I’ve always liked the idea of asking your DM if you can mount the flamethrower turret on your shield and running it as a melee aoe kind of champ. You can of course hold it in your free hand, but then you can’t have your wand. It could occupy your square but then you have to deal with moving it around on its own. I’ve seen people suggest it can mount the player too, so ymmv.

Sadly there are very few point blank aoe spells or abilities. The scourge assimar is an option to lean into it. Most of your life will just be casting one concentration spell and then hurling fireballs.

Of course it is just one example, the real question is what are you planning on centering around? A fire bolt thrower with a ballistic turret is very different from a heal turret melee user.