Artificer build

How players win with Artificer Community consensus

Summarised in our own words on 13 November 2026; check the patch date of each source against PC 1.2.

Weapons Artificer boosts most Computed from rules

Artificer: ordered by how much Artificer's modifiers raise each weapon's damage compared with a character without modifiers, then by damage per second; weapons Artificer doesn't boost fall back to raw DPS. Reference profile: Artificer's own stats plus 20 points bought in the weapon's main scaling stat, both multiplied by Artificer's modifiers; one weapon, its highest tier, no items, single target, every projectile hits. 89 of 95 equippable weapons scale with a stat Artificer can raise.

#	Weapon	Boost	DPS	Main stat	Hit	Cooldown
1	Rocket Launcher IV	×1.75	175	Ranged Damage	175	1.03 s
2	Grenade Launcher IV	×1.76	138.6	Ranged Damage	88	0.95 s
3	Nuclear Launcher IV	×1.75	119	Ranged Damage	245	2.12 s
4	Fireball IV	×1.74	71.2+ burn 1×5	Elemental Damage	61	0.87 s
5	War Hammer IVArtificer class bonus	×1	124.9	Melee Damage	240	1.95 s
6	Shovel IVArtificer class bonus	×1	77.1	Melee Damage	91	1.21 s
7	Chainsaw IVArtificer class bonus	×1	69.5	Melee Damage	40	0.58 s
8	Awl IVArtificer class bonus	×1	67.7	Engineering	41	0.88 s
9	Screwdriver IVStarting optionArtificer class bonus	×1	59.3	Engineering	36	0.88 s
10	Crowbar IVArtificer class bonus	×1	31.1	Melee Damage	48	1.59 s

Starting weapons by the same measure

• Screwdriver#9 of 89, 59.3 DPS at tier IV
• Wrench#11 of 89, 30.4 DPS at tier IV
• Shredder#39 of 89, 1 DPS at tier IV
• Plank#65 of 89, 1.1 DPS at tier IV
• Sticky Grenade#79 of 89, 0.7 DPS at tier IV

Legendary-only weapons

These exist only at tier IV, cost a Legendary shop slot and carry the Legendary set penalty of −20 Max HP per weapon of the class. At the same profile: Chain Gun 33.3 DPS; Gatling Laser 16.4 DPS; Drill 4.4 DPS; Excalibur 1.8 DPS.

Burning weapons

Burn damage is not in the DPS column. Per application at the same profile (damage per tick × ticks; the strongest burn on an enemy is kept unless you own Pyromaniac): Flaming Brass Knuckles 1×18, Carbon Bow 1×12, Wand 1×12, Torch 1×12, Particle Accelerator 1×10, Molotov Cocktail 1×7.

Items for the stats this build buys Computed from item data

Ranked by points per base material after Artificer's multiplier; prices rise each wave. Downsides are listed because they hit other stats.

Items that turn Artificer's stats into more

• Frozen HeartWeapon and pet damage additionally scales with 10% Elemental Damage
• Strange Book+1 Engineering for every permanent 1 Elemental Damage you have

Items that use Artificer's effects

What the modifiers change Computed from rules

Artificer's modifiers reward Elemental Damage (converted to Explosion Size). At the reference profile the highest single-target damage comes from Rocket Launcher IV (175 DPS).

Armor ×0.50

Counts ×0.50, including its penalties, which shrink by the same factor.

Elemental Damage → Explosion Size

+4% Explosion Size for every 1 Elemental Damage you have. At 20 Elemental Damage this gives 80% Explosion Size.

Tool weapons +100% Damage

+100% Damage with Tool weapons. Eligible: War Hammer, Shovel, Chainsaw, Awl, Screwdriver, Crowbar, Wrench.

Assumptions and method

• Damage per hit = round(trunc(base + Σ stat × scaling) × (1 + %Damage/100 + class %Damage/100)); crits average in as chance × round(hit × multiplier). Formulas are datamined from the game code; weapon numbers come from the game-file tables.
• Cooldown is the tooltip value, which includes the attack animation. Reload weapons average the long cooldown over its shot count. Attack Speed divides the tooltip, an approximation: the game divides only the cooldown frames.
• Not modelled: pierce, bounce, explosion splash, knockback, on-hit and kill-count effects, structures, and how often the weapon actually reaches enemies. Multi-projectile weapons assume every projectile hits the same target, which favours shotguns.
• Version: Brotato PC 1.2 with the 12 November 2026 patch. Reviewed 12 November 2026.