Artifacts

Dorrian

Hello Everyone, Just a couple of questions about artifacts here in Lusternia. The game world is a little more complex than Achaea and I was trying to make sense of some of the more useful and popular artifacts to consider down the road should I want to invest in credits. After learning skills, what would some of the most useful artifacts be for a Wiccan? I'm looking for the types of things that would boost magic damage, regen, balance/eq time, sip bonus, travel convenience, etc. I see the traditional stat system doesn't seem to be in place here. It seems these bonuses come in the form of runes but I don't fully understand that part..So I would buy jewelry and attach runes for bonuses? I've also seen something about attaching up to 10 runes on one item but other times it says just one rune is allowed. Any clarification or suggestions from you forum-goers? Thanks a lot!

Qistrel

There aren't artifacts for balance/eq or sip bonus, they've specifically stayed away from those. As for boosting damage (Damage Enhancement Runes), it would depend on what type of wiccan you are, and what damage your main attacks deal. For a Moondancer you'd want Fire and Divinus, for Shadowdancer, I think Cold and Asphyx? Not 100% sure.

You probably want a Great Rune of Shielding and perhaps also a Great Rune of Gripping for your athame dagger, and a Cloaking Gem for being harder to find.

Otherwise it depends on what exactly you want to do. For hunting/bashing, the Critical Hit Runes are pretty good, and the Stat Runes that increase health (in this case, stat  means health, mana and ego). You can get runes for vials and pipes to make your life easier, but you don't need need those, as long as you don't mind replacing decaying vials and pipes ever so often. There is also the Pendant of the Divine Spark which is really good for some races.

The big travel artifact is called a Cubix, but honestly, the Basin isn't that big, we have a lot of skills that make travel pretty easy, and the org Epic Quests that act like mini-cubixes, so I have never seen a need for one. Artifacts that take you to other continents, like Lirangsha or Icewynd, or to the bubbles, are more useful IMO.

Dorrian

Thanks for the information! With the stat and damage enhance runes you mentioned..can you use more than one or upgrade them or anything? I'm still a little confused on that part? Thanks!

Shaddus

There's three levels of damage runes, priced at (I think) 75-150-300, and they add either 3 or 7 % damage per level. Our buff system is weird, but it's decently easy to buff your damage without needing artifacts.

Nienla

Focus on defensive artifacts first rather than offensive artifacts. Offensive artifacts are okay, but in every IRE game, the defensive ones will trump them in most cases.

However, in Lusternia, skills are more helpful than artifacts in a majority of instances. I have only had a demesne rune and a shield rune on Nienla for the longest time and that is really all I've ever needed, just to give you an idea.

Xenthos

Even before maxing out skills, there are very good (and inexpensive) artifacts out there. The best value in the game comes in the form of a vial rune. One rune, 40cr. Attach it to a vial (even a sorcelglassed one for uniqueness!), and it becomes permanent. It also acts like a teardrop sigil... letting that one vial link to five different liquids. But wait, there's more! Every liquid linked to the runed vial will only consume a sip every other time you use it, effectively halving the maintenance price to refill all five of those liquids (takes twice as long to use them up). You can do this for multiple vials, too! So for the low price of 40cr you get: permanent non-decay vial. Permanent non-decay access to up to 5 liquids (they also never decay in the liquidrift). 2x the sips. Never listen to anyone who says "omnitrans first" because they are wrong; some skillsets are absolutely important to max out first, but there are some low-cost high-value artifacts out there that will provide more bang for your buck than if those credits were invested into certain common skillsets.

Havastus

Nienla said:

Focus on defensive artifacts first rather than offensive artifacts. Offensive artifacts are okay, but in every IRE game, the defensive ones will trump them in most cases.

However, in Lusternia, skills are more helpful than artifacts in a majority of instances. I have only had a demesne rune and a shield rune on Nienla for the longest time and that is really all I've ever needed, just to give you an idea.

Which defensive artifacts would you recommend then?

Nienla

Havastus said:

Nienla said:

Focus on defensive artifacts first rather than offensive artifacts. Offensive artifacts are okay, but in every IRE game, the defensive ones will trump them in most cases.

However, in Lusternia, skills are more helpful than artifacts in a majority of instances. I have only had a demesne rune and a shield rune on Nienla for the longest time and that is really all I've ever needed, just to give you an idea.

Which defensive artifacts would you recommend then?

Great Rune of Absorption is the first that comes to mind and is incredibly useful both for PvE and PvP.

Until Cleanse is removed or possibly may be removed, golden soap is the next one for quickly dealing with sap or ectoplasm.

Getting dingbats for Scent dingbat item is also very useful in most instances if you're a city person or a tracker. I generally never say no to boosting max health, mana, or ego either.

If you're Magnagoran, divinus resistance is always good.

It's mostly situational, but I prefer the defensive options and utility options above offensive options.

Synkarin

Rune of Absorption

Should be the first big artifact anyone gets (not counting things like vial and pipe runes)

Dorrian

Thanks, everyone. So with these runes, I could in theory attac them to many different items? For example, a set on my weapon, a set on various jewelry pieces, etc?

Synkarin

Mostly - only certain runes can be attached to weapons (usually weapon runes) 

Most other runes are attached to jewelry, though some can be attached to clothing too.

Cyndarin

Well, it depends on what you are going for. I PK'd as a wiccan for many, many years until very recently. Fair warning, artifacts have a much smaller impact here than they do in Achaea by a significant margin. 

Rune of Absorption (or RoA) then a health rune (level 2 if you can't afford the double price for level 3) are your best defensive artifacts. 

Pendant is very expensive, but depending on your race (lucidian, kephera, some others), it'll add a tremendous amount to your kit. 

Then I would suggest loading up your beast with extra stats (I forget what the regent is called. Zimoru maybe?) so you can get all the bells and whistles. 

A cubix is tremendously helpful for getting around, especially in raids or moving PK. 

Wiccan damage runes are fire/divinus for Moondancer and Psychic/Excoro for Shadowdancer. They add 3% per level, max of 9%. 

I suggest buying vial runes and a divinus whip sometime before your big investments like the pendant. (if you are a shadowdancers, you basically have to get a divinus whip if you want to hunt anything. Nightkiss and Nightgaze are trash damage typings for PvE. I mean that literally, you might as well just throw garbage at mobs, nightgaze is terrible bashing)

Silvanus

I think the Pig Nose is the most important artifact that is mostly inexpensive, after the pipe/vial rune. Of course you are a Wiccan so I don't think you'll need it, but if anyone reads this afterwards: get a nose.