Veteran Genshin Impact players know that artifacts are the backbone of every character. They provide powerful set bonuses and the main bulk of your character’s stats — having the right artifact can make or break your kit.
With the most recent patch, there are now thirty-eight artifacts to choose from. If you’re a new player or just starting to optimize your build, it can be a bit overwhelming to plan out which one to pick for your ideal build. In this article, we’ll go over the best artifact sets in Genshin Impact, covering which bonuses are worth picking up and which characters benefit most from each set.
What to Know About Artifacts
Before we get into our list, there a couple things that newer players should know.
1. Don’t worry too much about optimizing before Adventuring Rank 40. You won’t be able to consistently farm legendary-tier artifacts (orange background) until you hit Rank 40. Those are the ones you’ll be investing for final end-game builds.
2. Sometimes it’s better to mix and match two-piece bonuses than go for the four-piece bonus. The four-piece bonus isn’t always worth it. You might get more mileage from combining two different sets for their two-piece bonuses.
3. There are different team comps and builds for characters that need different artifact sets. Do some research into the teams you build to see which artifact set augments each character’s role the most.
4. Hold onto legendary-tier and leveled-up artifacts. Once you can farm legendary artifacts consistently, you can use previously leveled-up artifacts to super level your new ones. Also, once you hit Adventure Rank 45, you gain access to the Mystic Offering system at Alchemy Tables. This lets you trade in three legendary artifacts for a new one from a selection of four different sets.
Best Artifacts in Genshin Impact, Ranked
With this advice in mind, let’s get into the best artifacts in Genshin Impact for every character!
12/12
12. Maiden Beloved
- 2-Piece: Character Healing Effectiveness +15%
- 4-Piece: Using an Elemental Skill or Burst increases healing received by all party members by 20% for 10s.
- Location: Valley of Remembrance (Mondstadt)
First on our list is the best artifact set for dedicated healers in Genshin Impact (at least until we see how the new Ocean-Hued Clam set performs). In terms of bonuses to straightforward healing, Maiden Beloved holds the top spot.
No one is better suited to be running this artifact set than the two dedicated healer units in the game, Barbara and Kokomi. This set is our pick for the best artifact for Barbara, so it certainly helps that you’re guaranteed a copy of her on your team.
Both Barbara and Kokomi already provide constant healing with their skills and are expected to use their bursts frequently to top off allies. Running the four-piece bonus ensures that you can go from the brink of death to full health in the blink of an eye.
Maiden Beloved can be run on other healer characters as well, but other artifact sets tend to scale better with them and their mechanics.
11/12
11. Archaic Petra
- 2-Piece: Geo DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: Upon obtaining an Elemental Shard created through a Crystallize Reaction, all party members gain 35% DMG Bonus for that particular element for 10s. Only one form of Elemental DMG Bonus can be gained in this manner at any one time.
- Location: Domain of Guyun (Liyue)
Archaic Petra is the first of several artifact sets that correspond to the elements — in this case, Geo. Despite Geo being in a much better place than it was at launch, this artifact’s four-piece bonus remains largely unused since it doesn’t provide any meaningful impact to the wielder. While you could use it to set up damage for another character, it’s a bit clunky and more efficient alternatives exist.
If you’re building a Geo-aligned character as a damage dealer, we strongly advise you to combine Archaic Petra’s two-piece bonus with the two-piece bonus of another artifact set. More often than not, that other artifact set should provide an 18% ATK bonus (Gladiator’s/Shimenawa’s). Ningguang and Geo Traveler are prime examples of this.
10/12
10. Thundering Fury
- 2-Piece: Electro DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: Increases damage caused by Overloaded, Electro-Charged and Superconduct by 40%. Triggering such effects decreases Elemental Skill CD by 1s. Can only occur once every 0.8s.
- Location: Midsummer Courtyard (Mondstadt)
Now we’re onto the Electro artifact set. Much like Archaic Petra, most characters will be running only the two-piece bonus to get the Electro damage boost.
While the four-piece set is considerably more useful than its Geo counterpart, it still falls flat for most characters. The boost to Overload and Superconduct is nice, but both reactions lose out compared to Vaporize and Melt. Electro-Charged is really only useful against hydro mimics (a very niche enemy). The cooldown reduction sounds good on paper, but it’s not really worth the time it takes to set up — most Electro users already have fairly short cooldowns.
If you plan on building the two-piece Thundering Fury bonus, we recommend pairing it with one of the 18% ATK boosts. Fischl, Keqing, and Lisa benefit the most from this combo. If you insist on trying out the four-piece bonus, Lisa is the only character who really can take advantage of it when running Xingqiu/Thoma and actively using her hold skill. As such, it is our pick for the best artifact for Lisa.
9/12
9. Heart of Depth
- 2-Piece: Hydro DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: After using an Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 30% for 15s.
- Location: Peak of Vindagnyr (Dragonspine)
At last we’ve reached the point where the four-piece bonus on an elemental set is actually useful! Unfortunately, the pool of Hydro users is rather low, and three of them are geared more toward a support role. Nonetheless, the other two characters (Childe and Mona) can benefit greatly, as Heart of Depth is a fantastic option for a Hydro DPS.
Childe can do massive sustained damage through normal/charged attacks after switching to melee stance, so the four-piece bonus works extremely well on him. Just be careful with managing the cooldown on his skill!
Mona is typically built as a burst nuke option, but this artifact set easily allows her to play a main DPS. Her skill is on a shorter cooldown than the four-piece buff and gives her breathing room to freely attack.
8/12
8. Blizzard Strayer
- 2-Piece: Cryo DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: When a character attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, their CRIT Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, CRIT Rate is increased by an additional 20%.
- Location: Peak of Vindagnyr (Dragonspine)
Next on our list is the Cryo artifact variant. This one also boasts a great four-piece effect, turning the wielder into a crit machine of death (provided your team is set up to take advantage of it). If you have Xingqiu on your team, you can easily keep the enemy perpetually Frozen with the right Cryo user for a constant 40% crit chance. Slap on another Cryo user for that sweet Cryo Resonance, and that crit chance goes up to 55%!
Nearly every Cryo character can use this set to great effect, but Kaeya, Ayaka, and Ganyu benefit the most. Between short cooldowns and mechanics, they can constantly maintain Cryo on the enemy and tune their build for massive critical damage.
Chongyun, Aloy, and Rosaria also synergize heavily with this set, but are more suited as burst supports. You may want to take the two-piece bonus on them and combine them with Noblesse Oblige to get the most value.
7/12
7. Gladiator’s Finale
- 2-Piece: ATK +18%.
- 4-Piece: If the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm, increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%.
- Location: Weekly/Normal Bosses and Mystic Offering
This is the go-to artifact set for those looking for an easy 18% ATK bonus to synergize with another set. The Gladiator’s Finale set is one of the four standard artifact sets that drop from bosses and can be crafted at Alchemy Tables upon hitting Adventure Rank 45. You’ll end up with a fair bit of these just from farming bosses for ascension materials.
While the four-piece bonus is actually quite good, it loses out in nearly every case to more specialized sets. Despite that, it’s an easy to assemble artifact set if you just want to equip a melee character with some haphazardly thrown-together set so they do some damage.
As mentioned above, you’ll mostly be building the two-piece bonus on characters who are looking to mix and match artifact sets. Characters like Geo Traveler, Chongyun, Lisa, and Ningguang are the most likely candidates here.
6/12
6. Pale Flame
- 2-Piece: Physical DMG +25%
- 4-Piece: When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, ATK is increased by 9% for 7s. This effect stacks up to 2 times and can be triggered once every 0.3s. Once 2 stacks are reached, the 2-set effect is increased by 100%.
- Location: Ridge Watch (Liyue)
There’s a very specific niche of characters who can make use of this artifact set, but it’s the single best option for those that can. Essentially, the character has to be a melee user (sword, claymore, polearm) with a skill that has a short cooldown of six seconds or less. Whenever the skill is available, you should use it to generate and maintain stacks of the four-piece buff. That’s it.
Razor and Eula are the premiere characters that meet these criteria, with Keqing and Anemo Traveler following behind. Razor and Eula both have mechanics that stack personal buffs when using tapping their skill, and they hit quite hard as claymore users. This artifact set turns them into normal attacking monsters. Since you don’t have to worry about elemental resistances on your normal attacks, this makes them viable for fighting any foe.
Keqing requires a bit more involvement, as she has to charge attack after hitting an enemy with her skill to proc the four-piece bonus. Doing so will trigger her skill a second time, and allows her to maintain 100% up time on the set buff.
Anemo Traveler can use this as their best physical build option, but they’re more suited to an Anemo build with a different artifact set.
5/12
5. Crimson Witch of Flames
- 2-Piece: Pyro DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: Increases Overloaded and Burning DMG by 40%. Increases Vaporize and Melt DMG by 15%. Using an Elemental Skill increases the 2-Piece Set Bonus by 50% of its starting value for 10s. Max 3 stacks.
- Location: Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula (Liyue)
We return to elemental artifact sets, this time featuring Pyro! With its four-piece bonus affecting Burning damage, this artifact lets Pyro users shine on their own without relying on triggered elemental reactions. They’ll become powerful damage-dealers, as each stack adds 7.5% to the initial 15% Pyro damage boost granted by the two-piece bonus.
Nearly every Pyro DPS character will want to run this artifact set, at least for the two-piece bonus. Klee and Yoimiya will want to mix and match with an 18% ATK boost set.
Diluc, Hu Tao, Yanfei, and Xiangling thrive off the four-piece bonus. Pair them with a team that can set up elemental reactions, and you’ll absolutely destroy the enemy. Diluc in particular can get all three stacks from the four-piece bonus by spamming his skill.
4/12
4. Tenacity of the Millelith
- 2-Piece: HP +20%
- 4-Piece: When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the ATK of all nearby party members is increased by 20% and their Shield Strength is increased by 30% for 3s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field.
- Location: Ridge Watch (Liyue)
This is the ultimate off-field support artifact set. The four-piece bonus can only be utilized by a handful of characters whose skills persist even off the field — as long as their ability continues to hit enemies, your active character will receive a huge buff.
The three characters who get the most use of this set are Qiqi, Kokomi, Zhongli. Qiqi simply has to activate her skill and switch to another character. As long as your character is within melee range of an enemy, her talisman will hit them and proc the effect.
Kokomi requires more active management, as she has to cycle between her burst and skill to maintain her jellyfish on the field. However, she can maintain a near 100% uptime for the artifact’s effect. The set’s two-piece bonus to health also makes her heals more potent, which is nice.
Zhongli is the ultimate wielder of this artifact set. He can provide a shield to take advantage of the shield strength bonus, the two-piece HP boost bolsters his shield’s strength, and his hold skill will cause the pillar he spawns to resonate damage periodically to refresh the four-piece buff.
3/12
3. Viridescent Venerer
- 2-Piece: Anemo DMG Bonus +15%
- 4-Piece: Increases Swirl DMG by 60%. Decreases opponent’s Elemental RES to the element infused in the Swirl by 40% for 10s.
- Location: Valley of Remembrance (Mondstadt)
The Anemo set is the final and best elemental artifact set. Besides having the two-piece and four-piece bonuses provide a drastic damage boost to your Anemo/Swirl damage (which is what Anemo already aims to do), the set also enables some of the most potent damage set up in the game.
The elemental RES shred is massive and lasts long enough to be able to cycle through any more buffs that the rest of your team can provide before nuking the enemy out of existence with your main damage dealer.
You can tell how powerful this artifact set is by the fact that literally every Anemo character in the game should take advantage of the four-piece bonus (except Xiao for mechanical reasons, but even he benefits from the two-piece bonus). The set’s value increases even more when you remember that most Anemo characters are centered around dealing AOE to groups of enemies, applying the elemental shred to all targets.
2/12
2. Noblesse Oblige
- 2-Piece: Elemental Burst DMG +20%
- 4-Piece: Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members’ ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack.
- Location: Weekly/Normal Bosses and Mystic Offering
This is the absolute best artifact set for setting up your team to deal massive damage. In a majority of team comps, you’ll want at least one character running the four-piece bonus. Simply have the person running the four-piece set activate their burst, then chain the rest of your team’s combos together to devastate the enemy.
The most well-known character for this is Bennett, who already provides an ATK boost with his burst. Other recommended characters for this role include Diona, Kujou Sara, and Electro Traveler, whose main value lies in their burst. It’s our pick for the best artifact for Travelers in Genshin Impact.
It’s also common to see a character pair the two-piece bonus with another set to turn their burst into another mini nuke. Albedo and Chongyun are prime examples of this.
As was the case with the Gladiator’s Finale set, you’ll be obtaining most of these from your boss runs and crafting them at the Alchemy Table when you hit Adventure Rank 45.
1/12
1. Emblem of Severed Fate
- 2-Piece: Energy Recharge +20%
- 4-Piece: Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
- Location: Momiji-Dyed Court (Inazuma)
Our top entry for the best artifacts in Genshin Impact is Emblem of Severed Fate. This artifact set revolves around enabling and empowering a character’s burst as often as possible. It’s nothing complicated — this set simply gives good energy recharge. Characters who are focused on using their burst as often as possible are already building energy recharge, making the four-piece bonus even stronger.
In order to get the full 75% damage bonus, you’ll need 300 energy recharge on a character. This can be a bit of overkill for some characters, but it also ensures that you’ll always have their burst ready as soon as its off cooldown.
Given how much of a nuke certain characters’ bursts are, the increased frequency and boosted damage can be staggering. Prime examples of this are Mona’s bubble nuke, Raiden Shogun’s devastating lightning blade, Rosaria’s crit domain, and Beidou’s perpetual Electro surge. All of these characters want to use their burst 24/7, and this artifact set more than enables that, making it our number one entry as the best artifact set in Genshin Impact.
Join the High Ground
That’s it our guide on the best artifacts in Genshin Impact! We hope it’s been useful in planning out your teams and what to go for. If there are any other suggestions you think belong on this list, then subscribe and let us know in the comments below.
Happy gaming!
