Minecraft Dungeons Artifacts List -- Guide To How They Work, Where To Get Them, And More

Minecraft Dungeons is a new dungeon-crawling adventure game from the creators of Minecraft, and it's pretty different from the game it’s spun-off from. Instead of farming, woodcutting, and gallivanting across diverse biomes in first-person, you’re tasked with exploring dungeons packed with all kinds of nasty enemies from an isometric perespective. One of the most prominent differences outside of the overall genre shift, though, has to do with the implementation of Artifacts.

Below we detail how artifacts work, how to get them, which you should use, and how to manage their cooldowns. We also included a table at the bottom containing all 21 of the game's primary Artifacts.

Although magical in nature, Artifacts are different from enchanting, so we’ve put together a separate guide for how the enchanting system works. If you’re only starting out, though, you should start off by checking out everything you need to know before playing Minecraft Dungeons, before consulting our list of essential tips and tricks guide. You can also read our Minecraft Dungeons review.

What Are Artifacts?

Artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons are sort of like the spells you’d expect to find in a traditional RPG. You can equip up to three Artifacts at one time, meaning that you have three different spells to make use of when you go dungeon-crawling. Just remember that they are set to cooldowns, so each Artifact will be temporarily off-limits after you use it (fortunately, some cooldowns are remarkably short).

Artifacts scale based on their power rating--for example, a level 5 Tasty Bone might summon a wolf companion that deals 20 summon damage, whereas a level 20 version of the same Artifact could summon a wolf that does over double that amount. As you progress through the game, the Artifacts you find in chests and from enemy drops gradually begin to increase in power, meaning that you’ll naturally discover stronger versions as you go along.

How Do I Get Artifacts?

You can come across Artifacts naturally in Minecraft Dungeons, meaning that you don’t really need to spend a huge amount of time looking for them. However, if you know a certain Artifact exists, or desperately want to find a more powerful version of your favourite one, there are a few different ways to get strong Artifacts pretty quickly.

The first way involves dungeon-crawling. Each of the areas in Minecraft Dungeons has information attached to it, including the types of weapons, armor, and Artifacts available to find in that specific place. So if you’re after a Totem of Regeneration, or an extra powerful Harvester, you can easily check out which areas you’re able to find them in. All you need to do then is travel to that dungeon, defeat as many enemies as you can, and scour the map for chests--if you’re lucky, you’ll find the Artifact you want by looting a fallen enemy or by opening a hidden chest.

There’s one other way to get Artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons, but it’s a bit riskier. After you beat the first couple of dungeons, a wandering trader will show up at your camp. He sells Artifacts, but the problem is that you can’t choose what you want from a list. Instead, you pay him with emeralds, the currency in Minecraft Dungeons, in exchange for a random Artifact scaled to your current level. Sometimes you can get amazing Artifacts this way, but it’s a gamble. That being said, there’s not much else to spend your emeralds on, so if you really need a new Artifact, it’s a lucky dip worth banking on.

Which Artifacts Should I Use?

When it comes to equipping Artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons, you’re pretty spoiled for choice--especially on higher difficulties, where a variety of new Artifacts are made available.

The Artifacts you decide to use should match the play style you’re most comfortable with. If you take a lot of damage, you might want to use totems, which can regenerate health or nullify damage within a certain radius. If you’re a more aggressive type, wolf and llama companions go hand-in-hand with charging the enemy head on. If you’re the kind of person who tends to gravitate towards magic builds, then you’ll want to use soul Artifacts, which convert the souls of fallen enemies into massive bursts of damage, or refreshing surges of healing.

The main thing you need to know is that Artifacts and enchantments can complement each other brilliantly, and although you can’t enchant Artifacts, they should be considered just as important to your build as your melee weapon, armor, and bow. Just make sure you try out all the Artifacts, even if you think some look a bit boring, because you might be surprised by how effectively certain combinations work together.

How Do I Manage Artifact Cooldowns?

Although Artifacts have unlimited uses in Minecraft Dungeons, each one is tied to its own cooldown timer. Some more powerful Artifacts have particularly lengthy cooldowns, which means you need to use them wisely. For example, a totem of regeneration summons a small red circle around you, which gradually heals you so long as you remain within its circumference. However, it would be pretty unwise to use this at the same time you use a health potion, which is also set to a cooldown--juggling the two will ensure you have a healing power available almost all of the time, as opposed to getting tons of unnecessary healing all at once and then having nothing to save you 10 seconds afterward.

Low cooldown Artifacts, on the other hand, can be used as often and as unnecessarily as you’d like. If an Artifact’s cooldown time is only one second, you’ll never even notice it’s unavailable--pairing two quick cooldowns with one long cooldown means you’ve got a pretty hard-hitting arsenal on your person, in that you can use your weapon, bow, and two artifacts to control a fight, with one particularly powerful, long-cooldown ability ready to use when things start to seem dire.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about Artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons--they’re magical abilities, and you can equip three of them. You get new ones by exploring dungeons and bartering with the wandering trader at camp, and you can combine all sorts of different Artifacts to come up with some pretty unique and powerful combos. Just remember to watch your cooldowns, and to try and pair your Artifacts with your enchantment build so you can maximize your damage potential and staying power.

Artifacts List: Which Ones Can I Get?

There are 21 obtainable Artifacts at Default difficulty in Minecraft Dungeons, all of which possess their own unique buffs and benefits. You can grab more powerful Artifacts in later dungeons, or on higher difficulties--naturally, these Artifacts tend to be substantially more powerful and can further increase your power and build potential. As a means of getting you started, we’ve compiled a list of the first 21 Artifacts you can find in Minecraft Dungeons.