Eridian Artifacts are empowering items that enhance your combat capabilities by providing additional abilities and passive bonuses to your character in Borderlands 3. Artifacts aren’t tied to a specific Vault Hunter, and only one can be actively equipped at a time, but you can carry more in your backpack.
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How to unlock the Artifacts Slot in Borderlands 3?
The Artifact Slot is unlocked by collecting your rewards after completing the “Cold as the Grave” Main Story Mission (16) and defeating Graveward.
How to get Artifacts in Borderlands 3?
Artifacts cannot be purchased at vendors and start randomly dropping from any suitable loot source once you are level 27 or higher in Borderlands 3. A few quest rewards provide a unique artifact, the Proving Grounds have increased drop rates for Artifacts, and Legendary Artifacts can be farmed from their dedicated loot source.
Artifacts Rarities
Artifacts come in various rarities; the rarer a mod is, the more bonuses it can roll with. Although some unique artifacts have fixed parts and therefore fall outside of the general rule of thumb.
| Rarity | Color | Passive Stat Boost |
|---|---|---|
| Common | White | 0 Passive Stat Boosts |
| Uncommon | Green | 1 Passive Stat Boost |
| Rare | Blue | 2 Passive Stat Boosts |
| Epic | Purple | 3 Passive Stat Boosts |
| Legendary | Orange | 3 Passive Stat Boosts / Special Legendary Effect |
Artifacts Effects
Artifacts can spawn with gameplay augmenting abilities. These effects are reflected in the artifact’s prefix and
| Prefix | Effect |
|---|---|
| Atom Balm | Enhances the Radiation status effect aura, making it larger and more deadly |
| Berzerker | Melee enemies to trigger Enrage. Enrage increases your Sprint Speed and Fire Rate. |
| Caustic Coast | Slide kicks up 10 Corrosive shards/s that explode on impact |
| Cauterizing | Slide deals bonus Incendiary Damage, creating a magma puddle upon impact for 10 seconds |
| Corrosive Stone | Adds Corrovive damage to all Melee attacks |
| Cryo Stone | Adds Cryo damage to all Melee attacks |
| Cutpurse | Dealing Melee damage replenishes ammo |
| Electric Slide | Slide arcs beams of Shock to nearby enemies, which can chain up to 7 nearby enemies |
| Elemental Projector | While suffering an elemental effect, increase your damage with that same element |
| Fire Stone | Adds Incendiary damage to all Melee attacks |
| Flesh Melter | Killing an enemy with Corrosive increases your damage with Corrosive for a short duration (Stacks 5 times) |
| Hot Drop | Slam launches 5 Incendiary projectiles that spawn Magma Puddles |
| Ice Breaker | Increase damage against Frozen targets |
| Ice Spiker | Slam fires 3 Cryo projectiles that damage and pass through enemies |
| Knife Drain | All Melee attacks return a portion of the damage dealt as Health |
| Last Stand | 5 Second invulnerability when Health drops below 50% (40sec cooldown) |
| Loot Expander | Increases the amount of Cash, Health, and Ammo you receive from pickups |
| Mind Melt | Slam triggers an 8-second Radiation aura that follows you and damages nearby enemies |
| Radiation Stone | Adds Radiation damage to all Melee attacks |
| Radio Dead | Slide deals additional Radiation damage creating a toxic puddle on impact that last 5 seconds |
| Rear Ender | Enhances the Slam’s damage, radius, and knockback |
| Relic | Increases the chance to find rare loot |
| Shock Stone | Adds Shock damage to all Melee attacks |
| Snowdrift | Slide has increased speed and launches a snowball that does Cryo damage |
| Spark Plug | Slam plants an electrified coil that deals Shock damage to nearby enemies for 8 seconds |
| Toxic Revenger | Slam creates a large Corrosive puddle on impact for 5 seconds |
Artifact Legendary Effects
| Legendary Artifact | Special Effect |
|---|---|
| Commander Planetoid | Melee hits deal 87% bonus <random element> damage |
| Company Man | Affiliate with a specific manufacturer and excel with their weaponry |
| Cosmic Crater | Slams create a random elemental puddle that lasts for 5 seconds |
| Deathless | Reduces Health to 1 HP and Boosts Shields |
| Deathrattle | Free Second Wind (60-second cooldown) Second Wind proves increased Gun Damage and Fire Rate |
| Electric Banjo | 20% chance that projectiles chain shock damage to nearby enemies |
| Grave | Increase Melee damage when below 50% HP Increase Weapon damage when below 20% HP Increase Splash damage when below 5% HP |
| Holy Grail | Gain increased Weapon Damage, Movement Speed, and Health Regen after reviving an ally |
| Launch Pad | Slam launches 9 homing rockets into the air |
| Loaded Dice | 75% Max Health Reduction. Kills restore 25% Health. Increased Loot Luck has no impact |
| Lunacy | Increases Shield Capacity at the cost of more Shield Delay |
| Moxxi’s Endowment | Increased XP from combat |
| Otto Idol | Killing an enemy restores 25% of your Max Health |
| Phoenix Tears | Gain full Health after a Second Wind |
| Pull Out Method | Slam creates a 1-second Singularity that pulls enemies toward you |
| Rocket Boots | Slide launches homing rockets |
| Safeguard | Gain a 5-second damage reduction after a Slam |
| Shlooter | Massively increases the drop chance for World Drop Legendaries |
| Splatter Gun | Increased Shotgun Damage |
| Static Charge | Bonus Shock Melee Damage. Melee chains to a nearby enemy. Slide builds a static charge, increasing chain damage. |
| The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge | Consecutive hits increase damage up to +90% Gun Damage |
| Toboggan | Increased Slide Speed Sliding activates a 10-second Shield that grants 50% Damage Reduction Shots will consume the Toboggan’s Shield and provide AMP Damage |
| Unleash the Dragon | Garenteed Ignite effect on Melee, Slam, and Slide hits, dealing Damage over Time based on the initial hit. |
| Victory Rush | Gain increased Damage and Movement Speed for 60 seconds after killing a Badass enemy |
| White Elephant | Melee hits have a 30% chance to attach a sticky bomb |
Artifact Bonus Stats
Artifacts with bonus stats commonly only roll with one of the following bonus stats; however, in very rare instances, it will roll two of the same passive, thereby doubling its effect.
| Prefix | Bonus Stat at LVL 72 |
|---|---|
| Asbestos | +43% Incendiary Resistance |
| Brawler | +44% Melee Damage |
| Breaching | +28% Shotgun Damage |
| Contaminated | +28% Radiation Damage |
| Dead-eye | +28% Pistol Damage |
| Durable | +43% Corrosive Resistance |
| Frozen | +28% Cryo Damage |
| Greasy | +28% SMG Damage |
| Grenadier | +34% Grenade Damage |
| Grounded | +33%/43% Shock Resistance |
| Hasty | +14% Movement Speed |
| Hollow Point | +28% Assault Rifle Damage |
| Hulking | +28% Assault Rifle Damage |
| Insulated | +43% Cryo Resistance |
| Lead-Coated | +33%/43% Radiation Resistance |
| Loaded | +73% Magazine Size |
| Long Lasting | +34% Action Skill Cooldown Rate |
| Long Range | +28% Sniper Rifle Damage |
| Lucky | +20.00 Luck |
| Lustrous | +30% Elemental Resistance |
| Melty | +28% Corrosive Damage |
| Precision | +35% Weapon Accuracy |
| Quickdraw | +16%/22% Weapon Reload Speed |
| Ravaging | +55% Area-Of-Effect Damage |
| Spicy | +28% Incendiary Damage |
| Stalwart | +11091 Max Shield |
| Unyielding | +73% FFYL Downed Time |
| Vigorous | +9902/11091 Max Health |
| Zappy | +28% Shock Damage |
Artifact Additional Bonus Stats
Artifacts with a higher rarity tier can roll with up to 2 of the following additional bonus stats.
- Accuracy
- Action Skill Cooldown Rate
- Splash Damage
- Fight for your life duration
- Fight for your life Movement Speed
- Corrosive Damage
- Corrosive Chance
- Corrosive Resistance
- Cryo Damage
- Cryo Efficiency
- Cryo Resistance
- Experience gained from Combat
- Incendiary Damage
- Incendiary Chance
- Incendiary Resistance
- Regenerate Health per Second
- Magazine Size
- Max Health
- Melee Damage
- Movement Speed
- Radiation Damage
- Irradiate Chance
- Radiation Resistance
- Shield Capacity
- Shield Recharge Rate
- Shield Recharge Delay
- Shock Damage
- Shock Chance
- Shock Resistance
- Weapon Reload Speed
Quest Artifacts
| Artifact | Special Effect |
|---|---|
| Mysterious Artifact | Reveals all Eridium Shards |
| Road Warrior | Slide launches Buzzsaws |
| Vendetta | Slam launches 7 rockets around you, healing you for 20% of the damage dealt |
Artifact Tips & Tricks
Artifacts sometimes have hidden interactions and powerful synergies when combined with the right gear.
- Stone Prefix secretly boosts the number of Eridium crystals you get from breaking Eridium piles.
- Cutpurse prefix on a Launch Pad or Rocket Boots Artifact allows you to regenerate ammo as the launched missiles deal Melee damage.
- The required self-damage for Elemental Projector can be negated with a Red Suit (Radiation) or Transformer Shield (Shock).
- The Face Puncher‘s projectiles deal Melee damage and can be combined with:
- Cutpurse: infinite ammunition
- Knife Drain: Healing weapon
- Stone Prefix: Deal elemental damage
- White Elephant Artifact: Add sticky bombs
- Zane’s Clone and FL4K’s pet benefit from Slash Damage bonuses
- Action Skill Bonus Stats are powerful
- My recommendations as the Best Borderlands 3 Legendary Artifacts you can use.
