New World Season 3 Artifact Tier List - Best Artifacts For PvE & PvP In NW Expansion

Which artifact is worth farming for in New World Season 3? Today we are going to talk about the new artifact items in New World. We bring you a New World Season 3 artifact tier list that ranked the best PVP and PVE artifact items in the expansion.

New World Season 3 Best Artifact - Best Artifact Items For PvP & PvE In NW Expansion

Artifacts are a brand new tier of items that were added to the game with the New World Rise of the Angry Earth Expansion. Right now there are only 27 of them in the game there's one of each type. So one spear, one Blunderbuss, one great axe, one heavy helmet, one light helmet, and one medium helmet. They all have a unique perk and sometimes even have two unique perks that you can't find on anything else in the game.

S Tier

The Wall (Tower Shield)

If you're going to be running a tower shield, this is the New World expansion best artifact to go for. These two perks appear to gain a 5% base damage reduction. You cannot dodge but you have 33% lost stamina and then the chromatic ward says you take 25% less damage from all elemental sources. These two perks are pretty bonkers. Then we have sturdy, keenly fortified sadly is always on the weapon and this is a really stinky perk. Lastly, you can replace the bottom perk with whatever you want. The restriction isn't as spooky as it seems and the elemental damage reduction is really good. Overall this is definitely one worth farming for.

Attuned Leather Pants (Medium Legs)

These are pretty nuts because we have plus 50 magnifies. So 50 to the highest stat that you've currently got points into which is pretty good. Then we have well-rounded is another unique perk on this plus 10 to all other attributes so you get 50 to whatever your highest points. Quite a lot of stats that you get from this item, are absolutely bonkers. This is one of the best New World expansion artifact items and it's definitely worth farming for.

Serenity (Warhammer)

Serenity is probably one of the New World Season 3 best artifacts. If you're playing a great sword, you're going to be playing this artifact unless it gets nerfed. The balance blade is really good since it offers 2% empower. So 2% extra damage for 5 seconds whenever you attack and you also get 2% fortify whenever somebody hits you and that lasts 5 seconds on both of them and they stack up to 20% in total. So 20% extra outgoing damage, 20% extra armor, what's not to love about that? It also has trenchant strikes, trenchant crits, and refreshing moves. This is an excellent weapon. However, for the PVE enthusiast, this is another one of the PVP track rewards.

Blooddrinker (Ring)

This is definitely one of the best New World Season 3 expansion artifacts. This is a ring that gives you minus 25 damage so you do 25% less damage which doesn't sound great but you get 25% lifesteal and then it's got the leeching perk, hearty and keen. This is a really solid ring, you can take a high DPS build, drop some of the damage, and just get insane sustain. Overall, a very fun ring to have some builds around.

Finisher (Rapier)

This is insanely good and this is probably one of the best rapiers in the game. For bleed builds, this is just a no-brainer! It has some good perks, we have finisher harmony which has attacks against bleeding targets that deal 15% more damage and reduce the cooldown of flourish and finish by 5%. There is a cooldown but it works on both weapons so you can reduce the cooldown of your rapier by attacking with another weapon which is insane. We also have deadly flourish and keen tondo so it has two weapon perks on it. We got a socket and then we've got a perk that we could change. Definitely one that we're going to see a lot of people farming for.

Unyielding (Heavy Helm)

We have a heavy helmet that has hard head PVP only, 20% less damage from critical hits. This is a really good artifact in New World Season 3. This is basically equivalent to wearing four pieces of resilience. If you're in a heavy or a medium equip low, this is a very serious Contender and probably an item that we're going to see people running a lot in PvP. 20% less damage from critical hits is no joke. Other than its visual look, this item is pretty impressive.

Pestilence (Blunderbuss)

Pestilence is an incredibly powerful Blunderbuss for PVP. It has blighted enchantments so attacks against targets inflict a stack of poison which decreases incoming and outgoing healing which is pretty crazy. Then 15% damage against poison and disease targets so if you disease them AKA reduce that healing which you can do with play crits or the blighted enchantment that you do 15% extra damage. This is the healer hunter weapon so if you want to play PVP destroy some healers and be pretty effective in mutation, this is definitely going to be an artifact Blunderbuss to go for.

A Tier

Nimble Leather Coat (Medium Chest)

This one's pretty awesome for healers and anybody who wants to get more cooldown reduction. It has a highly refreshing unique perk which reduces max cooldowns by 10%. This does stack on top of refreshing so refreshing caps out of 20% in total but you can get another 10% cooldown reduction from this which is going to be pretty nice. This is one of the best New World artifacts that's going to be used in a lot of healer builds and any other build that cares about cooldown reduction.

Spark of Mjolnir (Warhammer)

This is a pretty cool weapon for a tank build. Not only does it have some cool lightning effects but it also really pops off and gives you some amazing value with the spark perk. Mighty gavel causes a lightning strike that inflicts a 50% weakened for 7 seconds which is pretty awesome. It also converts 99% of its damage to lightning and you deal 20% more lightning damage with both weapons so you could pair this with something else and put a topaz gem in the second weapon to convert some of that weapon damage to lightning. It's a pretty cool hammer because you get a refreshing mighty gavel and refreshing move.

Lifetaker (Void Gauntlet)

This is a very good void gauntlet one that you can always pair with life staff when you’re healing in PVE and probably in quite a few PVP builds as well. That is because of the negative energy perk so it basically adds a disintegrate ability to ranged attacks that work on both weapons. So you can effectively have your range life staff attacks get the disintegrate effect which is normally only available on the void blade which is 5% weapon damage per second. You reduce the target's armor by 10% and it stacks it to 3 times so you can render a target by up to 30%, reduce that armor by 30% just with life-staff basic attacks by having a Lifetaker and the other weapon slot. Its other perks are keen, lifestealing, refreshing move, and blessed.

The Abyss (Greataxe)

The artifact greataxe is called the Abyss and not only does it look pretty cool but it's got some pretty interesting perks as well. Darken blade says 99% of the damage is converted to void and you can get this weapon to scale off of intelligence if you have more points in until intelligence than strength. We also have to deal 20% more damage when mana is below 100%. One thing to note about the greataxe is it doesn't actually use mana at all. If you do want to take advantage of the abyss perk, you will need to pair it with magical weapons that use mana such as ice gauntlet, fire staff void gauntlet, or life staff. It also has abyssal attunement refreshing move and vicious, pretty solid perks.

The Butcher (One Handed Sword)

The Butcher is for bleed build since it bleeds and lasts 33% longer on both weapons. So you could pair this with a spear and rapier. Then you've got a whirling blade which inflicts bleed as well so you can actually add a bleed to your whirling blade, powering whirling blade and keenly jagged. This is a pretty solid and one of the best New World Season 3 Artifact weapons. It could go in some tank builds, it could go with certainly some bleed builds in PVP and PVE.

Lost Stopwatch (Amulet)

It's an interesting one and activates taunt gems. If you have a taunt ability that has an on hit effect, it has to be a stun that has an on hit effect. It also makes stuns last 100% longer which is really good for PVP but base damage is decreased by 5%. The other perks include purify, health, and a shocking debilitating cleanse. This is going to be a good one to get for PVP and a good one to get for tank builds because it frees up gem slots in your weapons.

Michael (Kite Shield)

It has a refreshing cleanse, cooldowns reduced by 5%, and on block lose one debuff. This is actually bugged on the test server and apparently, you lose all debuffs when you block which is pretty good but that's going to get fixed. We also have counterattack on block, you get a 30% to empower for 4 seconds. On block, you heal for 3% base HP. Lifestealing and then the final perk which we can switch out if we want but it is mortal lifesteal. This is a pretty solid shield if you are going to be running. The flail and the kite shield have been very popular in the test server. If refreshing cleanse on block, you get to cleanse all debuffs that's really good. If they do nerf that it's still going to be pretty solid. If you are running a kite shield which is quite niche then this is going to be the one to go for.

B Tier

Void Darkplate (Heavy Chest)

This item is bugged on the test server. It doesn't seem to actually provide the bonus that it says it does. Dark reinforced armor is increased by 20%. You always have a 20% fortify on top of you which is pretty cool. For tanks, this is a good NW Season 3 artifact item worth considering. Enchanted ward and physical aversion are good perks and the nature harnessing you could change this over to a health or elemental version.

Tumbler Shoes (Light Boots)

The unique perk on this is shirking blessing, successfully dodging an attack gives you 15% in power and a 25% four to fortify for 5 seconds and you're also healed for 200 plus 2% of your max HP. Meanwhile, we've got shirking fortification, we got shirking damage boost and then we've also got shirking heals all rolled into one. You should be getting these fairly early on and it's going to be an artifact that most people in a light-equipped load will be slotting in early. Because the shocking blessing perk is pretty good but it's not something that's super easy to activate.

Odo (Flail)

Odo has odo’s punishment that deals 20% more damage to stunned foes which is a bit of an unusual one. Because the flail skill tree doesn’t provide a stun. This is ideally looking to be paired with a Warhammer. But outside of that, the perks are pretty good. Lifestealing is always on by default so its refreshing move and then the third perk you can change to whatever you want. Overall, a pretty good flail and the life stealing refreshing move combo is pretty awesome but the punishment's weird.

Freedom (Heavy Legs)

Freedom has unending freedom that has stun, slow, and root effects expire 25% faster. We have the the base version of it so it's two of these perks stacked. In PvP if you don't want to get into any stuns at all or if you want to get out of every stun slow and root as fast as possible, wearing a full set of heavy then you stack freedom, you have unending freedom and you put freedom on every piece of gear, basically nobody can stun you. It's going to be a bit of a mean build but probably pretty fun.

C Tier

Featherweight Jacket (Light Chest)

The Featherweight Jacket has a pretty interesting aspect to it and that is weightless is its unique perk. It's not contributing to our character's equip load at all. So when we put it on, it doesn't weigh anything. You can blend this into a build and get away with heavy boots and a heavy helmet and still be considered in a light-equipped load. Outside of that, not terribly exciting.

Endless Thirst (Earring)

Endless thirst offers health potions that are 33% stronger but cooldown is 20% longer. Not super exciting. We got empowering toast, fortifying toast, and healing heart however this is one that's really easy to get it comes from the end of the season pass. If you're not using the ring for any particular build and you're not using the amulet because you're not a tank, then this is probably going to be something to slot in fairly frequently because why not have a piece of artifact jewelry?

Djinn Headwrap (Medium Helm)

We don't rate this highly on the New World Expansion Artifacts ranking. Because compared to most of the other artifacts, this is stinky. The unique perk on it is shrug off that has non-crowd controlling debuffs expire at 20 faster on you. It's not a very exciting perk but it's a real relatively easy item to farm.

Ghoul Gloves (Medium Gloves)

Ghoul Gloves have a unique perk that's called ghoul's touch. When you hit a foe below half health transfer one debuff. If you hit an enemy and that enemy is below half health you can take one defuff from yourself to them. This is very niche and very specific so this is not going to be used a lot. It's a cool concept but it's not an item that you need to go out and farm.

Freya’s Francisca (Hatchet)

It has thrown mastery, thrown axe projectiles reduce all axe cooldowns by 25%. But it is a 5-second cooldown so every 5 seconds we can drop those cooldowns. If you do want to go for a throwing hatchet build, this is pretty cool. But throwing hatchet builds is unusual right now. This is a niche item.

D Tier

Grey Wizard’s Hat (Light Helm)

Grey Wizard’s Hat is a light helmet. For the style points looking like Gandalf, this is a good item to pick up. If we talk about what's actually unique about the item is its brilliance and intelligence because it also has 45 intelligence. This is always an intelligence helmet so obviously designed for Mages. When you compare it to other helmets, you can get usually 32 at 700 gear score. It's giving us 13 extra points and it also doubles your mana pool. It's not one of the best New World expansion artifacts out there and compared to all the other pieces of artifact armor you can run, probably not one you're going to go for.

Scorpion’s Sting (Spear)

The unique perk on this is called sting, javelin now does 160% weapon damage and pulls targets towards you. This is much more of a PVP thing than a PVE thing since you don’t see that much javelin in PVE. Sundering javelin is there to go with it as well but trenchant strikes are weird perks. If you do want to pick up Scorpion's Sting, it's a bit of a tricky one to farm because you have to go and kill Scorpio.

Inferno (Firestaff)

The fact that it does strike damage instead of fire damage makes it really underwhelming. You would like it to do fire damage because then you get all of the benefits of intelligence increasing your elemental damage and increasing your ability damage. Sadly it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as good as a normal fire staff. But if this weapon scales with strengths, you can have a strength scaling fire staff and you do 20% damage when you hit a target within 5 meters. This would be really good for a flamethrower build but it just ended up pretty being pretty underwhelming.

Magnetic Gauntlets (Heavy Glove)

Magnetic Gauntlets have the perk magnetic, crit chance increased by 50% but crit damage reduced by up to 50%. These are very niche and very specific and work with a void gauntlet build. The bottom perk is pretty bad definitely want to replace that with something else.

The Mechanic (Musket)

The Mechanic is probably one of the worst artifacts in the New World Season 3 expansion. Extra levers have traps and sticky bomb cooldown reduced by 25%. If you're going for a trapper build, it's kind of cool. But usually muskets, you just want to pump some big DPS. It's got accelerating traps and mending sticky bombs but it's a weird utility musket and it's not really that exciting.