Genshin Impact: Artifact Tier List

Artifacts in Genshin Impact offer an interesting sort of character buff system. On top of the direct stat boost given by each individual artifact, players can benefit from bonuses that trigger when themed sets are equipped on the same character.

Those who already have some familiarity with Teyvat's customs know that Genshin Impact characters need several different materials to succeed. In addition to weapons and level-up materials, players will need to equip their characters with powerful Artifacts, which can be upgraded themselves.

Updated July 30th, 2023, by Nahda Nabiilah: Successfully building a character in Genshin Impact heavily relies on the chosen Artifact set. For example, giving Kokomi Maiden Beloved improves her healing capabilities, but she will more likely tend to overheal. But, if Kokomi had Ocean-Hued Clam, she would become a great Support/Sub-DPS/healer to her team. As Genshin Impact patches keep rolling out, more Artifact sets are joining the game. Therefore, this Article will be updated to match and explain the current Meta of Artifacts.

Best Artifacts In Genshin Impact

Thankfully, Artifacts are not one of the rare items players have to Wish for in Genshin Impact. For the most part, they can be taken from in-game treasure chests, received as rewards from quests, or obtained upon clearing Domains. And for those who are wondering, the strongest of Artifacts will be found in Domains of Blessing. Of course, some of these sets are stronger than others.

S-Tier

S-Tier Artifacts should be able to flawlessly change the gameplay of a character, has great utility, or fit well for multiple units.

Tenacity of the Millelith: While its 4-set effect used to be niche, now there are many characters that can effectively maintain the ATK% buff Tenacity offers on its 4-set effect. Not to mention, there are many units that require HP bonus of the 2-set effect.
Crimson Witch of Flames: Since the release of Genshin Impact, Crimson Witch of Flames has been one of the best Artifacts set in the game, mainly because Pyro has access to some of the best Reactions.
Noblesse Oblige: Grants Elemental Burst DMG bonus. Usually, it's equipped on support units as the 4-set effect buffs the team's ATK after they cast Elemental Bursts.
Viridescent Venerer: Offers a buff to Anemo DMG% and Swirl Reactions. It also gives Anemo characters the ability to greatly reduce enemies' resistance to the Element they Swirl with.
Blizzard Strayer: A perfect Artifact for Cryo characters in Genshin Impact. In addition to the Cryo DMG buff, the set raises their Crit Rate% by a whopping 40%. However, this bonus can only be obtained if the enemy is Frozen. If the foe is simply affected by Cryo, then the Crit Rate bonus is lowered to 20%.
Shimenawa's Reminiscence: It can be a very tricky set as in exchange for great power, characters must sacrifice their Elemental Bursts. Still, for units that depend on their Normal, Charged, and Plunge attacks, Shimenawa's Reminiscence is always an excellent choice.
Emblem of Severed Fate: Can crazily buff a character's Elemental Burst DMG when they have enough Energy Recharge to back it up. It's a brilliant choice for Burst Supports like Raiden Shogun or Xiangling.
Deepwood Memories: Without Deepwood Memories, Dendro faces a hard time competing with other Elements. Shredding enemies’ resistance to Dendro greatly boosts Dendro Reactions in Genshin Impact.
Gilded Dreams: For any DPS unit that depends on their ATK and Elemental Mastery, Gilded Dreams is arguably the best Artifact to build them with.
Flower of Paradise Lost: Teams with Bloom Reactions in Genshin Impact have the diversity needed between off-field and on-field damage. To maximize the strength of such teams, Flower of Paradise Lost plays a major role in amplifying any Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon Reactions.

A-Tier

A-tier artifacts can boost the gameplay of a character with some limitations.

Thundering Fury: An excellent set for Electro users. It increases their Electro DMG and grants them more damage on their Electro Elemental Reactions in Genshin Impact. However, in most cases, an Electro unit can get the same damage increase from having a decent amount of Elemental Mastery, making Thundering Fury an acceptable choice but not as perfect as other choices like Gilded Dreams.
Gladiator's Finale: Buffs ATK% and increases the Normal Attack DMG of the characters that use Swords, Claymores, and Polearms. This set is generally amazing but is clouded by character-specific sets.
Wanderer's Troupe: There was a time when Wanderer's Troupe was a must for any Mage or Bow user. The set increases their Elemental Mastery and buffs their Charged Attack. Characters like Ganyu or Tighnari greatly benefit from having this Wanderer’s Troupe in their build.
Heart of Depth: It’s hard to find a Hydro unit in Genshin Impact that needs the damage boost granted by Heart of Depth’s 4-set effect since most Hydro units are Sub-DPS or healers. On the other hand, DPS units like Tartaglia or Ayato both get a notable boost in damage when using it.
Desert Pavilion Chronicle: While Viridescent Venerer turns any Anemo character into an amazing Support, Desert Pavilion Chronicle works the other way around by improving their quality as DPS units.
Nymph's Dream: A very close Artifact Set to Heart of Depth. However, Nymph's Dream increased Hydro DPS units’ Hydro DMG and ATK% in general instead of limiting their buff to Normal and Charged attacks.

B-Tier

As for B-Tier Artifacts, they provide good damage or utility, but they're usually outperformed by other sets.

Instructor: The only thing stopping Instructor from being an S-tier Artifact set is that it’s only available as 4-star Artifacts. Giving Support units the ability to constantly grant their team 120 Elemental Mastery is amazing, but there's the cost of losing a huge amount of stats on the wielder. However, some units don’t need stats to perform, which makes Instructor a perfect choice for them.
The Exile: Just like Instructor, The Exile is another Artifact Set with a very useful 4-set effect that ensures a character can operate as a Battery for their team in Genshin Impact.
Maiden Beloved: Healing in Genshin Impact never was a hard thing, to begin with, so an Artifact to boost it isn't really needed. Even with the new game mechanics like the Corrosion effect, most healers can still overheal.
Retracing Bolide: Retracing Bolide has one of the best Normal and Charged Attack buffs. However, for the bonus to be available, the character must be shielded 100% of the time. So basically, this set is only viable with a decent shielder in Genshin Impact.
Thundersoother: Increases the damage done to enemies as long as they're affected by Electro. The 4-set effect asks for a lot of sacrifices in team building for a return of a 35% damage increase. Thankfully, this set works well in niche compositions like Electro-Charged teams.
Lavawalker: Increases the character's damage against enemies affected by Pyro. Lavawalker is easily outperformed by Crimson Witch of Flames since it's not practical to keep Pyro on the enemy.
Pale Flame: Pale Flame is a perfect choice for Physical DPS characters. It can keep increasing their Physical DMG% and further increase their ATK% if they have a lower than six seconds Elemental Skill cooldown. Sadly, there aren't many viable Physical DPS to make this Artifact set a top-tier one.
Husk of Opulent Dreams: This set may only be used for defensive Geo characters, but it's an amazing set for them. It offers 30% additional DEF, while the 4-set offers a total of 24% extra DEF and 24% Geo DMG bonus.
Ocean-Hued Clam: Ocean-Hued Clam is the savior for healers. Now, they can deal decent damage alongside protecting their teammates. This set is especially good for dedicated healers like Kokomi and Qiqi.
Vermillion Hereafter: Grants its user a huge amount of ATK% at the cost of that character to keep losing HP after using their Elemental Bursts. So far, only Xiao can use Vermillion Hereafter to its full effect.
Echoes of an Offering: Offers great boost to Normal Attack DMG, but suffers from having RNG to activate that buff. Echoes of an Offering is a decent but not entirely effective Artifact set in Genshin Impact.

C-Tier

C-Tier Artifacts are currently useless for any Support or DPS character in Genshin Impact.

Bloodstained Chivalry: This can be very helpful for Physical DPS characters. The 2-set is a popular option, but the 4-set is only useful on characters that heavily rely on their Charged Attacks. So far, no character can effectively utilize 4-Bloodstained Chivalry.
Archaic Petra: Although 4-Archaic Petra can provide an enormous damage buff, it's not very practical to use. The effect is obtained when the character is shielded by Elemental Shards created via Crystallize Reactions. However, to gain this buff, players have to ensure that the character equipping this set is the one picking up the Elemental Shards. The buff won't be granted if other units pick up the Shards.
Vourukasha's Glow: There is literally no one that can use Vourukasha's Glow, even Dehya (for whom this Artifact was supposed to be). Maybe in the future, Fontaine can save Dehya or this set.

Explaining Artifacts In Genshin Impact

While each set's appearance may vary in detail, these five relics always take the form of a flower/brooch, feather, hourglass/timepiece, goblet, and helmet/headwear. Every Artifact set consists of distinct pieces and each individual Artifact offers a main stat boost, The main stat can vary depending on the kind of Artifact in question, such as:

Flower of Life: HP.
Plume of Death: ATK.
Sands of Eon: ATK%, HP%, DEF%, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge%.
Goblet of Eonothem: ATK%, HP%, DEF%, Elemental Mastery, Geo DMG%, Hydro DMG%, Anemo DMG%, Pyro DMG%, Cryo DMG%, Electro DMG%.
Circlet of Logos: ATK%, HP%, DEF%, Elemental Mastery, Healing Bonus%, Crit Rate%, Crit DMG%.

Direct perks aside, players also have the benefit of Artifact set bonuses. When equipped in sets, Artifacts from the same set will grant additional passive bonuses. While the main stat boosts offered by Artifacts will vary from copy to copy, the Artifact set bonuses remain the same within each set.

Additionally, each Artifact will carry up to four Sub-stats. Unlike the main stats, Sub-stats can appear on any type of Artifact. They are: