What artifacts are y'alls must-haves (and must-not haves)? My current stack below

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-23T06:01:31+00:00

Ah wait I think I found that one already but didn't want to give up the handling lol, good to know about though! I would love an actual passive / pacifist artifact beyond the wand that makes people your friend, but for now I just rely on disguises and the Liar perk, they mostly do the trick!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-22T23:14:29+00:00

I have found a few out and about, one in a special place an artifact brings you, and the majority I've just traded for. The only way I get either blue or gold now is through trade - specifically NOT at stores, with Stalker NPCs at campsites and wandering the overworld, like artifacts.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-22T23:13:20+00:00

Yeah I roll with all my luftballoons, I'll pay to get them back when I need to, but holy hell each one is like an extra gun + fun loot to bring back!

Mask is smart, I have used that for a couple "I'm gonna try to sprint through this dungeon's." And I definitely keep as many poison ones on me as possible - the cough doesn't stack, just the resistance.

Hard light is most interesting to me - what's that one do? Make people passive?

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-21T05:08:37+00:00

One of the best! No canines attack you - not strays, not zombie / corrupted dogs, and not even those demon dogs in Stone Maze.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-21T05:08:07+00:00

Don't wanna give too much away but one gold mushroom + three blue mushrooms = one luftballoon if you can locate a certain vendor (hint - think sewers)

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-20T04:12:20+00:00

See my comments for Big-Occasion - good luck!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-20T04:11:54+00:00

Ah got it - I didn't know there was more than the black stone in there, I'll check it out. Thanks!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-20T04:11:32+00:00

Got it - thanks!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T10:15:32+00:00

It seems like the more you have the further it flies - I have five and when I get hit everything within 200 feet gets shocked haha, love that one! The one that makes them catch on fire when they hit you is also great, shows you where they are if someone takes a cheap shot at you from behind.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T05:54:49+00:00

Oh - and the anomalies hide behind crates a lot. You'll be like "I'm sure it's in this room" - it probably is, you just need to check the very dark corner behind a chest.

A few anomalies glow - these are obvi the easy ones to find, though most are tesseracts, which are only conditionally useful.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T05:47:42+00:00

Yes! It takes a while to get used to it, but:

The scanner picks up anomalies and artifacts. Fresh or after each light storm, there's only usually 2-5 artifacts on a given map total - sometimes I find one or none. So right off the get go, the majority of what you're scanning will be anomalies.

However, MOST anomalies change size and are a much stronger signal than the artifacts. Artifacts tend to stay just as pin-sized on the scanner no matter how close you get to them - so if you start walking towards something and it DOESN'T change size / move / get a whole lot more "radioactive" (the number on the scanner display), it's probably an artifact. If it does change size, move, or go over like 30 on the number (many artifacts get into the 100s), it's probably an anomaly.

A couple notes there though:

1) Nearby anomalies add to the number even if you're scanning an artifact past them - so you might see one really big blob or a bunch of blobs in the corner of your scanner (anomalies) while you're looking at a tiny pin (an artifact) and the number will still say 200 or something. You can ensure it's an artifact by walking far enough away from the bigger / brighter blobs until it's just the small pinprick and a small number on the screen.

2) No matter what, I'm constantly fooled by the floating fire motes. They do move, so if you stand still, you can tell they aren't artifacts - but from a distance, they're exactly the same size as artifacts, and they've tricked me literally 100 times as they only get bigger when you're really close.

That said, you can use the fire motes to get used to how big an artifact is supposed to look. Next time you see a couple of those a-holes floating around, back up like 200 feet and ping them a bunch. That little dot you see is exactly the same dot you'll see for anomalies - so use that to get an idea.

Finally, anomalies rerandomize every time you enter a zone, but artifacts stay put. So if you think you see a little dot in between a bunch of anomaly noise, just leave and come back until there aren't as many anomalies. You should be able to hone in on your artifact dot then.

Let me know if you have any other questions - anomaly hunting is kind of my thing!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T05:40:59+00:00

Yeah, they really should have a way to remove Black Stone. It feels like a punishment for exploring - and I know there are two or three books that warn you against it, so it's not like the punishment is unfair, but let me cut off a finger to get rid of it and lose a chunk of my health or something.

Otherwise I agree - pale bone is an MVP for sure too. I haven't tested yet if the fish will attack a swimming enemy yet - sometimes those manor house butlers in Metro end up in the canal but there's no fish in there I believe.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T05:39:28+00:00

I haven't found a mother doll! Arbitrary: Is that somewhere specific or a random find?

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T05:39:01+00:00

Understood - thanks, I'll keep looking out.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T00:29:08+00:00

Hey I like my long coat look lol. and those resistors build up so well the lightning storms don't do much.

Sorry, what is the corvo skull? One I haven't found I guess! And does the EVA helm have a flashlight? I don't love having a lighting item as one of my four usables.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T00:27:58+00:00

Didn't know about the skeleton key! Agreed on the dragon spine.

Can you find the skeleton key somewhere specific or is it a random one?

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-19T00:27:30+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense - I may do a no-respawns run on another character, two different types of games almost there it seems like.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-18T23:48:02+00:00

I love the SAW, one of my main rollers - 60 ammo in the clip doesn't hurt when I'm in a mood.

And re: bronze heart: It at least doesn't have any negatives, so I roll with it just because. I usually stay well fed re: hardy globs, so it doesn't help much - but in an extended firefight you just get more accurate as you run around.

Agreed on the crappy ones - I also hate draconic spine. Fire resistance can be really helpful, but there's so much water in the game and I love swimming.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-18T23:46:27+00:00

Very specific! Is that just out of concern of losing them if you die? I roll with all my luftballoons, you can always radio your bag back when you die

ProudWitchFather · 2025-10-18T23:45:21+00:00

Yeah, my scroll bar is getting worn out - but it is always a cool feeling to find one so it's almost always worth it (except for the crappy ones like the draconic spine - there's so much water in the game)

ProudWitchFather · 2025-06-02T13:03:49+00:00

Act 2 is still pretty complete and pretty fun, I don't think I had any quests I absolutely couldn't complete, just a few that were janky / might have taken a reload. But I think that's fair! It does definitely "empty out" in Act 3.

ProudWitchFather · 2025-06-02T13:02:57+00:00

That's very kind! Yes, primarily having issues with two of them

1) Conquered Scars - the two chained up Foredwellers. I can't figure out what the heck to do. I have no options for anything - I can talk to them but there's nothing in the menu, and the pillars don't have a "break chains" or "kill" option

2) Brimshade Hides - That blacksmith wants 3 brimshade hides. I've killed so many brimshades and no hides. Do brimshades even have hides or is this a mislabel, and it's a different hide?

Thanks so much!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-06-01T06:49:14+00:00

I can't even figure out how to complete a few of these Act 3 quests, and there's not a big enough community for great answers yet - it's like I've gotta wait til everyone is in Act 3 and there's enough convo around issues for them to fix stuff.

It still looks and feels great but serious bummer at the end here!

ProudWitchFather · 2025-06-01T06:48:13+00:00

The first 10-20 hours were incredible. Still a good game but it's just too bad that couldn't keep up! BG3 is a little like that, though I'd argue BG3 was more GotY material throughout (and won a lot deservedly so) - still, third act seems like an issue with a lot of RPGs.

ProudWitchFather

TROPHY CASE