Tips for Artificer Danger 5

[Pogotronic]

Hey,

I am really struggling to get an Artificer win on Danger 5. It is so hard because of the reduced armor modifications. How do you approach the Artificer? Do you get a lot of Dodge, do you get armor anyway? Lots of HP with regen?
And do you go for planks to use the bonus to explosion size for elemental damage? Or do you prefer to start with Shredders and go for ranged?
Would be happy to get some tips. :-)

[Bumc]

Elemental damage in explosion size seems like a total bait overall.

Shredder is a fine start, but you don't have to go ranged damage -- if you check the math, explosion weapons have one of the worst scalings with it.
Nothing wrong with picking up a point here and there ofc.

Your best damage stat is attack speed. Crit is sort of fine, but quite expensive to get up to the point it matters, so its easier to just skip it.

Armor is worth it even later than on other characters, and probably around 10 by the end game including 50% malus.
Dodge and maxhealth are always welcome -- you don't have enough single target damage to clear the screens before anything touches you like a glass cannon build would.
Regen scales poorly into late game messes with items you want to pick up. Your best restore stats are +enemies count, Luck and healing from consumables. Lifesteal is fine as well, but not worth picking up until end game imho.

[Tappin]

Bumc's summary pretty much matches what I've seen. Ranged isn't horrible, but due to overkill and AE, attack speed is really good. Gentle Alien makes crowds which you're well positioned to deal with which increases economy and, with luck and + consumable heal, leaves food everywhere. And the luck makes sure you get some of the broken rares.

[Pogotronic]

Thanks to the both of you for the tips. I just applied them and won first try. :-)
Especially the remark about elemental damage into explosion size being bait helped a lot. :-)

[thunda]

Go full Shredders until you get Rocket Launchers or Nuke Launchers, and then replace Shredders with them. If you cant find them the run is most likely lost. You need to replace atleast 2 of your Shredders with either of those.

Dodge, Regen and Lifesteal are near useless. And so is Armor due to the debuff. So glass cannon is the name of the game. To nudge the odds in your favor restart until you get early horde wave, or even 2 in a row. They are much easier with Artificer than Elites.

First 5 waves get some Luck, and key items and more Shredders. Prioritize Luck over Harvest since you really need those Rocket Launchers/Nuke Launchers. After that start getting attack speed like your life depends on it, while improving your guns to Tier 2 and looking for Rocket Launchers and other key items (like Bag, Tree etc)

Attack Speed will be the most important stat, you want atleast 100% of it by wave 15 or something like that. Elemental dmg for bigger explosions is ok as a secondary stat but not the greatest (Speed and Luck are better). Its more useful once you get Rocket Launchers and Nuke Launchers and the whole screen is covered in explosions.

Some Max HP is preferable, and since you dont have any other healing with this build you need consumable heal items.

But yeah its not a good class (mediocre at best), its very reliant on you getting some actually decent weapons before like wave 10-11 (namely a Rocket Launcher or two or perhaps a Nuke if youre extra lucky). Shredders and Planks are trash, and the other two starting weapons you can forget about. Not a good class whatsoever because the starting weapons suck so much.

Third try, only because I didnt see a single Nuke/Rocket Launcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA3HLR7PdbY

[Acetaminofen19]

[Chris Goddard]

Originally posted by Bumc:

Elemental damage in explosion size seems like a total bait overall.

Shredder is a fine start, but you don't have to go ranged damage -- if you check the math, explosion weapons have one of the worst scalings with it.
Nothing wrong with picking up a point here and there ofc.

Your best damage stat is attack speed. Crit is sort of fine, but quite expensive to get up to the point it matters, so its easier to just skip it.

Armor is worth it even later than on other characters, and probably around 10 by the end game including 50% malus.
Dodge and maxhealth are always welcome -- you don't have enough single target damage to clear the screens before anything touches you like a glass cannon build would.
Regen scales poorly into late game messes with items you want to pick up. Your best restore stats are +enemies count, Luck and healing from consumables. Lifesteal is fine as well, but not worth picking up until end game imho.

Sir, I salute you! After many hours of trying this worked quite easily. It seems like a fool-proof way of doing it! Thank you

[HighDensityLipo]

I just had a winning run w/ Artificer on D5 w/ 6 shredders. It was not my intention but though I ended the run w/ 87 luck and two free rerolls in the shop, not one launcher or nuke appeared. I did get a crazy amount of attack speed (145), 42 elemental damage, 40 crit, 340 explosion damage %, and 193 explosion size %. I had very average survivabililty w/ 41 max hp, 15 hp regen, -1 armor, 46 dodge, and 2 nullify upgrades. However, I almost never took damage. I had an early horde wave which was great b/c I kind of weak until around wave 13-14, but then killed the chef elite and the egg laying elite w ease, and then slaughtered the two final bosses in about 25 seconds. So, I don't recommend going straight shredders since rockets/nukes are way better but it can be done. I got lucky finding that red +60 (I think ) explosion damage that has a -damage % w/ it. I ended my run w/ -162 damage % and only 8 ranged damage but it didn't matter b/c my explosion damage/radius was so high and my attack speed was crazy high. Hopefully this helps.

[HighDensityLipo]

Just tried this class one more time on D5 and it was way messier and I died on wave 20 and was treading water all run. I think getting early luck is really important as once you have 6 shredders, it becomes hard to get a rocket launcher/nuke (not positive on this, but I have a feeling). A couple of ppl have mentioned that attack speed is king and they are right. I couldn't get my attack speed up and so I struggled all run. Hp regen seems like garbage on this class even if you get a high attack speed. I actually think this class is pretty fun but it's not as balanced or strong as a lot of others. This is another class that you have to keep it really simple and don't have a ton of freedom if you want to be successful.

[Jaasrg]

Originally posted by HighDensityLipo:

I actually think this class is pretty fun but it's not as balanced or strong as a lot of others.

Same.
While I do like the big booms explosives bring to table, their value greatly diminishes when you stack them.

[midori]

So the way to ACTUALLY do this (because you WILL get hit on wave 20, multiple times) is to stack armor from level 1. You want 20 armor and as much HP as you can get. Nullifiers are also amazing for artificer due to the fact that you are going to get hit on wave 20.

Shredders (upgrade to rockets and nukes if possible)
Armor > explosion size > hp > attack speed/explosion dmg > ele dmg/ranged damage
Don't bother with dodge, regen or lifesteal.

[thunda]

Originally posted by midori:

So the way to ACTUALLY do this (because you WILL get hit on wave 20, multiple times) is to stack armor from level 1. You want 20 armor and as much HP as you can get. Nullifiers are also amazing for artificer due to the fact that you are going to get hit on wave 20.

Shredders (upgrade to rockets and nukes if possible)
Armor > explosion size > hp > attack speed/explosion dmg > ele dmg/ranged damage
Don't bother with dodge, regen or lifesteal.

I didnt get hit on wave 20 a single time. Watch my video.

[midori]

Originally posted by thunda:

Originally posted by midori:

So the way to ACTUALLY do this (because you WILL get hit on wave 20, multiple times) is to stack armor from level 1. You want 20 armor and as much HP as you can get. Nullifiers are also amazing for artificer due to the fact that you are going to get hit on wave 20.

Shredders (upgrade to rockets and nukes if possible)
Armor > explosion size > hp > attack speed/explosion dmg > ele dmg/ranged damage
Don't bother with dodge, regen or lifesteal.

I didnt get hit on wave 20 a single time. Watch my video.

Ya you got stupidly lucky with rocket launchers and are probably in the top 1% of tryhards for brotato. Most people are not you and should stack armor. Better to assume you won't be that lucky honestly.

[thunda]

Originally posted by midori:

Originally posted by thunda:

I didnt get hit on wave 20 a single time. Watch my video.

Ya you got stupidly lucky with rocket launchers and are probably in the top 1% of tryhards for brotato. Most people are not you and should stack armor. Better to assume you won't be that lucky honestly.

Stupidly lucky? It was third try, you dont need to get very lucky to find a Rocket Launcher with Artificer, just a bit lucky.

[midori]

Originally posted by thunda:

Originally posted by midori:

Ya you got stupidly lucky with rocket launchers and are probably in the top 1% of tryhards for brotato. Most people are not you and should stack armor. Better to assume you won't be that lucky honestly.

Stupidly lucky? It was third try, you dont need to get very lucky to find a Rocket Launcher with Artificer, just a bit lucky.

you found 6, never seen more than 2 in 60+ hours lol, ♥♥♥♥ outa here dude

[Bumc]

If you found one, you encounter more quite often if you have enough Luck.
Finding the first one boils down to RNG tho.