u/BigCake6521

I just hit level 3 in my campaign and have decided on the armorer artificer subclass. Right now I am using the infiltrator armor model, but I have seen a lot of people praise and recommend the Guardian model. What am I missing?

I imagine the play style is: I run up with my barbarian, paladin, or monk, use the Guardian's taunt, use the temp HP once bloodied, but then what? I feel like this works well for one or two fights and then I am way too low on HP to continue frontline aid. I have no real way of escaping fights that get too messy besides hoping an AO misses or burn a spell slot to misty step.

The Guardian seems fun, but I worry I'll be making death saves real quick. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!