I believe you’re superior off taking your first level in Fighter, or another, than Artificer. It’s a difference between more HP and even more skills, but I don’t Assume you’re going to use lots of skills beyond Craft and Use Magic Gadget. But I’d almost certainly fairly anything a lot better than Fighter...And when you’re set on playing

Whole frontal assault.  Thanks to the Piercer feat as well as combat abilities on the battle smith, we’re going to impale our foes with an entire world of damage.Action Economic climate. The Eldritch Cannon feature needs a reward action to activate, meaning that we’ll often have a little something to accomplish To optimize our turns.It’s tim