It began on pandora, with the opening of the first vault came eridian artifacts. Crystals mined from the heart of pandora that passively amplifies the vault hunters that use them. They’ve come a long way since the first game. But artifacts are still as important as ever. Now that the vault hunters aren’t just restricted to pandora, that means there’s a whole galaxy’s worth of artifacts to discover. Here are the top 5 best in borderlands 3 and where to get them.
10. Grave
This artifact's red text is a reference to a skill in Krieg's skill tree from BL2.
The grave artifact is a high risk, high reward type of gear. This artifact gives bonuses depending on how much health you are missing. Each of the corresponding bonuses synergizes with different kinds of builds. So it may be helpful to only lower your health to a certain amount so you can get certain bonuses. The grave may not be the ideal artifact, but if you’re using a build that lowers your health without regen, then you should check it out.
Manufacturer: Eridian
The name of this artifact is a clue as to which specific boss this item is a dedicated drop for.
Grave Stats- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Action Cooldown Rate
- FFYL Duration
- FFYL Movement Speed
- Max Health
- No Prefixes
- Pain becomes power. - Increased melee damage when health is below 50%. Increased weapon damage when health is below 20%. Increased splash damage when health is below 5%
- Gives significant bonuses depending on what health is missing
- Works well for low health builds
- Graveward located in The Floating Tomb on Eden-6
9. Deathless
The deathless artifact can spawn with health regeneration, however, it doesn't work very well.
The deathless artifact is another high risk, high reward type of gear, similar to the previous artifact. While most will tell you that this artifact can be used by Moze for her high shield builds, there are other builds for other vault hunters out there that use the deathless. It’s just that it’s a very high risk doing so. So if you’re going to use the deathless, just try to keep your gamer rage in check. Because if you’re unprepared, you will die.
Manufacturer: Eridian
This artifact’s flavor text is a reference to a line said on the game of thrones, the answer to which is, “Not today.” It makes sense when you consider what the artifact does.
Deathless Stats- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Area-of-effect damage
- Combat XP
- Elemental chance
- Elemental damage
- Elemental resistance
- Health regeneration
- Magazine size
- Melee damage
- Shield recharge delay
- Shield recharge rate
- Weapon-type specific damage
- Prefixes
- Atom Balm
- Increased radiation aura damage, burst damage, and burst radius.
- Cauterizing
- Sliding deals incendiary damage and leaves a magma puddle on impact.
- Knife Drain
- Melee attacks restore a portion of the damage dealt as health.
- Elemental Stone
- Melee attacks deal elemental damage.
- Snow Drift
- Sliding launches a snowball that does cryo damage.
- Toxic Revenger
- Slams create a corrosive puddle on impact.
- Spark Plug
- Slams create a shock puddle on impact.
- Berzerker
- Melee enemies to trigger enrage.
- Flesh Melter
- Boosts corrosive damage. Up to 5 stacks.
- Last stand
- Temporary invulnerability when health drops below 50%
- Atom Balm
- What do we say to the God of Death? - Reduces character health to 1. Increases shield capacity by 100%. Increases shield recharge rate by 25%, decreases recharge delay by 25%.
- Very Risky
- Synergizes with shield builds
- World Drop
- Phoenix located in The Splinterlands on Pandora
8. White Elephant
The red text on this artifact is somewhat of a reference to someone giving a gift, or so it's speculated.
The white elephant artifact gives a helpful boost to any melee build you have. That being said, if you have a build that you want to be mayhem viable, you’re most likely playing Amara. So I’ll just say that this is mainly for an Amara build. Anyways, the white elephant may rely on procs to work, but when it does proc, it’s incredibly useful.
The term white elephant refers to a gift that is hard to use or maintain. You’ll find out how this pertains to this artifact when I discuss the special effect.
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Elemental chance
- Elemental damage
- Elemental resistance
- Increased Luck
- Movement speed
- Shield recharge delay
- Shield recharge rate
- Weapon type-specific damage
- Prefixes
- Corrosive stone
- Melee attacks deal with corrosive damage.
- Elemental Projector
- Characters with an elemental status deal more damage with the same element.
- Electric Slide
- Sliding deals shock damage that can arc to multiple enemies.
- Flesh Melter
- Killing an enemy with corrosive increases corrosive damage for a short duration
- Ice Spiker
- Fires 3 cryo projectiles that damage and pass through enemies.
- Knife Drain
- All Melee attacks return a portion of the damage dealt as Health.
- Radiation stone
- Melee attacks deal with radiation damage.
- Rear Ender
- Improved slam damage, radius, and knockback.
- Snow Drift
- Sliding launches a snowball that does cryo damage.
- Corrosive stone
- It's a SURPRISE! - Melee attacks have a 30% chance to attach a sticky bomb.
- Works very well for a melee build
- Doesn’t do specific elemental damage.
- World Drop
- Agonizer 9000 Located in The Guts of Carnivora on Pandora
7. Unleash the Dragon
The character this is based on from the gearbox title Battleborn actually makes some cameos in the movie Ready Player One.
The unleash the dragon artifact is limited by what it buffs, but it is incredibly useful to people who rely on that kind of damage output. To be perfectly honest it’s only good for Amara builds unless you simply don’t have anything better than it for the other vault hunters.
Manufacturer: Eridian
This artifact and what it does are a reference to another gearbox game titled Battleborn, specifically a futuristic luchador named El Dragon.
Unleash the Dragon Stats
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Increased melee damage
- Increased incendiary damage
- Increased incendiary resistance
- No Prefixes
- En Fuego! - 100% incendiary chance for melee attacks, sliding, and ground slams.
- Gives a high buff to fire elemental melee damage
- Works ok for fire elemental builds
- World Drop
- El Dragon Jr located in Jakobs Estate on Eden-6
6. Electric Banjo
The line Zero says before you attack these psychobillies the first time is "A banjo is death / in the hands of murderers. / There is no encore."
The electric banjo is a great artifact for any mobbing builds. It’s not used too often in favor of the other artifacts, but it works well with smg, assault rifle, or other high mag builds. It also gives an elemental boost to shock as well as providing resistance to shock. Give it a try for any build that you think would synergize with it.
Manufacturer: Eridian
This artifact is a reference to an item that behaves similarly to it called the Ukulele in the game Risk of Rain.
Electric Banjo Stats
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Shock resistance
- Shock damage
- No Prefixes
- We never could have foreseen the success. - 20% chance for each shot landed to arc electricity to a nearby enemy, dealing shock damage. Increased shock damage and resistance.
- Works well for mobbing
- Shock elemental builds
- World Drop
- Psychobilly located in Ambermire on Eden-6
5. Splatter Gun
A "splatter gun" is a shotgun that fires in a quick and imprecise fashion.
The splatter gun artifact is situational but very useful in the given scenarios that it works well in. Its special effect is interesting but very limited. So it’s important to consider the gear you use as well as your vault hunter and skill tree. It also comes with a variety of useful prefixes and random bonuses as well.
The red text in this artifact is a reference to the movie Army of Darkness and specifically, a quote said by the main character Ash. If you couldn’t tell, this artifact enhances shotguns.
Manufacturer: Eridian
Splatter Gun Stats
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Area-Of-Effect damage
- Elemental chance
- Elemental damage
- Elemental resistance
- Experience gained from combat
- Fight for Your Life downed time
- Luck
- Melee Damage
- Movement speed
- Weapon magazine size
- Weapon reload speed
- Prefixes
- Caustic Coast
- Sliding kicks up corrosive shards that explode on impact.
- Cauterizing
- Slide deals bonus incendiary damage, creating a magma puddle upon impact.
- Hot Drop
- Slam launches incendiary projectiles that spawn Magma Puddles.
- Knife Drain
- Melee attacks restore a portion of the damage dealt as health.
- Last Stand
- Temporary invulnerability when health drops below 50%.
- Shock Stone
- Adds shock damage to all melee attacks.
- Caustic Coast
- This Is My BOOMSTICK! - Increased shotgun damage while sliding.
- Works well for bossing and mobbing
- Provides a good damage increase so long as your sliding
- A lot of prefixes also enhance sliding as well.
- World Drop
- Road Dog located in The Splinterlands on Pandora
4. Otto Idol
There's an artifact in the BL2 DLC Captain Scarlet and Her Pirate's Booty called Captain Blade's Otto Idol. It also provides health regen while reducing fight for your life time.
The otto idol is a great artifact for builds that need some form of health regen. It’s best used in mobbing and isn’t as effective against bosses, as it requires you to get kills to activate its special effects. This works well for Fl4k because he doesn’t have a great deal in terms of health regen in general.
Manufacturer: Eridian
This artifact is a reference to people who are more likely to help themselves than others.
Otto Idol Stats- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Grenade damage
- Elemental resistance
- Elemental damage
- Weapon reload speed
- Weapon magazine size
- Shield capacity
- Health regeneration
- Luck
- Prefixes
- Atom Balm
- Increased radiation aura damage, burst damage, and burst radius.
- Cauterizing
- Sliding deals incendiary damage and leaves a magma puddle on impact.
- Caustic Coast
- Sliding kicks up corrosive shards that explode on contact.
- Cutpurse
- Dealing Melee damage replenishes ammo.
- Ice Spiker
- Imbues slam with cryo, firing 3 projectiles that damage and pass through enemies.
- Knife Drain
- Melee attacks restore a portion of the damage dealt as health.
- Last Stand
- Invulnerability for 5 seconds when health drops below 50%.
- Shock Stone
- Adds shock damage to all Melee attacks.
- Snowdrift
- Sliding launches a snowball that does cryo damage.
- Toxic Revenger
- Slam creates a large corrosive puddle on impact.
- Atom Balm
- Every man for himself. - Restores a percentage of max health after killing an enemy.
- Health regen based on getting kills
- Works well if you already have enough damage
- Supports builds that are solely damage based.
- World Drop
- Tyreen the Destroyer located in Destroyer's Rift on Pandora
3. Elemental Projector
Elemental Projector is also a prefix for legendary artifacts.
The elemental projector may not be as versatile as the other artifacts on this list, but it is especially useful for elemental builds. So if that’s your kind of thing, make sure to have one of these. They may not be legendary, so try to find one in at least an epic rarity to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.
Manufacturer: Eridian
This artifact doesn’t have a red text, but it does have special effects, so make sure not to always just sell your loot by looking at its rarity, it may be more useful than you think.
Elemental Projector Stats
- Common-Epic
- Random Bonuses
- Elemental damage
- Fight for your life duration
- Health regeneration
- Weapon reload speed
- Weapon magazine size
- Weapon-type specific damage
- Movement Speed
- Prefixes
- Hulking
- Quickdraw
- Loaded
- No Red Text
Why the Elemental Projector is Great
- Good for elemental builds
- Don’t need to wait until your max level to farm for one available as soon as you can use artifacts
Where to get the Elemental Projector
- World Drop
2. Victory Rush
Victory rush is also a warrior skill that has a similar effect of movement and health regen upon a kill.
The victory rush is a fairly useful artifact that works similarly as an alternative to the otto idol. However, the victory rush prioritizes damage and speed instead of health regen. Which is more useful to mobbing builds. While health regen is useful, being able to move faster and output more damage is better overall. Not to mention that it’s easy to keep up the bonuses for the victory rush on higher mayhem difficulties when more badass enemies are spawning.
Manufacturer: Eridian
If you didn’t know because you were uncultured, the flavor text of the victory rush is a reference to DJ Khaled’s famous catchphrase.
Victory Rush Stats
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Area-of-effect-damage
- Combat XP
- Elemental chance
- Elemental resistance
- Fight For Your Lifetime
- Max health
- Magazine size
- Weapon accuracy
- Luck
- Prefixes
- Cauterizing
- Sliding deals bonus incendiary damage, creating a magma puddle upon impact.
- Ice Spiker
- Increased slam radius and slams fire 3 cryo projectiles that damage and pass through enemies.
- Knife Drain
- Melee attacks restore a portion of the damage dealt as health.
- Last Stand
- Invulnerability for 5 seconds when health drops below 50%.
- Cauterizing
- Another one. - Killing a badass triggers Victory Rush that increases movement speed and damage when active.
- Synergizes with high DPS builds for mobbing
- Works even better at higher mayhem levels
Where to get the Victory Rush
- World Drop
- Captain Thunk and Sloth located in Konrad's Hold on Pandora
1. Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge
Since it's not a world or dedicated drop, one way you can farm this artifact is to save and quit before you accept it from claptrap during the mission.
The pearl is a unique artifact that does not come with any prefixes and can’t be farmed for different random bonuses. This may cause you to scoff and ignore it since it’s just a mission reward. However, the pearl provides a significant boost to damage provided you are consistently doing damage. A lot of meta builds will sing this artifact's praises. It’s even better knowing all that you have to do is run DLC 2 to get it. That’s why this artifact takes the number one spot.
Manufacturer: Eridian
The flavor text on this artifact is a reference to the tagline for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. It was said at the end of the public safety videos that served as the epilogues for the episodes.
Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge Stats
- Legendary
- Random Bonuses
- Fire rate
- Reload Speed
- Health regeneration
- Max health
- Experience Gained from Combat
- Magazine size
- No Prefixes
- Knowing is half the battle. - Consecutive successful hits grant a 1% damage bonus per hit for up to 15 times. At maximum stacks, an additional damage bonus of 90% is added.
- Gives a major boost to damage output
- Works wonders for bossing
- Synergizes well with high mag weapons
Where to get the Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge
- Quest reward from Claptrap during the Guns, Love and Tentacles' main quest storyline
Also Be Sure To Read:
- Borderlands 3 Best Weapons and How To Get Them
- Top 5 Borderlands 3 Best Assault Rifles and How To Get Them
- Top 5 Borderlands 3 Best Shields and How to Get Them
- Top 10 Borderlands 3 Best Artifacts and How To Get Them
- Top 5 Borderlands 3 Best Grenades and How to Get Them
- Top 10 Borderlands 3 Best Anointments
- Borderlands 3 Best Farm Spots (Legendaries, XP, Eridium)
