World of Warcraft Artifact Weapons: The Thrilling Facts

When Legion got officially released, WoW went through another period of both drastic and not-so-drastic changes. Undeniably though, some of the highlights were definitely the introduction of Demon Hunters and Mythic, alongside something called Artifact Weapons.

World of Warcraft Artifact Weapons is actually the name of this post and you can probably see where this is going. Yes, today we have the pleasure to give you the a to z of this intriguing new feature, part of the expansion that the game is currently running on.

So, type “/afk” in-game, grab something to eat and drink and brace yourselves for some enticing stuff!

What are Artifact Weapons in the first place?

In essence, Artifacts are THE weapons in Legion. You should take this literally, because there are no weapon drops in Legion – none, zero. Artifact Weapons are directly related to your current spec.

Blizzard’s idea is that this will be your ultimately and only weapon throughout the entire expansion and subsequently, there’s no way to destroy your Artifact Weapon – every AW that you unlock instantly occupies a permanent slot in your bag.

Also, you are able to Transmog other appearances onto your AW, but not the other way around. Generally speaking, these are the basics when it comes to AWs:

• There’s a weapon for each spec or 36 unique weapons overall, including a +1 Fishing Artifact available to every class and spec
• You can change the appearance of your AW in your Class Hall (a.k.a. Order Hall) and there are 24 appearances per AW up for grabs
• Artifacts and Artifact effects are enabled in every PvP scenario, whether it’s rated or instanced

Now, time to highlight some of the key aspects, directly related to Artifact Weapons and they can be optimized.

Artifact Power

Then there’s a thing called Artifact Power, that’s the primary game mechanic associated with upgrading your AW. You can earn Artifact Power by pretty much everything, from questing to winning BGs and so on. And you have a progress bar just above your XP bar that shows your AP progress.

Then you’re free to use your AP (artifact power) to unlock exclusive Artifact Trait points that you place in the respective AP Trait tree. Note that AP is bound to only one weapon and you can only add AP (with items like Artifact Research Notes) to the weapon that you’re currently equipping.

Traits

You can think of Traits as the talent tree tied to your Artifact Weapon, basically. You can utilize them to get passive abilities that optimize your spec or on a rare occasion, even new ones.

You unlock Traits by making use of your AP (artifact power). The progression of these Traits is simple – you are required to max out all 1-3 ranks per Trait in order to move further down the tree. And logically, as you progress, the cost of each point that you put into the Artifact Trait tree will increase.

If you accidentally fail at properly organizing your tree, don’t worry – you can respec at your Class/Order Hall. Also, if you want to select a new Trait, this can be only done at your Artifact Forge, found in the same place – your Class, a.k.a. Order Hall.

Relics

This is yet another cool feature that allows you to upgrade your Artifact Weapon. Relics are items that can be socketed into your AW. You get two slots after you get your AW and once that becomes usable at level 110.

Relics also have a specific item level, so the higher the level of the relic, the bigger item lvl boost your AW will receive. Not only that, but these relics can be used to add ranks to particular Artifact Traits. When you add a relic to a certain Trait, it adds both an additional rank and a Trait point under that rank (neat indeed). And one relic can upgrade a Trait’s rank either by +1 or +2.

Keep in mind that these relics are similar to gems – they are wiped out when you replace them.

How do you acquire Artifact Weapons though?

Glad you asked. Every respective class and most importantly, the particular spec of this class has a special questline that if you manage to complete successfully (and there’s no reason not to), you will be given your unique Artifact Weapon.

Now, level 98 is the bare minimum lvl for acquiring your first AW. You’ll become eligible for that immediately upon completing the Broken Shore scenario and you find yourself in Dalaran. Then, at level 102 you can get your alternate specs for the AWs and you do that by grabbing them from your Order (or class) Hall.

The aforementioned spec-specific quests are also tied to the game’s lore and shouldn’t take you an awful lot of time to complete. That means that if you’re a casual player, you’ll be pretty much okay.

The complete list of Artifact Weapons for every single spec

Alright, buckle up now because this is the full list of all AWs and their respective classes/specs:

1. Death Knight
   Blood – Maw of the Damned
   Frost – Blades of the Fallen Prince
   Death – Apocalypse
2. Demon Hunter
   Havoc – Twinblades of the Deceiver
   Vengeance – Aldrachi Warblades
3. Druid
   Balance – Scythe of Elune
   Feral – Fangs of Ashmane
   Guardian – Claws of Ursoc
   Restoration – G’Hanir, The Mother Tree
4. Hunter
   Beast Mastery – Titanstrike
   Marksmanship – Thas’dorah, Legacy of the Windrunners
   Survival – Talonclaw
5. Mage
   Arcane – Aluneth
   Fire – Felo’melorn and Heart of the Phoenix
   Frost – Ebonchill
6. Monk
   Brewmaster – Fu Zan, the Wanderer’s Companion
   Mistweaver – Sheilun, Staff of the Mists
   Windwalker – Fists of the Heavens
7. Paladin
   Holy – The Silver Hand
   Protection – Truthguard and Oathseeker
   Retribution – Ashbringer
8. Priest
   Discipline – Light’s Wrath
   Holy – T’uure, Beacon of the Naaru
   Shadow – Xal’atath, Blade of the Black Empire and Secrets of the Void
9. Rogue
   Assassination – The Kingslayers
   Outlaw – The Dreadblades
   Subtlety – Fangs of the Devourer
10. Shaman
    Elemental – The Fist of Ra-den and The Highkeeper’s Ward
    Enhancement – Doomhammer and Fury of the Stonemother
    Restoration – Sharas’dal, Scepter of Tides and Shield of the Sea Queen
11. Warlock
    Affliction – Ulthalesh, the Deadwind Harvester
    Demonology – Skull of the Man’ari and Spine of Thal’kiel
    Destruction – Scepter of Sargeras
12. Warrior
    Arms – Strom’kar, the Warbreaker
    Fury – Warswords of the Valarjar
    Protection – Scale of the Earth Warder and Scaleshard

Conclusion

Give yourself a pat on your back, you deserve it. You’re now equipped with the proper knowledge, needed in order to make the most of your Artifact Weapon/s.

And you can also go through all the weapons associated with each class’ spec and basically see how Blizzard decided to balance each AW in relation to the specific spec. Hybrid classes sure have some interesting options, but so do others for that matter!

Drop a comment in the comment section below and share with us what your favorite Artifact Weapon is and why. And don’t forget to mention what spec you’re currently using.

Also, you have to absolutely take a look at our unique World of Warcraft Gold Market, where you can find everything from very affordable gold to character/account trading, power leveling and much more!

Tips N4G