Artifact
Vital statistics
Type	Eridian Artifact
Effects	varies
Source	drop, quest reward
Cost to buy	N/A
Sell price	(varies)

An Artifact, also known as an Eridian Artifact, is a powerful item found in Pandora which grants its wielder certain bonuses to their Action Skill. The mission reward artifacts are created from the different types of crystals that are mined on Pandora.

Although the artifacts gained from missions are always appropriate to your character, enemies that drop artifacts might drop one for any of the four classes.

Application

• An Artifact is applied by being selected in a character's inventory. Upon activation, the artifact will be removed from the inventory and is added to the character's Action Skill as a permanent upgrade.
• As higher level artifacts are added they will override their lower level predecessors and only higher level artifacts of any given type can be applied.
• All Artifacts are class specific and the level of effect that the artifact grants depends on the level of the artifact itself. The highest elemental effect is level 6 for an artifact with a level requirement of 44.

Usage

• The currently active Artifact is displayed in the Skill Tree window at the top, to the left of the Action Skill.
• Artifact types can be changed by selecting the artifact icon and picking a different artifact from the drop down list. The list displays the highest level artifact that has been applied of each of the four types, as well as an option for "None" to disable artifact effects.
• Artifact bonuses will be in effect until another activated artifact is chosen (e.g. A Shock Artifact and Incendiary Artifact cannot both be active simultaneously; the most recently activated artifact will provide its effect).
• With the exception of the Explosive Artifact, Artifacts will decrease damage done, but have a chance of giving the target massive damage over time.

Shapes

Each artifact has a distinctive shape depending on the character class it relates to. The shape is how the item appears in game as well as the picture on the item card.

• Soldier - Pentahedron (five sides)
• Berserker - Hexahedron (Cube) (six sides)
• Hunter - Octahedron (eight sides)
• Siren - Dodecahedron (twelve sides)

Types

Artifacts come in four types and apply the appropriate elemental effect damage your character inflicts when using their Action Skill.

• Corrosive
• Explosive
• Incendiary
• Shock

Each type has strengths and weakness against the various enemies in the game.

Artifact Comparison Chart

Artifact Comparison

Artifact Skill Level	Character Level Requirement	Artifact Sell Price	Image
6	44	405994	Level 6 Siren Shock Artifact
5	44	332176	Level 5 Siren Corrosive Artifact
4	38	121190	Level 4 Siren Incendiary Artifact
3	32	49741	Level 3 Berserker Explosive Artifact
3	26	17864	Level 3 Berserker Corrosive Artifact
2	20	6284	Level 2 Hunter Corrosive Artifact
1	14	2149	Level 1 Soldier Incendiary Artifact

List of Known Artifact Rewards

Mission Rewards

• Level 1 Shock: 1st playthrough - Mission reward for Shock Crystal Harvest.
• Level 1 Fire: 1st playthrough - Mission reward for The Legend Of Moe and Marley.
• Level 2 Corrosive: 1st playthrough - Mission reward for Corrosive Crystal Harvest.
• Level 2 Explosive: 1st playthrough - Mission reward for Ghosts of the Vault.
• Level 3 Random: 1st playthrough - Mission reward for Get Some Answers.

• Level 4 Fire: 2nd playthrough - Mission reward for The Legend Of Moe and Marley.
• Level 4 Shock: 2nd playthrough - Mission reward for Shock Crystal Harvest.
• Level 4 Explosive: 2nd playthrough - Mission reward for Ghosts of the Vault.
• Level 4 Corrosive: 2nd playthrough - Mission reward for Corrosive Crystal Harvest.
• Level 5 random element: 2nd playthrough - Mission reward for Get Some Answers.

Drops

• Level 6 random element:

• • SuperBad non-human enemies (after completion of 2nd playthrough).
  • The Destroyer in The Vault (after completion of 2nd playthrough).
  • Scar in Skag Gully (after completion of 2nd playthrough).
  • Skagzilla in the Dahl Headlands (after completion of 2nd playthrough).
  • Ultimate Rakk Hive in the Trash Coast (after completion of 2nd playthrough).

• • Named Wereskags in The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC.
  • Crawmerax in Crawmerax's Lair in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC.

Artifacts of a given elemental type have a chance of dropping from enemies of the same elemental type - for example, a corrosive spiderant may drop a corrosive artifact when killed - which will be of a similar level to the enemy. Artifacts of all types have a chance of dropping from Badass/BadMutha/SuperBad Guardians in the Eridian Promontory.

Notes

• Playthrough experience indicates that the highest achievable artifact level from Playthrough 1 is element level 4. Higher level artifacts can only be acquired and equipped in Playthrough 2.
• While somewhat random, there appears to be a higher probability in acquiring artifacts from high-end random encounters, e.g. Spiderant Kings and Queens.
• Artifacts exhibit their element when dropped, e.g. corrosive artifacts are covered in acid, fire artifacts are covered in flames.