What artifacts do
Artifacts are run modifiers. You switch them on before a run starts, and they rewrite a rule of the game.
Some make runs easier, like choosing every item you pick up. Others exist to make the game harder or stranger. Learning the list is the deepest form of self-imposed difficulty in the game.
Where the Compound Generator sits
Every artifact except one is unlocked with a code typed into the Compound Generator.
The generator is below Sky Meadow, the stage five map. Look for gaps in the floor and drop through to a platform held up by metal girders. The Seekers of the Storm DLC adds a second generator in Helminth Hatchery, the alternate stage five.
Walk up to it and you get a 3x3 grid of switches. The puzzle is the code.
Reading a code
Each switch cycles through four shapes in a fixed order: square, then circle, then triangle, then diamond.
Read every code left to right, starting with the top row. The switch order and the reading order are the two things people get wrong, and both produce a code that does nothing.
Once all nine switches match, walk to the laptop beside the generator and interact with it. A red Artifact Portal appears. You can skip the teleporter event and step straight through.
The trial in Bulwark’s Ambry
The portal takes you to Bulwark’s Ambry, a hidden realm with the Artifact Reliquary in the centre. The artifact you are chasing is already active while you are inside, so the trial is fought under its own rule.
Enemies drop Artifact Keys. Pick one up, use it on the Reliquary, and the structure takes damage. Keys drop at random from kills, and using one removes it from every player’s inventory, so a co-op team cannot stockpile them.
Do not rush the Reliquary. Clear the enemies around you before each interaction. Some artifacts make ordinary enemies far more dangerous than usual, and dying inside the realm loses the run.
Destroy the Reliquary, pick up the artifact that appears, and take the portal back to a first stage. The artifact stays unlocked for every future run.
The full code list
Symbols are square, circle, triangle, and diamond. Each row is one line of the generator grid.
| Artifact | Code (row 1 / row 2 / row 3) | Effect | Tablet found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chaos | ●▲● / ●▲● / ●▲● | Friendly fire on for players and monsters | Abandoned Aqueduct |
| Command | ■■■ / ■■■ / ▲▲▲ | Choose your own items from Command Essences | Bazaar Between Time |
| Death | ●●● / ■▲■ / ●▲● | One player’s death ends the run for everyone | Rallypoint Delta |
| Delusion | ■●■ / ●●● / ■▲■ | Gamble your items after a teleporter event | A Moment, Fractured |
| Devotion | ▲♦▲ / ■♦■ / ♦▲♦ | Trade broken drones for Lemurian eggs | Abyssal Depths |
| Dissonance | ●■■ / ■■■ / ■■● | Monsters can spawn outside their own biome | Distant Roost |
| Enigma | ♦■■ / ▲■▲ / ●♦♦ | Start with random equipment that rerolls on use | Bulwark’s Ambry |
| Evolution | ♦♦♦ / ■■■ / ●●● | Monsters gain items between stages | Wetland Aspect |
| Frailty | ●●● / ▲●▲ / ▲▲▲ | Fall damage is doubled and lethal | Titanic Plains |
| Glass | ♦♦♦ / ♦♦♦ / ♦♦♦ | 500% damage for you and allies, 10% health | Scorched Acres |
| Honor | ■■■ / ■▲■ / ■■■ | Enemies only spawn as elites | Sky Meadow |
| Kin | ●▲▲ / ♦●▲ / ♦♦● | One monster family per stage | Sundered Grove |
| Metamorphosis | ♦■● / ♦■● / ♦■● | You spawn as a random survivor each run | Titanic Plains |
| Sacrifice | ▲▲▲ / ▲▲▲ / ▲♦▲ | Monsters drop items on death, chests stop spawning | Gilded Coast |
| Soul | ♦■♦ / ■■■ / ♦■♦ | Defeated monsters release wisps | Sky Meadow |
| Spite | ▲●▲ / ●●● / ▲●▲ | Enemies drop exploding bombs when they die | Settings screen |
| Swarms | ●●● / ▲♦▲ / ▲●● | Twice the monsters at half health | Void Fields |
| Vengeance | ♦■■ / ♦●■ / ♦■■ | A doppelganger invades every ten minutes | A Moment, Fractured |
| Prestige (DLC) | ▲●● / ■●▲ / ●●■ | A Shrine of the Mountain on every stage | Iron Alluvium |
| Rebirth (DLC) | No code | Start each run with a gift from the last one | Unlocked by gameplay |
The tablet column is where the code is engraved in the world, not where you type it. Some tablets sit in hidden corners. A few appear on menu screens rather than on a map, so the list is worth keeping open during a run.
Artifacts that change how you learn
Two artifacts are worth unlocking before the rest.
Command gives you item choice, which turns a run into a deck-building exercise. It is the fastest way to test whether a build idea works without waiting for the right drop.
Sacrifice with Swarms is the standard farming pair. Sacrifice makes monsters drop items and removes chests, while Swarms doubles the spawn count. Together they produce far more items per stage than a normal run.
Turning them on
Unlocked artifacts are enabled in the lobby before you start, using the artifact panel in the character select screen. In co-op the pool is shared, so any player in the lobby can switch on an artifact that anyone has unlocked.
Starting a run with artifacts on removes the leaderboard entry for that run, which matters if you care about climb records.
Where to go next
Unlocks and progression covers what else carries between runs. Monsoon and Eclipse explains the difficulty tiers that artifacts usually get tested on.
For the run itself, stage routing and shrine decisions decide whether you reach Sky Meadow early or late.
More on the Risk of Rain 2 guides hub.