New World Season 10 Artifact Tier List | Best And Worst Artifacts After Nighthaven Update
Posted: Oct 21, 2025 Views: 111
While New World: Aeternum Season 10 Nighthaven saw a major equipment overhaul, with changes to weapon perks and the addition of new sets, the good news is that artifacts haven't taken much of a hit and remain incredibly useful.
However, each artifact has received adjustments, and not all are as effective in Season 10. Some have become more useful in the current meta, while others have been dropped from the meta. Let's take a look at the winners and losers of artifacts in New World: Aeternum Season 10.
Winners
Lifetaker
Although Lifetaker hasn't been tweaked, it delivers incredible damage in both PvP and PvE. Its stat bonuses (75% DEX and 75% INT) are superior to most regular Void Gauntlets, and its scaling is more efficient.
Inferno
Inferno is very effective in the current Bursty meta environment, and the developers have fixed the scaling issue with its DoT scaling with Strength. It now deals even more damage, making it a great off-hand weapon for finishing kills.
Boltcaster
Boltcaster had higher damage and burst in Season 10 than in Season 9, but it hasn't received any changes in Season 10. This may be due to hidden scaling changes or a bug.
Blooddrinker
Blooddrinker's damage reduction has been reduced from 25% to 20%. Its powerful lifesteal makes it extremely useful in single-player content like catacombs. If you're a new player accustomed to single-player, it's recommended that you prioritize upgrading it with New World gold and materials.
Old Crown
Old Crown received a complete overhaul in Season 10. It now uses three interchangeable gems and provides +6 stats, helping players reach the critical Capstone threshold, making it incredibly versatile and effective.
Vengeance
Vengeance has had two issues fixed, and its passive has been reworked. It now increases outgoing healing by 25% while not affected by Life Staff's continuous healing. While lacking a gem socket, this has a relatively minor impact on healers.
Koya's Knee Guards
Koya's Knee Guards now provide 13% all-around ranged damage reduction. With other defensive perks being nerfed, their value has increased, making them particularly effective against powerful bows and muskets.
Freedom
Freedom's perk now provides up to 15% per piece. With a full set and this artifact, you can achieve up to 95% crowd control reduction.
Creed Boots
Creed Boots' perk, Ambush, provides extremely high damage output, but comes with a high risk, as it lacks a gem socket and sacrifices defense. It's suitable for advanced players with a Glass Cannon build.
Contagious Plague
Contagious Plague is a new artifact in Season 10. Its perk, Contagion, pulls enemies in and applies a poison DOT, making it incredibly annoying in PvP, yet incredibly powerful.
Justice
This is largely because other artifact trinkets aren't as strong, while Justice's built-in Refreshment perk and gem socket make it a decent base for earrings. Therefore, it's a reasonable winner and can be swapped out for better trinkets.
Djinn Headwrap
Djinn Headwrap remains excellent for stacking Vigor and Invigorated, making it easier to achieve.
Aconite
While Aconite isn't as strong as the main item, it now works well with Inferno. However, Rapier has been nerfed, making it a less optimal pairing with Finisher.
Losers
Ankh
In the current meta, the bonus healing provided by Ankh is significantly offset by the survivability loss associated with other amulets that grant more resistance. Unless the mechanics are changed, there's little reason to use it.
Finisher
Finisher isn't weakened, but its passive now only applies to self-inflicted Bleeds, not those inflicted by allies. This significantly reduced its performance in Evade Rapier build, making it no longer a near-exclusive choice.
The Abyss
Inferno does its job better, while The Abyss's passive is more complex, and its new 75% STR and 75% INT scaling makes it less ideal for other weapons, where pure intelligence builds previously benefited greatly.
Void Darkplate
Void Darkplate has been moved from being a universal item for both Heavy and Medium armor to a specialized item. Due to the increased weight, the armor benefit it provides when using Medium armor is reduced. It is now primarily attractive to Heavy Bruisers, a niche build.
Serenity
Serenity's core perks, Trenchant Crits II and Trenchant Strikes, now randomly appear on any Greatsword that drops in the wild. Regular Greatswords can now also have more traits, enchantments, and gem sockets, effectively ending Serenity's dominance.
Endless Thirst
Endless Thirst provides Empowering Toast and Fortifying Toast perks, but lacks the Refreshment II perk. Given the importance of the new Refreshment II perk, sacrificing cooldown reduction for more potion healing isn't worth it in most situations.
Crescent's Wave
Crescent's Wave was very powerful in Season 9, but its usage has dropped significantly in Season 10. This is due to the damage loss from the lack of a gem slot, combined with the nerf to its wave damage itself, making it less ubiquitous than it once was.
Incinerating Hatchet
Although Incinerating Hatchet is a new artifact, it's poorly designed. This is because its built-in perks, Mortal Aggression II and Distained Infliction II, are both weak, and it lacks a gem slot. While its passive is interesting, it's not as practical as Freya's Francisca.
All Shield Artifacts
Due to current game balance issues, Protection perks on shields apply even when you're using other weapons, making any shield artifact without these perks uncompetitive.
Still To Be Seen
Unyielding
In an environment dominated by Crit builds and Vicious perk, Unyielding's critical damage reduction may have potential, but it remains to be seen how players develop it.
The Unmoved
The Unmoved is very powerful and underrated in PvE tanking, but Freedom is also very useful. You need to choose between knockback protection and high crowd control reduction.
Nimble Coat
Nimble Coat provides valuable cooldown reduction, making it excellent for healers. However, other items offer better performance in specific scenarios, and its value depends heavily on the specific playstyle and meta.
Attuned Leather Pants
It provides pure stats, but Old Crown generally provides more overall benefits.
Tumbler Feetwraps
Tumbler Feetwraps have seen significant nerfs to their Empower and Fortify effects. While the health recovery from dodging attacks remains, it requires more precise execution to be effective, making them less competitive than Freedom.
Grace
Grace gains a new effect: while in Haste, increases skill damage by 8%. This isn't a huge amount, but it has the potential to be further amplified with other gear.
Featherweight
Featherweight has a new debuff, slowing its damage by 7% when stunned. While its damage reduction is still significant, this slowing effect may not be enough to completely eliminate it from the game.
Phoenix
As an amulet, Phoenix doesn't have any protection perks. However, its resurrection effect could have a place in Assassin build meta, where one-hit kills are more important.
Plagueherald
In Season 10, its self-inflicted diseases are more effective, but it does have synergistic potential with Bloodrinker, depending on how debuffs change in the environment.
This is a rough overview of the changes to artifact status in Season 10. There are still some artifacts' usage waiting to be discovered, so explore them if you're interested.
Regardless of whether artifacts are useful or not, it's recommended to collect as many as possible and prioritize upgrading GS of useful artifacts. If you're short on materials, IGGM is offering a wealth of reliable and cheap New World coins, which you can exchange for materials at the market.
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