New World Aeternum Artifact Tier List (Best Perks & Locations)

This updated New World Aeternum Artifact Tier List covers every weapon, armor, and jewelry artifact you requested, ranked based on their utility and impact in PvP and PvE. Also, we will list the best perks for each artifact and where to get them!

New World Aeternum Artifact Tier List (Best Artifact Weapon, Armor, Jewelry)

In the latest update for New World: Aeternum, several new artifacts have been introduced as part of the Season of Opportunity.  These artifacts are designed to enhance various playstyles and strategies, providing players with new ways to engage in combat and improve their effectiveness in the game. With this tier list, we will walk you through all the New World Aeternum Artifacts, ranking them based on their effectiveness in both PvP and PvE, to help you make informed decisions about which artifacts to prioritize, and which ones to avoid.

1. Tumbler Feetwraps (S Tier)

Provides both Empower and Fortify with a heal on dodging, making it invaluable for both survivability and damage in PvP and PvE. It's the go-to artifact for medium and light builds due to its versatility.

Effect: Dodging gives 15% Empower, 25% Fortify, and heals you.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: OPR Rush Cache

2. Endless Thirst (S Tier)

Strong in PvP due to its synergy with potion effects, granting consistent Empower and Fortify. It's a must-have for group and solo play, especially when paired with Survivor's Coat.

Effect: Boosts healing consumables and grants Empower/Fortify on potion consumption.

Best Perks: Regenerating, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

3. Featherweight (S Tier)

Allows light armor users to gain tankiness without sacrificing mobility. It's a staple for healers and DPS who need to stay agile while retaining survivability.

Effect: Makes armor weightless, allowing you to stay light while gaining tankiness.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

4. Finisher (S Tier)

The best artifact for DPS in PvE, especially with Rapier. Its damage boost against bleeding targets makes it viable in both PvE and PvP for sustained damage.

Effect: Attacks against bleeding targets deal 15% more damage.

Best Perks: Keenly Jagged, Refreshing Move

Location: Elysian Wilds

5. Serenity (S Tier)

Amplifies Greatsword damage through heavy attacks and provides Fortify, making it crucial for both PvE and PvP. Its synergy with heavy attacks ensures consistent performance across all game modes.

Effect: Grants Empower and Fortify while in offensive or defensive stance, respectively.

Best Perks: Opal Gem Slot, Trenchant Strikes

Location: PvP Track

6. Elemental Band (S Tier)

Overpowered due to its ability to stack Empower easily, making it a top artifact for builds that rely on elemental damage. Currently bugged, giving it even more strength than intended.

Effect: Grants Empower on elemental attack.

Best Perks: Keen Awareness, Hardy

Location: Hive of the Gorgons

7. Azoth Conductors (A Tier)

Provides a strong Elemental damage boost for medium equip load, making it a solid pick for mages looking for extra tankiness. It has potential to rise in popularity as medium builds evolve.

Effect: Medium equip load grants 15% more Elemental damage.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Hive of the Gorgons

8. Winged Leather Shoes (A Tier)

Excellent for mobility-focused builds, especially Fire Staff users. The Haste and damage boost makes it a valuable artifact for PvP scenarios.

Effect: Increases base damage while Hasted, and extends Haste duration.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

9. Deep Freeze (A Tier)

It provides a significant damage boost to frozen or chilled targets, making it a must-have for Ice Gauntlet users in PvP, particularly in large-scale battles.

Effect: Frozen and chilled targets take 15% additional damage.

Best Perks: Keenly Jagged, Vicious

Location: Great Cleave

10. The Abyss (A Tier)

Converts damage to Void and scales with Intelligence, making it versatile for both Fire Staff and Great Axe builds. It’s ideal for players looking to optimize damage across multiple weapon types.

Effect: Converts damage to Void and scales with Intelligence.

Best Perks: Abyssal Attunement, Keen

Location: Major Corrupted Portals

11. Inferno (A Tier)

Boosts damage for Strength-based builds, especially when paired with Fire Staff or other Strength-scaling weapons. Its versatility and consistent damage buff make it a great artifact for PvE and PvP.

Effect: Boosts damage and converts scaling to Strength.

Best Perks: Abyssal Attunement, Vicious

Location: Commander in Empyrean Forge

12. Nimble Coat (A Tier)

Reduces cooldowns, making it a top choice for healers and cooldown-dependent classes. Its utility in both PvE and PvP makes it highly valuable.

Effect: Reduces ability cooldowns by 8%.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: PvP Track

13. Blooddrinker (A Tier)

Ideal for drain-tank builds, reducing damage but significantly boosting life steal. It's most effective in solo PvE content, but can also work in PvP for survival-focused players.

Effect: Reduces damage but increases life steal.

Best Perks: Leeching, Hardy

Location: Starstone Barrows

14. Sin (A Tier)

Great for debuff-focused builds, extending debuff durations and increasing damage per debuff. It's a solid choice for Hatchet builds in PvP.

Effect: Debuffs last 20% longer and deal up to 10% more damage.

Best Perks: Keenly Jagged, Attunement

Location: Brimstone Sands

15. Pestilence (A Tier)

Reduces healing effectiveness on targets, making it ideal for anti-healer strategies in PvP. While niche, it excels in small-scale PvP and group fights.

Effect: Inflicts poison and reduces healing effectiveness.

Best Perks: Attunement, Keenly Jagged

Location: PvP Track

16. Butcher (B Tier)

Extends bleed duration, making it a solid choice for bleed builds and tanks. However, its limited versatility keeps it from ranking higher.

Effect: Bleeds last 33% longer.

Best Perks: Enchanted, Fortifying Shield Rush

Location: Dynasty Shipyard

17. Phoenix (B Tier)

Provides a second chance at life in PvP, but its health-draining mechanic makes it risky. It's situational and requires careful play to maximize its benefits.

Effect: Avoid death and regain health, but take damage until you kill or die.

Best Perks: Health, Shirking Heals

Location: Imperial Palace in Elysian Wilds

18. Ghostly Touch (B Tier)

Strips Empower buffs from enemies, making it useful in 1v1 PvP encounters. However, its impact in larger battles is limited, keeping it in the B tier.

Effect: Dispel 2 Empower buffs from enemies and gain Empower for 10 seconds.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: PvP Island

19. Grace (B Tier)

Offers mobility through a speed boost, but is overshadowed by more versatile Greatsword artifacts like Serenity. It's useful for gap closing in PvP but lacks widespread application.

Effect: Grants 20% move speed when entering Onslaught stance.

Best Perks: Keen, Weapon Perk

Location: Season Pass Level 80

20. Power Stone (B Tier)

Grants a 20% weaken at high health, making it great for flail builds in PvP. However, its reliance on staying above 90% health limits its practicality in most PvE scenarios.

Effect: Applies 20% weaken when health is above 90%.

Best Perks: Refreshing Move, Leeching

Location: Soul Trials

21. Scorpion's Sting (B Tier)

Fun and effective for pulling enemies in PvP, but its utility in PvE is limited. It’s a great choice for players looking to disrupt opponents in small-scale battles.

Effect: Javelin now pulls enemies toward you.

Best Perks: Keenly Jagged, Shirking Heals

Location: Brimstone Sands

22. Attuned Leather Pants (C Tier)

Provides extra stats early on but becomes less valuable as better gear becomes available in the endgame. It’s useful in early PvE but falls off later.

Effect: Grants extra stats (10 more stat points).

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Main Storyline Quest Reward

23. Quickdraw Gloves (C Tier)

Fun to use with its immunity effect, but its inconsistency and long cooldown prevent it from being a reliable combat tool. It's more of a novelty than a must-have.

Effect: Immune to damage for 5 seconds after weapon swap.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

24. Nature's Wrath (C Tier)

Once meta for Fire Staff builds, it has been nerfed and is now only useful for niche builds. Its limitation on Empower duration hurts its viability.

Effect: Limits Empower duration but grants 20% more base damage.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Eden Grove Arena

25. Lost Stopwatch (C Tier)

Useful for tanks due to its increased threat generation and stun duration, but its damage penalty makes it less appealing for general use, especially in PvE.

Effect: Increases stun duration and generates threat, but decreases base damage.

Best Perks: Health, Purify

Location: Commander Thorpe in The Depths

26. Ironheart (C Tier)

Grants 20% extra health, making it decent in PvP for medium builds, but its narrow use case and limitations keep it from being more broadly useful.

Effect: Increases max health by 20%.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: PvP Track

27. Magnetic Gauntlets (C Tier)

Boosts crit chance but reduces crit damage, making it situational at best. There are better options for gauntlet users, and it struggles to find a place in most builds.

Effect: Crit chance increased by 50%, but crit damage reduced by 30%.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Tempest Heart

28. Creed Boots (D Tier)

The long cooldown on its damage boost makes it impractical for most fights. It’s outclassed by almost every other artifact in terms of usefulness.

Effect: Deal 15% more damage after not hitting a target for 20 seconds.

Best Perks: Health, Shirking Heals

Location: Elysian Wilds

29. Ghoul Gloves (D Tier)

The debuff transfer is too situational and rarely impactful. Its conditions and long cooldown make it one of the least useful artifacts in the game.

Effect: Transfers one debuff when hitting a foe below 50% health.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

30. Gladiator (D Tier)

The bleed effect is weak and not impactful enough to justify using this artifact. It’s outclassed by almost all other tank or sword-based artifacts.

Effect: Inflicts bleed on melee attacks.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

31. Grey Wizard's Hat (D Tier)

Mana management is not a significant issue in New World, making this artifact useless in most scenarios. It provides no real benefit in either PvE or PvP.

Effect: Increases Mana value by 100%.

Best Perks: Health, Shirking Heals

Location: 65+ Corrupted Portals

32. Vengeance (D Tier)

Reduces healing from consumables, which is counterproductive for most healers and tank builds. It’s actively detrimental and should be avoided.

Effect: Healing consumables are 25% weaker, but other healing is 25% stronger.

Best Perks: Purify, Health

Location: PvP Track

33. Michael (D Tier)

The heal and debuff removal are underwhelming, and its low impact makes it a poor choice for both PvE and PvP. There are far better shields available.

Effect: Heals 3% of base health when blocking and removes one debuff.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: PvP Track

34. The Mechanic (D Tier)

Focuses on trap and sticky bomb cooldowns, which are not central to most musket builds. It’s more of a gimmick artifact with limited practical use.

Effect: Reduces trap and sticky bomb cooldown.

Best Perks: Shirking Heals, Health

Location: Elysian Wilds

This tier list covers the most important artifacts in New World Aeternum, giving you insight into which artifacts to prioritize for PvP and PvE. Whether you're optimizing for survivability, damage output, or utility, these rankings should help you make informed decisions in your builds.