Genshin Impact Artifacts: How the System Works

The artifact system in Genshin Impact is the core of character progression and build customization. Artifacts define the majority of your stats, influence the strength of elemental reactions and determine how efficiently a character performs in combat. Because artifacts rely heavily on RNG, understanding how their stats, sets and upgrading work is essential for building consistent, high-damage teams.

What Artifacts Are and How They Function

Artifacts are equippable items divided into five slots: Flower, Feather, Sands, Goblet and Circlet. Each slot has fixed rules for main stats and possible substats. Characters can equip one artifact from each slot, creating a total of five pieces that contribute to overall power.

Artifacts increase a character’s core attributes such as Attack, HP, Defense, Crit Rate, Crit Damage, Elemental Mastery and Energy Recharge. Combined with set bonuses, they form the backbone of any build.

Main Stats on Each Artifact

Each artifact has a main stat determined by its slot:

• Flower: always flat HP
• Feather: always flat ATK
• Sands: can roll HP%, ATK%, DEF%, Energy Recharge, Elemental Mastery
• Goblet: can roll HP%, ATK%, DEF%, Elemental Mastery or any Elemental DMG Bonus / Physical DMG Bonus
• Circlet: can roll HP%, ATK%, DEF%, Elemental Mastery, Crit Rate, Crit Damage or Healing Bonus

Sands, Goblet and Circlet are the core of build optimization because their variable main stats determine whether the piece fits a particular character or role.

Substats and RNG

Artifacts can have 3 or 4 starting substats. When leveling an artifact every four levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20), one of two things happens: a new substat is added (if the artifact started with 3) or one existing substat increases. This creates a high degree of randomness.

The most valuable substats for damage builds include Crit Rate, Crit Damage, ATK%, Elemental Mastery and Energy Recharge depending on the character’s function. HP% and DEF% are useful for characters that scale with those stats.

Artifact Sets and Their Bonuses

Artifacts belong to sets that provide 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses. For example:

• Gladiator’s Finale: ATK% and Normal Attack buff
• Viridescent Venerer: Anemo DMG and resistance shred
• Emblem of Severed Fate: Energy Recharge and Burst DMG
• Deepwood Memories: Dendro resistance reduction
• Heart of Depth: Hydro DMG and enhanced attacks

Choosing the right set bonus is just as important as choosing the correct stats. Some characters rely heavily on 4-piece effects, while others simply need strong main stats and substats from mixed sets.

Leveling Artifacts

Artifacts can be enhanced up to level 20. Higher rarity artifacts provide better stat scaling and more substat upgrades. Leveling is costly, requiring large amounts of artifact experience, which is often gained by feeding unused pieces.

Because upgrading is expensive, players typically level only artifacts with strong main stats and good initial substats. Each upgrade can make or break a piece depending on which substat rolls receive increases.

Where Artifacts Come From

The main source of endgame artifacts is Domains of Blessing—special dungeons that drop sets like Emblem, Blizzard Strayer, Crimson Witch and others. World bosses drop single-piece sets such as Gladiator’s Finale and Wanderer’s Troupe.

Weekly bosses, events and exploration also provide artifacts, though endgame builds usually rely on targeted domain farming for optimal stats.

How to Build Characters with Artifacts

Building a character starts with assigning the correct main stats: usually ATK% Sands, Elemental DMG Goblet and Crit Circlet. Reaction-based characters may prioritize Elemental Mastery, while supports might need Energy Recharge.

Substats such as Crit Rate, Crit Damage, ATK% and Energy Recharge determine the final build quality. The goal is to balance Crit Rate and Crit Damage while maintaining enough Energy Recharge to cycle bursts efficiently.

Optimization and Practical Tips

Players often farm the same domain repeatedly until obtaining acceptable pieces, as perfect artifacts are extremely rare. Many builds mix two different 2-piece bonuses if a 4-piece bonus is unnecessary or too hard to farm.

Understanding diminishing returns and stat priorities helps prevent wasted farming time. For example, stacking Crit Damage without enough Crit Rate lowers overall DPS despite impressive numbers on paper.

Conclusion

The artifact system is one of the deepest and most RNG-heavy mechanics in Genshin Impact. With five slots, variable main stats and random substat upgrades, artifacts define a character’s potential more than any other gear. Mastering how to choose, level and optimize artifacts is key to maximizing performance across all teams and roles in the game.