One of the best features in Crusader Kings 3 is the addition of personal craftable and historical artifacts. These special items can make your dynasty stand above all others.
With the help of an artifact, you can increase your skills, your stats, and the opinions others have of you.
Recommended Read: How to Move Army in Crusader Kings 3
However, you might wonder which artifacts are the most useful out of the bunch. There are a lot of possible choices, and some are just plain useless.
In this guide, we will answer which artifacts are the best in Crusader Kings 3 and where you can find them.
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Best Artifacts in Crusader Kings 3
Since players can craft their own special artifacts at any time in CK3, you can make the best artifact for your playthrough yourself.
However, there are historical artifacts that some rulers have from the start of the game, attached to titles, and some can be crafted.
At random points in the game, some crafters will get an inspiration that will allow them to make historical artifacts from nowhere. The type of inspiration these crafters have is called an Adventure inspiration.
In this guide, we will list the best historical artifacts that exist at the start dates in CK3 and can be obtained through the Adventure inspiration:
Best Crown Artifact in CK3
Reichskrone
The crown that the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire wears is the best crown artifact you can get in CK3 that isn’t randomly simulated.
The Reichskrone offers the following bonuses:
- +5% Monthly Renown
- +25 Vassal Limit
- +10 Courtier and Guest Opinion
- +2% Monthly Prestige per Powerful Vassal on the Council
The best part about this crown is the increase in vassal limit. With a higher vassal limit than normal, you can decentralize your realm and make sure that you have more direct vassals than you normally would.
This can be really helpful if you usually deal with a lot of factions and want to avoid them due to higher total power.
Best Pedestal Item Artifacts in CK3
Crown of Justinian
The Byzantine emperor will always get the Crown of Justinian and they should always be extremely happy with it.
The Crown of Justinian offers these advantages:
- +5% Monthly Renown
- +1 Domain Limit
- +10 Vassal Limit
- +4 Court Grandeur
With the bonus 10 vassal limit, the Byzantines increase their chances of conquering and properly administering other lands.
Adding the +1 domain limit as well is really good for a powerful, centralized empire. Since there are no requirements for this artifact, you should do your best to get your hands on it.
David’s Harp
David’s Harp is by far one of the best Pedestal Items in CK3, as it offers a ton of bonuses. Using David’s Harp, you will get to have more than one romance scheme at a time, with +20 attraction with anyone you approach.
Here are the exact advantages of David’s Harp in CK3:
- +1 Max Romance Schemes
- +50% Romance Scheme Power
- +4% Monthly Prestige
- +2 Number of Knights
- +20% Knight Effectiveness
- +20 Attraction Opinion
- +3% Monthly Piety per Knight
- +6 Court Grandeur
Not only does David’s Harp allow you to woo many potential suitors, but it also increases the number of knights you can get. This is by far the best bonus from this artifact.
Also, with a +20% knight effectiveness and +3% monthly Piety per knight, this artifact is the dream of a ruler with great knights.
The only problem is that this artifact can only be crafted by an Adventure inspiration traveler and will only be available in Jerusalem.
Iron Crown of Lombardy
The Iron Crown of Lombardy is the Holy Roman Empire equivalent of the Crown of Justinian. It also increases the vassal limit by 10, but it doesn’t have the domain limit bonus.
On the other hand, you will gain some nice development in your capital and some Prestige on top of that:
- +5% Monthly Renown
- +4% Monthly Prestige
- +10 Vassal Limit
- +0.02 Monthly Development Growth in Realm Capital
- +5 Italian Opinion
- +5 Lombard Opinion
- +6 Court Grandeur
The Iron Crown of Lombardy is a good Pedestal Item, and it is a lot better than most historical artifacts, but it can be considered a bit weaker than the rest of the artifacts on this list.
Joyeuse
We’ve said time and time again that knights and men-at-arms are the most important things when forming an army in CK3.
The Joyeuse artifact is exactly what you are looking for if you want to form an unstoppable army. This artifact will increase your knight limit by 3 and increase the toughness of heavy cavalry by 5%.
Since heavy cavalry is the most powerful men-at-arms in CK3 anyway, the buff to toughness will make them even tankier.
Heavy cavalry usually has around 35 to 40 toughness, which means they will get around 2 toughness bonus.
If you are looking to get Joyeuse, you will need to wait for an Adventure inspiration wanderer in Southern or Western Europe.
Here are the exact stats of the Joyeuse artifact in CK3:
- +5% Monthly Renown
- +1 Monthly Prestige
- +3 Number of Knights
- +5% Heavy Cavalry Toughness
- +6 Court Grandeur
Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar
This mythical blade offers many bonuses to its owner. However, the most important thing that you will gain from the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar is the -15% tyranny gain.
Tyranny is the worst stat in CK3 and it can ruin your playthroughs every time you try to bring stability to your kingdom. Want to get rid of an heir? Tyranny. Want to relieve a vassal of their post? Tyranny.
So, the -15% tyranny gain is really good and important for a nice, friendly tyrant. Here are the other stats that the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar artifact gives:
- +0.05 Monthly Renown
- +0.5 Monthly Prestige
- +20% Monthly Piety from Buildings
- +0.03 Monthly Piety per Knight
- -15% Tyranny Gain
- +20% Development Growth in Drylands Terrain
- +3 Court Grandeur
There can only be one Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar in the world and it can be crafted in Asia Minor, Middle East, or Persia.
Sword of God
The Sword of God is a Pedestal Item that the kingdom of Hungary gets at every start date. This amazing artifact increases one of the most helpful stats in the game: dread.
With high dread, you will completely avoid factions, rebellions, and assassination attempts. Nobody will try to hurt someone they are afraid of.
The Sword of God will increase your dread to a base 15 and will also get your Prestige per dread. Luckily, the Sword of God isn’t tied up to any religion, so you can always steal it away from the Magyars.
These are all the bonuses that the Sword of God artifact will offer its owner in CK3:
- +0.1 Monthly Renown
- +15 Natural Dread
- +0.02 Monthly Prestige per Dread
- +4 Court Grandeur
Best Regalia Artifact in CK3
Jeweled Danda
The Jeweled Danda only offers one clear advantage, and that is -30% tyranny gain. The regalia will also get another 3 random effects, so there is no way to properly judge how good it will be in your playthrough.
However, combining the Jeweled Danda with the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar will lower your tyranny gain by 45%. With such a low tyranny gain, you can double the tyranny moves that a normal player could.
Unfortunately, the Jeweled Danda needs to be crafted using the Adventure inspiration, but there can be 10 at the same time. To make it, you will need to be present in the Afghanistan, India, or Tibet region.
Best Throne Artifacts in CK3
Peacock Throne
There are two thrones in CK3 that are just a lot better than the others. Both of them can be crafted by an Adventure inspired artisan and they offer very similar bonuses.
The Peacock Throne can only be obtained in India, Burma, or Persia, and it will offer you the following buffs:
- +5% Monthly Renown
- +1 Diplomacy per Level of Fame
- +1 Learning per Level of Fame
- +0.05 Development Growth in Capital
- +6 Court Grandeur
The best part about the Peacock Throne is the bonus to Learning, which will help you discover new cultural innovations faster.
Turquoise Throne
The Turquoise Throne is almost identical to the Peacock Throne, but it offers +1 Stewardship instead of Learning per Level of Fame.
Otherwise, they are the same throne. They can both be obtained the same way, in the same regions.
Best Trinket Artifact in CK3
Navaratna
The best trinket artifact in CK3 has to be the Navaratna, which is an Adventure artifact available in India.
Here are the effects that come with this amazing artifact:
- +0.05 Monthly Renown
- +0.5 Monthly Prestige
- -10% Temple Holding and Buildings Construction Cost
- +0.02 Development Growth in Capital
- +3 Court Grandeur
This artifact is not limited to any religion and can be crafted 3 times. This means that you can increase your Development growth by 0.06 monthly since you can equip all 3 of them.
The real reward would be the -10% buildings cost since it will allow you to max out most of your buildings in no time.
That’s everything you need to know about the best artifacts in Crusader Kings 3!
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