Artificer (2024)

A fierce combatant, master of pyrotechnics and explosives. Keen to move up in the foodchain, your journey will surely be one lined with constant bloodshed and warfare.

Artificer is one of five playable Slugcats in the More Slugcats Expansion. They are agile and strong, capable of producing explosions to propel themself through the air and able to craft explosives using certain objects.

Artificer is unlocked as a playable character after completing the campaign as either Monk or Survivor.

For the main Slugcats page, see Slugcat.

Food

6 food pips are required to hibernate, while up to 3 may be stored for the next cycle.

Opening

Artificer's opening fades in to show Artificer in the Scavenger Stronghold in Garbage Wastes. After eating a dead Scavenger, Artificer approaches a small floating golden Drone, which activates and begins following them.

Food:

Karma:

Area: Garbage Wastes

General Changes

• Artificer is immune to damage from Explosives, but can still be stunned by them.
  • They are still vulnerable to Fire Eggs and Singularity Bombs.
• Artificer can propel themselves through the air by creating controlled explosions.
• Artificer is able to modify certain items in order to make them explosive in exchange for food pips.
• Scavengers attempt to kill Artificer on sight, and Scavenger reputation cannot be increased. Kill squads are regularly sent out.

• Artificer begins with 1 maximum Karma, which can be increased by meeting Echoes. With less than 5 maximum Karma, Echoes can only be encountered when starting the cycle at the highest Karma level possible and with Karma Flower protection.
  • Echoes at The Wall, Subterranean and Metropolis can be encountered at any Karma level, without the requirement of a Karma flower.
• Scavengers now spawn with their own Karma levels, and their corpses can be carried into Karma Gates to pass them. A dead Scavenger's Karma level decreases by 1 level each cycle, unless "Lossless Scavenger corpses" is enabled in More Slugcats Expansion settings.
  • The Karma of the dead Scavenger is added onto Artificer's current level.
  • If "Scavenger corpses have max karma" is enabled in More Slugcats Expansion settings, every type of Scavenger will always spawn with 5 Karma, bringing Artificer's total to 6 if held with minimum karma.
  • A regular Scavenger may spawn with any Karma level between 1 and 4, depending on their personality values.
  • An Elite Scavenger may spawn with any Karma level between 1 and 5. The effect of personality values on Karma is increased, making them more likely to have a higher Karma level.
• Initial Passage options are limited, as Artificer must visit 4 Echoes to have enough Karma to gain The Survivor. If the Remix option "Passage progress without Survivor" is enabled, 3 passages count progress: The Wanderer, The Martyr, and The Dragon Slayer.
  • The Pilgrim always counts progress, regardless of the Remix setting.

• Artificer has very low lung capacity and drowns quickly. Drowning causes their body to explode, instantly killing them.
  • The shock of a Centipede also causes Artificer to explode.
• Squidcadas are extremely common and always aggressive towards Artificer.
• Any dead creature can be eaten for food.
• Smaller creatures and plants only fill 0.25 food pips .
• Bubble Weed burns up and becomes used immediately when held.
• Artificer can pull staked Spears out of walls, even if the Remix option "Pull spears from walls" is disabled.
• Artificer can take one hit from acid without dying, allowing them to explosive jump out if they accidentally fall in it.

World Changes

• Predators are more common and difficult.
• Scavengers are more frequent and spawn in areas that they normally would not, notably on the path up The Wall to Five Pebbles.
• Garbage Wastes is much more dangerous, with blue Rot, Daddy Long Legs, and some rooms filled with lethal acid instead of water. Some entirely new rooms can be accessed.
• Shoreline's structures are in better condition, instead named Waterfront Facility.

• Looks to the Moon is inaccessible, but Five Pebbles can read Colored Pearls if they are brought to him.
• The Precipice is in better condition and no longer a dead end, instead connecting to the rest of the Waterfront Facility.
• Unfortunate Development contains much less rot.
• Drainage System has fluctuating water levels to accommodate for Artificer's shorter underwater timer.

Abilities & Attributes

Stats

[*] Artificer's breath interaction is hardcoded somewhere else; in practice, they have a lung capacity of ≈0.2x standard.

[†] Throwing skill affects velocity and trajectory.

Explosion Immunity

Artificer is immune to damage caused by explosions, such as those from Grenades and Explosive Spears. However, they can still be stunned by explosions. The length of time they are stunned varies depending on proximity to the explosion; explosions at point-blank range can stun them for an extremely long period of time, leaving them vulnerable.

They are not immune to Fire Eggs and Singularity Bombs.

Bomb Jump

Pressing Jump and Grab while airborne causes Artificer to launch in the held direction. Once a bomb jump is performed, another cannot be performed until Artificer makes contact with a floor or wall (with the exception of zero gravity and low gravity environments, where it can be used multiple times until exhausted). Artificer can throw objects downward and upward while bomb jumping. This ability is disabled while holding a Grappling Worm.

Artificer can jump up to 5 times before they begin smoking. Artificer's 6th jump causes them to drop held items and the 7th makes them fall to the crouched state. The 8th and 9th stun them, and the 10th jump causes a large explosion that kills them. The number of jumps Artificer can perform can be changed under the settings in the More Slugcats Expansion menu.

The game counts every bomb jump in a Jump Counter Variable(SplCnt). By default, Artificer starts smoking once SplCnt reaches 5. Each jump has a set amount of time to tick down from SplCnt's current level. Jumps 1-3 take 1.5 seconds to tick down, for a total of 4.5 seconds to clear from SplCnt 3 to 0. Jumps 4-8 take 1 second to tick down, for a total of 5 seconds to drop from SplCnt 8 to 3. Artificer's 9th jump takes 3.75 seconds to tick down to SplCnt 8. If Artificer uses a bomb jump during this 3.75 second cooldown, they die. SplCnt takes 13.25 seconds to drop from 9 back down to 0.

Concussive Blast

If is held while initiating a bomb jump, Artificer instead creates a large explosion around themself, stunning creatures and disarming nearby Scavengers. Concussive Blast uses up exactly 2 jumps until the counter reaches 6, after which the jump counter increments by 1. Without any other inputs, Artificer lands from a blast in the crouched state.

This effect also deflects thrown projectiles, like Spears and Rocks, preventing contact with Artificer and even redirecting Grenades outwards from the blast and back onto other creatures.

The stun time for Concussive Blasts is longer, allowing Artificer to perform 7 of them before dying. This can be changed through the same setting as bomb jumps.

Mauling

Pressing and holding Grab while holding any live creature causes Artificer to maul them, dealing 1 damage; there is a unique damage resistance modifier for mauls. This easily kills smaller creatures such as Vulture Grubs and Lantern Mice. Creatures such as Scavengers and Big Spiders must be stunned first. It can also be used to de-mask a Vulture when holding their head.

Artificer's concussive blast can be used to easily stun creatures prior to mauling them. Larger targets can be taken down by repeatedly using a concussive blast then mauling them, but this is risky and leaves Artificer open to other predators or overheating.

Explosive Crafting

Artificer can make Spears explosive at the cost of 1 food pip by holding Grab. Rocks turn into Grenades, Flashbangs into Lanterns, and Batnip into Cherrybombs when swallowed at 1 or more hunger, consuming 1 food pip in the process.

• 

  Crafting an Explosive Spear

• 

  Crafting an Explosive Spear from an uncharged Electric Spear

• 

  Artificer being electrocuted after trying to craft with a charged Electric Spear

• 

  Crafting a Grenade

  See Also

  Dungeons & Dragons: Every Artificer Subclass, Ranked

• 

  Crafting a Lantern

• 

  Crafting a Cherrybomb

Sofanthiel

Sofanthiel is Artificer's companion drone. It is a golden floating device with a single red eye which follows Artificer. The spelling Sofantheil is also correct.

Dreams

Artificer's backstory is revealed in dreams during hibernation.A few of these are playable, though none of the player's actions have any consequences for other dreams.

Artificer once took care of two Slugpups, but they were both killed by Scavengers after one took a Pearl from a Scavenger Toll. The subsequent fight between Artificer and the Scavengers is what caused the scar on Artificer's face. As a result of their Slugpups' deaths, Artificer has taken perpetual revenge on the Scavengers.

After the fifth dream or after the player has killed the Chieftain Scavenger, all dreams are replaced with a single nightmare. In this nightmare, Artificer is trapped in a small tunnel with no exits and a single Scavenger.During this nightmare, the regular "dream" sound effect that plays is heavily distorted and drawn out.

Spoilers end here.

Trivia

• The sprite for Artificer's scar is actually a recolored mushroom in-game.
• Artificer was originally going to have a tutorial on their mauling ability; however, this is not seen in-game and can only be found in the code.
• Other creatures such as Vultures can appear in Artificer's dream sequences, though these have no effect on the ensuing dreams.
• Almost all of Artificer's dreams take place in a single room in Garbage Wastes that is otherwise inaccessible. The different dreams are just different screens of the same room.
• If grabbed by Lizards, Artificer can use their concussive blast to stun them and escape.

Gallery

• 

  Artificer sleeping sprite.

• 

  Artificer main menu sprite.