Dossier Summary
Skill loadout
8 AbilitiesEvery skill Artificer can equip, with the slot it occupies, its cooldown and its proc coefficient. Skills listed as alternates replace the default for that slot and are unlocked through the challenges underneath.
| Skill | Slot | Cooldown | Proc | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flame BoltExplodes on contact in a radius with no falloff and applies a burn over time. Since Seekers of the Storm the cooldown scales down with attack speed as 1.3 divided by attack speed, down to a floor of half a second. | Primary | 1.3s | 1.0 | Default |
| Plasma BoltThe alternate bolt, exploding on contact in a radius, under the same attack-speed-scaled cooldown with a half-second floor. | Primary | 1.3s | 1.0 | Alternate |
| Charged Nano-BombTakes two seconds to fully charge and fires bolts at nearby enemies as it travels, once every 0.125 seconds but only once per second against the same enemy. The orb arcs under gravity and its explosion has linear falloff. | Secondary | 5s | Explosion: 1.0<br>Sparks: 0.3 | Default |
| Cast Nano-SpearA charged spear that sets enemies burning, and enemies keep burning while frozen just as freezing does not put the burn out. It cannot be applied to bosses apart from one documented exception. | Secondary | 5s | 1.0 | Alternate |
| SnapfreezeRaises freezing pillars on a 12-second cooldown. Frozen enemies cannot move and are killed outright once they fall below 30% health. Sprinting while aiming casts it instantly, skipping the startup. | Utility | 12s | 1.0 x 12 | Default |
| FlamethrowerA three-second beam with a 0.6-second windup that pierces enemies. The in-game 2000% damage figure is wrong: it ticks 22 times at base attack speed with roughly half of those hits landing. Critical chance is rolled once for the whole cast, and the cooldown only begins when the attack ends. | Special | 5s | 1.0 x 22+ | Default |
| Ion SurgeA launch whose velocity scales with movement speed. Used while airborne it allows perpetual flight, and the explosion has no falloff. | Special | 8s | 1.0 | Alternate |
| ENV SuitLets Artificer hover rather than fall. The behaviour can be changed to a toggle in the settings. | Passive | — | — | Default |
The proc coefficient scales how strongly on-hit item effects trigger from that skill's damage. Reported by players — Compiled from player reports and community guides; confirm in your own run.
Challenges tied to this survivor
- Artificer: Massacre
- Artificer: Chunked!
- Artificer: Orbital Bombardment
Reading the loadout
Artificer carries 8 skills across 5 slots (Primary ×2, Secondary ×2, Utility, Special ×2, Passive). 3 of them are alternates rather than a default pick, which puts a real choice in the Primary, Secondary, Special slots.
- Cooldown range
- Shortest is 1.3s on Flame Bolt; longest is 12s on Snapfreeze. That spread sets how often the kit can answer a problem rather than absorb one.
- Proc profile
- Highest proc coefficient is 1.0 on Flame Bolt, Plasma Bolt, Cast Nano-Spear, Snapfreeze, Flamethrower, Ion Surge. The primary sits at 1.0.
- Unlock work
- 3 challenges are tied to this survivor, listed underneath. Clearing them is what opens the alternates rather than the character itself.
The kit splits into 4 slots built around dealing damage and 3 slots built around repositioning or burst windows. Because the primary sits at a proc coefficient of 1.0, on-hit item effects trigger from your most-used attack rather than from an occasional button.
This breakdown is computed from the table above rather than quoted from a guide, so it moves automatically whenever a listed value changes.
Origin and version history
- Artificer has been on the roster since the base game, which puts the character inside the balance pass that patch 1.21 was written for.
- Patch 1.21 added Tectonic Blast (Utility) as a new option for this kit — one of six original survivors that gained a skill in the free half of the Hallowed Concepts release.
- Hallowed Concepts also shipped a skin for Artificer, so the most recent cosmetic change and any mechanical change to this character came from the same release.
Origin and patch attribution are taken from the store listings and the developer's own announcement for patch 1.21.