Lets see what the changes are here:
New Spells, mostly from XGtE.
Cantrips:
A thunder damage option, more control options, and options are always nice. Especially on a class that can get access to all of their cantrips.
The notable synergy here is Magic Stone. It guarantees that an Artificer has access to a magic weapon without having to burn an Infusion for it. Is that interaction intentional? That's debatable considering that they don't have access to Shillelagh, despite pulling from the Druid Cantrip list. In fact, they should just add Shillelagh to the list. It will also help smooth out the gap between level 1 and level 3 where Battle Smiths are going to be whiffing their attacks. Yes, it's a bit of a kludge (hah), but Arcane Armament is just kinda bad for requiring additional character build resources in the first place.
Level 1
Absorb Elements is nice. But it begs the question: “Why not Shield as a general pick?”
Catapult is just plain fun. It also has practical synergies: Want to poor some Alchemist Fire on someone that's on the other side of the room? No Problem, this gives you extended range on your flask throwing!
Faerie Fire, Feather Fall, Snare: All good stuff.
Level 2
Pyrotechnics and Skywright.
Better to have them than not I suppose.
Level 3
Catnap? That's out of nowhere.
Flame Arrows and Tiny Servant however, are both on point.
There is also a noticeable lack of Remove Curse. How are they supposed to deal with Cursed Items?
Level 4
Elemental Bane seems a bit too damage focused to just be up for any Artificer to grab.
Vitriolic Sphere, on the other hand, is simply lackluster. It's no Fireball, an it's later to boot. Is a half-caster really going using a 4th level spell for minion clearing?
Level 5
Skill Empowerment. Expertise on demand. The only problem is that the Artificer is a half-caster. So they don't get this until endgame, but whatchagoinado?
Transmute Rock. Another Fun spell.
I want to take a moment here to talk about Arcane Armament. It's unfortunately the same: it's still just Extra Attack with extra hoops to jump through. Which means you have to burn one of your Infusion slots (or stick with pebbles) if you want to use your own class feature. Having to double-dip like that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Also, Artificers still have two capstones. Break one of them up and let people use some of that before the end of the game.
Now for the Subclasses!
Alchemist is the same. Ok...
Archivist! Now, everyone can play with your invisible friend! Totally a psionic class that didn't make it into the psionic playtest. They make scrolls, and maps, and possibly books. Are we sure this isn't a wizard in disguise?
The spells are all mindful, nothing too outstanding.
They don't get a physical pet, which is unique for artificers. Instead they pull the same trick that Sheperd Druids do, and have a non-tangible holographic entity act as the anchor for a (somewhat) mobile zone of magical hi-jinx.
Information Overload has basically a point blank range mind blast, which would make it hard to use, especially considering that the Mind-Thing isn't extraordinarily mobile.
Mind Network is great, for talking to your party. Unfortunately, the psionic damage bonus is crimped by the limited range of Information Overload, and Dissonant Whispers is the only spell you have that will work with it for the bulk of your characters adventuring days.
Pure Information gives Mind Overload more bite, but not more range, it's glaring weakness.
It also lets you teleport across the entire multiverse, providing you are teleporting to one of your infused items. Which is rad.
Artillerist: More of the same. Also slow, but at least it has more range than the Mind-Thing.
Battle Smith! It sounds like a Cleric subclass, but it's actually a steampunk Ranger. By “smithing”, they mean you can make armor, but only magical armor! Which means no early potential source of plate.
Battle Ready. They do the Hexblade thing. Some people will insist this is the worse thing ever. In reality, they only have a fraction of the Hexblades true power, and almost none of it's cross-class synergy. Though on the plus side, you can totally ignore the ability and just focus on cantrips and your pet.
Oh yes, speaking of the pet, which is the reason people are going to play this class.
Iron Defender. Rangers everywhere are crying. It has generically good stats and scales smartly with your level. It can be repaired and resurrected (!) easily, at the level that you get it no less. But most importantly, and I quote: “It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, or Help action ”. It's the next best option if you absolutely can't let the pet attack without spending the player's action.
Also, they get Arcane Jolt, which lets them heal your party when they bite something. Which is really good on the action economy.
As for spells, the Battle Smith gets a bunch of Smites, and some auras, but nobody cares. Because Rex the Robodog is the star of this show.
Now for Infusions!
Enhanced Wand is the new casters equivalent of Enhanced Weapon, with the added bonus of ignoring half-cover because spell attacks aren't all that common if you aren't a Warlock. Though it is a bit weird. Why does it ignore half-cover, but do nothing against 3/4ths cover? Couldn't it just reduce less than full cover by one step?
Repeating Shot makes Crossbow Artificers viable. It also makes low-tech Gun Artificers Viable, if you happen to use guns.
Repulsion Shield is amazing. It automatically pushes anyone who hits you, regardless of their size or saving throws!
Other than that, it's mostly the same as before.
