The Artificer does not try to hit their opponent: they try to make sure their opponent is in the wrong place at the wrong time. They place charges, move them, align them, and light them. All their offensive spells are really placement spells.
Your charges deal 15% more damage and never hurt you when they explode. Every turn, each one arms by a step — five at most — and gains fixed damage: +10, +24, +45, +77, then +125.
The firing line that forms between two aligned charges, on the other hand, burns you like anyone else.
The step progression is the real engine of the class. A charge placed and lit in the same turn deals 34 to 50 points, raised by 15%. The same charge left in place for four turns adds 125 fixed points on top. The whole difficulty is surviving long enough for your charges to age — and making sure your opponent does not destroy them in the meantime.
Immunity to your own blasts is what allows you plays no other class can make: standing in the middle of your three charges and lighting everything.
A charge with 70 health that blocks its tile and explodes 2 tiles all round for 34 to 50, plus the bonus from its steps, when you light it or someone destroys it. Every charge already placed makes the next one 1 AP dearer: the first costs 2, the second 3, the third 4 — nine AP for three charges. Three at most on the map.
Two aligned charges create a firing line between them, which burns anyone who enters it or starts their turn in it, you included.
24 to 35 damage and the enemy is pushed one tile away from you. Your only direct attack — and even then, it is mostly there to push: into a firing line, next to a charge, or against a wall, where the blocked push adds 12 collision damage.
Blows up the targeted charge, wherever it is, even behind a wall. The blast spreads: your charges caught in it, or linked to it by a firing line, go off in turn. A single Ignition can therefore set off all three — it is the spell that turns ten turns of preparation into one turn of conclusion.
Pushes an entity 3 tiles away from you: one of your charges, a summon, or your opponent themselves. If it hits a wall or someone, it takes 12 collision damage per missing tile, and the entity struck takes half. Two AP to move a charge three tiles is cheaper than placing a new one.
Aim at a tile, even an empty one: all your charges on its row or its column, at 8 tiles at most, slide towards it until they reach it or hit an obstacle. Neither you nor your opponent moves. Three AP to gather a scattered field of charges around the tile your opponent is standing on.
Swap places with one of your charges, even behind a wall. It is your longest and cheapest move: every charge you place is also an escape hatch eight tiles away. Placing a charge behind you early in the match is often better than placing it under your opponent.
For 3 turns, your charges — those already placed as well as those to come — deal 40% more damage and gain 50 shield. No effect on you. The spell will not cast if you have no charge on the map: place first, reinforce second. The 50 shield counts as much as the 40%: it takes a charge from 70 to 120 effective health.
You roll to a free tile in sight, 3 tiles at most, and get 1 MP back. The short-range retreat, when Relay has no well-placed charge — or when you need to get out of a firing line you have just created.
This turn deals no damage. It promises plenty: from the next turn on, every charge gains a step, and the firing line burns anyone who crosses it.
The order is the spell: you push first, you light second. A charge lit too early is a wasted charge — and a step lost.
Gather moves neither you nor your opponent: it moves only your charges. That is what makes it the most underrated spell in the class — five AP to bring together and set off a minefield you placed three turns earlier.
Against the Warrior and the Brute, play your charges as walls: they block tiles, and therefore Charge paths and Taunt lines. A charge placed on a Leap’s destination tile cancels the spell.
Against the Arcanist, Relay is your only way to rebuild distance quickly: place a charge ahead, under cover, then swap. Against the Shade, your blasts hit tiles and not targets — it is one of the best answers to invisibility in the game. Against the Clockmaker, careful: Pivot rotates your charges like everything else, and an alignment shifted by one tile no longer makes a firing line.
The Artificer is played by setting up the ground before striking: place the charges, align them to create a firing line, push your opponent into it with Shove or Grapeshot, then light it. Ignition costs 2 AP and spreads to the charges caught in the blast or linked by a firing line. Letting a charge age is better than lighting it right away, because every turn adds a step of fixed damage to it.
The Artificer has 700 health, 12 action points and 6 movement points, with 30% resistance to AP steal and 35% on MP. Their charges have 70 health each — 120 while Fine powder is active.
Three at most on the map. The first costs 2 AP, the second 3 and the third 4, since every charge already placed makes the next one 1 AP dearer: nine AP for all three. They are placed up to three times a turn, at 6 tiles at most, and the spell has no cooldown.
Two aligned charges create a firing line between them, which burns anyone who enters it or starts their turn in it. The Steady hand passive protects the Artificer from their own blasts, but not from the firing line: it is easy to lock yourself between two aligned charges. A blast also spreads along that line, so a single Ignition can set off all three charges.
Area spells and immediate aggression. Their charges only have 70 health, so a Comet, a Stomp or a Quake destroys them — and a destroyed charge explodes on the spot, often where they did not want it. Their class also needs two or three setup turns that a Brute charging on turn one will not grant them.
The Artificer rewards preparation: their best turns are the ones they set up three turns earlier.
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