What Are Artifacts?
Artifacts are one of the main progression systems in Destiny: Rising. They give you passive bonuses that boost your damage, help you survive longer, and generally make you more effective in combat. Each Artifact you equip raises your Power level while activating its specific benefits.
You'll have multiple slots where you can install these items. Every equipped Artifact adds to your total Power and applies its effects immediately. Learning how to unlock this system and farm Artifacts efficiently will significantly improve your character's performance.
When You Can Use Artifacts
You won't have access to Artifacts right from the start. The system unlocks as you progress through the campaign, specifically during Chapter 2.
To unlock Artifacts, you need to complete Singularity: Order in the Realm of the IX during Chapter 2-1. This is a one-time requirement. Once you finish this activity for the first time, the Artifact system becomes available permanently. Running Singularity: Order again doesn't affect the unlock, it just happened after that initial clear.
Finding the Artifact Menu
After unlocking the system, you'll manage all your Artifacts through the Characters screen. This is where everything happens.
From this interface, you can:
- Equip Artifacts into your available slots
- Check what passive bonuses each Artifact provides
- See how your equipped Artifacts contribute to your overall Power
- Swap Artifacts around as you collect new ones
Each time you equip an Artifact, two things happen at once: your Power goes up, and that Artifact's passive effect becomes active on your character.
Farming More Artifacts
Once you've unlocked the system, you'll need to farm for more Artifacts. The Realm of the IX is your main destination for this.
Singularity: Order, the same activity that unlocked Artifacts for you, continues to reward them on completion. You can run this activity repeatedly to build your collection. It also has multiple difficulty levels, and these higher difficulties also drop Artifacts when you clear them.
The quality of Artifacts improves as you tackle harder content. Running higher difficulty versions of activities in the Realm of the IX will give you more powerful Artifacts compared to easier difficulties. This creates a natural loop: you clear content to get Artifacts, those Artifacts make you stronger, and your increased Power lets you handle tougher challenges that drop even better Artifacts.
How Artifact Stacking Works
Artifacts come with different attribute types. If you equip multiple Artifacts with the same attribute, their effects stack. This means you can deliberately collect and equip several Artifacts with matching attributes to amplify those specific bonuses.
For example, if three of your Artifacts share the same damage attribute, you'll get a bigger damage boost than if you only had one. This opens up build options where you can either spread your attributes for balanced coverage or stack specific ones for specialized builds.
What Artifacts Actually Do
Artifacts provide three main types of benefits:
Damage - Artifacts can boost your damage output, letting you kill enemies faster.
Survivability - Some Artifacts help you take more punishment and stay alive longer in fights.
Sustainability - Certain Artifacts help you maintain effectiveness over extended combat.
Artifacts and Your Overall Power
Artifacts are part of a larger progression system. The game has multiple ways to increase your Power, and Artifacts work alongside these other mechanics. They're described as an "in-depth" system, which suggests there's real complexity here for players who want to dig into character customization.
As your Power grows from Artifacts and other sources, you'll unlock access to more content in the Realm of the IX. The game has additional modes beyond Singularity: Order available there.
Your Farming Strategy
To build a strong Artifact collection, make the Realm of the IX a regular destination. The relationship is straightforward: more activity completions mean more Artifacts. This isn't a system with complex drop mechanics or limited attempts. You just keep running content and collecting rewards.
Focus on clearing as many Realm of the IX activities as you can handle. As you get stronger, you'll access new modes and higher difficulties, which drop better Artifacts. The progression naturally pushes you toward harder content as your collection improves.
Run Singularity: Order on normal difficulty repeatedly. Focus on building your initial collection and understanding Artifact attributes.
Increase difficulty settings as your Power grows. Start targeting specific attribute types to complement your playstyle.
Tackle the highest difficulty content available. Build specialized Artifact sets for different combat scenarios.
Fine-tune your Artifact combinations. Experiment with stacking strategies to maximize effectiveness for specific content types.
Quick Reference
Here's what you need to know about Artifacts:
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Unlocking | Beat Singularity: Order in the Realm of the IX during Chapter 2-1 |
| Managing Artifacts | Use the Characters screen to equip and view your Artifacts |
| Getting More | Farm activities in the Realm of the IX, especially Singularity: Order and its difficulty variants |
| Better Artifacts | Higher difficulty content drops more powerful Artifacts |
| Building Your Character | Artifacts with matching attributes stack their effects, so you can build around specific bonuses |
| Long-term Plan | Keep running Realm of the IX content regularly for steady Artifact gains |
- Straightforward unlock process in Chapter 2
- No complex drop mechanics or limited attempts
- Effects stack when using matching attributes
- Natural progression curve toward harder content
- Multiple build strategies available
- Requires completing Chapter 2-1 to access
- Best Artifacts locked behind higher difficulties
- Farming can be repetitive
- Need to balance multiple attribute types
Conclusion
The Artifact system gives you meaningful ways to customize your character and grow stronger throughout Destiny: Rising. Get it unlocked early in Chapter 2, then make farming Artifacts part of your regular routine. The more you engage with Realm of the IX content, the faster you'll build a powerful collection.