New World Best Artifacts (Weapon & Armor) | NW Artifact Item Tier List

In New World Season 3, artifacts play a significant role as a new gear tier with special effects on unique weapons, armor, and jewelry. They essentially extend the concept of named weapons in the game. Artifacts generally offer droplets that are at least as good or better than named weapons and come with game-changing perks.

To determine the best artifacts worth farming in New World Season 3 based solely on their perks, a comprehensive analysis of the available artifacts is required. Considering the sheer number of artifacts and their various perks, it would be beneficial to consult a dedicated New World Season 3 artifacts guide or resource that provides an in-depth analysis and ranking of these artifacts based on their perks.

This guide takes into account factors such as the usefulness of the perks, their synergy with different playstyles and builds, and their impact on gameplay. By referring to this guide, you can make an informed decision on which artifacts to prioritize and farm in New World Season 3 to optimize your gameplay experience.

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New World Best Artifact Weapons Ranking

Now we go over each of Artifact Weapons and rank them from the best to worst, you will have access to the right 700 GS weapon for your character and build:

1. Pestilence (Artifact Blunderbuss)

Drop Location: PVP Reward Track

Key Perks:

• Blighted Enchantment - Attacks against Targets inflict a stack of poison and a decrease to incoming and outgoing healing effectiveness by 7% per stack for 6s (Max 3 seconds)

• Pest - 8% damage against poisoned and diseased targets

• Plagued Crits - Critical strikes against targets below 50% Health inflict Disease for 6s, reducing healing effectiveness on the target by 26%

The Pestilence artifact in New World comes with the Blighted Enchantment perk. Attacks against targets inflict a stack of poison and decrease both the incoming and outgoing healing effectiveness by 7% per stack for 6-7 seconds. This perk not only reduces the healing received by the target but also reduces the healing done by the affected target, making it particularly effective when targeting healers. If a healer tries to heal themselves after being focused by Pestilence, their own healing on themselves is reduced, resulting in a practical healing reduction. Additionally, Pestilence provides a 15% damage bonus against targets affected by poisons and diseases. Overall, Pestilence offers utility and damage amplification, making it a cool artifact to try out.

2. The Abyss (Artifact Great Axe)

Drop Location: Closing Corrupted Breaches

Key Perks:

Darken Blade - 99% of damage is converted to void, and if higher will scale from Intelligence.

Abyss - Deal 20% more damage when mana is below 100%.

The weapon you're referring to is an in-scaling grade X weapon that converts 99% of its damage into void. It scales from intelligence if your intelligence is higher than your strength, and deals 20 extra damage when below 100 Mana. The secondary perk called Abyss provides a significant amount of additional damage, which seems excessive considering the already strong base perk. However, it may not be necessary since you're likely to be below 100 Mana most of the time unless you consistently crit. This weapon also comes with other strong perks like Abyssal Achievement and Refreshing Move, which are valuable in their own ways. If you have the option, dropping an infibling males reminded or a sensational graph could be considered. Changing essential graph for damage and using an intelligence-based weapon would make it a strong contender for this last slot.

3. Inferno (Artifact Fire Staff)

Drop Location: Commander Marius - Empyrean Forge

Key Perks:

Innner Power - If higher this weapon scales with Strength

Hellfire's Fury - +20% damage when you hit a target within 5m.

The Inferno is a counterpart to the Hammer. It scales with intelligence rather than strength, and the scaling converts into fire damage instead of physical damage. The secondary effect, Hellfire's Fury, adds 20 damage when hitting a target within 5 meters, which is intriguing. The incinerating perk and other abilities on the Inferno make it synergize well with a flame thrower playstyle. However, it also offers interesting flex potential, allowing for ranged play with the bonus damage when enemies get close. While it may not reach the same level as the Abyss perk, which is considered the best, it can still be effective. The Spark of Monument may also be considered top-tier as well.

4. Odo (Artifact Flail)

Drop Location: Vanash - Elysian Wilds

Key Perks:

Odo's Punishment - You deal 20% more damage to stunned foes. (Works with both Weapons)

The Artifact Flail has a unique perk called Odo's Punishment. It's interesting because there aren't any stun abilities in the flail skill tree, so it seems to work best when paired with a War Hammer. The Flail comes with the Lifestealing perk, which is always active by default, and the third perk can be customized according to your preference. Overall, this is considered a great Artifact Flail weapon with its unique perk and solid combination of perks.

4. Serenity (Artifact Greatsword)

Drop Location: PVP Reward Track

Key Perks:

Balanced Blade - Offense Stance +2% empower per attack for 5s (Max 10 Stacks) Defense Stance: +2% fortify when hit for 5s (max 10 stacks)

Serenity is a greatsword that has the Empower perk from the Balanced Blade perk tree. In PvE, it is extremely powerful and highly recommended because you can maintain the Empower buff consistently. However, in PvP, it may be challenging to stack enough hits to make the perk effective unless you stay in the stance consistently. Greatswords usually do not lack Empower, so the Fortify perk is not necessary as the weapon is already tanky. Serenity also has Trenchant Strikes and Trenchant Crits perks, which work with light and heavy attacks, but the greatsword does not have light heavies. You need to perform a full heavy attack to activate these perks. In PvE, this weapon can be ridiculous, especially with critical hit heavies and backstab bonuses. However, in PvP, it may not be the preferred choice since it sacrifices a gem slot and heavily relies on heavy attacks.

5. Lifetaker (Artifact Void Gauntlet)

Drop Location: Pugnacious Purutu - Elysian Wilds

Key Perks:

Negative Energy - Your ranged attacks inflict Disintegrate for 8s on both weapons (1 cooldown). And if Higher, this weapon scales with Dexterity

The Artifact Void Gauntlet - Lifetaker harkens back to the days of creating unconventional and troll-like builds, but now in a more viable manner. This weapon, with Negative Energy, allows you to apply Disintegrate with Void Gauntlet attacks or even with ranged weapons like a bow or musket. However, it scales with dexterity, so choosing this combination with a bow or musket limits your escape potential, requiring cautious play. The Lifetaker offers three perks: Keen, Lifestealing, and Refreshing Move, which is intriguing. Furthermore, you have the option to add another perk on top of that, such as Enchanted. We find this combination very cool and interesting, enabling unusual weapon combinations and creating a lot of possibilities.

6. Michael (Artifact Kite Shield)

Drop Location: PVP Reward Track

Key Perk:

Refreshing Cleanse - Cooldowns reduced by 5% On Block: lost one debuff

Lifestealing - Heal for 7.1% of the damage you deal (Does not trigger off persistent damage or DoT

Mortal Lifesteal - +10% Health on kill (1s cooldown). Perk Max Stacks: 1

With these perks, Michael is solid when using the combination of the Flail and Kite Shield. If Refreshing Cleanse triggers on the block and allows you to cleanse all debuffs, that's a very good ability. If there are any future nerfs to this ability, Michael will still be a solid choice, especially when using the Kite Shield, which is a more niche option.

7. The Wall (Artifact Tower Shield)

Drop Location: Heru

Key Perk:

Gain 5% base damage reduction you cannot dodge, but have 33% more stamina

The Wall has the Shield Wall perk, which provides a 5% base damage reduction. This reduction is based on incoming damage, not damage dealt. Additionally, when using The Wall, you cannot dodge but gain 33 extra stamina, allowing for more blocking. On top of that, you have the Chromatic Ward perk, reducing damage taken from all elemental sources by 25%, which is quite interesting. This combination of perks makes The Wall a strong choice for tanks, allowing them to hold the shield even harder. The shield itself is also considered great, and you have the added benefit of the Sturdy perk.

8. Spark of Mjolnir (Artifact War Hammer)

Drop Loction: Chardis - Lazarus Instrumentality

Key Perks:

Mjolnir Blessing - 99% of Hammer Damage is converted to lightning, and you deal 20% more lightning damage with both weapons

Spark - Mighty Gavel causes a lightning strike that inflicts a 30% weaken for 7s.

The Spark of Mjolnir has new perks that provide extra lightning damage to your armor, making it ideal for those who specialize in lightning damage. It's cool because not many people will specifically counter-build against lightning damage, so you're relatively safe from amulet effects and similar things. Additionally, it has the Spark effect, which can be potent. With the introduction of more cleansers like the Flail, the overall damage output and the significant weaken effect on an ability that was previously not suitable for PvP make it appealing. Moreover, you have the option to re-roll the Random Perk using certain resources, allowing you to lock in a specific perk on the last slot and make it your personal best-in-slot choice. While the Artifact War Hammer is not a priority to replace, it is still a valuable option.

9. The Mechanic (Artifact Musket)

Drop Location: Toy Maker Phthah - Elysian Wilds

Key Perks:

Extra Levers - Traps and Sticky Bomb cooldown reduced by 25%

The concept behind the musket is to excel in the middle range, typically around 30 to 50 meters, for maximum damage output. The weapon encourages trapping and utilizing mechanics that align with this playstyle. The Extra Levers perk reduces the cooldown of traps and sticky bombs by 25%. Additionally, you have Accelerating Traps, which improves movement speed, and Mending Sticky Bomb, which heals you for the damage dealt. By combining traps with the Extra Life Steal effect, you can achieve significant life steal and sustain. This Artifact Musket caters to a specific playstyle centered around traps and sticky bombs, making it a powerful and unique weapon for those who enjoy this approach.

10. Finisher (Artifact Rapier)

Drop Location: Montrapala the Unruled - Elysian Wilds

Key Perks: Finisher Harmony - Attacks against Bleeding targets deal 15% more damage and reduce Flourish’s cooldown by 5% (1s Cooldown) (Works on Both Weapons)

This Artifact Rapier is very much in the PVE playstyle and provides significantly more impact than The Butcher. It deals extra damage, applies bleed, and increases all your damage by 15%. It seems like the better choice, especially if you're going for a bleed build or a bleed playstyle. The other option might be suitable only if you're using a spear offhand and don't want to wield a Rapier. Deadly Flourish remains unchanged and has a minimal impact on your overall damage. On the other hand, Keen Tondo is now nicer because it also reduces damage and applies a 10% weakness for 10 seconds. You have two different weapon perks on the same weapon that was something that used to be very early days and this used to be possible then they removed that very quickly for balancing reasons so that's also coming back here in this particular shape of these artifacts.

11. The Butcher (Artifact Sword)

Drop Location: Zhou Taiying – Mutated Dynasty Shipyard

Key Perks: – Bleeding lasts 33% longer (applies to both weapons), – Whirlwind causes bleeding

The Butcher comes with Bloodletting Perk with Bleeds lasts 33 longer and this works on both weapons, along with Jagged Whirl rolling blade inflicts bleed dealing 10% weapon damage for 6 seconds. This is a very good Artifact overall in terms of the concept, obviously very much built towards something like SNS plus spear or SNS plus Rapier - those are the obvious choices with this.

12. Scorpion’s Sting (Artifact Spear)

Drop Location: Scorpio Supernal - Brimstone Sands

Key Perks:

Sting - Javelin now does 160% weapon damage and pulls targets toward you.

While the weapon you mentioned might be fun to use in duels or for trolling, it may not have much effectiveness outside of those specific scenarios. Most people don't typically use that type of weapon on a spear.

13. Freya’s Francisca (Artifact Hatchet)

Drop Location: The Blighted Greenskeeper - Garden of Genesis

Key Perks:

Thrown Mastery - Thrown Axe projectiles reduce all axe skill cooldowns by 25%. (5s Cooldown)

Freya's Francisca reduces all axe skill cooldowns by 25%, but it has a five-second cooldown itself, which limits its effectiveness. The weapon also comes with the perks of Empowering Rush and Refreshing Move. Compared to other scales, this may be considered one of the weaker ones because the cooldown reduction is only available once every five seconds, and the ability cooldowns for the Throne are already quite short.

New World Best Artifact Armor Are Worth Ranking