Guide: The Artifact Tier List

[PriestyMan]

Me and my brother decided that as a useful service to everyone, we would make a tier list of all the artifacts, so when you hit const 8, you know what to make first.

This is entirely our opinions, and we welcome debate about any artifact, and if you convince us that we are wrong, these tiers are very subject to change. Also, if you see an artifact that you don’t know what it does, I suggest you look at the wiki first: http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Category:Item. As a warning though, the wiki is not 100% correct, and some of the descriptions are not that useful, so if you have questions still, feel free to post here.

Everything here is based upon CBM 1.7, I think we got all the artis right.


Tier 1
This is a smaller tier because these items are far and away much better than all the others. Some of them are worth wishing for even. As soon as you hit const 8, these items *need* to be forged. They are game changing. Also, these items are good no matter what. You will never have a time where you can’t use them.

• The Chalice N4S3
• Gate Stone E6 S6
• Hammer of the Forge Lord E4 F3
• Sceptre of Dark Regency D5
• The Sickle Whose Crop is Pain D5
• Boots of the Planes S5
• Mage Bane E6
• Soulstone of the Wolves N5 E1



Tier 2
These items are mostly either the less important boosters, or the very good SC items that are artifacts. They might not change the entire game, but they can be very beneficial, and should be forged pretty darn quick.

• Magic Lamp A4 F4
• Forbidden Light S4 F4
• Tome of High Power A2 S2
• The Gift of Kurgi B5
• Armor of Virtue S3
• Sword of Many Colors E4 S3
• The Flying Ship A4
• The Aegis E5
• Dwarven Hammer E3
• Amon Hotep F5 S5
• The Sword of Aurgelmer S5
• Dimensional Rod S3
• Black Book of Secrets B2D2


Tier 3
These items are mainly the more niche items, which can be useful in certain instances, but are not a top priority. They are some good gear for SC’s, or marginal boosters mostly.

• Ark F5 S5
• Horror Harmonica S5 D4
• Tome of Gaia N2 E2
• Krupp's Bracers E2
• The Ankh D5
• Barrier E4
• The Stone Sword E4
• The Boots of Calius the Druid N3
• Crown of the Ivy King N2
• Aseftik's Armor E4
• Hammer of the Mountains E2
• Ember F2 W2
• Tome of the Lower Planes S3 B2
• Pebble Skin Suit B3 E1
• Blood Stone B3E2
• Tempest A5

Tier 4
This tier is whats left of the artifacts that are still useful in some way without having massive downsides. These are the things you want to try and get if you are about the 3rd person to get to Const 8. Still worth building

• Nethgul S3 W2
• Ardmon's Soul Trap B3 S1
• Black Mirror S4 B2
• Twin Spear S1 B1
• Twin Spear S1 D1
• Procas' Axe of Rulership B2 E1
• Picus' Axe of Rulership D2 E1
• Harvest Blade B3 N1
• Tartarian Chains E4 F1
• Crown of Overmight F3 E1
• The Flailing Hands D2
• Jade Mask D5 N3
• The Ruby Eye F3
• The Summit E5
• Orb of Atlantis W4 E1
• The Green Eye N2
• Flesh Ward B5
• Trident From Beyond W3S1
• Robe of Calius the Druid N2
• Monolith Armor E4

Tier 5
These items are kind of the junk pile. Some of these items are worth forging, but they really don’t help you much. Some of them are really a waste of gems. Every once in a while these items get used in an ok fashion, but generally they are not worthwhile or provide such a small benefit that they may as well not exist. (Note, Holger’s head and Percival were never meant to be good; they are just a bit of a joke for the Devs.)

• Igor Konhelm's Tome A2 D2
• Sharpest Tooth N1
• Sword of Justice F3 S3
• Oath Rod of Kurgi S1 B1
• Infernal Sword B1 F1
• Holger the Head E1
• Percival the Pocket Knight E1
• Alchemist's Stone E1 F1
• Rod of Death D1
• O'al Kan's Sceptre F2
• Winter Bringer W2
• Carcator the Pocket Lich D3
• Sword of Injustice D4
• Woundflame D4
• Sun Slayer D5
• Fenris' Pelt N3
• Clam of Pearls W3 N1
• Fever Fetish F1N1

[Corinthian]

Why thank you. This is a very useful list. But of course I don't agree with everything on it. For example the Sword of Justice or Winter Bringer are not terribly powerful, but they are also very cheap and you will almost always get your moneys worth for them.

On the other hand, I have never been able to get more use out of the twin spears, than a fire brand would have provided.

The sickle is good, but I don't think it deserve being in the first tier either.

Maybe i'll make a more thorough analysis later....

[PriestyMan]

sword of justice is a holy booster which is pretty meh. and its kind of expensive. i suppose its good for getting an H4 person maybe, but i dont think its really worht moving up. and winter bringer is just such a small factor. once you get const8 your opponent could care less about 2 FF per turn. Yeah, i always forge it, but its not exactly what i'd call *useful*

a note about the twin spears- We are assuming they (and the procus/picus) are being used together when determining their usefulness. so the spears give you awe, luck and two good dmg attacks, and call lesser horror. so marginally useful at the least.

sickle is up for debate. in the past it was for sure a T1 item, probably the fourth best item in the game, but nowadays abusing it with the soulstone or maenads or other chaff is generally banned, so it is less useful. but it is still a D gem generator, and turns things like indy barb attacks into free death gems. which is pretty darn good.

[Corinthian]

Oops! Did I write Sword of justice? I meant to write: the Infernal Sword. Put it on a banelord, give him a pair of flying boots and put him on attack monsters and he'll become an excellent anti-SC. Tier three, at least. In theory off course. I have never tested it.

As for the Sword of Justice? It could probably be bumped up to tier four because it is situationally useful for bless-nations that lack level 3 priests. Ashdod, T'ien Ch'i, Lanka and so on. It really cuts down on the micro, make sure that everyone gets blessed, and allow you to recruit other things than priests in your castles.
Can also be used to bless all your sacred mages with that earth bless. This way they do not need to cast bless themselves, and can use the first turn to cast other things.

As for the twin spears, they are length 4 each, I think. Dual wielding them would give you -8 to attack unless you have ambidexterity. Also you have to sacrifice your shield slot, witch is always a bummer.

[TheConway]

FYI, Infernal Sword's effect is MR resists, so its substantially worse than it would seem judging by the description.

[Corinthian]

Oh! Well thats much worse! I thought it imitated the spell: Infernal Prison.
In that case..... It still only cost 10 gems....... 6 gems with a hammer. Thats.... kind of good?

[PriestyMan]

1) dont bother considering the cost with a hammer. its on here cause its an artifact. so you wont reliably have it.

By the time you have artifacts, you probably have a decent way to bless everyone anyways, or its a little late for it to really matter. prophet is the easiest solution. and remember in the T5 description i did say "Every once in a while these items get used in an ok fashion"

[Dimaz]

Good work, however I disagree with some items, but unfortunately I don't have much time to explain my position so I'll be brief (also my gradation is for non-unique hammers as I'm not going to play 1.7+).
Junk IMO are the things which I won't bother forging at all due to either lack of gems or lack of lab slots for items. So Sword of Injustice, Carcator, Winter Bringer, Alchemist's stone, Sword of justice, Igor's tome go to T4.
OTOH Monolith armor, Flesh ward, single axe or spear are all too expensive or useless so go to junk imo.
Horror harmonica can be pretty useful, not sure but probably T2. Gaia definitely T2, cheap booster for 2 paths that can be combined for Gaia's blessing and EN rituals. Pebble skin probably T4. Ankh maybe T2.
Also I think The Summit and The Stone Sword should be exchanged, I see more uses for the Summit.
Dimensional Rod T1 if you plan wishing, wish starts several turns earlier with it.
Sickle and soulstone T2. Magic Lamp T1 if nobody can reforge it.

[Squirrelloid]

honestly not sure why the clam rated so low. I mean, yeah, you can't mass produce them anymore, but its still 1s/trn. This is not insignificant, especially since it mostly costs w gems.

[Dimaz]

Because const 8 is later and with no hammers it has a chance not to pay for itself before game ends. With hammers T3.