Risk of Rain 2 has self-imposed cheats and challenges that are called Artifacts. With Artifacts, you can customize the way you play the game, making it harder or easier depending on which you choose.

While the method for unlocking Artifacts is quite different from the first game, it’s not as hard if you know what to do. Let’s take a look at all the Artifacts, what they do, and how to unlock them.

Updated June 13th, 2022 by Jacqueline Zalace: Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void released in March of 2022, bringing in new fans and old ones alike. Because of this, we’ve updated this guide to help you get a better understanding of what Artifacts are, as well as how to unlock them.

How To Unlock Artifacts

Artifacts can be unlocked by first reaching the fifth stage, Sky Meadow. From here, you will want to go through one of the circular openings on the bottom floor to get underneath; there you will find the Compound Generator, where you can input various codes that open a portal to Bulwark’s Ambry.

To successfully get here, you will need to put in a code at the Compound Generator. Each Artifact has its own code that opens a portal to the Hidden Realm. After entering the stage, a challenge will start, the rules for which are dependent on which Artifacts Code has been selected.

To complete the challenge in Bulwark’s Ambry, you have to gather an Artifact Key four times. Each time you pick one up you need to bring it to the center Artifact Reliquary, where interacting with the object will reduce its health bar by one-fourth. The Artifact Keys drop randomly from enemies, so just keep killing monsters until you have all four. The only exception is the first key, which appears when you enter the Hidden Realm.

Artifact of Chaos

  • Artifact Effect: Friendly fire is enabled for both survivors and monsters alike.

This Artifact will allow teammates to damage and kill each other, and monsters will do the same. If you’re playing solo, only monsters will hurt each other, but you will be damaged by your own explosive items like Sticky Bomb and Brilliant Behemoth. We don’t recommend using this artifact if you are playing with a few friends.

Artifact of Command

  • Artifact Effect: Choose your items.

This Artifact will allow you to choose which item you acquire when you open a chest. Instead of an actual item dropping, it will instead be replaced by a Command Essence of the same rarity. Interacting with this will open a selection menu, letting you choose any item of the given rarity tier. This Artifact is great if you want to create a specific build.

Artifact of Death

  • Artifact Effect: When one player dies, everyone dies. Enable only if you want to truly put your teamwork and individual skill to the ultimate test.

This Artifact essentially gives your team one shared life, with no chance to revive your teammates by advancing to the next stage.

Artifact of Dissonance

  • Artifact Effect: Monsters can appear outside their usual environments.

This Artifact will allow monsters to appear in a stage they don’t normally appear in. For example, Imps don’t normally appear in Distant Roost, but will if this Artifact is enabled.

Artifact of Enigma

  • Artifact Effect: Spawn with a random equipment that changes every time it’s activated.

This Artifact gives you an Equipment from the start of a run, but it changes every time you use it. The Artifact of Enigma is great for getting a small head start at the beginning of a run, but with no way to predict what equipment you will get next, there is a chance it will not be very useful.

Artifact of Evolution

  • Artifact Effect: Monsters gain items between stages.

This Artifact will give monsters a random item’s effect every time you advance to the next stage. The effect can make monsters very deadly after just a few stages.

Artifact of Frailty

  • Artifact Effect: Fall damage is doubled and lethal.

This Artifact makes falling off the stage much more dangerous. Usually, falling off the stage will take away a small percentage of your remaining health, but will not kill you.

Artifact of Glass

  • Artifact Effect: Allies deal 500% damage but have 10% health.

This Artifact will turn you into a glass cannon; able to deal tons of damage but always being at risk of dying to a stray Wisp attack.

Artifact of Honor

  • Artifact Effect: Enemies can only spawn as elites.

This Artifact upgrades all monsters to elites, making them much harder to kill. However, this also opens up the opportunity for items like Old Guillotine and Brainstalks to be much more effective.

Artifact of Kin

  • Artifact Effect: Monsters will be of only one type per stage.

This Artifact makes only a single type of enemy spawn. When used with Artifact of Dissonance, any single type of enemy can spawn. The Artifact has a bit of high-risk randomness involved and can lead to only Stone Golems spawning on stage one.

Artifact of Metamorphosis

  • Artifact Effect: Players will spawn as a random survivor.

This Artifact will change you into a random survivor at the beginning of each stage, regardless of which survivor you pick at the start of the run. We don’t recommend using this Artifact if you are not familiar with all the survivors.

Artifact of Sacrifice

  • Artifact Effect: Monsters drop items on death, but chests no longer spawn.

This Artifact will make monsters drop items when you kill them, at the cost of chests no longer appearing. The Artifact of Sacrifice is useful for staying in one stage and grinding items but also makes money almost entirely useless.

Artifact of Soul

  • Artifact Effect: Wisps emerge from defeated monsters.

This Artifact makes Wisps spawn when you kill a monster. These spawned Wisps do not give money, experience, or item drops when used with Artifact of Sacrifice. Essentially, they just provide an extra challenge.

Artifact of Spite

  • Artifact Effect: Enemies drop multiple exploding bombs on death.

This Artifact will have monsters drop exploding bombs when they die, making it a bad idea to stay near them. While this can be avoided, it makes melee survivors like Mercenary more vulnerable at close range.

Artifact of Swarms

  • Artifact Effect: Monster spawns are doubled, but monster maximum health is halved.

This Artifact splits the health of monsters in half but spawns twice as many. It can be useful when combined with Artifact of Sacrifice to get more items, but keep in mind it will also spawn twice as many bosses, including Mithrix and doppelgangers spawned from Artifact of Vengeance.

Artifact of Vengeance

  • Artifact Effect: Your relentless doppelganger will invade every 10 minutes.

This Artifact will spawn a clone of your survivor every 10 minutes. The clone will have the exact same items as you, and will also drop an item that you already have when defeated.