Obikin89's Requiem for Neverwinter
MOD 20

Artifacts

Artifacts are items which you can upgrade, and are generally part of a set which gives extra bonuses when completed (these are extremely important). There are Artifact Equipments (weapons, necklaces, and belts) and Artifacts (items which generally have a power you can use, and are described on this page). You can equip one Artifact as Active and 3 Artifacts as Passive. You can use the power of your Active Artifact in combat. Passive Artifacts only give you their stats and set bonuses. Artifacts often form a set with a Necklace and a Belt, but there are a few of them that form a set with other Artifacts, which means you can benefit both from a set with a Necklace and a Belt and a set with only Artifacts.

Active Artifacts

Artifacts give you stats, but the main thing is their power. At Mythic quality, their cooldow is 60s (120s at Legendary, 180s at uncommon), so it's important to upgrade your Active Artifact, not only to make it more powerful but also to be able to use it more often. Do not forget to use them. Some of them are pretty powerful !

The damage of your active Artifact scales on your Power percentage and is affected by your other stats for crit/deflect/combat advantage. And it scales on the quality of your Artifact, but not on your Damage stat... So a Mythic artifact deals much more damage than a common one (it's important to state the obvious, because we can't trust anything anymore...). But that also means that if you use an uncommon mount equip power that increases Power and you change it for a Mythic mount equip power that increases Awareness, your Active Artifact will deal less damage ! Because Craptic™, that's why ! So your Total Item Level and Damage make no difference, only your offensive stats matter.

Damage Boosts

The most important of them are debuff artifacts. It’s important for endgame content that people use different debuff artifacts, because they do not stack if they are the same (unless they are at different quality !), but they stack together if they are different. So make sure you have a few of them to be able to adapt depending on which ones people have in the group.

Debuff artifacts for group content

Good for solo

Damage Mitigation

Group damage mitigation (use them before a boss uses a big attack)

These are particularly good to have if you are a Healer. They will help you keep the group alive. No need to have them equipped everywhere (whenever you can use a debuff artifact, use one), but there are many fights where they make a difference.

Best for self damage mitigation (especially for Tanks)

There are a few places where Tanks will take lots of damage. It's best to have one of these to survive when you need them. No need to have them equipped everywhere (whenever you can use a debuff artifact, use one), but there are many fights where they make a difference.

Utility

Niche artifacts for combat

Tanks and Healers may be inclined to use the Envenomed Storyteller’s Journal or Sigil of the Cleric to be able to use their Daily power more often. But there are also a few Artifacts with niche uses, which are good to know, even though they're not really best in slot anywhere.

Pure utility artifacts

Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue is a good little trick for those who are not VIP rank 7 (only use it when soloing, you can’t change it that easily because of the cooldown, no need to upgrade it unless you want to reduce its cooldown). The Forgehammer of Gond is a must have if you are going for Masterwork.

Artifact Sets

Sets with Necklace and Belt

Most of the Artifacts are a set with a Necklace and a Belt. When you have the 3 of them equipped, you get a powerful set bonus. Your Artifact, Necklace and Belt, give you the full set bonus even when they are at green quality (no need to upgrade them for that purpose).

Damage

The Apprentices' Spoils set (also called Music Box set) is clearly the best set to have in dungeons in order to deal damage, as it boosts a whole rotation of your powers, including your mount combat power, more than any other set, whenever you need it with your Daily power. You can trigger it when everyone uses their artifacts for maximum efficiency. The Dark Remnant set is the best to have in Vallenhas and Avernus. Also great to have in IC (though the Apprentices' Spoils set can potentially outperform it on bosses, but it's great against mobs). The Lostmauth's Hoard set is fantastic if you're using quick at-wills to deal damage, especially for solo content, if your Critical Strike percentage is high (though not all powers trigger it, because Craptic™). The Star and Demon Lords' Immortality are good in any situation, though not the best to have. The Serpent and Mad Dash sets are other options you can use if you have none of the above.

Damage Mitigation

Sets for Tanks are quite underwhelming. On paper the Diamond set is awesome, but in reality, it's not practical at all. The Valhalla's Rebuke set is probably still the best one to have, though it has a lower item level. It's also possible to use any Necklace and Belt to boost stats and forgetting about a set bonus. Otherwise, you can use a Support set to help your team.

Support

The Apocalypse and Vistani sets are fantastic to help your team deal more damage. Not every class can use the Vistani set fully though. It's best on Tanks (who have aoe at-wills), while Healers are much better with the Apocalypse set (because Critical Strike is a good stat to have for them). Other sets are good alternatives to help your team deal more damage, or take less damage.

Healing

The Star set is a sad joke for Healers, because game designers have no idea about what they are doing... The Tiamat set is the only set that's worth it to improve healing. But Healers are also good with a Support set.

Utility

This one is nice to mention, especially for newer players.

Sets with only Artifacts

The Storyteller's Journals are great, but not everyone can have them easily. The Hearts of the Dragons are very nice to have if you rely on your cooldowns. Note that all of the artifacts of these sets give 300 item level at Mythic, while many newer Artifacts can give 450 item level at Mythic. So if you do not have the Journals and your class does not really care about Recharge Speed, it's better to have Passive Artifacts for their stats only.

Passive Artifacts for Stats

You can pick any artifact for their stats in a passive slot. If you do not use the Hearts of the Dragons or Storyteller's Journals sets, you will have 2 or 3 slots available for them (depending on whether you active artifact is also part of your Neck and Belt set or not). All of the recent Artifacts can give up to 450 item level and 360 combined ratings (at Mythic Quality) and are neutral for your stats (your total percentages stay unchanged, unless they give HP). That means moving 0.09% from all stats to a couple of specific stats. Previous Artifacts (pre-mod16) give a maximum of 300 item level and 225 combined ratings (at Mythic quality). That means moving 0.075% from all stats to a couple of specific stats. There's a wide variety of stats given by Artifacts. You can look at them in the collection to find the ones that balance your stats as you need them.

Upgrading Artifacts

Artifacts are very expensive to upgrade. They require a total of about 500k Refinement Points (RP) each to reach Mythic quality. So, yes, you will need 2 million RP to upgrade all 4 artifacts. But you only really need to upgrade your Active Artifact, for their power. Upgrading passive Artifacts is only useful to gain some item level and moving your stats a bit. A green lvl 1 artifact is good enough for set bonuses. Higher quality artifacts certainly give more stats. Do not use a ward when upgrading an Artifact from Uncommon to Rare, but always use one afterwards, because wards are less expensive than marks of potency rank 4 and it's better to lose a wards rather than a mark of potency rank 4 (you won't lose the Artifact nor refinement points if you fail, only the materials or wards).

Refinement costs