A 158 Page Artifact / Support Item Comprehensive Guide by Mein [14.9b]
Hello. My name is mein. Lolchess: https://lolchess.gg/profile/na/mein-pengu/set11
I wrote a 158 page document that talks about all the Artifact & Support items in great detail -> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X06RlC2DmkoC1ZfkXNlHSi9kqCOw9xK2Nn51wZCu8C8/edit?usp=sharing / bit.ly/tftartifact (shortcut link)
I'm been consistently Grandmaster since Set 8, and have hit challenger a few times since then. I've competed in a few tournaments recently with OK results, most notable making Day 2 in the TFT Vegas Open (45th overall), and making it to Day 3 in the recent Phoenix's Pinnacle (48th overall, Top 4 in Day 2). I'm also the editor for Garchompro: I think that when he actively plays the game, he makes some of the best guides & informational content available in the TFT space. I've learned a lot from that and thus I value detailed analysis, so hopefully you can see some of that in the doc I've written.
Overview / Summary
As of Patch 14.9b, there are 33 total artifacts (19 new, with Cursed Blade being disabled), and 18 total support items (10 new). The new artifacts enable tons of new interactions & posibilities with different units. Some of the artifacts are stronger than others, and some may only excel on a few, maybe even one unit from the set, a few of them are almost untakeable in their current states.
With every artifact, I talk about their strengths, ideal units to put it on, good synergy & interactions with other items or artifacts, and more. With some item holders, I provide in depth analysis on why the Artifact is good on a unit - or even bad, while referencing stats, play rate, item builds, team compositions, and other sources throughout. A lot of the analysis I bring & write about will help you to deeply understand each Artifact, and will even help some players with the fundamentals of TFT.
Lastly, there are hyperlinks throughout the document to make navigation as smoothly as possible. There is a table of contents in the first 3 pages - and an outline on the left side of the doc to help you move around the document & different sections if needed.
Artifacts Tier List + Artifacts
I rated the artifacts based on my general perception of their strengths, and how I personally rate them. Artifacts being on the lower end doesn’t necessarily mean they are unclickable/worse than others, most likely they’re more situational or niche.
Transcribed Version of Tier List from my Document in Tactics.tools. C-tier = Strong, but niche. Fishbones & Seeker's are a tier below B but Tactics.tools only have 5 total tiers
Suspicious Trench Coat is by far the strongest artifact out of the new additions, it has tons of interactions with items, support items, and even other artifacts. Another new one include Mittens, which excels on melee carries like Gnar. Some of the artifacts have potential to be incredibly strong, such as Wit's End or Forbidden Idol, but have only one unit that they excel on (Bard and Tahm Kench for those*,* respectively). I cover each Artifact in great detail to justify my placement of it in the tier list, so go check the document out for individual analysis. I copied 2/6 tiers I made below with links to the actual artifacts in the document, along with tags I've assigned to give players a quick overview of what each artifact does. Feel free to check each one out, or dive into the document link and visit sections yourself.
GREAT
🔗 Suspicious Trench Coat (4.16)🏷️Tank/Bruiser Item, Extremely Strong, Many Interactions,
🔗 Diamond Hands (4.12)🏷️Tank Item, Gold Generation, Better Early
🔗 Eternal Winter (4.21)🏷️Tank Item, Stuns, Chills, Strong, Flexible
NICHE BUT POWERFUL
🔗 Horizon Focus (4.48)🏷️ AP Item, Invulnerability, Only Works with Stuns
🔗 Silvermere Dawn (4.35)🏷️ Bruiser Item, Grants Massive AD, Great on Gnar
🔗 Wit’s End (4.36)🏷️ Attack Speed Item, Healing, Scaling, Insane on Bard
🔗 Forbidden Idol (4.68)🏷️ Tank Item, Insane on T**ahm Kench **
🔗 Lich Bane (4.58)🏷️ AP Item, Great on Kindred, Situational
🔗 Talisman of Ascension (4.61)🏷️ Scaling Item, Stats, Great on Hero Augments
🔗 Corrupt Vampiric Scepter (4.94)🏷️AD Item, Shadow Effect, Extremely Niche
Other Sections
There's a good amount of writing in the document, so the following parts will just be an overview of each section, each section title will link directly to the respective parts in the doc itself.
Where Can I Get These Ornn Artifacts? - Artifacts can be obtained from augments, encounters, & fortune cashouts.
Why should I wait until after 3-7 (wolves) to pop Artifact Anvils obtained mid-game? - Gold generation artifacts can be avoided when Anvils are popped after wolves.
Using Stats: A Discussion & Example - A 5 page excerpt that intends to show players, espcially newer ones how to filter for stats properly with the artifacts & how to interpret the results correctly.
Support Tier List / Tags - The counterpart to the Artifact Tier List, but for the Support Items.
And more, such as... What should I take 2-1? Vocabulary & Terms, Detailed analysis & best items, AND artifact items for each Hero Augment. Near the top for each artifact & support item, there are links to Tactics.tools and MetaTFT sections for their artifact/support item, respectively, so that you can use them in between games. Also, I wrote things about each support item & their general uses.
Bonus Content & Links
In the document, you will also find:
A massive Google Sheets Data Tracker that is meant to track values, stats, and overall changes for each artifact & support item, as well as a quick way for me to sort each one by their Tactics.tools average.
Assets of each artifact / support icon, stats, and screenshots I have in this document in a publicly shared Google Drive with Assets & Links.
There's also a Bard comp guide somewhere in there... as well as a document that has the TFT Skin equivalency document for Set 11, so if you ever wonder where each champion gets their theme/splash art from, it's there.
I also reference a lot of different creators & sources in my documents, with links to their videos/findings. I'll continually update this doc when new discoveries are found, and will update this primarily in each patch. I don't expect many of the holders & basic principles for each artifact to change (unless Leduck cooks something new), so mainly screenshots and artifact tiers will shift in each patch. Oh, and... if you've made informational content related to artifacts in the last few weeks, there's a decent chance you're in this section: Sources, Resources, and Findings from Other Players
Conclusion
Thank you for reaching the end, I know 158 pages is a lot so I appreciate it if you check out any part of my guide, or even just read this post.
I'm on Twitter a lot, so consider following me there for future updates of this document, or if you like seeing TFT memes. I also have a barren YouTube channel, I'm considering making content & write ups that focus more on TFT history; if my document & writing has good reception I'll definitely consider doing that. Let me know if anything's off with the doc or if you have any questions. Good luck in your games, and hopefully you've learned more about the new artifacts and support items!
see ya later,
mein