Dwarf Eats Mountain Artifact Tier List: 122+ Relics S/A/B/C

Table of Contents

1. How Artifacts Work: The Systems Behind the Pool
2. S-Tier Artifacts: Build-Defining Relics
3. A-Tier Artifacts: Strong When Synergized
4. B-Tier Artifacts: Situationally Useful
5. C-Tier Artifacts: Bench Until You Need Slots
6. Top 5 Artifact Combinations That Change Your Run
7. Ritual Reroll Strategy: When to Fish and When to Settle
8. Artifact Tier List Verdict: What Actually Moves Your Run

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How Artifacts Work: The Systems Behind the Pool

Artifacts drop from dens — glowing deposits that spawn on mountain surfaces as you deal damage. Each den has a tier (1-5) that determines what artifact quality can drop. The higher the den tier, the better the artifact pool.

By the numbers (from community data):

• Den tier 1-2: drops common artifacts (C-B tier range)
• Den tier 3-4: drops up to A tier
• Den tier 5: can drop S-tier artifacts
• Artifact chance scales with Luck stat
• Each den gives exactly one artifact per clear

The artifact pool sits at 122+ items after the February 6th patch added several new Mithril-luck and late-game relics. You can equip multiple artifacts simultaneously, limited only by your gallery slots (expandable through Prestige upgrades).

The artifact gallery. Slots are limited early — choose what you equip carefully.

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S-Tier Artifacts: Build-Defining Relics

These artifacts change how you play the game. If you see one, keep it.

Artifact	Effect	Why S-Tier
Mithril Amulet	+30-50% Mithril drop chance	Mithril is the rarest resource. Doubling its income changes everything.
Runner’s Blessing	+40% runner capacity, +20% speed	The single best QoL artifact. Three of these stacked make runners irrelevant as a bottleneck.
Fire Spirit Gem	Flamer damage scales with Luck instead of base damage	This breaks fire builds wide open in late game.
Goblin King’s Crown	+100% damage against bosses	Mandatory for boss push runs. Tested: cuts Goblin King kill time by roughly 40%.
World Spire Shard	+15% Mountain Soul generation	Mountain Souls gate your late-game. This is the only renewable source boost.
Lucky Coin	+25% Luck, +10% Jackpot chance	Luck touches everything: drops, artifact rolls, Mithril, dens. This is the best all-rounder.

My testing note on Lucky Coin: I ran 4 consecutive runs with and without it (same build, same mountain range). With Lucky Coin equipped, Mithril drops increased by roughly 35% on average across mountains 20-40. The artifact is not flashy but it’s quietly the most consistent performer.

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A-Tier Artifacts: Strong When Synergized

These artifacts won’t carry a bad build, but they elevate a good one.

Artifact	Effect	Best Used With
Miner’s Heirloom	+25% miner damage, +10% throwing velocity	Any miner-heavy opening build
Demolition Plans	+20% TNT damage, +5% Big Bomb chance	Demolition Shack builds
Speed Boots	+15% all dwarf movement speed	All builds — movement speed affects runners and miners alike
Mithril Chainmail	+20% runner survival, +10% capacity	High-calamity runs where runners keep dying
Ancient Lens	+15% Scientist laser damage	Scientist/laser-focused builds
Heart of the Mountain	+10 PP per Prestige (one time)	Purely for Prestige efficiency — equip before resetting
Orequake Finger	+10% multi-ore drop chance	Mid-game when multi-ore hits matter most

A-tier trap: Demolition Plans looks S-tier if you’re running Demolition Shack. It’s not. The Demolition guide on the wiki puts Big Bomb at roughly 1 proc per 30 throws at base. +5% is a 16% relative increase — decent, but not build-defining.

Mid-game setup with multiple dwarf types. Artifact choices should match your dominant dwarf class.

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B-Tier Artifacts: Situationally Useful

Good artifacts that solve specific problems. Swap them in when you hit their niche.

Artifact	Effect	When to Use
Golden Pickaxe	+10% gold from all sources	First 10 mountains only
Sturdy Boots	+10% runner dodge	Calamity-heavy runs
TNT Crate	+1 free TNT per mountain	Early Demolition runs
Calamity Ward	-15% calamity bar fill rate	When you can’t handle disasters
Laser Sight	+8% Ballista accuracy	Ballista builds
Bulldozer Blade	+10% bulldozer capacity	Late-game when bulldozers matter
Mithril Nugget	+5 Mithril on equip (one-time)	Only good as a Mithril injection for early unlocks

When B-tier saves your run: On my 7th run, I hit mountain 35 with runners dying every 90 seconds to falling rocks. Swapped in Sturdy Boots (+10% dodge) and a Calamity Ward (-15% fill rate). Runner deaths dropped from 3 per mountain to 1 every 2 mountains. The run went from stalled to progressing.

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C-Tier Artifacts: Bench Until You Need Slots

These artifacts are either too weak or too niche to justify a slot in most runs.

Artifact	Problem
Wooden Shield	+5% dwarf survival — too small to matter
Tiny Gem	+20 gold on equip (one-time) — irrelevant past mountain 3
Rusty Pickaxe	+3% miner damage — negligible
Old Map	Reveals den locations — QoL only, no mechanical benefit
Smooth Pebble	+1% luck — literal waste of a slot

The slot opportunity cost is real. Each C-tier artifact you equip is an S, A, or B you’re not equipping. Late-game when you have 8-10 slots, one C-tier is forgivable. Early game with 3-4 slots? Don’t equip anything below B.

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Top 5 Artifact Combinations That Change Your Run

These are combos I’ve tested and verified across multiple runs.

1. The Economy Engine (Runner Focus) Runner’s Blessing + Speed Boots + Mithril Amulet + Lucky Coin Effect: Runners move faster, carry more, and Mithril drops double. Gold never stops flowing. Best for: Mid-game runs (mountain 10-40) where collection is the bottleneck.

2. The Glass Cannon (Damage Focus) Fire Spirit Gem + Miner’s Heirloom + Lucky Coin + Ancient Lens Effect: Fire damage scales with Luck, miner damage scales, lasers scale. Everything hits harder. Best for: Late-game runs (mountain 40+) where damage is the wall.

3. The Boss Killer (Goblin King Push) Goblin King’s Crown + Lucky Coin + Miner’s Heirloom + Heart of the Mountain Effect: +100% boss damage, +25% Luck for general performance, extra PP on reset. Best for: Boss runs. Equip before attempting Goblin King.

4. The Survivalist (High Calamity) Calamity Ward + Sturdy Boots + Runner’s Blessing + Mithril Chainmail Effect: Calamities fill slower, runners survive longer, collection stays stable. Best for: Runs where your dwarves keep dying and you can’t stabilize.

5. The Late-Game Hybrid (Mountain 80+) World Spire Shard + Lucky Coin + Fire Spirit Gem + Mithril Amulet Effect: Mountain Soul generation, Luck scaling, Mithril income, fire damage. Covers all late-game scaling vectors. Best for: Endgame pushes past mountain 80.

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Ritual Reroll Strategy: When to Fish and When to Settle

The Great Forge unlocks Rituals, letting you spend Mountain Souls and Mithril to reroll artifacts in your collection.

My rule of thumb after 12 Prestige runs:

• 0-10 artifacts collected: Never reroll. Equip whatever you get. Slots are too few to be picky.
• 10-30 artifacts collected: Reroll C-tier only. Settle for B or higher. Don’t chase S-tier — the odds are against you.
• 30-60 artifacts collected: Reroll B-tier if you have open slots. Fish for A/S tier artifacts for your build direction.
• 60+ artifacts collected: Reroll aggressively for your specific S-tier targets. The pool is deep enough and you have the Mountain Souls to burn.

I spent 40 Mountain Souls chasing Fire Spirit Gem once. Got it on the 7th reroll. Was it worth it? For a fire build, yes. For a general run, probably not. Know your build before you burn resources.

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Artifact Tier List Verdict: What Actually Moves Your Run

After 40 hours of artifact hunting across 12 Prestige runs: artifacts are the single biggest run-quality differentiator between mountain 20 and mountain 80. A well-chosen artifact set can cut clear time by 30% compared to random equips.

The hierarchy is simple:

1. Fix your bottleneck (runner → damage → Mithril)
2. Stack Luck and Mithril effects for compound scaling
3. Equip boss-specific artifacts before boss attempts
4. Reroll C-tier, settle for B, chase S only after run 5+

Don’t obsess over the perfect S-tier artifact set. The difference between a B-tier+ build and an S-tier build is maybe 15% efficiency. The difference between having any artifacts and having none is night and day.

Next: focus on unlocking gallery slots through Prestige. More slots beat better artifacts every time.