Artifacts, relics, and items

Ancient artifacts are the run-defining items in the official copy. The Steam page says they can grant a devastating effect, introduce a new combat mechanic, or save you from a fatal blow. You combine them with Combat Masteries. The fact sheet puts artifacts in the same breath as Warrior Memories and dice. A second word shows up beside them: the store says you switch weapons and relics to match the fight. This page treats artifacts as the named build items and relics as the word the store uses for the thing you swap in combat. Whether every relic is an artifact is unconfirmed. The text uses both, and it never prints a glossary.

What the demo added

The press demo said artifact rooms are one of the route rewards, next to gold for a merchant and totems that upgrade parries, combos, and charged attacks. It also said artifacts grant unique powers and reset each run. Reset-on-death fits a roguelite and matches "define your build" inside a single descent. It is still a demo sentence, not a store tooltip. If the public playtest keeps a relic across death, this paragraph is the one to revise. Permanent power is a different track: Wakestones and hero levels.

No artifact has a published name, rarity, or number. The dice system is how rarity gets pushed. Read dice for that. Do not expect a drop table.

How to value one in a run

Take the artifact that changes a verb you already use. A save-from-death effect is the greedy pick when you are still learning parry timing on combat. A new mechanic is the greedy pick when your Warrior Memory already survives and you want the run to feel different. Skipping an artifact room for a mastery totem can be right if your parry is the thing failing, because the demo framed those totems as upgrades to parry, combo, and charged attacks. Gold for the merchant is the third door. A store screenshot really does show a Merchant prompt, in the same chamber as Stan. What the merchant sells is not itemized. The press demo said gold leads there.

What not to farm

There is no published artifact checklist and no pity timer. Refreshing a wiki table that does not exist will not help. Builds is the priority order. Bosses are not yet tied to specific relic drops.

Verdict: In a run, grab the artifact that either saves a lethal hit or adds a mechanic your current Memory lacks. Spend gold at the merchant when the doors offer it. Assume, until the playtest says otherwise, that the demo rule holds and the stack resets when the run ends.

FAQ