasters, Artificers prepare spells after a Long Rest, allowing them to adapt to their party’s needs and the challenges ahead. This flexibility is key to maximizing their effectiveness and showcasing their creativity.

Artificer Spellcasting Tips

To harness the full potential of your artificer’s spellcasting, here are some key considerations:

What spells should every artificer prepare?

Foundational defensive spells for an Artificer include Absorb Elements, Cure Wounds, False Life. Offensive spells need to include Heat Metal as one of the best damage spells on the Artificer list and in the game. As you gain levels, spells like Dispel Magic, Revivify, Haste, and Greater Invisibility can cement your role as a lifesaving utility caster and tactical powerhouse.

Note your subclass’s playstyle

Your artificer subclass grants you extra spells tailored to its theme. Lean into these spells to amplify your subclass’s strengths. For instance, an Alchemist benefits from support and healing options like Healing Word and Mass Healing Word, while an Artillerist can rain destruction with Scorching Ray and Fireball. These subclass spells don’t count against your prepared spells, freeing up space for broader utility.

What is this guide?

This guide is meant as a deep dive into the best spells for the 5e artificer. For the full overview of the artificer class, check out our artificer class guide.

To allow you to scan through the options quickly, we use the following color rating scheme:

• Red : Isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
• Orange : Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
• Green : A good option
• Blue : A great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
• Sky Blue: An amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Artificer Spells in D&D 5e

Cantrip

• Acid Splash: Can target multiple creatures.
• Booming Blade: Most casters will want to avoid this unless they are up in the mix as a martial spellcaster. This can be a great tool to lock enemies down if you're being pursued or would like to move around the battlefield to get an advantageous position. Unfortunately, shoving or other methods of knocking prone doesn't activate the extra 1d8 damage. This spell works particularly well with the Mobile feat as you can attack then move without giving your opponent an attack of opportunity. In practice, it works extremely well with the Polearm Master and Sentinel feat combo, but you will need to pick up a way to extend the range of your cantrip, either by using the Spell Sniper feat or the sorcerer's Distant Spell Metamagic. Finally, this spell works wonders with War Caster as you can hit an enemy booming blade as an opportunity attack and prevent your opponent from running away.
• Dancing Lights: Solid range and utility when you need to light a dark area. Has very similar effects to the light cantrip, so take your pick of whichever you prefer.
• Fire Bolt: One of the better damage dealing cantrips. Good range and damage dice, fire is one of the most resisted damage types so be careful when casting at unknown enemies.
• Frostbite: Frostbite has a very interesting secondary effect (giving disadvantage on target’s next attack). The problem is that it requires a CON save which many monsters are very good at.
• Green-Flame Blade: Good option for martial spellcasters as long as the enemy their attacking has allies nearby. Scales relatively well with levels, but depending on the amount of extra attacks you get this may or may not be worth it. Definitely a good option for builds that have picked up War Caster.
• Guidance: Outside of combat, you can use this literally every time a party member makes an ability check. Just make sure you're within arms reach of the creature you'll be providing guidance to and make sure to announce it before the ability check is called for.
• Light: Useful, but there are plenty of ways around having to pick up this spell. As long as your not underwater, simple torch could save you a slot for another cantrip.
• Mage Hand: Mage hand provides a lot of utility for a caster, allowing them to extend the range they can grab or interact with objects, with little combat benefit.
• Magic Stone: If you have an spellcasting modifier of at least +3, this is a better option to use than fire bolt from 1st-4th levels because of the higher average damage. Once you hit 5th level, change this out for fire bolt if you can.
• Mending: You’re the party’s tinkerer so you have to be able to fix stuff! Plus mending allows you to heal your Steel Defender or Homunculus Servant.
• Message: Often pointless due to unavoidable metagaming, but for roleplaying purposes it’s great.
• Poison Spray: Bad range, a common save to avoid all damage, and a commonly resisted damage type. Pass.
• Prestidigitation: Extremely versatile, even if the effects are small this cantrip can do a lot.
• Ray of Frost: Solid damage cantrip. The speed reduction can help with kiting enemies.
• Resistance: It's difficult to predict when saving throws will need to be made. So, spending concentration for a save that might not come isn't worth it, even if you're not sacrificing a spell slot.
• Shocking Grasp: Advantage against metal armor and preventing reactions for a turn bundles damage and utility.
• Spare the Dying: When you're in the middle of combat and don't have any healing spells or potions left, you don't want to leave stabilizing a companion to chance. This is always a good spell to have as a backup.
• Sword Burst: Good AoE damage if you get surrounded.
• Thorn Whip: Lackluster damage and pulling creatures closer will be a situational bonus for Artificers. This can be very useful in circumstances where you can pull enemies into an environmental hazard.
• Thunderclap: Good AoE damage but targets a common save and can’t be used while stealthing.

1st level

• Absorb Elements: One of the best defensive spells at this level, especially for protecting against elemental AoE effects.
• Alarm: This spell is relatively useful whenever you're resting. What's better is it can be cast as a ritual. If you have Ritual Casting, this is never a bad pick.
• Cure Wounds: Healing is important so pick it up if you think you’ll need it.
• Detect Magic: Every party should roll with at least one character who has access to detect magic.
• Disguise Self: Great 1st level infiltration spell.
• Expeditious Retreat: This spell could come in handy for characters that value high movement and may have no real use for their bonus action, like a Bladesinger.
• False Life: Temporary hit points are always useful, especially at very low levels where characters can be taken out in a single hit.
• Feather Fall: It's a situational effect but you’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
• Grease: Solid low-level getaway spell but it isn't particularly effective in combat because you can't choose which creatures are affected. This isn't even that useful as part of an ambush where you know an enemy will be coming into a room so you and your party line up with ranged weapons because if a creature falls prone you will have disadvantage on your ranged attack..
• Identify: You can spend a short rest in physical contact with a magical item to identify it. In addition, most cursed items are not revealed to be cursed when this spell is cast. The main purpose this spell serves is to identify something quickly, which is rather situational.
• Jump: Tripling a creature's jump distance isn't usually worth a 1st level spell slot.
• Longstrider: An extra 10 feet of movement is noticeable, especially since this spell lasts for an hour so you can use the buff before you find yourself in a battle or travel long distances in a short time.
• Purify Food and Drink: If you're DM likes to poison you via food or drink a lot, this could be a good pickup? Otherwise, save it for when you go to a political banquet in enemy territory.
• Sanctuary: A good spell to have in your pocket if a team member is in dire straits or you need to protect an NPC.
• Snare: Way too many hoops to jump through and downsides to be worthwhile. If you manage to pull it off despite the long casting time and the terrible AoE, a trapped creature can easily find themselves in a bad situation. Having to make the escape saving throw at disadvantage will not be pretty.
• Tasha’s Caustic Brew: Spells that don’t do damage until the start of the creature’s turn can end up as a wasted spell if they are dealt with before their turn starts.

2nd level

• Aid: Proactive healing rather than reactive healing and at a higher, guaranteed rate than Cure Wounds. 5 hit points can make a huge difference in keeping the party alive, and the spell doesn’t require concentration. Can be cast at higher levels.
• Alter Self: Decent utility when infiltrating hostile areas or needing to travel underwater. Unfortunately, disguise self is a 1st-level spell and usually better for infiltration and the combat part of this spell is pretty worthless.
• Arcane Lock: Surprisingly, a useful little utility spell. The effect lasts until dispelled so it's a good thing to use on a home base when you have the spell slots to spare. Of course, the lock can be bypassed with knock but you'll be able to hear someone using knock while you're within 300ft. Overall, you don't want this stocked unless you're really paranoid or need to lock down an area.
• Blur: Pretty good evasive option. The higher your AC, the better this is.
• Continual Flame: Most of the time you can just cast light or use a torch as a light source and save yourself the 50 gp.
• Darkvision: Essential if you or party members don’t have natural Darkvision and want to navigate without a torch. At a 2nd-level spell slot, the cost for this effect is quite steep.
• Enhance Ability: Decent buff before you go into combat. Also has a fair amount of utility for just about any out-of-combat situation.
• Enlarge/Reduce: A solid shenanigan spell that is really only limited by your imagination. This can do everything from enlarging your barbarian so they can grapple an adult dragon to shrinking a boulder so you can fly with it then drop it on an enemy's head.
• Heat Metal: A go-to damage spell for enemies wearing metal armor (or have knives stuck in them). No save, great damage, and can cause the creature to attack with disadvantage or lose their weapon.
• Invisibility: Great infiltration spell.
• Lesser Restoration: Diseases and conditions do come up from time to time, so you’ll be happy to have this when they do.
• Levitate: Can be used to get up high, or completely remove a melee attacker from combat. Levitate can be good at any level.
• Magic Mouth: Useful if you want to Mission Impossible-style deliver a message when someone opens an envelope or something. Otherwise, message and sending make this obsolete.
• Magic Weapon: This is usually a much better option, but with the artificer’s Infusions this will likely not be necessary.
• Protection from Poison: Has some use if you have a poisoned party member but don't have access to lesser restoration. The resistance to poison and advantage on saving throws against poison is a nice buff in specific circumstances, especially because it doesn't require concentration.
• Pyrotechnics: Limited because it needs a nonmagical flame to be able to work. Can be comboed with bonfire.
• Rope Trick: This is an extremely cheese-able spell that allows you to pop out of your extra-dimensional space, take a shot at a creature, then pop back in. I guarantee if you start abusing this spell, your DM will find some evil ways to punish you. Past cheesing combat, there are a lot of shenanigans you can pull with this spell. Especially because it doesn't require concentration.
• See Invisibility: If you know you're going to be coming across invisible creatures, this spell is worth it to stock. Otherwise, faerie fire is a better option as it allows party members to see the invisible creatures as well.
• Spider Climb: A useful movement option if you want to get away from a combatant or sneak into a hostile area. Seeing as your hands are free, you're still able to attack and cast spells while climbing. Will also allow you to live out your Spider-Man fantasy.
• Vortex Warp: This spell has a good baseline, being able to move enemies and allies around the battlefield is solid utility. In situations where you have environmental hazards, like fire or ongoing AoE effects, this spell really shines. Unfortunately it's limited by the fact that you can't just teleport an enemy 90ft in the air or off a cliff and that it targets CON, which is a notoriously good save for monsters.
• Web: For when you want to get creative. Web is a great way to take away an enemy’s turn and deal some extra damage at the same time.

3rd level

• Blink: 50% chance of completely avoiding any damage for a turn is more consistent over a long period than mirror image and better for builds with lower ACs than blur. Plus, it isn't concentration.
• Dispel Magic: Always make sure at least one of your party members has this.
• Elemental Weapon: Infusions are better unless you plan on building around the Elemental Adept feat.
• Flame Arrows: The 1 hour duration allows this to be cast before initiative so that you don’t waste an action on this. If you are really set on adding 1d6 to your ranged attacks, consider taking a feat that will allow you to pick up hex or hunter’s mark instead.
• Fly: Extremely useful movement option. Being able to fly opens up a whole new world and can overcome many obstacles. Be cautious about the concentration component when flying to lofty heights.
• Glyph of Warding: Costly components and a long casting time are the major hurdles in the way of making glyph of warding a stellar spell. As it stands, its probably the best way to set a trap if you know where the enemy will be coming through and have at least an hour to prepare.
• Haste: Lovely buff for non-caster party members, just make sure you don’t immediately have your concentration broken and waste a 3rd level spell and your party member's next turn.
• Intellect Fortress: Only useful in very specific circumstances. Say, for example, when wandering into a den of Mind Flayers.
• Protection from Energy: This is typically outshined by absorb elements except in the specific circumstances when you are constantly being subjected to a type of damage.
• Revivify: Every party needs a party member with revivify. The nature of D&D is such that PC deaths happen fairly easily, so your friends will be looking to you to save them from that fate. Because each round of combat is 6 seconds, a party member that dies during combat can typically be revived within 1 minute. Make sure you've got diamonds worth 300 gp on you if you're planning on stocking this spell.
• Tiny Servant: See this amazing post on GitP for hilarious ways to combine your tiny servant with your Spell-Storing Item. This is the kind of stuff Artificers were made for.
• Water Breathing: This is almost required for enabling underwater traversal, which may or may not happen a lot in a campaign.
• Water Walk: This is likely not to see use in an entire campaign.

4th level

• Arcane Eye: A great scouting tool and can be moved as an action, making it a worthy spell to pickup.
• Elemental Bane: If you need to remove a resistance to a certain damage type, get the Elemental Adept feat so you don’t have to waste a turn and 4th-level spell whenever you run into a creature that has a resistance to your damage type.
• Fabricate: Situational but this is the kind of stuff the artificer needs to be able to do.
• Freedom of Movement: It’s nice to give extra movement options to allies, but there are better buff spells and this one is pretty situational.
• Leomund’s Secret Chest: Hide stuff in the ethereal plane. Very, VERY situational.
• Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound: Seeing as the hound can only attack creatures within 5ft of it and can't move, it is very situational.
• Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum: If you're resting in a hostile area or are being tracked by enemies capable of using divination magic to track you, this could be a worthwhile spell to cast. At 4th-level, it's certainly resource-intensive but sometimes a peaceful night's sleep is worth it.
• Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere: DEX-based save or suck. Great way to take a baddy out of the fight while you finish off its friends.
• Stone Shape: Can be used to deal damage if you get creative, or circumvent annoying parts of caves and dungeons since they are usually made of stone.
• Stoneskin: Effectively double your or your favorite melee fighter’s hit points. Better at lower levels or when fighting enemies without magical attacks. If you'll be casting this on yourself, make sure you have a decent CON modifier and consider taking the Resilient (CON) feat if you don't have proficiency in CON saving throws or the War Caster feat for advantage on concentration checks.
• Summon Construct: All of the options are fairly tanky but the Heated Body option is definitely the best feature.

5th level

• Animate Objects: Turn your trash into treasure. Send an army of pebbles at your opponents for 1d4 + 4 damage with +8 attacks.
• Bigby’s Hand: Bigby’s hand truly does it all. It can do turn after turn damage, help you escape dangerous situations, hold down a baddy, and allow you to fly all while increasing your action economy because it only uses a bonus action to command.
• Creation: Allows you to make a rope, or a rock. Yeah.
• Greater Restoration: By 17th level, you are really hoping another party has this spell. If you have somehow made it to 17th level without that, pick it up here.
• Skill Empowerment: This spell is very flexible since you can give any creature Expertise in any skill. It is quite expensive at 5th level and it works best when the creature needs to use the same skill multiple times.
• Transmute Rock: If you can catch a bunch of creatures on rock, this spell can be used to nearly incapacitate them. Situationally very useful.
• Wall of Stone: Great tool to manipulate the battlefield to your party’s advantage.