Best Artifacts

Artifacts are not equally useful at every point in a run. Keep the ones that solve the next bottleneck: early damage, den clearing, mithril, hauling safety, PP, or late-game gate access.

Pick by Goal

Goal	Artifacts	How To Use Them
Early mountain damage	Durin's Pickaxe · Divine Pickaxe · Bob-omb's Idol	These improve the basic damage lines you can build around before late systems are affordable: miners, holy pickaxe bursts, and demodwarf bombs.
Kill dens faster	Foebane · Mythic Plunger · Grimgar's Axe	Dens are worth prioritizing because they feed artifacts, mithril, and loot. These artifacts either boost den damage or reward den kills.
More mithril	Mithril Compass · Greyglitter Dowsing Amulet · Giant Mithril Nugget	Take these when mithril costs are stopping upgrades. Compass improves den mithril, the amulet adds mithril-luck, and the nugget is direct mithril.
Safer expeditions	Stonewarden's Pact · Quickbeer Dispenser	Stonewarden's Pact removes expedition deaths, which is huge if Spelunkers or Treasure Hunters are part of your plan. Quickbeer turns artifact deliveries into runner speed, gathering, and dodge uptime.
Gold and ore value	Arkenstone · Royal Tax Refund · Grom's Drinking Horn	Arkenstone makes every ore and gem worth more. The refund and horn are big cash injections when upgrade prices are the blocker.
Long-run damage	Book of Grudges · Eye of Beholder · Eye of Calamity	These are scaling pieces. They matter most when you can repeatedly trigger the condition: runner stuns, Treasure Hunter returns, or calamities.
Great World Spire access	Goblin Crown · Dragon's Egg · Shadowflame Whip · Arkenstone	These are not just stats. Several special artifacts are part of the late gate path, so do not evaluate them only as immediate power.
Post-pool farming	Endless Artifacts	After all non-Tier 5 artifacts are collected, artifact drops can become repeatable +damage, +ore value, or +PP rewards.

Exact Artifact Comparisons

Artifact	Pool Position	Exact Effect	Choose It When
Durin's Pickaxe	Tier 1 / weight 75	+20% Miner damage below 40% mountain HP.	Miners are the current carry and the slow part is finishing each mountain.
Bob-omb's Idol	Tier 1 / weight 75	+2 percentage points to Big Bad Bomb chance, makes its first tier cost 100% less gold and mithril, and gives Wind Bomb +4 force.	Demodwarves are your funded burst branch or the free first Big Bad Bomb tier saves the current mithril gate.
Foebane	Tier 3 / weight 20	+35% all-dwarf damage against dens.	Den clear time is blocking artifact or mithril volume.
Mythic Plunger	No ordinary weighted-pool tier	Each den kill has a 33% chance to damage the mountain for 1-15% of that den's max HP.	You are already clearing many dens; do not treat it as a normal weighted den roll.
Mithril Compass	Tier 2 / weight 45	+12% den Mithril drop chance.	Dens are already being cleared and mithril is the bottleneck.
Greyglitter Dowsing Amulet	Tier 4 / weight 7	+4 mithril luck to all dwarves.	Damage-based mithril progress matters more than a one-time payout.
Giant Mithril Nugget	Tier 2 / weight 55	Immediate 3-6 Mithril on collection.	The payout immediately buys the exact upgrade blocking the run; otherwise a persistent mithril effect can be stronger.
Stonewarden's Pact	No ordinary weighted-pool tier	Spelunkers and Treasure Hunters can no longer die.	Expedition deaths are wasting workers or preventing reliable returns.

Quick Keep / Skip Logic

Situation	Keep	Can Wait
You are still building the first stable economy.	Durin's Pickaxe, Bob-omb's Idol, Fertility Idol, Royal Tax Refund.	Late gate artifacts that do not help the current loop yet.
Dens are dying but rewards feel weak.	Mithril Compass, Foebane, Mythic Plunger, Stonewarden's Pact.	Pure gold artifacts if mithril is the bottleneck.
You are running Spelunkers or Treasure Hunters.	Stonewarden's Pact, Eye of Beholder, Quickbeer Dispenser, Shadowflame Whip.	One-time ore value unless it unlocks a needed purchase.
You are pushing special mountains.	Keys, Goblin Crown, Dragon's Egg, Shadowflame Whip, Arkenstone.	Small early damage pieces that no longer change clear speed.
You have exhausted the non-Tier 5 pool.	Endless Artifacts that match the bottleneck: damage, ore value, or PP.	Manual artifact choices that no longer solve a gate or missing relic.

Artifact Rules

Rule	Use It Like This
Required artifacts beat short-term stats.	Great World Spire Checklist artifacts should be kept even when another option gives more immediate damage.
Event-count artifacts need future events.	Hermes Sandals gains speed when runners dodge after you have it; it does not hand out old dodge stacks.
Some artifacts catch prior progress.	The Great Mother Figurine accounts for underground housing already bought, so it can pay immediately in an established run.
Boss-only rewards are not normal den drops.	Goblin Crown and The Nauglamir are special mountain rewards, not normal artifact rolls.
Endless Artifacts are post-collection rewards.	Endless Artifacts start after every non-Tier 5 artifact is collected, so do not farm them before source-specific artifacts are solved.