Borderlands 3 Legendary Artifact Guide

Artifacts are one of the many types of items that can be equipped in Borderlands 3 and can be used by a character once they have defeated the Graveward boss in story mode.

Like most items in Borderlands 3, each time a Legendary Artifact is found it will come with a variety of different stats and effects, which will greatly dictate what the Artifact has to offer. While this can be said for most items within the game, most Legendary Artifacts have an additional level of rolls that makes the perfect Artifact exceedingly rare. The different levels of rolls can be separated into the following 3 categories:

Primary Artifact
Secondary Artifact
Secondary Stats

Primary Artifacts

Primary Artifacts are the most defining characteristics of a Legendary Artifact and are unique part of that Artifact. While most Legendary Artifacts will have complex names, the primary component can be found in the second half of the Artifact's name. Using the Artifact "Fire Stone Commander Planetoid" as an example, the Primary Artifact in question would be Commander Planetoid.

A full list of each Primary Artifact can be found below:

Commander Planetoid
Cosmic Crater
Deathless
Launch Pad
Loaded Dice
Moxxi's Endowment
Otto Idol
Pull Out Method
Rocket Boots
Safeguard
Splatter Gun
Static Charge
Victory Rush
White Elephant

Secondary Artifacts

Secondary Artifacts are the second part of a Legendary Artifact and contain more common, but still very powerful, effects. These effects can be paired with any of the Primary effects to generate the full effect of a Legendary Artifact. The secondary component of a Legendary Artifact can be extracted from first half of its name. For example 'Fire Stone' is the Secondary Artifact in "Fire Stone Commander Planetoid".

Secondary Artifacts also exist as standalone Artifacts. They will drop as either Rare or Epic Artifacts and will not be paired with unique Primary Artifact effects.

A full list of each Secondary Artifact and effect can be found below:

Artifact Name	Effect
Atom Balm	Enhances the Radiation status effect aura, making it larger and more deadly.
Berzerker	Melee enemies to trigger Enrage. Enrage increases your Sprint Speed and Fire Rate.
Cauterizing	Slide deals Incendiary Damage, creating a magma puddle upon impat
Caustic Coast	Slide kicks up Corrosive shards that explode on impact.
Corrosive Stone	Adds 80% bonus Corrosive damage to all Melee attacks.
Cutpurse	Dealing Melee damage replenishes ammo for self and allies.
Cryo Stone	Adds 80% bonus Cryo damage to all Melee attacks.
Electric Slide	Slides arc beams of Shock to nearby enemies, which can arc to other nearby enemies.
Elemental Projector	While suffering an elemental effect, increase your damage with that same element
Fire Stone	Adds 80% bonus Incendiary damage to all Melee attacks.
Flesh Melter	Killing an enemy with Corrosive increases your Corrosive damage for a short duration.
Hot Drop	Slam launches Incendiary projectiles that spawn Magma Puddles
Ice Breaker	Increases Cryo Efficiency and deal bonus damage to Frozen targets.
Ice Spiker	Slam fires 3 Cryo projectile that damage and pass through enemies.
Knife Drain	All Melee attacks return a portion of the damage dealt as health.
Last Stand	Gain Temporary Invulnerability when Health drops below 50%
Loot Expanding	Increases the amount of Cash, Health, and Ammo you receive from pickups.
Mind Melt	Slam triggers a Radiation aura that follows you and damages nearby enemies.
Radiodead	Slide deals additional Radiation damage, creating a toxic puddle on impact.
Radiation Stone	Adds 80% bonus Radiation damage to all Melee attacks.
Rear Ender	Improves Slam. Adds bonus damage, radius, and knockback.
Shock Stone	Adds 80% bonus Shock damage to all Melee attacks.
Spark Plug	Slam plants an electrified coil that does Shock damage to nearby enemies.
Snowdrift	Slide launches a snowball that does Cryo damage. Increases slide speed.
Toxic Revenger	Slam creates a large Corrosive puddle on impact.

Secondary Stats

The last set of rolls that make up a Legendary Artifact are a set up secondary stats. Legendary Artifacts will roll with up to 3 secondary stats, and when added to the randomness of the Primary and Secondary components, make it almost impossible to roll the perfect Artifact. Nonetheless, there are a range of powerful secondary stats available and a full list can be found below:

Action Skill Cooldown Rate
Assault Rifle Damage
Area-of-Effect Damage
Cryo Damage
Cryo Efficiency
Cryo Resistance
Corrosive Damage
Corrosive Resistance
Electrocute Chance
Electrocute Resistance
Elemental Resistance
Experience Gained From Combat
FFYL Downed Time
FFYL Movement Speed
Grenade Damage
Health Regeneration
Ignite Chance
Incendiary Damage
Incendiary Resistance
Irradiate Chance
Luck
Magazine Size
Max Health
Max Shield
Melee Damage
Melt Chance
Movement Speed
Pistol Damage
Radiation Damage
Radiation Resistance
Shield Recharge Rate
Shield Recharge Delay
Shock Damage
Shotgun Damage
SMG Damage
Sniper Damage
Weapon Accuracy
Weapon Reload Speed

Special Legendary Artifacts

Special Artifacts are a small subset of Legendary Artifacts that do not follow the rules mentioned above. These Special Artifacts, that each have their own specific enemy that they drop from, have powerful Primary Artifact effects but no Secondary Artifact effects. Additionally, only some of these Artifacts will roll Secondary stats.

The Special Legendary Artifacts in this category are:

Electric Banjo
Grave
Phoenix Tears
Unleash the Dragon

Changelog

28 Oct. 2019: Bloody Harvest event guide added.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This guide is presented to you by Kat, a professional Hearthstone player competing at the highest level since closed beta. She is a consistent legend player in both Wild and Standard with multiple high-rank finishes.

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